Pampered Chef

Though I rarely cook, I love kitchen gadgets. I don't necessarily have a gadget for everything, like Jenny who has a special marshmallow toasting stick, but I do enjoy the special tool here and there.

Pampered Chef has been the source of alot of my faves, such as my food chopper, and tonight I went to a party and got more stuff.

I bought the Deluxe Cheese Grater, which also grates chocolate. I envision serving all kinds of fancy coffees and hot chocolates with grated chocolate on top. I think I will pre-grate a bunch of chocolate just to have on hand for all those this-calls-for-some-grated-chocolate occasions. You can also switch the handedness, so hubby - who's a lefty - can find his inner gourmet chef and whip me up something-involving-something-grated.

I think the first recipe I will try will be Fantastic Focaccia Bread. Mmm.

BTW, Jenny might have a special fork for toasting marshmallows, but she doesn't have an Angelus-Campfire Bar-B-QQ Marshmallow Toaster. It's like a tiny little grill for marshmallows. Nifty!

Creepy Characters

My recent visit to Disney reminded me that people in costume freak me out. Not normal people dressed up for Halloween or Drag Queens, but people who's job it is to walk around in costume and in character.

It stems from an incident when I was 15, visiting DisneyWorld for the first time. Pluto wrapped that big old paw around me and... well... grabbed my butt. I didn't realize at the time that people in costume can barely see and are probably on the verge of unconsciousness from the heat generated inside, so the damage was done. I assumed that inside all those costumes were pervs waiting to fondle some unsuspecting young girl.

Here is some evidence:

Donald is looking right at my chest.

So beside from worrying that they're pervs, I don't know what to say to someONE, someTHING, that either doesn't talk back at all or talks back is some wierd persona. How the hell am I, your average middle America suburbanite, supposed to relate to a Klingon? This very dilemma presented itself to me a few years back at the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton and I had not yet studied up at The Klingon Language Institute. (It was bad enough that half the people dressed in costume were actually VISITORS and not employees). It was not pleasant. How do you say "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME" in Klingon?

Design Addict

In doing some research for work, I found a really cool website - designaddict.com. They link to some pretty incredible stuff, including some of my favorites - Alessi, Koziol, Porshe...


Egg Cup by Stefano Giovannoni for Alessi


Buy it online at Chiasso.com

Going Straight

Last week I got an email from a woman with the newspaper. She had read my blog about Thermal Reconditioning and asked if I knew of any place locally that did it, they wanted to write an article about it. Today I read the article to find out that they do it at Shear Ego. I'm a bit perterbed however, since she didn't give me a heads up notice. I had replied to her an email with "if I find anything out, I'll let you know and if you find anything out, let me know." Well, that's a find how-do-you-do, she lets me wait to read it in the newspaper and now I'll probably not only have trouble getting an appointment, but have to pay more since they'll probably jack up their prices as soon as the phone calls start rolling in. Grrr.

Who am I kidding. I can't afford it. Then again, having my hair straightening regime go from 20 minutes to 2 is worth something, isn't it?

H&M

An H&M store is opening near us at Eastview Mall. Yay. Cheap, chic clothes.

Getting Better

This weekend went much better than last. My sister is still in the hospital, but doing well. She may be in there for months, until she has the baby. They'd let her go home if she'd stay in bed, but we all know my sister - she'd try to cook, clean, rearrange furniture... so she's staying put for now.

Punky is home and appears to be doing well. He doesn't have diabetes and his kidney numbers have improved. Chuck and I learned how to inject him with fluid to keep him hydrated. Each session involves up to four injections, to spread the fluid around. We do that every day for at least the next two weeks, then it *may* go to every other day. Today was our first full try without the vet watching over us. It didn't go as well as we'd hoped. Yesterday with the Vet he didn't fuss at all, today he growled and cried. Thank God Chuck has the courage to stick him with the needle, I'm not sure I could do it. Definitely a two person job though, so I hold Punky still and try to keep him calm. Just having his fuzzy little head near mine makes life better, so I'll do whatever I can to keep him around longer.

