Complete and utter abandonment!

The goal has been abandoned..... bummer

Friday, Saturday: MIA. Sunday:here!

Two days lost again... but I keep coming back so i take that as steps forward because I knew when i set this goal that it would be a challenge. I don't have a normal schedule and I'm working on improving a crappy memory.  Try to set ourselves back on track.

Positive energy out means positive energy in return.

Enjoy the little things!

Very early morning post for Thursday

Since I have a very hectic day planned for tomorrow I figured I would write my post for Thursday at 12:45am Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

I've been having some very vivid, lucid dreams lately and one of my friends has been telling me that it's my subconscious trying to tell me something but so far I haven't been able to find any common thread in the dreams.  I have started trying to remember to write down my dreams when I wake up, it's kind of a goal like this in terms of it's a challenge for my memory; this is a challenge for my memory just to remember to sit down and do it, with the dreams it's a two-fold challenge of trying to remember to do it and to try and focus and remember as much information from the dream as possible. 

The weather has finally shifted and it's really starting to feel like fall outside.  It has put me in the mood for all sorts of wonderful fall/wintery foods like; soup, pot roast, chili, stews, hot chocolate, hot tea, pies, homemade bread, yummy stuff!  It also means I'm breaking out my favorite section of my closet; my jackets, coats, scarves, hats, gloves, and all those fun clothes!!!


I just finished reading The Martian Chronicles by, Ray Bradbury and I've come to realize why I love and am indifferent to Bradbury more than any other sci-fi writer and it's fairly simple he writes about the topics I like in an almost painfully beautiful way but there's a detachment.... sometimes with him I feel like the writing is so beautiful and detailed that the story and the characters get lost in it.  I don't know I like it but I kind of don't at the same time...  Next on the reading list is Michael Crichton's State of Fear and it's really the last try I'm going to give Crichton.  I love his ideas, I think they're amazing and cool and different but I feel so bogged down with details in his stories that I often end up losing interest and it's unlike Bradbury because with Bradbury you can get lost in the details but the writing is so elegant and with such a flow that you kind of don't mind getting lost in them... with Crichton sometimes I feel like I'm reading a textbook or a manual.  So far the only Crichton book I have liked enough to keep has been Eaters of the Dead.  I have read Sphere and Timeline and both of them just overwhelmed me with really unnessesary (in my opinion) details.  I have two friends that are constantly astonished at my distaste for this author and one of them is the reason I'm trying State of Fear before I totally give up trying to find anything more than the one book by this author. 

I think that's all for the day, I need to get to bed to make it through that hectic day tomorrow.  I might write more for Thursday or I may just save it all for Friday :D

Until than enjoy the little things and think happy thoughts.

The realization of failure on Wednesday

Damn, I failed to remember this for two days in a row....
Sigh, well, got to move on and keep going. 
Monday: me and Jason went "shopping" which is code for us just to get out of the house together, we walked around for a while talking.
Tuesday: Was Joey's (Jason's son) second to last football game and he did really well.  He has been playing defense and really starting to show his strength in the game.
Today: I have been dwelling on the desire for a change, more so a change in my work life than my home life, so with that I'm on my way to work with no motivation but I am going to try and continue the philosophy of bringing happiness to work.

So, sorry for the failure and know that I haven't given up the goal. 

Enjoy the little things and I will try and do more than a recap for the next post! :D

Sunday... ish

To say I'm writing this on Sunday would technically be a lie, it's 1:30 in the morning on Monday morning.  I worked 11 hours at work today (Sunday) got off work at 10 pm, had to run some errands, got home at 11, and fell into my normal routine of watching shows, working on the blanket for Zoe and Ciara and totally forgot about this post. So here I am blurry eyed and ready to be laying down but keeping with the goal! 

I had a very weird dream last night...  The dogs had dug holes in the backyard (in the dream) and when I went closer to investigate these holes I found out they were actually these tunnels the dogs had dug all throughout the neighborhood... it was odd too because they were big enough tunnels for people to walk through... I may have to think more on this and find a way to turn it into a story...

