Name That Movie!

This is an excerpt from one of my very favorite movies - do you know it? Have you seen it? Do you LOVE it?! Which part is your favorite?

Hey, how are you? First of all, thank you for giving me the opportunity to come talk to you all on career day. Now, I’m not Mr. Carl Peterson and I don’t have a career per se. I guess you could say my career is living and loving and I do that to the utmost.
I see all you fresh faced “kidlets” sitting there in your neat little rows and you’re all just pods. Pods waiting for your instructions. Now some of you are gonna get zapped right away and be 15 year old prodigies, little midget Olympic gymnasts with their pictures on cereal boxes. Some of you will go on to college and you will find your rhythm there and then go chase down the titans of industry or maybe straighten out our problems at the UN.
But some of you…and this is the group that no one ever comes into career day and addresses, and it’s criminal (not too)…some of you, are just going to float along.–Eating spicy foods, humming black people’s music into your thirties—well into your thirties….languishing. This group of pods is going to do a lot of languishing and you’re going to take some heat for it…sadly, you will. Europe is a little easier, it seemed to understand a little better, so did South America. I went to Argentina one time and everyone just seemed to be sitting around and it was beautiful.
But that’s ok! Stay loose, stay liquid, laugh a lot–but be ready! That’s what Dupree is doing in his life’s little pod–staying nimble, until I get the call from the mothership. Then I bite. Then you’ll see Dupree coming in here throwing seven different kinds of smoke. Boom, bam!
(long pause, awkward)
…That’s fine, pods that were supposed to hear this, did, and it will kick in when it needs too. I’m done here.

Fall Foliage

This tree was just green leaves when I drove to OKC on Sunday. (It's my tree, by the way)


It would be prettier if it were light out... but, thanks to DAYLIGHT SAVINGS time, I don't get to have light in the morning OR in the evening.


So, here's the best I can show ya, until the weekend...


Pretty, huh?

Really Easy AMAZING Thai Recipe

Do you LOVE Thai food, but think you can't make it in your own home, because the ingredients are too tricky to come by?

Ok - this is really easy and really yummy.

We'll call it

Coconut Curry Thai Shrimp (or Chicken)

Here are the ingredients:

1/2 chopped onion
1/4 c chopped green onions
12 oz shrimp (or chicken, sliced) or more - you're the cooker!
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp red curry paste
1 tsp sugar
3/4 c lite coconut milk
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
Olive Oil

Saute the onion and red curry paste in the olive oil. How much? Whatever you think. Probably a tablespoon or two.

Add the shrimp or chicken. Cook until done - about 4-6 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, sugar and fish sauce. Let it simmer around in there. Then toss in the bell pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes - until however crisp or not crisp you want it - you're the cooker!

Add the green onion at the last minute.

Now, you can garnish this with basil, if you like. I think this would be YUMMY with basil. But... if you don't like to pay a fair amount for basil, then do what I did and top with cilantro - which is very Thai, and who doesn't like cilantro? Or top with nothing - you're the cooker.

Serve over rice.

If you want more yummy sauce for the rice, just add more coconut milk and curry paste and fish sauce - however you want - you're the cooker!

the best thing: go to an ASIAN market to get these products - they are SO CHEAP THERE!

Whereas fish sauce is $3.49 at the local grocery store, it is 89 CENTS at the Asian Market. (Just a for instance for ya!)

So - get cooking. And I have it on good authority that it's even better the next day.

Lest You Think

I think Cowboy's perfect. He's not.

See? This was ALL that was in his refrigerator the first time I came to visit.

And this is what's in his freezer... currently...


Of course, this is good for me. It means he likes whatever I cook. (YESSSS! ala Napoleon Dynamite)

And this is what his flower pots have looked like since the first time I came to visit.

Until now.

Better, no?

A Man By Any Other Name

is not Cowboy.

I wish words were enough.

Words are not enough, but here's a story about my amazing man.

