Here’s a meme Amy tagged me for so here goes:

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Worked at a park where I either cooked, ran the water slide, ran the mini-golf course, or ran the pool hall.
2. Grant accountant at Portland Public Schools
3. Financial controller at Cabletron/Enterasys
4. Worked at a local florist, doing everything imaginable

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Vanilla Sky (even though I'm scared of Tom Cruise now)
2. Grease
3. The Big Chill
4. Flatliners

Four places I’ve lived:
1. Livermore, Maine
2. Portland, Maine
3. Freeport, Maine
4. Wolfeboro, NH

Four TV shows I love:
1. Survivor
2. 24
3. Nascar Nation
4. any cooking show, anytime

Four places I’ve vacationed:
1. Cancun
2. San Francisco
3. Nevada/Arizona/New Mexico (all in one vacation)
4. Mayan Riviera

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Macaroni and Cheese
2. a good hamburger
3. enchiladas or anything mexican
4. porterhouse steak

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Redsoxbatgirl
2. Since11
3. NASCAR
4. PostSecret

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Warm Mexico
2. Warm Arizona
3. Warm New Mexico
4. In a studio, lampworking

I'm not going to tag anyone for this, you can thank me later! ;)

Recipe of the week

Southwestern Chicken Chili with Lime Crema

This was from my new Santa Fe cookbook. It was pretty good, nice and warming.

Found my bliss. It took me 41 years to get here, but that's how life is sometimes. It takes you a while to shape and mold yourself into 'you'. I'm SO not the same person I was 20 years ago. Hell, I'm not the same person I was 5 years ago.

Lampworking was a Zen experience. I'm going to brag and say that the instructor said I caught on faster than the majority of her students. I'm not naive though, I know my first bead children aren't 'eye candy', but I know I can take it to the next level and make beads that'll make you go 'oooh'. ;)

I have a shed that I'm going to convert into a studio. Hey Mom, can you come here and help me out?? I'm hoping I'll have it up and ready by spring. It sucks to be in love with something that you can't just do every day.

________________________________________________________________

I want to say 'hi' to my family. Mom, I know you're going through some of the hardest times, and I want you to know that I love you and you have my shoulder anytime.

Silas, I'm so proud of you. You're getting good grades, you're playing basketball, you have a great job. I'm impressed by your determination. I love you.

Rhiannon, I know you never read my blog, but I love you, even though you can be a big pain in the ass, you're really doing so well in school and life, it blows my mind! (I love Bex too.)

Amy, I know life sucks for you right now, and your ex is a hypocritical dick. You know you have your big sister though. You do some really good things, don't forget about that. I love you.

J & Jen, I miss you terribly, you are in my thoughts so often. You guys have a wonderful family, hold on to that tight. I love you.

Ok, I'm done being all gushy, now I'm going to go love my husband.

I'm back from my first 4 hours of lampworking. Starting the torch was a bit scary, but I guess you get use to it. Another scary thing is sometimes the glass pops off a small chunk when you put it under the flame. It's amazing the way the glass gets soft and becomes something else, whatever you want it to be. The instructor was amazed at my bead shapes, so that's a good thing. They have been very uniform so far. I only made 4 tonight. Tomorrow I go to class for 8 hours! The sad thing is my beads will have to sit in the kiln overnight, so I won't have them for a few days because the class is an hour away.
Anyway, I'm thinking I love this.

I will post pictures of my beads when I get them all back.

Here's what I think is a better shot of last nights necklace. I am trying my telephoto lens. I need to learn how to take quality pictures...grrrr. 

Here's a set I made tonight. Carved cowbones and black onyx. I think they're cool :) 

Winter Wonderland. 

The snow was so beautiful this morning... 

Happy Birthday Hubster!!!!
Proof that things get better with age!

Toyota gets in the race!

CONCORD, N.C. -- Toyota announced its tentative plans for 2007 and beyond, and Michael Waltrip was doing most of the talking.
Speaking at the NASCAR Media Tour on Tuesday, Waltrip officially announced the formation of Michael Waltrip Racing, which will field two Nextel Cup cars in '07. *snipped from Nascar.com*

Countdown.

