365 | Peaches Prattlings

{September 28, 2013} Don’t startle your cat, it’s painful!

When I am sitting on the sofa, the cats think I am there for them, and if you have a cat, you know what I mean.

A lot of times, they want to sit on my right side and this gets frustrating because being a righty, I use my right hand for the mouse, so I try to move them to the left side and at that point, after some scratching, I can get them to lay still, for a while a least.

Last night, I went for Peanut as I’ve done countless times, to lift her to move her over to the left side. Apparently, I startled her big time! She jumped and turned her claws in my direction and had a go at my face!

She got the left side of my nose, just a scratch, then a gouge on the right side of my nose, scratch marks going towards my eye and then these perfect little scratches along my eyelid, perfectly lined up, what are he odds?

Although it took the cuts a long time to stop bleeding, it did stop. I immediately put peroxide on the cuts and was good to go! Peanut took about four minutes, came out of hiding, and she was back saying hello.

I’ve had a few people ask what happened, I’m happy to share, but if it were to scar, I would need a better story to tell!

{September 26, 2013} Size 12 isn’t what it use to be!

Apparently today’s 12 isn’t the same as 1950’s 12. Or today’s medium isn’t the same as 1950’s medium.

I have recently gotten into wearing dresses, not a lot, but I’m working on building my collection. Not all styles suit or flatter me, shirt dresses aren’t the best, but when you add a belt, sometimes that helps, maybe a sweater [cardigan] a whole new look. I even wore one for an interview, worked out quite well, didn’t get the job, but I looked appropriate!

So, along with getting into wearing and wanting to wear dresses, I really like the 50’s style dress, sun dress, short sleeve. Fitted on top, short sleeve, wide strap, long sleeve, cinched at the waist and flared skirt, with pockets, there is something about it! I’ve found a few at goodwill, consignment shops. I even found one that looks like Lucille Ball in the Vegemite episode! Dark blue, white polka dots, buttons all the way from the collar to the bottom, belted with white collar and cuffs on the sleeves. It was a size too large, but with a cute white sweater, perfect! I wore it with the best red peep toe shoes [the ladies are feeling me right about now, it’s ok guys!]

So, today I had some time to kill between training sessions and I went to a Goodwill store called Deja Blue, it was nice. http://www.goodwilldenver.org/dejablue/ . They had a good selection, it was a boutique, instead of the “normal” goodwill stores and there were things that were half off the very low prices! I got a blue dress with, I think very light and tiny polka dots, is there a theme? It’s a shirt dress from Banana Republic, I think I paid $8 for, not too shabby.

Their sizes were small in what I was looking at and didn’t have a lot of the dresses I was looking for, and when I told them what I wanted, they told me about a store not far away called Buffalo Exchange, http://www.buffaloexchange.com/, they had a lot more dresses in the style I wanted, but apparently medium today meant TEENY TINY back in the 50s, I could barely get the dresses over my head and if it did, the girls did not comply!

The girl that was helping me did say that sizes were a lot smaller back then. What’s the controversy about Marilyn Monroe? She was a 12 [or was it 14] and she was a goddess, stylized and idolized. I’m a 12/medium, what happened?

Also had trouble finding dresses with pockets, where are the pockets? I might have to cut the seams and add some pockets for myself, assuming I can find the dresses I am looking for!

There are a lot of vintage store in the Denver area, I’ll keep looking, you never know what you’ll find, but I am determined. Also need some peep toe shoes or perfect vintage ballet flats and some white canvas skips, how perfect would that be?

Here are some samples of what I like, pay attention to the dress, not the girl in the dress.

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/hepcat-dress-in-clover

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/soda-fountain-dress-in-cola

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50s-Style-Black-White-POLKA-Dot-PLUS-SIZE-Peasant-Top-On-Off-Shoulder-Dress-/121124694432

{September 25, 2013} Sloppy joes, yum!

The other day I was jonesing for some sloppy joes, I don’t know if it was a commercial or just a feeling, but that’s what I wanted.

