Adventures at the Insane Inflatable 5k

saturday was the day! well, yesterday at this point. but holy crap. i wish i could do it all over again! and we seriously need a bigger group to come with me next time. at least i really hope there will be another inflatable obstacle course to run.

i should also probably prepare a little more next time so running might be an option. (i jogged a little, but mostly power walked when we weren't jumping all over the obstacles).

still super fun. doesn't matter. would do again.

and maybe not be sick next time.

friday morning i was starting to feel it, but by friday evening at work part two, i could barely stand. i tried to get out early, but we had no help so i had to stay late and do my best to stand up. then i ran out of gas on my way home so ron had to come get me. i got home, took a bath, and went to bed. it kind of helped.

at least it was a nice day out. the weather was great, despite of how it was recently being cold and all.  there were lots of people. some dressed up, there were super heroes, people wearing tutus, matching t-shirts all over. i think next time i want to wear something fun.

did i mention how awesome this was? like seriously? AND its kind of like fitness stuff? inflatable obstacles are no laughing matter. well, okay, maybe they are a little bit, but they're a challenge none the less. do you know how hard it is to fight to climb something that keeps changing shapes? damn!

but then you get to slide down the other side or bounce someone into the air so it totally makes up for it. effort win.

awwww yeahh. i really hope they bring this back next year. heck, depending on where they host them maybe i will even drive to it if it's close enough. they would be crazy not to come back to syracuse since they sold out one day in no time, and opted to open it a second day. that is probably a couple thousand people paying to run an inflatable obstacle course. its fun. its win all the way around.

we got a t-shirt, a medal, and a green banana at the end of the course. then in the parking lot, there were free chips, salsa, and sun glasses. what? i'm not gonna say no to free.

so heather and i survived. it was super awesome. i can't wait to try something else, although i will have to actually try and get fit- which is an awesome joke by the way. let me tell you in a bit why that is so funny, or maybe if you're thinking, have you read any other parts of my blog? raging inner fat kid? the heaven and hell cake alone? yep. sums it up right there.

aside from being sick, i only suffered a little elbow rash, and a good bruised knee. the knee got me really good. it actually hurts to touch. i don't usually bruise easy either, so i hit it pretty good for anything to show up like it did.

so after all was said and done, we went out on a little adventure, i got a new blanket and sheets. then ron and i went grocery shopping and had a little barbecue chicken since it was still so nice out. i made home made fries. i always forget how awesome fresh cut fries are compared to any store bought or restaurant fries. all that stuff sucks hard core compared to home made fries. of course, it only gets better from there. we got this ice cream. it is special because it is made with wine. a place up north of us called mercers makes several flavors of wine ice cream, the one we picked was a raspberry chardonnay. wanna know what else goes with raspberries?

f*ck  yeah.

home made brownies, that's what.

i got the recipe from here, at dessert for two, and its totally a keeper. like, this dessert with the ice cream is totally worthy of being served at a restaurant or something. that amazing. the ice cream helped my throat, mostly. not even because of the wine. it was subtle, but it was there. no, sore throats and the cold ice cream kind of work together so it was a good ending to the day.

today was not a day to recover though, since i asked for too many days off. (or something like that anyway). at least it was a slow day so i didn't have to deal with too many people. i kind of hope tomorrow will be that way too. then i have tuesday off. so yeah. that was my adventure. i even got a little dessert in here at the end for you all.

well, i need to attempt to get some rest. i still kind of feel like i'm dying, so sleep is good. thanks for reading as always, and check back for more fun! i hope to have something for you wednesday! ☺

Wake Me Up When September Ends

oh wait, its almost over already? damn.

oh well. i guess that's what i get. i know a few people have been checking my blog, since i said i was going to update it every sunday and wednesday, and i totally failed this week. at least i'm getting one out here for you to know that i'm not dead. i am struggling a little to get past some things, but each day is another step in a new direction. things will heal over time.

so i should post some food or something now, right?

well, i think it's story time first, but it will lead to food, so there's something, right? good.

yep. it all starts with apples. well, kind of. i guess i mean to say the apples lead to the food i am going to post. so yes. i actually had a saturday and a sunday off. consecutively. wat.

of course i had to ask for them off. there's no way in hell i would ever get a weekend of without asking for it. the world would burn if that ever happened....remember that, just in case. i will totally give you permission to look for me and call me out on it.

so yes, that would be my husband in an apple tree. saturday morning we went to his niece's cheerleading game since she had been asking for a while. since we had the rest of the day off and it was super nice out, i thought it might be fun to visit oswego, walk for the day, and get some apples. i really do miss it up there when the weather is nice. there are lots of places to wander to.

