I mentioned before that my building at work has been invaded with these teeny, tiny fruit-fly like things. At this point we are pretty sure that they are actually fungus flies.
Unfortunately - that hasn't made building management do anything to get rid of them. Instead, we spend all day looking like idiots trying to swat away or kill these stupid things.
I had an epiphany. (I know; soooo unexpected!) There's a way to get rid of these little suckers and have fun doing it....kinda.
This swatter uses 2 "D" batteries and zaps flies, mosquitoes, etc with 1500 volts. It says that there is no messy clean-up, but then state that the offending winged creature "explodes". I, for one, think that just might create a mess.
Do you have one of these? If so, I want to hear all about it before I buy them for everyone in my department!
And, yes, I'm shocked at myself that I'm actually doing a post on insects. Sigh.
Happy Tuesday! It's just another yummy day in the bloggy neighborhood! (Crud, now I have Mr. Roger's theme song running through my head...hahaha)
Andrea posted today! Please swing on by and wish her well as she gets through her first trimester. :-)
This is my brownie recipe. I've got nothing against the box mix...in fact, I use it from time to time too... but these brownies went quick at Kirstren's cook-out. The best part of this is that you can mix in anything you want!
Hazelnut & Chocolate Chip Brownies
1 cup margarine or butter 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 4 eggs, slightly beaten 1 cup all-purpose flour or unbleached flour 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa 1/2 teaspoon salt 8 ounces chocolate chips (dark, semi-sweet, milk) 1 cup nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9-inch pan. In medium saucepan over low heat, melt margarine. Add sugar, vanilla and eggs; blend well. Stir in flour, cocoa and salt; mix well. Add chocolate and nuts. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until set. Cool and cut into bars.
Happy Monday gang! It was a busy, but great weekend. :-) I hope you all relaxed and had some fun.
Saturday morning I picked up my car after it "visited" two mechanics in the past 4 days. You see, Tuesday I left work and noticed that my car was lop-sided. Flat tire...GRR!
I called AAA and they came (promptly too; score!). It was all good until I was half-way home and my "check engine" light came on.
Wednesday morning I called and brought my car to my regular mechanic (and when I say regular - I mean he's seen the two cars I have had in my life). He was nice enough to call before he started work and the conversation went a little like this...
Sarkis (yes, his name really is Sarkis): We have a good news/bad news situation.
Me: Good news first, please.
Sarkis: Well, you didn't have a tire blow out on the highway.
Me: Urg...huh?!?!
Sarkis: Well, you ran over a nail which gave you a flat tire. Then one of your other tires has stress cracks in it. You need to replace two tires.
Me: Um, OK. So, that wasn't too bad. No more bad news, right?
Sarkis: Sorry, but that was all the good news.
Me: (OH, SHIT!) Okay.
Sarkis: You need a new catalytic converter.
Me: Okay.
Sarkis: I could do the job... but it will cost you.
Me: So, what are my options?
Sarkis: Not to tell you what to do, but I've already made an appointment for you tomorrow morning with the Chevy dealership. It should be under warranty.
And IT WAS!!! Not a cent for parts, or labor, or anything! And better yet - the Tahoe came back nice and clean. :-) The rest of Saturday consisted of all the errants I should have been running Tuesday through Friday.
Sunday was fun and family-centric. Kirstren's little boy got Christened (or is it Baptised?... I confuse the two.) and then there was a BBQ. I love that kid!
I made white Sangria and quickly realized that at the next family BBQ (in a few weeks), I need to triple or quadruple the recipe. That stuff went like wildfire. It could be that everyone needed a drink... but I'm still taking it as a compliment. My milk chocolate chip and hazelnut brownies disappeared pretty quick too.
So, I've heard this song a few times and something about it is REALLY familiar to me. It just has a really similar rhythm to another song, but I can't put my finger on what song it is. What do you think? Regardless, it's a nice peppy song. :-)
I'm such a lucky girl; I've gotten three awards in the past week! Woohoooooooo!!
The first award comes from Janet. She's a sweetheart and named me the "Queen of Cute Puppy Pictures". Me?!?! Take puppy pictures? Hahaha...ok, I admit it.
1. Grab the award and post it on your blog, linking back to the person who gave it to you.
2. Give the award to six people you think deserve to be queen and link to their blogs.
3. If you feel like it, tell what they should be queen of, but I'm not gonna force you. After all, you are the Queen.
4. Let the people know you've given them an award.
I can do that! I tag:
Jane at Moonflowers Mojitos and Me. She is the "Queen of Med School". Jane is starting school next week - YAY! Plus she is fabulous and her emails always brighten my day. :-)
Casey at The Ever-Changing Life of a Military Wife. Casey is the "Queen of Travel". I love to travel and she not only gets to more places...but takes GORGEOUS pictures along the way!
