Stop Being Offended By Non-Offensive Things

I am not a coffee drinker and I don't go to Starbucks.  Mostly because I'm not a coffee drinker and I refuse to pay their overinflated prices for a cup of hot tea.  However, I've been bombarded for a month with all the hate on Starbucks. 


First it was the plain red cups.  Christians lost their damn minds that Starbucks didn't include snowflakes and other assorted winter decorations on their cups this year.  They claimed it was a war on Christmas!  Since when is a snowflake a symbol of Christmas?  It's not. 


The latest thing is the polar bear cookies.  Take a look.

It is a polar bear, wearing a red scarf.  What kind of sick, depraved, psychopathic mind looks at this and says "OMG, Starbucks is selling cookies depicting a polar bear with it's throat cut!"?  Also, declaring this is war on Christianity is incredibly stupid.  Polar bears are not a symbol of Christmas.  Santa is.  Jesus is.  Christmas trees are.  POLAR BEARS ARE NOT. 


Additionally?  This cookie hasn't been sold at any Starbucks anywhere since 2010.  They rotate their holiday season cookies each year and this one hasn't been sold since 2010.  So, that tells me, the ignorant, sheeple majority are now going out of their way to invent reasons to be angry and offended. 


Why not be angry and offended about things that matter?  The homeless, the millions of children in this country that don't have enough to eat?  How about disease?  How about ridiculous violence and death?  Why does that happy little bear get your panties in a twist? 


Stop be offended by EVERYTHING people.  Also, please do remember that this is NOT a Christian country.  This country was founded on the principles of religious freedom because we originally hopped the cruise ship and motored over here from Europe to escape religious persecution.  You realize that means we left there so we could freely practice the religion we choose, rather than the one that is forced upon us.  That includes Christianity.  I could be a Jew, I could celebrate Kwanza, I could worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I could choose to worship NOTHING and it is all my right and my privilege to do so.    (please, get a damn history book and educate yourselves) 


It is ALSO absolutely acceptable to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" because not everyone celebrates Christmas.  This is a melting pot country, full of every nationality and religion on this planet.  It's diverse.  It's beautiful.  You over zealous, my way or no way at all Christians, are killing it.  Stop being so damn arrogant, assuming that everyone you meet is a Christian. 


And for God's sake, please go seek medical help for whatever is wrong with your brain.  He's wearing a fucking scarf, nothing more. 


/end rant

It's My Birthday Month (and other assorted things)

Hey there!  It's been a very hectic, but VERY good couple of weeks in my household.  My son is getting settled in, we went camping a second time (which was miserable, more details to come), had Thanksgiving, celebrated my son's birthday, went back to the Ren Faire one last time before it was over and I just spent 4 days with my hetero life mate. 

Camping the second time around was quite different.  We got there Friday night, and had to set up our tent in the dark.  Meh, just parked the car in front of where we wanted the tent and used the headlights.  No big deal.  My friend got there shortly thereafter and we helped her set up her tent, then we all relaxed.  I changed into my zebra striped, rainbow fleece onesie and we went to bed.  Low temp that night was about 50 so it was chilly but TOTALLY bearable.  Between my blankets and my fleece onesie, I was totally fine and comfortable. 

The second night, not so much.  The temps suddenly dipped well below freezing over night (seriously, ice on the car and tent in the morning when we got up) AND to make matters worse, the ass holes across from us decided that the 10pm curfew on making noise at the quiet side of camp was really not meant for them.  They were up drinking, screaming, playing loud music and at least one woman there had a laugh like a braying donkey, until 2:30am.  We got up the next morning and decided that we just wanted to come home rather than spend another day at the Faire.  It was wet and cold that morning.  We broke down camp, packed up and got in the warm car.  :) 

