Dating=Clueless

Apparently, I am absolutely clueless when it comes to dating, or anything centered around dating. They really need to come out with a “Dating For Dummies” book for us, well, dating dummies. I apparently have a big question mark on my forehead when figuring out how to go about getting a date. That question mark does go away after I’ve figured it out- though it’s too late. Then, I feel like a complete dork. I don’t plan on changing my personality. People say I’m quirky, sweet, and caring. So, I’m dorky enough to laugh at a car insurance commercial. I’m nice enough to let someone cut in front of me when I’m standing in line with groceries. I’m caring enough to help someone with their down on their luck. Yay me!

Maybe I should change my wardrobe. I wear too much black. No, I’m not going through a depressive-gothic phase; they just look and make me feel better. Although, I do have other colors- it mainly consists of a bright pair of fuchsia pants- which, although being born in the 80s, still makes me feel as if I should have some Hendrix playing on the 8 track while I figure out world peace. Yes, I know all about the 8 track tape. My mother used to have one when I was little, and oddly enough, it still worked. It probably would have been worth a ton of money right now if Mother Nature wasn’t so upset.

I seem to have gotten sidetracked by a decade I was never a part of. So yes, I have different colored clothes, but I’ve gotten so used to black. Maybe I should get a long-flowing, flower-print skirt that will either make me feel as if I’m a young girl in Spain, who is writing a romance novel and checking out the architecture; or a 30-something single woman, with a cat and loves to garden, living in the middle of the country. However, I don’t think I would become the single woman who loves to garden- I have no green thumb. It’s more of a purple thumb, really. Even though the death of a plant may not have died directly because of me, I can’t help but feel bad about it.

So while I am clueless on dating, I’m even more clueless on why I decided to write a post on how clueless I am. Maybe in time I’ll actually find the answer to that burning question. Perhaps some other time. Right now, I’m too busy shopping for that house in Spain (only joking.)

Guiltless Gourmet Review

A few days ago, I received a package in the mail. As as soon as I opened it, I saw a bag of Chile Verde BAKED tortilla chips via Guiltless Gourmet. Of course, I dove right in! I hadn’t eaten anything yet, and those chips were looking very delicious! So, I opened the bag (had a tiny bit of trouble with that….) and ate one… or a few chips. I must say, the flavor exploded immensely. You could really taste all of the ingredients.

The good thing about Guiltless Gourmet? Their tortilla chips are baked- no fried. So not only is it good, it’s good for you. Also,

• They are all natural. There’s no preservaties or artificial ingredients.
• There’s only 120 calories and 3 gram of fat or less per serving.

So, you see how healthy they are! I think I’ve become addiced! They also use organic corn as an ingredient.

Guiltless Gourmet has many great flavors! Those include Blue Corn, Chili Lime, Yellow Corn Salted and Unsalted, Spicy Black Bean, Much Nacho Chipotle and Chile Verde. Along with the baked tortilla chips, Guiltless Gourmet has many other products from dips to dessert to sandwich wraps. All of them natural and all of them have 0 Trans Fat. Now that’s a win-win situation in my book!!

Back to how it tasted. After chowing down on the Chile Verde chips, it start getting hot. I suspect that’s the jalapeno pepper powder to blame. However, they chips didn’t taste greasy or too salty. You can taste the Chile Verde seasoning- which is a perfect blend, in my opinion.

If you are a chip lover and snacker, where can you find your own bag? Well, you can either log onto www.guiltlessgourmet.com and visit their store locator, or visit retailers nationwide such as Shoprite, Kroger, Publix, etc Visit the snack section for Guiltless Gourmet.

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Guiltless Gourmet is currently having a sweepstakes.

Starting  May 15, 2009 through September 30, 2009, consumers can have a chance to win daily prizes!

During the sweepstakes period, each of the 8 chip flavors will have a unique code that you can redeem at www.guiltlessgourmet.com. Every person who redeems a code will be entered for a chance to win the Grand Prize of a trip to Las Vegas; which includes a 4 day/3 night stay at a five-diamond resort, a $1,500 gift certificate to a spa and $1, 500 in cash!

Daily prizes includes:

• $100 gift cards to a retailers to buy Guiltless Gourmet, or for an AmEx (American Express) gift card
• Free product coupons for a bag of Guiltless Gourmet.

Visit www.guiltlessgourmet.com got more information and/or to enter a code.

