Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Happy Birthday To Me

Ever since Mo, Napster and myself began to hang out Mo would always call to sing the "Birthday Song" on that special day...
It's not your typical "Happy Birthday To You" song. It's quite different and I dare say that I've become quite fond of it.
I know, I know she's planning a wedding that is only 4 or 5 months away.
Today is my birthday.
I'm very sad because Mo didn't call to sing the Birthday Song....very sad indeed...
Hurt is probably a better term. No wait, how about crushed...yeah maybe crushed would be better.
Or what about dejected, downcast, blue, brokenhearted, crestfallen, despondent, forlorn, inconsolable or woebegone. Thanks Mo...sniff...you're the best...where did you register??

Happy Birthday Spurs

Today is Spurs 29th birthday :) Happy Birthday Spurs!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

Okay, it's two more days until Thanksgiving and at the house of Spurs and Napster we have:

- One broken pinky toe (Spurs)
- Fourty degrees outside with gale force winds, a wind chill of 30 degrees and sleet
- Did I mention we live in the South - WTF is going on with the weather??
- One unemployed Napster (still)
- One smelly Lynkin that almost blew away with the wind this morning on her walk
- One totally neurotic cat that is getting crazier by the minute (she see's dead people)
- One chance to help the in-laws fry a turkey tomorrow (the only turkey being made) in an electric turkey fryer - oh and did I mention it will be raining and windy tomorrow too -- nice

I hope everyone else is having a happy Holiday week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 06, 2006

The German In Me

My Dad is coming to visit me and Spurs tomorrow. I have been (as Spurs says) cleaning like a German all day today. My Mom is 100% German and I have inherited all of her cleaning eccentricity. My Mom would clean like no one's business. It was her Mom's fault or maybe just the German way. My Grandmother was ruthless. She lived in an apartment house where we went to visit her for several summers while we were young and you would walk up concrete steps to get to her apartment. Once a week she would bleach those concrete steps with a mop throughout each floor. Every tenant took a turn during the week. The laundry was in the attic of the apartment house and I have very fond memories of following my grandmother up to the attic when I was young and it smelled so good, the fresh laundry would be hanging by clothes pins on lines throughout the huge attic and I loved it. Just the fresh air coming through the windows that didn't have screens (you won't find screens anywhere in Europe) and the green rolling hills and the strawberry fields in the garden where we would go pick strawberries and eat them right out of the ground because no pesticides were used. I have very fond memories of my visits to Germany as well as my visits to England where my Sister lived for 6 years.

My Dad met my Mom while he was stationed in Germany with the Air Force and swept her off of her feet and brought her to the States. Throughout my life any house we lived in, military or our own was always spotless. Every floor, crack and base board was clean enough to eat off of. That had a big impression on me. Granted when I was a teenager I could have cared less. My Mom was horrified by the piles of clothes in my room and the state of my bathroom but she would always tidy up and clean the bathrooms so they would be sparkling. This is how I grew up.

So during my first marriage I was paranoid about everything being spotless. Probably because that was the brightest point I could focus on, having a clean house. After the divorce and living with my Dad for a while I slacked off a lot. Then when I married Spurs I wasn't the same with keeping everything so clean that you could eat off of the floor. I do clean once a week but it's usually a light cleaning and then the deep cleaning happens at least once or twice a month. Sometimes I get restless because I don't have a job right now so my creative side also directs me to clean and rearrange my space.

When I found out that my Dad was coming to visit for the week I got up this morning really early as Spurs was leaving to go out of town for a short business trip so I saw him off and then directly started to clean. It's like I was channeling my Mom, because I cleaned like I have never cleaned before.

When my Dad finally retired from working overseas in Saudi Arabia after 15 years (after retiring from the Air Force my Dad could not work in the U.S. as an air traffic controller, he could only work in the middle east), my Mom developed brain cancer and had a very large tumor. She had two brain surgeries and all the chemo and radiation that you have when you are in that state. After her second surgery from the second tumor the Doctor's said it would be best just to keep her on morphine and let her go. Her brain was not functioning very well and her short term memory was shot. Her speech and everything else slowly went downhill. My Dad took care of her through the entire process. We did hospice out of their own home with the whole hospital bed, nurse visits and everything. One day towards the end my Dad called all of us to tell us to come to their house. I left work and was there for maybe an hour and a half and we all went in and talked to our Mom who was out of it and was struggling to breathe and then she just slipped away. It always amazes me that he just knew to call us. The hardest part was calling my Sister who lived in England at that time to tell her what happened. I don't have a problem with death. My Mom had suffered enough and I was glad she was in a better place. My oldest brother died in a car accident at 19 (I was young) and hopefully they found one another again. That is my hope.

So on a brighter note, I know that my Dad is used to a very clean house and hopefully he will find ours to his liking. My Dad and I haven't really gotten to know each other very well due to his many years overseas and the fact that I am the very youngest. My next sibling is six years older than I am. He has always been there for me to provide whatever support he could and he has always provided for our entire family while being in not the best conditions living in saudi arabia for a very long time, just so he could earn a good living to provide for us.

I'm so glad that he is coming for a visit and I'm sure we will have a great time!! At least I know my home is very clean and comfortable. I will attempt to cook him a good meal tomorrow night (who knows how that will turn out). Once Spurs gets back home the food will be much better :)

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Spurs The Chef

As some of you out there know, Spurs is a great chef. I do not have this gift and am lucky to have married a man that can not only cook but cook really well. One thing about Spurs is he likes to experiment and once he makes something he always finds ways to improve it.

The other night we decided to have Tacos. The kind you make from the box and ground beef. I like to have things like this every now and again because it reminds me of my childhood. Spurs does not follow the directions on the box, he decides to make it his own and add special touches. He put onions and garlic and spices into the ground beef while it was browning. He then put freshly grated monterey jack cheese inside the unbaked taco shells and then put a layer of ground beef over that and then another layer of cheese on top of the beef and then baked them. Then they were topped with grated lettuce and freshly cut tomatoes. I swear those were the best tacos I have ever had, even comparing the ones we had in Texas at authentic Mexican restaurants. After telling him over and over again how great they were his mind was already thinking about ways to improve upon them.

Last night we ordered one of those new Brooklyn style pizzas from the delivery place (yes, this week hasn't been our healthiest of eating weeks) and it was really good. Both Spurs and I like the thin crust style pizza with just cheese or maybe cheese and sausage. This morning we had a few slices of pizza left that had the chunky style sausage on top. Spurs decides he is going to make some cheese grits and throw in some of the sausage that was left on the pizza. After seeing him do this I thought it looked pretty gross. As he started to eat it he asked me to try a spoonful. I did not want any of the sausage but I tried just the grits. I swear it tasted just like pizza. I think there might be a market for Pizza Grits. It would be great hangover breakfast food :)

I think Spurs should have a show on Food Network called 'Experimental Chef' where he takes things we eat all the time and adds his special touches to them. I think it would go over great :)