Porno for Pyrex

Last Spring, I wanted to do something nice for the teachers I work with. I am not a teacher, but I work in a school so I see first hand how hard the good teachers work. I thought that putting some yummy cookies in the staff breakroom would be a nice token of appreciation. I baked a few dozen cookies and packed them up in a large Pyrex bowl- like the large one in this photo:

I love me some Pyrex. Especially Pyrex with lids

I get to work very early (sometimes 2 hours early) and this day was no different. I placed the cookies, still in their container, on the break room table with a nice note.
An hour and a half later, I went into the break room and the cookies were gone.

So was my prized Pyrex bowl. I wrote another note on the big white board in the same break room and politely asked for my bowl to be returned. I found out that nobody had even seen the cookies or the bowl they were in. Basically, I think somebody took all of the cookies and the Pyrex bowl and stashed them in their car or something.

Some of the teachers felt really bad that my bowl was "lost" and they helped me search for it. It never turned up.
The whole ordeal made me sad.

Flash forward to last weekend--------Look what I got!

A WHOLE NEW SET OF PYREX BOWLS!!!! I got this set for 50% off!!! I also got those spiffy pajamas for 50% off. If you have never tried them, let me tell ya that heaven is satin pajamas.

In other news:
A Very Larry Thanksgiving (the annual potluck thanksgiving lunch/dinner held at a friend's house) was fabulous as usual. Bee, the hostess, made these cute orange jello shots in actual orange rinds:

way to class up the jello shots, Bee!

I got to hold Blossom (Bee's Dachshund) and drink wine. That is what we call a "win-win situation"

My buddy Josh (pictured above) makes the best funny face. Don't even try to do better. You'll certainly fail.

My Buddy the Outlaw

Dale, Sarah and "D" - taken 11-27-2010 in Austin, Tx

I have known my friend "D" for twenty friggen' years. He is 5 years older than me (I think) and has always acted like I was his little sister. When I started dating, "D" ran off many of my boyfriends that he thought were not suitable. I was not always happy about it, sometimes I was down right angry about it, but he was a good judge of character and was usually right.

He once drove me and my friend out o a cemetery, AT NIGHT, and abandoned us there. He eventually came back for us and we all had a good laugh. That is a story for another blog post.


I met "D" because he was friends with my friend's brother. I grew up down the street from my friend and her brother, so I was often around "D." I told my friend to start dating "D" so that he would give us rides to the mall, to sonic, and to the record store. My plan worked. It worked so well that they ended up getting married and having two children. I am now the proud godmother to both of their children.

"D" recently came to Austin for a visit. He was in town for his motorcycle club's annual meeting (or something of the sort). We picked him up from the meeting place so that we could take him to lunch. I have never seen so many motorcycles parked out in front of the same place! It was like a scene from a movie. Crazy! I would be lying if I told you that I was not in the least bit intimidated as I stepped outside of the car to wait for "D."

At lunch, I noticed that "D" had a patch that said 1%er. I asked him what that meant and he told me that it was a reference to a comment that was made in which someone stated that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, implying that the last one percent were outlaws.

I'll let you use to colors "D" is wearing serve as your clue to determining which organization he is a member of.

Music Therapy, Humor Therapy

When I am having a particularly bad back/neck day and the pain is at an unrelenting level 10, I pop on my headphones and listen to music.

It really helps me tolerate the feeling of stabbing, aching, burning, crackling, creaking, sick and twisted blackness.
About a week ago, I was treating myself with the music and I heard this lyric- I'll find strength in pain.

Those words hit my heart and may or may not have made my eyes spring a leak. I wrote those words on our kitchen black board for inspirational purposes. Flash forward to a week later. I am at work, in a meeting and I get a text message from my husband who has taken the entire week off. I opened the message and this is what I saw:



The night before, we were flipping through the channels and caught a bit of TLC's new reality show - Sarah Palin's Alaska. Politics aside, It is a freaky show. However, I don't think I am her target audience....don't cha know?

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my husband and his sense of humor and I am thankful for good music and all it has to offer.

Pink Blobs and HIgh School Memories

Do you know what these are? Well, most of you won't. I'll tell you what they are in a second. First, let me tell you who I mailed them to. Heck, I'll just show you:

The blond gal is a friend of mine since I was 12. Her name is Amy and she is one of the funniest people I know. (The dude in the picture is another old friend-what's up Clint?)
Some of you know that Amy and I have been writing each other "real letters" since we graduated high school. There is something about getting an actual letter in the mail, no? We also send each other prank mail from time to time. I have recently become fond of sending packages.

