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March 31, 2007

It's 5 o'clock on a saturday...

Only it's saturday morning, so I can't get all Billy-Joel-Bar-song- happy around here. I have, however, already gone out for my groceries. Ya see, I woke up thinking about supper club and what I'd fix. Nothing like waiting til the DAY OF and figgering this stuff out.

So I decided on this:
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Forrest's Shrimper's Net-Catch

2 pounds medium shrimp, de-veined
2 red potatoes cooked and quartered
12 pieces carrots, cut into 6-inch strips
12 pieces celery, cut into 6-inch strips
4 lemon wedges
4 ounces melted butter
4 frozen corn cobbettes
2 tablespoons Cajun Seasoning
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Dash Liquid Smoke (optional)

Poaching Liquid
1 gallon water
1/4 cup Durkee’s Hot Sauce
4 bay Leaves
1 tablespoon Bubba Gump Brand Seafood Boil spice
1/4 cup beer

Combine all Poaching Liquid ingredients and then bring to a boil, then reduce to a medium simmer. Add Shrimp, vegetables, corn, potatoes, and lemon wedges and cook until shrimp is completely done. Remove from poaching liquid, strain and place in stainless steel bowl. Add butter, Cajun spice, garlic and Liquid Smoke and toss together.

Serve on large platter with extra lemon wedges.

I'm considering throwing in some sausages too to make it like a low country boil.

After dinner we're going to stop by Aaron's new pad for a bit. The mean mommies never seem to find enough time together but when we do...someone always falls down.

***
This past week seemed to be a mixture of "it can't end soon enough" and "why don't I have enough time?" How can this be? It could be that when I get home, I can't get a damn thing done because Tessie has had croup and the steroids make her a wee bit clingy. It could be because Leeroy is a pain in the butt even though he's "trained" now. It could be because I sit down with a beer and the tivo remote and don't do my laundry.

My dad sent some workers out to clean our yard this week. Oh Em Gee...it looks so nice. If we had a patio table we could actually cook out and stuff. Course, it'd be nicer if we had grass or a brick patio but still, it's looking really good out there. I'll take some pictures when I'm done with the other hundred things I need to do.

***

Here's a rundown on the kids...

Jake: Spring fever has him outside for as often as possible. His grades are better than I'd imagined with the exception of his Health grade which was terrible. I made him run laps. I think we're nearly past his rebellious phase.

Trevor: He's always helpful around the house because he's not allowed to leave the damn house. If he got something other than F's on his report card, he'd most likely be still inside, but in front of the computer, rather than parked at the table studying. It's a phase, right?

Kendall: Perfect. duh. She's proven to be quite the dog nazi since Leeroy got home. She takes him on long walks and makes him follow the rules. She's also constantly reminding us of all of the errors in our handling of him. It's adorable. Oh, and her grades? Perfect. Please...do not let it be a phase.

Tess: The child talks nonstop. It doesn't make a lot of sense but she talks. She clearly says "what's that?" "Here she is" (when asked, where's tessie?) , "hi doodoo" (to trevor) and "hi baby!" (to kendall). She can also do animal sounds for cats, dogs, elephants, monkeys, horses and butterflies (meow). Oh, and if you ask her ANYTHING....the answer is "nooooo". She's also learning to share, thanks to Gayleypoo and Bella.

Posted by krystal at 5:35 AM | Comments (2)

March 21, 2007

2 years

Yesterday was our anniversary. When things like this happen on a tuesday while the husband is working night shift and the wife is working day shift and the wife has a shit day at work and the husband can't catch up on sleep...it's mostly just another day only this time it has roses arriving at the door. I love Dan more than I did 2 years ago. I thought it'd be impossible, but it's true. We work well together and our house is filled with love and laughter and a healthy dose of crazy. I can't imagine my life any other way.

Posted by krystal at 5:04 AM | Comments (6)

March 20, 2007

Here's why I couldn't go to pottery last night...

I was busy making pysanky eggs with Kendall.

Posted by krystal at 6:15 AM | Comments (6)

March 19, 2007

schmeekend schmukdate

Dan's new job sucks. He likes it well enough I suppose, but his hours are crap. He's sleeping through the weekends and when he's awake it's just so we can wait til the next time he goes back to sleep or til it's time for him to work again. Blah. I hope one day he can get a nermal schedule so our life can resume. I'm suffering from wanderlust and want to go away for a weekend but we can't go any effing where because dan's working all the time.