Thanksgiving was a pretty low key affair.  Scott works in a grocery store.  Guess what is open on Thanksgiving Day during the morning?  Grocery stores.  He was at work until about noonish.  By that point, the people coming in to the store had completely died off so they cut him loose early.  Still didn't eat dinner until about 6.  I am so happy to report that very VERY true to form for me, by the time dinner was ready I was stuffed FULL from snacking all day as I cooked.  LOL 

I gave my boy $100 to spend on whatever he wanted, and then we took him to lunch (so that poor child, who has lived in the Midwest for the past 8 years, could get some REAL and DECENT Mexican food, because they don't have it up there - and if you say they do, it's because you've never been outside of your Midwest town, and just don't realize how much better it is here) and then went to go see Mockingjay Pt. 2.  We liked it.  They handled the death of Phillip Seymore Hoffman very well.  He was nearly done filming when he died and he really only had like one more pivotal scene to film, with Katniss.  The director and the author came up with a way to handle it very well.  After the movie, it was back home to sing happy birthday to The Boy as he blew out his candles.  19 years old and YES by God, I put candles in his cake.  LOL 

Back up the next morning, on the road up to the Ren Faire.  Last weekend of the festival and I still had tickets (I get mine at work for $5/each instead of paying $20 for a full price ticket.  #winning) so we decided to head up there one last time.  The Boy wanted to buy some stuff with his $100, so off we went.  We did not stay long.  It was miserably cold and raining.  Got what he wanted, then boogied on home.  :) 

Sunday afternoon, I got to go pick up my hetero life mate.  I have been best friends with R since we were teenagers.  If you are lucky enough to make a life long friend when you are that young HANG ON TO IT.  It's a rare thing.  We truly are sisters.  Every time we get together, there is usually a picture of us, sometimes a selfie, and ALWAYS with us flipping the camera off.  Don't believe me? 

Us, in a bar in NYC, 4th of July weekend,
2013.  I was in town to visit her.

This is us 2 nights ago, at the Muse
concert.  Nothing has changed, except I'm
no longer blonde.

 

Those are just two of them.  I have many more, but these were easily accessible.  :)  I love this woman beyond belief.  BFF's for more than 30 years, with a shared life history that is too twisted to be made up.  I think that is why we are so close.  She hung out, with my son quite a bit, because I had to work, she got her fill of Sonic (in NYC, there is no Sonic, so she gets some when she comes to visit) and we got to go see Muse.  Not enough words to express how much I love that band.  They are just so, so good.  **le sigh** 

Sadly, real life happens and stuff, so back on a plane to home she went yesterday afternoon.  :(  It's okay - it's my turn to go visit her next time.  It's always an adventure!  Woot!!!! 

So, my last few weeks have been hectic as hell.  These next few weeks aren't going to be any better at all.  I literally only have 2 1/2 weeks of work left for this year.  Too bad that I have about 8 weeks worth of work to get done in that 2 1/2 weeks!  Our Christmas shut down in an unbelievable blessing, but the race up to it is awful.  Everyone trying to get their stuff done before the end of the year, killing themselves and us (the support functions) to get stuff done under some misguided notion that things have to be done by end of the calendar year (we work on the government fiscal year, Oct 1 - Sept 30, so the end of December is really just another month in the accounting year).  Ah well.  2 1/2 weeks of crushing work loads, but it gets me 10 paid days off in the end.  #worthit

Other than that, my birthday is in two weeks.  Two weeks from today in fact.  I will be 46 proud years old.  At this point, I'm shocked to still be here, so I don't shy away from the number.  I own it.  It also doesn't matter what your physical age is, when your mental and maturity age is 12.  ;) 

Finally, Some Good Stuff!!!

I am very aware that for the past several months, this blog has been nothing but doom and gloom and all kinds of bad news.  Because, in case you didn't read the last post, it's been a really shitty 5 months.

Today's post is not like that at all.  Today's post is full of good things!!!!!  :D  Let's get started, shall we?

