MzSerena’s Garden

So a few weeks ago, I got this wild hare brain idea to teach myself to knit. I went and got a set of standard needles, got a book (Knitting for Dummies) and sat down and gave it a shot. Much to my chagrin, I failed miserably. I tried and tried and just couldn’t grasp it, not even the basics. I grasped crochet super easily, so I figured I’d be able to grasp knit just as easily.

I got frustrated and put it aside and said the hell with it. Tonight, I grabbed my skein of yarn, figuring I’d give it one more shot. Lo and behold, I actually figured out what the hell I was doing! I managed to cast on and knit the first row. At that point, I decided not to try to push my luck and put it away for the night. I think I finally grasped the basics of knitting.

I won’t be making any big projects any time soon, but I will work at it more. For now, it’s eggs and dragons.

making individual pumpkin cheesecakes.

Don’t you wish you were here?

*snickers and wanders back to check the oven*

Do I want to do NaNoWriMo this year? I sort of do, but I have NO idea what to write. I’ve been saying I’m going to sit this year out, but the closer it gets, the more I consider doing it. What am I thinking? I really have no idea.

Jennifer Hudson’s mom, brother found dead – 10/24/08 – Philadelphia News – 6abc.com

Oh. My. God.  What in the hell is wrong with people?   It’s sad to think of all that loss.  I can’t imagine how it must feel to lose a parent and a sibling at the same time.   You hear all about these celebrities that lose family members, but you don’t hear about everyone else who loses family members.

I’ve lost my father, I’ve lost a half-sister, but nothing like this.  All this killing in the world.  *sigh* It’s sad what the world has fallen to pieces the way it  currently is going. I feel so bad for her, to deal with that loss.

Some days I wish I could get rid of my acne problems. Seriously it bugs the living hell out of me to be 32 years old and breaking out like crazy. I stress and break out worse than a teenager some days. What can I do about it? Not a damn thing and it sucks. I guess life will have to go on though. Maybe one day I’ll outgrow it.

Everyone talks about how many medical advancements there have been in the last few years. The advancement of DNA testing is one of the most amazing things that have changed. Determining if someone committed a crime using DNA or finding out if there are problems with an unborn child. When I was young, these were unheard of. Now, it’s almost commonplace.

I swear to god, if my spam folder isn’t full of ads for breast enhancements, it’s for penis enhancements. If it’s not that, then it’s diet pills. I know I need to lose weight, but come on, if I want to take some sort of pill I’d talk to my doctor! I am so sick of all these health spam mails.

Stupid spammers, go away!

Some days, I feel like one of the most technologically challenged people on earth. I have a laptop and have considered getting a mobile router and air card for it, so that I can actually get more use out of it. I probably won’t because I don’t take my laptop anywhere, really.

I don’t know why I own it, a lot of the times. I barely use it. I never leave the house, and when I do, I don’t have the need to be attached to it. *shrug*

So in my never ending desire to go on a vacation, I was looking at different European cruises. Yet another pipe dream, but it’s fun to dream. I love to see the different things you can do, things that you can see.

Vacationing in Europe won’t work for me, I don’t have a passport and no intention to get one either. That means I’ll never be leaving the US and I’m okay with that. There are plenty of things that I can do here that most people forget about.

I have one of the most annoying cases of acne on earth. It comes on whenever I’m stressed out, and it’s always my forehead. One of the reasons, I think, is because of my weight and the fact that I sweat quite a bit. Really, though, there are not many choices in acne care products that I can use either.

I hate putting weird things on my face, I also hate things that leave a greasy or sticky feeling behind. Using the cleansers also don’t help either, so I tolerate it as much as I can and think to myself, it could always be worse. And it’s true, it could be.

I love my camera, I really do. Sometimes, however, I keep thinking that I should buy a Nikon D90 or something similar. I love to take pictures and hate the lack of ability to take professional looking photos when I go to events, like the football game Friday night.

Most of the shots that I took that I *REALLY* wanted to turn out well ended up being blurry or too dark. I’m not a great photographer by any means, but they say that if you have a really good camera, you can be a shitty photographer. Oh well. I can keep dreaming, since I can’t afford that camera. I wish, though.

I never used to hate Halloween, but I do now. I don’t know why, other than the fact that I have no real reason to enjoy it. I never get to go to parties, then again, I don’t like parties. I also never find Halloween Costumes that will fit me.