I made it to the gym Thursday and Saturday...yesterday I had enough pizza to make up for any good I might have done for my body. Today I'm gonna try and get back into it. I don't mind the gym so much since I've only done water aerobics stuff so far. That's fun...me and 15 other fat old women workin' up a tsunami in the 4 footer. I have to stop myself from giggling during class when I think about what the casual observer is thinking when he looks in. Be that what it may, my body was a little sore yesterday and I slept great.

I read the book Night this weekend. I know I should have been reading my book club book but Night is much smaller. Baby steps. Baby steps. By the way, Night's worth the read if you have a few hours.

I also spent a good deal of time adding songs to my Ipod. I tend to spend lots of time in my car w/ this new job so I've been wanting to get my favorite tunes added to it. Now there's the issue of getting names in my ipod to the songs I've stolen or been given at cd exchanges. They should just BE THERE.

Posted by krystal at 5:04 AM | Comments (3)

March 16, 2007

wootywoo

Thankfully the week is over.

My mom was always telling me "you're going to wish your life away"...but just like the kid who skips eating dinner to devour dessert, I just want to have the good parts of life and I rue the rest. So I am often forced to live by my own advice and "deal with it".

My week got better Wednesday when my boss came back to work. She's the most awesomeist boss ever and she brings calmness and "ok-ness" to the chaos that tends to happen at my job. I like order ...she brings it. That's just how we roll.

The rest of the week has been pretty ok. Wednesday I got to see Jessica, Manda, and Amy all in one day. I loved that. Thursday we went to the gym and then went to see our puppy. He's almost ready to come home. Believe me, he's missed. He's been a bit tougher than the trainer thought but he's making lots of progress. Tonight Jake is out at a friend's house, Dan's sleeping and the rest of us are preparing to chow down on some pizza. Two days of rest may not be restful but they're highly anticipated.

Posted by krystal at 5:07 PM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2007

Happy pi day, geeks!

I still haven't come out of my funk so there's nothing more to add...except....

WHO CARES THAT YOUR COMPUTER IS OFF BY ONE FUCKING HOUR? NOT ME.

Posted by krystal at 4:50 AM | Comments (2)

March 12, 2007

Krystal O'Brien can not hang

The time zone change didn't work on most of the pcs at work...that means everyone's asking "hey why didn't my time zone change work?". I got my period 5 days early. My 16 year old lives on the telephone and my husband turned off call waiting, which means I can't call my own house whenI want to tell my son to unload the dishwasher. My head hurts. My brain can't figure out why one old lady can't reach the intranet. I don't want to help my sysop unload 72 printers. I hate getting dirty and making pots. I miss my dog. My baby is being a brat...

so I bailed on pottery class tonight.

Posted by krystal at 8:19 PM | Comments (4)

March 11, 2007

do amish people observe daylight savings time?

I love the time change, don't get me wrong. It's just that THIS YEAR we my job became a pain in the ass because of it, Dan's coworker came in an hour late, making him late coming home this morning, and Tessie will most likely have her sleep a little screwed up because of it. Not to mention, I have about 300 digital clocks in this house that I have no idea how to change.

***

Today I'm taking Tessalitapitabread and going to church. I don't know why I bother since there's no nursery and I always end up leaving to sit in the nursery alone w/ my own kid. I could just as easily stay home. Of course, then I wouldn't be able to leave the baby with mama and daddy today so Dan and I can go to Deannas.

***

The house phone is somewhere buried in one of the boys rooms downstairs. Dan and I heard it ring faintly on Friday night and decided to just not have any phone calls this weekend. So it's still down there. If anyone's called, we've not even heard it. I kinda like that. Maybe I'm amish at heart.

Posted by krystal at 8:54 AM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2007

This scowl is the only proof I can find that Tess is half mine.

Posted by krystal at 8:05 PM | Comments (2)

finding out how much handy manny you can watch in one day...

Today's a day of rest that I've dreamed of for weeks. We don't have anywhere to go. The big kids are at their dad's house and dan's working midnights this weekend. Tessie and I have all day to watch cartoons, read books and eat reeces peanutbutter eggs.