My son is with me.  He moved in with me last week.  I've missed this kid a great deal, and now he's back with me, under my roof, under my protection.  I am not going to go into details as to why all of a sudden he had to move back in with me, because it doesn't really matter.  All that matters is that he is here with me!  His birthday is the day after Thanksgiving, so there is extra reason to celebrate.  He requested a red velvet cake for his birthday.  I better get on that.  Also - BONUS!  One of his best friends from high school is now in the Army and is stationed at Ft. Hood which isn't far from me.  He messaged him last night asking if he could come to visit over Thanksgiving as he's got 4 days leave for the holiday.  I'm so glad that he'll be able to come over and visit and that my son will get to spend some time with his friend.  Believe me, I fully understand why friends are important.  Fully.

I am going to see the Phantom of the Opera tomorrow.  I'm going with my friend Denise.  It's a FANCY LADY DATE!  PotO is my favorite musical and I've seen it live a few times, even once on Broadway.  Denise is not a huge fan of musicals in general, so I really appreciate her going with me, since Scott is not a fan at all and wasn't down to go.  We have really great seats for the 2pm matinee tomorrow.  She's fetching me at 11:15, we are headed into downtown to have lunch, see the show, then have a very fancypants dinner afterward.  I'm so excited!!!!  :)  

I am going camping again this weekend.  Because I've been possessed by an alien or something.  I have always claimed that I hated camping.  I've come to realize that it is most likely due to one bad experience as a kid.  When I went over Halloween weekend I had so much fun that I actually came home and bought a damn tent (hahaha, Scott and I set it up in the living room to make sure we could figure out how to set it up....and I'm not going to lie, I kind of wanted to just leave it up as a fort in the living room.  Because I'm still12). We are going to the Renaissance Faire - it's the second to last weekend of the country's largest and best Faire, and the theme this weekend is 'Highland Fling' which is all Scottish themed.  Since Scott is very Scottish, he's very excited to be there.  I ordered him a kilt, but it didn't fit.  Boo.  I didn't have time to get it returned and get a new one in time for this weekend, or else he'd be going full Scottish to the Faire.  He will be still full Scottish (because he is actually fully Scottish), just with pants (and underwear) on.  LOL  

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, my life long hetero partner, Becca, is flying down to spend a week with me.  I am beyond excited about this!  Her and I have both had a really awful year.  We need a week to just love on each other in person.  While I am very excited to see her for any reason, I'm extra excited for her to be here because of the reason she's coming.

MUUUUUUUUUUUSE!  Muse is kicking off their American tour dates with a show here in Houston, on December 1.  I love this band.  And you should too.  LOL  We have great seats (which, for what I paid, we should be sitting in Matt Belamy's lap while they play for pity's sake) so it should be a great show!

 This is where I would have embedded a video of my favorite song of theirs, Butterflies & Hurricanes, but every single one I tried to embed is blocked in my country.  WTH.  Click the link and watch it on Youtube.  :) 

December marks the beginning of my birthday month.  Yes.  Month.  When your birthday falls just 8 days before Christmas, it is all too often just forgotten.  Hell, there have been years where I have forgotten it myself.  Not this year.  This year has been one of the worst I've ever experienced and I recognize that I am lucky to have another birthday this year on Earth, as too many of my people don't have that luxury.  So, it will be a month of celebrations.  Please do contact me for my birthday wish list if you'd care to send a gift!   (hahahah, that was a joke.....maybe)

