Atlantic Beach with the kids, 5/16/09

After the awesome time we had at the MCAS Cherry Point Air Show on Saturday, 5/16/09, we went to a restaurant and ate dinner (compliments of my mom...thank you Mommy!), then took the kids to Atlantic Beach to play and collect shells. We warned them not to get wet. They did not heed the warning. Both were soaked when we headed back to the car, much to the dismay of the hubs. I had a towel in the back of the truck and wasn't so upset with them...they had a great time, and that's what it was about. Thankfully we had the foresight to make them take their shoes off far from the beach...

Click on the photo if you want to see a description of what/who is in the photo.

Enjoy!

MCAS Cherry Point Air Show Photos!!

A set of 84 photos from the MCAS Cherry Point Air Show, May 16, 2009.

Enjoy! (If you go directly to my flickr acct, you can see my comments on what types of aircraft are in the photos, if hubs knew).

Happy Kid

Hubs took the day off to put up the pool, and we were hoping to take him on his first trail ride at Harris...but it was closed due to wet conditions (as was Crabtree). So we decided to go ride the American Tobacco Trail again. He'd ridden it before, but not on the new bike. Since our older son was home (he's still tracked out from year round school), we took him too. He LOVES to ride.

Hubs and I figured it'd be a fairly short ride since M was coming with us, and we were right. We stopped probably 6 times for one thing or another, but all told, we rode 4 miles. I am SO PROUD of my kid for riding that far! He has never ridden more than a couple miles, so this is his personal best. He even rode almost all the way up the hill back to the parking lot (we parked at the closer trailhead...not usually where I park)! He got frustrated at the end because it was raining and he was tired and couldn't make it all the way up the hill, but I headed that tantrum off by telling him how awesome it was that he had ridden that far and what a proud mommy I was. Then...

...he told us about the frog he put in his pack. He was all excited about the baby frogs that were ALL OVER the place and picked some up during our various stops along the ride. Apparently he found a big frog and slipped it into the outside pocket of his hydration pack...once we found out about it, we made him let the frog go. It was a cool frog, though. :D Boys...

And on a more personal note, I rode up the damn hill...go me!

It was a good ride. Hubs got to wear his new biking shoes and clipped in for the whole ride. He liked it. Kid did a long ride. I got out and rode. All good things.

This is what hubs, M and me got caught in at the end of our ride on the Tobacco Trail just now.

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Retest of Sriracha

The results are in from my test of this evening's dinner being flavored with Sriracha instead of Cholula...

I had tofu and veggies cooked and ready to be plated, and hubs walks over to the stove and plucks out a piece of veggie. He pops it in his mouth and nods his head at me. About 3 seconds later I hear "haaaaaa" "hhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" "HAAAAAA" and he beelines to the sink for some water. He looks at me and says "that is TOO spicy."

I've always liked my food spicier than him, so I got a piece of veggie and ate it...and it was PERFECT. Nice and spicy, just the way I like it.

I made less veggies tonight and put more Sriracha on it. I was actually afraid I'd used too much - I like spicy food, but I also like to be able to TASTE it. Spice should enhance the flavor of the food, not mask it. In my opinion, Sriracha walks a fine line in that regard. It's not as flavorful as Cholula, but it's still good...provided you use enough of it.

I'll keep using it for sure - and I'll tell my Dad about it too. I'm sure he'll enjoy it.


dinner covered in Sriracha...and yes, that is a shit load of garlic on the top. I had to use the jarred stuff cuz my bulbs started growing. :(

Sriracha vs Cholula...results

Tonight I decided to put Sriracha in my veggies and tofu instead of my usual [love] Cholula.

The results? Meh.

I'd had Sriracha recently, in my hibachi chicken at a wonderful restaurant called Tsunami Buffet in Morehead City, NC on the weekend we went to the MCAS Cherry Point Air Show. It was spicy, but not overpowering and had a good taste. I liked it. So when a friend pointed me to an article about it a few days ago, I went to my local Wally Hell and bought a bottle...$2, or some ridiculously low price for a pretty large bottle. Cholula is $2.67 for a 5oz bottle, Sriracha comes in a 17oz bottle.

