Just enough time for one quick Christmas memory post

When I was 5 years old we moved to Hawaii.(I mentioned this a million times but my high school English teacher always told us to write with the assumption that the reader just met you and has no clue about your history so here you go Mr.J) The church where we started going regularly had a Christmas party and every child under 12 received a toy. I'm guessing my mom must have signed up our names and ages because they had Santa Claus call out every one's names when it was their turn. Since I have an "A" name, I was one of the first ones called and I got to tell Santa that I was really good(which was probably a lie) and thanks for my toy. I opened my present and was pretty happy with the little yellow and white bear. Until Santa called my sister's name and she came back WITH A BARBIE. I then and there decided I HATED that yellow bear and I cried all the way home. I'm pretty sure my dad lectured me on being thankful for the gifts I'm given. Yeah, in one ear and out the other. In my defense I was 5, the youngest of four kids and used to getting hand me down toys so of course I was likely pouting about the fact that I was going to have to wait a long time for my sister to get sick of that beautiful Barbie in a pink ballgown. My parents must have either felt sorry for me or secretly agreed that what I got was LAME because that evening after dinner they went out and came home with a Malibu Barbie for me. I do have a memory of not really liking it at first because the one my sister got had cuter clothes and all mine had was a bathing suit. Until our other sister showed me the tan lines and told me this Barbie was more Hawaiian. I don't remember what became of the yellow bear. It probably ended up on that island of misfits in the Rudolph movie I still watch every year.


I'm still in the process of moving and have tons of really tedious and boring things to do but I haven't posted in a long time so I thought I would share a memory of how annoying I was as a little kid during Christmas.....I'll try to post more when this is all done.

How do you feel about the Holidays being sprung upon us so quickly?

I noticed Christmas stuff at the grocery store today. Usually I get irritated about how early stores start putting out Christmas stuff. Oddly, today it made me happy. I stood there for a long time wondering if I should also start early, buy a cinnamon broom or one of those little bears with elf shoes one. I almost bought red and green Hershey's kisses until I remembered my still left over Fun Bag sized Mini Milky Ways I've been trying not to eat. I even started to hum songs from my Chipmunks Christmas album I had when I was in kidergarten.


On my way out, I had a hard time leaving because my car was blocked and I couldn't back out. I couldn't back out because some people who had just arrived were having a conversation with someone else who happenned to still be in her car. They decided a good place to have this conversation was right behind my car after they had watched me put my groceries in the back, get in and turn the ignition. Usually I just wait a few seconds when this happens but today I beeped. I beeped because I had just ran 2 miles and was eager to get home and eat lunch. They still took their time in getting out of the way, probably because they thought it was rude of me to beep. So, whilst waiting, I remembered why I get irritated at stores during the Holidays and forgot that I had just decided to be happy when I arrived. Yup.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone is having fun. Eat a lot of candy corn and enjoy the jack o' lanterns.......The Pea family is handing out chocolate. Stay safe everyone and have a good weekend.

Joy to the world!

I know-I know ya'll. Christmas is over. But that's what I feel like every time I put my new favorite shoes on! I even wore them to church yesterday.(yes I occasionally go to church internets...)They don't look very churchy but ask me if I care. And yes they are hard to walk in but I do fine in high heels anyway. I've been wearing them since I was 4and got caught walking around in my mom's shoes. Officially though she started letting me wear heels when I was in the fifth grade. It was probably a mistake. We had a talent show at school and my friend Ann and I were dancing in it. Because the size of the cafeteria was not large enough to accommodate the whole school, there were 3 shows. The first and second show went off without a hitch. The third show however, is filed in the mortification section of my brain. So there I was in my silver miniskirt that my mom had sewn for me. It was actually a leftover part of my Halloween Costume that I was recycling as my talent show costume since the song we were dancing to had sort of a space-like sound, as so many really bad 80s pop songs did. My little partner had borrowed my sister's exact match silver mini so we were thinking we looked so damn cute. I had on some suede pale grey kitten heel pumps lined with rhinestones that I swore I saw Madonna wearing. By the middle of the song, everything was going great. I look over at Ann and she nods at me because we are ready to do our jumps in unison. First jump I heard a rip. No it was not me, it was Ann. She ripped the silver mini! Not enough to really get embarrassed over but 5th grade girls get embarrassed easily. She had a frozen look on her face and I realized she's about to bail so I felt like I had to save the day. I did my jump by myself and to my horror, my shoe flies off my right foot. Suddenly Ann starts laughing really hard(when she's supposed to be dancing not laughing at me!!) and sort of pretends to move towards me so that I can pretend I need to move towards her but really it's because I need to dance to where my shoe landed so I can put it back on. No one laughed at us, it's likely they thought it was part of the show but I was mortified.....

