Sunday, June 30, 2013

Salsafication of A Watermelon

I accidentally found this recipe from The Pioneer Woman for a watermelon salsa or pica de gallo and just had to try it.

Apparently I was blind when I saw the picture because I was sure there was corn in there.  Turns out, it's yellow pepper.

I bought a can of corn and threw it in and I swear it's even better than expected!


Watermelon, you say?  Yep, not a tomato on the premises and it's amazing.  You might think watermelon would make it sweet and kind of yucky but you don't realize it's watermelon when you mix the other flavors.

The fact that there are no tomatoes makes this excellent for a bunch of reasons:

1) no acid from the tomatoes to create even more cankers in my mouth
2) no waiting for good looking tomatoes to come out when there are fine looking watermelon available right now
3) I always have a really hard time using a whole watermelon so this made good use of some of it
4) no rogue tomato skins popping up in your salsa

I think you need to get right over to the pioneer woman's website and get the ingredients and make this yourself.  It is amazing!!

Linking here:
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com 
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/07/clever-chicks-blog-hop-41-with-two.html

Saturday, June 29, 2013

I Love This Time of Year

I looked outside to find this on the lawn:


It looks like popcorn!  It's the flowers from the Catalpa (aka Catawba in the south) tree and I think it's in the fullest bloom I've ever seen!  Our vehicles were covered with them!  They smell pretty too.   I don't remember smelling them before.

There is something about flowers all over the ground that makes me especially happy.  In the spring, we have a lot of the Chinese Cherry trees that leave their carnation-like blooms all over the ground and I know a lot of people who go out and immediately mow them up to clean up, but I like to leave them for a while.

This is the tree.

Catalpas grow really fast.  After these flowers fall, really long, string bean like pods grow.  Someone I know insists that they are in the bean family but I can't find any connection.  This particular tree has been looking really bad the past few years and I thought it was dying.  I don't remember many flowers for the past couple of springs and there is some serious dead wood in it.  There is a point that you can completely see through in the trunk and I thought it was split and dying.



I'd say it looks pretty healthy from this view!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Now Go Clean Your Room

Home staging is a fairly new trend, at least where I live, and in my head, I've always thought I understood what it  means.  The women I've met at my business women's group who are home stagers always make it sound like they come in and do wonderful things to make your house presentable for selling.  At least, that's how they explain it.

Recently, our newspaper did a splash about a home stager and included pictures of what she did.  The article went on and on about what wonderful work she does, etc. and how home staging is what really helps to sell a house.



All she did was clean up!  I thought home staging involved moving around furniture, putting something in a different room because it looked better there, setting the table so people could imagine leisurely dinners in the dining room, etc.

Look at these pictures and you'll see that she put a cover over the chaired and moved it to the other corner, she moved the dresser and cleaned up a little bit.  She didn't move furniture from one room to the other.  She didn't do much more than a maid would do!


Here, she just moved a couple of pieces from one side of the room to the other, she cleaned off the bench at the foot of the bed and she took the long curtains from the left picture and "draped" them for the second picture.

And for this, she gets paid as a home stager?  She CLEANED UP.   She did what a housekeeper would do  but made significantly more money.

So basically, when our mothers told us to go clean our rooms, and we actually did it, we should have been paid for all that work we did to "stage" our room?  Every time I actually cleaned my room, the only way that satisfied me was to move it around.  I had no idea I had such lucrative skills at my disposal.

Right now, it looks like my French classroom threw up all over the living room because everything is sitting there in a holding pattern.  I better get off my butt and stage it so k-ster can pay me the big bucks when he gets home.

Linking here:
http://www.acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.whatjeanlikes.com/2013/06/aloha60.html 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Thank God I Found My Summer Uniform

I have tried a bunch of running skirts and haven't been especially thrilled with the built in shorts in any of them.  Marshall's had these Avia ones so I bought one and fell in love.    I thought the color was going to be out of control. but with a black top it's totally doable.  I did get a new top that has some orange and magenta and it looks OK with it, but I would not spend the day in because I would have to really suck it in all day and I just can't do that with the heat we're having right now.

The built in shorts are not too bad.   They mostly stay in place and I got so effing hot and sweaty while mowing today, that I was really, really pleased with how they stayed where they belonged.  The skirt flows nicely too, so it didn't roll around or get stuck up on my butt shelf.