Sure, there are costumes for larger people, but really, it’s not the same. I would wear something like snow white, just because it’s a fun idea. I’ve always liked Snow White, but I have no real reason for liking her. I never really cared for the dwarfs.

I could also see myself as a nurse or a schoolgirl, just for fun. I could play either role quite well, especially for a party. But, again, I don’t have the body for the costumes. It’s hard to find decent sites with Plus Size costumes, but at least there are a few that I like. A fun one would be the plug and socket costumes for my husband and I.

Another fun plus size costume would be a playboy bunny. It probably wouldn’t be as flattering on me, but it’d still be a lot of fun. Oh well, I can still dream about what I want to be, even if I don’t go anywhere or do anything fun for Halloween.

Mistrial in Britney Spears driving case as jury deadlocks – Yahoo! News

Well at least one thing is starting to look up for Britney.  I feel  for all the crap she’s had to go through lately.  The girl deserves a break and a chance to get back on her feet.  The media, cops and people need to stop hounding the poor girl and let her deal with her demons.  I’m tired of the celebrity bashing that you see everywhere.

Yes, I read sites like Perez Hilton’s and TMZ, but come on folks, can’t we leave the girl alone for a while? She made some mistakes and is learning from them.

Xzibit & Michael Bublé Collaborating? Not Likely! – Yahoo! News

Why on earth would anyone even think those two would collaborate? I mean, they’re even more extreme opposites than Ne-Yo and Manson.  I mean, I like both Xzibit and Buble, but come on now.  I know the music industry is stretching to get new things out into the world, but why not look at some of the artists that have been kicked off American Idol or America’s Got talent. Something that is truly new and not some new collaboratin that makes everyone wonder what kind of drugs the industry executives are on.

Oh well, we’ll see what comes of the music industry.

Good:
* We won the football game Friday night! We actually won homecoming for a change. It was a cold game, but it was a great night. Youth cheerleaders were cute but slightly obnoxious. They’ll be better as they grow up more and learn to cheer and not just *scream* the cheers. The Pep Band was quiet for the most part. They played, but the fans in the other set of home bleachers could not hear them. The crowd was fairly sedate for the most part, until the refs started making absolutely horrible calls. They need to have some better organization to the events. People left before the fireworks, and they were worth staying for. The human tunnel was awesome. It went from the 10 yard line across the 50 and ended around the 45 yard line on the other side. It was really nice that they honored the senior parents as well. It was a great night overall, even if it took me until well after bedtime to finally get warm. Next Friday is the first playoff game. It’s an away game, but close enough that we could drive to it if we want. I don’t know yet if we will. It will all depend on just how cold it is.

* I got a new bread maker earlier this week. Yes, I know my other one was only 10 months old. However, no matter what I tried in it, I made ONE loaf of edible bread and when I tried the recipe a second time, it turned out like crap. Plus, the new one makes long loaves that look like what homemade bread SHOULD look like. Ya know, like Mom used to make in the oven and you could smell throughout the house. I made my first batch of bread the day it came and it turned out MUCH better. I did have a problem with not using the proper flour. Must use bread machine flour. The bread did, however, come out edible, which is more than I can say for the last attempt at homemade bread. I gave the old maker to a woman who uses one just to make her dough and had recently lost everything in a fire.

* Speaking of losing everything, one of Rob’s co-workers lost everything this summer in a fire, no insurance either because they didn’t know about renters insurance. They finally got into a new place after living in a hotel for over a month. We gave them a ton of kitchen stuff. Stuff that we had two or three of or that we just didn’t use any more. It was nice to be able to help a family out who was starting over. It made me feel good, especially since I know they’re using everything that we gave them and it gave them a major head start on being able to cook and eat the way they need to. She’s diabetic and they were living on fast food and hotel food, which isn’t always conducive to diabetic control.

* I made a cake today. It turned out absolutely fantastic. I made the root beer float cake. So yummy. I doubled the whip topping and probably shouldn’t have, it was too rich that way. I’m glad it turned out so well and will be making it in the future with the sugar free root beer like the recipe calls for. I have the fixings for cheesecake, muffins, bread, jams, and all kinds of other baked goods. Yay! I like the chilly weather for that, since it doesn’t make it too hot in my house to bake.

