Friday, June 3, 2011

Flaming hot!!

Well, I finally did it. I set the microwave on fire. On the way home from work yesterday, I got a craving for some popcorn. I looked around in the pantry when I got home and found an unopened box of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was just a tad old. The box said "Best by Nov 2010." I did some quick math and decided that 6 or 7 months overdue can't be that bad. It was not like it said "You must use by Nov 2010 or else or risk severe illness." It looked OK and did not smell funny or anything so I threw it in the microwave, set the timer for 2 minutes, and walked out onto the back patio to move the sprinkler in the yard. The next thing I knew, black smoke was coming out the back door and the bag of popcorn was flaming!!! The smell was horrible!!! Boy does burnt popcorn stink! I actually used to work with somebody who burnt her popcorn on purpose because she liked the taste. Nasty!!! We all hated her for it because the stink always clung to your hair and skin the minute she took the bag out of the oven. You could be on the other side of the building and you could still get the stink on you. She finally got summoned in by Human Resources and they had a nice long talk with her that finally put an end to it. Back to the flaming microwave..... the entire inside was scorched and it smelled so bad it took my breath away. I threw it out the back door and turned on the exhaust fan. The microwave was in one of the pantries so the smell is super concentrated in there and got onto all of our dish towels and left a scorched coating on all of the shelves and canned goods. If I have to repaint the walls in there, I am going to be super pissed. Fuck! I had to go to Sears today and buy a new microwave. $165 down the drain.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Cold and bored.....

Well, I am am not really bored, I am just cold. Us Texans are real wimps when it comes to weather. Turn down the temperature and everybody freaks out and heads to the store to buy all the necessities and hunker down. You risk life and limb to buy a gallon of milk. Elsewhere it is 5 degrees with 6 foot snow drifts and life goes on. Here in Houston it is 33 degrees with a possibility (a slight possibility mind you) for snow and ice and the whole city shuts down and declares that everybody should go home early on Thursday and that Friday is a holiday. WTH???? These people are crazy!!!!!! Oh well! It has been awhile since I have posted and I am sure you all have missed me (insert sarcasm key here.) I have just been busy doing random stuff and for some reason, the few times that I have had a moment to sit down and type something, my laptop has decided it does not like google or blogger and will not sign me on. It just freezes up and I have not been super motivated to find out the cause.

Random updates-
1. I have not had any sodas or sugary snacks for one month now and let me tell you it has been hell. Not just hell, but HELLLLLLLLL!!!!!!! I kept a food diary for two weeks to check out my eating habits and I was shocked at how much sugary crap I consumed. I eat healthy meals overall but I was sneaking in a lot of pure sugary junk on the side. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am a sugaraholic and the first step to recovery is admitting it. The two hardest things to give up have been my weekly Choco-Nilla cupcake from the OohLaLa bakery and Pepsi. I am addicted to both. I mean, come on..... who admits to liking Pepsi? Apparently I do, especially with little crunchy ice like the kind you get at Sonic. Ahhhhh! Heaven!!!! I am not giving up my favorites for good though. I am going to try and limit my little sugar celebrations to once a month. One cupcake and one Pepsi are in my future.
2. I have a good friend at work that celebrated his 85th birthday today. 85!!!!! Happy Birthday Phil!!!!! He still works about 20 hours a week and does a lot of volunteer work on the side. He tells everyone that the key to his long life is keeping active, both physically and mentally. I think I will take his advice.

Got to go. I have a date with some friends and some Mexican food. Hopefully they will be wrong about the snow and ice and I can enjoy my "snow" day tomorrow.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

1/1/2011

It feels a little weird writing 2011. 2010 was hard enough to remember to write correctly. I think I was writing 2009 until at least February. Maybe my brain will be a little more sharper and less cluttered this year. On with the resolutions!

1. Put more time into working on my ancestry.com family tree. -- This is something that I really got into in 2010. There is so much work to do because a lot of the research needs to be done in person at libraries, cemeteries, and courthouses. I need to go to Nebraska and Iowa to get a lot of the detail work done. I have met so many people online that have helped me with my research. One particular man from Brooklyn was especially helpful. He filled in a lot of gaps in my family tree pertaining to my paternal great grandfather and opened up so many surprising details about my family that I never knew of.

2. Be less wasteful and more mindful of where my money goes -- I don't know how much gas is going for where you live but it is right at about $3.30 per gallon for diesel here in Houston. This is about a 40 cent per gallon increase just in the last 4 months alone. Isn't it funny how when gas shot up this much several years ago, the media was all over it. HMMMM........ Prices for many things are about to go sky high. If you keep track of forecasting, you may already know about the cotton crisis that is about to hit. Prices for many things are about to skyrocket. I think we all need to be prepared. Anyways, as part of this resolution, I am going to try and eliminate any debts, save more, and eat out less often. The eating out part will be the hardest for me. I know for a fact that it is not the food that draws me out to restaurants. I am a great cook and can make my own food that tastes fantastic and is a lot less expensive. I like to go out for pure social reasons. I like to mingle, people watch, and hang out with friends. It will be hard.

3. Live life to the fullest-- I am shocked at how fast 2010 went by and I feel like I accomplished nothing outstanding. It is time to take a closer look at my "Bucket List" and get a few more things crossed off.

I hope everybody has a fantastic and blessed 2011!!!!!!!!