I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both.
Love Is....
Monday, November 16, 2009 by cynicole
"Love" is all encompassing and can be described by many things... that feeling you get in your stomach when you're with "the one" that can't stop you from smiling. It is selflessly putting someone's needs in front of your own and not feeling resentful as a result. Love is desire, admiration, longing, intimacy, sharing .... etc. etc. etc.
Well members of the BCDs (and hello lovely little online community that I have utterly abandoned of late) I've learned that love is one more thing this weekend. One thing that is more telling than the fairytale notions of princes on white horses and happily ever after togetherness, it is ...
Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
This needs a little preface.
Having recently quit my job of four years, married my longtime boyfriend of almost twice as long, and moved across the country in my own three-month version of happily ever after, I find myself in a nuclear family sort of 1950s limbo ... I am officially a housewife. Jobs are scarce in the Seattle area and most companies with positions of which I am aptly (and sometimes more so) qualified for seem to have a warning label against hiring me. For a while I had a freelance job to keep me occupied but that has ended as my bank account gets smaller and smaller there is no denying it, I am now a Housewife Extraordinnaire. Or so I liked to think of myself that way until last night.
Patience people.
I've embraced this newfound title/lifestyle with some trepidation and dare I say a lot of courage. I have cookbooks now that I actually use. I've mastered chicken with some tasty results and have tackled meats including skirt -- or is it strip? -- steaks (which when grilling are enough to turn me into a vegetarian). I grocery shop weekly and compare nutritional labels and use coupons! I think of things he'd like to eat that I wouldn't mind so much either and I buy expensive odwalla drinks by the armful that I then have to lug home in my paper bags. Love people....love.
I also clean! Dishes are done daily, laundry -- which still piles up from time to time -- is mostly done by me as well. I try to organize the house as best as I can and keep it fairly neat. I run errands: I pick up the parking passes, I mail off the letters and packages and I pick up things we need at the store.
All is all, I had this domesticity thing down ... and I was feeling quite proud (for those of you who know me or have lived with me, the banalities that I have just described above are actually HUGE undertakings and accomplishments for me on the home & cooking fronts).
Then came Sunday night: Chili night.
Yes, everyone, it's freaking cold in Seattle (at least to this Texas gal....) and it rains fairly often, if you didn't know, and we were having a fairly lazy day so I thought, "I'll make chili in the slow cooker....." mmmmmm doesn't that sound tasty? I had all (or actually, as it turns out most) of the ingredients and the recipe seemed simply enough: chop required veggies, brown meat in skillet, add spices, dump all this in crock-pot along with tomato paste, some chicken stock and two bay leafs, cook for 8 hours on low, simmering, and an hour before serving time add in the beans and cook on high for one hour. Simple enough, eh? Go back and read that last part: add in the beans ....
I think you can see where this is going. Earlier I referenced shopping at the store with coupons, comparing prices and reading nutritional labels. Well....according to the label, a bag of red kidney beans are an excellent source of fiber and it was about $1.10 cheaper than canned beans. The recipe called for canned beans but I figured a bag was just as good ... no better because there were no preservatives or fat!! So of course I bought the bag. I read the directions ... forgot to do the overnight soak so I followed the quick soak instructions with bowling water and voila! Set aside and add later at the appropriate time. Done and Done.
So here's the thing: I'm not a cook. I've just been pretending to be one and so far I've done a pretty decent job. But if something is not written explicitly in the directions then I'm not going to do it. I'm sure anyone who can cook sees the mistake I made. I mistook the the rinsing of the beans as instructions for cooking the beans....in my defense I did use bowling water in my rinse!
The chili was a disaster but we ate our way through 3/4 of a bowl each before giving up. And that's where this little story has taken us to. Middle of the night: upset stomachs, problems, sleeping, extreme thirst, irritation and headaches.
And then ... the mild food-poisioning. Yes, I've been married exactly 1 month and 13 days and I have produced a meal worthy of food-poisioning my husband.
So here's where my lesson in love comes in:
Love is more than lovey-dovey feelings and poems and flowers ... it is generally worrying that, because of your inane desire to finally use that crock-pot that someone got you from your registry, you may have actually killed or at least seriously harmed your mate. Love is putting off being sick (literally holding it in) because your apartment only has one bathroom and you are unemployed whereas your spouse has a lunch meeting that he has to make and he's currently in the bathroom being sick. It is trying not to cry on your spouse's shoulder while apologizing for said poisoning and him trying to make you feel better. It is that moment of gratitude you feel towards your spouse when, after being asked: "if you come home sick are you going to tell your co-workers that I gave you food poisoning?" he responds with: "of course not, I'll just tell them I have a stomach flu or something."
Domesticity challenged, I am. But at least I'm trying.
(and still trying to find a job!)
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Not So Classic Cola
Monday, November 9, 2009 by Lil Sayne
I'm not a huge soda drinker, or as we say in Texas--coke drinker, but I do appreciate a great carbonated beverage. Sometimes nothing hits the spot more than an ice cold coke, sweet and full of bubbles from a dripping glass bottle that was hecho in Mexico. The man in the clip below feels me. He's taken his love of soda to the next level, and as far as I'm concerned his shop looks like a little piece of Xanadu. It's enough to make a girl want to make a special trip to L.A., but as it turns out you can order on their website. I might have to take a six pack of that cucumber soda that sounds so delish!
If you don't have time to watch it all, the first 3 minutes will do. If you do however, it's worth it. Who knew there were so many different kinds of coke?
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COME HOME!!!!!
Sunday, November 1, 2009 by dragonlady
I need you girls to all move back to Dallas.
I hate everyone being spread apart. You know you all hate it too!
I cant even move away bc then I would still only be close to one not all!
You left me behind.... Come back
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
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