Friday Fiction, the return!

Chapter 6

The sand was just as hot as it had been the day before. At the first shady place, Bel sat down. She would have to do something about her feet. But what? All she had was this damn purple shirt. After a while, Bel said to herself, I guess it will have to do. She tore at the seams with her teeth until she was able to tear the shirt in two. She wrapped a half around each foot, doubling it up, so there was some protection. When she stepped back on to the hot sand, it felt warm, but no longer burned her.

Bel felt exposed without her coverup. But, then again, who was there to make fun of her stomach? NO one! Not one judgmental soul was there to see her brown and turquoise tankini So, she thought, I’m just going to concentrate on finding those coconuts.

“What the hell kind of palm trees don’t have coconuts” Bel screamed at the ocean half an hour later. She’d walked down the beach, and up the beach, and looked everywhere, but couldn’t find anything. She didn’t want to get to far from the place where she had washed up, that was probably where the boats would go by, so she carefully watched her trail of footprints making sure they didn’t stretch out too far. She walked back to her original starting place and flopped down in the sand.

About five feet from where she had stopped was a big leaf. On the leaf, was a slimy looking pile of seaweed. It was almost in the same place as the one she had kicked yesterday. She looked at it with disgust, and tried not to think about how hungry she was. What, she thought does this stuff wash up all the time? Could some takeout please wash up next?

Bel wondered if she could catch a fish. People do that, right? It can’t be that hard. But, she thought, there would be a few problems. First, she wasn’t sure if she could kill the fish if she caught it. Second, how would she cook it? She didn’t have a fire, didn’t know how to start one, and it was hot enough that it sounded unpleasant to have. So, great raw fish. Sushi.

On second thought, that didn’t sound so bad. She like sushi in the normal world. Boy, what she wouldn’t give for fish and veggies and rice all wrapped up in seaweed. Wait. Seaweed. That’s edible, right? She crawled over to where it was and looked at it more closely.

It sure smelled that was for sure. But past the briny smell and the nasty odor there was a green smell that reminded her vaguely of grass. When she reached out to touch it, she decided that it wasn’t all that slimy. She tentatively picked up one long piece and tore off the end. She placed it in her mouth.

Merry Christmas!

We're headed off to my parent's tomorrow night and then Jason's sister's for Christmas! I know I'm not going to be able to carry on the absolutely constant and regular schedule of blogging that I usually adhere to. Yeah. So,

Merry Christmas to all, and I hope you have a great time!

State Farm fini

So, he called me this morning, not, as promised, yesterday. The long and short of it was that he couldn't/wouldn't change anything. We canceled effective the 8th. He was unsympathetic and incredibly rude. I won't go with state farm ever again in my life, and I'll tell anyone who asks to avoid them like the plague. They lost a customer of over 14 years. Some highlights of the conversation:

EIA (evil insurance agent): "I don't know why you wanted to talk to me"

I wanted to talk to him because he's the head of the agency and his name's on the front door, and his picture on the envelopes.

EIA: "well, he married someone with an accident"

In response to why he lost his good driver discount.

He hung up on me when I said cancel, and then called right back. I saw who it was and I gave the phone to Jason. He said he needed to get Jason's authority to cancel, because, get this:

I WASN'T ON THE POLICY. I promise you all that's what he said. So the rate increased for someone who "wasn't on the policy".

We're going with progressive for both of us, and it's a lot lot lot cheaper.

What I did this weekend

Now, for something completely different. I'm a homemaker. Jason got me a really neat gingerbread house kit this weekend. So, I made our gingerbread dream home. Okay, I really just made the only house you can make from that kit. Check it out!



Pictures without flash, too dark, with strangely bright. Ugh.


We also went to see the Liesure Kings again this weekend. It was teh awesome, as usual. And hilarious.

State Farm

You all know I was in an accident earlier this year. What you may not know, is that my husband, car enthusiast, has a perfect driving record. Not one speeding ticket, never an accident (okay, a woman rear ended him once, but it wasn't his fault) and the only claim he's ever filed is for a windshield.

Me, not so much. I'm a reformed speeder, and I've been in accidents. I think I may have expressed my extreme pleasure with my insurance company, Progressive. They not only took great care of me after the accident, they gave me more for my car than I was expecting, and they didn't raise my rate one penny. This is because (I guess) I've been a customer for a measly six years. I am very happy with them.

