Mwa hee hee hee hee……….

I don’t like beans. I mean I don’t like them. I don’t like baked beans, pinto beans, lima beans, or most of the things that come out of the legume family.  I can say I like green beans, peanuts and chick peas. But that’s all the springs to mind.

Don’t try to give me black eyed peas and tell me I’ll like them. I won’t.  Don’t tell me your baked bean dish is different. I’m sure it is, but that doesn’t mean I’ll like it. In fact, I’ll be trying to figure out a way to get rid of it. Don’t bother me with the health benefits of pinto beans in chili. I’ll still pick them out.

Just face it, I don’t like them. Don’t make me try and eat them.

Why is it that people take it as a personal offense when I say I don’t like them? It’s not personal. It has nothing to do with your cooking ability. It has to do with the ingredients and my taste buds.  If you didn’t like cheese I wouldn’t be upset if you didn’t like my ultimate grilled cheese.

So please, just accept the fact I don’t like beans.

I’ve not done any work updates on here and I do apologize. In my defense we have been working very hard towards the closing on our home here and that has been weighing heavy on my mind and my time.

But here are the updates. Sadly, I didn’t get the one commercial I auditioned for. I’m not too disappointed as I would have been amazed if I had gotten the part. Totally unprepared, never done anything like that before, etc. So I’m not cut up about it.

I do have an audition for an independent horror film on the 24th. I am looking forward to it. It isn’t a paying gig but if I do get the part it will be good experience, a way to build up my resume and networking. Fingers crossed! Also with the current writers strike, new paying work has started to dwindle quickly. It’s a tough time for a lot of people in the biz so I consider myself very lucky to be in the situation I am in.

I have also finished the final rewrites on my first children’s book. I will be sending that off to the first publisher on my list this week. I probably won’t hear anything for at least 3-6 months. Which is the average wait time for this publisher.

I will also be putting out the movie manuscript I wrote with my good friend. Maybe the writers strike will help open some doors in that area for us. Strike while the iron is hot…bad pun.

Regardless, I am still optimistic and upbeat. I’m enjoying all of this and know it’s a tough business to break into, even in the best of times. I’m going to keep plugging away and I will be sure to let you know what happens with my horror movie audition.

With the holidays on the way I thought this would just be a bit funny. And I’m happy to say I LOVE MASHED POTATOES!

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Oridnary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You’re the glue that holds everyone together.

It’s Friday, so that means it’s garbage day here. And every other Friday it’s garbage and recycling day. Along with the regular rubbish we put our recyclables in blue trash bags to be picked up by the recycle guys. And I’m proud to say that this Friday we had more bags to recycle then actual trash!

There’s no place like home for the holidays. At least that’s how the song goes. But what if you don’t have your home yet?

Right now we are renting. It’s been a long time since I have rented. And I’m not the biggest fan of it. The place we are renting is lovely and very nice, but it’s not ours. We have to get permission to do certain things, can’t just change things you don’t like and in my opinion renting is pissing money down the drain. Yes, you get a roof over your head but you don’t get any benefits or the added bonus of the investment that a house is (even in these mortgage crisis times).

We only have a six month rental agreement, which is good, because we are hoping to close on our own abode on November 30th. I honestly can’t wait. I am ready to actually unpack all of my stuff, think about where I want to hang things (without having to ask for consent) and have our own place. Our home.

It’s going to make the holidays crazy hectic. With closing right after Thanksgiving and moving in before Christmas it will be a bit insane. Yet it’s not over ’til the fat lady sings. So I won’t be able to rest until the papers are signed and keys are in hand.

We’ll have loads to do before then and after. I just hope I’m not bald for the holidays. Although, that might solve my hair dresser conundrum from my earlier post.

When you move to a new city/town/village, whatever you have to make adjustments.  You have to figure out where everything is at. From the grocery store to where the stuff in the grocery store is at.   Because Lord knows they’re not going to have your toothpaste in the place it *SHOULD* be, if they have it at all!

Then there are the big things you  have to adjust to. Driving to places you don’t know, finding a dentist, a doctor and most important of all a new hair stylist!

