Aubri-ism #1

My mom told me today (I had heard this story before) that I was full of wisdom when I was little. For example, one day I said to my mom:

"If we get in a car accident and our heads get cut off we will go to Dr. Alleman and he will change our minds."

Apparently I knew the secret to head transplants at such a young age, and Dr. Alleman was the man for the job! ;)

Speaking of babies...

So at my Aunt and Sis-in-laws' birthday dinner on Monday, the fam and I were talking about babies...I brought up the fact that my mom went bowling the night before I was born (I was born at 3:10am on the 3/23, she bowled the night before...) So apparently she woke my dad up, said "I think we need to go to the hospital" and she called the hospital to warn them that she was coming, so that our doctor (the all famous Dr. Alleman! woot Kristina! (we had the same MD)) could make it for the birth.

Apparently the lady at the hospital asked "How far apart are your contractions?"

Mom: "I'm not having any"

So the lady said, well why don't you just wait until you have some contractions..

My mom said "Noooo...if I get there and you decide I should go home, I will. But I am coming in"

3 hours later I was born. She said she started to have contractions in the car. But how ridiculous is that???

When my brother was born (my parents were living on a military base, and at that time the husband could go into the Labor room, but not into the birthing room.) So my mom was there, and they hadn't even checked her yet, and when they did finally check her, she was ready to start pushing. My dad had to leave and he heard Shane scream as he walked into the lobby.

Part of me hopes that I follow in her footsteps, so that it isn't all drawn out, but I also know that you can rip terribly with such a fast labor-delivery. (Your body doesn't have time to relax and stretch and make room for a watermelon.)

Then you hear about the ladies that are in labor for 24 hours...

Hair of a different color...

I decided today that it was time to finally go back to the salon...(last visit was 7/7) Ridiculous, I don't know how I was putting up with my bangs for that long! I have been using my clips a little bit more often.

Last time I dyed my hair a really dark red, but chose a color that was wash out. Well, it did wash out, so my hair looked more brown than red, and more orange than red. But more brown than orange...(if that makes sense at all!) I had about an inch and a half of grow out, which was really embarrassing...so I finally decided to do it. I called my local Regis, and they had an opening right away, so off I went!

I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I didn't quite want red again, it was too hard to maintain. So now I'm like a really dark brown, with a touch of red highlights. (mostly because the red underneath shows through, but also because there was a touch of red in the color.)

Well I don't think you can tell really the color in this picture....oh well!

My dream/dreams...

So last night I had a dream, and I can only remember bits and pieces of it.
1. Kayleen told me "I don't think Bella looks like the luck dragon from Neverending Story" and instead of me being happy (as I normally am when someone says this to me) I was really upset, and was like "well you don't know what falcor looks like then, because she does!" ....weird. Sorry I was rude to you in my dream Kayleen.

2. Jamaal told me "my favorite sister died today." (I haven't met any of his sisters (he has 3 half sisters) he doesn't see them much.) He continued to say "She was sitting on a bench and a (I don't know what it was, in my dream I could see it happen as he told me, so it looked like a 12" square piece of concrete, he called it something but I don't remember.) something fell on her head." It was gruesome...it like broke her skull. In the middle of a park. She had like a 1 year old with her, who was uninjured. So I'm like bawling, and I asked how his dad was, but I don't remember the answer.

3. OH! (I was just about ready to call that the end when I remembered another part.) All of the girls were going to go to this "strip" casino. It was basically only for women, and only one gambling table was open at a time. So everyone had to pay like $2,000 to go to it, you like had to have that much money with you to get in or something. But you didn't necessarily have to spend it? So there was like a game show part of it, that was the only gambling thing open, except for slots, and Sarah went, and you had to pay $200 to be a participant. She didn't win, sorry Sarah. I was like, you guys are crazy! I'm not spending $200 to play a game...So I went and did the slots. Apparently it was called a strip casino because there were male strippers there, but there weren't it was weird.

Stupid fights

I wake up this morning just before Jamaal was going to leave for work and there was a puddle of pee in the kitchen (huge!!) and I say "uh oh looks like Bacardi needed outside" thinking that he hadn't seen this puddle. But he simply says "she has" which had to be clarified by me, because he didn't take his eyes off the TV, "well maybe she didn't go outside" I say.

"that was before" says he. (so I am a little disgusted, Bacardi is locked in the kitchen with her puddle, and he didn't even try to clean it up.

Well as he's leaving he takes a few million paper towels and soaks up most of the puddle. The floor is still visibly wet, needing like 2 more paper towels to clean up (my mom bought the sham-wow cloths, and I'll be putting them to good use, marking a couple with Bacardi's name! :D).

