The Real Update

We went to the Renaissance Festival last weekend. It was SSSOOOOO much fun!!!! Way more fun than I expected. I figured there would be a lot of weirdo's there, way more than I encounter at the carnival. Okay, the carnival isn't so much weirdo's as more of your fun loving white trash who like to ride greasy rides and eat terrible overpriced food and win ridiculous prizes at games that are designed to make them lose. Sorry, got carried away with the carnival weirdo's. The Renaissance weirdo's are more of your geeky gamers and those with a flair for the dramatic. There were people in crazy costumes from the Queens to squires and trolls and fairies and knights and pirates and elves and ogres and gypsies and of course the token geisha. The geisha was strange since it doesn't seem Renaissance-ish but it was a great costume. :) There was knife throwing and axe throwing and ninja star throwing, there was a pirate maze, there was archery, and there was a mug slide - you slide an old fashioned pewter mug down a bar. There were two rides that were manually operated since they wouldn't have gas powered items back then. There were of course vendor booths with wood working and blacksmith items and leather works. I was extremely tempted to buy a set of Elf Ears! We saw some great shows too! I went to a comedy show by a drunken tattoo-less pirate. Very funny! They did a live chess match and they would sword fight as a challenge. Of course the sword fights were choreographed so it definitely looked fake, not as much as professional wrestling, but it was still entertaining to watch plus their costumes were way better than pro wrestlers and even though it was hot out and they were wearing corsets, there wasn't nearly as much sweat!







The highlight of the day -- JOUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!! Jousting is amazing! It's so exciting and a little bit scary. I found myself getting scared for the guys as they were starting each joust. They ride Clydesdale's which are so big anyway so when they fall, it's a hard fall! Plus they have a full suit of armor so the added weight makes the fall that much harder.

I have a bunch of pictures cuz it was seriously so much fun~
















Full suits of armor.
How can they see?!?!?!?!?




They get points for a hit, breaking the tip, shattering the pole, and knocking the opponent off. I think they should get extra points just for showing up in those heavy looking suits of armor!


Major points for the other guy (our assigned team to cheer for) - he knocked him off! Yay for our team, bad for the guy on the ground! It was such a hard hit that it dented his armor! It took him a while to get up and not just because you need help getting up when your wearing a suit of armor!!! Ouch!

The Renaissance Festival in Oregon isn't til September but I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to people watch or likes to get out and wander among the crowd of crazies! You will have the time of your life! And if you dress up - you better send me pics!!!!!

Yay-Boo

Had a really fun weekend - Yay!

Haven't downloaded the pictures yet - Boo!

Had Monday off - Yay!

Worked until 11:15 last night - Boo!

My boss bought us pizza for staying so late - Yay!

Had to be at work at normal time this morning so got minimal sleep - Boo!

Devan's version -

School's out for summer - Yay!

Moms working and can't play chauffeur - Boo!



Will give a real update tomorrow - Yay!

It's warm and humid - Boo!

Had some tasty strawberry shortcake - Yay!

Warm weather and full tummy making me even more sleepy - Boo!

Gonna go to bed now - Yay!!!!!

The voice of Mickey Mouse

The guy who has been the voice of Mickey Mouse for the last 30 years has died. I think we should all dig into our boxes of keepsakes and pull out those personalized Mickey ears that we got on our first trip to Disneyland and wear them tomorrow in remembrance.

I know there is a large population of Amish in Pennsylvania. What I didn't know is that they drive Fords and disobey the posted speed limit! Maybe they weren't Amish, but two guys in straw hats with facial hair similar to the Amish style drove right past me in a Ford Taurus. They were speeding down the freeway - AMISH ROADTRIP!!! Maybe they just didn't want to stop so they could stay in the air conditioning.

The downside to working

I don't get to watch Ellen anymore. She is hilarious and she finds the craziest things for example - a ride on cooler. For those long walks from the car to the perfect picnic spot or for those single parents who love to camp but can't haul around the heavy cooler...there is the riding cooler. Keep your cool drinks always by your (back)side! Toot, toot! Oh, and you can even get more and attach to the back and create a little cooler train!


Finals this week then school is out! WHERE DID THIS YEAR GO!?!?!?!?!?!?

Okay, I came across the yummiest recipe for meatballs. Simple, tasty, and healthy.

