Bl.a.

The title of this post is a Swedish phrase that basically means among other things. It's what the Swedes say when there is a list of random things and some are left out, if that makes sense. Translating language is hard. But it means that this post has a few random unrelated things.

Anyways, we carved pumpkins last night but T was inspired to carve a butternut squash instead. We read it about on a friend's blog who found it here. It said he would need an apple corer. Easy enough. Wrong! They don't exist anymore. All apple corers now are the fabulous gadget that also slices the apple into little wedges or else they're flat and blunt on the end. That wouldn't work for hollowing out a rock hard butternut. So after calling many stores and looking online, we decided they are impossible to find now. He said he'd make do. I kept warning him that butternut squash are not soft like pumpkins. He was up for the challenge. He tried many tools and found the ice cream scoop to work best. It was hard work and he probably has sore biceps and a blister today. But the finished product was worth the work.





Also, Boozie's famous. He hearts these wood teethers I bought for him awhile ago and I told the girl that makes them and she put him on her business' blog. Check it here.

And lastly, last Saturday T ran in a 5K-ish race called the Mud Run. It's always the Saturday before Halloween so everyone dresses up, runs around 3 miles through this great park we love, do a random obstacle course along the way, and then frolick through a big freezing cold mud pit. It was very entertaining. There were 2 dudes dressed up as Michael Phelps wearing only black swimsuits and goggles and they dove into the mud pit together. They won for best performance in the mud pit. There was blasting music to inspire the participants to dance and have fun in the mud. Boozie slept on my shoulder through the whole thing. Maybe next year.

Happy Halloween

Last night we went to the Church for a Fall Festival. We bought a monkey costume for Boozie but it was too big so we went with clothes he has in his closet from Aunt Susie and he was a farmer straight out of Salina, UT.

The Two-and-a-Half Hour Raisin

For breakfast today Boozie had oatmeal, raisins, and Cheerios. After that he played on the floor with his toys for a bit and then went down for his nap. He woke up about 1 1/2 hours later. I went up there to get him and change his diaper and was tickling his tummy and when he was laughing I noticed something brown in his mouth. It was a very hydrated raisin! I was dying laughing. It had been in there while he played and stayed there during his entire nap. So I calculated it was roughly in there for 2 1/2 hours. After he started laughing, I think he realized it was there because then he shut his mouth and started chewing it up. Priceless.

Pig Licker, Anyone?

Fun times ahead...

We went to the Arkansas State Fair on Friday and were completely amazed by what it had to offer. Boozie didn't love the loud noise and bright lights on the Midway so we hung around the barns instead. It was his first time seeing live animals and he was definitely fascinated. We saw some of the biggest cows I've ever seen. There was one white one that was so huge it could barely even sit down. Arkansans don't mess around with their beef, I guess. The pigs were gigantic too. We also saw tiny baby ducklings and chicks that were adorable. Growing up in Fresno I kept asking where the display of the big gourds, grapes, etc... but the only agriculture we ever saw was in one corner of a barn and it was merely 4 things: 2 giant pumpkins and 2 giant watermelons. We did learn that Arkansas is one of the states that produces the most chicken and eggs so that explained the lack of agriculture displays.

And then of course, there's the crazy food. T decided his consumption would include a deep-fried Zinger, vinegar fries, a big-as-your-thigh turkey leg (what kind of turkeys do those come from anyway?), and a chocolate-covered piece of bacon. Yes, they do exist. CB & I shared a piece of cheese pizza. Boring, I know, but there's not much at the fair that appeals to us non-meat eaters. It was a fab time.


This was Boozie's face while he looked at every animal, especially when they climbed up on the cage and stared him down.


Documentation of the pig licker

Yee-haw.

Quizirk Tizag

I've been tagged by my friend, Heather

Here are the rules:

• Link the Person who Tagged you.
• Mention rules on your blog.
• Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
• Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
• Leave a comment to let them know.