But instead of Jamaal grabbing the two paper towels he graps the swiffer wet jet! And I say, "but there's still pee there" and he "yea"

"you should clean that up first or else you are just smearing the pee around the kitchen" says me (probably in a tone by this point, but I don't hear it)

"do you want to do it?" says he

"Yes! Leave!"

and so he did....madly. And he forgot his work computer.

I was very mad, but I've calmed down now. I didn't handle the situation very well, probably because of the following: (and because lately I've been getting very tired of his half-assed jobs...and his lack of caring for keeping nice things nice)

Before this happened I went in the bathroom and noticed he had taken my towel and put it on the floor. "why do you put my towel on the floor?" (because he does this all the time. He needs to have a towel on the floor when he gets out of the shower, don't know why he can't just dry his little footsies with his own damn towel.)

"at the time there were no other towels up here" (this is true; we have a laundry problem. He says he'll help me, and then doesn't so then I stop doing it all, because we BOTH WORK THE SAME # OF HOURS! but because I work twelves he thinks I work less (more days off in a row))

"just use mine" he says. And I look at him disgusted. I don't want to use his towel! "I was clean when I used it" he says. But that doesn't matter, I don't know what it is, but I don't want his clean body germs on me after showering. ;)

Kind of silly fights, him and I will have to talk later...

Stitch free

Well today I packed Bacardi up in her carrier and we went to the vet to get her stitches out. When we arrived I noticed some puke (that looked an awful lot like prune) in her carrier. The poor girl! She had some pink on her face from laying her head in it...so sad! The receptionist cleaned out my carrier and gave me a towel to use instead of her pad, even though I said it was fine. So now she's mostly healed, just a little teensie bit of scab left on her incision.


_________________


On Monday I went and saw my thyroid doctor. She didn't yell at me like I thought she would. But she agreed with me. She wanted me to get a second ultrasound (no biopsy) to compare to the original in january. BUT she didn't want me to go to Virginia Mason in F-Way, because they stink...according to her. She wants me to go to St. Francis instead. So I had to get my films (picked them up today) so that I can give them to the new radiologist. I'll keep you updated with what we find.

_________________

Today I was in Joann's looking for something to put my new Decor Elements on, and when I got back in my car I couldn't find my phone. I went back in the store, and found it on a shelf by some frames I was looking at! :-O

That's the closest I've been to losing my phone, and the thing that kept running through my mind: "I should call Jamaal to freak out about it to him" but without a phone, how do I do that? It was in the first place I looked, but goodness who does that? (well I guess when I was young, like 12 or so, I set my purse down on a shelf in costco...it was still there when I realized I lost it...)

My Darling Girls!

Bella and Bacardi, my dogs, are really quite hilarious. It is so amazing to me how different they are. Bella is very loving and territorial about it. For example, she will jump in my lap and love every minute of it. But if Bacardi or (Shadow, my parents' dog) try to get on my lap with her, she growls and snarls and yips and/or bites at them until she either gives up, or the other dog leaves.

Bacardi, on the other hand, loves everyone. She likes to show it too, by liking toes, feet, faces, hands, anything and everything in between.

Bella, my oldest, is a shih tzu/poodle. She has a longer nose like a poodle, and a little bit curlier hair, but otherwise looks most like a shih tzu. Bacardi is a Miniature American Eskimo, so all white, and looks like an artic fox, sometimes a polar bear, depending on what she is doing. :D Both of them are adorable to me. Even though Bella sometimes looks like the Luck Dragon from Neverending Story...which makes her fugly. She is very embarrassed when people compare her to Falcor, so I try to hush people when they start to say it. Regardless, I think she's cute.

The first weekend in September, Jamaal, his friend/my friend, and I went to Idaho, and Jamaal and a few others went skydiving. Well for that trip, my parents puppysat my girls. And on the following Monday (one week ago today) My mom took Bacardi in to get spayed (she can no longer have babies). So I didn't get to see my girls until the 8th of September that was 4 nights away from my girls, and I didn't take Bella home with me when I picked up Bacardi, because she needed to rest after her surgery. (the girls can get a little rough, and I didn't want her to split her stitches!) So I didn't get Bella back until Sunday! And boy did I miss her!

One reason, I missed her, was that Bacardi was bored, so she bothered me a lot. But I also missed having Bella keep me company. She pretty much follows me around, and will sit with me as I fold clothes or will sleep next to me. When I didn't have either dog, I found out that I talk to myself a lot...when they are around I am talking to them...but when they aren't...

I have to get Bacardi's stitches out sometime later this week.

