Never Ending Texts

This is what the world looks like now. Going to the grocery store? Better check your texts. Waiting in line at the bank? Make sure you look at your texts. At a red light for nine seconds? There could be text messages you need to read! 

There are a lot of actual reasons why this is incredibly unhealthy both physically and mentally, and also why it's kind of nuts that we can't handle being still or alone for more than a few seconds at a time anymore. But I'd like to focus on an even more pressing issue: How do you know when to end a text conversation? 

We all have that one friend, or often family member, who treats texts like emails or extremely formal letters. 

• That One Friend/Family Member: Hello Erin, How are you doing today? I was wondering what time you'd like to meet me at the house before the movie. Or would you rather meet up at the theater? Also, could you please give me directions to the theater? Talk to you later!

Most people also have that friend who texts as though they are still paying per character and uses obnoxiously unnecessary text-speak. 

• Pays-Per-Character Texter: plan 4 muv? house r muv?

This is how I like to text people. I like to think of it as a nice in-between and it's how the majority of people I interact with regularly create their texts as well. Of course I like to think that my way is the best, and I'm sure there are multiple scientific studies to back me up.

• Me: Meet at your house or the theater? 

It's important to note the different types of texters when solving the problem of when to end a conversation. With the formal texter, it's pretty clear when the conversation is over. They will practically sign their names and tell you goodbye. But those are not the norm, at least not for me. I'm usually left with something like this.

• Me: The movie looks awesome. Have you heard anything about it?
• Friend: Not really. Should be fun!

So... is it over? Can I leave it at that? Does there need to be another exchange that reiterates how fun it should be? Is that overkill or if I don't say anything else will they be left pondering whether or not I think it will be fun? These are the thoughts that haunt me at the end of every exchange of texts. There are systems in place to prevent this confusion, but they are super lame. Ttyl anyone? No way! Nor am I going to end things with bye, later, or any other conventional farewell statements. Fortunately the people I text most often are those to whom I can simply say About to do some stuff, leave me alone or something equally friendly. For those other folks though, where do I draw the line? It's even worse when they don't know where to draw the line, either. Then we end up with the following. 

• Me: The movie looks awesome. Have you heard anything about it?
• Friend: Not really. Should be fun!
• Me: I heard David Bianculli's review on NPR. He said it's hilarious. 
• Friend: I've always wondered how you spell David Bianculli's name. Now I know. 
• Me: Yeah, in my head it's "Be Uncool E." I had to google it. 
• Friend: lol

 I figure when it gets to the "lol" stage that the conversation is over, but who knows? I guess the world will never know when or how to end a text conversation.

photo credit: Anne Helmond via photopin cc

The Before Post

Hide your kids, hide your wife, it's about to get messy here. Garage messy. One car garage messy. In an effort to expedite my garage organization I am posting photos of my garage. Knowing these awful, awful photographs are on the internet will encourage me to clean that business up so I can post the "after" pictures and redeem myself to humanity. That's the hypothesis anyway; I've never tried publicly shaming myself into cleaning so I can't predict how well it will work.

Surprisingly enough I came to the conclusion to take care of my garage without watching a single episode of Hoarders, which is what typically precipitates my cleaning binges (note that when I say "binge" I really mean "sitting in one place for 2 days compulsively organizing cupcake liners or stickers). I'd gotten the garage into decent working order, then I decided to empty a storage unit I'd been keeping for a few years. It had a lot of my work stuff in it, as well as things that were randomly placed there when I moved into my current apartment a year and a half ago. There were also lots of things I'd planned on donating or otherwise getting rid of when I moved. Curious as to what that combo looks like in an already not-so-neat garage?

Is it everything you'd hoped for and more? It certainly is for me so I am going to get busy going through those boxes and bags until the garage reaches museum-like organization. Which museum exactly remains to be discovered, but here's to hoping it's more like the tea set display at the Smithsonian than the children's section of an art museum.

