NaBloPoMo

Holy mother of pearl!!! It's November again and time for NaBloPoMo! That's National Blog Posting Month. I have to post every day for the month of November. This is really going to be a challenge this year. I seem to be MUCH busier than I was last year at this time, although I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the 100 miles I spend in the car each day.

Can't spend any more time on this post. Got to start constructing posts for the rest of the month.

I hope inspiration strikes soon.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween

This is what passes for fun around our house. My neice, D is visiting from Phoenix today.

Guess who?

Ana's Black Belt Test

She passed! We knew she would. She and Kobie both did a great job!

Congratulations!!She was presented with her new uniform after the test.She seemed excited.They look great.

With their instructor who was about to bust he was so proud.

Black Belt Test

Ana passed. More to follow.

Un-venting*

Since I told you what I hate, how about if I tell you what I like?

I like all the videos that are posted in other people's blogs, many of which have me rolling with laughter and others that make me say, "Aww, I remember that!"

So thanks to everyone who posts videos and I'll get over the music players. I just turn off my speakers.


*I know this is not a word!

What's Cookin'

I'm not really sure, but this is what I found on sale at the grocery store this week.

Cube Steak
Ground Turkey
Chicken Breasts

Not much going on in the vegetable crisper except 1/2 a bag of salad, a cucumber and a tomato.
Plenty of rice and couscous on hand.
The freezer yielded some green peas, frozen broccoli and a Crockpot Dinner I bought a long time ago.

It looks like I'll be going back for fresh produce (which is fine, really, because I'm also out of Chardonnay!)

Friday Ana and I are headed to Utah for her black belt test so the boys will YOYO* all weekend.


*You're on your own

Venting

I hate those music players people put on their sidebars. Being the multi-tasker that I am, I open blogs in multiple windows. I can't listen to videos that are posted until I track down the music and silence it!!

I'm done now.

ABCs

Stolen from Life in Oregon.

• A is for age: 42
• B is for beer of choice: Hefeweizen (with the slice of lemon)
• C is for career right now: homemaker
• D is for your dog's name: Gizmo
• E is for essential item you use everyday: car
• F is for favorite TV show: The Amazing Race
• G is for favorite game to watch: baseball (in person)
• H is for Home town: Henderson, Nevada
• I is for instruments you play: piano
• J is for favorite juice: V-8 Spicy
• K is for whose butt you'd like to be kicking: the list is long but illustrious
• L is for last place you ate: at my desk
• M is for marriage: yes, it is
• N is for your name: Karen Michele Temple Crittenden
• O is for overnight hospital stay: never been in the hospital
• P is for people you were with today: so far just Mike, Ana & Sam
• Q is for what's your best quality: I let people be who they are
• R is for what are you currently reading: The Lost Constitution by William Martin
• S is for relationship status: married
• T is for time you woke up today: 0530
• U is for the type of underwear you have on: don't you wish you knew
• V is for vegetable you love: winter squash
• W is for worst habits: chastising other drivers (I know they can't hear me.)
• X is for x-rays you've had recently: teeth
• Y is for something candy: Good N Plenty, or the fancy french nougat from the wine store
• Z is for zodiac sign: Cancer

One man's trash

used to be another man's community service work...until this happened.


This week I've spotted:

• one ladder (smashed and twisted)
• one bar stool
• two intact Pepsi cans (not together)
• one gas can
• one cardboard box (contents undetermined)
• the contents of a suitcase (spotted on the off ramp to the airport) but no suitcase
• one flat panel TV still in the box (with a man in a pickup truck carrying the other boxes backing up on the shoulder to retrieve it!)
• one orange construction vest
• Shh...one brown mammal of indeterminate species sleeping in the center lane
• four hubcaps
• one tire iron
• one red tie down strap (might have come in handy for the TV guy)

The debris doesn't change that much from day to day. I did notice several items have been removed from the roadside.

I didn't bother to list all of the "everyday" trash that is out there, and there is plenty of it.

What's Cookin'

Beats the heck out of me!! Nobody eats it anyway so they can just eat all the leftovers this week.

Think of the money I'll save on groceries.

On the Road Again

I've done 'license plates from across the land' and 'vanity plates', so now it's time for

Sports fans!!

The following decals, bumper stickers, window clings and other items were spotted on the road this week.

Filed under professional sports teams:

Chicago Bears

Indianapolis Colts

Nevada Outlaws (our entry in the XFL)

New England Patriots

Los Angeles Dodgers

Tennessee Titans

San Francisco 49ers

Oakland Raiders

Pittsburgh Steelers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Boston RedSox

Chicago White Sox

New York Giants

Dallas Cowboys

Chicago Cubs

Representing colleges and universities:

UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)

St. Norbert College (DePere, Wisconsin)

LSU Gators (don't know about this 'cuz' LSU is the Tigers!)

Clemson Tigers

Texas A&M (College Station)

UMASS (Amherst)

Moorpark Saints (This is a youth football league in Southern California)

USC (University of Southern California)

Touro University (a local Medical Science college that has a campus in SoCal, too)

UNR (University of Nevada, Reno)

Ohio State (Buckeyes)

Michigan (Ann Arbor)

University of Portland (Oregon)

The NASCAR crowd:

20....Tony Stewart

24....Jeff Gordon

88...Dale Jr

3......Dale Earnhardt

8......Dale Earnhardt, Jr

And this one I've never heard of:

Morelia Monarcas (turns out they're a professional soccer team in Mexico)

Pretty obvious I had to look up quite a few of these. I leave you with my favorite photo - from Michigan.

In the last 30 days...