Christmas is coming!  I do love the holiday.  I wanted to decorate my house on Nov 1, but again this year, like in years past, Scott wouldn't let me.  LOL  I love the holiday for the typical reasons, but there is one other really awesome thing about Christmas for me.  My company shuts down between Christmas and New Years.  That means I get a week off, paid.  It is the BEST.  We are a government contractor (I work for a company that makes airplanes, and it rhymes with "going") and since our customer is shut down, we do too.  I'm not going to lie, part of my stress about potentially being laid off was that I wouldn't get that vacation time somewhere else.  Many ask how we do this, how do we get this paid time off and not have to use our personal vacation time.  It's because we do not take what I call bank/post office holidays.  Presidents Day, Columbus Day, etc.  Those little one day holidays that shut down the banks and post offices.  We don't take them through the year - we save them up and take them all at once at the end of the year.  My ex works in a bank, and he always gloats about having those silly little one day holidays off.  He doesn't gloat when I'm off at the holidays.  For the first time in forever, I believe that Scott will be able to take that same time off work (he's got vacation time he HAS to take), so we can go somewhere.  I'm thinking a run to Corpus Christie for a few days.  It's not a far drive from here.  :)

I made brioche bread this weekend.  From scratch.  And it turned out WONDERFUL.  I've never been good at baking.  I can cook anything and I'm damn good at it.  But baking?  Not so much.  Cooking recipes are kind of a suggestion.  You can change it up as you go along - add more of this, or less of that, to suit your tastes.  Baking is a formula.  You MUST follow the recipe exact or it just doesn't work out well.  I'm much more of a 'coloring outside the lines' kind of cook, so I've historically not been too successful with baking, except for a few absolutely safe and simple things.  So, I took the challenge with brioche.  I've never, ever cooked with yeast and yeast is very persnickety.  You have to bloom it JUST RIGHT.  You have to give it sugar to eat or it won't do what it's supposed to.  I was successful!  I made one loaf and have enough in the freezer to make two more.  I'm very pleased with myself.  If you are interested, here is the recipe I used.  For the record, it calls for 6 ounces of butter.  That is 12 tablespoons.  TWELVE.  It's worth it.

Okay, I think I'm done spewing rainbows and glitter everywhere.  I'm just SO GRATEFUL to have something good to report instead of the recent parade of shitty things. 

The Unbelieveable Suckfest That is 2015 Just Keeps On Rolling

Since my last post, I've lost another dear friend to Heaven and have had some very private and fairly substantial issues with one of my kids. 

Seriously.  This year needs to quit.  Just stop already.  I'm over it. 

My sweet friend Jill, who I met online and had the absolute honor to meet in person, suddenly passed away several weeks ago.  Turns out it was congestive heart failure.  Her sister (they lived together as Jill was helping her sister raise her kids) came home from work to find Jill slumped over her desk in her room. 

Again, like Catherine, rather than dwell on her death, I want to dwell on her LIFE.  Jill was a grammar nazi.  She was a writer.  She was lover of great classic fiction.  She had completed her bachelors degree and had moved on to her Masters program in romantic literature (I think....).  She was writing a childrens book, and editing a book for our friend Cher.  (FYI, Cher was asked to finish the book Jill had started - she was verklempt and honored at being asked to do this)  She was absolutely obsessed in love with her niece and twin nephews, spoiling them rotten - but being mean Auntie Sue when she needed to.  She was a quiet person, preferring to sit back and observe everyone around her.  She was smart, she was witty.  She was hands down hilarious.  I miss her terribly. 

In a weeks long group discussion thread on Facebook Messenger with all the people who love Jill (affectionately referred to as The Family), suddenly, one of the group came up with many, many photos of Jill from a phenomenal house party in Kentucky 6 years ago.  It was seriously the best party I have ever been to.  As I was scrolling through the photos, I was stopped cold in my tracks, wind knocked out of me. 

That is Jill in blue behind me, I have my hand on Catherine's shoulder, and to my right is Laci (yes, my shirt says "Loud Bitch" - and yes, there is story behind that).   

In this one picture are two of my very dear friends, both of whom passed away this summer/fall, both of whom were way too young (in their 40s).  I still can't even wrap my brain around it, I really can't.  Since June, loss experienced by me or my friends/fam (framily) numbers 7.  SEVEN.  This number wouldn't be shocking if I was, say, 75 years old.  I'm not.  I'm 45 years old.