The bed calls, I'll still count this as keeping with the goal just because I stayed up to write it instead of just going to sleep ;)

G'night, and don't forget to enjoy the little things even in your dreams :D

Saturday

So, I figured this needs to be one major disclaimer for this goal I have which is; in order for me to post something everyday and to still get my list of other stuff done in a day spell check is about the extent of the editing I intend on using for most posts.  Today I went back to work, it was fairly normal.  I was inspired by the Campbell's soup commercial that says it's bring your happiness to work day and I tried to employee that way of thinking for  my shift.  Well, dinner is sitting in front of me smelling amazing so that's all you get for the day :D

Enjoy the little things.

Friday

Today, Friday the 14th of October in the year 2011 I am setting a goal.  A goal I am going to desperately try to achieve.  Lately I have had the feel that I just need to set a goal and stick to it.  So, what's this new goal you ask?  My goal is to post something every single day for one whole year, except for certain exceptions I am about to state:  Out of town, or out of the house for the entire 24 hours of the day.  (The only reason this is still a hard a fast exception for me in this technologically linked world is because I still have my bad choice smart phone: the crapberry and it doesn't do so well with anything other than facebook, email, texting, and calls.)  But anyway the only other exceptions are the obvious ones: really bad illness, misfortune to myself or family (Heaven forbid) etc.

So, I am not promising brilliant posts everyday, I'm not even promising much more than a paragraph about the general theme of my day but I at least have to post something. 


Today, I stayed home from work for the second day.  I haven't been feeling good, yesterday it felt like a fever achiness, swollen joints, pain, tiredness, nausea, etc.  and this morning I woke up with a sore throat and I am one of those unfortunate people that strep throat is as common as the cold to me.  So today I have stayed home to try and beat back any germs.  I have to work a lot of the weekend so that some of my co-workers can have fun ;) Happy Birthday Josh!  So, I wanted to make sure I was all healed up by tonight. 


I have had a piece of toast with a glass of orange juice, a bowl of chicken noodle soup (the best remedy) and another glass of orange juice, and now I'm sipping on some wonderful Earl Gray tea.  We'll be have an Italian casserole concoction that we just make up as we go.

I have been doing some research on getting a Camellia Sinensis plant, which is the plant that yo get tea leaves from because me and my Momma were talking about blending our own herbs in our teas to help with our specific health problems and since me and Jason already have the research in place to start our herb garden next growing season, and I'll have mint and thyme and sage and whole list of other wonderful things so I think it would be great to grow my own tea :D


I need to get to work on dinner, so this is my post for the day, I'll talk to you tomorrow!


Enjoy the little things!

Try, Try Again

I'm not the most technologically savvy person on the planet, by a long shot, and I've been having difficulty logging on to this blog. Sigh. Hence some of the delay in posts. I say some because well, work sucks :/ but we all gotta make money right?

I have been making homemade breads lately, and we've been liking them so much we have actually stopped buying store bread :D  We usually do one of three different kinds; white (wonderful, fluffy buttery taste with a nice crunch from the crust), whole wheat, or a half and half wheat and white mixture.  Can you tell which is my favorite? :)  Anyway I will post the recipe for those and some pictures on the next post, I still need to take some pictures when I make it! 


So I wanted to branch out and make my very own sourdough starter so as to make wonderful homemade from scratch sourdough bread as well as some wonderful sourdough pancakes I found a recipe for.


To begin I would like to preface with the knowledge that I have only been working with yeast doughs for the last year or so and all of my stuff has been based off of recipes I either already have or find online through many of the wonderful bloggers out there who are much better at this than I am as well as any advice I gather from friends and family.  Some examples of the internet bloggers who are an unmeasurable help are bakerella, not martha, The Hungry Mouse, Joy the Baker, Unsopisticook, and Closet Cooking just to name a few of the many people out there who constantly inspire me and offer fantastic words of wisdom.   With that out of the way I will continue.

