Conflicted

I hate centipedes.  I really do.  The thought of them gives me shivers down my spine.  Every last one of those little squirming legs just makes me want to run as fast and as far as I possiblly can in the opposite direction.

Our laundry is in our basement, much to my disappointment.  This might not be as big a deal if we had one of those lovely "finished" basements--you know the ones that feel more like a part of your house than a part of a dungeon--but then, if we did have a "finished" basement, we would probably have a house new enough that the laundry wouldn't be down there anyway.  But alas, I digress.... as usual.

I try to keep the area as free from small scary creatures as I can, but there are always spiderwebs and centipedes that I can't keep up with.  I generally prefer going down there during the day to lessen my encounters with said scary creatures.  But tonight I was really trying to get some wash done, so I slowly crept downstairs, trying as hard as I could to keep my eyes peeled for any, ANY, movement.

Then I saw it--not a centipede or a daddy-long-leg, like my usual findings--but a large black spider.  Now spiders don't usually upset me all that much.  They're way less scary than centipedes, I think.  But this one, well, it's size got me to feeling like I didn't really want to be standing a foot away from it loading the clothes into the washer.

So, of course, I did what any woman would do.  I yelled for the man of the house.

Down came my chivalrous knight in shining armor, and he captured the enemy in one swift encounter.  But as he took it upstairs, I suddenly felt conflicted.

Would this spider, left to live downstairs (instead of taken outside, where I had originally banished him), actually kill those most-evil of creatures?  Would he actually help me in my fight against the centipede?

Suddenly I was unsure of my decision... Which did I like less--the idea of a large spider lurking right by where I do the laundry, or the idea that there might be more centipedes scurrying around than would otherwise if it were kept alive.

Decisions, decisions.  Ultimately, I opted to stick with my original thought.  Outside he was taken, hopefully to find another home.  Further from mine.  I do wish I could fight this centipede war with an ally a little less frightening than a large spider....

Really, did I do that??

Do you ever look back at your life, a little bit shocked at things you remember doing?  Like, "Really??  I did that??  I can't ever imagine myself doing that..."  It's amazing how we change.  Our perceptions of the world and the limits we put on ourselves vary so much depending on the factors affecting us at any given moment.

I guess the lack of an ipod or other such nifty device means I actually have to figure out what to do with my mind when I'm at the gym--sadly I can't just let my mind drift into musical nonthought....that wonderful mental absence that I wish I could recreate but can't seem to without the help of some technical device....

Anyway, I was thinking, (as I sat there at the weight machines feeling like everyone else at the Y knew I had no idea what I was doing), or more accurately, remembering, some of those "really??" moments...

I thought you might get a chuckle out of some of the ones I remembered....

*Walking through the mall in high school with a "Libby-terian Party: Libby for President!" poster getting pictures with anyone who would pay me any mind....  This was, of course, a class project of some sorts.  One I'm sure I took way out of hand.  And it didn't help that I had dyed my hair pink at the time.

*Dumping a plate full of food on someone's head my freshman year of college.  You don't believe it?  Neither do I....  What kind of person am I!?!?!  This guy was totally unassuming, just sitting behind me at another table... I knew him a little bit, but I'm not sure he ever talked to me much after that. (I wonder why--hmm.)  What in the world would possess a person to do such a thing??

*Going out with someone in high school who not only couldn't use grammar properly, but also wanted to be a television evangelist.  I even thought I wanted to marry him.  Say WHAT?!  I know what you're thinking--I was probably drugged.  And you're probably right....  (No, not really.  But seriously, those are about the two worst things to be against a guy--can't speak AND wants to be a tv preacher?? EEK!)

*No lie: I used to walk behind this guy in fifth grade who I had a crush on when we had "ACE" at the end of the school day ("Aerobic Conditioning Exercise").  We had to walk around the field over and over again until the buses got there to take us home.  I have no idea how much time it actually was generally, but I do know that pretty much the entire time we circled the fields, I would walk behind this guy and kick his calves.  Over and over and over again.  Oh, I'm sure he was bruised.  And I'm not sure why he never turned around and tackled me to the ground.



Okay, time's up for reminiscing.  For now.  Perhaps we'll continue this again some time...  Just to remind everyone how far I've come. ;-P

Bubber

My son has been playing with a trial-size of Playdoh for months now.  He got it at a birthday party and loved it.  Sadly, I have consistently forgotten to get him more.  (Which is especially sad when I am probably at Walmart twice a week or more.....)

Without knowing this, my mother-in-law offered to get him something called Bubber for his third birthday (last week). Bubber sounded like a great solution to my failure to increase our Playdoh supply. It was supposed to be a cross between Playdoh and Styrofoam...or something like that.  I can't quite remember the description; all I remember thinking is, "sounds PERFECT!"

I think a part of the description, though, should have included something like "Warning: User must have extremely active imagination for ultimate enjoyment of product."

Or even better: "Warning! If you want to make things that actually resemble something real, use another product!"

In my head, this is what I was imagining after my countless failed attempts at making recognizable objects....

Although, I must say that honestly, I asked Elijah to pose for this, so you can't take it all too seriously.  I was extremely frustrated by my inability to make things, but he was having a great time waiting patiently for me; all the while squeezing Bubber between his fingers.  This is a more accurate picture of what was going on:

Thanks, Grandma, for a gift he is surely enjoying!!

