Why Grocery Outlet Is The Best Store Ever

WTF??!!

The Door To Stupidity

So I went to Vegas to meet Elizabeth and go here. It was so much fun! The sponsors are Ford, Jack Daniels, Copenhagen and the US Border Patrol. Perfect. We went to the Copenhagen tent:



And got some free chew,



And a hat:




Bullriding is awesome!



We went some other places too. The Bellagio to look at the dancing waters:



And the ceiling of their lobby:



We went to the Fremont Street Experience:



And enjoyed an interpretive dance by a local:



But by far the most fun we had was this morning in the airport. Elizabeth and I decided that we could replicate the fountains of the Bellagio with side by side drinking fountains. We were singing California Dreaming by the Mamas and the Papas. My drinking fountain was the Papas' part and Elizabeth worked her fountain to the Mamas' part. It was going real well until some guy wanted a drink of water, then we had to quit. I guess you had to be there. It was hilarious. Elizabeth and I make a good team, because she opens the door to stupidity, and I run right through every time. But hey, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?

Oh The Horror!

So I haven't been blogging lately for no other reason than sheer laziness. I have been busy though. But now I have a reason. Yesterday my computer got a virus and died. Just like the pioneers on the Oregon Trail did. Right now I am using Max's laptop which I am not at all comfortable with. He is going to try and reformat my computer this weekend while I am in Las Vegas with my goofy friend Elizabeth. We are going to the National Bullriding championships. Don't ask me how I got roped into that but I did. We will have fun because we always have fun together no matter what we do. I will take pictures and someday when I get my computer back I will post them. so now I have to go pack and wash dishes. Have a great weekend you all.

Maybe if my computer is really dead I should bury it by the interstate, like the pioneers did with Aunt Bessie when she caught a virus and died. It's a thought!

Becoming A Better Blogger

I just read on this blog (which is one of my favorites) that the key to good blogging is posting lots of pictures. So here are some pictures:

Staring At The Ceiling

I am starting to think that taking a nap from 7:30 to 9pm this evening was a bad idea. Also the cup of coffee I had when I woke up from said nap, not a very well thought out idea.

Tomorrow will be a long day. Hopefully I can stay awake for it!

PS Heroes was awesome tonight!

AC/DC Was The Holy Ghost

When I was in high school, there were three bands that I loved. LOVED. They were, and still are, Led Zeppelin (duh!), Aerosmith, and AC/DC. I called them the Holy Trinity of Rock, and I still consider that to be true. We have already discussed my freakish obsessive love for all things Zep. Today we are talking about AC/DC.

There was a period of time, well, my entire senior year of high school, when all I truly wanted for my future was to be Mrs. Angus Young. I was going to balance my marriage to Angus with my career, which was going to be managing Aerosmith. I saw no conflict of interest there at all.

Then Bon died! Stupid Bon Scott, choking on his own vomit and dying in a car, how could he? He was the lead singer of AC/DC! What was going to happen to the band?? Well, they got this new guy Brian to sing, and it was just never the same for me after that. I really loved Bon's voice, and the new guy's voice is not my cup of tea. There have been some good songs since the new guy joined the group in 1980, but I never bought another AC/DC album after Bon.

So now here we are. About a month ago, XM started an AC/DC channel much like they did with Led Zeppelin last year. All AC/DC, all the time! So I have been listening to it a lot and they play all the old Bon Scott songs that I loved so much. So I am very happy with that. XM is doing this to celebrate the release of the first AC/DC album in eight years, called Black Ice. I'm still not buying it, it's not Bon! BUT, I encourage everyone else to buy it. I guess the new guy is here to stay, he has been in the band for 28 years now. And he is good in his own way. One thing though. The new album is only available at Walmart. Walmart? Whatever. And it comes out today! VH1 Classic is running only AC/DC videos and concerts all day long today. So watch that too.

So now all I need to make the Holy Trinity complete is for XM to do an Aerosmith channel. But I probably wouldn't listen to it that much, because I hate all that power ballad crap they did in the late 80's and 90's. I tell you, if I was managing that band, there never would have been all that stupid Amazing Crazy Cryin' business.

This Will Mean Nothing Unless You Are Into Hip-Hop.

Tonight is the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. Sort of like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but for Hip-Hop artists. One of the inductees is a fellow who goes by the name of Slick Rick. He is perhaps best known for his song "Childrens Story". Here is my own children's story about Slick Rick.

