Pip's Chick

2012-01-23T06:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I cried. I will always love JoePa no matter what.

2010-12-06T07:49:00.000-08:00

You know, if Giuliana Rancic would put on a few pounds, she probably wouldn't need fertility treatments. Just saying.

2010-11-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

Holy shit- March is the last time I was on here???? How time flies. So much has happened that there's no way I can catch up in one blog, so I won't do it at all. Just know that good things have happened and bad things, and neutral things, you know, probably much like your life too! I cancelled my internet @ home since I live out in the boonies where there's no such thing as high speed internet (dial up only, thank you very much!!!!) but I am looking into a wireless card. That will happen after I get a new computer. That will happen when.....when I feel like it. Can you sense the ennui?

Favorite mascara right now-Maybelline Falsies in black. Tried it on a whim and absolutely love it!!! Even better at lengthening than the Stiletto. I'm too cheap to by Lancome!!!

ME SO HUNGRY!!!!

2010-03-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

If there's one thing my family does well, it's eat. And eat. And eat. Mind you, not that healthy shit like boneless chicken breasts and steamed spinach, but chicken legs grilled and then smothered in a creamy cheesey sauce, and spinach fried in bacon fat, with a side of buttery pasta. Oh, my sister and her husband are vegetarians, so they probably have the healthiest diet of the 13 of us, but the rest? Let's just say my patriarchal grandmother was straight outta Czechoslovakia and made the absolute BEST homemade pierogies. The best. Plump mounds of perfect pasta pockets stuffed with mashed potatoes and shredded american cheese, boiled to perfection and smothered with thick cheese sauce and buttery fried onions. My father had her recipe tucked away, so a couple of years ago, my sister Donna (she of the veggie, not vegan, diet) and I started a "pierogie weekend". It was always scheduled when my husband would take a weekend to see the NHRA Drags at Maple Grov, which was usually September. It always follows a certain tradition-I arrive Friday night around 5, we eat our hoagies from Sunbury Sub Shop, then proceed to drink ourselves stupid and listen to LOUD ROCK MUSIC (usually AIC or Pearl Jam but this year I guarantee it will be KOL as we are both obsessed), fall asleep, get up Saturday, peel and boil potatoes, shred cheese, cut onions and start making the dough. It takes us about 4 hours to mix, knead, cut, stuff, and fold around 300 of those tasty things. Less if we have help. But the results, oh the results! Mrs. T's would only hope to be 1/10th the heaven of our pasta pillows. After we are done producing, we clean up the kitchen, grab our showers and relax with a bit of wine (I recommend Nissley's Naughty Marietta and so what if it's a red and we're eating pasta, worry about something else, OK? OK!) before the rest of our family settle in like locusts, to devour that goodness. I so look forward to it every year, and every year that weekend grows wings and flies away fast. It's nice to have a tradition that is yours, that you've invented (with help, of course) and that hopefully is enjoyed and remembered fondly by all.

Oh, and I'm really craving a Monte Cristo sandwich, and a Reuben, and hand cut french fries from the El Rancho. Looks like I'll bypass the Lean Cuisine for lunch and head out.

Of supposed good and bad

2010-03-15T05:56:00.000-07:00

Would you steal $5 from your workplace? How about $10? How about $300,000? That's what my husband's secretary did, got away with it for years by forgery and false audits. Well, karma is a bitch (she didn't believe in that, she was a "good christian") and it caught up to her by giving her 2 aneurisms-like a twofer! Once she was in the hospital, a fellow employee went into her computer to do payroll, and discovered the theft. It's the same old story, over and over-people steal and think they can get away with it, they constantly try to rationalize it in their own mind. After a while, the stress builds, they make mistakes, and get taken out by some small, seemingly insignificant entity. It's the fates way of saying "gotcha!".
www.wnep.com/wnep-numb-former-sewer-clerk-stole-thousands,0,2580598.story

PS Beware the Ides of March, but only if your name is Julius.

TPBs Best Show You've Probably Never Heard Of.

