What a way to go...

Ok, so I'm just amazed at the random and ridiculousness of some websites. Just now I came upon one that "predicts" your death! You type in some info and push a button... here's how we get to die!

Alex: At age 74 you will fall into a vat of neutral shoe polish, and your body will never be recovered.

Ben: At age 72 you will perish under strange circumstances involving a gallon of lotion, two nine volt batteries, and a photograph of a bicycle.


So... how will YOU go? ;)
http://evil.berzerker.net/death_predictions.php

Serves me right!

So you know how I was whining about how puny this ice storm was and how anticlimatic it felt? Well... I spoke too soon. On my way home from work on Monday I lost control of my car, spun a full 180º and ended up 1/2 way in a ditch! NOT cool. It all happened really quickly and I while I didn't really enjoy spinning out(and ending up in oncoming traffic), I was very blessed to have done so (since there were no cars coming), rather than having rolled head first down a 6 foot drop-off on my side of the road! That would have been BAD and I could have rolled the car over on its top and been seriously injured.
I ended up calling Ben on my cell and he and his brother came to my rescue. While I was waiting for them, I saw the same thing happen to pickup, a few hundred feet in front of me. I decided to walk over and see if the driver was ok and needed a cell to call someone... he was alright and had a phone so I walked back to my car I must've been stopped by 5 ot 6 people in cars asking if I was ok and needed a ride/help. Oklahomans are very nice. I reassured them that I was ok and that help was on its way, got back in my car and munched on some Goldfish crackers. (The weatherman said to make sure you keep a blanket, and some food in the car just in case you are stuck for a while... good thing I listened!) About an hour later I was safe and warm and glad to be off the road!
It is now Wednesday and I'm back to work. The roads are still horrendous and Ben is driving me. It is snowing today and we're supposed to get hit with another 6" of snow/sleet this weekend. Considering that it hasn't gotten above 25º all week and nothing has melted, this could make for another rough weekend... So much for complaining about the puny storm, huh?

Hmm...

So the storm is over and as always, it was far more hype than anything else. Sure, we got some ice and yeah there are a few inches of sleet on the ground, but thats about it. At least here in OKC... other places got hammered, but not us. So after alllllllll this talk about being prepared for the worst ice storm since 2002 (the BIG one), yadda yadda yadda, I find this all very anticlimatic. As you can see we are still enjoying the comforts of electricity so I decided to spend some time sewing this afternoon. While doing so, I looked out the window and saw this:

I guess they were bored too! Not too sure how far this guy is going to get. In the 5 minutes I've been watching him, he's spent more time on the ground than upright. Despite the fact that it looks like fluffy white snow, it really isn't. That stuff is packed sleet/ice and you'd probably ice skate on it better than anything else!

And so it begins...

Oklahoma has declared State of Emergency... A 3 day ice storm has begun and we are hunckered down waiting for mother nature to unleash her worst. So far there is a nice 1" layer of ice over everything and on top rests a few inches of sleet. This morning we got up and decided to do some damage control on our front steps, lest we slip and crack our heads open the next time we ventured out of the house for whatever reason. Here we can see Ben shoveling the sleet away and trying to break up the layer of ice underneath. All that white stuff is NOT snow... its firmly packed sleet/ice. Brrrr.... SO cold!

My Husband the Tabloid...

Contrary to popular belief (due to a recent blog by my dear dear hubby) I am NOT a pothead, nor was I EVER a pothead. Truth be told, I was probably the most goody-two-shoe teen in my entire school! You can ask my friends... always boring, predictable, and by-the-rules Alex. I take pride in my good behavior and although it may sound stupid, LOVED that my parents always boasted to their friends (parents of troubled teens) that I never gave them a day of grief their whole lives! Granted, I may have had a day or two in which I had a momentary lapse of judgement (I can seriously count them on 1 hand) but the worst grief I made my parents go through was telling me to clean my room... repeatedly... woops! I take so much pride in this, because unlike me, I know my dear hubby to have been quite the mischief maker during his formative years... and I hold to the comfort that if we have "troubled teens" it will be all his fault b/c thats what happens. Its the Mother's Curse... you've all heard it, "You just wait until you have kids and they do this to YOU! Blah, blah, blah..." So there... now you all know and my reputation can go back to its unscathed, impecable form. Hmph! ;)

10 = 10... NOT 32!

Ok, so I was doing some shopping after work at the local supermarket and only needed a few things. Once I was done I made my way to the 10 Items Or Less checkout lane because I had just that, 10 items or less (5 to be exact). As I'm approaching that lane this lady with quite a bit of stuff in her cart cuts me off (she was practically running) and gets in front of me. NOT nice. Then I realize that there is NO way she has 10 or less in there, so I started counting. 1,2,3... 10, 11,12... 20, 21,22...all the way to a whopping 32 items! Now, I'm not saying that its an unpardonable sin to squeeze in an extra few items every once in a while, but 22 over the limit? She had 3 times as much as that lane was designated for!!! I think she saw me counting because she moved right in front of the cart so that she was blocking my view. I don't know is it was "karma" coming back to bite her in her obviously illiterate butt, or if another cashier saw me staring daggers at her... but all of a sudden this lady (an employee) came up to me and ushered me to another lane that had just opened. This other lady looked up and pulled this face like, "Hey, I was here first!" but to no avail, she had to sit there and wait while I (and my FIVE items) got scooted through before her cashier even started scanning her 32... oh well, too bad, SO sad! HMPH!