It's Getting Hot in Herre*

*Yes I do know how to spell, I am simply bringing back some Nelly circa 2002

Perhaps this forecast is from last year when it was over 100 degrees for more than 400 days (plus or minus a few days), but believe me it's still plenty hot now. From what I hear, the rest of the country is also being gifted with the high 90s and low 100s that are usually reserved for much further south.

So what is a rabbit lady to do when the temperatures soar into the triple digits and them some? Make popsicles, of course! In my popsicle making research I've discovered they are actually "ice pops" because Popsicle is a brand name. Like how Kleenex is a brand, and all others are tissues. The only difference is that when you type "tissue" the computer believes you that it's a real word, whereas when you type "popsicle" the computer says, no! You must capitalize this word and until you do, I am holding it hostage with my red line of doom!

There are lots of great popsicle molds out there for the buyin'. These are the three I purchased. Yes, two adults need three sets of popsicle molds. Especially when it's 108 degrees.

These images are from Amazon, which has a great selection of molds. The brand of both is Tovolo which I like because they are BPA free and freeze each popsicle individually so you don't have to hold the entire contraption in the sink every time you want just one. I got both mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond where I was able to use a coupon I got in the mail to cheapen them up a bit.


Here's my other set of molds, which is even more unnecessary than the first two. My only defense is that I found them at Ross for super cheap. That and the fact that they are super awesome. There were actually two sets of them at Ross, so you should really be congratulating me for only buying one.

Making popsicles is probably yields the highest enjoyment to the lowest effort of anything I've ever done in the kitchen. It's very simple, very fast, and the only hard part is waiting for them to freeze. To offset the waiting period for impatient babies like myself, I find it is best to make them at night. This way I wake up in the morning to ready-for-consumption treats. (And yes, I may eat them with my breakfast. On occassion.)

I have a fairly extensive board of popsicle, pardon, ice pop, recipes on Pinterest for interested parties.  I also have a fairly extensive board of most other things, too. My favorite ice pops are the type with a yogurt base because they are creamy and you can easily use honey as a sweetener. It should come as no surprise that my husband enjoys the exact opposite- the pure fruit juice and simple syrup kind, since these are much more similar to his beloved Pepsi than a yogurt and fruit pop could ever hope to be.

Popsicles (ice pops) are of course only one way to "enjoy" the heat. There's always taking pictures of the thermometer in your car and texting it to your friends with a hilarious reference to hell or the devil, compulsively checking the 5 day forecast, and whining about the weather. I've tried all of these methods and my favorite by far are the frozen treats.

But don't worry family and friends, you'll still be receiving those great screen shots of the temperature at my house or in my car.

New Year

It's the beginning of summer and I get to do something I've done for the past 4 years at this time- start over. Since I have a teaching career I am able to start a new year every June and what's more, every August as well. If all this sounds a little too Pollyanna-esque to you, I promise that it's not.

Remember when you were a kid and (unless you were subjected to the trauma of year-round school) you got summer break? Remember that feeling that you could do anything you wanted? That's how I feel at the end of each school year, but with a few differences. For instance, as a child I looked forward to finding new insects in the summers and keeping them alive for longer than last summer. Now I look forward finding new places to buy farm eggs or a different way to clean something.

Each year I get the opportunity to create new habits. I much prefer this to breaking old habits- too difficult! Research shows that creating a new habit is more likely to stick than simply trying to break an old habit. Okay, I'm not sure if "research shows" this but I know my demographic here and we're all research junkies so I figure you'll pay more attention if I start the sentence this way. It's true though- when you want to change your diet it works much better to say "I'm going to eat more vegetables" than "I'm going to eat less candy." When you focus on getting the veggies, your candy-mania lessens and you're able to achieve your overall goal of healthier eating.

