album covers

Found this clever little "do-it-yourself" album cover instructional on one of my Facebook friends' profiles...here's how mine turned out:


1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post it with this text in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to participate.

green: toilet paper?

I have to admit, I never really consider the excessive amount of trees we consume in the bathroom - until I read this article...

new (old) favorite: stickers!

Did you collect stickers when you were a kid?  I did.  I still have BINDERS full of them somewhere.  I don't think I've ever really gotten over my thing for 'em, either...'cuz something in me always goes "ooooooh! stickers!!!" any time I see some (as if me STILL HAVING my sticker collection around somewhere isn't sad enough.)  So of course I must tell you about this website I stumbled on, where you can design your own sticker booklet...so very cool!

oooooohhh!!!  stickers!!!!

Beppe's Birthday Party

Attended Beppe's birthday party in the lower valley today with Dad - had a very nice time with the fam!  It was fun to hear all y'alls comments about Gladys and David, too.  :)  If anyone has pictures from the party they've uploaded already, mind shooting a couple over my direction?  (I'd love to show Mom!)

Thanks again, Aunt Anny, for all the terrific foods!  Aunt Jan, it was great seeing you and Uncle Rob in town - glad you could make it out!  Hopefully next time the cousins can make it too.  Uncle Don - we are definitely going to have to plan a fishing trip.  I'll talk with Ryan and find out when he's available.  :)

Little status update on the employment front (as most know by now anyway): I have a job interview on Tuesday with a regional insurance company.  We'll see how it goes.  Should be good practice getting myself back into the swing of employment interviews, if nothing else.  ha!  I'm looking forward to it (and to the prospects of being employed again.  Time off has been very nice and much needed, but I'm ready to start making some money again.  lol)  I'll keep y'all posted on the outcome!

Otherwise not much news in my world to report lately.  Spent this past week recovering from my bug and the enormous task of packing/moving while sick.  The two main goals for this week include: unpacking the rig and finishing my craft projects.  Oh, and nailing my interview.  ;)

Happy Monday to y'all.

new favorite youtube vid: david after dentist

we're home

We made it home last night around 1am.  We're exaughsted.  

Thank you so much, M.L., for keeping me company and helping out with the drive!!  You are such a dear friend.  I enjoyed your company.  :)

raindrops & mtns

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finally

Off the pass in N.CA and moving...spent about 3 hrs going barely anywhere.
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average speed

Our average speed of 2.5 mph for a solid hour, while we waited in a long line of cars to be inspected for carrying chains.

Turns out all they did was wave everyone on.

Leave it to California government to employ personnel to 'wave' people on, when they could have just let everyone keep driving.
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Golden Gate

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farewell, California!

Finished packing my RAV last night at 1 am - thankfully the rain stopped and God saved me the best parking spot for loading (which has NEVER been available) and provided the energy needed to pull off an intensive 20 hour move day with only a spit of sleep (I don't sleep when I'm sick), a sick body, and a bad back...all by myself. Amazingly, everything I couldn't bear to part with fit, including a few bonus items, and I didn't die from bronchial spasms or slip on wet concrete and dislocate a knee in the process, thank goodness. Met M.L. in LAX and crashed...at 3:30 in the morning.

11am came early. Too early.

Checked out, grabbed a much-needed americano, and headed to the nearest tire shop for a quick pressure check before starting our trip hard-core...and found out I had a nail in my front right tire. Great. An hour later and $20 lighter, problem solved. Whew. On the road...

We had gorgeous sunny weather for the drive today. Traffic was light to non-existant. Sights were verdant and enjoyable. Company was great. We've spent a lot of time playing with M.L.'s 20Q toy.

My one splurge for the trip home was to add an hour to our drive, pay $4 to an awesome toll lady to cross the Oakland Bay Bridge, and see San Francisco. I've never been before. Sad parts were it was night, didn't see Alcatraz, we couldn't find the curvy part of Lombard Street, and we didn't stop. We did drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, though. It was worth it all anyway. It's a beautiful city at night (I'm sure it's spectacularly gorgeous during the day) and the bridge is largely impressive.

M.L. had his requisite 'first timer' In-and-Out burger experience for dinner.

We were going to do a hard press into the night (don't ask me where my energy is coming from right now - I just know I'm going to crash this week afterwards). However we found out I5's closed past Redding, so we pulled off just short of it in Anderson thinking our chance at a hotel might be better, not knowing how many travelers are stranded for the night.