Quick Note on Design

I decided there was far too much color on my blog.  There still is; yes, I know.  But until I can find some knowledgeable compassionate person willing to help such a blogger-ignorant sole as myself, it will continue to be this crazy.*



*Please, if you know someone who can help me figure out this whole website design thing, I'd greatly appreciate you directing him/her my way....Obviously I am in need of some help.

running out of time

Do you ever feel like you're running out of time?

Imagine:

You're running in a scary, dark tunnel.  Every sound around you sounds terrifying and evil--like whatever its source, it's about to jump at you and tear you to pieces.  If only, if only, you could get to the end.  That light, that beautiful light.  You're running; faster than you ever thought you could run.... You tell yourself, Al-most--there as you're panting for breath....  Then finally, at last, you reach the end--still running, into the light.

Oh, but it's raining.  Things aren't that great on the outside either.



That's pretty much how I felt the other day when I spent THREE HOURS making gnocchi.  Dinner time came and went.  Then, when the gnocchi was finally ready, it wasn't even that spectacular.  You'd think such a marathon would merit a great finish.  Right?  Oh well.

So, I decided to draw a picture of just the funny thought I had in my head--running out of "time". :)

renovation

In hopes of renovating my process of cooking (referring to my last post), I decided on Friday to find a meal that was both simple and fast.  Hopefully this would prevent tragedies like the night before......  Loved the idea of gnocchi, but not the extensive prep time.  I found this recipe and decided to try it:

Pan-Fried Lemon Ricotta Gnocchi

Should you read the article that precedes the recipe, I would mention here that I don't recommend going about finding good recipes in the same fashion. For a lot of reasons.  If you need a list of them, feel free to ask me.  That said, the recipe is FANTASTIC!  Super duper easy and fast too.  My 3 year old helped make it, and he loved eating it all the more!

As usual, my result wasn't nearly as beautiful looking, but it was definitely amazing to taste.  It was a wonderful light dinner before going to a show at the college.  Delish!

betrayal

Have you ever felt like you were betrayed?  Either by someone or something...?  I find that I sometimes put it on myself--I expect something, but then when I get a different outcome, I feel cheated and angry.  And other times I am just being far too naive and let people cheat me--like, when about 8 months ago a young girl and her "brother", along with her "father" came for a "fundraiser" for "cheerleading."  (Notice the parentheses....????)  Right.  Well, I was so excited to help them since I had done so many fundraisers myself, being in band and all, in Middle School and High School.  And even though I RARELY buy fun things just for me (since we don't really have the money to do that kind of thing), I thought I would make their day by giving them $10 for a candle.  Oh the joy it brought me knowing I could help them out!

And oh, the anger I still feel at having been cheated out of my ten dollars!!  Okay, so, I suppose there's still time for them to get that candle to me.... I mean, it's only been EIGHT months.... I was only very pregnant when they brought it and now have a SIX MONTH OLD DAUGHTER.... Right...  Guess I shouldn't assume things.....

But anyway, I was feeling betrayed this evening because I decided, for DH's and my 4th anniversary, to make a special meal.  I had never had potato gnocchi before, but it looked super yummy and I was prepared.  I had been eyeing the pictures for weeks now and making sure I had all the ingredients.  I did a quick skim of the procedure and looked up what to do if you don't have a potato ricer on hand....  I felt so prepared.  And seriously, I was actually starting to make the meal at 4:30(pm)--I almost never have my act together that early in the day. ;-P

"Simple Potato Gnocchi"

That's what it said.  "Simple."  Does that word mean something to you?  I think I might have some inaccurate associations with that word because when I think "simple" and meal prep, I think, this won't cause me angst and make me wish I had never started this process at all.  There certainly have been meals in my past that have made me feel that, but "simple," no, surely a dish that has the word "simple" as its first descriptor couldn't be such an entree. Nope.

And yet, there I was, at 7:30, still minutes away from getting the meal on the table, thinking to myself....

SIMPLE?!?!  SIMPLE!?!?!  Three hours later and you call that SIMPLE!!!??!?!  My legs hurt from standing by the counter for the last three hours barely moving; my skin is down to its final layer because of how many gazillion times I had to wash potato off my hands; my counter is a mess and my sink is full of dishes that I won't have energy to wash until tomorrow; my children are ready for bed; my husband was ready for our anniversary dinner by candlelight over an our ago, and to top it off, I'm ANGRY that the recipe said SIMPLE!!

Okay, so, again, maybe it was MY fault.  What was I thinking?  I do have this problem with deciding to make new recipes on the worst of days, but seriously..... this is crazy.  And of course, while in the middle of the process, I realized that it even warned me (in small font, of course) by saying something like "prep time: 2 hours"--which is an already woefully underestimated number as far as my culinary skills are concerned.  As much as I want to be a good cook, I'm really not at all.

So, is the moral of the story "look before you leap"??  Is that it?  Don't give money to strangers (duh...) and don't make recipes that say "simple" until you look at the prep time and know for sure it's going to be something amazing....??  Hmmm..  I think the real issue is me.  How can you overcome your problems when you ARE the problem?