Since I'm not working, or at least not working typical hours out of the house, I can really focus on stuff I want to start or change. Another thing I've learned is not to make a huge list of things to accomplish over the summer. After all, it's only a little under 3 months and you want to really do things that you can sustain instead of packing in as much as possible. Last year I got really into making salad dressings- important since I eat crazy amounts of salad. We're talking somewhere between that huge pile you see the enormous turtles eating at the zoo and full-on raw vegan. That habit was a small step in the direction of really eating whole, minimally processed foods. If I'd tried to make 3 dressings a week during the school year? Not a chance.

This summer I'm focusing on a few things, some of which are a little gross. The first involves flossing. I wasn't aware of what flossing was until I was in high school (GROSS right) and my immediate family members were never big flossers, so it wasn't really something I did growing up. Oh, I'd give it a shot a few times a week through college and after but I've never been an everyday flosser, or as doctors would call it "someone who actually takes care of their teeth." So every night before bed, it gets floss-tastic around here. After three months of this I'm confident it will come naturally and I'll prevent myself from pirate teeth at the age of 40.

I really enjoy this time of my year because I get the chance to focus on the person I want to be, whether it be big things like being more connected with those I'm around or smaller things like flossing daily. I know this is something not everyone gets to do, so I take responsibility to for using this opportunity to my best ability. That's not to say I don't also lay around reading romantic vampire literature or doing Google searches for things like "trampoline injuries." I certainly enjoy my break to the fullest, I just try to also make some positive changes during this summer new year.

Here are some summer rabbits! Please enjoy my high quality photograph.

Back, Again

It appears all the pretty things disappear from your blog when you don't post on it for nearly a year. For instance, the background. Oh well, I guess it serves me right.

The last post was written a really long time ago and for some reason didn't obey me when I tried to publish it then. I have many, many (many, many, many, many) videos of those caterpillars on my phone in every stage of their life cycles. Sadly, when they emerged as beautiful butterflies they did not make it very long. Perhaps it was too hot for them, but they never flew after plopping out of their chrysalides (it's A WORD, computer, stop underlining it). They were quite pretty but I feel it would somehow dishonor their short insect lives to post pictures of them after their untimely deaths. 

So far this summer the most interesting thing to happen to me is the unpacking of some boxes full of childhood memories. And by "memories" I mean "twenty or so storage boxes full of things my grandmother kept for me that I neither asked her to keep nor to deposit in my garage." This. woman. kept. EVERYTHING. We're talking receipts to childhood surgeries. We're talking scrunchies from middle school. (FYI, the computer decides "scrunchie" is a real word but not "chrysalides?")

One afternoon in May she calls me on my way home from work. To better understand the following recreated conversation, realize that I sometimes call my grandmother "Grambo."

Grambo: Are you on your way home?
Me: Yeeeees......?
Grambo: We have your boxes. We're waiting at the covered parking at the mall since it's raining so hard.
Me: Boxes?
Grambo: You know, your stuff from when you were little. We're cleaning out the garage and want to get it all over with once and for all. Just call when you're almost home.
Me: Did we...discuss you bringing me theses boxes?
Grambo: No, we just want to get the garage clean.

I swear to you, this is exactly what happened. This is how, fifteen minutes later, I came to be unloading a rainbow of storage boxes into my own garage. Note to self: putting boxes in other people's garages is the easiest way to clean your own. I had no intention of looking through them any time soon. I mean, they've been sitting there for about fifteen years already, so I think it's alright to wait a few more weeks.


I began looking through some of the stuff last week and it is, shall we say, enlightening. Is this who I was as a child? Who could ever own this many dolls? What kind of person kept their Barbies' shoes in tiny hanging shoe organizers? I plan on taking many photographs to document and discuss my past here. I hope you will join me for this self-discovery process.

Back for the Summer- and Caterpillars!

My apologies to the two people who read this blog, I'm sure you've been in such suspense for the past post-less months. It's the beginning of summer, I have a new computer, and I'm ready to blog!