So, can anyone explain to me, within reason, why Jason's insurance rates went up? He's been charged a surcharge and lost his good driver discount for MY accident. I know they want me on there just to make sure it's all good. But this is ridiculous. He's been a customer of theirs for longer than I have been with Progressive. I dont' think he's EVER had insurance elsewhere. I called to discuss this with them on Thursday, and very nicely, they informed me that they were taking my risk into account. I'm expecting a call back from the head agent, but I'm not holding my breath.

There's no word for what they're doing. It's immoral, it's not fair, and it's making me really angry.

Plus, we've suffered through at least 3 letters a week from that office that are thinly veiled insults. Bumper stickers that say "please don't hit me, I'm not sure about my coverage". Not to mention the trees they waste sending Jason a billion statements each month. You know what? State Farm? I'm more sure of my coverage with Progressive now than I ever have been before.

Camcorder!

Check over at I never grew up for a great camcorder giveaway. I sure want to win! Check it out and cross your fingers! The contest ends Jan 2nd.

What does a pirate say?

Christmas Present

That one sanctuary? For me, it's books. Look over there to the left. I'm a librarian by profession and I love it. I think one reason I love it so, is that I know the wonder of books. When I'm reading, I can be completely transported to somewhere else.

When I started writing that last entry, I was feeling down about losing a child-like aspect of myself. I never really thought I'd grow up, and I guess it snuck up on me. I think what I still miss is being so easily pleased. The feeling of utter joy in those $1 surprise bags that really held some junk and a yo-yo.

I think that much of this IS in fact something that's it's appropriate to let go of. I don't need those things to make me happy anymore, I have more important things, like my husband, that make me even happier.

And those books, well, they'll never let me down.

Christmas Past

Do you know what I miss? Probably not, unless you're inside my head. It's something that I never thought I'd be parted from. It's something that we've all had. It's something that you may be able to fuzzily guess from the title of this post. I miss.....

Toys. I don't really miss particular toys, though, I'd like to still have some of my My Little Ponies, or the kitchen set. I don't miss having toys to play with, if I wanted to, I could go out and get anything I really wanted. What I miss is the concept of toys. I miss seeing a commercial for something simple (say, a water gun, or a new doll) and seeing in that moment the potential for fun. Thinking, WOW! I miss playtime. Getting so lost in a fantasy about something so minor that you don't hear your parents calling you for dinner, or see the street lights go on.

You see, I miss the promise of toys more than I do the actuality of them. There was a time in each of our lives that some piece of plastic, or metal, or wood, something simple held so much. They were to be sought after, shown off, and shared. These real, physical, easily attainable things were goals for us. They were huge parts of our lives. They were what we wanted instead of a house, or a new car, or an iphone. As we grew, so did the costs of our desires.

I guess what it really gets down to, is that I miss pretending. I miss the time when my imagination was rich enough to turn a sneaker into a car. The water from a garden hose into a river, or my crossed ankles into a mermaid's tail. I think that the real shame is that adults don't pretend as much. We're not allowed to. It's childish. Some adults turn to things like drugs and alcohol to achieve this kind of escape. I want it back. I want to pretend, but somehow, now it seems difficult. Like I'm trapped now in the real world, and my way out shrank to a hole that I can't fit through anymore. It seems life is so complicated now that nothing comes without strings. If you want that new house, there's maintainance. iPhone? Contract. Huge TV? Satellite. Even our hobbies carry strings like that. If I want to take up knitting, I have to buy all of these supplies. If I decided to play golf? Clubs, green fees, etc. Maybe this is something only temporarily gone. Maybe this is nothing that I should mourn the loss of, maybe it's simple materialism.

I want a toy. One, simple thing that I can make into a thousand complicated ones. I want to be able to turn the cubby under the stairs into a castle again, and the swings into airplanes. I want to be the childlike empress with a pearl necklace around my head, and it to be fun, not hard. I want to toboggan.

p.s.
I've decided something while I've been writing this. There is one sanctuary of pretend left for us adults. Know what it is? Post it in a comment, and I'll let slip soon.

r

Australia

This weekend's movie of choice was Australia starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Directed by Baz Luhrman, this film has been getting a lot of hype as an Oscar contender. I had seen the previews and I was interested even before I knew who was directing, but once I saw his name, I was really excited. If you like sweeping, and over the top and sometimes strange, Baz is your guy. Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, all great movies in my opinion. So, with an almost 3 hour running time, I settled into the theater for something I knew I was going to like. I was not disappointed.