Which brings me back to the mysterious pink blobs that I sent Amy a few days ago.

Here is a closer look:

Have any Idea what they are now?

What if I put an earring in one?


How about I hold it up to my EAR:

Wow...they fit right inside my ear. What do you think about that?

If you are an Audiologist, or have had custom ear plugs, or have hearing aids, you would know that these pink blobs are actually ear molds. My ear molds to be exact.

I had some musicians ear plugs made to wear to concerts. They use a special filter to offer protection from the loud music while allowing you to hear everything clearly at the same time. pretty cool.
ANy-hoo, to have them made you must first have an impression, or a "mold" made of the inside of your ear. I had these done before I told the Audiologist that I wanted the special Musicians Ear Molds. She was making me a regular pair for blocking noise (the do not go as deep). Ooops. She was going to throw these away and I thought "hmmmm....I bet my friend Amy would love to get these in the mail." So I scooped them up, put them in a nice box, wrapped them up in pretty paper and sent them away.


I did include this little note to explain what they were. I tucked it between the wall of the box and that fluffy cotton stuff. That way, she would not see the note right away. It was my hope that she would actually pick up the molds and examine them before discovering the note.

Gross, I know.

Gross and funny.

Well, it's funny to me anyway.

Via Facebook, I asked Amy if she had checked her mail. She replied with, "Yes, and I forgot to tell you that I love/hate you sooooo much."
When another friend (Clint from the second photo) asked what was going on Amy said, "Sarah enjoys torturing me with severed clown heads, ear molds and other such objects. It reminds me of high school."

Ahhh, good times.

Security

To be secure is to be easy in mind.

To be easy in mind is to have no fear or anxiety.

To have no fear or anxiety is to feel safe.

To feel safe is to lay on your human's lap and use his hand as a pillow while you take an afternoon nap.

Tasting Agony

Here we are seated at the table for a nice hamburger dinner. Upon Danny's request, Dale also threw some jalapeños on the grill. Though I enjoy some sliced jalapeños on nachos, tacos, and BBQ pizza, I do not put them on my burger.

But Danny does.

Here's his burger:

Not only does he have a whole jalapeño as a side dish, but he has a few layers of those bad boys on his burger sammich.

Danny takes a few bites and I watch his face contort while he chews.....nom, nom, nom.


He swallows the food, takes another bite, and his eyes turn red.


Danny's teeth tear away another chunk of jalapeño burger and I watch as his skin takes on a hue that makes him look like a redhead during spring break.



And then, little beads of sweat pop up on Danny's head. The little beads become big drops and start sliding south.


At this point, I ask Danny "why do you feel that you need to make eating such a painful experience?"



Seriously? Girls don't do this. They don't make eating a burger into some sort of "man v. food" challenge. Sure, I like a little spice but I am not about to take a bite of something that is going to make me sweat like that.

Oh hell no.

Deep Tissue

My buddy Danny is not a trained masseur, but he gives the best back rub I have ever had. Whenever he visits (or when I visit him) He knows that I will be asking for a back rub.

When I found these images on my camera I told Dale that I don't even remember him taking them. I don't even think I was aware that he was clicking away with the camera because all of my attention was on the amazing back rub an all of the wonderful sensor-ation (that's sensory information...I just made that up) that it provided. I even appear to be looking right at the camera in the last shot and I still say I have no recollection of the camera being present.









Neck surgery is scheduled for December 21st with my pre-op on the 20th. Dale wants me to get a second opinion just to be safe. Ugh. I have been to plenty of doctors over the 5 years that I have been dealing with this. I have tried everything. This surgery is next on the list of things to try. I truly think it will work.

Dale also said he wants to be in the operating room with me.
.....
WHAT? I told him, "honey, you can't even watch the surgery scenes on ER much less watch them cut my neck open."
he replied with "Well this is different. I need to be in there so I can watch them."
"Watch them do what?" I said....."Are you afraid they are going to put a tracking device in my neck or something?"

This ain't Labor and Delivery, fella. You can't just be in the operating room.

I must say that I love him for being worried and protective.

South Texas Soul

Hacienda played Stubb's Indoor stage this past Friday night (11-6-10). I am here to tell you 3 things:
1. It was perhaps the best Hacienda show I have seen to date (and I have seen many Hacienda shows).
2. I am amazed at the amount of GOOD shows going on in Austin, TX on any given night of the week.
3. You should have been there...again.

