Hallelujah, It's Finally Friday!

1.  This is going to be a fast finally friday post y'all because I forgot it was Friday, and I'm leaving the house in an hour BECAUSE I HAVE THE DAY OFF.  First Friday I've had off since I started the hotel. SO EXCITED.

2.  On my day off, I'm heading up to the Racetrack (horse, not car) about an hour north of here.  I'd forgotten it was up there until this summer, then I looked it up, saw that admission was only $8 and they have a $1 food menu on Fridays, so a friend and I are headed up there to watch the races!

3. My school books are coming today... which means classes start Monday. I don't know if I'm ready to do this or not.

4. I'm eligible for dental and vision insurance with my job, and I'll be getting pretty good coverage which means... the wisdom teeth will be coming out!  One less pain in the mouth to deal with.

5.  I think my allergies have upgraded to a cold.  Bleh.

6.  Two my sisters and me, and my brother did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and we did it Batman Style.  It was fun! (And cold).

Happy Friday y'all!

I'm a Morning Person

And no, I do not mean I'm a morning person in the sense that I have frequently been going to bed after midnight, around 1:30 in the morning ever since I started working second shift.  I mean that I love being up and awake in the mornings and given a natural preference I would go to sleep around 9:30 and wake up sometime when the sun did.

I remember when I was little, back before my mom started waking up at 6:15 and got up somewhere around 7:30 instead (I actually don't remember what time you got up mom, I just remember being up before you a lot)  I would wake up early, grab whatever book I was currently reading and go find a quiet spot to read until it was time for breakfast and starting the day.

I used to get up at 6:30 in the morning every day, and I didn't mind it at all.  (Well, I didn't mind it most of the time).  It gave me a chance to get at the bathroom before everyone else, and then a chance to do a little reading and enjoy the quiet before my siblings woke up.

When I was in college, I woke up pretty early for a college student (I slept in until about lunchtime once or twice and hated it.  Half your day is gone!) and it was nice to get up, get ready for my day, make myself a cup of coffee and eat a pre-breakfast before the rest of my dorm started moving.  It was a quiet time to enjoy the view out my window, poke around aimlessly on the internet or read before having to start back on the books.

I'm seeing a theme here... I might have to re-name this title "I'm a Morning Person Who Reads A Lot."

Now its a rarer thing that I'm up before anyone else.  When I get the chance I try to sleep in as late as possible and it's hard to drag myself up and out of bed.  It takes a long time to wind down enough to be able to sleep when you get off work at 11:30 at night!

But sometimes... usually on days when I have the mornings off, and we've decided that we're going to go to noon mass, like today, and everyone else is sleeping in... I like to get up still, get my coffee and enjoy the peace and quiet of no one being awake.  There is a calm that comes with the morning that you don't get any other time of the day.  The sunlight is gentler, softer, the world is still relaxed and sleepy and hasn't wound itself up for the business of the day yet.  No music, no noise, no talking, no worries... just, quiet.

I am a morning person.

Looks Like It's Finally Friday!

1.  Today was a good week... almost like a mini vacation, in a way.  With working second shift I don't get to spend much time with my family but somehow the stars aligned and this Monday I was off, Tuesday and Wednesday I worked first shift and Thursday I worked all day at the chiropractor job and was off by seven.  Getting to eat dinner at home four days in a row was great!

2.  I realized the other day that I've been dying my hair red for over two years now.  It is a little funny how there are still some people - who I see on a fairly regular basis - will still say "Oh, did you dye your hair?"  I started off with the auburn color from Henna King but that was more brown and not enough red so about a year and a half ago I switched to Natural Red and never looked back.  Its very me, and I LOVE the fact that Henna makes your hair healthy and shiny - hurray for guilt free dying!

3.  I tried out an almost top knot today (it didn't quite make it to the very top of my head.)  I kind of like the look.

4.  I'm not on Tumblr, strictly speaking.  Rather, I prefer to take the best of Tumblr without the rest of frustration of no one following me, having to follow people all that by experiencing Tumblr via Pinterest.  You find the best funny posts that way.  Like...
Some people actually don't know the Oh Where Is My Hairbrush song?
The best Europe posts on Tumblr
Sherlock IS the Grinch!
The time part of Tumblr mistook Sherlock for a Muslim Woman
The Spanish version of YOLO

5. I can't believe that the school year starts up in ONE WEEK already! Where on earth did Summer go to?  I'm also having a hard time believing that this is going to be my second year at JuCo (Junior College).  Going full time with classes this semester, which leaves me with only 5 more to complete my associates degree!  I am very much looking forward to my Understanding Wine class. YES I will get to taste all kinds of wine!  A perfect class for a Monday afternoon, don't you think?