SiriusThe Snow Nosed Doggy...

For weeks now Sirius's nose has been turning a lighter shade in the front. It has always been jet black but now its turned a decidedly pink color... Never having owned a dog before, I began to worry... could this be a symptom of some weird doggy-disease? Or maybe its just dirt? I tried scrubbing (gently, mind you) but to no avail... his nose would not turn black again. Concerned, but not wanting to get laughed at by the vet (I've taken him in so many times that they see me coming and go, "Oh dear, what is it this time?") I googled "nose discoloration in dogs" and found that my fears were indeed unfounded. Sirius has what is commonly known as "snow nose," a harmless condition that affects dogs (mostly in the winter) and turns their black noses pink. Now that I'm not worrying about my poor pup dying of doggy nose cancer, I actually think its rather cute. Odds are though, that by the summer, his nose will be all black again!

Edible Heaven

Behold... the alfajor! Here is my favorite version of it, the merengue covered kind. Tonight I ate my last one and now I am in a state of mourning... who knows when will be the next time I have the pleasure of biting into this scrumptious treat... *sigh*

Miracles DO happen!

So today something has happened that I never thought would ever happen again... Ben updated his blog! WOW, I know... who'd thunk it? I'm so proud of my Booboo.
Ok, so as you all know, I am a Harry Potter freak. However, a new series of books has caught my attention as of late (never to replace my beloved HP, though!) the first of which just had a movie made about it. Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Trilogy: Eragon (book 1), Eldest (book 2) and the future E_____ (book 3). Yes, Eragon the movie was released last month and yes, I went to see it. No, it wasn't my favorite movie ever, but thats another day's blog... Anyway, for those of you that have had the pleasure of READING Eragon (if you only saw the movie, SHAME... you don't count!) and then gone to see the movie, I'm sure you regretably noticed the absense of The Twins, those malicious, evil, nasty, vilest of characters (well, besides Galbatorix and Durza, of course). I wonder perhaps if it was due to the inability to find some actors that might do the roles justice... Going back to Ben's blog, if you read it you will find a link to Jarek and Derek, the two men who I think would have undoubtedly done us proud, had they been given the chance to play those roles. Perhaps we should contact someone and nominate them for the part... who knows, maybe they can somehow work them into Eldest.

Awww...

Here is our "family picture" for the year. Since we have no kids yet, we must use the dogs as an excuse to put up stockings... I think they made out with the most goodies this past Christmas!

Happy New Year!

So the holidays are over and here we are at the start of a new year. Today I had my first (of many, I'm sure) "ah crud" moments when you write out the date and realize the year is wrong because its no longer 200_, its now 200_+1! January is quite annoying because of that every year! Maybe I'll start writing 2008 on everything next December to prepare me for the switch next year... oh wait, that won't work- dang it!
My mom was down here for Christmas and New Years and it was quite fun! The house had to be *perfect* and so the days leading up to this momentous visit were full of last minute cleaning, organizing, and panicking! But alas, all turned out well and we had a grand ol' time! Along with presents (ooh!ooh! I have a creme brulee set now, ramekins, blowtorch and all!) she also brought some tasty treats that I can't find anywhere here. Sad thing about Oklahoma is that its not very diverse... well, unless you're Mexican. Lots of shops and international markets here for those of that heritage and culture, but nothing-zip-nada if you're of any other decent. Uruguayan and Colombian cuisines are absolutely NOTHING like Mexican so I am forced to rely on my mom to bring/send me yummy treats and condiments to cook with.
One such treat were my Alfajores! They are traditional Uruguayan cookie things that have Dulce De Leche (caramel) in the middle and are dipped in chocolate or merengue powder... mmm mmm gooooooood! Ben hates them (too sweet for him) which means more for ME! She also brought me my favorite Italian cookies! No, I'm not Italian, but Uruguay's cuisine and culture is very much Italian influenced b/c thats where pretty much everyones' ancestors are from, if not from Spain. And living in NYC there are scrumpdidlyumptious Italian bakeries everywhere and oh my gosh, I love their food!!! By the way, Shannon, did you read my comment on your Chimichurri entry? Its good stuff, very common in Uruguay too!
Now my mom is gone and although I miss her, I am glad to have life go back to normal. Its nice not to have to play hostess all the time and well, I know we're boring, so I'm sure she's glad to be home too. Sirius misses her quite a bit and goes to the guest room and lays on her bed and cries every morning, its quite a sad site to behold.