and the wieners are.....

My first give away has come to an end and since the animals picked winners with different necklace choices, I thought why not have two winners.

The first thing I did was print out all of the comments and cut them so they could be folded individually.

Then I put Piccolo down to take her pick, and she chose Jennifer.  Jennifer must have smelled like tuna.  (ooo, I didn't mean that like it sounded, Piccolo just loves her tuna!)

Then it was Camel's turn.  She picked Beth of Finding My Voice.  Beth must have smelled like well... anything because Camel will eat just about anything.

So, we have two wieners!  Sweetness (the other cat) didn't get to pick a winner because she is still hiding under a bed or in a closet.

Congratulations Beth and Jennifer.  I will be getting your priceless* necklaces to you in the mail.


*the word priceless has always confused me, it doesn't seem like it means what it says

Give Away!

It’s about time! A give-away!

I started making glass pendant necklaces a couple of months ago. I enjoy making them and even have received a bunch of requests for personalized pendants. Now is the time for a give-away.
Just leave a comment on my blog with the number of the necklace you prefer (anonymous posters make it difficult to contact them if they have won—Mother!), and I will have one of my animals pick a random winner.

The contest is open until Monday, July 26 at midnight, so instead of just reading, leave a comment!

One of these beauties will pick a winner (I hope...I may have to sprinkle some treats around).  I will post the winner name's here on Tuesday (Wednesday the latest).

Good luck!

July's Dinner Club

For our monthly dinner club, Beth picked Browntrout which was must improved from her pick last year.  You see, last year, Beth completely forgot about dinner club and didn't pick a restaurant.  She made up for this year with a BYOB evening and two bottles of wine.  Thanks Beth!

The restaurant has a roof top where they grow their own herbs and some other stuff, and they focus on using sustainable ingredients.  

Susan and I each ordered pomme frites as an appetizer, and there was enough there to feed the entire restaurant!  The frites came with 3 dipping sauces, and they were delicious.

For dinner 4 out of 5 of us had the Arctic char.  Beth had the ravioli.  All of us enjoyed our dishes. 

 A really weird thing happened while we were eating.  Our main dishes had arrived, and we all dug in.  All of a sudden, I was like, "Wow!  Grandma!"  And then my cousin, Heather said, "it just happened to me, too."  So, while we were eating, Heather and I must have both ate the small piece of mint in our salad at the exact same time which brought us both immediately back to our grandma's backyard where she had mint growing wild, and we all followed her lead, and just picked a leaf and chewed on it whenever we felt like it.  It was a really wild and welcome visit from my grandma during dinner.

For dessert, a couple of us ordered a raspberry chocolate torte, and unfortunately, there are no pictures of that beautiful treat.  My mind must have turned to mush when I saw/smelled the chocolate, and I lost my mind and ate that thing so fast it didn't even have a chance to pose for a picture.

there was a *fatality* on my favorite show

My favorite TV show is So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD for short).  I love, love, love it.  I LOVE it!  Currently, season 7 of SYTYCD airs on FOX on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Do yourself a treat, and tune in.  You won't regret it.

Last week, two dancers were unable to dance because of injury.  It was really sad for one of those dancers who required surgery, and had to leave the show.  It was a tearful episode.

This morning I called my mother....

me:  Did you watch SYTYCD last night?
mom:  Yes.
me:  Okay, don't tell me anything, I only got to watch 2 of the dances this morning.  (I generally TIVO the show and watch it later)
mom:  Well, there was another fatality.
me:  Fatality???  Do you mean casualty? 
mom:  Well, there was another fatality.
me:  MOTHER!  Fatality mean someone DIED!  You know, like when you hear there was a 'fatal' car crash?
mom:  [starting to laugh harder and harder]  Don't tell anyone that I said that.
me:  Oh no mother, this is good stuff.  Damn good stuff.

lesson learned/embarrassing moment #1,589

We have a cleaning lady come to our condo/apartment every three weeks. She is Polish and horrified, that I (being Polish myself) am such a slob. The first time she came over, she couldn’t believe I was Polish and that my home was in the state it was. I try to be better, believe me, I do. Every day, is a constant struggle to be neater, more organized.


Ignacio leaves for work at 5:30am, and normally, I leave for the gym around the same time. Today, I was beat, dead tired, and I stayed in bed until around 7am. I got up and went to the “reading throne” and sat there wearing only a t-shirt (which looking back, I was lucky to be wearing at least a t-shirt).

When you walk into our condo, an immediate left turn will take you into the only bathroom we have. I rarely close the bathroom door, especially if I am alone, I usually don’t. So, this morning as I was reading on my special throne with the door open, I heard the key in the door, and then the door opened. I just assumed it was Ignacio coming home for his keys, wallet, or cell phone because he is really skilled at forgetting at least one of those things every other day.

Well, imagine my surprise when it wasn’t Ignacio at all. It took me a second to make out the figure of the woman now in my home as I didn’t have my glasses on. All of these things came flooding to me at once, but somehow on a delay:

*I am half naked

*I am going to the bathroom (#2) with the door open

*I am reading Rolling Stone magazine and I still don’t know how I got the subscription, but hey, it’s cool

*holy shit, it’s the cleaning lady

With the smoothness and quick thinking skills that I am known for (NOT), I say, “OH!! Christina!!”

And that, my friends, is the lesson I learned today. Don’t go the bathroom half naked with the door open when your front door is 4 feet away.


I may have learned that lesson today, but ask me in a week if I went the bathroom with the door closed today.

the break-up

I’ve decided to break-up with my bathroom scale. I have been very faithful in our relationship, but I feel I’ve been giving more than I’ve been receiving, and it’s time to move on.

I have been a Friday morning devotee to the scale. I wake-up, go to the bathroom (if you know what I mean), do not drink even a sip of water or breathe any air (if I breathe, I might weigh more when I step on the scale) and I get on the scale buck naked. I’ve “weighed in” for years every Friday morning. Like I said, I’m very faithful in my relationships.

So, here’s the problem:

If I’ve gained any weight, it totally funks up my day and mood. I’m all like, “Fukc it, I gained weight despite eating cottage cheese and sweating my ass off in spin class and piyo (a pilates/yoga fusion) so I might as well eat whatever the hell I feel like, cuz NOTHING is working!”

If I’ve lost any weight, I’m all like, “Oh yeah baby! I lost weight, and that means I can reward myself with a snickers bar and McFlurry and nachos today!”

Do you see where this relationship has gotten me? Yup, no where!

So, I’m breaking it off with the cheating bastard. I give and I give and I give, but what do I get? Nothing but tears and disappointment. Seriously, this is an abusive relationship, and I am saying enough is enough.

I just hope I don’t go crawling back asking the scale to take me back.