Tonight…guess what we had for dinner! I know, you’re asking how a vegetarian is going to eat sloppy joes. Well, I’ll tell ya! We got two packages of meat, one “real” for DCM and one bag of frozen veggie crumbles from Morning Star,
https://www.morningstarfarms.com/products/meal-starters.

Then you get the sloppy joes seasoning packets, tomato paste and hamburger buns. Two separate pots (when DCM moved out here he bought a set of pots and pans because neither of us thought to give him my set to get settled into his apartment, but…bright side, now we have a met set and a don’t put meat in that set please, very smart!)

After adding all the ingredients, bringing them to a boil, simmer for ten minutes, spoon onto a hamburger bun, heating optional, add a slice of American cheese (this is a personal preference), add a side dish if you wish, we had Mac-n-cheese.

Grab a roll of paper towels, (possibly a hose for after) sit down and enjoy!

And for those of you who are just as goofy as we and CKM are, you may have already been singing this and if you haven’t been, enjoy:

{September 24, 2013} So, three litter boxes it is…GRRRR

Well, I hope this is it, please send good vibes and cross your fingers!

I haven’t wanted to be one of those bloggers [ha ha, I’m a blogger] who devotes too many posts to my animals [one day I’ll tell you about the menagerie I have had through the years, some of you will be surprised, others, not so much!]. I am down to only two cats, and as we know, I don’t live alone, so I can’t be the crazy cat lady! Now, when I was still in Atlanta, in my house and had three cats, I still wasn’t the crazy cat lady, but I knew if I brought another one in the house I would be, so there!

I started off with one cat years ago, with one litter box, then I got another cat, still only one litter box. The first cat was no longer with us and I got 2 cats, with three cats, I now had 2 litter boxes. I know, you should have one more box than cats, that’s a lot of litter boxes, I was good with two. One ran away, down to two.

Last summer, a friend needed a home for a cat, I agreed to take her on. This cat needed to be alone, more details another time. Well, this cat decided to use several locations in the house other than the litter box, so I got a third one, thought it helped? Not so much. She was not long for my family, she’s now much happier with someone else.

When we moved to Colorado, we came with two cats. We are in a two bedroom apartment, luckily to have a laundry room, wahoo! A place for the litter box, yes, litter box, singular. Someone…not saying who [and not anyone walking on two legs] was using the floor of the laundry room as a litter box. So, I gave in and got another box, apparently, this did not help! The younger of the two, we are trying to figure out if something is wrong, as DCM has seen her sitting on the edge of the litter box peeing OUTSIDE the box, did she miss on purpose? I don’t know, but I am tired of yelling, rubbing noses in it, bleach, paper towels and cleaner!

It’s a laundry room people…enough room for a washer, dryer and one or two people standing in it, not exactly the largest room in the place. I gave up finally and picked up a third litter box and we’re in day three of three litter boxes and there have been no special treats anywhere [well, that I have found] fingers crossed.

So…three litter boxes it is, as I said, GRRR and if I need more…anyone want a cat? [keep your fingers crossed for us!]

{September 23, 2013} Today, I went for a walk

This may not sound like big news to anyone and to those who follow my posts about races may think this is a given, but…after what happened last weekend, this is a big deal.

As you know, I turned my ankle not once, not twice, but three times last Saturday. While it’s definitely been getting better, it still hurts and is tender. I have been wearing an ace bandage on it, changed every few days and last night, I decided to take the bandage off, give it some time to heal.

I also haven’t been able to rest it much during the day this past week, during a go-live you’re usually all over the place, walking around to see where you’re needed, after 10 hours on your feet, even though you’re sitting, driving doesn’t feel awesome. Top down on the car definitely helps though!

And before you ask, I have an appointment on Wednesday to have it x-rayed to see if I have done any serious or permanent damage, I’ll keep you posted.

Part of the reason I decided to take off the bandage is that I did some walking yesterday (Pink Power Ranger costume is on it’s way soon EJS!) and I may have overdone it in conjunction with the bandage being too tight. So, in the evening, after we were done running around, I sat with my leg elevated and iced. It was a crap shoot if it hurt or didn’t.