Yes, I said it. Hair Stylist.  I have more problem finding someone who can do my hair properly than someone who can inspect my guts.  And it’s been a battle.  Following the advice of my much loved (and much missed) hair stylist from Hobbs he recommended I look at other ladies hair and then when I found one I liked ask them where she got it done.  Well, I haven’t seen one head of hair that I have liked.  You would think in such a big place you would. No such luck. One woman I even asked (even though she didn’t have hair that “spoke” to me) informed me that she travels back to her home town about 200 miles away to get hers done. Well, I can’t hop on a plane and get down to Hobbs for a trim every 5-6 weeks.  That just doesn’t work for me or my pocket book.

The first place I went to here the lady was very nice but she didn’t do a great job. She didn’t wash it first, didn’t layer it, blunt cut it and it was still dry ended, and she didn’t even style it.  So today I went to a place my husband had stumbled on when he was in a “fancier” district.  I made my appointment and went today for a simple trim. Nothing fancy. And I am pleased to say she did a good job. Not the same as what I had before, but it’s nice and it looks healthy again. Now I just have to work up my courage for some color!

I lived a long time in rural America. So I’ve lived a long time with a tiny paper.  And that’s fine. There’s not that much news to go around so it makes sense.

Now I am in a city. Not only do they have two big papers here (The Trib and the Gazette) it’s common place for the New York times to be here as well.

But I am just not used to the size. The daily papers here are as large as the Sunday edition I was used to and the Sunday edition could pull out the arm of any paper boy.

I am liking it. Even though I’m not a big news paper reader I am loving the comics and I can really see the need in recycling.

 I have not unpacked everything since the move because we are currently renting and are going to buy our own home. To save on not having to pack everything up again in a few months time we decided only to take out what we needed and leave the rest packed up.  I did check all the boxes when we got in, and as far as I could tell everything was in good nick.  I guess I should have checked daily.

This morning I went down into the basement to retrieve one of my many teapots. My husband was wanting a pot of tea made and the one we had out was for decorative purposes only. Sadly, when I went to get out my beloved Brown Betty I found her and two of her sisters crushed!  I wasn’t near tears, I was in tears. I know you shouldn’t cry over split milk but there is something very different about a crushed teapot.

I was upset. I know that they can be replaced, but I really do love my teapots, so this was a bit of a blow to find.  I lost my Whittard teapot and lovely yellow one a friend had given me as a gift and my Brown Betty. Luckily my frog survived and my white one with the blue scenery (it’s only slightly chipped at the top). I have a few broken cups from Japan and a few other items chipped or missing a chunk or two.

I have no idea if this happened in the move or happened while boxes were being moved in the basement. I’ll never know honestly.  Guess now I’ll just have to write out my Christmas list and add “Teapots” to it. Sigh…..

I have to say that this Halloween wasn’t like any I remember.

I am very used to sitting inside, on the couch, watching tv and maybe munching on some popcorn while the kids come in packs every 10-20 mins.  The doorbell rings, you get up and hand out about 20 pieces of candy. Sit back down and watch a few more minutes of your show, rinse and repeat.

Not so this year. First off, the times here are very definite. 5:30-7:30. It may have it go about 10 mins before and 10 mins after but you don’t have anyone coming at 9 or so like happened sometimes in Hobbs.

And there was no sitting on the couch. Oh no. At about 5:20 I noticed some kids walking by the windows. I got my candy and discovered the kids here don’t ring the bell, they just walk by and you stand/sit on your stoop.  The porch light is not a signal. So I went out to man my station.

It was loads of fun. Had a nice glass for red wine, was out there on the beautiful evening, talking to the neighbors from their stoop and gave the kids candy as they came by. There was a steady flow for the entire time. About every 2-4 minutes a kid was there. Had one little ghoul reach right into my sack throwing in the piece of candy I had given him saying he didn’t want it and trying to grab a Reese’s peanut butter cup stating “That’s the one I want”. I calmly removed his hand and told him that isn’t done and his mother not so calmly chewed him out as they walked away.

To give you an idea of how many kids came, I had bought 12 large bags of candy. I gave each kid one piece (I know some came by more than once, but hey, no biggie). I had no candy left by the end of the night. Not one fun sized snickers or sweet tarts.  So I average at about 450-500 kids came to the stoop.  But I am thankful. That way I don’t have that leftover candy! And my hips rejoice!