The movie is set just before the US entered WWII, in, obviously, Australia. Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) is going to Australia to force her husband to sell a failing business venture, a cattle ranch in central Australia. She arrives just as he is killed, apparently by an aboriginal man named King George. She is ready to sell the place when she meets Nullah, a half Aborigine child fathered by her husband's ranch manager, who is also a really bad guy. Nullah tells "Miss Boss" (Lady Ashley, Kidman) that the manager has been stealing cattle. The manager of course denies it, and tries to take it out on Nullah. Lady Ashley strikes him with a horse whip and he leaves, vowing revenge.

Miss Boss decides to drive the cattle to sell herself. She hires the Drover (Jackman) to help her push cattle. Romance ensues. I'm not going to go any farther, because if I did, I wouldn't stop until the end, and this post would take 3 hours to read.

The cinematography for this film is nothing short of epic. The land is beautiful, and plays a starring role. This film readily calls to mind others like Gone With the Wind, or, forgive me, Titanic. The CGI was, in my opinion, seamless. There were many times that we wondered how much was real and how much was computer.

The acting was wonderful on all sides but Brandon Walters (Nullah) really stole the show. He was so charming, it was heartbreaking. He played perfectly the mixture of wild and cultured Australia that his character embodied. Plus, he has eyes the size of dinner plates.

Last, but not least, if anyone out there disagreed with the appointment of Hugh Jackman as the sexiest man alive, they had not seen this movie. They need to.

This film was a western, an action flick, a war movie, a comedy, a romance and more. Despite the long running time, I didn't want it to end. The costumes were also superb. Lady Sarah Ashley was impeccably dressed throughout the film, and her dress really represented her character. In the beginning, her clothes were tight fitted, neutral colors, and very stuffy. The look changed and developed through the film and evolved as her character did.

I could go on for hours, but I'll leave you with this tacky cliche. I laughed, I cried, I grabbed Jason's hand really tight.

I give this movie a raging 10 out of 10 fat cheeky bulls.

_____________R_______________

Asleep at the keyboard

Thanksgiving was great, but I'm a failure. Not because I screwed up the food, not because I broke all the china, not because I got into a knock down drag out argument with another shopper on black Friday, I didn't do any of those things. I'm a failure, because I promised you pictures of everything, and I didn't do it! I forgot to take pictures and it looked gorgeous. Dagnabit! I'm sooo tired, I feel like I need to sleep for a week. We did Thanksgiving up big!

We got to the 'rents at around 9 and put the turkey in. We have pictures of this, but who knows when I can post them, because they were taken on Mom's camera, and that's all still over there. In about an hour it was already brown and on it's way. We chilled for a while, and then Jason's sister and her Husband arrived.

They brought their adorable dog, Edmund. I could probably find you a picture of him, but it wouldn't do him justice. He was really fun. Jason's Dad and Step mom arrived moments later. We took Edmund to the park, and when we got back, the turkey was ready! Okay, so I promised you pictures, I didn't have the camera, so once again, we have these artist's (not necessarily a good artist's) renderings of the food.



It has black on it because that's what color it turned on the grill. It sure tasted good. I then set about making the rest of the food. I did the acorn squash first because it takes longest. As I was cutting them in half, I ran the knife into my finger. So yeah, there was "special flavor" in those, okay not really, I didn't get any blood on there. There's butter, brown sugar and salt in there. Isn't the representation lifelike?

I sliced potatoes next. Miraculously, I didn't cut my finger on the mandolin. Anyone out there know if I pronounce the cooking tool the same way as the instrument? These potatoes were far from healthy, but delicious. Thanks, P Dub!

Mom made the green bean casserole. mmmmmmmm. The mystery artist must know of my love for this dish, as you can see by the lines of yummy emanating from it.

Jason's Sister brought stuffing. It was great! Very flavorful, and a really good texture. I don't really know why the artist decided to draw this one from the side.