About 3 years ago when we still lived in Monterey, Slick Rick came to town to do a show. The afternoon of the show, Max told me that him and Leo were going downtown to meet Slick Rick. Naturally, I was skeptical, because what possessed Max to think he could just go downtown, find Slick Rick, and meet him? So you can imagine my amazement when the boys came home and showed me these:




Not only did they meet Slick Rick, they also had dinner with him at Taco Bell. I just have to wonder what this hip hop legend thought of these two pudgy faced white kids who went downtown just to meet him. Quite the welcoming committee I think.

So as I watch Slick Rick on tv tonight, I am reminded of the story of three people with vastly different lives sharing a meal, and also gold chains.

Reality Check

It has been a bit of a rough week. I don't like rough weeks. They always seem to point up the fact that my life is a struggle. I feel like I have been struggling for a long time. I never lose hope, though, that someday maybe life in general won't be so hard. People think that I am a strong person, but really I'm not. And sometimes the harshness of everything just gets to me. I have a little pity party, but I try not to dwell for too long there. I am scared and lonely just like everyone else, but I try not to stay too long in that headspace either. I just try and take care of myself, get a good night's sleep and pray that I wake up with hope again, and a restored sense of the optimism that everyone says I have.

I'm grateful that rough weeks don't come around too often.

So here's to next week. May it be a smooth one for all of us.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

I CAN'T BREATHE

A Long Story About Coffee

My story starts way back here. I have had my Senseo coffeemaker for over two years and I have been very happy with it. The Senseo brand of coffee pods kind of suck, but that is ok because Target has a brand of coffee pods which are great. Until they discontinued them a few weeks ago. This development threw me into a tizzy of epic proportions. What do I do now?? First, I went to all the local Targets, even drove to Coeur d'Alene, and found only one box of pods. This bought me a couple of weeks to figure out what to do. I gave the matter considerable thought. There are a lot of coffee pods on the internet, but I do not want to depend on the internet and the mail for my coffee. Plus, the shipping drives up the price per pod. So I started looking at other single serve coffee makers. I liked the Keurig one, but the price of the K-Cups is a bit higher than pods. I was on the fence, but then three things happened.
1) Costco started stocking the Keurig machine for $10 less than everyone else, plus they include like 3 months worth of K-Cups.
2) It was my birthday which gave me an excuse to buy something nice for myself.
3) I got a gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond, which sells a wide variety of K-Cups. Plus I have a ton of those 20% off coupons you get in the mail from them. This brings down the price of the K-Cups to mail-order pod levels.
So guess what the UPS guy brought yesterday? So far I have had three cups of coffee from the K-Cup variety pack and I am so wired that I woke up at 4:30am and couldn't get back to sleep on a Saturday which sucks but that is ok, I will just have another cup of coffee! I think I will have one right now!
If you're looking for me, I'll be on the ceiling.

Drink Like A Pirate Day

Yesterday was my 47th birthday. It also happens to be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. I have had some resentment in the past (like, 2 days ago) about sharing my birthday with some goofy made up internet holiday, but now I am ok with it. Here is why.

1) At work yesterday, I was given some really cheap and totally cool pirate toys. I got this plastic sword that when you push the button, it makes sword noises. This provided an entire day and night of amusement for me and everyone around me. I carried it around all day and would use it for encouragement, admonishment and agreement. This means that every time someone talked to me or I talked to them, I would wave the sword. The sword helped us bowl better (or worse) and survived a run-in with some spilled ranch dressing. We believe the sword's power was only compromised for a few minutes. It seems to be working fine now. Yes, it's fine. I just tested it.

2) Because of the two holidays, mine and the pirates', Faythe wore this fabulous outfit which included a puffy shirt and a magnificent pirate hat with lace and feathers. She also had an awesome cane with skulls on the top, which completed her ensemble. Because of Faythe's fabulousness, many drinks were bought for us at the Broadway last night. It was a very fun night of bowling, drinking and hilarious karaoke and people watching.

So in conclusion, I now accept the sharing of my day with pirates.

So Sorry

About the lack of posting. Just haven't felt like it. Still don't, really. But when I get my oomph back, subjects will include:

1) I finished my sock! And two hats.

2) Why I am freaking out about coffee.

3) The book I saw at Value Village.

4) My upcoming birthday and why it is good and bad.

See you soon!

The Fair Is Great!

So Faythe and I went to the Spokane Interstate Fair last night. I went with a specific agenda, which was:

1) See if the knitting I entered won anything.
2) See the awesome chickens, and other barnyard animals of an awesome nature.
3) Eat fair food.
4) Not buy a sham-wow or knives or anything else they sell at the fair.

Mission accomplished!

The first thing we did after we ate was go visit my scarf and washcloth. Here is my scarf:



OH! What is that thing tied to the bottom of it?