These shoes definitely make up for any embarrassing moment I ever had. And by the way don't make fun of my second toe, I'm sensitive about it. Really. And don't start with me animal people-it's faux snake skin ok. I don't have a problem wearing the skins of animals that I eat but I don't eat snakes so I won't wear them.

And since I'm on the topic of Christmas gifts I thought I would share with ya'll the fruit of another gift from MrPea. I had to take it with my cell cam because I'm still having a problem uploading with my regular cam. It's been a long time since I've used colored pencils, 14 years to be exact, so I'm pretty much learning from scratch all over again. I used a book to help me with this one. I'm still painting here and there but not as much as before because my easel is in storage until we move and my desk is too small.....at least with colored pencils, the supplies are more portable and I can work anywhere.

I'm finally over my nasty Christmas cold and was able to go the beach yesterday. I really shouldn't be out there in that cold, wet ,sea air but I can't help it. My find was nothing to brag about so I didn't even bother to take a picture. I did see what I'm pretty sure were Right Whales. This would be the time of year for them show up. I know I didn't mistake them for dolphins because there were dolphins too. The Right Whales were further off shore than the dolphins. I could see black tail fins and V-shaped blows. It was the first time I ever saw whales before so I was really happy. The dolphins were grey and playing really close to the shore, I'm guessing because the water was calm and it's too cold for anyone to swim so they had the water all to themselves. Who the hell needs Sea World?(Sea World still makes me cry anyway)

SickPea

I have a nasty cold. It all started Christmas Day with a that really horrible sore throat. I'm at the nasal congestion and fatigue part. I would probably be feeling a lot better today if not for the really loud music some people in my building thought the rest of us wanted to listen to until 4:00 in the morning. So I had maybe 3 hours of sleep last night. I just woke up from a two hour nap so I'm feeling much better than I was this morning. I'm tired though. I still can't upload pictures but I wanted to share with you what MrPea got me for Christmas. Best gifts ever!

Peace be with Thee Internets

I had a cute picture for you my peeps but our computer has been hijacked by something really funky and my camera cannot upload. I couldn't let the day pass without wishing the Happiest of Holidays to everyone in the Blogosphere. To those who don't celebrate, have a beautiful and relaxing day.

Peace, Love, Happiness!

Happy Holidays Internets!

Merry Christmas

(I took this in St. Augustine last month.)

Huh?

Has this ever happened to you? I did not drink at all last night, so why did I wake up with a hangover?

Black Friday...my #$&*!

Guess who won't be standing in line for hours and rummaging around with thousands of other pushy Holiday shoppers. When I was 18, I worked at the mall during the holiday season and it was enough to make me not want to step foot in any retail business during the months of November to February. I remember feeling shocked when my boss said, "OH gawd, Christmas...another Christmas...I hate the f-ing holiday season." About a week into November I was saying worse. People were fighting over things.....I mean, we sold bikinis and slutty jeans, what could they possibly be fighting over? People got bitchy because we only had one working register and the shoplifters were all filing in like a bunch of roaches. Up until then I thought only men did stuff like that, I was wrong. I caught so many people stealing, it's sad. One woman was actually hiding things in a stroller under her sleeping baby . Another had apparently taught her 7 year old daughter how to take off the security sensors and was using her to do it thinking we wouldn't suspect a little kid. Wanna know how I caught them? The little girl innocently told me what she was doing. My boss and I were threatened by a group of teenage girls who were shoplifting as a team(there's no I in team right?) and had to be escorted to our cars after closing for a month.(mall security policy)
It's not the thieves that turned me off from holiday shopping. It's the crowds and pushiness of it all. It's a cliche topic so I'm not going to try to add anything new to the mix....ya'll know what I'm talking about.

But my dilemma is, those sunglasses I've been pining over are on sale today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And anyone who doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, Happy Thursday.