* I’m finally getting a stand mixer. I hate the hand mixer, it’s a pain in my ass and I can never get everything incorporated properly with it and always have to hand stir all batters. So we broke down and ordered a Sunbeam mixer tonight so that it’ll be easier to make the aforementioned goodies.

* DirecTV will be here between Noon and 5pm tomorrow to upgrade our dish system for the HD television in the living room. Knowing my luck, they’ll come during the news or while we’re watching something. Oh well, at least they’re finally coming. I ordered the upgrade nearly a month ago.

Bad:
* Rob has to go to the dentist tomorrow morning, early. I actually have to be awake with the sun. Ew. That’s okay, though. Hopefully the next appointment won’t be in a month. Two weeks between them would be perfect so we can get them the hell done with quicker. We know they’ll take a while, since he’s got a lot of work being done, but this month between means it’ll be well over a year before they’re done with the initial work.

* I think I might be getting sick, or my allergies are all screwed up. I feel icky and my throat is all scratchy. I’ll take a pill soon and knock out for the night and hope it goes away.

Meh:
* I am not particularly happy about something that I learned tonight. It really bugs me quite a bit, to be honest, but I don’t really want to talk about it either because that gives it more life and I don’t want to do that. So just meh.

* I have a ton of tv shows I want to catch up on and they’re all sitting on my computer waiting for me. I dunno when or if I’ll ever get to them.

* I completely gave up on the JH Tax class. I just could not get it to sink into my brain with the time that I had. I missed the exam and completely overslept that day. I’ll try again in the future, when I can dedicate more time to it.

* There’s something else stirring in my brain that I want to post about, but it’s not really something I normally talk about. Meh.

Have a happy Monday, folks

Made by defiant_angel

Have you ever noticed that when you’re not looking to move somewhere, you suddenly see all the reasons start laying out in front of you to do it. Seriously, I’ve seen all kinds of reasons to move, including, but not limited to NC health insurance advertisements. Anyone who has read this blog more than once knows that health insurance is one of the things that I need.

I love where I live, I don’t want to give it up, but man, the reasons to move …

I used to live in a small city for a short time. I lived in a questionable part of the city, but never really thought twice about going out walking after dark alone. That was over 10 years ago, though. Recently, the same block I lived on had a home invasion and murder. This is the closest to where my apartment was that has had that big of a problem.

That makes me wonder how I would survive if I was still living there. I never had any sort of self defense products or even thought of having them. I never gave much thought to there being any real problems. I mean, I know there is crime, but I was in an area that was 99% safe. Now? I’m not sure it’s even 1% safe.

I wonder why there are so many weight loss products on the market when people just need to learn why they are gaining weight. In my case, I have thyroid problems, so when those are under control, my weight will be under control. Others have emotional problems, so when they get those under control, the weight will come off.

Now, just fixing the problem won’t solve it completely, it takes exercise as well, but with products like alli weight loss out there. Now, I’m all for using weight loss products to HELP with your weight loss, but not to take the place of finding the problem and solving that and doing the work. But that’s just me.

It’s no secret that I love to cook and try new recipes. That’s why it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’d want to try to make French toast casserole. What can be better? French Toast is one of the best foods ever and casseroles are just all together yum. So put the two together and you’d have to have a winner, right?

What is your ideal food combination?

It’s not even Halloween yet, but I’ve seen people already starting their outdoor lighting displays for Christmas. Why??? I can understand setting up the rooftop stuff and edge of the eaves before it snows. But, the yard scenes? Why? I can understand having Halloween lighting. I’ve seen the coolest pumpkin done on one of those old, giant satellite dishes.

It’s not Christmas yet, people. Put the snowman away and step back in the house.

There will be much squee-age! Tonight is another football night. I know it seems odd that I’ve been going to a lot of football games, but really it’s not. I used to go every chance I got when I was still in school. When I graduated, however, I walked away from that school and really didn’t want to look back. I hated the place my senior year. There was so much nonsense and drama that I just could not wait to get the hell out of there.

Now it’s been 15 years, I finally let go of all the hatred and realized that it wasn’t really the school that I hated, it was the circumstances and the people. I let go of it all last year and started getting more involved. It feels good to get involved, it feels good to go to events again. It’s amazing how easy it is to slip back into the pattern of going to football games on Friday nights, or to the concerts or even just read the Friday newsletter.