The recipe I used is from Unsopisticook, the link the her page is above and here is the link to this specific recipe, Sourdough Starter.  I did not taking any pictures of my attempt unfortunately but we'll just leave it at saying that if at first you don't succeed try, try again.  I will take pictures on my next attempt because we are having a severe drought/heat wave from Hell here in Oklahoma and the grasshoppers have been invading the town I live in.  It's bad and with three dogs and therefore a door that opens a lot during the day and night and the fact that my kitchen/dining room area is where my backdoor is, sigh, need I go on?  To make a long story short, where I would probably whine and bemoan my horrible luck far too much than is decent, I did cover my starter and even place it high on a shelf but alas a grasshopper and a his grasshopper buddy took a dive in the mixture on only the third day of the fermentation process.  To save myself more heartache, I will wait probably till that first beautiful cold snap of winter to come and kill all of the little pests before I try again.


On a brighter note the two months whose name begins with "A"'s are birthday filled times in my little world.  And this month since it begins with an A is no exception; Jason, 3 of my uncles, my aunt, my niece, my cousin, and 3 friends all will be celebrating birthdays this month!  We are throwing a little shindig for 6 of them this coming weekend and I (in a fit of insanity) volunteered to make the birthday cakes for all of them(the six that we are celebrating this weekend)!!!  I will be making a Carrot Cake, a Red Velvet Cake, a Chocolate Cake, a batch of Vanilla Cupcakes, and a Pillow Cookie translated into a cake!  So wish me luck and I will try and remember to keep the camera with me!!  Look for more posts and I will try and not let you down!


Remember to fall in love with each day and all the little things!

Update

I'm sorry for the lack of posts but, I have good news!!!!

Tomorrow, I am baking chocolate chip cookies with a brownie center!!!  They have become kind of a trademark for me!  I get requests for them almost daily!!  So tomorrow will be an all day affair of baking!  I'm excited to show everybody these, unfortunatly I have promised Jason that I will not post the actual recipe, which is okay because I don't really measure anything anymore for these because I make this so often!!!  But there will be pictures and I will be talking about what goes into them just not the quantitiies!!

The other good news is that I am past the halfway mark now on my knitted blanket for my nieces!!  I will be posting pictures but I ask everyone to keep in mind that it is my first knitting project of this size and that I was just making up a lot of it as I went so don't judge it too harshly!!!

I also have four reviews, that I need to finish up and than post.  Two books and two movies! 

Until later than, continue to be fascinated by the little things!!!

Savings

So I've been busy at work lately, no time for baking, saddest words ever to be uttered I know, but true.  

I did begin attending Knit Nite at Loops & Yarn, a local yarn store here in town, and they seem to be a great group of ladies and I can't wait until the next one and we'll see I may even take a class or two.  Here's their website, you should check it out.  Anyway, I will be taking some pictures of the blanket I'm knitting for my nieces and hopefully within the next week or two it will be done and ready for it's very own post.


Anyway, now that I've rambled about other things, the main topic of this blog was going to be to discuss... That I have begun couponing!  Yes, I have.  No, I have not gone crazy with it and decided I need a stockpile to outlast nuclear winter, but I have decided I'm tired of throwing all my money into the pockets of companies that already have plenty.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind giving them some, I just think the mark up is getting to be a bit much.  I have begun small just clipping coupons and watching deals and seeing where I can best combine the two the get me a good deal and yesterday I had my first big victory!!!  I not only got 3 bottles of our favorite BBQ sauce for free!!!  I got a dollar off the rest of my purchase!!!!  

For both of my grocery shopping trips (I split my usual one into two so as to get things that were on sale at my two favorite grocery stores) I saved a combined amount of roughly $75.00!!!!  Which means I got roughly $325.00 worth of grocery (food, non-food, and pets) for roughly $250.00!!! I know!!!  I was pretty stoked!!!


If you're interested in doing it too, there is a lady who's blog has really been helping me learn the ropes of couponing, it's Coupon Closet!!  