Today was all about taking it easy, good moments and bad, always elevating my leg. Football was on so I was in the bedroom cross stitching, which I am going to tell you all about in another post, and watching movies, not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

I would like to say I slept in due to my new curtains, but not so…yesterday, it was 7:41am and today it was 8:30, really? Well, the curtains we thought were dark enough, were not. I hope I remedied this when I went to the store (I bought a blackout curtain and put it up behind the pretty curtains). I was feeling a bit claustrophobic and antsy, so I got dressed, put on sneakers and headed to Walmart, it’s only about 1/4 mile and I took it slow, but I am still nervous about moving to fast or putting pressure on my feet, it’s going to take some time, I’ve done this before, but it’s usually better in a few days. My appointment on Wednesday will tell.

Well, I walked to Walmart, around the store and then walked home and up a flight of stairs to get to the appointment, as sad as this sounds, that was enough for me.

I know what it’s like when you’ve been sick for a while and then you have a good day and decide I’m going to climb Mt Fuji. Well, I’m happy to say I didn’t overdo it and I’ve been sitting with my leg raised and icing since the, well, after I made banana bread!

Time to get a little more cross stitch in before I sign off and get some sleep!

{September 22, 2013} How many action movie references can one movie have?

DCM and I sat down to watch one of our fa fa fa favorite movies, The Expendables 2.

I thought I had blogged about this movie when we saw it and I apologize if I didn’t (need to do a better search to make sure I didn’t) and if I didn’t, you know I will be more than happy to blog about it!

One of the things we loved was the star power, all these great action heroes from the 80s, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Norris, Lundgren, Li (as in Jet), Van Damme and…hold your breath ladies, Jason Statham!

The other thing we loved were all the bad one liners and references to 80s movies, the stars were making fun off themselves, it was awesome. So tonight, I am going to list as many cheesy bits and when they happen, enjoy. (And if you haven’t seen the movie, sorry for the spoiler alerts, but where you been?)

The movie opens with rescue misson, the truck had a battering ram that said ‘knock knock!’
7 minutes: Terry Crewes to Schwarzenegger, regarding his very large gun, his baby “If I don’t get my baby back, you’ll be terminated.”
21 minutes: Bruce Willis to Stallone’ “All this male pattern badness” what?
41 minutes: Stallone “Track ’em, Find ’em, Kill ’em”
57 minutes: Chuck Norris comes walking around the side of a building to Wild West music, possibly Fist Full of Dollars theme.
59 minutes: the classic Chuck Norris joke, which Chuck Norris tells! Stallone: “I heard a rumor that you got bitten by a king cobra”, Norris: “Yeah, and after five days of excruciating pain, the snake died” (I think DCM may wet himself he’s laughing so hard right now!)
1:01 They are driving into a village and getting shot at and Statham says: “The safest place to be is in front of their guns!”
1:04 Let me set the scene…the bad guys walk into a church, there is a priest wearing a robe with a hood speaking Latin, the next thing you know…da da da..as Jason Statham lifts his head and is revealed, he said “With the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and knife” and then proceeds to kick the crap out of at least 5 guys. (C’mon girls, big collective sigh, ahhh)
1:07 Again, let me set the scene. The ENTIRE rescue crew except for Maggie and Jason Statham open fire on the last bad dude and when he’s down, Stallone says “Rest in pieces”
1:08 when the team gets to the mine and they formulate a plan and they are about to put it into action, you get the requisite action movie slow-mo walk, creates more drama that way, you know. (My favorite use of this technique, Shrek, after saving the princess, he, Fiona and Donkey are running through the castle..but in slow motion…)
1:13 Rescue mission has the team trapped with the captive miners, there is a rumbling, the wall comes crashing in, Schwarzenegger gets out with a stogie in his mouth “I’m back” (rescue ensues)
1:17 They are now in an airport, where the the big gun battle is happening (and a crap ton of one liners are coming up) and the guy about to shoot Stallone is killed they look up and there is Chuck Norris with his theme music (which, if you’ve ever seen I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, you learn that every action hero has his own theme music)
1:18 Schwarzenegger, to Willis, “I’m out, I’ll be bach” Willis to Schwarzenegger, “You’ve been back enough, I’ll be back!”
1:18 Schwarzenegger shaking his head “Yippie ki yeah”
1:18 Norris steps up next to Schwarzenegger and is shooting everyone, stealing Schwarzenegger’s thunder, turns to Norris, “Who is next, Rambo?”
1:19 Willis spins a little baby “carlet”, also known as a Smart Car, Schwarzenegger yanks the door off the car, gets in “My shoe is bigger dan this cah” (you are reading all these Schwarzenegger lines in his voice, aren’t you?)
1:20 Norris knocks a bad dude into the security carry on carry on scanner and it starts to move and as he proceeds to shoot this person full of holes, we are privy to see the X-ray as he is going through the scanner.
1:31 After all the fights, everyone is saying goodbye and Willis tells Stallone he got him and ‘The Little Rascals’ a ride home, it’s a prop plane, very old. Stallone says, ” That belongs in a museum”. Schwarzenegger replies “Ve all do”
1:32 Very last scene (BIG SHAME on me for not making the connection this time!) Jason Statham turns to Stallone (Rocky Balboa, duh!) on the plane, who’s face looks like someone took a meat tenderizer to it and says “From one friend to another” “yeah?” “You really need to learn to fight”