And so here we are.

Only 500-some more miles to go.
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wouldn't she be proud?!

I inherited my Great Grandma's Seal-a-Meal machine, and somehow managed to cart it all the way to Irvine and never use it - until this week! I ran out of ziploc baggies and needed to store some loose food for the kitties. So I plugged it in, and what do ya know? It heated right up and worked like a charm!! It doesn't vacuum seal like its contemporary counterpart, but it got the basic job done for my purposes. :)
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i love texans

so I'm not a big fan of ellen's show, but I must say Gladys is my new favorite texan!

blahh ick

I woke up sick yesterday, right in the middle of my packing week.  Blech!!!  I've felt like total crap most of the past 48 hours.  Thankfully the Mucinex, throat lozenges, & ibuprofen seem to be doing a good job at knocking back some discomforts associated with hacking my lungs out, irritated throat, and all-over horrible aches (the kind where if ANYTHING brushes your skin, it instantly hurts).  I'm doing a bit better today (temp is back to normal after being up most the night shivering while it spiked to 100.8 - that was not fun).  I think this contraption Mom sent me a picture of would be perfect right now...I wouldn't have to leave my packing every 5 minutes to blow my nose in the bathroom!!!  Genius!!

So far, I've managed to pack all my clothes, linens, bedding, and kitchen things - minus what's in the wash for both.  I'm working on the bathroom and decorations tonight.  I think I'm going to end up shipping my books and lighter decor stuff by parcel mail.  All in all, I'll give you the count on how many rubbermaid boxes I'm able to jam into my RAV4!  The plan right now is for six 3gal, three 10gal, nine 14gal, and six 18gal roughneck totes.

I've measured every square inch of packing room in my RAV4 and have this thing down to a SCIENCE.

Just hope I did my math right...

country roots

My mom's cousin has been posting some old photos on his facebook - here's another goodie...my grandpa (cowboy standing) and mom (pink shirt sitting), from '71.

Ahhhh, childhood!

with bro and cousins at grandma & grandpa's

(the good old '80s!)

benefit ball

M.P. invited me to a local benefit ball - we had such a blast!  She ended up winning one of the cakewalk prizes too.  Lucky bum.  :)  Before hand we stopped by Macy's M-A-C counter for a makeover.  They have such awesome makeup, I had to let them do my eyes up to the hilt.  And after twirling, dipping, jitterbugging, and waltzing the night away, we ended the night with some duck farts and other great shots (whose names are too crazy to post on here!) at the Sportscenter (which made driving Mariocart on Wii later a rather unsuccessful endeavor.  ha!  and no - I didn't truly drive until much, much later!)  We made a night of it for sure.  My flight to Irvine is definitely going to come early.  I'm so sleeping on the plane...

comfort food

Tonight was all about comfort food (and was a continued attempt to clean out the cupboards). We managed to get rid of the last of our huge package of Costco chicken, some canned reserves, and a box of clearance focaccia bread mix...the result: chicken pizza.

2 breasts chicken, browned & seasoned
1 box Firenza Sun-Dired Tomato & Cheese Focaccia mix
1 T vegetable oil
2 bottles New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale (one for the bread mix, one for you)
1 can olives, sliced
1 can tomato paste
1 can water (from leftover tomato paste can)
pinch of basil, oregano, garlic powder, fennel seed, pepper
parmasean cheese



1. Rinse the chicken, trim, and cut into bite-sized pieces. Start heating skillet. Brown chicken & season. Set aside.
2. Blend together focaccia mix, vegetable oil, and 1 bottle of beer. Spread onto large pizza plate or jelly roll pan (or cookie sheet with a rim).
3. Blend together tomato paste, water, and herbs & seasonings. Spread onto focaccia dough.
4. Spread olives and chicken on dough.
5. Bake at 450 for about 25 minutes.
6. Add parmasean cheese or something similar about 10 minutes before finished.

We had green beans for our veggie, but I realized after the fact I could have topped the pizza with spinach as well. Oops. Oh well. Next time.

Dessert was a yummy and way easy brownie mix recipe I found over on Bakerella's site, topped with cool whip.

Yikes, I need to get serious about my reformed 2009 nutrition program!!! But it was sooo good. :)

new favorites: superbowl commercials

oh my yumness......

I think a trip to the liquor store for some of my favorite whiskey may be in order...I just found this amazing sounding recipe for Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcakes over on Bakerella's blog!!