Day185 - Flakes of devotion.

Thursday, July 3, 2008: My Kitchen: Le Leche corn flakes.

I have a real love for Dolce Le Leche, which is a carmelized condensed milk. If you've ever had my little mango strawberry bites then you may know why.

I've found these corn flakes that are drenched with the condensed yumminess. They are only 100 calories a cup, making them fair friendlier than other sugar soaked cereal.




I'm kind of addicted now and will readily eat a handful for a snack. I'm not sure where you can buy them (I bought them back home), but I will gladly drive that far to get them. I told you, it's a problem…

Day 184 - Well, that is just nutty.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008: Meyer's Dairy: Grapenut Ice Cream

I don't know that I've ever even had a grapenut in my life, but I was so interested in the weirdness of the combo I had to go for it. Knowing that the grapenut is essentially a stale piece of toast, I was expecting something a little unsavory, but I was delighted when it turned out to be pretty fantastic. The ice cream had a taste of a coffee ice cream, or a really dark chocolate - just that underlying nuttiness taste.




Troy ordered Rocky Road. He was pretty bummed to find only one piece of road in there. It was a definite Fail.




We kind of just spent the night wishing that we had the truck although it is out of commission for a bit right now. It will be rocking and rolling again soon, she just needs a little bit of TLC to get there.

Day183 - There must be a god because this cheese is too good.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008: State College: Ale House

Today Yana, Troy and I had a meeting at the Ale House. While we were there we had a little dinner that turned into a big dinner. But good, so good.

Yana had this martini that I think had mango in it. Very, very good.




Then we had this while we were waiting for our client to arrive. This may be the best cheese plate that I have ever, ever had. And you know me, I am a connoisseur of cheese.




See this cheese with the green specs? Havarati with dill. I could live in that cheese wheel.




After the meeting we ordered dinner although I think that we were all probably full from the best appetizer ever. In my quest for the best pulled pork ever, I order this one:




Very good. Great even if I must gush. It had this coleslaw on it. I usually hate cole slaw, but I believe that this has opened a new door for me. I know that it at least has apples in it and probably mayo. I think I'll spend my life trying to figure out the rest.




Great night. Great company and an awesome outcome to our meeting. Sometimes it's really easy to love life.

Day 182 - Would you like some peanut sauce for that?

Monday, June 30, 2008: Our Kitchen: Lunchie Muchie


Now that Troy is working from home, I have to at least remember lunch exists (if not actually eat it) because of his internal clock that makes him eat every two or so hours. Not an exaggeration.

Today we had some crazy microwavable lunch that came in these trays and steamed themselves to done.




I had something that was close to maybe the Latin countries. Beans, rice and hot chicken.

It didn't look to bad when you mixed the hell out of it.




It was spicy.





Troy had some kind of Indian chicken. It didn't really taste like anything, so we grabbed a bunch of stuff from the pantry to kick it up.




He was a little happier, but not by much.




Yes, I'm still really busy. The wedding kind and work in general kind of threw me off my game. I am hoping that it lets up soon, but if not, really, who can bitch about being too busy?

Day 181 - Well, she's your old lady now.

Sunday, Jun 29, 2008: Pine Grove: Marriage and stuff.

Hey! My sister got married! Surprised? Well, so was everyone else in the family! Ha!




Tre married Nick, her guy of a year in a intimate ceremony near the gazebo at Sweet Arrow Lake in Pine Grove. It was a beautiful place and day for a wedding.




Now for those of you who are insulted or feel slighted or whatever, please don't. Initially, she was going to hurry off to the JP, but at the last minute (literally) they found a very nice mayor in Pine Grove that would do the officiating and everything kind of fell into place after that.




I made her bouquet, with a little help from Troy and Tyler.




I made a bunch of food, as did some of her class mates, including these cupcakes that didn't turn out perfect, but they did taste exactly like a krimpit.




We just raise glasses to toast the occasion, we also raised eyebrows.




Afterwards, Troy, Nick and Tre bounced around a bit.




And also fell a lot.




That is a brief replaying of the day. Very brief. I'm glad that they are both happy and Nick is a great guy to have as a brother-in-law (Especially when I don't have to get married to call him that!)

Day180 - Lite my Party on fire.

Day 180 -

Today I went to a PartyLite (http://www.partylite.us/prodfeatures/lang_us/page_featproducts/sectname_products/subsect_featured.htm) at my friend Gayle's house. I'm usually not into all that girly shit, but I love Gayle and wanted a good visit so I went.

Part of the party was dedicated to soaking our feet and trying products that made said feet feel and smell wonderful. Then we had to take an oath to promise to take care and/or pamper ourselves for 5 minutes a day.

Thinking about that oath afterwards, I realized that I don't really do that and then I got alternatively mad/sad at our society and the culture from which I came. I don't necessarily think that women are encouraged to take time out for themselves… well, at least not in my family growing up. Things are a different right now, and Gen Y is leading us right into the apocalypse, but growing up around my grandmothers, well, you worked and you worked and you worked and then you took care of your family. Most kids these days could do with some time with my Nana.