(This is very hard because they're only quirks to others so I had to ask for help)

1) I am very particular. very. very. I only like certain clothes and I want them to fit a certain way, I like the pillows on the bed to be at just the right spot and angle, etc... Just ask T.
2) I can fall asleep anywhere. Not as much since Boozie came along since he keeps me awake, but when someone asks me if I've seen a certain movie I usually say, "Um, I think I've seen the beginning..." Therefore, it takes weeks and weeks to watch our Netflix movies and even then I only see half.
3) I can't stand any kind of hassle i.e., calling stores, calling banks, taking my car in to get anything done, getting a new driver's license, basically any kind of problem is very annoying to me. When I was younger I used to ask Doge (who was like 4-years old at the time) to do it all and she willingly did. How about you move in, Doge?
4) I do not like to make more than one trip from the car to the house or vice versa. It drives T insane. He can't even begin to understand why. My best victory yet is one time we were having a baby shower at work and I got the gifts for the girl. I got to work at 4:45 am and carried in a Sam's-size box of diapers (292 count), a huge Sam's-size box of wipes, 12 cupcakes, my purse, and a gift bag. The hospital security was following me the whole time in his van, most likely waiting for me to drop it all. Little did he know that I wouldn't.
5) I love Cheerios. Sometimes I try different cereals but I always come back to the classic. It's all because of Pops. He loves them too and eats them pretty much everyday and always has. I guess I followed in his footsteps. Sometimes when we're at the store I ask T what kind of cereal he wants. He always says "Why do you even ask, just get your Cheerios". Now that we're on an oatmeal kick I've been missing the Cheerios so I have them for a snack instead :)
6) I am a feng sui nut. When we moved into our house I was pregnant so I couldn't lift and move the furniture. Alitris and T would move the couch to a corner at an angle and I would stand back and say, "Nope. Let's try the other wall." It was all moved around many times until we finally reached the point of good qi.
7) After T got home tonight he told me that #6 is not actually a quirk and he thought I should include how excited I get when it's time to go to sleep. I usually do a barrel roll flip into bed and then lie there anticipate the sweet slumber. I heart sleep

I tag anyone who wants to share their quirks cos we all love to read them so we know other peeps are weird too :)

Just couldn't pass it up

How cool is it to have a smiley-faced cheese named after you? I just couldn't pass it up!

Eco-friendly tips

I keep hearing reports on NPR about BPA and all the harm it causes i.e., diabetes, heart disease, etc... so I decided we're not supporting BPA anymore. I am giving the old hand-me-down sippy cups to Goodwill and buying a BPA-free one for CB. He still doesn't drink water or juice or anything from it but he likes to play with it and someday he will. I'm very tempted to buy a stainless steel one, but for now the near $20 price tag is keeping me from doing that. I'm also getting rid of our Rubbermaid storage containers and am replacing them with glass. They have some cool ones here and here.

The second tip is probably obvious to most but for some reason I had never thought of it. When I am going to give Boozie a bath I always let the water run until it gets warm and then start filling the tub. The other day I thought, "why don't I just plug the tub right when I turn the water on and then when it gets hot it will just mix in the tub and be warm without wasting any?" So I did that and told T and he said "ya, I always do that". And he thought everyone did that. Maybe everyone does but me. But I'm glad I'm on the bandwagon now, too.

The one I'm having a problem with is a nonstick pan. I keep reading that Teflon is carcinogenic so I'm looking for a safe nonstick pan but haven't had any luck.


Boozie after bathtime

Korto + YouTube

Yesterday was a great day. The morning was the Susan G Komen Race which I love running in every year. This year, Little Rock was officially the largest race in the nation with 46,000 women participants! It was crazy but fun. After the race there are always tons of activities around town like discounts at stores, lunches, etc... One of the things was a meet and greet with Korto Momolu from Project Runway. It was at this fabulous store called Box Turtle that has all kinds of home decor, clothes, jewelry, and other stuff from local artists and smallish names. I went and got to talk to Korto and take a picture with her. She was so cool and now I can't wait for the PR Finale. Most of her collection that was for sale was super expensive (like $550 for a purse, $450 for a dress) but they were selling these cool tshirts for $25. So I bought one. The problem is they didn't have my size so I bought the next size up thinking it'd be fine. I tried it on today and it's a tent. Boo. It's so cool. So I thought, I bet I can alter this somehow to make it smaller. So I type in "t-shirt alteration" into google and what do you know, there are like 20+ YouTube videos on how to make my "large, boxy" t into a fab fitted t. I'm just amazed at how many things are on YouTube. This one video was a chick in her bathroom with her sewing maching because they "don't have a kitchen table and the bathroom counter is the only large flat space for her to work". Some other chick made one with lacing up the sides. Not really my style. But there were a few easy ways to make it fit better. Can't wait to get started.