I had to share our good news, and maybe with the increase in savings we'll be able to afford to finish the remodel on our kitchen and you will get to see beautiful baked goods even more!!!


As always, don't forget to enjoy life and fascinated and thrilled with the little things!!

A book, a Momma, a birthday, and a classic

The book: I finished reading We'll Always Have Stockholm by J.M. Jennings!! It's an amazing read!! It's still kind of incredible to read a published book that was written by someone I know in real life. By the way, when you buy it from Amazon Kindle here which you should do very soon, check out the acknowledgments at the end and you will see yours truly! He really is a great author and the story is very good check it out, I won't do any spoiler on this so that you can go read it yourself and support a new author!! Also don't forget to check out his blog.

 

My Momma: My Momma is an amazing woman and I wanted to put a shout out to her in this blog for two main reasons. One being the next part of this blog is going to be about my birthday dinner she gave me. Two being that she and both my Grandmas are a huge reason I got into baking as much as I have, they all three love to make food that makes other people happy and they have all taught me the joy this can bring to life and therefore made me fall in love with baking :D  My Momma is also such a fan of cooking and has begun the "primal" eating lifestyle that she and a friend of her's also have a blog, check it out!

This is a picture of me and my amazing Momma at said birthday.

My birthday: So every year for my brother and my birthdays, there is a tradition no matter what else you do for your birthday you have to go over to Momma's house and have your home cooked birthday dinner and dessert. My Momma is a wonderful cook! You get to pick your dinner and dessert, of course ;), and this year I picked; Salmon, shrimp, mashed potatoes and salad for dinner. Dessert is another tradition but one only really for me, I love, love, love, love, did I mention love? Anyway, love my Momma's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies, no one gets that recipe yet ;) so every year that's what I have instead of cake and we take a picture of me making a silly face.

Here's the beautiful things!

Here's the traditional picture, I have one like this for every year since I was 18 and I intend on having one for every year til my last birthday!

My Momma also made Sangria for us to drink this year since my little brother is officially legal to drink this year :D

The classic: This is the American classic, Apple Pie! I have never tried to tackle a completely (dough and all) homemade Apple Pie and with summer finally making it's presence known I decided this was as good a time as any. I used the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New baking book with a few adjustments born both out of intuition and necessity.

Now the first thing everyone will say you need to do is gather your ingredients, which includes:

For the crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup shortening (I used margarine ,out of necessity, I would recommend at least sticking with shortening, my Momma and Grandma says butter or lard is better. I will try one of those two next time and let you know how it turns out. If, like me, all you have on hand is margarine I am here to tell you it will work but the crust will be a little bland and a little less flaky than if you use the other options. When using the margarine at the adding water stage I did throw in about a tablespoon of milk to add just a little extra.)

6-7 tablespoons cold water

For the filling:

6 cups thinly sliced and peeled cooking apples (I used Granny Smith, another tradition from the Mom and Grandmas)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (I'll admit I'm a little heavy handed with the cinnamon, I just love cinnamon though)

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

optional ½ cup raisins or walnuts (I did not use either of these)

First things first, the base of the pie, the crust must be made. Now I will tell you I was nervous, I had always heard about how hard pie crust is to make and I'll admit mine, like above mentioned, did not turn out quite as nicely as I intended but it was still easier than the danishes I tackled a couple months ago which I'll be posting about here soon, when I make a new batch!! Anyway, rest your mind at ease and approach the crust making confidently!

So for the crust, first you stir together that flour and salt. Than you cut in the butter, lard, shortening, margarine, whatever you are using until the pieces are about pea -sized. Add a tablespoon of water at a time, each time you add a new one kind of toss everything around, until it starts looking like dough (This is where I added about a tablespoon of milk since I was using margarine). Divide the dough in half while still in the bowl. One half at a time, roll into a ball between your floured hands, than on a floured surface use your hands to start flattening the dough, keeping it in as round a shape as possible, I used a rolling pin to flatten it the rest of the way.

