Hello? testing testing 1 2

Hello? testing testing 1 2 3

Oh yeah!!!

OK!  Today I remembered something funny and (back then) breath taking from my past.  As I get older I seem to have forgotten some really funny shit that I was part of in my past.  So I'm going to put everything in here is it pops into my head.  I'll jump around alot, but atleast when I'm old and senile it won't be lost.  To me anyway.

So back before I was 21 I had a boyfriend who was 21 or maybe older.  He was a lot of fun.  We decided to grab a couple of 40's (Mickeys of course-yuck!)  and head to the Featherly park to drink them.  Of course it was after the park had closed.  So I'm guessing we decided to go there around 9/10pm.  I dressed all in black so I wouldn't be seen.  HaHa!!!  We parked my blue Buick (he didn't have a car...hmmm...) in a neighborhood across from the park and stuffed a backpack with the 40's.  Wouldn't you know it just as we were about to cross the street a big old Caddy with an old couple behind the wheel drove by and then s-l-o-w-e-d way down to stare at us and give us the stink eye.  We were dumb kids so we ran into the park anyway.  Well, this was Yorba Linda-Land of Gracious Living- in Conservative Orange County.  Conservative with a capital C !  Almost immediately we saw the lights of not one, but two cop cars entering the park.  You see, this place was so damn boring I'm sure the cops were just chomping at the bit to catch us for some excitement.  Cause NOTHING ever happened here.  We ran into the park to the middle-cop car, then to the left-cop car, then to the right-cop car then FAST back towards the Santa Ana River.  We made it to the bike trail and were walking along just watching the lights in the park when all of a sudden there were lights on the bike trail!  Oh man!  So my boyfriend grabbed me and said "When I say duck you duck and don't move!!!"  "Now RUN!"  In a hushed whisper of course.  We ran into the tall overgrown weeds and he yell/whispered "Duck!"  I slammed to the ground, backpack sticking up, and eyes straining to see above me.  I saw the lights as they slowly passed over the grass right above us and then slowly creeping down the trail to the west of us.  We didn't move for a long time.  But the whole time this was happening I never really thought I'd get caught.  I liked it!!!  I don't even remember drinking the 40's or what time we left or what happened next.  I do know that I did not get caught by the police that night or any other night.  Fun times :)

December 27th

My abdominal muscles still hurt after my yoga session Xmas morning.  I hadn't done yoga in at least a year.  My legs however feel fine.  No matter how long I ride or how long I hold a squat my legs never feel achy the next day.  So Christmas brunch with Jasmine, Jody, Quinn and a late Steven.  Then Jasmine went to a friends, Steven went else where and the rest of us went to the bar and played many games of pool.  Chris joined me n Jody later and we played even more games of pool.  Sidelines was handing out presents.  I got a three olives vodka t-shirt.  The simple things can still make me happy.  Later that night Chris and Jody jammed in the living room.  I sat there in the recliner closed my eyes and enjoyed the guitars and songs.

Today at work Midge gave me a pillow she'd made.  It has Friedas, sugar skulls, virgin marys, flowers, monkeys and hearts all over it.  Now I'm going to finish hand embroidering her a skull ornament.  In sugar skull fashion.

What if salmon had guns?

Game

Sitting here watching the game with Jasmine and Quinn.  Totally not paying attention, but having a good time anyway.  The plan is to head to Blue Lake Casino tonight because Quinn is entered into a drawing to win $2000!!! SO rad :)  I hope he wins.  Then he'll buy us a beverage.  HaHaHa!!!

So I think it got up to atleast 60 degrees today.  Crazy.  But I hope the rains are coming.  Went for a bike ride last night for 50 minutes.  A loop through Arcata via Bayside, LK Wood and Alliance. 

too warm

Nothing exciting happened today.  It was way too warm in Humboldt county.  Which is lame because I want to be able to wear my sweaters and hoodies and I can't because it's like freakin' 70 degrees out. One word to describe me right now?  Annoyed.

Hmmm I just thought of a future topic I'd like to touch upon.  "If salmon had guns"

 at the end of the De Martin trail

 Agate Beach

 View along Rim Trail in Patricks Point SP

 Monadenia fidelis Trinidad Head

 view from Indian Beach

 Thanksgiving prep

 view of sunset from home

 2nd T-Day yippee!!!

 dying sea lion on Trinidad SB

 College Cove w/ N8

 Elk Head

 pack rat nest !!!

 teeny shroom. check out the pine needles next to it.

 along Skunk Cabbage trail, Prairie Creek SP

 Fern Canyon

 Friendship ridge trail

Today is the last day of Fall.  Winter officially starts tomorrow at 12:30am.  I'm pretty happy the days will be getting longer again.  I put together a quick pic melange of my Fall.  I'm glad I did all that hiking.  NOW the people who know say this may be one of our driest winters on record.  They started out by saying it would be one of the wettest on record.  Who knows.  BUT I really do hope it rains.  Can't wait to post my first winter blog entry.  It will snow, but I thought we would've received some snow by now.  I would like to go snowboarding on the bunny slope at least once and snowshoeing at least once.  More is preferable, but I'll take once each to nothing.  Time to go and make ornaments for my co-workers.  HAPPY SOLSTICE!!!