I also love the wide waistband.


I think wide waistbands are the key to a good life.  Wide waistbands and no thongs.  I believe thongs are the reason women get bitchy.  I'm serious.  I only wear riding pants that have wide waistbands and when I buy new workout capris, skirts or shorts, I try to get them with wide waistbands too because they do a lot of disguising and don't cut in.  Usually, they are also short in the rise which I need because I am so short waisted.

I tried to show you my butt but do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your butt with an ipad?  Even when you reverse the camera it's impossible.

Linking here:
http://www.myturnforus.com/

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The School Bell Is Silenced!

We finally got out of school yesterday.  Yes, it was June 25th.  I know that some of you have had kids out of school for a whole month already.  And yes, I hate going to school that late into June.  And yes, I know that's practically inhumane.  And no, we do not have air conditioning in our schools because it's New England and no one believes that in New England we actually need air conditioning.

But I also know that you very same people will be going back to school way at the beginning of August and I won't go until the end of August, so that's when I do my happy dance.  The kids don't go back until after Labor Day and even though it's hot and ugly, it only lasts about 2 weeks at that point.  Going back August 9th or so would actually kill me.  Dead.

There's a lot I could say about school being over but most of it isn't worth writing right now.  Since I'm moving buildings, I had to pack up everything I own and it made for a crazy end to the school year.  But, 37 boxes and two vehicles full of prized possessions that I can't leave to the hands of the movers later, I'm done, I have way too much to store in my house until I can bring it to my new building, and I hope the moving company won't lose any of my 37 boxes that I left in my classroom.

Because you know I will be on the phone with them daily until they find whatever they lose.

Now that I'm more free, I intend to get back to my daily posting although I seem to be dry when it comes to entertaining posts these last few months.  I hope there is much before me to scoff at and smirk about and hopefully some craftiness before me!  However, my sewing room is quickly becoming the holding area for the crap essential teaching materials that I brought home, so I might be sewing atop a pyramid of books.

So, as I begin my summer of "leisure", anyone who knows me knows that I can't even finish spelling that word before I 'm off finding something else to get into, I'll leave you with this.

At the beginning of the year, I asked kids to write what they thought the national foreign language standards meant and how they apply to their own lives.  I had the intention of then doing the same thing at the end of the year to compare but we know what happens with good intentions....

The standard says something about using language outside of the classroom and why it's important.  See, 12 hours after school is out and I can't even state the standard for you.  This student makes it pretty clear, I think:


I totally agree.  I have many jobes in the summer, one of which is working at our campground.  Whether I want to or not, I find that I mite haft to speek French because that's the language their speaking when they are from Quebec and "they" are the custimers, so I have to speek what they speek.

I will refrain from reminding you how old the students are that I teach.  Let's just say it's not kindergarten.

Linking here:

Monday, June 24, 2013

The Best Looking Pizza I've Ever Made

Thanks to the magic of my breadmaker, I have been making pizza since October about once a week.  I haven't had pizza from outside my house in over 6 months and I'm ok with that!  I use the recipe for crust from the Zojirushi manual and it never fails.

Tonight was just spectacular as far as looks!  I usually don't get them actually round or rectangular and since I'm not serving it to Martha Stewart, I don't really care.  I was really excited when they did what they were supposed to tonight, though!!


For the round one, I used cooked ground turkey with a little Pampered Chef 3 Onion Rub, store bought sauce (I just don't make it well from scratch), a combination of cheeses and some onion.


For the rectangular one, I used basil for a pesto bottom, mushrooms, onion and the same cheese combo.  I just recently learned about using pesto instead of red sauce and it makes for a really nice change!

Watch how excited I am about my Pampered Chef Mega Lifter to get the pizzas off the stones:



Linking here:
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com
http://www.skiptomylou.org/
http://thefrugalgirls.com/2013/06/chic-and-crafty-party-627-2.html 

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Doesn't Everyone Start Their Hams From Seed?

I was in a store yesterday and a former student was ringing up my items.  He was really bugging me with a comment about each item.  I don't think he even recognized me and I wanted to get out of there quickly, so I kept quiet.

When he got to a package of radish seeds, he said "hmm, so you're gonna make some radishes, huh?"