There you have it friends! One liners to put a smile on your face. Now go watch this movie! (If you haven’t and if you have, watch it again!)

{September 20, 2013} We have curtains, I’m sleepin’ in!

I don’t know if there’s been a Saturday that we have slept in since I’ve been here, well, it’s time.

This morning, I made an executive decision (that’s what’s what I texted DCM this morning!)…I want to sleep in tomorrow and we need curtains to block out that big ball of light that comes through the window every day!

As it happens, my skis were ready to be picked up from being adjusted and there is a Bed Bath & Beyond near the Sports Authority in Boulder, so third decision, let’s go to Abo’s pizza for dinner, perfect! (Do you remember when i told you about going for pizza and coming back with skis, well, these were the locations).

First stop, yummy pizza from Abo’s, then across the street to pick up my skis, then off to BB&B for curtains! You know I had about 15 coupons in my bag! They are the only store I know that will take coupons that have expired! I am using coupons from 2005!

We went to look at the curtains and decided on a set, nice, double lined, good for sleeping in and blocking out the sun. On the way to the register, we stopped by the bedding department, I really wanted a new comforter, so we looked and looked and looked, and finally settled on a nice combo, it came with a comforter, bed skirt, 2 decorative pillows and 3 pillow shams, now we just need something to fill them!

We got home, put up the curtain rod that we bought a while ago, get this…metal beams in the walls, what? It took a bit for DCM to find a stud or just not metal to drill for the brackets! It was bizarre!

After all is said and done, we have very nice curtains and bedding, I am very happy! Me to furnish the rest of the room!

Ok, it’s late, it’s been a very long week and I’ve had to get up at 5:30 every morning this week, I’m going to bed and please don’t call or text before Sunday! Kidding! Wish me luck on sleeping in!

Goodnight!

{September 20, 2013} The Family

Tonight DCM and I went to see the family, once we saw the preview we knew we needed to see this movie, it had all the elements, gangsters, explosions, intimidation, guns, family, Robert De Niro , Michelle Pfieffer and Tommy Lee Jones.

It was written and directed by Luc Besson, which I didn’t know until they rolled the credits, but it made things fall into place after that. Luc Besson is best known for The Fifth Element [I need to review this, I could go on for hours!], The Messenger, The Transporter [OMG! IMDB.com is showing Transporter 4, 5, 6, WHAT? well, as long as Jason Statham is in it, I’m good with that, right ladies?].

I have to admit that we both walked away from this movie kind of adrift. It was ok, but it wasn’t that good, the trailers really had the best parts in it.

The family was in interesting dynamic. Dad, who was the former head of the family who testified against the family and has been on the run in the witness protection program for about ten years. The reason they are on the run is that something always happens, they kill someone, blow something up, potentially blow their cover. I say they because the entire family is suited for this lifestyle.

It was kind of fun, well, there were aspects of fun to De Niro’s character’s handle when he was aggravated or crossed, he took some things to extreme measures, others to extreme and final measures and then the fun ones were when he got angry and imagined what he would do those who offended.