3, 2, 1... Blastoff!

While driving home from work this morning I heard yet another unbelievable story on NPR. This dude is the son of an astronaut and he makes video games. He's made millions of dollars and so, in this recessed on-the-verge-of-depression economy, he finds nothing better to do with 30 million dollars than to pay the Russian Space Agency for a trip to space. I guess I'm more on the socialist end of the spectrum because I find this absolutely unbelievable. But I guess this is America, the land of opportunity, and so from hard work sometimes comes tons of money with which one may do what he pleases.

Other wealthy space visitors? Dennis Tito (Businessman- paid $20 mill), Mark Shuttleworth (Businessman- paid $20 mill), Gregory Olson (Entrepreneur Scientist- paid $20 mill), Anousheh Ansari (Businesswoman- paid $21 mill, Charles Simonyi (created Microsoft Word & Excel- paid $25 mill). And yes, Lance Bass of N'Sync wanted to fly and had it planned and was trained, but he failed to produce the $20 mill so he didn't get to.

And in case you have an extra $30 mill lying around and also wanted to do this, flights are sold out through 2009!
If you want to read more, check out Anousheh's blog on the experience.

Purple

Who does Boozie love? Cougs or Utes? The verdict is...




He bleeds purple. And yes, T is dying over the Coug gear.


Oh yes, and he also loves those Hogs. Woo Pig Sooie.

10-year

BDogg & Mike are getting ready to have a baby in a few weeks so he got to practice with CB

BDogg sent me some pics from the 10-year reunion so due to many requests, I thought I'd post some. We didn't take many at the actual event, but we should have. I picture a Nelson Reunion picture would have been totally fab. Oh well. There's always the 20-year. :)

Getting ready is always the most fun part!

Chipmunk Cheeks

My sister just posted this pic of Boozie and a comment about how he's storing nuts for winter. It reminded me of two hilarious stories that happened recently. One was when we were in North Carolina for the Annual BBQ. It was Owie's first time meeting CB and with his darling little lisp he said, "Emy, Chuck-th chubby". We still quote it and laugh about it today. Yeth Owie, Chuck ith chubby.

Second story: The other day T was out running errands for work and one of his errands was to find a pink tie. I told him that we were going to be at TJ Maxx in a bit and he said he'd meet us there to look for his pink tie. Boozie was in the sling and I was just wandering around making sure no screamin deals were passing me up. T arrived and came over to us to say hello. "What's in his mouth?" he asked. "Nothing should be," I said, a little alarmed as I imagined what he grabbed from a shelf at TJ Maxx and put in his mouth. "Yes, there's something green in there." We pried open his mouth and found a pea. I started laughing. It was what I had fed him for lunch about 2 hours earlier and apparently, he was storing it for a snack for later. So in case you were wondering what he's storing in those chubby little cheeks, it's peas. He's such a funny little chipmunk.

Tainted Milk

I was driving home from work the other morning and heard the most outrageous NPR report ever. Apparently in China the dairies test the milk from smaller dairies to see if it meets their standards and then they'll buy it. The standards are protein content, vitamin content, etc... The standards are very high and almost impossible to meet, dairy farmers claimed. So for years dairies have been adulterating the milk so it would pass the inspection and so they would get paid more for it. Some of the additives discovered are formaldehyde (!), fat powder, antibiotics (!!), whey powder, etc... Unbelievable. Tens of thousands of kids have gotten sick from the milk. Surprisingly, ingesting formaldehyde would make one sick. I wonder if that ever happens in the States. Hurray for soy milk.