I just smiled and said "yep" and got out of there.  Make radishes.  Ha ha.

But it reminded me of a story that my family brings up about once a year.

When I was in preschool, my father had a garden.  It's the only time I ever remember him actually having a garden and I remember it being huge.  Because I was 4.  I now mow the field that once was the garden and it is big, but I can't remember if he really planted in the whole area or just part of it.

I remember bringing in carrot tops for the class bunny and I remember walking into the part where there were cornstalks.  In my mind, they were like 20 feet tall and there were thousands of them.  I have no idea how many there really were. All I remember is that I went to get an ear of corn and there was a bug in it and that was the end of that.

Couple that with my terror over the "snakes" that were on the patio around that same time in my life (they were earthworms) and it's really shocking that I am such a nature lover and gardening freak.

I remember eating a meal at my grandparents' and my grandmother said "well, I think just about everything on this table came from your father's garden."

"I don't think he planted any hams this year" was my reply.

And at least once a year, my father asks me if I planted hams or says "we didn't plant any hams this year".

So, do you plant your own hams or do you buy them from the store?

Linking here:
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/06/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_18.html
http://www.myturnforus.com/
http://www.acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/

Friday, June 21, 2013

Back In the Trench

Remember this great adventure a few years ago?  It was the first time I did a fence by myself and I was pretty happy with it.  I don't think I mentioned that when I was digging the post holes, I accidentally hit a plastic pipe that had some electrical wires in it.  Why I didn't get electrocuted on the spot is actually a major miracle.

When I expanded the garden this spring, I was reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaalllllly careful not to dig over that same pipe because my father had warned me that if the electric line burned out from where I hit it the first time, he'd kill me.

Well, I dug my grave this afternoon.

Because, through a series of unfortunate events, the electric in this leg is not working.  And the theory is that I caused it when I broke through the pipe.  Because, you see, I didn't just crack it, I kind of really took a big chunk out of it.  So big, that today, when I finally found it, there was so much dirt inside the pipe, you could barely see the wires.


They say the electricity is off, but I wasn't going to fool around with taking all that dirt away from the wires to see if they were really burned.  The electrician can take care of that.

The annoying piece is that I could not remember exactly which post I was putting in when I hit it.  The first post that I thought it was wasn't the right one, but it's in the right area, so it wasn't totally wasted time digging.  It was just frustrating.  And I dug right to China on that one.

Then I moved to the next post and took it out and found the actual broken pipe and it wasn't quite as far down as I had thought.

This also means that I had to cut the chicken wire so my garden is wide open to any critter that wants a snack.  I rigged something with zip ties and a cement block but this better get fixed really quickly or I'll have nothing but bitten off stems for my garden!

Linking here:
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/06/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_18.html
http://www.myturnforus.com/
http://www.acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/
http://mommifried.com/ladies-only-blog-share-link-party-funtastical-summer/

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Time For Senior Pictures

I promised no more greatest hits, but it is the end of the school year and yearbooks have come out.   I haven't seen a high school yearbook in years, so I don't know if outdoor pictures are still the trend but I assume they are.  In our middle school, you just sit in front of a screen and get your picture taken, and you pay no attention to what you look like.  You would not believe the shirts kids have on when it comes time for pictures nowadays.

Back when we were in school, people cared about how they looked for pictures!  Remember?????

Did Your Senior Pictures Look Like These?

When I went to college in the south, I learned that different parts of the country have different traditions when it comes to senior pictures.  And prom dresses.  But this post isn't about prom dresses because I would have to scan those pictures and I'm lazy.

What I learned about senior pictures is that in some places, everyone had the same "drape" over them and all of the girls wore pearls.  That was a classy look and some of those weren't even private schools.  It sure would have eliminated some of the atrocities we had in our yearbook.

Here, where I live, it's really common to take your picture at the beach.  Senior pictures, wedding pictures, family pictures- I dislike these family pictures the most.  Everyone wears the exact same clothes, usually white shirts and khaki. They all sit and/or stand in front of a dune.  Often you don't even see water.   Ewwww.  Or, a new trend, everyone except ONE PERSON wears the same thing and then that other person wears something totally different.

