July 2010 Archive

21Jul
3

Teen Mom

I <3 this show and am totally stoked it’s back for a second season.

One thing I don’t understand: why are we still watching Catelynn? OK yeah she’s a mom without a baby, and that’s pretty rough. But it’s not what I signed up to see when I put on the show. I want to see train wrecks. And that’s what I see when I watch Amber or Farrah. Maci has it relatively together and it’s comforting to see that pulling it together against the odds is possible. But mostly, the train wreck scenarios is what keeps me coming back.

And children: use some birth control. As they say on commercial breaks, “pregnancy is 100% preventable“

Posted by Caro in Discoveries, TV
21Jul
0

Cramps

I have horrendous cramps.

Not that kind.

These cramps are in my feet. Mostly the bad foot, but also occasionally the “good” one. What’s going on here? Seriously I’ve had 15 spasms in the last hour. My toes are curling all over themselves. They’re also splitting into some really funky shapes. The muscle or tendons or whatever tightened as much as it could, tightened some more, and won’t let go. It’s like a crocodile clamping down on a victim. No bueno.

Posted by Caro in Health
21Jul
0

Reality Succumbing to Non-Reality

I love Top Chef. I get that you don’t get to actually taste the food, but it’s fun to watch and see who has the seemingly best food. I actually went to Harold‘s restaurant (season 1 winner) and plan to go to several more. But I am having trouble getting into the current season.

The people aren’t that interesting, and they seem to be producing mediocre food. I feel that as a way to “spice” things up the show’s producers are focusing on the so-called drama between the chefs. It’s like this thing between Angelo and Kenny is 100% made up. (Today for example the challenge is to pick off one of the competitors, and these two just so happen to be on opposite teams. Gee.)

It all just seems so contrived this season, which makes it less enjoyable. I really like watching them cook and get feedback. That’s interesting enough. If I want to watch stupid drama I’ll put on Real Housewives or something. Take the bs out of my show and let’s go back to some great cooking!

Posted by Caro in Food, Rants and raves, TV
20Jul
3

Guns

My great uncle grew up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere in the 20s. Obviously the man owned guns; it’s just a way of life where he’s from.

After he died my parents started going through the house. They secured several firearms. One story that still makes me laugh:

Mom: “We found this revolver with no serial number, not registered. I didn’t know what to do with it. I mean it’s a gun. I certainly don’t want it.
Me: “So what did you do with it?”
Mom: “Well David (family friend) was there. I looked at him and said ‘David, do you want a gun?”
Me: “You gave him a gun?!?!”
Mom: “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
Me: “Um. A lot of things. Does he have a gun permit? The gun isn’t registered. I’m pretty sure that’s not legal.”
Mom: “Well he has other guns. I figured I don’t want this near me. Should I have done something else?”

Gotta love my mother. (For the record she made him bring it back and is going to get it registered.)

So then several weeks later they’ve completed round 1 of the house cleaning. Secured all 8 of the firearms. This had my mom really nervous: “Caro, what do I do with these? I mean, I need to dispose of them somehow, but I’m not driving them somewhere. Taking them in my car. Where would I even take them? The police station? Just throw them on a table and say ‘Here officers. I don’t want these.’”

But then they found my uncle’s homeowner’s policy. The one that had the itemized list of firearms. 10 firearms. As previously mentioned, various family members had only located 8. So there’s 2 weapons unaccounted for somewhere in the house. Um…..that could be a problem. Know what else could be a problem? 7 of the secured guns were loaded. 2 of them fully loaded.

So basically there’s 2 guns MIA in the house. Possibly loaded. How does one lose 2 guns? Especially when one of them is a .22 caliber rifle with a scope.

Happy hunting to us. Literally!

Posted by Caro in Family, Fears, Things to do
13Jul
0

Austin in Pictures

Here’s some more pictures from my Austin trip last month. FINALLY got my computer up and working again :)

Posted by Caro in Sports, Travel and tagged with
13Jul
0

Running Log

Mostly to self-motivate, but also to get others into it, I’ve started a new page on this blog to track my progress at the c25k. I did workout #4 last night and am feeling pretty good today.

Anyone looking for a great starter program, this is for you.

Anyone looking to kick my ass into shape, monitor my progress and let me have it if I’m slacking!!

Posted by Caro in Blogging, Health, Sports, Things to do
08Jul
0

C25K

When it comes to some things in life, I need a little motivation to get started. Like working out. I mean I love the idea of being in shape, looking good, feeling good, and being able to do fun outdoorsy activities without getting winded. But do I like going to the gym? NO! Are you crazy?

Over the past few months I was blessed to have a friend who felt the same way. Coincidentally, he lives a mile away from me. So a couple of times a week we go get pumped at the gym. It’s awesome. Sometimes you just need that little bit of motivation (a person coming over) to get you started. And I know once I’m started, it’s all good. Get me TO the gym and I will workout.

But then summer came. My gym buddy works for a school, so his lucky ass gets summers off. So he surfs all the time, and doesn’t have the time or desire to come to my janky apartment gym.

