The photo of the day is my Margarita from last night. I fully intend to indulge myself again in T-minus 1 Hour and 37 Minutes.
We Got Chickens… October 3, 2013
This summer Andrew and I had the bright idea to get chickens. They are meat birds and would only take us 8 weeks to raise and then we slaughter them and we feast. I have to say, worst 8 weeks if my life. Not only were we completely unprepared both mentally and physically, but we also were not prepared for the stench that would wreak havoc on our home forever. We really never got rid if the stink, partially because we were stupid enough to put them inside until they were old enough for the outside coop and partially because the bottom of the homemade brooder was made of Chip board/osb and the piss and shit that accumulated over the few weeks was heavy and broke the bottom right out of it. This in turn allowed it to seep into the laminate flooring. Not to mention the feather dust that gets all over EVERYTHING and never goes away. We also misjudged the distance of the heat lamp and temperature of the room and almost cooked the poor little guys alive! Once we got them outside we attempted to clean the room up, however months later I’m still haunted by large amounts of feather dust in unexplainable areas of my home. As cute as they were, it wasn’t worth the trouble. If we do it again we will be keeping the little bastards outside. Their cuteness never made me even the slightest bit sad to slaughter those bitches as soon as possible. We were happy to see them go. Outside wasn’t much better. The coop was built in the middle of our yard and we planned on moving it, however it weighed much more than we had anticipated and were not able to move it. Now we had a giant chicken coop smack dab in the middle if the yard stinking up the whole damn place. The fatter the chickens got, the more unbearable the stench. Then that fateful day finally came and a were packing the fuckers into the truck for slaughtering. Happiest day of our lives. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I was excited to try the meat and get rid of them. We get to the place and back up to the lean to on the side if the building. Watching the lady take the chickens out if the truck was both disgusting and shocking. She reached over the side, muckled onto the scrawny little legs and hauled them over the side, all the while flapping and screeching and shit flying everywhere. It was not a pretty sight. She then proceeded to hang them upside down by their feet over something that can only be described as a giant tub. Once the rack was full of hanging chickens a gigantic man covered in blood hobbled over, picked up an electric saw, similar to a sawzall, and in one swift motion sliced each chickens neck. Blood poured out into the tub. It was ridiculous. After draining for a few minutes they unhooked them and threw them into a big 55 gallon drum. All the while we stood and watched completely unable to walk away from the situation. When all of our chickens were done, we went around to wait for them to be plucked and bagged before we could pay and leave. As happy as I was to see them go, I didn’t necessarily want to watch. Although, I’m glad I saw how it happens, I probably won’t watch next time. When we left for home we put them directly into the freezer, completely unaware that they needed to hang for 24 hours to tenderize. We ate our first chicken that night and I have never in my life had anything that tough. It was horrible!!! We were nervous that all of our chickens would be that tough, so I went out and purchased a crockpot so that I could cook them low and slow with a lot of liquid. I was hoping this would save our 25 chickens and at least make them fairly edible. Next time we will do a lot of things differently, if there even is a next time. We had them slaughtered months ago and our yard still stinks!
Look at that little guy. Don’t be fooled by his cuteness. He’s the devil.