In reality, beach pictures aren't all that flattering for the majority of skin tones.  ***When I say pictures at the beach, I do mean in nice clothes, not bikinis.  Those would be SOME kind of senior pictures, wouldn't they????***

I remember lots of people in  my senior class having the typical, preppy beach picture.  They wore white, which just washed them out.  Or they laid down on the sand, which was weird in a sweater.  Or, in some cases, the boys wore light aqua (I am not kidding) sweaters.  I chose not to do the beach thing.  Not consciously, probably more financially.  And  today, I'm glad for that.

My senior pictures were done by a weird man in a studio.  I was alone.  I don't know what we were thinking.  On my way there, I had a little fender bender, so I was a little shaken.  We did 2 types of shots.  One outside, one inside.  "outside" was just outside his door, in the "woods" which was really next to one tree.  The other was inside his studio with a bizarre background.  No, not lasers in the background as was quite popular back then.  THANK GOD.  Kind of like an impressionist type background.  I wore a dress that sort of blended in with it.  It was all kind of like kismet.  My hair did this amazing thing (I call it straight) which is shocking because it was summer and humid.  He said nice things, like I should be a model (which I now know meant "can I take naked pictures of you?") and all in all, I liked the indoor scene and that's what I chose.  I'm still glad about that decision.  Even if you aren't.  P.S.  I took a picture of this picture, thus the flash glare and color issue with my dress.

But the reason I am writing this post?  Besides taking a trip down memory lane?  Is because last weekend, k-ster and I went out for a walk in the woods, as I explained here.  You'd think we had done something big for the big deal I made of it.

For some reason, when we came upon this rock, I told k-ster to sit on it while I took his picture.  And now all I can think is that it looks like a senior picture.  Except, a professional photographer probably would have told him to take the bush out of his crotch.  I'm so unprofessional.


He, on the other hand, took this picture of me because we were pretty fascinated with this tree.  And I was fascinated that the opening was big enough for me to stand in without banging my head.  There were some other weird pictures where it looked like I was floating in between them and were otherwise just very unflattering.

This would NOT have been a good senior picture.  But someone in my yearbook would have taken a picture just like this and thought it was the best thing ever. 

So, the point of my story is that I need you to go post your senior picture on your site and tell us about it so we can go see it.  We need to see what was "cool" in your day.  Go do it!! It'll be fun, I promise!!  Leave a comment to tell us where to find you!

Linking here:
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/06/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_18.html
http://www.myturnforus.com/ 
http://www.acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Looking For Sun In All the Right Places

Do you ever notice when sunlight streams in somewhere that you wouldn't expect it?  Or, you notice sunlight beams for the first time because you've never been in the room at that time of day?

This is one of my favorite things.  Especially in the morning.  Right now, when I first get up, the sun comes in a different window in the kitchen than normal.  This morning, it was shining right into the dishwasher full of clean dishes.   I love clean dishes and they looked so pretty!


Well, it's sideways and I'm done fighting with it, but you get the idea. 

Linking here:
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com/

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Vacuuming Again

I've been doing a repeat of some of my greatest hits, according to my stats on blogger.  I've been organizing a race, which is now over, and thinking about packing up my classroom, because I'm moving, and dreading the fact that I don't get out of school until June 25th.

So, you can see I've been way too busy to blog!

This is my last greatest hit, I promise.

Taking A Walk on the Wild Side

Yesterday in Paris...


I did my impression of an old lady waiting for a bus in front of the Louvre. 

Napoleon asked me to stay for supper but I told him if he can't offer me desserts like the one below, no thanks, Nap.  Plus, I was afraid the food would never be passed down to my end of the table and then I'd get grouchy.


I tried on the crown jewels.  I didn't even know France had crown jewels.

I ripped the arms off of the Venus de Milo.  She's much more attractive this way, isn't she?

Linking here:
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/
http://www.kissesandcroissants.com/

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Another One of My Greatest Hits

For reasons I can't put a finger on, I'm super busy and this blog is suffering severe neglect.  Fear not, school is almost over, so I will soon be back with silly stories every day.

In the meantime, here's one of my all time top 10 posts.  I still can't even say these words out loud without wanting to bash my head into some concrete.

I'm A-Here to Edu-ma-cate You And Stuff

Ok, I've had it.  I've been seeing this all over people's blogs and it's time for me to set the record straight. 