I haven't been around much. It's not that I've been busy. It's that SOMEONE who lives here, not Peanut, has been working from home and is hogging the computer.....

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!



I've been looking for some 'babe' pictures of my mom in gogo boots taken before I was born somewhere in my picture box. I'm dying to post them if I can find them.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Well at least for another couple hours! I was too early for my doctor appointment today so we went to the beach for a few minutes. It was such a beautiful day.



I decided to wear something really special for V-Day. Alluring. Sexy. Seductive...
MrPea couldn't take his eyes off me-he likes the She-Unibomber look. I was so dern cold in the restaurant I had to cover my ears lest I freeze to death. We didn't do gifts--I'm not a "you didn't buy me a gift-you bastard!" kind of wife. I'm planning on buying some really ridiculously priced shoes in the next couple weeks anyway and tomorrow I'm making a pineapple-upside-down-cake. He'll eat the whole thing over the next few days by himself. The way to my husband's heart truly is with sugary foods. He never gains a pound either.

I don't really have anything new to add-there are some weird complications regarding my cancer follow-up but nothing to be scared about. I'm optimistic-just impatient. I feel a lot better after seeing my doc today-she's like a pit bull. I don't think I'll need another surgery-knock on freakin wood(I'm trying to stop swearing it's so bad)!
Anyway I hope everyone had a good day today. Thanks again you guys for all the good wishes!

New Year's dinner-Little Pea style

I know I know-New Year's Day was on the 1st. But I was damn lazy on the 1st. So our Happy New Year started on the 2nd dammit! I made a turkey. Over the years I've made a few turkeys thanks to a Spanish waitress who, when I told I didn't think I was a good enough cook, said it was easy-peasy(ok she didn't exactly use that term it just sounded funny to me) and that I should just jump into it and gave me her tips. Since then I've used her recipe. So for anyone out there as timid as I was, I'll pass on the wisdom. I have to just put it out there that I'm not the best of cooks so don't be mad at me if it doesn't work! Plus it's not my recipe anyway it's hers.
I make a spice rub: paprika, salt, cayenne pepper flakes, garlic powder, course pepper blend, seasoned salt

Notice some got on the counter...I'm messy what can I say? By the way I just want everyone to know-I did not/would not choose that horrible mauve color for the counter top, it's ugly I know!

I rubbed the spices all over and inside too, it's kind of gross but I get over it after a few seconds, then spray vegetable oil and tuck the wings behind.
I started sort of late so I didn't have enough time to cook it with the cornbread stuffing(yes,from the box dammit) so I stuffed it loosely with onions(say it like that Cajun guy on PBS while doing it,"On-yOns") , carrots, and celery.
I ate a shocking amount of kettle chips while waiting the 3 hours so I wasn't really that hungry by the time it was finished but MrPea was.

It came out sort of burnt looking but that's because I raise the temp from 325 to 375 for the last 15 minutes so the skin will be krronchy(not crunchy). It doesn't make for a pretty turkey but let's not be superficial here! I do have a tendency to burn things-ok I know that! But I have to blame it on the crappy oven I swear it!! MrPea likes for things to be cooked to DEATH anyway. Plus I made enough gravy to fill a pothole(yes from a mix-does it look like there are any drippings here to make gravy with? plus I hate giblets, I don't even like the word giblet sounds like someone's toes or something) and it was good dammit!


Anyway, I didn't make any resolutions this year because they are always the same ones: Exersize more, eat right , quit swearing. I haven't excersized much lately but I will. Besides those chips from yesterday(I bought them in bulk for cheaper-which I still haven't gotten over how much I love to buy in bulk but that's a story for another day), I don't really eat too badly. And the cussing-I have to admit, I enjoy cussing. It's a love hate thing: I like to say cuss words but I hate the way they sound coming from my mouth. It's just so enjoyable sometimes especially since I grew up in such a stiff, strict household. It's not like I go around telling everyone to go f- themselves, like certain people we know and love(oh!but how I would love to sometimes) When I prohibit myself-it just makes me want to do it more so I'll give myself permission to swear while acknowledging that it sounds horrible. That was how I quit smoking. I doubt this will work but I'll take this habit over all those other bad habits I'm thankful for not having. Does that sentence make sense? Does to me.

Hope everyone had fun over the Holidays.