Back to the Cold

Back from Orlando today, to 50 degree weather (which suddenly feels MUCH colder). I was having some really bad flying karma up until today, when things went more smoothly. On my flight back from Colorado last Friday, a belligerent drunk guy was yelling stuff out to anyone who would listen. I was very relieved that he wouldn't be next to me since I had checked into an empty row while he was already in the bar. Skip to the chase, the drunk guy got pulled off, almost kicked off, but they let him back on only to sit, yes... in my row. THANK GOD not directly next to me, but still. He continued to be loud and stupid, but I managed to tune him out.

Then, on my way to Orlando on Monday, I got stranded at the Charlotte airport for 10 hours. I kept contemplating calling Natalie (who lives there) but each time it seemed there would not be enough time. The two hour delays kept coming though and I what was supposed to be a 1:40pm departure turned into an 11:40 departure.

I did start to read a good book - "How to be Good" by Nick Hornsby. Same guy who wrote "About a Boy" and "High Infidelity". So far, it's very funny.

All in all, that was a rough few days.

Bad Hair Day

Got my hair cut yesterday... let my stylist try out a longer version of a "new" two-layer cut... I hate it... I look stupid - and that's with it styled by him (and he can make my hair look fabulous). When I go to style it myself I'm gonna look like I cut it myself with the help of a small bowl.

I want to call him and tell him I hate it and to re-cut it, but then I'm afraid he'll get pissed and secretly make it bad (worse) just to spite me.

I really want to get it permanently straightened. This new thermal reconditioning deal seems to be amazing. It should for $500. But alas, not offered anywhere near Rochester.

Why is it that women with curly hair want straight hair and women with straight hair want curly hair? Grass is always greener...

A Splash of Color - FINALLY

Well, we finally got our mud room painted. We've had the paint for months but have been waiting for nice weather. So yesterday, with Jenny and Aaron's help, we painted one mud room wall deep orange and the others deep dark yellow. I just finished the second coat about an hour ago. It looks pretty incredible.

Keep in mind, EVERY wall in this house and our previous house has always been white. Eleven years of white walls... over. YIPEE. I've gotten enough Metropolitan Home magazines, seen enough episodes of Changing Rooms, and watched Jenny make her house look awesome with color. So I am finally inspired to be daring.

The only bad news, I will probably eat like a pig while doing laundry - both yellow and orange are said to stimulate appetite. My only hope is to paint my kitchen violet or pink. Better yet, maybe I should get a pair of sunglasses with violet lenses. Better yet, maybe I should wear purple contacts. The Violet Contact Lens Diet... genius.... oops, sidetracked.

Soon we will be painting one wall in our bedroom cobalt blue. I think it will look incredible. It's all taped off... just need to find the time... which will be hard to do since I'm going to Denver wednesday for a couple days, then Saturday is Jenny's birthday, Sunday is Mother's Day (I'm making dinner), then Monday I leave for Orlando for a week. It's CRAZY!

Sweet Tobey

What is it with me? No blog for a week. BAD.


Saw Spiderman this weekend. Aaron kindly waited one extra day since hubby and I had my Stepdad's retirement party on Friday. I won't say too much so as not to spoil it. It was a good movie. The first half was better than the second half imho. Tobey McGuire is adorable. The upside down kiss is HOT.



My brother played basketball with Tobey quite a few times back when he lived in LA. He didn't even know he was "Tobey McGuire" for the first few weeks, says that Tobey is very down to earth and unassuming and an extremely nice guy (hmm, he didn't mention that he was a good basketball player though). Nice to know not every actor has an ego the size of a small cruise ship.

I told my Stepdad that he should take my Mom to see Spiderman. It would be fitting since the last movie they saw in the theater was Superman.... yikes.