I can't take this ignorance anymore.


This is a rod.
This is an iron.
This  is WROUGHT iron.

I swear to God, if I continue to see people talk about the great deal they got on their ROD IRON this and their ROD IRON that, I think I will have to get off the internet.  I cannot be seen with the likes of people who believe it's ROD IRON.

Google it.  Even google knows that when you put in ROD IRON, you really are looking for wrought iron and that's where it takes you.  And though I so dislike wikipedia  because I believe the devil himself created such garbage, I do believe what it says here and I will link it up to show you it's WROUGHT IRON.

Wrought is an old past participle for work.  As in WORKED IRON.  It's been bent and mangled to shape into what it is to be used for.  It's also an adjective meaning worked into shape, beaten into shape, etc. 

So, your lovely wrought iron gate was worked into its current state of being.  Yes, it might have been iron rods in the beginning, but those rods were worked, or wrought (see, past participle of work), into the shape you wanted for your gate.

So be sure to spread this to everyone you know so I can keep my iron rods hidden and not have to beat anyone into a bloody pulp with my own wrought iron rods. 

Linking up here:

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Asking For A Little Help


I made this using the Fruit and Cheese Cutter and LOVED the way it worked!!  It's melon, not cheese on there!!

I don't talk about this very much on here, but I am a Pampered Chef consultant as well as a lia sophia jewelry consultant.  I have been with lia sophia since 2008 and I really like it.

Last year, a friend of mine and I did a disastrous double show.  She did Pampered Chef, I did lia sophia and between us, I think we made about 5 cents and put in a ton of work for it.  We did this 2 other times and learned that we need to stay away from each other because when people see us together, they want everything and can't make decisions and go home with all of their cash and we look like idiots.

However, in that time together, we chatted about both companies and she convinced me to join Pampered Chef to help her become a manager.  I am not easily convinced, so I'd love to know what she put in that pizza to lead me into the life of Pampered Chef.

It was the beginning of summer and she assured me she would not be mad if I just gave it a whirl for the summer and jumped ship when school began.  So, I did it.  Having already been with lia sophia for a while, I "got" how it all worked and it was easy to balance both.

However, I was not in love with doing the shows at people's houses in the million degree heat.  It seemed everywhere I went, people didn't have AC or if they did, it wasn't working.  I kind of stopped loving the whole idea and gave it up.

Or so I thought. 

Around Christmas, someone wanted to place an order which put me back in the running.  Then I let it all go again and thought I was really done until a little bird told me about doing facebook shows.  Lia sophia frowns on this, plus you really have to see the jewelry in person, but Pampered Chef is all about doing shows on facebook.

I don't even use facebook for myself, but I created a page for my business and made a goal to have one online show every week.  And since April, with the exception of a week that I knew I could not manage it, I have done just that! 

How do I do them?  I make it like a game and people earn points for commenting, liking and being a part of the whole event.  They get points for ordering, booking shows, etc.  Then, I play a Jeopardy game at the end and award my prizes.

Here's where I need help.  I need a show for this week that is just Monday-Friday because I need to get a free Cool and Serve Tray and that offer goes away on the weekend (I do have a show this week but it will end too late!)  So, I decided to be the hostess.  But then I realized, I can't invite anyone because I don't have a facebook page for myself and I really don't want one.

So, if you would like to play along with my game this week, you can click here and join the event.  Then play along and book your own show or place and order!  Invite your friends, whatever you'd like.  It's fun, easy peasy and there's a great special for you:  order $60 or more in products and get the Quick Stir Pitcher for free!

One more thing:  if you have $150 in orders yourself by Friday, YOU will get the Cool and Serve tray for free, too!

One last thing:  I am not going to harass my regulars with Pampered Chef or lia sophia stuff, so don't worry that this is turning into one of "those" blogs!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Ain't Nobody Got Time Fu Dis

You've seen the videos of Sweet Brown and her "Ain't nobody got time fu" quotes, right?

Well, right now, I got no time fu nuffin.

I don't know what happens to me in June, but I become invisible in the blogosphere.  It should be an easy time to stay updated because school is winding down but there's something about these last weeks that just eats up all my moments of freedom.