I am in love with the spray non-stick stuff, so I sprayed the pie plate with some butter flavored non-stick spay and than set the rolled dough into the pie plate, try not stretch it too much because it will rip and that is a pain in the you know what. Once you get it all settled into the plate and there are no little air bubbles hanging out on the bottom between the crust and the pie plate, trim the extra stuff off the edges so that the crust is even or just a little over the edge of the plate.

Take your scraps from the edges of the first half of dough and add them to the second half, now the same process with the second half of dough, make it into a ball, flatten it out into as much of a circle as you can, but than with this one you have a crossroads; you can leave it plain and flat for the time being and just poke holes in it with a knife later before it goes in the oven or you can cut a design or pattern or something into it. I opted for a pattern since this was my first Apple Pie I really wanted it to look pretty too! I also happened to have inherited a cutter for just this purpose from Jason's Aunt who we were helping to move to Colorado a couple months ago!!!

So if you go for the first option just set the dough aside (don't actually move it yet if you don't have to, but just let it sit for the time being). If you go for option two cut out your pattern and than also just set it aside.

And than comes the apple mixture, the filling, the sweet stuff :D First off you peel and slice your apples I wait til the last second to do this so the apples have no time to brown and turn mushy. Than you place six cups of them in a bowl, I found that if you get decent softball-ish sized apples than that equals about three apples. And sprinkle them with the lemon juice. Than in a separate small to medium sized bowl you add the sugar, the flour the cinnamon, and nutmeg together and stir them all up.

                                                                 Side-note: Most of the time I'm not really sold on the idea that 

                                                                          you need to mix things in a separate bowl and than add them

                                                                      together, I mean they're all going to get mixed up anyway right?

                                                                        Well in some cases my lazy, dish saving way can be taken but

                                                                       in some cases it can not, this is one of those cases my lazy

                                                                       way can not be taken. If you take my lazy way, yes I did 

                                                                     make this mistake, you will end up with a couple pieces of

                                                                     apple really coated in cinnamon and nutmeg and the other 

pieces with pretty much none. No good.

Now after you have mixed all the dry ingredients together you sprinkle them on the apples, I did about half the mixture at a time. I just used my hands to mix it with the apples to save the apples from getting broken or mashed with a spoon. Once all the apples have a wonderful coat of sugar and other goodness you pour that into your pie plate with dough in it.

Than you take the other half of the dough, patterned or plain and lay that over the top of this.

You trim the edge of the top layer of dough to about a half inch and than you tuck the top piece in between the bottom piece and the pie plate and kind of pinch it as you go along to seal it up. Now this is the part if you left the second roll out of dough plain that you poke it all over with a knife so the steam can escape.

Cover the pie with foil or any other oven safe thing that will help protect the top and edges of the pie from over browning. And than you pop it into your oven which should be pre-heated to 375 degrees and bake it for 25 minutes, pull off the covering and than bake it another 25-30 minutes, I never went over 25 minutes the second time but there are a lot of factors.

Take the pie out.

Allow to cool.

And enjoy the classic summer timey goodness :D

Now to show you my two little helpers, this is Ambekka and Bellona my two girl dogs. They know they're not allowed in the kitchen but when I go on one of  my baking kicks and am in there all day they always come poke their heads in and make sure I'm okay.

Bellona is on the top and Ambekka is on the bottom.(since I can't figure out how to rotate the d*** pictures on this thing)

I hope everyone gets to eat homemade Apple Pie at least once this summer whether you make it yourself or not, I hope everyone gets to read a good book, and enjoy family and friends. Don't forget to enjoy life and be fascinated by the little things. :D

2 Movies and a Book

We watched The Expendables a couple nights ago directed by Sylvester Stallone. We're on a bit of a movie kick because we just signed up for that blockbuster pass... thing, where they send the movies you request to your house and you keep them as long as you want!! Anyway, we're really excited about it and are going a bit movie crazy at the moment.

Now to the movie! SPOILER ALERT!!!