Anyway, I bought a lot of candles. Get ready for Xmas bitches, they are coming your way.

I picked these out for us. Like little Lukes:





I ordered one of these as well. I think it will smell like cherries and peppercorns. Weird, but lovely at the same time.




So, that was it. Fellow chick-a-dees out there, if you want to buy have a spa/candle party let me know. The wonderful and nice sales rep was on me to throw one of my own despite my protests that I'm really not that kind of Lady. I'm not sure if I'm any kind of lady, but I'm definitely not that kind.

Day179 -
Friday, June 27, 2008: My living room: Strawberry crackers.

Tonight Troy was having a bad night. He was pretty bummed out about something or other and wanted comfort food to eat it all away. He actually yelled "I want comfort food!" when I questioned him, which was funny.

About 4 months ago I got him addicted to peanut butter and jelly cracker sandwiches. He never had them before and now he can't stop eating them. I think that is hilarious because I've been eating them with my pop-pop for years and years. I don't think that I'm lying when I say maybe 25 years.

OH. MY. God. I've been eating pb&j crackers for 25 years. My head… I'm getting… whoo… it's getting dark…

I'm going to forget that fact. Yikes. Anyolder, I used this strawberry jelly that Mark and Jodie brought us back from the beach forever ago. This was super yummy and I loved it and it calmed Troy down as well. Side note: I really need to learn how to can.




And I don't know if you can tell from the overabundance of food posts, but I'm working super long hours right now. The project is almost over, but I'm super tight on time until sometime around Monday.

Day178 - Sqooze-ing the juice from a chicken.

Thursday, June 26, 2008: My kitchen: chicken broth

So, I finally found the perfect chicken broth (never thought I would write that!). It's organic to boot. It only has a cup of broth in each box and 4 boxes come in a pack. Tonight I made the same pasta I've been making forever: Sausage and mushrooms over ziti. But the recipe only calls for 1/2 of stock. That means that I waste most of a regular jug most of the time I make it. This will save me from wasting, which in my newly hysterical "green" state I hate to do.



Cute, huh? About the size of a red bull, and although I haven't done any shots of it, I think that it has a pretty good flavor to it.

Day177 - Tthe granola quest continues…

Wednesday, June 25, 2008: My Kitchen: Kashi

I am on a never ending quest to find the perfect organic/healthy/yummy granola bar. Here is another one: The Kashi GoLean Roll. It it fake peanut butter rolled in some kind of nuts.

Not the best and by far not the worst. Thrilling I know, but I'm tired.

Day176 - Team Vagina

Tuesday, June 24, 2008: Pottsville: New Doctor

So, today was my first visit with my new gyno. She is in Pottsville (about 2 hours away) and that is a little inconvenient, but Tre really wouldn't let me go anywhere else. She brought the hammer down!

I like the new doc a lot. She seems to know what she is talking about and I have hope that this will be a good relationship. If not? Well, onto the next vag doctor we go.

UPDATE: All things are right with team vag. So far, so good.

Day175 - Life is sometimes "Ew"

Monday, June 23, 2008: Frackville: iChatting it up.

I'm back home today for a doctor's appointment. But because Troy brought his computer, and Yana has a brand new shiny Mac, we were able to continued our marathon talk session from last night. So tonight, me and Troy and Allen and sometimes Yana spent a lot of hours giggling and talking via video. If I was smart, I would have recorded it or taken a screen shot. I was too busy looking at failblog.org and other things I would rather not mention. Or remember for that matter.

Day174 - How do you like these apples!

Sunday, June 22, 2008: Allen & Yana's: Stuff and things.

Yesterday we took the truck for it's first drive out of the county to visit Jen and Derek. Today we took it for it's first ride over 7 Mountains to Yana & Allen's. It made it back and for succesfully. I mean things may have actually fallen off of it and water may have flooded in it, but you will have this.

Yana made super fucking good food. This pizza being one, the roasted red pepper stuff in the background being two. Yana, I think we need to have an Iron Blonde Chef cook-off.




Here is a picture of the Mr. & Mrs. with Troy going for a ride after dinner. I got to chill out with some dogs and cats. It was an even trade off.




Right after they got back it rained like cats and dogs. They very graciously let us park her in their garage. I think this maybe the last time that happens. Foolishly, they let it slip that they know where to "dump our bodies." Yes my friends, the truck is so bad ass that we have been threatened with death - by OUR friends! If we go missing, please check their garage.


Later, we played Apples to Apples. It was really fun. The only person who is more of a sore loser than me is Allen and that is comforting. Troy and Yana are pretty relaxed about winning or loosing. Oddly, their relaxation is not comforting.

We stayed super duper late. Crazy late. If we didn't have a crap load to do in the AM, and I didn't have a need for my own pillow, we would have stayed til morning, which was only a few hours away. To you both, thanks for a great night - it was much needed. Next time we are playing Pictionary. I feel like some blood may spill.

Day173 - Bellefonte-ing it.

Saturday, June 21, 2008: Around Bellefonte

Troy and I are officially cat watchers. Even better, our cat watching skills are at 2-0. All kitties have lived! Today we watched Mr. Muggles for the first time. That would be Kyle and Carla's kitty.