see? pretty cool stuff, right? half of them were just in town in various places (behind buildings, along the river, metroid was under a bridge...), and some were on the lakefront. ron also took and edited several of these (as well as the last two at the end of my blog, keep reading. you will see). we went to this local place called rudy's to get food, they had tables and stuff so you could sit outside and look at the lake.  we walked around and then went back because they had ice cream too. ron had a sundae (black raspberry, chocolate and more rainbow sprinkles than you can handle), and i had a snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich. holy crap. it was good, but it was also as big as my face. maybe we can go back next year when they re-open and have another oswego day. (ron, if you're reading, dont worry- we can get fajita grill next time too. ♥♥♥)

it was nice to not worry about work (although work did call...i didn't have to be there though), working doubles, or anything in general. i wish i could have and afford more days like this. ♥

sunday was pretty quiet too, we went to another game for his nephew (and i had no idea what was going on. teaching me sports is like trying to teach a parrot to swim- they may float on water, but its never gonna happen). it was a little cooler and rained for a while, but the sun came out long enough to make it better. then a few friends had a jewelry party, something i have never interacted with, so we went to visit there for a bit. it was interesting to say the least. it was good to see them though. i can't remember the last time i've been out to see anyone outside of work. again, something that needs to happen more. hopefully it will.

now about those apples....

the whole box has been sitting on my counter since saturday now. i had the morning off on tuesday, and he has been asking me for many apple based treats....

into the crock pot they go!! as if that isn't a dead giveaway for what i'm making. i've been meaning to make it for some time too, so i made applesauce finally. i am not personally a fan, but i tried a lick, and it was pretty good. at least i think it is, considering i have never eaten it from the store or anything. home made is always better by default.

 

hmm. i ran my little hand blender through it to make it smooth, although i guess it is even smoother than store bought stuff, so there was a texture difference. he said he liked it, so i guess as long as it tastes okay. i can always try again.

i have to make more muffins. i love apple muffins, so those are on my list, as well as these peanut butter apple cookies i tried last year. i just have to make sure i bake them long enough. i have no problem with cookie dough, but they needed to be a little less doughy since they had the apples in them. i am also thinking about more soups, too. i found this great crock pot recipe pin with like 50 something crock pot recipes. it is a good time of the year for that. it makes everything warm and smell super tasty. 

fall makes me think of soup, anyway. soup and hot tea. sometimes hot chocolate, but i feel like hot chocolate is more of a winter thing. ooh! and apple cider. i do love me some apple cider. that should be on my list of things to buy, anyway. i am having a donut and cider party at the end of october. i'll have to get some to make some warm spiced cider. 

well, i suppose i will save you any more of my ramblings for now. i promise i will do a better job keeping up on my blog. i am trying! for those of you who see me, keep showing your support and motivation. every little bit helps! also, stay tuned. as soon as i have time, i want to make a bunch of my video game lanyard hair bows to sell. hopefully this coming week, so i can use the funds for our anniversary weekend coming up. if not, then maybe for the holidays. i am always hoping for good things! keep me in your thoughts! thanks for reading!

 

Missed a Day, But at Least I Have Soup!

I KNOW, i know.

i said i was gonna get back on this and right away i skipped sunday. if it's any consolation for not reading my super happy blog, or seeing my wonderful smiling face, i didn't have anything to share. i worked a whole lot since i've been the boss at my store. yeahh buddy.

BUT, to make up for it, i made cheddar broccoli soup today!

how neat is that?! ☻☺☻☺☻

it is definitely the time of year for soup. its just getting chilly, the leaves are blowing, its NOT summer anymore....you know what i mean. fall, to me, means time for soup, spices, and warm things. happiness and comfort.

this is my favorite (and only) recipe that i have used for cheddar broccoli soup from peas and crayons. it's pretty easy, versatile (you can add more veggies and cheese if desired), and just damn delicious. like, she doesn't call it a panera knock off for nothing. best of all, its all real food, no processed anything, so it's not exactly terrible for you, either! i had this done in about an hour and a half or so this afternoon.

and then of course, it was time to sample! look at how adorably delicious this looks in one of my tiny tea cups!? it's like a soup shot! except that might not go over well, i mean choking on the veggies, and it being hot and all. yeah. vegetables do not belong in your lungs. bad idea. i take back anything i said about soup shots.

i've been waiting to go apple picking soon, too. not that i eat tons of them, (i am namely a fan of apple muffins), but i will probably make applesauce, a pie, and maybe blueberry apple crisp for anyone else. oh! i made these awesome peanut butter apple cookies, too! i liked them a lot. i've been looking for an excuse to make cookies, too. yeah buddy.

i have to stop being poor first though. ron and i are trying to save a little money for our anniversary weekend next month, we are going to the outer banks for a couple of days, and will probably stop in virginia beach for a day to check it out. we always drive through, sometimes stop for food (since, after all, theres a cheesecake factory there), but never for more than a couple hours.

