Ain't I Tasty?

 This week's prompt was a bit of a noodle scratcher. Marie selected "If you were going to design a pizza after yourself, what would be on it and what would each of those ingredients represent?"

Like her, I probably put too much thought into it. What ingredients represent me? My mind went blank. I could not think of clever responses for ingredients that I enjoy on occasion when the craving for pizza strikes. Talking with Lee about the prompt, he made an excellent point about going with one of my all time favorite pizzas: Canadian bacon and pineapple.

I can hear some of the disgust coming from you readers. But hear me out. This was a pizza much beloved during my childhood. And I'm not talking about the ham and pineapple pizza that so often poses as a Canadian bacon & pineapple. Canadian bacon and ham are NOT the same. The meat comes from two different parts of the pig.

 This particular pizza is not loved by all. Neither am I. It is different, a bit quirky, and liked by a select few that can appreciate it. So am I.

Weird Family Facts

My very best friend Marie and I are bloggers. In fact, she was the one that got me started. Sadly, due to the chaos of life and my own ditziness, I'm not the most regular writer. So, for the holidays, I got both of us a journal of writing prompts. It was Marie's idea to pick one every Wednesday and write. I picked the first one.

Writing Prompt: Do you know any interesting facts about your family history, if so what?

Both sides of my family were never really big on sharing family history or stories of the past. The few things I do know have been thanks to my mom's research of her family. I can recall three interesting stories:

Interesting fact #1: My great grandpa (my maternal grandma's dad) traveled to Montana in a covered wagon.

Interesting fact #2: Apparently, my ancestors have been in the US longer than I thought. I have an ancestor who fought in the war of 1812.

Interesting fact #3: One of my ancestors fled to the US to avoid being forced to join the Army during the reign of Catherine the Great.

40 is the New 40

     I turn 40 this month.  I know a lot of people don't like revealing their age after a certain point, but I am definitely not one of those.  I have been through a lot in my life and I feel that I have earned each and everyone one of those 40 years. 

     In the past, hitting 40 was considered a major milestone.  Lack of food, disease, bad water, childbirth, war; anyone of these could earn you a one way trip to the graveyard.  Hitting that 40 year mark meant you had beaten the odds.  But now, 40 just considers you over the hill, which in this writer's opinion, is the stupidest thing ever.  

    Why not celebrate the fact that you have hit this milestone?  Look back on what you have seen, what you have accomplished, and what you will be able to do.  I have seen the internet go from dial up to high speed on fiber optic cable.  I have gone from recording my favorite songs on the radio onto a cassette tape (which took skill as you had to hit the record button at just the right moment), to making music mixes on CDs, to streaming favorite band/genres.  I have gone from renting apartments, to renting a house, and finally buying a house of my own.  I have loved, lost, and loved to the point of tying my life with another and going through the ups and downs of life together.  I have made friends and lost them.  There have been travels, from one side of the US, to the other side, then to the middle.  All of these things and more have happened since I made my screaming and pissed off appearance (according to my mom) on this blue sphere we all call home.

    The 40th anniversary of something is called the Ruby Jubilee.  Your birthday is just that: the anniversary of your physical entrance into this world.  The ruby is often associated with prosperity and wealth.  It is also said to be a stone of good fortune, not only fortune of the body, but of the mind and soul.  For me, this milestone will be a great time and will hopefully lead to many new and exciting adventures.  If your 40th is approaching, I hope this milestone will bring the same to you as well.

    On the dawning of my Ruby Jubilee, I shall be doing what I want to do every year on the anniversary of my birth: sleeping in, not working my job, and enjoying a plate of tasty Chinese food for lunch.  May you be lucky enough to enjoy your heart's desire on your birthday as well.  

Smooches!

Live Action Movie Suggestion

 There are all these movies out there that are live action remakes of an animated one.  Some have been fabulous, i.e. Beauty and the Beast, and some weren't really necessary since the animated one was fantastic.  My husband Lee and I were chatting yesterday about these live action remakes and we went over one that we have talked about multiple times: Atlantis The Lost Empire.  

For those that don't know this movie, it is about a linguist named Milo, who is gifted a journal from his late grandfather that is the key to discovering the lost city of Atlantis.  This movie has to be one of my top Disney favorites, but sadly it is not one of their more popular ones.  The plot is good, the characters are engaging, and the storyline itself keeps you attention till the very end.  The voice actors include Michael J. Fox as Milo and Leonard Nimoy as the King of Atlantis.

In the spirit of all these live actions, Lee and I have come up with a list of actors that we feel would be great to play each character.  The ones with the astric are ones that we are absolutely set on and think would be perfect in the role.  Those without an astric could be replaced if someone better is found for the part.  So, without further ado, here is our cast for the live action Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

*Tom Holland as Milo Thatch

Gal Gadot, Karen Gillian, or Zoey Saldana as Princess Kida

*Annie Potts as Mrs. Packard

*Danny Devito as Mole

 

*Terry Cruz as Dr. Sweet

Jim Carrey as Mr. Whitmore

John Turturro as Vinny

*Michael Rooker as Rourke

Ian McKellen or Patrick Stewart as the King of Atlantis

 

Diedrich Bader as Cookie

 

Zendaya as Audrey

Scarlett Johansson as Helga

Oops!

 When I worked for Pier 1 for the first time, they had these pretty, clear glasses with a red swirl line going around the glass. I was straightening up the shelves when I turned to fix something. As I turned, the very bottom corner of my apron flipped up and caught the edge of a champagne flute. That small part of my apron managed to fling that flute a good five feet off the shelf and onto the floor. It was my first time breaking something in that job and it was the weirdest too.

(Writing prompt: write about a time you broke something)

Recycle, Reuse, Reduce

 In the news, there are tons of stories of shortages: appliances, cans, heck even wine bottles. Why aren't we doing what we were taught in elementary school: recycle reduce, reuse?

I get that it is difficult to recycle certian things but let's start with something simple: glass. This stuff has already been crafted. A wine company could make a killing by saying that they are doing their part to help the environment. 

You could have local grocery stores do what they did in the 40's & 50's: let people drop off their clean, empty bottles for a small refund. These get packed up and sent to a place that washes and sterilized, then sent back to the vineyards.

It is a win win situation. Empty glass bottles don't get thrown in the dump, people have jobs hauling the bottles from the stores to the wash to the vineyards, vineyards have bottles for their product.

I realize that there may be more to it than what I described but the idea is there. We need to do something for our communities.

Parking Lot Mayhem

 During one of our many random conversations that Lee and I have, we were bouncing ideas around about what we could do with cars that are left in the parking lot running with the keys in it.

Here is the list so far:

Move car to opposite end of the parking lot

Move driver's seat all the way forward 

Move the driver's seat all the way back

Change the radio station

Take the keys out and hide the keys behind the fuel door

Buckle all the seatbelts

Change all the preset radio stations to random ones

Put on the parking break then put the car in drive

Change the climate settings (a/c on in winter, heat in summer

Lean seat back all the way forward

Lean seat back all the way back

Adjust the steering column

Adjust all the mirrors

Got any others for us?