2010-01-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

I'm lucky enough to pay out the nose to DirecTV for crappy television and a signal I don't get when it rains. Ever see their commercial where the dude is extolling their virtues while in the midst of a hurricane? Look, it's blowing and dumping outside, but he STILL GETS DIRECTV!!! AMAZING!!!! Liars, they're all liars. We get fog and blip-there goes the Weather Channel. Well, if there is one thing about DirecTV that I absolute luuuvvvv, it's the "Trailer Park Boys" series. Whoever said Canada is boring and has no sense of humor obviously never saw this train wreck. The stories center around -from left-Ricky (should win awards for the most inventive profanity I've ever heard) Julian (sexy, with peircing blue eyes), and their moral compass Bubbles (Coke bottle glasses wearing kitty lover). Basically they're just a bunch of ex cons trying to make a living any way they can. And that usually involves questionable and illegal things. And they usually mess up. And Jim Lahey is usually drunk. And Ricky has got to stop his daughter Trinity from stealing grills and reselling them at the flea market. And does Julian ever put that drink down? And what exactly does a shitstorm look like anyway?

If you have DirecTV, check out channel 101 on Thursdays at 10 PM EST. Do not watch this in front of impressionable young children. Or future inlaws. Or your local religious leader.

new vs. nostalgia

2009-12-11T05:37:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, I know I should be running out to the local big box to buy new LED lights for my Christmas decorating, but somehow I can't bring myself to be bullied into going green. I LIKE the glow of the old fashioned, energy sucking bulbs. These newfangled things just have such a cold light to them. Now, before you chastise me for not doing my part for the planet, let me remind you that I recycle, consolidate all my shopping trips into one, turn off lights and the tv when I leave the room, don't let water run unnecessarily, use green bags at the grocery store, keep the thermostat at 67 in the winter and use fans instead of air conditioning in the summer. There's more, but you get the idea. What do I drive? I have no guilty feelings about driving a Jeep. I need 4 wheel drive, love Chrystler products, and maintain it so fuel is not wasted (e.g. proper tire inflation, tune-ups, I don't speed).
Back to the Christmas Lights- so until LEDs have that warm, cheery glow, I'll stick with my multi-colored C7's for my tree and twinkling mini-bulbs on my porch. It's only for a month anyway.
Happy Chanukah!!!!

Red, White and Blue

2009-11-11T07:19:00.000-08:00

Today is Veterans Day. If you don't know a vet, find someone who is and thank them.

41 and holding

2009-11-05T07:54:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow is my birthday-yay. Forty two, and still not half as smart as I want to be. I watch the news, read the blogs, discuss with my co workers the everyday line of life but still scratch my head when someone mentions political infighting or drops the names of obscure world leaders like they just had tea with them yesterday. Am I dumb? Will I never raise above this "lot" in life and truly understand government and politics? Does anyone else stare at the monitor, shrug their shoulders and turn away to tortillas and cheese whiz, just because it's easier? After watching the world news at 6:30 at night, you would think I would be more informed, but actually feel more confused. Dumber. It's like Geometry class; once you get to that point where you don't understand, you are fucked. Everything learned after that point becomes a jumbled mess of parallel and perpendicular lines (or a not very-well-planned Cartesian plane-ha! at least I know what that is! I definitely liked math more that Social Studies).

Guess I'll just turn off the boob tube, turn up the Rush (the band, NOT radio's Jabba the Hut) and drink some fine brews. No sense keeping brain cells if their not working.

It's been awhile....

2009-08-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

Really, if I'm going to have a damn blog, I'd better blog! My husband and I are heading to S. Carolina two weeks from today to see our son graduate from basic training. It's been a loooooong haul and a lonely one too, since he is our one and only, but the house stays cleaner, the wash pile is not so high, and the grocery bill nowhere near as expensive. There are positives, and I am getting better at focusing on them, but I still miss my buddy.
I'm also getting a digital camera, thanks to the guidance of my niece Shelby, so now I can (finally!) post some pictures. Don't expect anything too fancy, my style is utilitarian at best. My attempts to be creative usually end up looking WAY too pretentious, or you can tell I'm trying too hard to be different.
Tomorrow my bro ( pater a Shelby) will be up tomorrow and we are headed for the Old Forge Brewing Company in Danville for a scrumptious bite to eat over my lunch hour. No beer for me though, I'm back to work after having the last month off. And I must say, it feels good to be back. Nothing like a job you love.