I heard a lot of bad reviews of this movie from friends before we watched it but how could I pass up a movie filled with action stars of my life!! I mean Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, and than you add in the wrestlers that my little brother and dad always loved like “Stone Cold” Steve Austen and Randy Couture, and than you add in a name that I have come to know and appreciate as an action figure like Jason Statham!!! Come on who could ignore that!!!

This movie is what it is, an action movie... a guy flick so to speak. It has some amazing action sequences, the guys are tough, the girls are pretty, there are lots of bullets and knives that fly, explosions, motorcycles, etc. The only action like thing that I really had to roll my eyes at was the jump that Stallone makes from the dock onto the plane that Jason Statham is flying away... it just didn't sit right with me. Now, if you are looking for back-story, character development, or even understanding of characters motives, this is NOT the movie for you!

I like at least a little back-story, it drove me a little crazy that I didn't know anything really about any of the characters. Like how long Statham and his girlfriend were dating, if they get back together after he kicks the other guys butt. Also why is Stallone so intent on helping Sandra, why does Li really need more money, who is the motorcycle riding tattoo guy, etc.

Anyway, like I said it was good for what it was but don't look for more. But really could we expect much more from a movie that was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone. Haha! Definitely a renter only!

RENTER

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And last night we watched Wall street: Money Never Sleeps directed by Oliver Stone. SPOILER ALERT!!!

I had seen the original Wall street (also directed by Oliver Stone) a couple months a go for the first time and I really liked it, so when I saw a sequel was coming out, especially a sequel that still included Michael Douglas!!! I had to see it.

And unfortunately I was disappointed, it just didn't have the same punch, the same tension of the first. It also seemed to be lost with the story line, you never really understand any character or story line other than Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) and it's hard to say if you understand him better just because you've dealt with the character before in the original or if it's just a better developed character. Either way Shia LaBeouf who I usually like, seemed wishy-washy and child-ish and wrong for the movie, I don't know... it may just be that he doesn't have a “Wall street face” but I didn't like him in this role. 

All around I was disappointed in the movie, the twists were predictable, the story line weak, the acting not what I've come to expect, and just all around a let down, I'll be sticking with the original. This movie was not an owner by a long shot, it unfortunately doesn't even make the list of movies to rent for me, it's just a DUD.

DUD

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I had to put down Ray Bradbury just for a spell because I'm currently reading We'll Always Have Stockholm by, J.M. Jennings.

The reason this book had to be picked up and Bradbury put down is because this book is actually written by a friend of mine and this is his first book available to the masses. It is available on Amazon Kindle here's the link, http://www.amazon.com/Well-Always-Have-Stockholm-ebook/dp/B004XMOY8A/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1303541729&sr=8-3 . So far it's very good, unfortunately with all the movies, work and everything else I haven't gotten very far in it but I recommend everyone buy it on amazon and support a new author as well as read a very good because I have read a lot of this guy's stuff over the last couple years and he is a very good writer! Here's an excerpt of the book!

     The black wrought-iron sign that arched over the entrance to the community read:

THISTLE CREEK

         
            Green strode up to the left column, which was done in the same red brick as the rest of the wall.  Jutting out from its interior was a small metal keypad.  He put in a six-digit code, and the iron fence slowly slid back from its usual moorings.  Slowly and silently, Jack noted.  This was obviously a very nice place; the houses that lined the street before him were tall and stately, built with money and care.  Nevertheless, he felt a kind of chill pass through him as he passed through the gate and into Thistle Creek.  It might have been related to the smile he had seen on Green’s face, or it might not.  Hell, he thought it might be related to the fact that he had just survived a plane crash in the stupidest way he could imagine.
            And what about the plane crash, at that?  He had heard the sounds of sirens; useful fire trucks and useless ambulances and ambiguous police cars, no doubt.  But shouldn’t he call 911 just the same?  Or at least, shouldn’t someone?  Someone probably had.
            “Did you call 911?” he asked Green.  Green looked over at him, silent for the briefest of seconds, his respectively brown and hazel eyes glued to him as they walked.
            “Yes, that was the first thing I did.  Used my cell phone while I was headed out to see the crash.”  The Southern accent seemed thicker now, and Jack wondered a little at that.  He didn’t know that accents sometimes fade into the shadows like a supporting character in a play once the line has been delivered, and then surge forward when the time comes for the next one.  “That’s when I saw you coming down the hill.  I figured you were dead meat, but you pulled off quite a miracle.”  He seemed to be dismissing the 911 call, but Jack pursued.
            “So they’re sending people out to help?” he asked.  Help might be a strong word.  He thought maybe a better word would be preside, but didn’t say so.  Green nodded.
            “Yup.  And I expect that they’ll want to talk to you at some point, but there’s really no hurry for that.  They’ll have their hands full for quite a while just putting that fire out, and in the mean time, you need to be some place where you can let the shock jitters out safely.  Come on, my house is just up the street here.”
            The street, unsurprisingly, carried the name: THISTLE CREEK LANE.  Jack walked next to Green, his legs feeling more and more rubbery with each step.  He realized that it would be a good thing for him to sit down for a little while.  He felt sort of cold, despite the warmth of the morning sun on his back and neck.  This concerned him, as it meant that he might be going into shock.  He didn’t like to think that might be possible – he was a tough guy, after all, right?  But as he looked at the street stretched out in front of him, he thought it was at least plausible.
            There were people approaching now.  They came from up the street, pouring out of what looked like the biggest barn Jack had ever seen.  He knew almost immediately that it wasn’t a barn, but it was built like one, except much, much bigger.  They were closing in, he realized, to see the latest disturbance that had come to their sleepy little pseudo-village.  One of them, an older man with a white mustache, called out as he approached.
            “Reverend Green!  Did you save someone from that crash?”
            Reverend, Jack thought.  That’s interesting.
            Charles Green said nothing at first, but raised his left hand to the man, palm outward, as if to ward him off.  Jack noticed that a strange scar had been carved into the Green’s palm.  It was a kind of asterisk, and at the end of each of its points was a small circle.  The old man didn’t slow down, but came right up to them.  He then bent and placed a very reverent kiss on the open palm.  Then he bowed for a long moment.  When he rose, there was clear, unadulterated worship in his eyes.
            The others followed suit, one by one.  They came up in a line, each bending to kiss the strange scar on Green’s hand, each bowing for a long moment as if in contemplation of their choice of footwear.  As this unfolded, Jack found that he was beginning to feel very, very afraid.
            “What are they doing?” he asked, and found that he could muster no more than a horrified whisper.  Green did not answer, but the old man did.
            “We’re showing respect to Reverend Green,” he said simply.  He gestured toward Green, and even his that seemed to be done with the severest of admiration.  “Since he saved your life, I guess you’ll be wanting to show your respects too.”  There was the barest trace of malice in the old man’s voice, one which could almost be called jealousy.  Jack was, after all, an intruder to this little mini-community, and the attentions of one person were probably spread thinly as it was.
            Jack turned to Green again.  Green only smiled pleasantly, then raised his hand in front of Jack’s face.  The thin white lines of the scar stood out in the morning sun.
            “Welcome to our community, Jack.  I think you’re going to have a wonderful time staying with us here.”  The voice was cool, friendly, and resolute.
            And Jack’s body – beaten and bruised and incapable of dealing with any but the simplest of functions – performed the only act of self-preservation it could imagine at that moment.  It collapsed, and he fainted.


I found it on his blog, so if you like his book or the idea of his book or whatever, follow him too, here's the link to his blog, http://author-jmjennings.blogspot.com .

So until next time, enjoy life, and be fascinated by the little things!!! :D

My opinion of the movie Red

We watched Red last night, directed by Robert Schwentke. SPOILER ALERT!!!!

I really enjoyed the performances of Helen Mirren as Victoria, 

 

of John Malkovich as Marvin, 

 

and Brian Cox as Ivan. 

 

Malkovich's character of Marvin, the LSD addled former agent was absolutely hysterical. The pig he took with him when they originally leave his house!!! I loved it!! And of course when the woman with the, “camera in her purse,” calls him an old man and he blows her up! Of course that scene was a little ruined by the trailer but still funny irregardless.