For those of you who have been out of school for weeks, my middle fingers both salute you. I will be walking the hallowed halls until June 25th.  That's right.  June 25th.  Thank you hurricane Sandy (2 days) and some winter storm that might have had a name but I dont' believe in named snowstorms (2 more days).

Add to the usual end of the year creativity (we must not let on that we know school is almost over, but we must keep their feet in the to the fire every last second) that I am supposed to be boxing up 17 year of middle school to send it over to the elementary school.  I'm currently in a sort of denial, with only 6 boxes packed.  I have things I'm still using and sometimes, I grab some of the strangest things to use during that last week, when I'm desperate to let them still thing school counts even though the calendar actually says summer.

Did you get the message that year-round school is NOT for me?

Anyway, before I lose every reader, I thought I'd play some of my greatest hits.  This one did not have the most views but it made it into the top 10 and I still laugh at the whole thing.  Many of you have just found me, so you never read this tale of coffee woe.  Feel free to snicker, scoff, and make fun.  I learned my lesson!

Just A Regular Coffee, Please April 21, 2012

This post is so ludicrous, I feel like I just have to share it here and here   and here and here

Hop on over there, after you read this, and see what else people have to share!

Alas, the ipad is back in my mother's hands and out of mine and I am not too sad.  My father is a little surprised that I don't love the ipad because he loves all that is Apple.

Ahhh, spacing.  See that?  There's a space between the last little paragraph and this one.  On the ipad, I can't make spaces appear in blogger, so it really puts a cramp in my blogging style.  And, don't tell k-ster, but since 99.5% of my time spent at a computer is related to blogging, I don't need any more cramps in my style than I already have.

Ahh, space again.

Anyspace, back to my post.

I spent the first 4 days of my school vacation at my sister a-ster's house.  It's nice to go there and not really have plans.  L-ster is almost a year old and is very busy standing and crawling.   She's still taking 2 naps a day, so we didn't make too many plans to do stuff.  And I was fine with that.  Plus it was 85 degrees one day and that was way too hot too soon for me, so I was fine to just loll about on the blanket in the back yard while supervising l-ster in a heat induced coma.

The last day I was there, we went to the zoo.  I get a kick out of the zoo, especially because it's free, so there's no pressure to be there for any length of time.  We were there for a couple of hours and then on the way out, we thought it would be nice to get a coffee from Starbucks.

When I'm on vacation, summer vacation or one during the year, I tend to drink iced coffee in the afternoon.  Around here, my choices are limited, so it's either my house special thanks to the Keurig, or Dunkin Donuts.

I am not familiar with the workings of Starbucks.  In fact, the only Starbucks I have been in was in Paris in February and it was incident free, as I expected this would be.

A-ster sat outside with l-ster and I went in to get her a soy latte and a drink for myself.  I intended to get an iced coffee, but when I walked in the door, I remembered that I once had a Starbucks Frappucino in a bottle (from the grocery store, those nasty things you can buy) that later was possibly the cause of the only food poisoning I've ever experienced.  I have a thing about food that might have been involved in making me sick, so I immediately was not interested in a cold coffee beverage from Starbucks.

I should have left at that point.

Instead, I thought I'd have a hot coffee.  With cream and sugar.  While I make my coffee at home black for the most part, I do like actual cream and sugar in mine when I'm buying it.

So, I walked up to the counter and ordered a tall soy latte with no incident.  I thought that would be the tricky order.  And then I tried to order myself some coffee.

If they just had normal sizes (small, medium, large, this would be a lot easier).

Me:  And a regular tall latte for me, you know, with cream and sugar.

Barista:  Umm, you mean you want syrup?

Me:  Syrup?  No, I want cream and sugar.

Barista:  Do you mean like packets of sugar?

Me:  Oh, do I do it?  Do I have to put the sugar in myself?  Is that what you mean?  (I swear, I was not shrieking this, or trying to look distressed but I wonder if she thought I was going to freak out)

Barista:  Um, well, um, like packets?  Do you want packets of sugar?  Or syrup?

Again, I should have taken the soy latte and left at that point.  I briefly scanned the room to see if I was missing the little station where maybe I do my own cream and sugar, but I was blinded by the "packets or syrup" thing, so I didn't see anything.