I also made rolls, if you can call smearing butter on frozen bread and throwing it in the over making. The artist seems to have great love for spider man.

We also had cranberry relish, mmm, apple and banana salad, yum, and other boring things the artist didn't have time for. BUT, after dinner we had blackberry cobbler and pumpkin pie.

With vanilla ice cream or cool whip. It was very good, and didn't look nearly as sketchy as what this obviously horrible amateur artist did here. In fact, I think he's lost his chances at any further illustration for this blog. No wonder he's starving. I'll try to dig up some actual pictures, I promise. Now I've got to go teach that artist a lesson.

Thanksgiving!

It's tomorrow. We're having the WHOLE family over to my parents' house. And when I say whole family, I mean it, well kinda. It's all of my immediate family and all of Jason's too! We thought we should call it the Wafer family Thanksgiving. So, that 9 people, and I'm cooking. Here's the menu:

Turkey (duh) but smoked on the grill by Jason. It is currently sloshing about in its brine made from apple juice, oranges, salt sugar, garlic, ginger, cloves and bay leaves.

Acorn squash: I made it a few weeks ago for just Jason and I and it was delicious. mmmm.

Green Bean Casserole: I had a dream last night that I forgot it.

Stuffing!

Potatoes: a la P Dub. I think they look great, and I'm looking forward to a new thing that I shouldn't know how to make. By that I mean, if I know how to make it, I will and Richard Simmons will have to come cut me out of my house and weigh me on a truck scale.

Cranberry Relish!

Dried Corn: I've never had this before, but I'm all set to make it! I hope it's good!

Peas and pearl onions: Daddy's favorite. Hard to find every year.

Apple and banana salad!

Gravy!

Rolls!

Pumpkin Pie: I can't claim any control over that one, we got one at the store...

Blackberry Cobbler: I can claim this one, yum.

To drink, white wine and mulled cider. YUM!


We have alternate drinks as well, I don't think I'd want to drink those exclusively. I'm just now realizing that I had a dream about Thanksgiving dinner last night, and I don't think it was good. Boy, I guess I AM nervous.

I'm going to try to remember the camera tomorrow and take pictures, then I will share. Wish me luck!

BBQ Chicken Tostadas!

I like tostadas. I make them with some regularity. I don't know what they would really be called in an actual Mexican home, but here's what I think a tostada is: Crispy corn tortilla with stuff piled on top. Usually what I pile on top is just plain chicken, cheese and jalapenos. I decided to mix things up a little and this is what I used:

2 chicken tenderloins (I started buying these because the frozen chicken breasts were so enormous, that I could have used half of one in a recipe, and it's hard to cut it in half frozen!)

Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy BBQ sauce

Corn Tortillas

Green Onion

Lettuce

Jalapenos

Sour Cream

Shredded "taco" cheese. It's a mix of cheddar and something (jack I think) with spices. I use it all of the time.

I sauteed the chicken in a pan, and then pulled it all apart using two forks. Then I dumped in the sauce, not a whole lot, but until it was covered.

I let this rest for a while. This is important because by letting it rest, it soaked in more, and was less wet. If I dump it on the tortillas wet, it makes for soggy. Eeeew. Once it's nicely rested, (I gave it as much time as it took me to set out the tortillas) put some chicken on each tortilla.


Cover it with cheese and jalapenos. Bake it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is all melty-licious.

Top with lettuce, tomato (if you have it, I didn't, but wished for some) green onion, and sour cream.


They were delicious. I'm going to make more.

p.s. Guess which plate is mine? Guess which is my pepper loving husband's?

R!!!

Not a mouse

Lat week, or the week before, we saw a mouse (or so we thought at the time) in the bedroom. Being the proud owners of two fully capable cats, we paid it little mind other than to comment that it was going to be gross when they put it on our pillow.

In reality, our cats are majorly useless. They looked at the tiny dark shape running about the house, but made no real effort to catch it. I couldn't stand the thought of it running all over our stuff and making it's little home in one of our cereal boxes, so once I determined that the cats were not doing their share, I bought a mouse trap. It must have known, because I didn't see or hear it for days. Then, this weekend, the whole situation came to a boil.