I usually put a liberal dousing of Cholula on my veggies/tofu because I love spicy food, but not being familiar with how much Sriracha I would need, it's likely I didn't put enough in. I will try it again, hopefully with better results. I can *just* taste the spice in the aftertaste of the food, and that's not spicy enough for me.

tonight's dinner avec La Sriracha

Spoke Nipples - sigh

I NEED SPOKE NIPPLES. BLACK!

I've found a few that are either 50% or 100% more expensive then the ones I got from the LBS a couple weeks ago. I called that store today to get 100 more and was told the price I got them at was not accurate.

I've been looking around for a couple hours - comparing prices, including shipping - and can't find any that aren't a lot more expensive, percentage-wise, at least. Guess I'ma have to suck it up and pay more. :(

How to make homemade cough syrup

I've had this tiny little bottle of Smirnoff "A taste of raspberry" vodka in my freezer forever. Today I decide to put it in some coke zero. I took a sip and started choking - shit tastes like cough syrup. Poured it out.

No more drinky for me. :(

Huge Penis Funnies

After reading Johnny Virgil's latest post I had to do a search on Amazon for "huge penis." Why? Why not?

So here are the things I found.

For my Mom, because she just rocks and would totally put this in the guest bathroom, I want this: Flying Hanging Man with Huge Penis

For my Dad, because he needs to know the history of things, I'd get this book: A Mind of Its Own, A Cultural History of the Penis (in hardcover, mind you)

For the hell of it:
Men Are From Penis ...this is supposed to be some kind of revelation?

And my absolute favorite:
Youporn Sex Positions 101 For Short and Long Penis

From a search on Yahoo! for "huge penis"...


OMFG - I just found this shit...
Woody the Penis Pipe:

BWAAHAAAAA! I WANT THIS - I'd totally put it on a necklace!
Penis, fat one, about 6" long, made of Resin for Pendant: And the description reads: "6-8" long Penis Pendant, holed for adding rope or string for a necklace. let it hang down, wear it around your belt, or use it for anything else you may wish....made of resin...brittle!" "...brittle!"...so don't stick it anywhere?

15 Minute Lunch: 2 more things I will never need.

You REALLY MUST read this...fucking hysterical.

15 Minute Lunch: 2 more things I will never need.

Why I lurve MTBR

It's threads like this that make me lurve mtbr. When people actually have fun with shit instead of trying to rile each other up.

I <3 this thread...but I also just drank a rather large glass of diet mountain dew and smirnoff citrus.

Here's a photo of said drink, for posterity:

Cheesus cracked my ass up.

Vacation - Days Four and Five

Last 2 days of vacation - not too many photos.

Day 4 slideshow, 10 photos:

Day 5 slideshow, 38 photos:

PS - if you go directly to my flickr account, you can see a description for each photo, and you can also see it larger. I recommend you view these as big as possible to see all the amazing details.

Day Three - part two - photos

Day three photos, part 2.

PS - if you go directly to my flickr account, you can see a description for each photo, and you can also see it larger. I recommend you view these as big as possible to see all the amazing details.

New addition to family & new kicks

New bike for the hubs...the 09 version of mine.

HIS:


HERS:


New kicks for me and the hubs...Performance had them for $50.

Day Three - part one - photos

50 photos in this set...that's all I've had time to process so far.

PS - if you go directly to my flickr account, you can see a description for each photo, and you can also see it larger. I recommend you view these as big as possible to see all the amazing details.

Priceless Blog

OMG...this has me rolling. And no, I haven't started drinking. YET.

The blog is called Awkward Family Photos...and if you are a budding portrait photographer, use this site as your "What Not To Shoot" guide. Funny shit people...funny shit.

ETA: Oh for fuck's sake. I'm gonna be laughing about this for hours...then trying to squeegee the image from my brain...just. go. here. "Daddy....what IS this?"

And if you want to burn your retinas, go here. Nothing like matching comb-overs, matching chaps and those really cool matching necklace/belt combos.

Good Christ. Just fucking listen.

I think my head might just well explode. Today is the first day of many that both of the children will be home...together. It has been a battle of wills for the past 2 1/2 hours to get them to do something as simple as clean the fucking living room. No TV will be watched by either of them for the rest of the day as one of the consequences of not listening and/or doing what I asked.