Zip Lining, The Most Terrifying Experience Of My Life. October 1, 2013
This is a photo of my husband and I on our second anniversary. For some reason, we decided that going zip lining would be a fun activity for two people with a fear of heights and a massive hangover. In case you were wondering, the only reason we thought we should drink heavily before an early day of zip lining was because these two dumbasses chose to get married the day after my birthday. Now, every year on my birthday I’m supposed to be mindful of the following day’s festivities. Not to mention that my birthday fell on a Friday this year, (Yes, Friday the 13th) so we had Friday night and Saturday night to celebrate. Now we are both forced to be obnoxiously hungover on our anniversary, yet still feel pressured to do something fantastic. Great idea, huh? Anyways, we got lost trying to find the mountain, yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds, and ended up being late and holding up the entire group. I was hoping to lay low in my drunken stupor, however, walking up to a group full of angry, pre-harnessed, impatient sheriff’s was not my idea of laying low. We then proceeded to wander around looking for the desk to check in and sign a waiver, (which immediately made me nauseous) and then the instructors offered to dress us since we had already held up the group and it was clearly time to go. After apologizing and making some lame ass jokes we proceeded towards the chairlift of death. I hate chairlifts, whenever I used to go skiing or snowboarding or whatever I used to do at these places I would ride the T lift because it didn’t involve being dragged up hill by rotten wood and flimsy cables. In this scenario, the T lift doesn’t exist and we were already a nuisance. So I bit my tongue and slithered into my seat with every ounce of willpower I had. Every time that stupid rotten chair went by a post and over the rolling things it felt like we were about to collapse. It was ridiculous. The next day I was telling a friend about the experience and she informed me that a few years ago that very chair lift had collapsed with people on it and they just stuck that thing right back up. I’m really glad I wasn’t told this little parcel of information before my death ride up the mountain. When we reached the top I practically pushed Andrew off trying to get back to level ground. We hiked a little ways and made it to our first line. This, was extremely nerve wracking for us, however the mood was lightened by the men kneeling crotch level and tightening our harnesses…Andrew’s pants must have shot up a mile revealing his bare ankles. Hilarious. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of this particular sight because I was busy watching our friend Brandon making awkward small talk with the man tightening his harness. So we got in line and they starting hurling people off the platform. It was crazy and scary and I thought I was going to puke. I let most everybody go ahead of me and when it was my turn I reluctantly left Andrew’s side and forced myself up the stairs. They hooked me up and said, “whenever you are ready”. I walked up to the edge, bent my knees, and waited. I felt like i probably looked as if I was trying to shit with the awkward stance. The lady leaned over and said, “I said, whenever you are ready”. At this point I was terrified and frustrated and yelled back at her that I wasn’t fucking ready yet. Eventually I slid off the edge and went flying across the river to the other side. I was going a million miles per hour when it flipped me around so I was coming up to the platform back to and completely blind. Once my legs slammed against the platform I figured I was there. The instructor enthusiastically asked if I loved it with a big goofy grin on his face. Of course, I responded with an equally enthusiastic, ” HELL YES THAT WAS FANTASTIC!!!!”. I turned around and gave Andrew a big toothy grin and thumbs up, which I’m quite positive he didn’t see. And watched him come flying towards me with a look on his face that I could never describe. It was a cross between terror, excitement, and possibly shitting his pants. I’m sure, it was exactly how my face looked minutes before, which I confirmed when our friends Jenny and Brandon showed us the very flattering videos they took while I was flying through the air. Much to my surprise, zip lining was actually quite delightful. I didn’t need to wait 20 minutes the next 6 platforms I practically ran off. Andrew had a blast as well, however he wouldn’t admit the fear he had on that first line. For anyone afraid to go zip lining I have a few things to say to you:
1. Do not drink the day before or of your zip lining adventure.
2. Do not let the fear stop you, it’s really fun and not at all scary once you get past the chair lift of death.
That is all.
I would like to add one last picture of us on the chair lift so everyone can see how terrifying it was, and also a photo of us when we first got there. I’m pretty sure the instructor in the background is talking shit about us. Enjoy.
My Niece’s Birthday February 25, 2013
Today was my brother-in-law’s birthday and his daughter, Eli’s birthday. We went to my mother and father in-law’s house for dinner and I made the cake. We got her this cool drawing board thing that lights up and glows in the dark. You draw or write on the clear board in neon markers and it lights up underneath. It was cute, so we got her some cute wrapping paper, bows, and awesome butterfly candles. Eli got her own rainbow cake, and I made a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cake for everyone else. It came out great, and everybody loved it!
We had a blast! my sister-in-law got Eliannah a Nerf gun and she had a blast with it! She was shooting everybody the whole time. When they brought the cakes out, Ben, Eli’s dad, smashed her face in it! It was hysterical. We had so much fun tonight and Eli is so adorable. She is such a cutie, and she is tons of fun!