The ‘King of Pop’ Dies At Age 50

Yesterday was a rough day for not only Hollywood, but the entertainment business. We learned that early Thursday morning, Farrah Fawcett died from her long battle with cancer. A few hours later, Michael Jackson died from cardiac arrest.

I remember seeing my very first Michael Jackson video w hen I was very young. To be honest, I think it was “Thriller.” It played on MTV and my sister and I loved his music. When we first saw the video, we were scared of the zombies and the laugh at the end. Needless to say, we got over it. My sister, being the person who somewhat remembers a dance, she could do part of the “Thriller” dance. I’d show you how she does it, but I don’t think she can do it anymore. She even knew the dance to “Everybody” from the Backstreet Boys video! Wow… now I feel old.

Anyways, yesterday, on  BET, they had an all Michael Jackson video marathon. We watched that for a few hours, when we started wondering what else was on T.V. However, we did watch a lot of the videos that brought back so many good memories. I absolutely loved watching “Remember The Time” with Eddie Murphy and Iman. That was always my favorite. I have to be honest though… The “Earth Song” video is just a bit disturbing, but nonetheless, a good video. His videos were always fabulous and great!

This year has been full of heartache with the passing of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and now Michael Jackson. This world has lost a lot of good people. Our prayers and thoughts are with the families!

R.I.P Farrah Fawcett

Today, we learned that Farrah Fawcett, who had fought a courageous and lengthy battle with cancer, died today at the age of 62 in Santa Monica, California.

She was born in Corpus Christi, Texas on February 12. She had a very fantastic career! She did TV commercials such as Noxema shaving cream, Ultra Brite toothpaste, and many more.

We know her more from Charlie’s Angels, which is a little before my time. However, I did know her work and liked her. She was a 70’s icon.

We are all saddened by this iconic loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones!

Girls Night Out Recap

Last night we had a girls night out- as you probably already know. Boy did we have fun! At first we just drove around the city. The sun was setting and there wasn’t much to do at 8pm at the time. My sister, however, got some gorgeous pictures of the sun setting. So, before I get on with the story, I will post those pictures so you can see how well my sister knows her photography. Of course, she is the photography genius in the house.

Sunset Over Jack In The Box

Sunset over a field?

See how great she is at the camera? Way to go, Sis!

So, what did we do after wasting gas for about 30 minutes? Someone got hungry. Not only me, but camerawoman got hungry, too. Wait… I forgot something. We took a picture at the beginning of our night out of us together. Look how excited Elvira is…

Awww!

I wonder why she isn’t smiling. Most of the time, I don’t have my glasses on when I take pictures. This was a different situation. I use my glasses mostly for when I drive. This time we stopped in the HEB parking lot and took this picture. It was the closest one to us.

So back to being hungry. We could not decide what we wanted to eat. At that time, I was craving everything. Pizza, Chinese, Subway, hamburgers, Tex-Mex. What did we decide on? We decided on Subway. So, I pulled into the Subway parking lot (another parking lot not far from HEB!), and we chose who would go in and get it. Angela volunteered. We ended up getting a tuna with everything except jalapenos and onions. I felt sorry for sis. Apparently, their air conditioner in the store wasn’t working and so the store was hot hot hot. Next time, I go in. We shared a foot long sub. She got half, and I got half.

Nom nom nom.

Most of the time I don’t like pictures of me eating being taken, but hey, this was something we may not do for quite a while. By the way, the sub tasted great!!

Since we didn’t get any drink with our food, we decided after eating all of that, we were extremely thirsty. I didn’t want a soda because I was going to get one later. I started craving a milkshake really badly. Sugar rush to the rescue! We drove to Whataburger (I love their shakes!) and we both got a vanilla shake, but she got a small and I got a medium. Told you I was craving one!

So, after getting our drink, we drove around a little bit more so we could finish them. I’ve come to realize that most people don’t get out on Saturday night until really late- but I didn’t want to wait until 10pm to get out. I was bored. We needed something to do!

After an hour and a half or more of being out, we decided to stop by the Corner Store and head on home. It was a bad idea to go down a rough street with a lot of ice cream in your stomach. It felt like you were a rollercoaster and you were going to just toss your cookies. No tossing of the cookies happened. We went into the store and got a gallon of milk and sodas not only for us, but our parents, too.

Fast forward to us getting home. We drove up to the front of the house (we have no driveway), and took one last picture of us together. So, as soon as my sister got out of the car, the handle on the very cheap plastic bag broke that held the milk. Well, there went that gallon of milk. It’s a good thing we didn’t want any more dairy products!