So, since this year has truly and thoroughly sucked for so many people, I created a Facebook event - a virtual party for New Years Eve, so we can all get together, chat, laugh, and try like hell to create some positive mojo for 2016 as we give 2015 a giant and collective middle finger. 

We have all had it with your bullshit 2015. 
We are over it.   Bye Felicia!

 

Sour Cream Enchilada Sauce

I love Mexican food.  No.  That is not entirely accurate.  I adore it.  I'm obsessed with it.  I would eat it 3 meals a day, 7 days a week for the rest of my life without hesitation. 

Here in south east Texas, you can throw a rock and hit at least 3 or 4 good quality (and cheap) Mexican food restaurants.  I didn't realize that this isn't a thing everywhere, until I left here in 2005.  I spent 7 years away from Houston and never found even one decent place (St. Louis - your Mexican food is just embarrassing and shameful and Alabama?  I suppose I should not have had high expectations there LOL).  The VERY first thing I did when Scott and I moved back was take him to eat REAL tex-mex food.  He spent his whole life in Topeka, KS.  Again, like St. Louis and Alabama...nope.  He was incredibly impressed, as I knew he would be. 

I make it at home as often as possible.  Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, homemade fresh salsa (which, I'll have to find my recipe and link ya to it), spanish rice, lime/cilantro rice (Chipotle whaaaaat?), ranchero sauce, huevos rancheros (I'm a huge fan of that!).  About the only thing I don't mess with is tamales and home made tortillas.  Making tamales and tortillas requires skill, lots of practice and a little bit of magic or witchcraft.  I also make a creamy avocado sauce that is served at my favorite place down here on the table with the chips and salsa (omg, avocados, Mexican creama, sour cream, cilantro - so so good). 

I found a new sauce a few weeks ago.  I've always seen menu items of enchiladas with a sour cream sauce.  Well.  I like sour cream.  I like sauce.  This can't be bad!  And OMG it's not.  It's SUPER simple, and incredibly tasty.  We had tacos and tostadas for dinner last night and I made this sauce to go on top.  I had plenty left over, so I heated some up and poured it on my eggs this morning for breakfast - TO DIE FOR. 

The sauce is simple if you can make a roux.  And please, don't say you can't.  You CAN.  I promise.  The trick is that when you have the fat (butter) and flour in the pan you CANNOT WALK AWAY.  You cannot take your eyes off of it.  Even for a moment. 

This sauce takes about 5 minutes, start to finish.  Please, mis-en-place your ingredients first.  The sauce cooks very fast and given that you can't walk away from the roux, you can't put your spoon down to go get the next thing.  Very important to get everything out, measured and ready to go. 

Sour Cream Sauce
1/4 cup butter (please, for the love of Paula Deen, USE REAL BUTTER)
1/4 cup flour
15 oz of chicken stock (I didn't have stock so I used bullion last night - not ideal but in a pinch it works)
1 cup of sour cream
1 can of chopped diced green chilies

Heat your butter in a pan (I use a sauce pot, because you will add a bit of liquid) over medium heat.  Once melted, pour in the flour and get your wooden spoon.  This is where the constant stirring starts.  Never stop stirring for a moment.  Incorporate the flour completely and cook while stirring for about 1 to 2 minutes.  As you cook it, the roux will get darker in color.  You need to stop when its straw colored.  You are cooking it JUST long enough to cook the raw flavor out of it (which omg, please do not forget that...raw flour is VILE). 

Once you have the desire roux color, add all the chicken stock at once.  Switch from wooden spoon to whisk and stir.  Turn your heat up to hi and bring it to a boil.  Once it boils, it will be as thick as it will get and you can stop the cooking.  Remove from the heat. 

Add the sour cream and whisk to thoroughly combine.  Add the diced chilies and stir (with a spoon - the chilies just get stuck in the whisk if you use that......at least that's what I've heard.  *snort*).