Last night Liz came over for her pampered chef and we had wine and goldfish for supper. It didn't occur to me while we were drinking wine that I should have probably cooked some dinner or even just a frozen pizza for us. This morning I woke up STARVING. Liz, I promise next time you come over, I'll feed you something.

I have to get busy reading Suite Francaise for book club. It's a big book and I seem to be lacking a lot of personal time. It seems very good so far, but I'm only about 12 pages into the book.

Posted by krystal at 10:41 AM | Comments (2)

March 6, 2007

...on pottery

As in most things in life, simplicity seems to be the recipe for success.

Ruthanne Tudball 1991

bull.shit.

Pottery class sucks.

Posted by krystal at 7:50 AM | Comments (3)

March 4, 2007

like people do.

I'm never much good in crowds or at parties. I feel like I can't quite keep up and then the next day I usually wake up wondering if I've offended anyone (usually I have) or if I had fun or not. Once I decide if I had fun or not, then I start to recall the events that made me decide one way or another.

This morning I woke up with a really dry mouth and a slight headache. That generally means I had a good time. Dan didn't seem mad at me so that means I might not have been an asshole to him. *phew*. I remembered that Tree slept over, which most likely meant that she'd already stealthily slipped out, like in the olden days. (she had).

From last night my main memories will be these...
Arriving at Terri's house and realizing that 26 women is A LOT of women. Her house runneth over.
Going back to the tavern to look for becky's wallet, only to find it was on the limo the whole time.
Mads singing the cranberries zombie song which was definitely a highlight of the night for me. Maddy, you're awesome.
Finding Susan and Angel out in the lobby of the ramada...uh, contemplating taking a swim.
(hahaha...were they serious? I donno...we may never know).
Having deanna tell me she loves me...at least 50 times. I love you too dea!
Jackie and Jennifer drinking "southern bitches" while Tree, susan and angel had "wet pussies". "you might be in a redneck bar if...." ha.
Ellen announcing "WE'RE HERE!" as we walked into the restaurant in front of the blarney stone....woops, this isn't the bar. SEE YA FOLKS! WE MUST GO NOW.
All of the girls singing and dancing on the limo...that was so fun. Angel brought all of the best booty shaking songs. I think we all enjoyed this part.
Brocks...where becks lost her wallet AGAIN.
Hanging out on the limo bus while some folks had martinis at the bonefish. We had a good amount of beer onboard....so why not? Besides, gayle does that upside down pole dancing thing...the entertainment never ends hehehe.
Coming home safely. Thanks gayle. Telling Dan about the night.

I think the chaos that naturally comes with such a large group takes its toll on me, but overall, the night was a smashing success. It was a good night.

Posted by krystal at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

March 3, 2007

downtown charlie brown

Tonight is girls night out. We've been planning it for over a month. There are somewhere between 25-28 ladies going. We've rented a huge long limo bus thing w/ neon lights and we're gonna go downtown to a few bars and stuff. It really doesn't matter where we're going cuz we're going to be together having fun. It seems as though most of us going are pretty ok w/ going to taverns and pubs rather than dance clubs. Nobody's out to make a hook-up so we're gonna enjoy being girls...fantastic. Pics are sure to follow.

This week at work I felt like I was in my element. I've stopped being afraid to jump in and fix things. I ask questions when I need to and I don't go home everyday wondering if I'm doing what's expected. I hate the beginning of a new job, but now it seems like I'm doing what they hired me for and I've even been volunteering to pitch in to help a coworker who has more work to do. It's a good feeling.

I also started my pottery classes this week. I can't say that this is going to be a hobby that I'll keep. I enjoyed being there with my friends, but the part where you get dirty...is very dirty. The part where my fingernails dig into the clay...very frustrating. the part where you have to clean up what looks like a construction site when you're done...not so fun. I'm sure I'll like it more once i get a feel for the clay and my pots look less, well, crooked. Right now though...I'm not down with throwing pots. I'll keep at it though, I ain't no quitter.

Tessie gets right in my face sometimes and says HEY BABY!! I love her so much that it makes my head spin.

Posted by krystal at 7:10 AM | Comments (0)