My voice is hoarse. My head is pounding. The thought of 3 more weeks of this makes me want to weep...or commit myself.

The deeper question here is do I want to take a bike ride when hubs gets home or should I start self medicating with the beer and/or Smirnoff Citrus now and forget the ride today?

Check me out!

10.1 miles today! 62 minutes. 9.76mph

Aren't you proud of me? 33.8 miles in the past 6 days.

I would have gone further, but the sun was starting to set and I don't trust the Fuquay-Varinians to see me. Hell, I almost got hit by a fucking semi standing at the corner of Ennis and Main. And I was OFF MY BIKE to cross the road!

Funny Shit - Joe Cocker

Ever wonder what Joe Cocker's saying? See here.

Mother's Day

It was a nice Mother's Day...I got to sleep in until 10:30 this morning. I've been sleeping A LOT since we got back from vacation. Guess my internal clock is all screwy or something.

Took a shower and the four of us went to TGI Friday's for lunch. I was STUFFED. They gave all moms a free half brownie/ice cream or cupcake. I had the brownie and it was GOOD. I think brownie/ice cream has to be one of my favorite desserts.

Then we went to the bike shop in Apex...The Bicycle Chain...so hubs could try out a Gary Fisher bike (and I scored some black spoke nipples!). We're debating whether to get him a mountain bike. Right now he has my Dad's 20 year old Diamondback...and for what he uses it for, it's fine. But the geometry is all wrong for him. He can ride my GT Avalanche, and likes it, so we went to Performance last week and tried out the 09 model. He likes it a lot - and the price is right...a little over $400. The components aren't top notch, obviously, but it's not like he's gonna be out there catching air, hitting rocks, etc. If he gets to that point, we can upgrade. But I told him that he HAD to try other bikes before he decided on the GT, because you never know if you don't try. So like I said, today he tried out the GF..can't remember what model..and said it didn't feel much different from the GT. Then we went to Cycling Spoken Here and had a great time talking to Lucas. Hubs tried out a Trek 4300 and a GF Wahoo. He liked both. I was surprised that he liked them because they ride way more upright than my GT...when I was trying bikes out, I specifically remember trying out the Trek and thinking it felt like a cruiser. I like the feeling of leaning over my bike and having it under me as opposed to having my arms extended so far and my back straighter. But as with everything, it's totally personal preference. I do remember the GF wasn't as tall feeling as the Trek.

The kids started getting squirrely, so we came home after that. I decided I was going to take a bike ride - a longer one than usual. Just felt like it. So I got out and did the first 3 miles that are always the hardest. After that I just kept pedaling wherever I felt like going...and ended up having the most wonderful ride on a gorgeous day - smelling the honeysuckle and feeling the sun on my face. I logged 13.1 miles in a about 87 minutes - that's an average of 9 mph - way faster than usual. So I'm willing to entertain the idea of leaving the increased pressure in my tires from when hubs rode my bike and didn't release all the pressure the other day.

It's been a pretty nice day.

Vacation - Day Two Photos

Photos from day 2 of our vacation. There are about 60 photos in the whole set - you can look through the whole set (called Day 2), but I also did 2 other small sets that include some of the same photos - NOT ALL - one for a walk I took around Moab and the other for our visit to Hole in the Wall, near Moab. Enjoy.

Day 2 - entire set:


In and Around Moab:


Hole in the Rock:

Vacation - Day One Photos

Slideshow of 21 of my favorite shots from day one of vacation to Four Corners Region:

Back to the land of humidity and fried food

After being out west for almost a week, we're back to the soup we call air here in NC.

Hubs and I took a little vacation in NM/CO/UT. It was a nice getaway.

But as soon as we walked up the ramp into RDU International Airport, the first thing that hit me was the oppressive humidity...and the second thing was the smell of fried food. Nothing screams WELCOME HOME! like old grease.

I enjoyed the food out there immensely - but damn I missed me some sweet tea. That fruit tea shit they serve is just...just...an abomination. :P So on the way home, hubs and I hit Bojangles and I got a large sweet tea. Yes. It was good.