Michelle Pfeiffer plays the mom, and she will put up with only so much before she might blow up a building [not a spoiler, it’s in the preview]. Diana Argon, Quinn from Glee is the daughter, a 17 year old who finds love, but has a serious problem with anger management, WOW! She gets her heart broken, but doesn’t actually cry until she kills some hit men, interesting. More interesting, she was wearing a white dress and pearls, so put together wielding firearms and killing the bad guys after her family.

John D’Leo is the son and he is the stereotypical mobsters kid, like you’ve seen in the movies. He goes to school the first day and gets the lay of the land, so to speak, he knows who is who and who is what and what he would need to do to get by and ahead. A little bit con artist, extortionist, enforcer, he runs away from home at one point because he was afraid the FBI would blame the family for his indiscretions.

Tommy Lee Jones is the FBI agent in charge of keeping the family alive because the entire organized crime syndicate wants them dead, you can tell he’s a little tired of the job, especially when they keep moving around ever nine months!

There were some good scenes in the beginning, a few in the middle and then there was action at the end. As I mentioned, it was ok, just not that great. I can tell you we liked it, but won’t be adding it to the collection.

Oh, and the dog lived! you know that’s all I really cared about!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404311/?ref_=sr_1

{September 19, 2013} I came in 5th! Call, Raise, Check, Can I fold now?

I don’t know if you remember me telling you about DCM and his love of Texas Hold ’em.

Back in Atlanta, he would run a game once a month with some friends, he controls the entire thing and a few weeks ago I told you about finding Blackhawk and DCM entering a poker tournament, where he didn’t have to run a game, it was a new experience.

A while ago I had blogged that since he is so into playing Texas Hold ’em, I probably needed to learn to play, so…one Saturday night, he remembered this comment and decided that it was time to teach me to play. He pulled out the table top, full chips, chip holder, the whole nine yards and we sat down and he taught me to play Texas Hold ’em.

Well, he’s been jonesing for a monthly game again and has trouble scheduling one due to…people’s schedules. He sent out the invite two months ago, he had 3 people attend, it just didn’t work out for a bigger group. This month, he sent out the invite and we had 12 people total, including us. It was a lot of fun!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to play, but I knew we were having people over, so I had to be a hostess and feed the masses! We went grocery shopping last night and as I told you, I made hummus and baba ganoush, among other things, shoot, I should have taken a picture! There were dips and chips and popcorn and pretzels and cookies [oh my!], just to name a few! DCM said when he hosted, he put out a few bags of chips and pretzels, I on the other hand, put things in bowls and on platters! Even JS commented on it. How could I not? I come from a long line of women who like to entertain!

I didn’t get a chance to stop at the bank to get cash, so DCM helped me scrape together $20 [we raided the change bucket!] and I was in! Everyone started to arrive, JS, her husband PS, EL, unfortunately, TT wasn’t able to make it, MH and GW were the newest members of the CEC family, DW and MD, MB and BR and his wife NR rounded out the group.

DCM entered everyone’s name into an app he has on his iPad, which assigns people to tables, [one table was made by DCM, it’s really nice: blond wood with a purple velvet center to the top and cup holders cut out, the other is a nice table top that I got him for father’s day.] keeps up with the blinds and times everything [please don’t ask me what the blind is, I’m still trying to figure it out, I just know when I need to put my chips down and how much.

We went to our assigned tables, EL, who was ready to “take DCM down!” was at one table with all the guys while NR, JS and I were at the other table. NR swore she was a novice, but that was not the case, she held her own quite well! Her husband, BR said that she always wins and when they go to a casino, he never loses! GW kept getting dealt the same two cards, at least 7 times! It was driving him batty! MH was a monster, when we consolidated tables, he needed two chip trays!

JS was a monster as well, as soon as she was out, she was the dealer for the table, it went by quickly! After about 1.5 hours, we were down to the next blind and we combined the tables, guess who was moving on to the next table? Your truly! Can you believe it! I would like to think that I didn’t play too much like a newbie! I have a pretty good idea when I should play and when I should fold, I don’t think I made too many rookie moves/mistakes which sometimes frustrate seasoned players. But…it’s still funny when I show my cards, not realizing what I have and I’m told I won because I had a flush!