Me:  Ok, I don't want any of your stinkin' syrups, no flavors, just cream and sugar.  Now, do I have to do it or do you?

Barista:  (very patiently explaining) We have syrups, is that what you mean?  Like our classic syrup?  That doesn't have any flavoring.

Me:  Classic?  What is it?

Barista:  It's like liquid sugar.

Me:  Ok, fine.  Liquid sugar and cream.  In my latte.

So, she writes something on a cup for me, writes the S for soy latte on a cup and then puts the cups to the side.  For the imaginary person next to her to deal with them I guess, because she turned and helped the next customer while I stood there like a fool.

The next customer just got an unsweetened iced coffee and left in like 2 seconds.  Like I should have.

Then it was just me again.  With my outrageous order of cream and sugar.  That the Barista should get for me.

Since the imaginary coffee pourer/latte  maker didn't appear, now the girl had to deal with me.  So she made the soy latte, no problem.

Then it was time for mine.  My "cream and sugar" with the liquid sugar syrup.  And the cream that was going into a latte?  I was only thinking that it should not take like 20 minutes when I am only one of 2 customers in the store.  And that I really should have ordered a cold coffee because this hot one will take forever to cool.

So, she starts pumping the liquid sugar and I hear it sputtering like it's the end of the bottle, so now she has to get another one.  Now the imaginary person DOES appear and she says something about "this lady wants classic syrup" and then I didn't hear the rest but I am sure it involved a good chuckle in the back.

Classic syrup appeared but the bottle was too full, so she had to pour some down the drain.  WHAT????  She manages to reassemble the pump and squirts in some more and then the fun begins.  Now she has to add cream to my latte.  I guess.  Because I heard her frothing something.  And then she was kind of bumping around looking for a spoon to hold back the froth and then she did some more finagling back there.

Finally, she handed me the soy latte and then stumbled over what she was going to call mine.  And she added that she didn't know if it was sweet enough, but if I needed more liquid sugar, to let her know.  I heard like 5 pumps go into that cup, so I was sure it would be sweet enough.  Especially since it's liquid sugar and it's likely hundreds of times sweeter than any packet could ever be.

What a great disappointment it turned out to be!  Mostly milk!  In a latte.  Go figure~!

As I was explaining my annoyance at all that went on and how it took so loong, a-ster was rolling on the floor that I asked the girl to do cream and sugar for me.

That's not how it's done at Starbucks and she should know, because she lived on the west coast for a decade.  She played out for me what the conversation was probably like between the Baristas when I left--- remember the one who made me put cream and sugar in it for her????  What a princess!

And it was only then, as I said the word latte out loud that I realized I should not have asked for cream in my latte.

In my confusion, I was thinking latte just meant coffee.  I forgot about the milk part of the latte.

And I should have ordered a drip coffee.

And I should have just gone to Dunkin Donuts.

And just so we're clear that I am not alone in my Starbucks nightmare, look at what I found on another site!!


Linking here:
http://meltingmoments.net/2013/06/07/fly-on-by-friday-what-a-week/
http://www.myturnforus.com/
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

I Have A New Boyfriend

I never go for those wild guys, but this time, I kind of get a thrill from his spontaneity.

He's kind of rough around the edges.  He's rude and doesn't always have manners.

I'm never sure where we're going but it doesn't seem to bother me.

He's very different from the kind I usually go for.  He's not Mr. Handsome.

He seems to get along with everyone but he's always worried that he's going to be left alone and he freaks out a little.

When we ride, he's very unpredictable and he doesn't take turns as smoothly as he should.  He rarely lets me know what's going on so I'm always on high alert.  Sometimes he pushes me around, but I usually have the upper hand.

His name is Danny.


I thought he was the ugliest horse I'd ever seen but he grows on you.  I'm not totally in love with him yet but he seems to take up a lot of my time  and k-ster calls him my boyfriend.  He seems to like me better than Tucker but Tucker is much better trained.  He's a little smaller than Tucker, a different breed and a more comfortable trot.

He's been fresh with a few people who know what they are doing so I'm keeping him at arm's length since I don't really know what I'm doing.  He's much more cooperative with me after he's been working for a little while.

My favorite part is that he goes without much coaxing.  I spend my time worrying that he won't stop  instead of worrying that he will, like Tucker does every chance he gets!