It's one brave little stupid thing! You know what it had been eating? Where it had been spending all its little time? Where it had left all of its little presents? THE CAT FOOD. Yes, it was eating out of the cats' bowls. It was on. I baited the trap with peanut butter and left it near the cat food overnight.

In the morning, the trap was askew, but not tripped. I left it there, hoping to get it, when we saw it dashing around Jason's desk. Tabby actually TOUCHED it, but didn't seem to think any further action was neccesary. We lost it.

A while later I heard it, under the stove crunching cat food. That was the last straw. I pulled the drawer out from under the oven. I didn't see the dang thing. So, I pulled the oven away from the wall. It ran under the refridgerator. I pulled the fridge out. HA. It was nowhere to be seen. I was on my hands and knees cleaning out all of the dust from behind there when I saw the little bugger run from under the fridge to the oven where I was.

Let me take a moment to describe how I was feeling. I'm not a bug squisher. If I find a fly in the house, I'll shoo it out before I swat it. I'll trap a spider in a cup and put it on the wood pile. I've had a mouse in the house/library before and they don't scare me. I just didn't particularly want this one in my house. The trap we bought was a humane trap. The mouse runs in and the door shuts. Then you go let him out somewhere else. So, that being said, you must picture this:

Danica and I are both under the stove, because the drawer is pulled out. I have Jason's brand new great big flashlight in my hand. I keep catching glimpses of the "mouse" but can't get it. At this point, my brilliant idea was to put the lid for the crock pot over it and figure out what else to do later. It was by the sink, okay?

Here I am half under a large appliance, with a cat, and I see the thing. It's running toward my face in a little channel under the stove. I say to Jason: "That's not a mouse". It has a looooong pointy nose and no ears to speak of, and doesn't really care when I shine the light in it's face. I try to get it, and so does Jason, but it's off.

It runs across the room in a bold move not seen since the days of the library mouse running from a group of children. I runs... ...toward the trap. I chase it , and herd it into the trap with the flashlight. The trap closes. I pick it up and start saying, get in the truck get in the truck get in the truck, because it is fighting like crazy. No mouse could have made this trap move like it did. If i had not held the lid down, it would have been out in a heartbeat.

We did in fact get in the truck and we drove a few blocks away to an empty place, and sent him on his way. At this point, I thought it was a baby mole. It was no bigger than a mouse, but I didn't know how little moles might be when they first set out into the world. Then I remembered possibly imaginary pictures of tiny pink baby moles, they didn't have hair when they were that size. I thought, could it have been a shrew?


I had never encountered a shrew other than in discussion of owl pellets (you know you dissected one in school too) and the taming of. So, the good librarian I am, I googled it. It was a shrew. A short tailed northern shrew to be specific. Here's what I learned and why I didn't sleep that night:

Shrews are vicious. They will eat mice and take over their burrows. They have red teeth. They are the most common mammal in Indiana and Illinois. They use echolocation, and THEY ARE POISONOUS. Yes, their saliva poisons and paralyzes their prey. It makes me kind of glad that the cats didn't catch it. Because although I'm sure they don't have enough poison to hurt the cats, it might have put up quite the fight.

It's gone, and hopefully for good! Has anyone else had a shrew??

R!!!

I promise I took this one myself:
Passin side<--------------------------------------------------------------->Suicide.

hilarious

The Lie Revealed!

And, the lie is #2!!!!!!!

The facts/lies were:

1. I'm the oldest child in my generation of my family.
2. I have visited 48 of 50 states
3. I hate radishes


I am the oldest. Indeed, I am wise beyond my years, likened to a crone whose knowledge is sought by people everywhere, the Stephen Hawking of Indiana, or not.

I do hate radishes. And this is awful, because Jason loves them. He keeps getting me to try them and it's yuck every time. They never taste any different.

I have not visited 48 of 50 states. Not only have I not been to Alaska or Hawaii (if anyone out there really want to fix this, I'm open to the possibilities), but my travel has kind of been in a line from Indiana to either Texas or Florida. So, all those states in there the most. I have been to new england briefly, and of course a few other states, but there's this HUGE gap of my presence in the northwest.

So, there I am, revealed as a terrible liar to the blogsphere. I used a strange word.

Catching up

I've been so gone lately! I'm very very sorry. To the three of you who read this...