What have I been doing since summer vacay started? Well, lots of things. But sadly, not one of them has been “gym time”.

Then I saw some tweets from @itsKrust about C25K. What is that? So I google it, and it’s pretty awesome.

Basically it’s a running program designed for the person who is 100% completely out of shape and is literally starting at 0. Hence the name “Couch to 5K”

3 workouts per week for 9 weeks and you’ll be off your couch running about a 10min mile pace for 30 minutes. This is my cup of tea. I did the week 1 workout 1 yesterday and found it quite easy. So I mixed it up a bit. Added a 1.5 incline and sped up the walking portions. Also ran the last 5 min. Not too bad. I think I’ll skip ahead to week 2 next time.

The only potential setback I might have is that my current workout schedule is 2 days a week. This means I’m going to have to actually get off my couch on Saturday or Sunday to do the 3rd one each week. J said he would do it with me on Saturday. For him, this really is couch to 5K.

Wish us luck!!

Posted by Caro in Discoveries, Health, Life, Sports, Things to do
08Jul
0

Noise

I got a noise complaint last night. For “walking too loudly”

Can I just start by saying that 1. I never wear shoes in my house and 2. There are 12 inches of concrete separating me from my neighbors below. And to top it off, I was sitting on the couch and the boyfriend was sitting at the computer. WTF?

This isn’t our first noise complaint. The same people complained for the same reason a few months ago. Too bad we were out of town that weekend!!!! We actually freaked out that time – did someone break into our apartment and take all our shit? Nope, just a crazy lady downstairs!

So this morning I stopped in the leasing office and asked about last night’s complaint. Is this going in my file? Because I don’t think I did anything wrong.

Turns out the lady below me just is a crotchety crazy lady. The best part: this complaint isn’t going in my file – it’s going in hers!

Posted by Caro in Life, weird
08Jul
0

Common Decency

Discovered this gem in the ladies room over the weekend:


Posted by Caro in Funny Signs
08Jul
1

Movie Reviews: Eclipse

I should start by saying that I was dragged to this movie on opening night. Thankfully opening night was a Wednesday, so the theater wasn’t as mobbed as it could have been. This was really my saving grace.

Before I comment on the movie, I must comment on the things that happened before the movie. I saw Eclipse with my mom and sister. My dad felt left out, so he took my niece to see Toy Story 3, which was playing at the same time. However, we had to arrive at the theater over an hour early so we could brave the line of angst-ridden tweens who are obsessed with one or the other of the main characters in the Twilight Saga. This is a summary of the stuff I saw/encountered:

  • Someone asked if the 4 year old would be coming into the movie. No we are not taking a 4 year old into a PG-13 movie she’s not old enough to understand and will easily be bored by. She actually said to me “Oh I thought she might be a Twilight fan”. Are you kidding? She’s 4. YOU ARE CRAZY and shouldn’t be allowed to have children
  • The theater had set up chairs for us to use while we waited in line for the theater to open. Seated next to us was a group of 4 maybe 13-year-olds. (I say maybe because kids are looking younger and younger to me, and yes that DOES make me an old lady.) They all have on these bracelets, the rubber kind that were made popular a few years ago by the LiveStrong Foundation. Except these bracelets said “I <3 Justin Bieber” … I tried to covertly take a picture but the chick closest to me kept moving her arm.
  • When we got into the theater I realized I was sitting next to the only grown man at this showing. Was he there with his teenaged daughter? Nope. He was there with his same-age girlfriend.
  • The remainder of the theater had an average age of about 15 (my mom, sister, and I raised the average significantly). There was an occasional teen guy, obviously dragged there by his girlfriend. Some tried to cover their faces, others embraced this as a challenge. It was entertaining. Especially the dude in the Edward shirt LOL
  • Before the movie started, a woman came into the theater to sell Twilight t-shirts. OMG they’re selling t-shirts here? It’s like a concert. Only not. I think the most entertaining part of this is that people were screaming with excitement about this prospect, but not a single person purchased a shirt. I guess they should have asked their parents for more money!

sorry so grainy!

  • The movie started and I swear I lost some of my hearing when Jacob first came on the screen, shirtless of course. I’ve never heard girls shriek at such a decibel before. It’s mind blowing.

Anyway that’s all of my observations. I was expecting the shrieking, I was expecting the tweens, but the other stuff was just icing on the cake. Now onto the movie:

It was good! I could have waited to see it a week or two, but I definitely enjoyed it. The acting was significantly better this time, although Kristin Stewart is terrible regardless. The special effects were also pretty awesome. The plot is the one thing that bothered me (well besides the fact that the whole thing has blatant Mormon overtones and the fact that the main female character is so unbelievably weak. But those were just a given). I mean, you could remove this entire movie/book and nothing would change in the saga. We’re still left where we were at the end of New Moon – Bella and Edward are going to get married, Jacob is in love with Bella.

Regardless of the negatives, it was still well worth my (sister’s) $11. Very entertaining – 4 stars.

Posted by Caro in Fears, Movies, Rants and raves
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