i love that i am a pro at taking pictures of my birds yawning. well, mostly of nubs here. maybe he just yawns a lot. who knows. what i do know, is that i can't get enough of this dumb face.

look at it! those dumb puffy cheeks....i wanna squeeeeeeeze him all day long. even when he bites me and leaves holes in my hand. don't care. totally worth squeezing and torturing him (and by torture i mean love torture, kisses, laying him on his back, not letting him get away from my clutches...).

so yeah. i may also post some of my game hair bows on facebook soon just to try to make a couple extra dollars. i have so many lanyards, and so many hair bows....they're fun to make too. not to mention i can share my love of games with people, AND you won't really find them anywhere else because how many people get wads of free lanyards for video games from work? not many! so keep an eye out. i will post pictures, and am willing to ship!

as much as i love working, i am somewhat hoping i can have a day or two in the next couple weeks to chill and not have to worry about stuff. don't get me wrong, i should have this saturday and (mostly?) sunday off, ron and i are going to his niece's game saturday, and i am actually going to see some friends sunday (gasp! i know, right?). then , the following saturday, i will say my goodbyes to everyone i know, as i am about to run a 5k! it's an inflatable obstacle course 5k, so it will totally be worth it if i don't make it out alive. right? i would rather be beaten or smothered by an inflatable slide or something, than be gummed to death by old people or something horrifying like that.

so in other less exciting news, ron brought me lunch yesterday because i had to work at 10 hour day. we have like 3 people that work, so if someone calls out, it gets kind of crazy. but anyway, we sat outside the door on the curb, ate soup, and proceeded to gather a cluster of seagulls with oyster crackers. they battled to the death (almost), cars drove by slowly and beeped at them, and then they would wait, and when we ran out they just stood and stared, all of their heads cocked slightly, with this quizzical look. sorry seagulls, you had enough crackers. there's a mcdonalds across the parking lot.

le sigh. well, i still have to work tonight. i hope it goes by somewhat quickly. i am thinking about some more blueberry muffins tomorrow morning, since i only work the restaurant again. someday soon, i want to make these maple bacon breakfast cheesecakes. not only do i love bacon, but i also love cheesecake AND breakfast. my mind pretty much exploded when i saw these on pinterest. maple is like a fall thing too, right? close enough. i leave you with this neat picture i took at work last weekend, the clouds and the sun looked really neat, so that was pretty much all for that. i should really be back on track this sunday, i will do my best not to skip anymore!! thanks for reading! ☺

Midnight Madness

well, i don't have any baked goods for you for today's post. it's been a busy week. pretending to be in charge of a store is a lot of work. on top of outside events, but that's another story.

so yeah! i planned my own midnight event for this game called destiny. i think it was pretty fun. it wasn't 100%, but it was way better than other midnights at my store. everyone was up and about, NOT standing against the wall like a bunch of losers. we had snacks, i had a bunch of random things to give away....i will make sure it's even better for the next one!

everyone lining up at the end. yes, i was totally standing on the counter. i won't lie. it is my favorite thing to do whether it's a midnight event or any time of the day.

but first let me take a selfie....(yeah i love my co-workers)

my friend's brother won second place in my tournament! the winner was the kid in the grey hoodie behind me.

the final match begins....

one of the first matches. ron filled in since we almost had enough people to fill the bracket! he's not too good at call of duty, but neither am i.

our sony rep came in and set up this nice little table and banners and stuff! we actually got the game online for customers to play through the night!

these two (above and below) were my handy work. i love to color. not that there is any fancy drawings, but at least i have nice hand writing.

yes, i realize the pictures go in backwards order (so if you start here and go up, they progress to the end of the night). i am feeling lazy after putting in lots of hours in a short time. more so just being awake for so many hours in a short time. like, monday i got up at 7:30am and didn't go to bed until tuesday at 3am. i'll be trying to catch up for the next week. at least tomorrow i don't have to work early so i can start.

i always have fun at these things. it's even better when all the customers can get excited for something like this too, and makes it all worth it. next time i will have to make cookies since i missed out this time trying to plan everything. i am pretty sure it won't be until november, but maybe if people preorder enough stuff we can do it again sooner.

in other random news, i brought satch out for a ride on tuesday, too.

yes, it's crazy bird lady time. he is so good. he just sits on my shoulder and looks at everything going by. don't worry, i was parked in the parking lot at ron's work for the picture so we were completely stationary. i would not drive with my son and take pictures, i wouldn't know what to do if anything happened to him. he is the best.

our little family photo. ♥ ♥ ♥

yeah i know. i'm stupid. deal with it. crazy bird ladies have that right.