6.  Need to say no to someone this week?  Need to say no to a lot of someones?  Here's 25 ways to mix saying no up a little.  Can I say I love the addition of cats to this graphic? Way #25 is my favorite.

7.  I like to experiment with seasonings and marinades on occasion.  Last week I came up with a delicious new combination to go with grilled chicken.  Rub the chicken breasts with garlic powder and lemon pepper.  In a bowl, mix together ranch dressing, Parmesan cheese and just enough Summer Shandy (beer) to make the mixture more liquid.  Marinade the chicken in the Ranch mixture for about three hours, grill, and then enjoy!  It was an instant hit with my family and the gal I was working with the night I decided to make us dinner!

8. Yes.

Have a happy Friday!

Throwback Thursday: Little Amanda ReWrites Robin Hood

I am not entirely certain how old I was when I wrote this... I vaguely recall typing it up and I'm pretty sure it was in the 11-13yr old time frame.  My mom was going through old boxes of school work and came across it.  We were all quite entertained, and I thought it would make a good Throwback Thursday!

Once upon a time, there lived a pig named Bacon Hood. He was a very brave little pig, and once he saved Prince Boar from a terrible fire and was made an outlaw. Now it may seem rather odd that he was made an outlaw because of this, but P.B., as he was referred to, hated Bacon Hood and didn’t want to feel grateful to him.  So P.B. and Jay (Jay was Prince Boar’s faithful turkey) got together and thought of a plan so that they wouldn’t have to thank him. Finally they decided on the story that Bacon Hood had set fire to trap P.B. and then didn’t want to get in trouble with the Sheriff of YummyHam and decided to save him instead. Now this was not true, of course, but that is what they said, so Bacon Hood was made an outlaw.

Bacon Hood walked slowly into Pigwood forest and sat down on a log to think. He said, “Well I’m an Outlaw and that’s that. I suppose that since I am an outlaw, I must act like one. Let’s see, outlaws must have a band of merry swine and rob from the Pigs to feed to the Swine.” (The upper class, as you know, were called Pigs and the lower class was called Swine, whether they were or not, if you get my meaning). “Pity,” he said, “I don’t know any outlaws and I haven’t the faintest notion on how to rob. Well, I suppose I’ll learn sooner or later.” With that, he set off to find a band of merry swine.

After two days of searching and finally getting hopelessly lost in the forest, he sat down on a log to think. “Well,” said he, “I’m just not meant to have a band of merry swine andI am certainly no outlaw. Outlaws don’t get lost in a forest, and they always have herds of pigs just flocking to them and begging them to be their leader. Perhaps I am not meant to be an outlaw king after all.” He sighed, “If that is the case than I don’t know if I want to be an outlaw.” Just then he heard cries for help. Someone is in trouble! He thought. I must save them! Jumping to his feet, Bacon Hood ran off towards the cries.

Eventually he reached the edge of the forest and peered out cautiously. To his surprise, it was P.B. and Jay who were calling for help.  Two pigs dressed in bright red were robbing them. They must be outlaws, he thought. They are wearing red, like me. But outlaws or no, I must help P.B. and Jay.  Bacon Hood jumped out of the trees. “Stop!” he called. “These are my friends, P.B. and Jay. He made me into an outlaw, but I am a very forgiving pig so I don’t want them to be robbed.” The two pig outlaws, whose names were Little Chop and Will Sausage, looked at each other, dropped P.B. and Jay and ran over to Bacon Hood.

“Will you be our leader?” They asked hopefully.

“Of course I will!” Cried Bacon Hood. “I must be meant to be an outlaw king after all! I will lead you in outlawry and you will be my merry swine, and we will rob the Pigs to feed the Swine.”

“Yippee!” they cried and ran off into the forest together.

For the next few weeks, Bacon Hood and his merry swine tried their hand at outlawry. As they later admitted, they weren’t that good. After an especially disastrous attempt with the Sheriff of YummyHam (which partiall involved saving P.B. and Jay, again), they held a meeting.

“I say,” said Little Chop, sewing up a rip in his bright red outfit, “we’re not that good at pick pocketing, are we?”

/Most certainly not,” agreed Will Sausage, examining the cut in his foot.

Bacon Hood sat silently for a moment, then straightening his bright red jacket said sadly, “Well, we might as well face it. We are just not meant to be outlaws. And what’s worse, we’re stuck being outlaws too.”

“What do you mean?” coursed the other two anxiously.

