Goosebumps (And Other Ridiculous Happenings)

I have reached the tipping point, and not too soon.  My fingers are turning blue, so on went the heat!  Unfortunately for my family, I reached this decision just as they were all leaving for school.  :-O

I often encourage T (our Chinese exchange student) to come with me when I go shopping somewhere new.  It used to be because I thought he would enjoy seeing the different kinds of American markets and shops, but now it’s because he tells me the most fabulous (and by fabulous I mean out-of-control disgusting!) things about where he lives.

We’ve talked about how in China, everything is fresh.  You go to the market and the fish is still alive, or was until as recently as an hour ago.  All the vegetables are just picked, and they go to market every day instead of stocking up like we do.  I bought some canned soups to use in some recipes I make, mostly for gravy, and he said that they even make all their sauces from scratch!

So last night, I took him to the hope and glory that is Trader Joe’s.  I lured him there by telling him they sell healthy foods.  That’s only partially lying.  They do sell healthy foods.  And they also sell junk food make of healthy ingredients.  And lots and lots of fat.  He saw a whole chicken in a bag and wanted to know where the head was.  Let me tell you, they eat some funky things over there!

On our way back home, he asked me if I ever had to kill any of the animals that we eat.  I was like, Um NO.  He said he had and asked me if I knew how they kill chicken.  I was like, “Sure, you whack it’s head off.  Voila!”

Apparently not.

I won’t go into gory details, but let me just say that the over-worked and under-paid factory workers aren’t the only ones receiving inhumane treatment.

My brother IM’ed me yesterday morning-ish and asked if he could come spend the night last night.  I was so excited!!  Until I found out he wouldn’t be here until 1:00 a.m. and had to leave at 4:00 a.m.  Making a quick! round-trip delivery from Utah to San Leandro for work and needed a place for him and his friend to crash.  I wish SO much that they could have stayed, even if it was just until after breakfast; but I was elated that he came at all and as corny as it sounds, I felt honored that I could do that for him.  Even when I woke up and found that damn Dr. Pepper can still in my fridge.

Well, tempus fugit and I think that shower’s warmed up now.  Toodles!

Sucking It Up Now

I have a pretty amazing group of people in my life.  There are just certain people (mostly women, sorry guys!) who consistently do and say things to help me feel good about myself.  If you are reading my blog, you are likely one of those people so give yourself a nice smack on the butt for me.    If you don’t think you are included in that bunch, you have two choices:  1 – Pretend you are and give yourself the smack or 2- You ARE and give yourself the smack.

No one can ever replace Ana Banana, but I’ve got Shana the Beautiful and my cripple rock star Mom who are 99.99999999% as awesome and many, many other dear friends (who, sucky for me, do not live anywhere remotely close!) that each have a spark of the Spirit of Ana in them and will help me feel like she’s still here.  It would help more if one or more of you picked up and moved within 80 miles of here, but I’ll take what I can get.

Love to rowdy girls everywhere!!!

 

Clearly the Worst _____ EVER.

• Best Friend; because try as I might, I have an anxiety attack every time I see another status update about the impending doom move.  Pathetic?  C’est moi!
• Mom; because when I did the grocery shopping today I picked candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters instead of the food on my list we need for the rest of this week.
• Student; because I forgot my sweater and scarf this morning and it was soooo bloody cold that I couldn’t manage to wait 50 minutes outside for my next class of the day and went home early.
• Visiting Teacher; because even though I know I would not have made it the past few years without my second mom (a.k.a. Visiting Teacher!) – I still never manage to get mine done.
• Wife; because I always forget to thaw out whatever it is that I need to make a nice dinner for my husband who works so hard and we end up having a lot of “find it and eat it” dinners.

Good thing I see my therapist tomorrow.  She’ll tell me of course I feel like crap, I haven’t been giving myself good self care.  Yeah… that will make me feel better.

 

Signs of the Apocalypse

You know about my food/mess/germ issues, right?  I don’t like to be (or get!) messy or dirty, and I don’t touch raw meat because, EWW!

This afternoon, we carved pumpkins.

I cleaned off all the seeds so I could roast them with cinnamon and sugar.

I AM STILL ALIVE!!!

Start checking to see if the moon has turned to blood and the four horsemen come riding to town, I hear that happens next.

It Snows 11.5 Months of the Year in Montana!

I hate to cry.

The snot comes forward, the face gets full, suffocation begins and splotchy-ness ensues.  Noses are blown, boxes of tissue are emptied, and pillows are soaked through with the tears of hurt/anger/frustration/loneliness… the worst one is the loneliness.

I hope you’re sitting down, because I am about to tell you something that will shock you to the core:

I don’t have very many friends.

Are you still there?  Everything ok?  Good, let’s get back to me.  I have a personality so fabulous that Shana the Beautiful calls it “the full monty” when it reaches its peak of awesomeness.

Ana Banana is moving away, and now I can’t stop crying.

Pity, Party of One?

Um… it’s cold.

And by cold, I mean it is no longer 83′.

At night, like right now (11:24 p.m. PDT) it’s 56′, and THE WIND IS BLOWING.  Not gale force wind, but stronger than a nice breeze, ya know what I’m sayin’?

This does not bode well people.  I should have at least another month of high 70’s – mid80’s temps coming my way before winter rears its ugly head!

I have to go curl up in the fetal position now.

In my bed.

Under sever layers of blankets.

And PJs.

Socks, even.

(sigh)

Goodnight.

Dream Weaver

Lately I have been having these awesome dreams.

All of these guys that I crushed on in high school have been making appearances, and they’re madly in love with me!  It’s 15+ years later, and all this time they’ve been secretly pining for me.  Their lives have just not been right ever since they let me slip through their grasps and so they’ve hunted me down to declare their affection in the hopes that they’re not too late.

I don’t remember specific details of the dreams, just that I felt beautiful (even at my size!) to know how they ached for my hand and they couldn’t have it because I was already seriously involved with someone else.  Not married, not that unavailable, but definitely long-term enough to not be so shallow as to cast him aside for what could’ve been.

The best part?

I still feel beautiful when I wake up with four men fightinig over who gets to serve me strawberry-topped pancakes in bed.