That's right, it's a BLUE RIBBON!!! This makes me an Award-Winning Knitter! Woohoo!! Then we went to visit my washcloth.



Another blue ribbon! As you can see, I made good on last year's throwdown. Just wait till next year!

So then after going through the craft and flower rooms, we embarked on some highly scientific funnel cake research. At the fair, they sell Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake and Oklahoma Funnel Cake. While Faythe purchased the P.D. one, I asked the girl in the booth what makes PD funnel cakes different from OK funnel cakes. She looked at me like I was from another planet, and said two words--"The Amish!". But here is the thing. The Amish were not actually at the fair making our funnel cakes. And that is probably why the Oklahoma funnel cake was way better. And a dollar cheaper. Bottom line--Oklahoma Funnel Cakes Rule!!

After our very important and significant research project, we headed into the barns for the best part of the fair, the animals! I was particulary taken with the Longhorn Cattle and their babies.






Aren't they so cute? I Love The Fair!

This Is Huge!

For me. As a knitter.



See that thing on my knee? That is a sock. My first sock. Up until now I have been afraid to knit one. Here is what happened. About a year ago I started the scarf from this post and I had a terrible time with it. I was trying new stitches along with skinny old sock yarn and I got super frustrated and put it down. But when I picked it back up a year later, the process was a lot easier. I had gotten better at knitting! So when I finished up the scarf and had some sock yarn left over, I swallowed my fear and cast on to the dreaded double pointed needles. This is another reason why I was afraid of socks. Double pointed needles suck! They require a level of coordination that I did not have. Until now! I am sucking it up and learning to work with these things. At first it felt like I had 12 fingers on each hand, but I have been doing it for almost a week, and now it only feels like I have about eight fingers on each hand. That is progress. I screwed up three times and had to unravel it, but it appears that the fourth time is the charm!



It is starting to resemble an actual sock! So far so good. I have not gotten down to the heel yet. I am sure there will be more swearing and throwing of needles across the room, but hopefully I will get through it.

Tune in for the next exciting episode of "As The Heel Turns", where we hear Karla say, "%#$*&!" and "*@#&$%!".

Let's Hear It For Faythe!

I have lived up here for two years now, and fortunately I have acquired a few friends in that time. I love all my Supper Club girls, but it seems that the two that I do the most stuff with are Jennifer O. and Faythe. We all seem to like the same kind of things and we have a pretty good time together. We always find the fun in whatever it is we are doing and we laugh a lot. During our adventures, Faythe is the documentarian. She takes her camera everywhere she goes. And she blogs faithfully about all the stuff we do. Oftentimes (Is that one word or two?) she does my blog job for me, writing about our adventures to the point where I just say go here. Which is what I just did, because Faythe has documented our evening at the Roller Derby with such thoroughness, I don't even have to blog about it. So, thanks to my friend Faythe and her trusty camera. Here's to more adventures!

Why Cooking Is Bad

Victory Amid Boob Controversy

Let's start with the victory--I finished my scarf!! I have been knitting pretty much every evening, every lunchtime and most of every weekend since the Olympics started. I knit until I fall asleep in the chair in front of the TV. And it paid off, because this evening I finally finished that dang thing!



It's really nice. Too bad I didn't enter it into the Fair, it may have actually won something.

OK, now to the boob controversy. Let me first point out that this controversy exists only in my mind, but that is enough for me to blog about it. If you have watched the Olympics at all you are no doubt familiar with the commercial with the Sumo wrestlers that turn into an airplane and fly away. I think the commercial is for some computer or something.



As you can see, these Sumo wrestlers have quite a bit of boobage. In fact, they look just like woman's boobs. And the censors have no problem with these giant man-boobs being shown on network television. But they do have a problem with showing girl-boobs.



Wait a minute, this woman has no boobs. She is so muscular that she actually has pecs instead of boobs. But can we see them? NO! Why not? We got to see Michael Phelps' pecs all the live long day. But we can't see woman-pecs. And we have to look at Sumo Moobs. Do you see the problem here?? The boobs are on the wrong people!! And if that is not Olympic controversy, I don't know what is.



What can be done??

The Olympics Are Wearing Me Out!

I have stated here before that I LOVE the Olympics. Always have, always will. I have several things to say on the subject.

First, the opening ceremony was awesome. We all know that. China kicked the world's ass in opening ceremonies. And they are also kicking the world's ass in the events. Which brings me to my second point. There is NO WAY those Chinese girl gymnasts are 16 years old. They are little girls with purple eyeshadow. I am convinced that the Chinese government altered their documents to make 12 year olds into 16 year olds. I have no proof of this, but because I live in America I get to say whatever I want. Yay, freedom! And what is the big deal about the age limit anyway? All it means is that the real 16 year old gymnasts are having their asses handed to them by a bunch of 12 year olds. Does it make everyone feel better to get beat by girls their own age? I don't get it! Whatever.