Earlier when I was working on a different blog, Bella jumped in my lap, followed closely by Bacardi...Bella growled, when she felt Bacardi was taking her (Bella's) attention, but otherwise was fine. It was difficult to have both dogs in my lap! :D

Bella, on Left, Bacardi on right. (and my messy computer desk upfront and center! :D

Did the Puyallup!

So I went to the Puyallup Fair today with my mom and her two friends. (They are mine too). It was nice, the tickets were free, which was the best part!

I bought an upgrade for my embroidery machine, so I'm pretty excited about that! I am going to try and work with the hoop later tonight. But I have to figure out how to update my machine first. That shouldn't be too tricky, but I foresee myself getting frustrated and yelling at Jamaal when he tries to help me... hehe hopefully it isn't that tricky! :D

My sewing/embroidery machine.

The upgrade package I bought today!

I also bought a razorless shaver. It is basically really fine sandpaper, that removes dead skin and hair. Haven't tried it quite yet, but will later tonight. I did a spot and it made that spot feel nice! :D And something called a "Tortilla Oven" that you can cook baked potatoes in, and of course heat up tortillas and they will stay warm for a long time! Kind of silly, but cool. They had those "Sham Wow" things that you see on TV, they are super absorbent towels basically. And I really want some, but not sure if I'll use them or not....not unless Bacardi decides to start peeing in the house again. She's been good lately, well good on that front. Now it's time to figure out what we will eat for dinner....

CHEESECAKE Madness!

Here is one of my favorite recipes: Cheesecake! It is cheap, easy and SO flexible. You can basically just take the base and add to it, for example, I made a Slightly Cinnamon Cheesecake, and a Baby Ruth Cheesecake, using basically the same recipe! Here we go!

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients:

-20 square graham crackers rolled fine (1-2/3 c. crumbs)

-1/4 c. sugar

-1/3 c. melted margarine or butter

1. Throughly blend together crumbs and sugar.

2. Add margarine and mix well.

3. Press firmly into an even layer against bottom and sides of 9" pie plate.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool.

Tip #1: When making the Slightly Cinnamon variation, add about 1 tsp of cinnamon at step #1.

Tip #2: It is also okay to buy a premade graham cracker crust.

Cheesecake Base

Ingredients:

-2 pkgs (8 oz each) Cream Cheese, softened

-1/2 c. sugar

-1/2 tsp. vanilla

-2 eggs

1. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed, until well blended. Add eggs, mix until blended.

2. Pour into graham cracker crust.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set.

4. Cool. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

Tip #1: For Slightly Cinnamon Cheesecake, add 1-2 tsps of cinnamon at step #1. Serve with cherry pie filling or fresh fruit if desired. (it is good plain, and good with fruit!)

Tip#2: Baby Ruth Cheesecake (or any other candybar...) cut fun-size or miniature bars into small pieces. Stir into cheesecake base. Top the cheesecake before putting in oven with shaved pieces of candybar.

Enjoy!! I know I did! :D

New blog...

So despite my theme, I decided to name my blog:

Ink on the Cardstock

I really just liked it too much. Thanks all for voting... (all TWO of you! because I was the one that voted for Ink on the Cardstock!)

Enjoy!

Aubri's Special Garlic Bread

Update: Please note pictures at end of blog! :D

I will try to post a picture of this later on, I don't have one right now, since I'm at work. But to appease my readers I will post this easy recipe!


Aubri's Garlic Bread
Ingredients:
-Albertson's French Bread (fresh)
-2-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 stick margarine or butter
-oregano
-Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cut the loaf of french bread in half, lengthwise. Tip #1: I think Albertson's french bread is the best, by far. Safeway's is way too hard on the outside. If you want to make your own bread go for it. Keep your eye out for a recipe from me, because I want to try to make my own bread from scratch. Use whatever french bread you want.

2. Place the stick of margarine and minced garlic in a microwave safe bowl, and melt the butter. Tip #2: I "paint" my loaf halves, so i like it completely melted. You do not have to melt it though, you can just soften the margarine, and mix the garlic into it.

3. Paint each loaf half with the garlic margarine. I love it garlic-y so I make sure there is lots of garlic on there. But you do not have to have a lot on there for it to taste garlic-y.


4. Sprinkle oregano and Parmesan cheese over each loaf half.


5. Place each half 4-6 inches under the broiler, set on high. Keep the oven door open a crack to allow the heat to escape. Watch the bread to make sure it doesn't burn. Rotate the loaf halves to make sure they toast evenly.


6. Cut and enjoy! MMMMmmmm

Cutting the Bread in half lengthwise. :D

Ready for the Oven!