Victoria and Ivan.  When Victoria first talks about the agent she fell in love with to Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) and about how she had to prove her loyalty and so she put three shots in his chest!!! I laughed so hard at the way she says it, fantastic performance!!!! And when Ivan says, I know she still still loved me because she shot me in the chest. Again, the delivery is just amazing!!! The dynamic between Ivan and Victoria does seem to over-shadow the dynamic between Sarah and Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) for me.

I like a lot of the little twists and turns and definitely enjoyed the jokes along the way. I would have liked a little more of a nod towards Joe (Morgan Freeman) when he gets shot.

All around I found it to be a decent movie, but not amazing. I say give it a watch but for me it's a renter not an owner!

RENTER

Kind of Random First Post

Me and Jason (my boyfriend) went to this little outlet mall in Gainsville, TX last week and we got some chocolates from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I got a Black Cherry Cream and an Orange Cream and Jason got a Cashew Bear, a chocolate truffle, and an English Toffee Square. It was so delicious! So much so that the only thing I had to take a picture of was the bag! :D 

I got a very pretty Asian inspired tea set from Jason's Grandma, I think it's very pretty...

I am the proud owner of three carnivorous plants, the only plants I've ever been able to keep alive. Jason bought them for me last summer. All three of them just got re-potted two weeks ago and started really growing!! The first one he got me is the Octopus Plant, it's a very interesting plant it has these soft red spines along the last inch of long green stems. These soft spines secrete a sticky liquid that will help trap any wayward fly and allow the stem to actually coil around the insect! This plant also has really small purple flowers that it produces every few months.

The second carnivorous plant he gave me is the classic, the Venus Flytrap. Everyone tends to have seen an image of this plant somewhere along the way. It has these leaves that grow together to form a kind of fold and along the inside of each leaf are very fine hairs that when disturbed cause the two leaves to snap shut and trap the fly inside. Then they secrete a liquid that breaks down the fly so that the plant can absorb the proteins it needs! This plant has tiny white flowers every few months.

The third and final carnivorous plant currently in my collection is the Purple Pitcher. It forms these long... leaves, stems, things.... they're in the shape of a horn and are green but the veins of each one is a dark purple, they also have very fine hairs along the inside of the horn and they have a pool of liquid in the bottom of each horn, the liquid smells really good to bugs and when they go down to get a taste they get trapped because those fine hairs only face downward on the horn so the bug can slide down no problem but backing out is another story. This plant has never bloomed before in all the time I've had it but within the last few weeks it has developed a bud!!! I'm excited to see what color and everything when it finally blooms, the bud is already much larger than the other two!!

This post is kind of all over the place and I'm sorry for that but it's my first one, it will get better, I promise. Anyway, this is my new disc from Innova the Vulcan!!!! I'm super excited it's a 158 weight and this beautiful sky blue!!!!! I haven't gotten to throw it yet but Jason has already gotten to throw his 173 weight red one and he says it's already become a go-to disc!!! I don't know though I'm still pretty loyal to my Katana(also from Innova) but I think I'm going to get a chance to throw it soon so we'll see! The stamp on the disc is for our annual Three Park Throwdown tournament that Sooner Disc Golf has every year in April!

The last, but not least, topic I'm going to touch on during this very chaotic post is that I am currently reading Dandelion Wine by, Ray Bradbury and it's very different than anything I have ever read by him before. I've only ever read, Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Both of which I love dearly but Fahrenheit 451 takes place in the future and Something Wicked This Way Comes deals very closely with the supernatural while Dandelion Wine takes place in the past, not just the past from now either but the past from the year Bradbury wrote it, and so far has had to do with mostly very commonplace things written about in a very beautiful and interesting way. Admittedly I'm only a quarter of the way through the book, Bradbury may have a surprise for me yet!

Thank you to everyone who made it through this very disjointed post I do promise that future posts will be more cohesive!