Cowboy has a dog named Bruiser (and I am not changing his name to protect the innocent). He's a two year old boxer, so he's probably still like a puppy. (Keep in mind, I am not a dog person, but I really really like Cowboy, so I am making an effort)

So, first time I went to visit Cowboy in OKC, I took a day off, and went for a run. When I came back, in an herculean effort to make friends with Bruiser, I decided to take him for a walk. Yes, I know. HUGE effort. It seemed to go well, once I was able to get him out the front door... not kidding.

That evening, we were relaxing on the couch, and I heard Cowboy say, "Oh, Bruiser." I looked over and there was Bruiser, gnawing happily on one of my brand new ankle boot/shoes.


(picture in black)

I had worn them twice, and they were a huge deal for me, because I don't spend money on clothes or shoes, etc. And they were on the sale rack, so the chances of them having another pair in my size seemed fairly remote. However, they're just a material possession, and am I going to let that determine my outlook on anything related to Cowboy? (This is the inner working of my brain in the five seconds after seeing the boot and wondering how to respond).

Because I knew Bruiser was still young, I had made a conscientious effort to put the boots in Cowboy's closet - I thought he had said something about Bruiser chewing shoes before, and I didn't want to be a casualty, nor did I want to tempt Bruiser.
So, I went back to check on the location of the other boot, and it was in his closet.

When I came back into the living room, Cowboy had his laptop out, and I figured he was looking at some football stats or something. Then he said, "What size?" And I looked over and he had found my boots on the department store website. I was shocked, and he held up my boot and said, "The brand name was on the bottom."

In five minutes he had ordered my boots, had them shipped to my house, and closed his laptop. Just like that.

I didn't even know what to say. I was, actually, speechless.

Was it the "right thing" for him to do? Well, yeah. But, how many people would do the right thing, and "just like that?" (imagine a finger snap as I'm saying that)

And when I said thank you (I KNOW - lame response), he said, "Well, that's what you do when your dog chews up someone's shoe."

No, Cowboy, that's what YOU do... here's what I would have heard from any other man person... "Do you need those EXACT shoes?" "How new are they?" "Well, maybe we can find something similar at Payless" or... a truly generous person... "Ok - you find them, get them and give me the receipt and I'll reimburse you."

You see? I am SO NOT EXAGGERATING when I say, "Cowboy is the most amazing man I've ever met."

Okay, friends - tell me a memory you have of when your special person did something that left you KNOWING he/she was certainly "a cut above the others" for you.

Bountiful Harvest

Well, I didn't blog over the weekend, so my question is: If I do THREE POSTS today, will it makeup for my two missed ones? Because I have a LOT of things to talk about. I guess Gayla is the one in charge of this, so Gayla, what'll it be?

You may remember my pathetic potato...

Well, this isn't really much, but what is amazing about this, is I stopped watering the plants these came off of in July - because they had produced nothing. I picked these Saturday morning after my 10.5 mile run... yes, I really ran 10 1/2 miles. I averaged 11 1/2 minute miles (I probably shouldn't admit that SLOW time, but my knee was hurting and I've never run that far, so...)



Yep - jalapenos and tomtatoes... It may be December before those tomatoes ripen, but there they are! Woo hoo!

Is it me?

The other day I happened upon Cowboy getting ready to wash his face in my bathroom. Not unusual (well, okay - a bit unusual that I was in the bathroom at the same time as him, but I hadn't seen him for over 24 hours - I know, TRAGIC!, and he was just washing his face, and I was just talking) ... what I DID find unusual, however, was the fact that he not only unplugged my curling iron, but put it in the CABINET - so as not to get electrocuted.

Now, I drink my coffee or water or whatever WHILST curling my hair. He thinks I'm dangerously close to being sizzled to a strip of bacon.

But, my thinking is that when one blow dries one's hair, it's WET, and I happen to frequently use my fingers to comb through it as I'm drying it...

so - is this an issue of over-caution, or am I merely channeling my inner thrill-seeker, and carelessly living life on the edge?