He hissed a lot. A LOT! But he chilled out after five minutes and was in love after I picked up his can of food. He kind of looks like a lemur.




On the way home from their house, we stopped at The Deli. Finally! It only took 4.5 years to eat there! Let's see. We both had a grilled Reuben - a first for me.




We saw this beautiful table topper that Steph made.




I tried this Sweet Tea by Schneiders - makers of some of the best OJ in town.




Troy agrees that it was awesome.




Then we had some home made lemon meringue pie.




We were both full, full, full until about 7 at night. Then I ate something else new - a meatball sub with Buffalo sauce on it. Yum!

Day172 - "Big ass" meal more like it.

Friday, June 20, 2008: Taco Bell: Big Box

I simultaneously love and hate that you can buy something like this in America.



Troy and I split it, so I'm telling myself that it's ok. I had some cheesy queso quesadilla. It tasted like the queso dip at Chili's. The Chilli's queso dip tastes like cheese whiz and hot dogs. This was a little bit better than hot dogs and whiz, but not by much.




Also, I broke my 5 month embargo on Mountain Dew. Oh, how we have fallen! It was kinda worth it. We are again under the Dew embargo - I'll break it sometime around Christmas.

Day171 - Grab some Nookie.

Thursday, June 19, 2008: Spikes Stadium: Stalking Furries.

I think it's well known by most that I love going to Spikes Stadium. I love being around people who are genuinely happy to be somewhere. Generally, most people are happy there. Or drunk. Or drunk and happy. And I love the drunk and happy people.

We were the guests of Erin and Ryan.




We ate lots of food.



The Spike. I do not fear this deer.



The best part - I got some one and one time with the Nookie Monster. He is handsome, isn't he.




And we went in the truck for the first time. Here she is in front of Beaver Stadium. I feel like I should scream "We are…", but I will stop myself. I blew a lot of the cool stalking the nookie monster and I need what I have left.

Day170 - Again with this?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008: The garage: Door handles.

Yep, another day here. I think that I'm a little burnt out on newness and kind of coasting a little here. Well, whatever. I had to install the handles because Troy was freaking out that we lost one or two.

You basically have to jam this little thing into a smaller hole. It's one of those "applied skills" meaning that it takes 10 tries to finally get the knack. I know have the knack for both installing and de-stalling? I mean "uninstalling." What the hell?



He also bought these new knobs that are just a slightly different color than the originals. Oh, and they were a total bitch to install.

Anywho, everything is starting to look better. Everyday we get a little closer to awesome.

Day169 - The kind of chicken wing I like.

Day169 -
Tuesday, June 17, 2008: The garage: Buffalo Wing Chips

Just because the truck is "done," that doesn't mean that it is DONE. It won't be done-done for another year atleast. So in an effort to completely fall of the wagon that is my diet, I bought these terribly good chips and ate about half of the container. Oh, and I had a milkshake to wash it down. Both were really good, but I'm in love with these chips a little.



They taste like a chicken wing without the chicken. That is a little bit of a mind trick, but I got over it fast enough.

MMMmmmmmmmmmm. Yummy. I know.

Day168 - I'm thrifty.

Monday, June 16, 2008: Thrift shopping: St. Vincents and Goodwill

Since Troy has been working from home, I definitely have been going on more joy rides. My blinding paleness may be a thing of the past if Troy drags me into the sun this summer. I'm more that content to sit and work all day, but that guy has some kind of illness that makes him unable to sit still.

And it's been like that since we moved in together. I would go to work and expect him to be there when I got home. Well he was, but during my shift he would sometimes drive north to the NY state border from Williamsport. Or west. Or east.

He has ants in his pants.

Back to the task at hand - we went to the thrift stores. I must still be in shock from spending a bunch of loot on the truck because I didn't want to buy a thing - except for a sweet ass bowling ball that I absolutely don't need.

And I kept banging my arm off the racks of clothing. Not awesome. My guns are looking a little rough these days.

St. Vincents was skewed a little old-ish. The only thing I liked was the bowling ball. The Goodwill had too much shit in it - I was easily overwhelmed.



Today was the first day that the truck went for a ride without me or Troy. Kyle and Carla went for a ride together. I made him promise to go for atleast 15 minutes and he did. They have the hot rod fever now too.

Day167 - A picnic. Well, why the hell not.

Sunday, June 15, 2008: Mint Chocolate Cake.

Today at a Father's day picnic I had this totally yummy crazy cake that Troy's uncle Butch baked. Check it out and weep my friends:




It is chocolate with a peppermint icing topped with a hard chocolate shell. It is something like a large peppermint patty. So freaking good. I was too full, so Troy had to finish it. I think if I finished it all, bad things would have happened. This proves that Troy's family is littered with talented bakers. I am a lucky girl.

Today was also the first day that I got to take a ride in the finished truck. Yep, it took awhile. This is me checking out Troy pumping gas.



This guy wanted to go for a ride too.




I think Troy's pap was probably the happiest for the ride. I think he loves it more that I do.