Dairy Scientist

Back from vacation conclusions:

1. Ate way too much food

2. Eric: "Wisconsin is like Pennsylvania with larger farms."

3. Visiting family is exhausting

4. University of Wisconsin-Madison has an entire building for Geological Science...

5. Chiggers suck

6. New baby cousins make the world go round

7. Poking around in county courthouses for family records is very educational

8. Listening to my grandpa tell stories about what we found... much more hilarious and informative

9. People should talk to their grandparents more

10. Eric is changing his major to dairy science. Blast you delectable, 140 calories a bite, squeakably fresh cheesecurds!

11. It was really bright this day apparently.

Found...

I was cleaning off my memory card last night and look what I found... our short, short life in Florida together when I would go down to visit Eric. Our last weekend there, when we knew he was moving back to Utah, we figured we might as well squeak in the Everglades. It was a fabulous day. Probably my favorite of all my visits. We found this massive roadside produce stand called, "ROBERT IS HERE." Boiled peanuts, fresh cut pineapple to order, fruit you'd never heard of, avocados the size of my foot, and a fresh honey tasting station with over 20 different flavors. It was the best regional produce stand I have seen outside of PA. Next, we went to the park and were literally less than five feet away from dinosaurs that could have eaten us whole. They were huge!, nuff said.



So, as we are driving away, a few miles down the road there is this crappy sign that says, "Now that you've seen the gators, COME EAT THEM!" I made Eric turn around and this is what we did:


I wish you could have met the guy that made it for us. The place was actually closing, but he said we looked like good touristy people that deserved his special Gator Basket. As he was frying it up he told us how he moved his family out of the Bronx to Florida so his kids would stay out of trouble and get a better education. I wish I had recorded the conversation because it was all in a luscious, thick, NY accent with tales of being shot at, drugs and jailtime, with an endearing Florida ending filled with loud grandkids and a Gator Basket with special sauce.



And yes, it does taste like chicken.

Another Craigslist find...

Speaking of furniture shopping on Craigslist... have any of you viewed something you previously owned that someone else is now selling? How about the couch you and your spouse made... from particle board and the old cushions of a free sofa? This is actually the second time I've seen this. Haha, they dropped the price.

Craigslist & Roller Derby Girl Boyfriend

I was gchatting with my friend Bri the other day about Craigslist. She is currently living with her hubster and new peanut for the summer in Chicago and has a really great summer project: Rental Redesign. (Apartment makeover on a $200 budget) You should take a peak at her blog. It involves a lot of Craigslist perusing, deal finding and well, redesigning. I have also been stalking the local online ads getting ready for our latest move to a pet friendly place only a few blocks away. So, instead of discussing the finer points of Craigslist we found ourselves lamenting the apparent lack of common sense some exhibit whilst posting something on the internet. She had found one that read, "Selling Cheap Stuff... won't last long!" While looking for that really great find there's a lot of weeding out that takes place. Weeding is mostly monotonous but at other times richly rewarding when you encounter an ad like this one: (treat yourself with the time to read it)


If vintage skates are your fancy click here.

Better Marriage Blanket...

Oh, my heaven. Look what I just found. I love how it is marketed to married folk... "You may be stuck with your spouse for life, but you don't have to be to their gas!"

Check out the selling points:

Completely & Quickly Absorbs The Odor Of Flatulence

* A real solution to a very real problem
* Contains the same type of fabric used by the military to protect against chemical weapons
* Even works on top of bed sheets
* Makes a great wedding or anniversary gift too


BWHA! I can just hear the announcer, "Didn't know your were marrying a weapon of mass destruction?" Or can you imagine giving it as a gift? A nice dinner including "Lovey, lets experience the fresh air... we owe it to our marriage of ___ years," glasses tinkling in a toast.

Enjoy the five dollars off coupon!

Taking lunch to work...

Yes, we are living back in Utah. Well, I never left and Eric is back and no, we are not sad we are no longer going to be living in Boynton Beach. More on that later.

Today I am going to share with you a getting ready for the day conversation with EMP.

EMP: What times are you going to be home today in case someone wants the couch?

Me: 11-2 and after 4:30.

EMP: (yelling as he walks to the kitchen and thinking about lunch...) I'm taking the pasties in to work!

I choked on my milk. Anyone who is from Wisconsin/Michigan knows what a pasty is. The wives of Cornish miners would make these hand held meat/potato/carrot pies for lunch. These tasty little morsels are so good William Shakespeare even wrote about them. In short, I'm from WI and was missing me some pasty from the Dodgeville Bakery. So, I made them for dinner last night:



The punchline translated:



Yet another save by Urban Dictionary and smile brought to you by EMP.

Pansy Parks

It was "chilly" in Florida when I went to visit this last weekend. I have to refrain from using the word "cold" because I still live in Utah and this would be blasphemous and strange and well rather pansy of me. Eric says it all the time... he's a true Floridian. Lessons learned from this last trip:
1. Flying Delta out of Ft Lauderdale on a "very high volume" holiday like President's Day means you should get to the airport two and a half hours before your flight leaves... even if all you have to do is get your boarding pass
2. Don't underestimate public transportation... my airport shuttle, Tri-Rail train, and Boca Raton shuttle was only 30 minutes slower than driving in awful I-95 traffic. I'd take an extra thirty minutes reading on a train than having to be on that road from more than an hour during the day. Much less stress and cost less then the gas to drive.
3. Even this time of year condensation forms on the INSIDE of our windows overnight.
4. Watching well seasoned athletes put their dreams and hours of hard work on the line for tenths of a second/point while eating a bag of Utz sour cream and onion potato chips is a fabulous way to wait out late afternoon thunderstorm.
5. Delray Beach has a garlic festival...
6.