Here’s her present we gave her with the cute paper, and then the Reese Cup Cake!
Cute little baby Kyller! February 22, 2013
Not a very flattering picture, but I just found it. This was the first day I got to see my little buddy Kyller…She was only about 4 weeks old when she started visiting me at work! I wish my sweet little doggie was still this little! Good thing she is still damn cute! She was just so little and cute and playful then, I was so happy to see her everyday. The owners lived next door to my work and the husband works for us. His wife would bring her over to visit me every single day and I would play with this little cutie. I fell in love instantly. I insisted that I didn’t want a small dog and when she stuffed this little baby in my face I said yes immediately. The best gift I have EVER gotten! Now she doesn’t leave my side ever. She is the sweetest little girl! 🙂
Canada Trip February 13, 2013
So, this weekend my husband and our friends are taking a quick weekend trip to Canada for the last two days of Winter Carnival. The whole fascination came from Katie’s father, years ago, mentioned to her not to ever go. Clearly, this is not something you say to a teenager. Naturally, we made it a priority to make it happen at some point. After a few years of talking about it we finally decided on a whim to get our shit together and make it happen. Hopefully, it is as awesome and crazy as we have heard many times before. It took some sneaky convincing of my husband to get him to give in, but he did. We hit a few road blocks along the way, passport, dog sitters, etc…but we are now all set and ready to go. We got someone we trust to watch our dogs and our home and we are one day away from taking an awesome road trip and spending a fun filled weekend in the beautiful Country of Canada. I’m SO excited, and I can’t wait to be there. We had someone else planning to watch the animals, but I was already worrying about it and nervous to leave them with these two. Now that they backed out and we have someone I am very close to and trust very much doing it, I am not worried at all. In fact, I feel that a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I am certain I will have a great time. Before I was worried I would not have a good time because I would be worrying about them and worrying about the wood stove and just unsure that they were being taken care of adequately. Now, I feel very at ease with the whole situation and I could not be more grateful that my good friend Kelsee stepped up to lend us a much appreciated helping hand. What a wonderful friend! I will be sure to get as many amazing photos of the trip as I can and I will be sure to post them and write a nice post of the festivities on here. Also, I’m bringing my computer and hoping for wifi, although Straight Talk does not allow me to use my cell in Canada, so I may not be able to post a photo of the day. Hopefully, I will have wifi and it won’t be an issue, but you never know. See you soon all!
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Awaiting A Blizzard February 8, 2013
The media seems to think that every time there is snow coming we should all take cover and stock up on food for a month. This, however, is never the case. Usually when they predict 30 inches of snow we end up with about 3, and when they predict 3 inches, we get 30. We are never really prepared for a storm because of the inaccuracy of the weather man. So far, we should have about 6 inches, I’m looking out the window at a light dusting. Although, I am freezing my butt off…it’s about 3 degrees outside. So last I heard, we were getting 12-24 inches of snow between today and tomorrow. I’m sorry, that just seems like quite a wide range, don’t you think? Ridiculous. It really doesn’t make sense to me why they even bother to make predictions when they are never right, the range is so ridiculously wide that they really should be right, and they scare everybody into acting like crazy people and driving like morons. First thing, we live in Maine. We should all be used to driving in snow by now…Come on people, 10 mph with no ice and less than an inch of snow? Amazing. It is just shocking how people drive like scared babies when there is hardly any snow, but yet when it’s really awful out, people are driving like maniacs and passing, cutting people off, speeding, and slamming on their brakes. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! It is so annoying. Then, if I want to go to the grocery store and get things for dinner, or my weekly trip just happens to fall on a day there is a storm coming, it’s like a mad house. I mean really, people pushing and shoving, hitting, running into you, rude, hitting you with carts, I literally got shoved into a rack of clothes the other day and I was walking…clearly, not fast enough for this lady. I want to just walk around slapping everybody in the face.