it's funny how people get excited or weirded out by birds. i was standing by the door and a few customers would come in and out. most of them smiled and whatnot, i think one guy didn't know what to do and gave me a weird look. a few people asked about him, just because a bird in a rite aid has a certain "wow" factor, i guess. of course, a bird anywhere outside of a pet store or home is probably fascinating, so there's that.

well, since i have no more to rant about, i will leave it at that. hopefully i will have something to work with and share with you sunday. thanks for reading! ☺

Finally....Something New

well, i see someone has been clicking in and out of here for the past couple weeks.

i suppose that means someone is reading! maybe? a little?

meh, its cool. makes me feel like posting here isn't entirely pointless after all. ☺

anyway, i apologize for the hiatus. the last few weeks have not been entirely easy. a lot of stress, but a lot of changes too. i am doing my best to continue in becoming a better person on so many levels. to those of you who i finally opened up to, thank you for all of your help and understanding. i really do feel like i hit a reset button on life, and i hope things keep getting better.

since i haven't really been on here much, that also means i haven't been baking much.

BUT....

i am back. and i am sure you know what that means.

GAME OVER

juuuust kidding.

come on though. creepers are cool, right? i mean, every little kid at my job comes in screaming for minecraft. not even little kids. people of all ages come in wearing shirts or carrying various things with all sorts of 8 bit innuendos and whatnot.

no exception here. as you can see.....21st birthday.

spectacular.

it was just a vanilla cake with fondant. surprisingly enough, he was not that complicated to make. i just had to cut out a bunch of squares and strategically place them accordingly.

it was kind of exciting to get back into things a little bit. hopefully things will come up for me to get creative some more.

not that it's a cake at all, but i want to start my t-shirt blanket soon. i have a mess of shirts i have collected but don't want to part with, so i am going to make a blanket. it will be cold soon, i love blankets, so how can i go wrong? it will be fun.

can you believe it's september already? i certainly cannot. the summer went by waaaay too fast. i have been avoiding pinterest because everyone and their cousin is posting "pumpkin" and fall everything. i don't really care for pumpkin. i know i know, complete blasphemy considering everyone is obsessed with it. i can only handle it in small quantities. anyway...i didn't even really do anything that exciting, and most of it was somewhat depressing. i have decided that this year for new years, i am dubbing my celebration a "f*ck 2014 party." anyone who wants to join, theres like a 95% chance i am going to ask for it off, since i always work, so i can have a good time, and say goodbye (and f*ck off) to one of the worst years ever. next year needs to cover a lot of grounds to make up. don't get me wrong. there are still a couple of months left to the year, and the majority of the bad stuff was in the last couple months. i want to forget everything.

maybe the next couple of months will make up for it. i mean, these flowers were a good start (courtesy of ron). i am planning an epic midnight sale for a game coming out on monday night, i think it will be fun. (but if people can't get excited i'm going to kill a bunch of strangers. i'll let you know how that goes on wednesday.) our 2 year anniversary is in october, and i THINK we are gonna visit the outer banks. i won't lie. i like going out on black friday. it's the only time of the year i can afford anything. so maybe there's hope. i have to stay positive. ♥

i made some chocolate biscotti recently as well. it was my grandma's 91st birthday on saturday so we went to visit. its not often that we get to visit, but she usually always has something for us, so it's the least i can do. not to mention last time we went, she and my uncle were telling me about the most awful biscotti they ever tasted, so i had to show it up, although by the description, anything could. mission accomplished.

there have been a lot of birthdays around now, too, and more coming up. the week before was one of my co-workers birthdays, kristens was the same day as my grandmas, my other friend who lived with us in the townhouse, my other co-worker who was assistant manager right before me, heathers husband is later this month (and their anniversary too). holy crap. 

so i made some cupcakes for work, since i have been promising them for way too long. partially for the birthdays, and partially because i had someone cover for me when i went to that concert in july. oh well. it gives me an excuse to experiment, and i can't really say many people complain about my experiments. i've been dying for some cheesecake lately, like not even from cheesecake factory. i am thinking of my own homemade white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. that is the stuff right there. it's like a magical land far, far away. that, and cheddar broccoli soup. total opposite end of the spectrum there, i know. one extreme to the next. that's how i roll.

this? just a paper lantern. after we visited my grandma, we went to my aunt and uncles end of summer barbeque. someone there had bought a bunch of them, so they lit a few and let them fly. it was pretty cool, never having seen them in person before. somewhat calming, almost like letting all of your worries fly away. 

anyway, i guess i will leave with that for now. i can only hope things will continue to get better. maybe one day i can send off my own lantern to send my troubles away. in the mean time, thank you for the support, and as always, thanks for reading! come back soon! ♥♥♥