Last week was pretty crazy. I was off, there were big meetings and Mom had surgery. I'm pleased to report that she is home and as long as she's not lying to me, doing really well, very little pain. The big meetings were boring except for the smores part. Isn't it fun to be cryptic?

The week before, I don't even remember, It is all a haze. And, you know, looking back just now, I hadn't really been all that gone, I guess. It just feels like it. I messed up my metrics with the new scheme so it looked like my blog had been abandoned. You know, dusty streets, shutters waving in the wind, an empty old saloon with swinging doors where my blog used to be. At least, on my end.

This past weekend was nothing interesting, in fact it feels like it never even happened. We got lego star wars and not only has that developed in to a black hole of time (though I love it), we also watched the whole original (better) trilogy on Sunday. Yeah.

Lies

I was tagged last week by Sarah, and i was so out of it that I didn't even notice until today!!! I'm so sorry! It was strange week, I'll update you all soon.

The rules...
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 2 true facts about yourself and 1 lie.
3. Tag 4 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4. Have people guess which one out of the three is false.


The facts/lies are:

1. I'm the oldest child in my generation of my family.
2. I have visited 48 of 50 states
3. I hate radishes


Hmmm, I know one reader who will pass this with flying colors.


I'm tagging

Jason
Charlotte
Kara
There Are No Words



YOU GUYS BETTER PARTICIPATE!

Scariest pumpkin ever.

One of the links over there to the left is to Jorge Garcia's blog. I like Lost, it's a good show, but Jorge is hilarious. He's one of those people who you feel like you would like them if you met them in person. But, I digress. He has, posted on his site right now the scariest pumpkin carving that I've ever seen. Pumpkins, no matter how you carve them, aren't in general scary. But, he's taken my favorite painting to be scared of (not look at, goodness no, I can't look at it for that long, or it will get me) and carved it into a pumpkin.

That painting (click the link above to see it, but beware) is called Saturn Devouring His Son. I remember the first time I saw it. It was in art appreciation class and I had to turn my head away. It's a brutal topic, but it isn't the blood that ever got to me. It was and will always be the eyes. Goya captured so perfectly utter madness. A place past all rationality and beyond anything most of us have ever seen or experienced. There's desperation there too, the look of a being that is terrified by its own actions but is powerless to stop it.

It's the scariest painting I've ever seen. And I like my art disturbing.

ANYWAY, head on over to Dispatches From The Island and check it out.

Secrets that you keep

Here's an interesting tidbit. I talk in my sleep. I'll even answer Jason when he asks me something sometimes. Here's something that you might know, especially if you've been reading my twitter (called little bitties, over to the left there). I saw Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog in it's entirety the other night. It was wonderful. This leads me to what my hubby told me this morning:

Jason: Did you roll over last night, and look at me and say "balls"? You know, like from Dr Horrible?

Me: Ummm, no.

Jason: Yes you did! And when I asked you about it later, you admitted it!

Me: Really??

Jason: Yeah!!

At this point I started laughing so hard, I nearly cried. I guess I'm dreaming about Dr Horrible now.

P.s. if you get the title, you win a gold star.

R

Sorry so absent this week...

Fiction on Friday Chapter 5 part 2

Bel turned her head as she heard a quick lapping of water. There, in the water, the calm sea was broken by a shape. Was it a rock? No, she’d heard it move. She strained her eyes to look closer but it was gone in a heartbeat. Ripples marked the place where it had been.

It had been roundish, and wet, and really that’s all she could have said, other than she got the distinct feeling that it had been watching her, and something still was. She sat down on the sand and watched until the sun rose.

As it crested the horizon then sun dazzled the water into a field of sparkles. Bel felt a little hopeful. She was still sure that her boat was on its way. By the time the sun left the horizon, she was beginning to feel a familiar grumbling in her stomach. I’m just going to wait, she thought. I’m sure they’ll have granola bars or something on the boat.

As the sun rose in the sky, it began to shine harsh rays down on the beach. Bel’s olive skin didn’t burn easily, but just to be safe, she decided to sit in the shade until the boat came. Wait! What if the boat can’t see me back here? She wondered, and emerged back out into the sun once more.