Here is the problem with the Olympics. I want to watch all the time, but I work. Plus they are running until after midnight every night and I am asleep in the chair by 11pm. So I have to record it and watch what I missed the night before PLUS what I missed while I'm at work PLUS the live stuff from that night! It is exhausting! I admit that I fast forward through water polo, equestrian events, and volleyball, but it still is very time consuming.

And here is the other thing. I am an idiot. Because I signed up on Ravelry for the Ravelympics. I have to finish a scarf that I started last year by the closing ceremonies in order to win a medal. This is the scarf:



I have been knitting like crazy and am only about half way done. I really want that medal! So I finished a project that was almost done and I submitted that. And I got my medal!



But I am still determined to finish my scarf in time! I tell you, all this knitting and watching TV is HARD WORK!! OK, gotta go turn on the TV and make dinner now. I will prevail!

What I Did On My Summer Staycation

What was supposed to happen was that Leo and I were going to go to Canada because Max was supposed to be in Japan right now and we were going to be international travelers too. But then Japan got postponed and Max wanted to come to Canada too and Leo said that if Max comes to Canada then he won't go. So none of us went to Canada. But I still had half of yesterday and all of today off and now with no plans. So here is what I did.

1) Yesterday I went to the rose garden of Manito Park and knitted with a bunch of really cool people. They meet there every week and I will definitely be going back, it was so much fun!

2) This morning I got up early and Jennifer O. and I drove to Mt. Spokane to go berry picking but the road was closed half way up, so we went to Costco and picked up some blueberries there instead. Not quite the same but fun nonetheless.

3) I watched Paula Deen cook Chicken Pot Pie and Steak Diane on the Food Network. In those two dishes she managed to use almost 2 sticks of butter. She said she uses butter because she can. That sounds like a good reason to me.

4) Now I am going to watch Oprah while I clean the kitchen and then I will cook dinner which will be potstickers because the Olympics are in China. Everyone should watch the opening ceremonies tonight because fireworks come from China and they will probably have the best fireworks show in history!

5) Tomorrow I might throw caution to the wind and get a cup of coffee at the Rocket Bakery and possibly even a pink cookie. Whoa. I also might vacuum the house. Double whoa.

6) Tomorrow night they are showing "Willow" at The Shop on Perry. Bring a chair and have some free fun. And see Val Kilmer back when he was cute.

7) Other weekend highlights will include talking on the phone and knitting. Who needs Disneyland or Cabo when so much fun can be had right here!

Weakly Whirled News

It has been a busy week that has gone fast and slow at the same time if that is possible. Here is the stuff I remember, numbered as usual in no particular order, mostly boring except to me.

1) Well I took the big leap and I entered two knitting projects into the Spokane Interstate Fair! There is no going back now, so I better get cracking. I have already finished the Noro scarf, I would take a picture but I don't want my knitting competitors to see it. (Like they read my blog, ha!) I have not yet started the Ballband Washcloth but they don't take long to knit up so I'm sure I can knock it out by the entry date of September 2nd. This weekend will be spent deciding on and procuring the perfect colors of cotton because I will be knitting the finest washcloth ever known in all of history. Just so you know.

2) In other fascinating news, I have been watching a lot of the Suze Orman show lately. By watching I mean I put it on while I am cooking dinner and barely pay attention to it. I am hoping to get some good financial sense by osmosis.

3) Speaking of good financial sense, I threw $12 away playing Bingo last night with my friends Jen O. and Faythe. It was fun! None of us won anything, but 2 ladies at the next table won $500 between them. We were sitting at the wrong table I guess.

4) The other night at 11:15 pm, Max decided that he had to watch The Blues Brothers, which is one of my very favorite movies. So of course I had to stay up way past my bedtime and watch it with him, which I paid for the next day at work, but I don't regret it because any time spent with one of my kids is time well spent.

5) I would like to say HEY! to my cousin Robin who lives in New York and was kind enough to leave a comment saying hello. Robin, it has been too long! I don't have any of your info so I can't get back to you. Email me at spokarla@yahoo.com , I would love to get back in touch with all of you.

6) It's the weekend! Which means grocery shopping, avoiding housework, enjoying the beautiful weather, and possibly going to the South Perry Summer Theater tonight. Totally fun and highly recommended.

Have a great day everybody!