Two days ago I went outside to water my "garden." It's a collection of 5 plants and a dozen or so miniature cacti on my balcony, but I'm pretty sure it qualifies as a garden. I hadn't watered the previous evening and since it's 175 degrees here now and the plants are up high in the wind, they have to be watered every day or they just look sad. So I fill up my watering can (you get to use quaint items like this when your plants are on a balcony instead of in a yard), head out, and just look at what I found!

Adorable caterpillars casually visiting my garden

Wow! A few wonderful little creatures to brighten my morning! I looked closely at them, then noticed something more sinister. Over half the leaves of my dill plant were missing! Upon closer inspection there were also SEVERAL more of the insects- 17 total, in fact.  Regardless of how cute they may be, that is A LOT of caterpillars, and that many caterpillars certainly can decimate a plant. What happened to the caterpillar who spent and entire day eating through one apple, then two pears? That guy at least left something behind!

Evil insect using my well-watered herbs for his own selfish interests

Small, but a few more hours and he'll be twice this size

Sigh. As much as I'd like to disparage him, this fellow is beautiful.

 After counseling with my grandmother about what I should do with the caterpillars (with my grandfather in the background: "Pull them off and squash them") I decide to remove them from the plant, put them in a vase filled with leaves, and cover it with tulle (I KNEW I bought that tulle for a reason!). My long term plan is to find a bush they like and put them there to continue their life cycles, far away from my herbs. Being a pre-k teacher, I already knew that caterpillars' defense mechanism is a green, smelly liquid, but I was still surprised to actually see it! Turns out all those picture books were right! It also turns out that caterpillars do not take kindly to being forcibly removed from their chow-stations by a spoon and (carefully) dropped into a vase. There was some of their slime on the edges of the vase, some on the concrete outside, and yes, it was a bit smelly.

Directly after their traumatic removal

Since I was on my way to a class and really needed to leave, I ran downstairs and pulled some leaves from the nearest bush, stuck them in, and covered the vase. I put the vase outside on a table, just in case. They're cute and all, but I wasn't sure that I want them crawling all over my apartment.

When I get home, those picky little suckers are just sitting there in the middle of uneaten leaves! We'll see what happens. I'm not sure if the principle of "if they get hungry enough, they'll eat what they're offered" applies to caterpillars.

Cake Craziness

My poor neglected blog! The past two weeks have been busy for me and full of nonstop activity and obligations. The beginning of the school year is, of course, crazy packed with work and preparation. Add to that family stuff and a little wedding planning and the past weeks are accounted for in full.

So more about this wedding planning, more specifically, more about the cake situation. You're having a cake? you may ask. But why? There are only two of you! My sentiments precisely, but not those of the wedding planner. A cake is included in our wedding package, and by golly, a wedding cake she will give us. She emails me a list of cake flavors. I'm thinking we can have white or maybe a variation of white. Oh no, we can have white, golden almond, orange chiffon. But wait, there's more!

white
yellow
chocolate
red velvet
golden almond
coconut
carrot
orange chiffon
apple spice
lemon poppy seed
mocha chocolate chip
chocolate rum

WOW! I am intrigued by the chocolate rum option, which would be quite suitable for an island wedding. Now for the fillings!

rawspberry
strawberry
pineapple
passion fruit
chocolate ganache
orange
lemon
lime
praline
chocolate
espresso
mocha

I was aware of the concept of putting a filling in a wedding cake, although I find it completely inappropriate. Who wants to bite into a nice piece of white cake at a wedding to discover a lime filling? Disgusting! I have attended several weddings where brides decided hey, I love chocolate cake! Why don't I put in a strawberry filling and not tell the guests? Biting into mystery cake is the worst thing ever. It's a good thing I feel this way because even if I wanted something bizarre inside the cake, anyone who knows my fiance knows this is not a possibility. He likes two kinds of cake, white and chocolate. With plain buttercream frosting. Nothing more.

So it looks like we're going to have an entire plain white wedding cake to ourselves. Wasteful? Yep. The wedding planner if checking to see if we can at least have only the top layer made. Silly? I think so, but I guess it will make for pretty pictures.

Next step in the wedding process- a dress!