By the time the sun was high in the sky, the grumbling in Bel’s stomach had grown to a full on growl. There was no denying it any longer, she was starving. What do people eat on an island, she thought. Coconuts. She was going to find some coconuts, and then she wouldn’t be hungry anymore. Then, she thought, the boat would come.

Stud Earrings

So, I've been surfing the Bloggy Giveaway. I was going to give something away, but time went too fast and I was unprepared when it started, but I'm totally entering this contest. How cute are the fries?

R!!!!!

Patoka Lake!

We went camping this weekend! Crazy you say? Too cold you say? HA! We laugh in the face of cold, we dance on the grave of rainy. Maybe we are a little crazy. BUT we went anyway. We packed up and headed down to Patoka Lake on Thursday. On the way Jason surprised me and we stopped at Oliver Winery. It was beautiful! I got to sample much and my favorite by far was the mulled hard cider. It was so good, I got Jason to try some and even he liked it. I also likes a white wine that started with a T , and sounded French. No matter what I type as my guess of the name, I’ll be wrong, and I know it. So, yeah. We ended up getting a bottle of the hard cider, some mulling spices, and a bottle of blackberry wine that would make a great sauce. Mmmmmm. Then we drove on and on and on until we realized that AAA had no idea where we were really going and relied on maps. We should have just skipped the AAA. No offense AAA, but you have been out-done with google maps, easily.

This is our actual campsite:

Finally, we arrived at the right place, and found that we had the entire campsite to ourselves. We promptly picked the best site, it was on the lake and beautiful, and set everything up. I’d say, before bed, it was the nicest night weather wise we had there. It was warm enough, we had a little fire with the wood we could find nearby and we were so full from lunch we didn’t eat any dinner. We didn’t have to pay to get into the park, there was no-one at the gate. We probably didn’t even really have to pay for camping, but we put in our little envelope. When we went to deposit that envelope, we saw two deer. One was at the gatehouse to the campgrounds. The other was a little farther down the road, and when it saw us, it froze. Like, well, a deer in the headlights. Jason Turned the lights off, and it took off, but the front feet ran in place for a few paces before the back feet figured out that it was time to go too. They were both pretty.

We were glad we had put the rain fly on the night before because in the middle of Thursday night, it started to pour. A lot. I had fixed the tent where it had ripped before, but that didn’t stop a seam with a pocket from dripping on our heads, and water getting in a gap in the door zipper. We survived however, and after it stopped pouring in the morning, we made a trip to the “camp store” to get wood. They were closed for the season. Blech. So we went to the visitor’s center, and they told us to go to the gas station just outside the park. Well, we have a ton of wood at home and hadn’t brought any because of the emerald ash borer. If we’d known that this was going to be the way it turned out we would have just brought wood with us.

The visitor’s center was interesting. I don’t usually like taxidermy. It’s just creepy in general. But all of the stuff there had been very carefully and seemingly tenderly done. It all looked extremely lifelike. It was interesting, plus from 8-4 every day there was a modern restroom contrary to the pit toilets at the campground. We got wood, got back to the campsite, and almost instantly after I got the fire going again, the skies opened up and soaked us again. We gave up, went back into the tent and went to sleep. We woke up because something was burning our faces. Wait, it was the sun!!!!! YAY

The rest of the day was beautiful. Jason and I each caught a large mouth bass. That night we had hot dogs and marshmallows, which was very different from the way we usually cook when we’re camping, but still good.

It sprinkled just a little that night and was amazingly clear the next morning. Jason went out on the Tube and had a good time. I fixed us some delicious breakfast and I started a book, which I’ll review when I’m done. For lunch we made pita pizzas on the propane grill, and they were great too! A downy woodpecker came and hung out with us for a while, and made us think that it must really hurt to be a woodpecker. Once again, we weren’t hungry for dinner, so we had some roasted nuts and marshmallows. Mmmmmm. The first batch got a little too done, but the second turned out just right. They were spicy, and tasted like chex mix without the chex.

The STARS! They were amazing. There were so many that I couldn’t really see constellations. It was really nice to look at them and the lake even reflected some. It was really amazing.

The next morning we got up and packed up and headed home. We booked a hotel for first anniversary too, I’ll tell more about that soon too. The par was HUGE and we saw some cool stuff. Lots of reason to go back!!!