So, although the night seemed to be a great one, it ended with spilled milk and full and yet, happy tummies!

"Eye" See You!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

I would like to take the time to wish each and every one of you a Happy Fathers Day! So, sit back, relax, and enjoy your day!

Thanks Dad for teaching me how to fish.

Thanks Dad for not wanting to interrogate every boyfriend I’ve ever had.

Thanks Dad for taking the time to help me with my math homework- even though I wanted the answers.

Thanks Dad for giving me your sense of humor.

Thank you for everything! I love you, Dad!!

Girls Night Out

Tonight, myself and Texas Banter will be having a girls night out. Normally we don’t have these nights out because of the economy and to save gas, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Okay, they’re not really desperate times. We actually were supposed to go out last night, but one, we were very tired, and two, I ended up getting sick. So, I wake up this morning with no sickness. It’s a miracle. After a good nights sleep (I found a new way to actually sleep. Yay!!), and the sound of the dog barking, I feel like we could definitely have a night out- just us girls.

Where are we going? Well, we’re trying to save money and do things kind of cheap. The suggestions I have are… well, I don’t have any suggestions. With movies starting at nearly $8 a piece, that doesn’t seem plausible. Plus, we wouldn’t have any snack money, and you have to have snacks with movies- like popcorn. Next, we could go play some pool. Here’s the thing: I suck at pool. I can’t even get a decent shot. I’ve tried learning, but I don’t seem to have the hand-eye coordination needed. Plus, I really don’t want to explain to the owner why the 8-ball decided to jump from the table and hit a glass. It might get too embarrassing.

We could go out for drinks, but unfortunately, I’ll be the only one driving. That leaves that out. I am pretty sure we’ll think of something. And yes, there will even be pictures. Pictures speak a thousand words- even when twins are involved.

I would ask all of my readers to join us, but I don’t think everyone could fit in the car and it might be a little cramped. So, when we get home from the fun, I will upload the pictures (even if they are bad) and then tell you what we decided to do. Of course, our agenda is subject to change as soon as we get out of the house.

It’s been so long (year or so) since we have done this kind of thing together and I am getting excited. It will be nice to get out of the house and away from the chaos for just a few hours. What is our objective? Feel rejuvenated less stressed. So, girls night out, here I come!!

Christmas In July- Crewel Yule Book Review

Crewel Yule: by Monica Ferris.

Book synopsis taken from Amazon.com:

Murder is in the air everywhere–even at a needlework show. Betsy Devonshire, owner of the shop Crewel World, finds herself snowed in at the convention hotel in Nashville along with her policewoman friend, Jill, and employee, Godwin. When another shop owner, Belle Hammermill, falls over the railing, plummeting down nine stories into the middle of the atrium, even the most avid sewers look up from their tatting. Everyone, of course, assumes the fall to be an accident. However, as Betsy, Jill, and Godwin start talking to the show’s attendees, they begin to learn that a selfish and devious Belle had plenty of enemies–and they are all in the hotel. Ferris’ characterizations are top-notch, and the action moves along at a crisp pace. The ending, unfortunately, is something of a letdown, with hardly a twist, much less a turn. Still, with so many crafters out there, this has a built-in audience of those who like to mix their needlepoint with question marks.

At first, when I opened, the book I had a hard time getting into it because one, I’m not a needlecrafter and I knew they would use words for stitches that I had no idea existed; second, I had just finished reading My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult and a murder mystery seemed odd. However, reading past page 11, I started truly getting into it- even if it meant not knowing what a hardanger stitch was. I still don’t know! The characters in the book seem almost real. You have Cherry Pye, who is in a wheelchair. You have Eve Suttle who turned into an attractive lady thanks to Belle Hammermill. Last, you have Lenore who was just trying to sell her beloved Christmas sampler.

When Belle falls from the railings on the ninth row, Betsy Devonshire and Sergeant Jill Cross Larson try to come up with a reason why she fell and died. Was it an accident? Suicide? Murder? That’s what they try and figure out. I really enjoyed seeing how they interact with each interview when they ask Cherry, Lenore, and Eve about Belle and if anyone was possibly around her at the time of her fall. Each character is really different in how they react with the questions. It can be quite comical.

Ferris’ writing really brings out the sleuth in you. As Jill and Betsy conduct their investigation, you keep trying to remember if there’s anything previously in the story that could tip you off. Was there someone standing near her? Did she jump? Or did she just slip? There are so many turns in this book that I did not want to put it down at all- but did just so I could actually get some sleep.