There was a lot of laughing happening, you know me, to the point of snorting! Here we were getting down to the wire and there are 5 of us! Me, PS, MH, GW and BR! Can you believe it? Me at the table with the big boys! My next hand, I had a pair of 4’s, the blind was something like $3,000, I ended up going all in [including my chip tray!], why not, I took a chance and when I saw the dealer throw a 4…I about lost it! I won about $7,000 on 3 of a kind!

I ended up going out after going all in again with 2 pair, one pair in my hand and one that matched a card on the table [I know I’m saying this all wrong, but for those of you that don’t play poker, maybe you’ll understand] which would have given me 2 pair, pretty good and someone had the same hand, but Ace high, pook, I was out!

The game went on another hour, thinning the crowd out until it was me, DCM, JS and NR watching and PS, GW, MH and BR down to the wire, we were pulling out the black chips at that point! PS finally went all in and lost, he and JS went home.

In the end it was MH first, BR second and GW happy because he doubled his money! [$48, $72, $220] Not a bad payout for a few hours of fun and the chance to take home a little green [and silver in this case!].

I don’t think I’ll be watching too much WSP [World Series of Poker for those of you not in the know] or Poker after Dark, but I just might play in next month’s game!

I came in 5th! No money, but bragging rights! Sounds good to me!

{September 17, 2013} Channeling my mom! Fresh really is best!

The past few weeks I have been channeling my mom and making some great food.

My mom was an amazing cook, she could make almost anything, she was a bit of a foodie, so that was to her advantage. She was great at pairing different things to drink with food, like beers and wine, being creative with food.

When I became a vegetarian, she was terrific, she would find different and new recipes to cook for me, I’m not sure if she thought or hoped it was/would be a phase, but she took it all in stride and went all out! Vegetarian chopped liver, meatballs, you name it, she probably tried it!

She was so great that she would sometimes make something for her and myself and something else for my dad and sister, they weren’t as big on trying some of her creations and sometimes she would make something just for me.

There were things she made or ate that I didn’t care for at the time, pesto, goat cheese being two of them, but as I have gotten older, I’ve found that my tastes have changed. When I first became a vegetarian, I didn’t like a lot of vegetables! Don’t ask! VL introduced me to a love of raw mushrooms and every once in a while when I buy a package of mushrooms and I’m munching while I’m driving, I think of him, thanks VL!

My mom made the best pesto, even had basil in the garden at the summer house. I’ve made it before, it was good and a few weeks ago, I was at the farmers market and bought a basil plant, so I made some more…how much fun is it to pull ingredients that you have in the house, especially fresh ones, like big basil leaves for a tomato/basil/mozzarella! Then last week, I made some pesto and put it in an ice cube tray and froze it, it will be yummy this winter! I was even dipping mushrooms in it for a snack, yum!

It’s such an easy recipe: basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan cheese.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/basil-pesto-recipe2/index.html

I used to only like fried eggplant, then I discovered a love of almost everything eggplant, especially, baba ganoush, it’s an eggplant spread and so simple: eggplant, olive oil, tahini, garlic, salt, couldn’t be simpler!
http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-baba-ghanoush-smoky-eggplant-dip-30084

I have always loved hummus, it’s delicious! Great with pita or veggies and it comes in different favors, go to the grocery store and look in the produce section, you’ll find a bunch of them! When my family lived in Israel for a summer, I ate hummus almost every day, y u m!
Another simple recipe: chick peas, olive oil, garlic, salt
http://mideastfood.about.com/od/appetizerssnacks/r/hummusbitahini.htm

I took my first try at baba ganoush to girls night last week, they loved it. There is a poker game here tomorrow night, they are in for a treat!

Thanks to my mom, I have a palate that enjoys the finer things, but also a love of experimenting, trying new things and cooking, I’m doing it a little more all the time. I know she would have loved what I made and I will tell you this…I am not buying any of these in the store anymore! Mine is better!

Thanks mommy!

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