Mrs. Realife at The Reality of Happily Ever After. She is definitely the "Queen of Telling It Like It Is". She has posted lots of things that have made me laugh and made me cry; if something needs to be said - she'll say it. I admire that. :-) Plus, she has one of the cutest Dachshunds I've EVER seen! (But my babies are cuter...heeheehee)
Sara at Unwrap Life and xoxo, Closet Girl. Sara is the "Queen of Clothes"! She takes a picture of her outfit EVERY SINGLE DAY! And somehow...she manages to look fabulous every day too. I'm so jealous...and I wish I had met her when she lived near me!
Kirstren at Lady Kirstren. This lady is the "Queen of Putting Up With Cole". Admittedly, she gets this title because she's my cousin and I'm cool with nepotism. Who else would IM my BlackBerry at night to make sure I got home following car trouble?!?! She is truly awesome and deserves all sorts of awards. :-)
April at April Showers. April is the "Queen of Blog Design". She has lots of bloggy ventures going on and is a kick-ass designer. And I'm not just saying that because I'm on her waiting list... :-)
The second award comes from Corkyshell at Behind Every Great Love is A Great Story. She is just a sweetheart; THANK YOU, Corkyshell!
There are no rules to giving this lovely award away, so I tag:
My last (and most recent) award comes from Kathie at My Net Finds. She and I are new to each other's "follower" list - I don't miss a single post.
These rules are super easy too...
The only rule for this award is that to accept it, display it proudly on your blog for all the bloggy world to see your greatness and/or pass it on to other bloggers as you see fit.
I tag all the amazing folks that read and comment on all my posts. YOU ROCK!
It's been a really odd day - on a number of levels. I'll get to some of it in a later post... but now I'm going to share the truly stupid things I've seen today.
I hope you find it as amusing as I did. :-)
Yep, those are Mary Janes with individual toe slots. Weird, right? The kicker?!?! I saw them on a man! They are Vibram Five Fingers...(I had to run to Google to figure it out) and those suckers cost $100. What guy in is right mind is going to spend that money to have girly looking shoes that have individual toe slots?!?! The better question is - Where the HELL is your wife and did she really let you dress yourself this morning?
Did we go back to the 80's and no one told me? No??? Are you sure?!?! I wish I could have gotten a picture of the actual woman in my building that sports a mullet.... but I'm just not that slick (and neither are my friends!). I blame BlackBerry. It's their fault that I can't turn off the "shutter" noise on my phone. Darn them!
Anyway, this is as close as I could find... but imagine the crown of her head cut shorter. Like crew cut/military cut/wiffle SHORT. And the poor woman thinks she looks good! I genuinely feel bad; when I'm not laughing hysterically or wondering if her hairdresser does that to her as punishment.
My last "OMG" of the work day was a show-stopper. Not only was he wearing Tevas and socks... but he was head to toe in lycra. I.shit.you.not! He was all suited up to ride his bike home, and unfortunately thought Teva's were a good shoe option to do so. Dear sir, I appreciate that you're going to get your exercise. It's to be applauded; but also know that lycra leaves nothing to the imagination. Seriously - NOTHING!
(Many thanks to the fine folks whos pictures I pilfered from Google)
Oh, and because we've had so much rain this summer, our office ventilation system has been blessed with extra little visitors. We've got these pesky little fruit fly-like things that come out of the air vents and bother us all day. I swear our VP must look out her office window at us, see is flailing and trying to shoo these things away and get a good laugh at us. We spend so much time trying to get rid of these stupid gnat/fly things that we look like we're somewhere on the autism spectrum.
Ah, I love Tuesdays! My mouth waters and my stomach rumbles just reading your recipes. :-)
Good news! I've heard from Andrea. She's moving along in her pregnancy, and I'm hoping that she doesn't mind that I'm telling you that she's heard the baby's heartbeat. Isn't that AWESOME?!?!
French toast is one of my favorite foods; I think I could eat it every day. This is a little twist on it.
Baked French Toast
2 loaves of day-old bread (enough to fill a 9×13 pan; I recommend French or something similar) 3 cups milk 8 eggs 1/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla
Slice or tear bread and layer in 9×13 baking dish. Let it sit for a while so it drys out a little more. Beat together the eggs and milk. Then add sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and mix well. Pour over bread slowly, making sure all of the bread gets covered and is soaking up the wet mixture. Cover the pan and set it in the refrigerator overnight.
Topping 1 stick softened butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup chopped pecans
Mix together butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Then stir in chopped pecans. Remove the pan from fridge and spread this evenly over the top. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes. Remove from oven and let settle for about 10 minutes; slice and serve.
It's Monday again, ladies. I hope you all had fun-filled weekends! Mine was quiet again...but that's just fine with me. I watched a few movies (Death Race- which I DON'T recommend & Becoming Jane- which I really liked), played some video games (I'm a geek and really like my Nintendo DS), and finished two books and knitting a scarf. Yep, nice and low key... :-)
I love this song! Regina Spektor has a great voice, the video in black & white is aesthetically pleasing and then there's a third reason. See, every time I hear this song I laugh; not because it's a funny song, but because I can still hear JC & G singing it to me. We went out to a bar one night last November and they sang to me in the car. Good times!
During September - 10% of your purchase will go to Little Paws Dachshund Rescue! Purchase and be entered to be the mystery hostess and get all the fun rewards. :-)
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