Most likely a Grey Fox

Boooooring

Wow, I read my first three posts and talk about B.O.R.I.N.G!!!  Anywho, I'm just going to keep the random name of this blog and use this as my online journal.  I SOOOO love writing with pen and paper, but this way I won't have to worry about one more thing to store in my already overstuffed room.  I swear my room is starting to look like one of those people.  You know those people.  Those people that get featured on the show Hoarders.  Yup, I'm very afraid I'm a functioning hoarder.  I digress...Where was I?  Oh yes, I'm going to try and remember funny or weird shit from the past too and post it here.  Such as my weird ass dreams.  Yup.

I will be home in Arcata this Xmas.  We are thinking of going to the bars and playing pool.  My mom sent me presents so I have something to open that morning.  Sweet :)  My aunt sent me a card with a very serious tone.  Chris gave me all the candy and cookies he received as presents.  I've already eaten one of each and now I have a headache coming on.  This always happens when I eat too much sugar.

What else do I want?  To learn to play guitar.  To improve my yoga level.  So many things I want.

So I decided to make a creative dinner.  I went to the local store and bought some hot Italian sausage to add to my melange of veggies at home.  I cut up:

1small-medium sweet potato......$  .70
1 large carrot.............................    .25
1/2 large red onion.....................   free
3 fresh garlic cloves....................    .10
5 leaves of kale (stems removed)  1.00
1/4 red cabbage.........................    .25
2 hot Italian sausage links............  2.67
3 T Sesame oil............................       ?
Seasoning...................................   free
Parmesan....................................    .10

Grand TOTAL...........................$ 5.07

I received the seasoning free as a gift one year and the onion from a roommate who was moving out.  The sesame oil was bought so long ago I just can't remember how much it was.  I'll have to check it out soon though because I'm almost out.  I am super full and I still have two bowl fulls left.  So that ended up making 3 meals meaning $ 1.69 per meal.  Of course it'll cost more if you're buying all the ingredients.  But I can't imagine it costing much more than that.  It was a pretty hearty meal and if I'd been thinking I would've made some barley to put the veggie/sausage melange on top of.  Rice or pasta would be great too.  I've never added sausage to veggies like this before and I'm pretty pleased.  This can easily be a veggie/vegan meal.  In fact I look forward to trying it with tofu, beans or seitan  on a bed of quinoa or you name it!  Just don't forget the seasoning.  There's nothing worse than bland bland bland.  Blah!  I hope the picture looks appetizing.

Day 2

Well, I backslid today.  I ate out.  Oh the shame!  What did I eat today?  Well, I had a peanut butter and jelly again with milk.  It's quick in the morning when I'm feeling lazy and keeps me full without any crashes.  Then I ate out and had a ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce sandwich with some kick-ass potato salad.  And then about an hour ago I had green beans and 1/3 of half a chicken, tea w/ milk & sugar.  So that breaks down into the following:

PB&J with milk (same as yesterday)..........$ 1.38
Ham sandwich & potato salad (w/ fixins)..........$ 7.03
1/3 of half a chicken @ $ 5.99 for half a chicken..........$2.00
Green beans (free giveaway)..........$  0.00
Tea (2 bags)..........$ .10
Sugar (3T)..........$ .26
Splash Milk ( ~ 2 oz)..........$ .07 

For a grand Total of..........$ 10.84

I'm pretty sure I could have kept the cost under $6.00 if I'd just eaten a home meal instead of out.  OUT.
A bad word for the budget-OUT.  But it's so convenient and fun.  Ok I'll try and spice up this blog with some exciting action packed food photos.  Creativity will be key.

OH! and PS:  I forgot to add two freebies yesterday.  A co-worker bought everyone a bitty chocolate mousse tart and a small latte.  I don't drink coffee but I drank it anyway.  I tried it hesitantly and was pleasantly surprised to find it smoooth and not bitter at all.  I think the latte part helped.

The Cost of Eating In

So I was sitting on the plaza eating my pb&j and drinking my milk and I thought "I wonder how much this meal is costing me?"  After mulling over the ingredients of my meal I came up with a ball park figure of $1.19.  Now, that's a ballpark because the jelly was actually homemade huckleberry jam from a friend in Alaska.  I don't want to deflate the actual value of the meal.  But it didn't cost me anything except my time helping her pick those awesome Alaskan huckleberries.  Yay for me! When I got home I re-calculated the actual cost and this is how it actually broke down:

Bread - $ .12.....2 slices of bread from a loaf that cost : $1.29 (16 servings per loaf/1 serving=1 slice)
PB- $ .57..........4 TBS of peanut butter from a jar that cost $3.99 ( 14 servings per jar/1 serving=2 TBS)
Jam - $ .00........2 TBS gifted homemade huckleberry jam
Milk - $ .69.......1-16 oz carton of milk for $ .69
For a TOTAL of $ 1.38

Off by $ .19, not bad!  I definitely plan on canning this summer and when I do I will try and keep a detailed account of what I use.  It will be interesting to see how that breaks down.  Now, the cost of my meal can fluctuate depending on what I buy at the store.  16 oz of almond milk on sale for $1.79 per carton would add $ .89 instead of $ .69 and 16 oz from a 1/2 gallon of organic milk on sale for $3.99 would add $ .99.  And of course if you bought or made your jam then you'd have to figure in that cost. 

I'm off to eat dinner.  I will be finishing the other half of a burrito I bought at a little hole in the wall Mexican food place (forgot the name!!!).  Which means ,I bought it out for $4.50, dinner is costing me $2.25.  Plus I'll have hot tea and sugar.  But I forgot how much I paid for the box of tea and the sugar.  I'll have to research that and post the total cost next time. 

I'm pretty excited to see what I'll learn from this experiment.  Until next time...