“What I mean is that we can’t go live somewhere else because our bright red clothes proclaim that we are outlaws, and we can’t buy other clothes because merchants are forbidden under pain of bacon to sell any sort of material of clothing that isn’t bright red to outlaws. And we can’t waylay a merchant and rob him of material because, for one thing, we are too kind-hearted to rob, and for another, we can’t sew!”

They sat in gloomy silence. Then Will spoke up, “Hey, we could save people that get lost in the forest or attacked by animals or drowned in rivers!”

“That’s a capital idea!” exclaimed Bacon Hood delightedly. “We’d be really good at that! We are brave and kind-hearted and every good rescuer needs both of those in order to be a good rescuer. And there are a lot of people that need saving!”

“Especially P.B. and Jay, commented Little Chop. “I believe that they got themselves into a fix at least 15 times last week.”

And so that is what they did. After saving P.B. and Jay another hundred times, they finally decided to be friends…. But that is another story.

THE END

Finally Friday!

1. I missed out on last weeks Finally Friday because I was up in Michigan, floating on a lake and working on my tan.  My family and I took off for three days to my grandparents lake house and spent two and a half days of doing absolutely nothing but swim and create weird traditions with a pineapple.

2. I counted up the hours and realized that between my two jobs I worked 60 hours this week.  Good for the paycheck but ugh, am I tired!  It was nice to take a break this afternoon and spend some much needed (on both our parts) date time with my Knight.  He had the day off and I worked first shift so we did a long distance movie date of Guardians of the Galaxy and spent some time skyping/chatting afterwards.  (Great movie by the way! Awesome music and fantastic one liners.)

3. The other day.... on a trip to the mall where I swore I would not buy anything.... I ended up buying my first pair of shorts.  (Cue the shocked gasps)  They were only $10, so how could I NOT buy them?  And then, how could I NOT by the Frozen t-shirt that was only $10?  (and then I don't know how I justified the other $26 top that I got but whatever.)  I did come home and do a photoshoot so I may throw together a fashion post for tomorrow.  In the meantime, I discovered I have snow powers.

4.  I just opened an envelope from my school that I thought was going to be my fall tuition bill and turned out to be a $69-extra-financial-aide-check from the summer class I took.  What a great surprise!

5.  I was also pretty psyched to come home and find that the following objects had come in from Amazon...

(Do you see what I did there?)

I'm looking forward to rewatching seasons one and two of the adventures of Shawn Spencer and Holla Backatcha, as well as reading an exciting looking piece of fiction that I heard about on someone's blog recently.  Not just dystopic fiction, but Catholic dystopic fiction and it's supposed to be very well written!  I'll report back to you once I finish!

6.  A Marianos recently opened up not too far from me, and I am in love with their tea section.  Such a lovely variety of loose leaf and bagged teas.  I'd picked up a smaller size of the Tiesta Nutty Almond Cream Tea a few weeks ago and absolutely love it (like drinking a slightly fruity banana bread!) so I went back to get a bigger container and decided to try out the Hibiscus Coconut Tea from The Republic of Tea.  I'm drinking a cup of the latter as I write, and not only is it a lovely purple color but it tastes amazing!  Slightly sweet with a light coconut flavor.

Enjoy the weekend ladies and gents!

Tradition!

It's no secret to anyone in my family that I'm big on traditions.  I've had a bit of influence on my siblings too... over the years there has been many a horrified cry of "but it's tradition!!!"  in the face of a proposed change.  As I've gotten older, I've come to find that it's okay and even fun to bend or break tradition at times, but other times its just as fun to uphold traditions and create new ones.

Some of the best traditions are the silly ones, and in our family, they often revolve around food.  For example a number of years ago after two or three consecutive vacations on which we happened to bring Twizzlers (we never have them any other time), it was declared a Family Traditiontm to always bring Twizzlers on vacation and one time when my mom forgot, we protested until she found a local grocery store and bought some.

This past week my family and I took a three day trip up to the family lake house, and as traditions went, it was no different.  We ate breakfast in the car (though bagels this time, not donuts) and we brought Twizzlers.  We also brought a pineapple.

In a Psych inspired moment as we were unpacking, I decided that the pineapple The Pineapple, should be placed in the middle of the floor.  Officially, there is no reason and no explanation.  It is The Pineapple, and you do not question The Pineapple.  Unofficially, it was a random moment of inspiration and I was going to put it on the counter but the longer it sat there the more it seemed like a good idea to just keep it there and we weren't planning on eating it until the last day anyhow.  And so, another tradition was born.

We played games around The Pineapple.

We prayed around The Pineapple.  (Note I said around and not to.  Gosh guys, we aren't pagans!)

And on the last day we sadly cut up The Pineapple.

Now from heareverafter we must always bring a Pineapple on vacation.  It's Tradition.