...I've eaten the following for lunch:


1 - Little Caesar's Cheese Pizza
2 - Trader Mings Peanut Satay noodles and sauce
3 - Pastitsio
4 - Trader Joe's Spa Salad with Chicken
5 - Leftover potato leek soup
6 - Brio Tuscan Grill at Town Square (Chopped salad)
7 - leftover pasta from Friday's dinner
8 - Artichoke Bacon chicken salad with wheat thins
9 - chicken salad and potato leek soup
10 - Panda Express orange chicken and chow mein (Gimme a break! I was out running errands. Again.)
11 - clam chowder
12 - tacos
13 - apple and cheddar cheese
14 - chilaquiles
15 - tacos, fresh pineapple (I know it's a weird combination, but that's what was available.)
16 - tacos

Have you noticed I eat a lot of tacos? That's because I cook up a pound of lean ground turkey taco meat at the beginning of the week so I can't claim there's nothing to eat and justify eating junk. I eat them with corn tortillas warmed with no fat and low-fat cheddar cheese.
17 - tacos, watermelon
18 -Trader Joe's Spa Salad
19 - Alsatian tarte
20 - Ummm...lunch? I'm sure I ate something.
21 - Late breakfast at IHOP with Sam
22 - Arby's
23 - Applebee's (I was on the other end of town helping a friend. He bought lunch twice.)
24 - Chicken Enchilada Suiza
25 - Salad
26 - Subway
27 - Leftover Pasta Milano from Macaroni Grill
28 - Soup and 1/2 sandwich at Nordstrom cafe
29 - A big salad with lots of protein and Newman's Own Family Italian Dressing
30 - No lunch today. I went to the dentist and I can't feel my face!

Can I just say?

Newman's Own Family Recipe Italian dressing is delicious.

And hurts like a mother when it gets in a canker sore!!

The Trifecta

A man just rode through my neighborhood (twice) on a Harley, wearing no helmet, with a beagle on the front and talking on a cell phone.

Travels with Karen

On my weekly travels (which typically reach around 600 miles), I drive around the city with people from all across the continent. I use 'continent' instead of 'country' since I see cars from Canada and Mexico, as well as the United States.

This week, I've spotted the following;

My Daily Chuckle

These came to me in an email from my friend. Thanks for the chuckle, Joe.

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.--Author Unknown

Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: 'Take two aspirin' and 'Keep away from children.'--Author Unknown

'Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.'--Drew Carey

'The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house.'--Jeff Foxworthy

'If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base.'--Dave Barry

'Relationships are hard. It's like a full time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay, the day before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp.' --Bob Ettinger

'My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, "Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.''--Paula Poundstone

'A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: 'Duh.'--Conan O'Brien

'Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my gosh....I could be eating a slow learner.'--Lynda Montgomery

'I think that's how Chicago got started. Bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.''--Richard Jeni

'If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.'--Johnny Carson

'Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography.' --Paul Rodriguez

'My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law.' --Jerry Seinfeld

'Remember in elementary school, you were told that in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic in that? What, do tall people burn slower?'--Warren Hutcherson

'Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same.' --Oscar Wilde

'Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.' --Mark Twain

'Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least they can find Afghanistan '--A. Whitney Brown

'You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My gosh, you're right! I never would've thought of that!''--Dave Barry

Do you know why they call it 'PMS'? Because 'Mad Cow Disease' was taken. -- Unknown, presumed deceased

'Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer.' --W. C. Fields

And lastly: Why in the heck should I have to 'Press 1 for English?' --Every American

Vanity Plates

I spotted the following vanity plates (which is harder than it sounds, since Nevada doesn't require a front plate!) just on my Wednesday driving;

LUVELZA
LDAVID
RTROPONY (on a Mustang)
LV MADE
2 TABOO
PEATS
DANAS
TUITION
619BOLT
K KOOKA
DLX8018
DLX9019 (These two from Deluxe Taxicabs)
THE TAP
CHARGIT
NDNPRNS (I've been working this for more than a year and don't know what it means!)
WESTNOT
BREEZY7
VINNJO
LV RMJK
P8NTGAL
JA IZZY
RYLFLSH
SKI PRO
SDA
RBURNET
JSA
WRTHDW8
J MAILI
CAMIL01
07DIANA
EIDAN
SCSELLS
JUSTIN
IMJAZZD
MTRAVIS
HAPEGRL
ONREGRL (broken down on the freeway - I'd be ornery, too!)
DANONE
OAKDALE
VEGAS Z
LUCK3
ZENAIDA
4 D 4T
BLK MAN (and he was!)
TRPNTME
SSHILVR
DRMATIC (not a doctor)
...and my personal favorite...
HOTPCKT

Some of these were easy to figure out. Others were obviously names. And some just make no sense at all to my frazzled brain!

Seattle Feet

These are the feet of the people who went to dinner in Seattle:

Dean & Louise

Aaron, Shawn & Mike (the three sons)

Patty (Aaron's wife)

Seattle

So, Mike flew to Seattle for 24 hours to have dinner with his parents, his brothers, and a sister-in-law in honor of the parents 50th wedding anniversary. The kids and I, and the other kids in the family didn't make the trip.

As you know, when I go to a really nice dinner, I like to take food pictures. Mike, with a willing spirit, took along my camera and tried to use it successfully. He did alright.

This is the 'food only' post. The rest of the trip will be a seperate post.

The bread came with hazelnut oil instead of butter. Very Northwest!Mike's appetizer: crusted goat cheese.

The fork is an "action shot" compliments of his brother.The crab cakes were good.

As was the lobster...

and apparently, the steak, too.

Dessert was a Lunar Orbitor and cheesecake.

Lunch on Sunday was at The Crab Pot on Pier 57.

It must have been good. All that was left was potatoes and empty shells.

He said by the time he remembered to take pictures, the food was already gone.