I drove into work today, going my normal speed, it got increasingly snowy-er during the trip, and then all of a sudden it started getting better and better. It was very odd, but I did at one point get cut off, of course when it was bad out. Obviously they couldn’t wait for me to pass and pull out with no traffic for miles, they really needed to get in front of me and then slam on their brakes for no apparent reason at all. I’m so frustrated. In fact, it has stopped snowing since I began this post, which is even more frustrating…
I’m thinking I should go to the store and load up on food and beer for the weekend, just in case. If I do this, I will have succumbed to the peer pressure that is the blizzard. It’s unfortunate, but better safe than sorry, I guess. I believe I have just become a hypocrite of the worst kind…
Super Bowl FOOD! February 3, 2013
Andrew and I could care less about sports. Which is great for me, but I also like food. Food is always a great excuse to get together with friends, even though we hate football. We decided that since we hadn’t gotten together with our friends in a while we would throw a SuperBowl party and have awesome food and play cards and watch the commercials, (and the game, of course!). So we rounded up all of our friends and told them which ingredients to bring, made the food, and feasted. Here are just a few of my delicious creations, with recipes, of course!
We had Cheese Dip, Wings, Nachos, Raspberry Pie Cookies, and Pigs in a Blanket!
YUM!!!! I will post recipes right now!
Spending The Day with My Mom January 31, 2013
Today I spent the day talking BLOG with my mom. Her and I are a blog team and we have been kind of working together on them. She has an awesome website for food and we have decided to have her put her wonderful decor on as well. She is all about making her home exceed expectations. I ALWAYS go to her with design help in my home and she never lets me down. She will be adding photos of her newly renovated addition which is now the finished master bedroom and she will continue adding photos and tutorials of all the AWESOME stuff she does in her home. She was a little but iffy about straying from her original food plans, but along with her delicious recipes she is going to add in some great other things as well. I’m super excited because we always have a million things to talk about and we never are able to get to the point. Now, I will be able to look at her blog and get ideas and pointers and also check out her tutorials so we can spend all of our talk time gabbing about other crap! You’re going to love her stuff and I can’t wait to get her up and running with her different ideas. We spent the day taking pictures of her room and making cookies, (that she is adding the recipe for as we speak!) and having a blast!
YUMMMM….. 🙂
Pregnancy….Or Not? January 30, 2013
I just want to address the baby issue. My friends and family are pretty pushy when it comes to Andrew and I’s baby-free status. First of all, why in the hell do I want to rush that? Don’t get me wrong, we are excited to have children…but damn! We have almost been married for two years, we’re still having our fun. Why would we want to purposely devote the age of 21 to wiping ass and cleaning vomit? I do want kids, eventually…but right now I’m enjoying having a little extra money, being selfish, sleeping in, being young, and drinking. I’m not a child, but I’m not nearly ready to have kids and I also don’t want to end up resenting my child for our irresponsibility. Having a child is Andrew and I’s goal in a few years, but we have a lot of plans to make that kid happy and a lot of preparing. At this point we are just feeling pressured to have kids and that’s not why we should do it, we should do it because we are matured and ready. We are so excited to make our little family just a little bit bigger, but first we need to do a lot of things. These things include saving money, building the addition and buying the extra land, and cleaning up our yard, as we have collected a large amount of junk. The other thing is, when we buy the land we have to put a fence along the property lines because in our immediate back yard is a HUGE gravel pit! I don’t want my kids getting curious and playing in it, because I know they will, and then getting buried! That is some scary stuff! Then I want to clean up the yard so there is nothing dangerous like car parts and crap everywhere from Andrew’s many projects. Once that’s done I want to make an area that the kids can play. Aside from all of this, we have talked about starting a college fund before our kids are even born and even starting a little buffer of savings for kid related emergencies. Obviously, all of this probably isn’t going to happen before we welcome a little bundle of joy, but just to be clear, we have A LOT of plans before we try to make that happen. I apologize for this, it’s just frustrating having everybody begging us to have kids. We are excited too, but like I said, we aren’t ready and we have a lot to do before we feel comfortable starting a family. So, now that this half-rant is over with, we can get back to the good stuff!