That is IT.  Seriously.  So simple.  5 minutes.  We drizzled it over our tacos/tostadas last night, I poured some over my scrambled eggs this morning.  Use it to dress a pan of chicken enchiladas.  The possibilities might be endless with this tasty little sauce. 

Mangia!  Mangia!

A Hard Birthday

Today is Catherine's 41st birthday.  She isn't here to celebrate it, but I know what she would have done. 

Because she was a Pretty Pretty Princess, she didn't have a birthDAY.  She had a birthMONTH.  She celebrated the entire month of October every year I knew her.  She would spend each weekend of the month going out with friends to celebrate, usually went out to a super nice, fancy dinner actually ON her birthday with her husband and typically used this month to be financially irresponsible, because it was her "birthday month".  LOL  She never shied away from a birthday, never got weird because she was getting older.  Her and I had had many conversations about our age.  It is at this age (I'm 5 years older than her - I'll be 46 in December) that we were both most comfortable in our skin.  In your 20's, you are trying to figure out what/who you are.  In your 30's you have a pretty good idea and maybe even a plan on how to get to where you want.  We both felt that at this age we are now, we had finally truly realized what we planned for our lives in our 20's and 30's. 

You get to an age where you stop trying to impress others and are really focused on being the best you that you can be.  It is also about this same age where you begin to give absolutely zero fucks about what other people think of you and refuse to allow others impression of you and potential negativity affect you.  We were there. 

Were we both insecure?  Sure, what human isn't?  Did we allow the insecurities to ruin or control our lives?  HELL NO.  We held our heads high, locked our arms and skipped down the street (good GOD, we actually did that one night after too many glasses of wine at dinner and a 4 block walk back to her apartment LOL) with our heads held high.  Screw the haters.

These past 4 months without her have been so strange, so surreal.  It doesn't help that in my little circle of framily folks, there has been SO. MUCH. DEATH. since June, with the most recent one being the death of a friends 21 year old son just last week.  2015 is a crappy year.  Super, super crappy year.  So bad that I believe I AM going to organize a virtual party, maybe a Google hangout, something, so that we can all collectively give 2015 the finger as it goes out the door and hope like hell that 2016 is gentler and kinder. 

So, wherever you are, stop a moment and think of Catherine.  Wish her a happy birthday.  She can hear you. 

 Happy birthday in Heaven beautiful.  I miss you every single day, but I keep a small piece of you in my heart with me always. 

12 Fridays Left!

I know it's only October.  It's firmly Halloween season here in the US.  And I love it, I really do! 

But, Christmas is coming.  And it will be here before we know it.  This has left me with a small conundrum and I think I have a great and fun solution. 

Scott and I are alone this year for Christmas.  The kid and the grandbaby lovey shmoopie Most Perfect Child In The World are not going to be here this year.  There is nothing sadder to me than a Christmas tree all decorated and beautiful, with nothing beneath it.  I imagine that is because for so many years, I've had a tree that was full of presents for kids.  So, I can't fathom having a Christmas tree that has nothing under it.  However, Scott and I are grown ups, and truly our Christmas gift to each other this year is the cruise we are taking in April, so we won't have anything under the tree.

Or will we??

I suggested, and I TOTALLY want to do, this:  I want him and I to go shopping at the dollar store or a store we have here called Five Below - in which everything is under $5.  It will be cheap and it will fill the tree with presents!  I also firmly believe it will also be hysterical.  How much weird crap can we find for under $5 each thing?  The more I think about it, the more I want to do it.  Maybe we'll make it a competition - who can find the weirdest thing?  Haaaaa.

I had thought about taking some empty boxes and just wrapping them and putting them under the tree because that's better than nothing right?  The more I thought about that, the more I realized that no, it was not better than nothing.  It was far sadder than a tree with no presents. 

Now, I'm excited.  It's just 12 more Fridays until Christmas!