3 lbs ground turkey
1 cup onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs, Italian style
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
1/4 cup pesto
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, cut into 36 cubes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl mix ground turkey, chopped onion, minced garlic, egg, bread crumbs, Parm cheese, pesto, chopped parsley, milk, salt, and pepper. Form the turkey mixture into meatballs about 1 1/2 inch in diameter. Stuff a mozzarella cube into each meatball and seal the meat around the cheese so it can't leak out. Arrange on a nonstick baking sheet. (It works fabulous on the Silpat for those of you that one.) Bake for approx 30 minutes. You can flip them halfway through to brown more of the surface. Serve with a marinara dipping sauce or enjoy just plain or with your favorite pasta dish. These freeze well also.

Happy snacking.

New job jitters

I nearly burned down the place on my second day at my new job!!!!!!! Smoke was spewing out the disc drive! I had smelled a slight burning smell when I got in but thought it might have been the smell of the heat getting the morning chill off the building. It continued but since I was in right by it and nobody else said anything, I really thought the smell was just stuck in my nose. Finally someone else smelled it and I turned my back on my work area to talk to them when they saw smoke coming from behind me! It was only the power supply connector overheating so they replaced my comp and it was all fine. Luckily not enough smoke to make the sprinklers turn on! Phew, what a way to start a new job...ignore smoking computer - check; feel like a complete jackass - check, check! The good news is that they let me come back. :)

Now you all know that Jordan didn't get to see the cadaver and was SUPER disappointed. Well, she made up for it when they got to dissect cats. She did have a lot of fun with chicken wings too. I told her to squeeze the cats paw and make its claws pop out then ask her lab partner if she had an itch! hee, hee Then I told her that Devan had a cow in his room! The anatomy and physiology class got to dissect a cow!!!! Jordan said that would have been easier since she doesn't like cows (she thinks they are out to get her). I started cracking myself up talking about how cows will flip their tails to shoo away pesky flies and bugs and that it would be funny to find the muscle that controls the tail and swoosh it at classmates to shoo them away like pesky flies! How awesome would that be to swish a cow tail at some unsuspecting sole?! They are just standing there watching and learning about some cow part and flick, shoo you pesky fly aka classmate hogging the good view! Ok, I'm cracking up all over again...hee, hee, hee, hee

Gotta love a class that dissects a cow! Imagine showing up for class and there's a big dead bovine on a tarp in the middle of the room. I have this great mental picture of it lying on its back with it's legs straight up in the air!

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mom's I know...Happy Mother's Day!

You are fabulous women and your children are lucky.

Hugs!

Hit the Target

I woke up this morning to the loudest noise EVER!!! It was so loud I seriously thought our building was collapsing or at least a wall caved in. It woke me up so violently that I literally sat up in bed and was instantly wide awake. Once I discovered that we still had a roof and that our building hadn't fallen down around us, I realized it was a thunder clap. A huge forceful clap of thunder!

My daughter had the same 6th grade teacher that I did. He was my favorite teacher and I think he was Jordan's fav too. My son tells me that he got an email from Mr. Mulligan - he finished his quarter collection. When they began making the state quarters he began collecting them. Well, if he was my teacher and Jordans teacher, obviously he has been teaching a long time... He always said he would retire when he collected all the states. He sent out the email saying his collection is complete - I guess he is retiring. WLK is going to lose an amazing person when he does leave.

So I did something really stupid. Yeah, yeah, I know you are thinking "what else is new" or "what did you do now?" My son and I are in the car and there is a little gnat flying around. It's tiny but in my line of vision. I reach up to smash it but I make sure to use the back of my hand - don't wanna get finger smudges on my windshield. The stupid little bug is moving quickly so I reach up and smack the windshield with the back of my hand in a swift motion to get the bug. I hear a pop and realize that the exact spot that I hit...was the EXACT spot where I have a rock chip! The one rock chip in my windshield that didn't crack during the cold weather has now cracked because I SMACKED IT!!!! It now has 3 arms coming off of it, sort of making it look like a pinwheel. The other ones definitely look like they happened from the cold but how do I explain this one to the insurance company?! My son and I both had the same reaction which was a quick suck in breath and our eyes got big and our mouths hung open. I hadn't even made it out of the parking lot yet! ...AND I DIDN'T EVEN GET THE BUG!!!!!!!!