All in all, I love this book and will be reading more of her stories again!!!

So, if you are into murder mysteries and needlecraft, then this book is for you!

Christmas in July Series- Joining

So, what does one have to do to join Christmas in July? Well, frankly, not much! However, there are a few things you must do if you want to join us.

• Through out July (starting the 1st and ending the 31st), create a few posts that deal with Christmas. This can be your favorite memory, your favorite/least favorite gift, craft ideas, recipes, reviews, or giveaways. You can get as creative as you want!
• Before each post, either put “Christmas in July” or “CIJ” so I know which post to look for.
• I might have the cheap version of Mr Linky, so once you are done posting, you can post it there.
• By the end of this week, I will have made a button for every participating blogger to place on their blog. I will of course put it in this post so you can see it and grab it.
• My events coordinator (Okay, she’s really my sister) is helping me with this endeavor. I’m glad I have an events coordinator because I had no idea how much it would take.
• You may join Christmas In July anytime during the month of July! So, don’t worry if you don’t want to start on July 1st, you can join us on July 15th if you want!

If we run into a problem with Mr Linky, I will get rid of it and make a whole new post with just links from you guys. It may take extra time on my side, but I don’t mind (I’m rhyming today!). So, if you would like to join, please e-mail me. My e-mail is on the PR/Reviews page.

We have a little over 2 weeks before this begins, so get your fingers ready and let’s have a fantastic Christmas in July!

EDITED TO ADD: After you have expressed your excitement to join, head over to the “CIJ” page at the top for participating blogs!

EDITED TO ADD  (2): After joining, your blog name will be added to the Christmas in July button at the right! Then, I will send it to you along with other button instructions!

Time To Cool Off!

Here’s the thing… I love Texas, but hate the summers. Even after you’ve lived here for 100% of your life, you never truly get used to it. You keep thinking “Oh, next year’s summer won’t be as bad as this one.” Then, when you least expect it, the heat index shoots up to over 100 degrees. You sit there, sweating, wondering if there are ways to stay and keep cool. I’ve decided, a long time ago, that even though I will complain about the heat (I’m sure everyone does!), I’m going to try and keep my body temperature down. As hard as it can be, I’ve come up with my own ways- and I’ve taken the obvious route- to stay cool.

Earlier, our dog decided that he wanted to go outside… so he pushed the front screen door open. He can be smart at times. After 5 minutes of running around and catching him, we decided to hose him down with the water hose. Well, I tested the water to make sure it wasn’t so warm. It didn’t. It actually felt great! So, after he got sprayed down from muzzle to tail, I hosed myself down. It brought back child hood memories of when my sister and I would go into the back yard and just have a water fight. Of course, we only had one hose, so it was not only a water fight to see who could get drenched first, it was a fight for the hose. No bloody noses occured. So, after spraying myself with the cool water, I sat outside on the porch and let the small wind blow across. It felt good for a minute- then the wind stopped. Nature can be so cruel!

You know those garden sprayers you get at basically anywhere? Well, they come in extremely handy! I fill mine up with water and stick it in either the refrigerator or freezer. Of course, if I do in fact stick in the freezer, I don’t wait until it’s completely frozen… that would ruin the whole point of the sprayer. So as soon as I deem that the water is cold enough, I take it out and spray my face, arms, and part of the legs that aren’t hidden by clothing. When a fan blows across the cold water, it cools you down. You know your body is dehydrated that within 30 minutes of spraying yourself with water, it dissipates- which comes up to my next point.

One way I keep cool during these horrid summer months (I’m wishing for an early fall! Come on fall!), I have tons and tons of ice cold water. Again, I stick these in either the fridge or the freezer. I really prefer the latter because who doesn’t want a bottle that has little water and tons of ice? As of lately, I’ve been, when I take the bottle out, putting it on either my neck or my forehead/face. It may not help a lot, but it does help some. So, drink plenty of water to not only keep your body hydrated, but to cool you off.

So what is my advice? Well, stay away from greasy foods (If you can. Pizza sounds good right now.), don’t eat/drink too many surgary items (Remember that thing about staying hydrated?), and drink plenty of water. Of course, you may also have that sweet tea. Us Texans seem to love iced sweet tea during the summer. I try to drink it late at night. There’s nothing like watching old reruns of Roseanne and drinking sweet tea.

Have a fantastic summer!