Gaga for our Gaggia

Shall I start with a quick hello?  I feel that's fair after OVER A YEAR LONG absence.  So, Hi Howdy Hola but most importantly, MABUHAY!  Why Mabuhay?  Because my friends, "Mabuhay" is the tagalog greeting and in case you're wondering what tagalog is (as I was), it's one of the (many) languages spoken in the Philippines, primarily Manila and surrounding areas.  But still, why should you care?  Well, in truth, maybe you shouldn't.  YOU aren't the one moving to the Philippines in less than a week ..... but WE are! :) 

So, MABUHAY! 

A new member of our family will be moving with us.  You heard that right, we have a new child.  She is shiny and grand and requires constant attention.  She is still a newborn but seems to be learning the ropes quickly.  Sorry Mom, she does not have a heartbeat, curly hair, or my eyes.  "She" is our Gaggia Academia Espresso Machine and probably the most important thing that's happened in our lives since we adopted Cassie.  Here she is - feel free to gasp, exhale, ooh-ah...whatever you need to do....

Ok Ok - that's not really our girl.  But this is...

And boy does she turn some heads when she does her little coffee dances.  I mean, look at this purty concoction she put together when my sister came to visit:

Really - she is the most thoughtful "child" we have....sorry Cassie.

If you're in the market for an espresso machine, you can't go wrong with this baby.   She'll make espressos, coffees (long or short), caps, lattes, and the list goes on.  You can get all hands on with her or simply set her up to be responsive at the touch of a button.  Easy breezy.    She ain't cheap but she's worth it AND it's true what they say, she does get better with age.  Seriously, the thing gets smarter then more coffee you make.

Sadly, Lady Gaggia is on her merry way to Manila and we probably won't see her...or her wonderful caffeinated brews .... for several months.  We will try to endure but no doubt will suffer some pangs along the way.....and headaches. 

When I die, bury me in shoes that sparkle

There are a lot of things I miss right now.  I miss my family, my friends, my dog, excessive cable channels, cooking, target, and the list goes on.  But I also miss being a girl.  My mom was kind enough to send my boots in the mail and I loove having the little splash of color out here in the desert but what I really miss, is being a freakin' girl.  And part of being a girl??? Flowery, colorful, ridiculously beautiful and extravagant....high heels!!!  I bought a phenomenal pair of Rene Caovilla's while we were in Vegas and I can NOT wait for an excuse to wear them.  So keep them safe dear mother in law and keep that daughter of yours at bay....cause I WILL BE BACK!!!!!!

Forgive the haphazard photo....we were in Vegas after all.   I couldn't be bothered to rebuckle (fine motor movement would have been required).  And I guess I couldn't take a moment to find a proper back drop....sigh...

But OHHHH!!!  They still sparkle

Rene Caovilla's shoes are seriously like a work of art.  If it's not the sparkly soles, it's the flowery and delicate adornments. 

 SO I say this....if I die, bury me in sparkly things.  And for goodness sake, if you cremate me...don't burn the shoes!!!!

(REPOST) Christmas (board games) in July - 'A Christmas Story' tragedy

I have been looking forward to writing this post for some time.  My mother-in-law, Shirley (bless her thoughtful heart) bought me the board game "A Christmas Story" last year for Christmas.  Now, like a lot of people, I LOVE this movie and was thrilled to have the board game.  All I really needed were some victims to play with me.  After 7 months I was finally able to coerce my mother and husband into playing.

After a long day of packing, we decided to settle in with some beers and some family fun time.  It started out innocently enough although my husband (who is NOT a fan of the movie) was clearly playing under duress.  That's ok though.  I had my mom and some sweet tea vodka to boost my confidence...oh, and a wiener dog.   The board was cute, with pictures of Ralphie's house, the schoolyard, etc and the playing cards were shaped like Christmas ornaments (very clever). 

If we would have just walked away at this point, all would have been well.

 Here's the deal, the instructions made NO sense!  When I say no sense, they literally were indecipherable.  From the very start, I was confused.  I say "I" because although Mom and Zach had agreed to play, they did NOT agree to read the instructions.  In other words, I was determined to figure this out.  I really wanted this to be fun for them so I focused intently on reading the directions.  I focused but I felt my eyes going crossways.  The game said to start from "home" but there was no "home" marked on the board.  It only got worse from there....really really really really a WHOLE lot worse.

You can't see it all but it says "Ralphie's House" there.  We can only assume that's what the game creators meant when they said "home".