I love you Nathan

2009-05-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased KOL's "Only By The Night " CD (I don't do downloads, does that make me a luddite?) and now have a brand new obsession; mainly Nathan Followill, the sloe-eyed beater of skins. Now, he is definitely not my type as I do not care for younger men thinner than myself, but THOSE EYES!!! Woooohooooo-they make me weak in the knees! But, I also have fallen in love with their music and will now have to school myself in all things Leon. My husband will tolerate this, maybe even welcome it as he is probably about ready to use my QOTSA and Tori Amos CDs as mini-frisbees. And he will try not to roll his eyes when I have played their songs for the 5th time in one day. And he will listen patiently as I explain where Caleb got the inspiration to write "Cold Desert" and pretend he cares. Because he loves me and all my many, many weird mannerisms.

Almost quitting time! And it's Friday! And it's Memorial Day weekend!
Please take a second to think of those who have given all for our country sometime over the next 3 days. It's not all about hot dogs and beer, you know.

Stress-it's a given.

2009-04-30T05:08:00.000-07:00

Between an ill mother, high job stress (this is always the worst time of the year), no weekends free for another month and a half, and an eighteen year old son who leaves for Army basic training on June 9th (not to mention the economy and the dreaded swine flu), it's enough to make a grown woman want to put some strong stuff in her morning coffee. But, on the other hand, I have alot to be thankful for-I just can't think of anything right now. My brain is in that constant state of GOGOGO but never in one direction. It veers off quite randomly and I find myself sitting at my desk, staring right through important papers and not seeing them at all. Not a good thing. But, soon it will all be over, and I will be as bored as hell. My son leaving is hitting me the most, but I haven't admitted it to anyone, except my husband. I mean, I'm not a blithering idiot about it,we've accepted his choice and we are extremely proud of him (he's got cojones, that boy) but when your child grows up and flies away, it's liberating and depressing at the same time. On the plus side, we will be taking more camping trips, 'cos he hated them.

I cracked open a Magic Hat # 9 this weekend, and underneath the cap it said "What exactly are you waiting for?" I guess I better figure that out, and fast!

Death of a Memory

2009-04-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

Harry Kalas, voice of the Phillies, passed away yesterday. When I hear his voice, it takes me back to my childhood neighbor Frank (rest his soul) who always had the Phillies game on, a More cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and a local paper in front of his face as he sat on his front porch swing. If he wasn't on his porch, you may have found him tooling around in his swiss cheese Fairmont, white with highlights of iron oxide. Again, game on the AM push button radio. His daughter and I were friends and more often than not, we could be found in the back seat, giggling at Frank's seemingly ending supply of goofy sayings and witticisms; he always had a smile on his face and a laugh at the ready.
Frank has already been missed, and now Harry will be missed as well.

A Song can make a Day

2009-04-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, I'm travelling to work, digging on the radio (as Charlie Daniels would put it) and feeling pretty much disgusted with the choices. I could choose from NPR (not in the mood), static, a "comedy" duo that laugh WAY too much at unfunny things, or Staind (no comment). I finally hit the last preset, and what do my ears gloriusly hear but "Born To Run". Now, I drive a Jeep and they're not known for their kickass systems, but boy, did I give it a workout. Unfortunately, there was no one in the parking lot at work to share the joy with (even if they didn't want to hear it), so I let the song finish to its thundering climax, turned off the stereo, and headed off to the job with a spring in my step.
I can't wait to see him in May.

2009-03-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

Traded the Leinenkugel for Magic Hat # 9. The beautiful weather this weekend was conducive to my decision. We are eagerly awaiting Spring as the winter, though not terribly snowy, was terribly frigid. See me in August when it's 95 and 90% humidity. I'll be looking forward to Winter by then. Always on to the next thing.

Some things will never change
You just stand there looking backwards half unconsious from the pain

It's a new thang

2009-03-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Jeez, never thought I'd do this blogging thing, but I guess there is a time and place for just about everything.
My neice from Allentown will be up tomorrow, so tonight will be spent redding up the house and going to the beer store (no, I'm not in Canada) for some fine brew. Leinenkugel perhaps? Visit her blog at godshomemovies.blogspot.com