26 days 02 hours 08 mins . The first person to correctly guess what I'm counting down (be specific) is the winner!!

Recipe of the week

In honor of huster's BIG birthday coming up I'm making Pierogies. His Ukranian grandmother use to make them, and his sister makes them every year, but I'm trying my hand at it. They were a bit labor intensive and I'm not posting the recipe because I'm sure no one who reads me will want to make them.

Hubster will either be in Paris or NYC on his birthday (Wednesday, the 25th), so we're celebrating this weekend.

I've started making jewelry again. I love it. I love playing with the gemstones, and beads and all the little findings. Hey, maybe I can make a buck or two.

I am also making one of my secret longings a reality. I am 'in love' with lampwork beads. When I see them they make my heart sing. So...I am taking a class this month to learn how to make them. Can you see me with a torch? Here's a picture of what lampwork beads look like. They can be any color, any design, the sky's the limit. **swoon**

How's your Karma?

Perfect Karma You scored 91 Giving, 90 Respectful, and -2 Selfish!

Congratulations! You have it! You're are down to earth, responsible, tender, and spontaneous. You respect yourself, and therefore, can honestly respect those around you, the environment, and all other beings that inhabit the earth. You perform good deeds without even thinking. You realize you can always do more. You are continually replenishing your karma with better karma, and you are a shining example of One who lives simply, kindly and with beauty.

Link: The How's Your Karma Test written by Mookie1010 on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Recipe of the Week

I made this last night, as a side dish with a couple of nice sirloin steaks. It was very yum!

SPINACH-CHEDDAR CASSEROLE

4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
1 16-ounce container cottage cheese
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cup packed grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dillweed

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish. Beat eggs, salt and pepper to blend in large bowl. Mix in spinach. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Transfer mixture to prepared dish.
Bake casserole until center is firm and top is golden, about 45 minutes.
8 to 10 side-dish Servings.

Bon AppétitMarch 1995

EWWWWW

I was just looking at the traffic on my blog and at the different 'searches' people do to get here. There were a lot of searches done on "I am always right", but the one that made me shiver was "sucking auntie". I want to know who's doing a search on those two words at the same time. I take that back, I DON'T want to know!! *shudder*

Is it my imagination or are the NFL football player's pants getting shorter? You might as well call them shorts. College football turns me off because I can't stand seeing bare legs. Their socks are down around their ankles and it just looks unprofessional. I was observing the NFL and how there's a bit of skin showing now between the pants and the socks and thought, "they better not get messy looking like those College teams." Now, when you watch football this weekend, you're going to be noticing this, aren't you? ;)

You know what emotion I loathe? Guilt. WTF is up with guilt? For me, it's been one of the hardest things to deal with for my entire life. I can get over fear, sadness, jealousy, and anger pretty fast, but guilt? It clings to me like a kitten with needle claws. It sits on my heart.

Guilt is the result of an action or choice that 'maybe' you shouldn't have made. But you make the choice to do what you want to do because it feels right. So, for doing what makes you feel 'right', you get to feel 'guilt'.

I think I'm going to make an effort of conquering this emotion. I've lived too damn long.

Thanks, regularly scheduled blogging will be back soon.

A few things...

Update on the truck. Hubster got it 'unstuck' and did a bit of boasting about it....and then he proceeded to get it stuck at least TWICE. So, no one's perfect. (But don't forget, I am always right.)

The Patriots are closer to a threesome. Go Pats!!

Why do my snowboots eat my socks? Why do they want them so badly?

So, we got about 4 inches of snow yesterday. The bad thing is, it snowed over a nice pack of ice.
With Hubster gone to NYC this week I decided that I would plow last night. I got the truck nice and stuck. It won't do anything but spin on the ice. It's actually hung up against the apple tree right now, waiting for Hubster to come home and perform miracles.

I have found a way to blame him for this though. He plowed last, and then we had a melt and a freeze, so it's HIS fault it's icy under the snow.