I stole the following from one of MANY Amazon user reviews:  "Here is an actual quote from the directions:  To move down the sidewalk, players discard one card and move as many spaces as the number on the card. However, cards printed with a '1' will move a player '2' spaces if played in this manner. If a player does not wish to discard a card to move on the sidewalk, they may move one space only.   ....WHAT?!?!"

A rare moment where all of the leg lamps were standing up right.  It took me 5 tries to get this picture because those damn things were flopping all over the place.

An elusive Ralphie card.  We still have no idea what the numbers mean....

Uncontrollable giggles start as I give up on the real directions and attempt to make my own just to keep Mom and Zach from walking out on me.  Zach is enjoying the lunacy of it all but I could tell my time is running out...

Not helping!!

We laughed, we cried, we ended up smoking cigars on the front porch while Mom and Zach read me the trivia questions.

Still, all in all, it was worth it for the laughs.  I won't be playing this again but I will hold onto the box and maybe make some Christmas decorations out of the contents.

To be honest, I had almost as much fun reading the reviews on Amazon the next day as I did "playing" the game the night before.  Here's a snippit from one of my favorites:
(But really, you should do yourself a favor and check out all of the reviews...they're hilarious! You can find them all here)

"A Christmas Story game is the Hindenburg of board games.  Oh the humanity! My girlfriend and I spent an hour trying to understand the directions and laughing at the typos. The game makes no sense. The leg lamp pieces tip over way too easily (like if you breathe on them or look at them).
And the questions themselves--they were so hard they could have been in Latin for all we cared.
After slogging through the first two pages of incomprehensible directions, I actually thought the game was a joke, like an April Fools Day prank. It was not. Luckily, we purchased the game for $1 at a garage sale. We overpaid. Next time, I hope "A Christmas Story" board game manufacturers think twice before nearly ruining our favorite holiday movie"

Cassie does Dallas...and Vegas

After three long months in Iraq, hubs and I decided to spend our first R&R visiting family with a sprinkle of Vegas for good measure.  Though I initially planned to lug Cassie along throughout, I decided she would probably be better off not stuffed under the seat in front of me for 5 flights.  If the logistics had just been a little better (read: had Vegas not been the stopover in the middle), it would have been great to have her along but it just didn't seem like the right thing to do.  Sadly, that meant a teary goodbye in Richmond before we headed off to Vegas.  Thankfully, my mother in law had given us some great pics of Cassie and one, in particular, that was just perfect for travel.  It's an embarrassing little photo of Cassie looking completely humiliated in some kind of bow contraption.  In an effort to make myself feel better, I "pretended" Cassie traveled with us to Vegas with onward travel to Texas.  What follows is a brief catalog of her adventures:

Cassie renting a car

Cassie checking into the hotel

Cassie cat-napping before a night on the town

Lush

Cassie ain't scared of no big cats!

Cassie admiring art by her ancestors

Cassie kicking it old school on Fremont street

Cassie killing a hangover with a bloody mary

Cassie likes the oldies but goodies

Cassie and her mom at the Peppermill

Cassie supports the performing arts.....

Cassie getting wined and dined at SW Steakhouse

Cassie at the best Mexican restaurant in Denton

What? Didn't you know wiener dogs like tea???

You paid for that?!?!

There are lots of tattoos in Baghdad....LOTS!  There's more ink in this place than an Office Depot.  It got me thinking about bad tattoos.  Good tattoos are well, just good.  But bad tattoos??? They're historic.  So, being the good little sharer I am, here are a few of my favorite HORRIBLE TATTOOS!

Simple Pleasures....new places

My new coaster :)

 Just a few little things that have made me smile lately....

Goodies from Mom!  FUN!  She knows me too well - Halloween decorations, colorful bathroom stuff, and games!!!!!

I actually bought this at our version of "walgreens" - wahoo!  XBOX in the desert!

Now this was truly like Christmas!!!  My jeans were inside wootwoot!! 

Including a bunch of other clothes and goodies.  Even in the desert, a girl has got to kick it with some degree of style.

Lots of goodies and lots of hidden pictures of Cassie hidden throughout. :)

tee hee - she looks deep in thought in this one.

Honey....I'm home!

Ok, I'm not home at all but after a few Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey drinks last night, I sure felt like I was flyin' somewhere!  Though the effects are a  bit painful today, this stuff went down as smooth as....well...honey.  A group of us easily polished off a bottle within a couple of hours.  Give it a try.  It's not too sweet.  There's a hint of pepper to counter the sweetness and the mix of the two is just purrrrfect.  It's especially good with ginger ale, sprite and diet coke (not all at the same time, mind you).  It's also pretty smooth by itself.

Don't say I never did ya any favors....

"A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of 
honey left inside."
 - Winnie the Pooh