There were two open bands: Nic Armstrong followed by The Jungle Rockers. Both bands were really good.



photo taken from Nic Armstrong's myspace page

Nic Armstrong has this craaaaazy voice, cool guitar effects, and is accompanied by a drummer and that's it bub. No Bass guitar, no keybord, no tambou-friggen-rine. At the end of his set, he accidentally knocked over his mic stand to which his drummer decided to compliment this by knocking over her high hat. Nic Armstrong lives in Austin so try to check him out some time, won't you?




photo taken from The Jungle Rocker's website
The Jungle Rockers were in matching black jackets and blue jeans. Their hair was slicked back and the bass player was sporting black rimmed eye glasses. Remember those pants that Olivia Newton John wore at the end of Grease when she was all bad-ass, smoking a cigarette and singing "you're the one that I want?"

Not one but TWO chicks were sporting those bad boys and standing in the front row dancing to the music of The Jungle Beats. Dancing is easy to do while listening to this band. They are Jungle-rock-a-punk-a-billy-rolll, heavy on the dapper dan. The man on lead guitar is DANG GOOD! Oh, and they are also an Austin band. RULE!



photo by West Vita
Hacienda tore a new hole in the atmosphere. Let me tell you this, those guys have their chops. I swear that they put on a better show each time I see them. I can't imagine their shows getting any better. Dante came up and said hello before the show. His voice sounded cracked and hoarse. I asked him if he was losing his voice and he said yes. I said "Oh no!" and he said "Don't worry, we are still going to blow it out." That man didn't lie. Blow it out they did. The dancing continued throughout Hacienda's set. Dante's vocals were great and his guitar playing was even better. Mean, fat-back licks that will make you want to do a back bend. Does that even make sense? It would if you had been there to hear it. Every member of Hacienda sings and every member has a great voice. Abraham Villanueva looks pretty calm over on the side stage playing the keys but don't let him fool you. That fella opens his mouth and out comes this amazingly powerful voice that he is fully in control of.
Whew! It was an awesome show.

A while back I was checking Dante's Blog and was surprised to find that I had been called out as a supportive fan (click that link to see for yourselves). What can I say? I go to a lot of their shows. I got a cool signed poster out of the deal which I thought was going to be mailed to me.

Nope.

Dante had the other Hacienda dudes sign it the night of the show and he gave it to me and Dale. It was very nice. The poster is hilarious.

Photo by Dale. Ha!

So, what did you do on your Friday night? Just remember, my friends in Austin, you are always invited to go to a show with me.

A Ghostly Tale: Night Photos

These pictures were taken in my house and around my neighborhood. We walked to the neighborhood park and I think I creeped out a few drivers on the road along the way. One car approached us slowly and then sped off when it was close enough for a good view. Pretty funny.
My buddy Danny posed with me in many of the pictures. Thanks Danny! Thanks to Dale for serving as the photographer.

On with the show!






that one (above) is my favorite one featuring Danny.


ooooooooooh, a ghost in the studio......oooooooh




stop!







In the next two photos, I was standing on a swing and moving back and forth. I edited out the chains (although not very well in the first one)

A Ghostly Tale: Day Photos

How do you celebrate Halloween? Do you go to a party and gobble up all the jello shots? Do you dress as a "sexy" cop, kitten, construction worker, plumber, teacher, nurse, etc? Do you chill at your house and pass out candy? Do you watch scary movies with your honey?
Do you make your own costume, purchase a wig, dress up and have a photo shoot?

That's what I do.

Hey, it makes me happy. You know I love dressing up and I love crazy make up so it only makes sense that I would love Halloween. I also am partial to the strange and unusual which is what Halloween is all about, right?

Here are the pictures I took during the day. Tomorrow, I will post the night photos.

We drove down the street to the park. I did not want to walk the streets in my costume just yet. I was saving that for later.

White base make up (only cost $1.00) and dark everything else.






There was a slight breeze which helped my costume flow. (The costume is made from 7 sheets of tulle fabric. Each sheet was 140 inches long and 108 inches wide.)




I knew that white pumpkin from my front yard would be useful. I grabbed it at the last minute...right before I got into the car. Actually, I made Danny grab it.


Ah, fun with editing. Normally, I think the black and white/color combination photos are a bit cheesy but when you are going for that ghostly feel, this editing technique is perfect.


Saturation boost.




Dale's favorite. Speaking of Dale, he took all of these photos. He is good, no?


I'm melting! What a world, what a world!



If you could not tell, I was a ghost. I'm all about taking the classic costumes and making them awesome. Last year, I was a ghoul. I wonder what I will be next year?
Come back tomorrow for some more.