I Am Not On Strike

So this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down and I'd like to take a minute just sit right there and I'll tell you how our jeep went into disrepair.

This is my story:

Twas one o'clock in the morning, when all through the house,

not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

I was out, hanging with friends,

while Husband at home laid down for bed,

When out on the road, there rose such a clatter,

He sprung from his bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the windows he flew like a flash,

tore open the door to see a great crash!
(too early for Christmas?)

Our Jeep did not fair well. Now, I'm not sure exactly what happened- but this is my Van Gogh rendering of what went down:

Now, you would think since they were on the other side of the road and just suddenly turned to hit our car that they were drunk- but they weren't. I have many other theories as to what was going on when this happened, but they would be inappropriate to mention on this blog. Wink. Wink. (wow, I have not said that since middle school- shout out to St.Eds!)

They even left behind this pretty souvenir for us...

Of course, after seeing the damage, I needed a rental car and while I was PROMISED a mid-size SUV, I got stuck with an actual car.

Ahhhhhhhh..... me in an actual car? It was almost unbearable to think of. But I trudged on and took advantage of the power windows like they were going out of style. Sure, it's October (now November), but I only had a limited amount of time to soak up my chance at blasting loud music while the wind blew through my hair. That is, until we received some news..... our Jeep was unfixable.

UNFIXABLE!

But more on that later, as many more things were going down during the two weeks I was cruisin' in the borrowed bumper car. 

The time had finally come for the First-Ever Field Ops Potluck Lunch. It was intense as my department had been ragging on me for a month now about my seemingly non-existent cooking skills (self proclaimed of course, but constantly reminded of by my coworkers). Needless to say, I knew I would have to bring out the big guns- which means only one thing to me- Sausage Wontons.

Because my fellow field ops people were convinced I was actually going to show up with a bag of pizza rolls (which they would of probably scarfed down anyway), I was forced to document my entire cooking process should they question if I actually cooked them myself or not.

Now I don't want to say that I completely broke my reputation for being undomesticated.... Ma would be so proud. But I definitely made some strong strides in the right direction. Let's just say, if you want to impress someone, cook these bad boys.

Sausage Wontons

1 pkg dry Ranch dressing
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese @ room temperature
8 oz. sharp shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb. Hot sausage, cooked and drained (like cooking ground hamburger)
1 pkg of Nasoya Wonton wrappers (found in the produce department)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the Ranch dressing, sour cream & cream cheese with a mixer. Fold in the cheddar cheese and sausage.

Put a wonton wrapper in mini muffin tin. Fill with the mixture above. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until heated and the wonton wrappers are golden brown at the tips.

Make approximately 55 wontons.

Note: I think there are only about 48 wrappers in the package

Cutest picture ever of Melissakurrs Bettsie at the Potluck!

Dang.... this blogging thing is hard- I am worn out.

MUST.
KEEP.
GOING.
OR PEOPLE WILL WRITE ME MEAN EMAILS.

Okay, what is next?

Work has been busy:

Picture to deceive you in thinking I have been really busy
at work and thus not blogging, but really I just like this picture. 

Which I have been balancing out with my mad Trivia obsession, Veronica Mars, and Reading:

TRIVIA!

  

Linchpin for work pleasure, Dashwood Sisters for my sister (finally!),
and God's Debris to bring me back to High School (Dusty Smith)

Veronica Mars- only 3 seasons but I loved every minute of it.
And I won't rest until I find an emerald green leather jacket of my own.

I am so tired. But if I don't finish this blog post soon, I may never finish it. 

Oooooo I almost forgot. Betts' mother hosted a bunch of us work people over at her house one day for the Betts' Bestt Korean Lunch! 

It was soooooooo tasty. I mean, REALLY tasty. This is her second time doing it- and to quote Melissakurrs from the last time we did it "My Mom cooked everything white people like." And she was right because I am white and I liked it. A lot. If you can't tell- I am sucking up so that maybe she will one day host another one.

One of the most monumental things we did recently was host four people from the Clarksville Crew in our tiny apartment so we could all make our way into the big D.C. to experience the once-in-a-lifetime Colbert/Stewart Rally on the Mall!

Jon Michael, Ashton, Charles, and Will all made the trip up. And while we were expecting HUGE numbers- we weren't exactly prepared for the entire metro system being so backed up that we would have to wait in line for hours if we ever wanted a spot. Luckily! though we ran into one of our friends (and later a lot more- I don't know that many people and I think I saw everyone I knew outside of work that day) and she was taking the bus. We were one of the lucky few who caught on to this public transportation thing called buses and were able to get in line before it became the crazy popular thing to do.

So how did we pass the time while we waited? Starbucks and Will teaching me the history of Starbucks. Videotaping the wait on JM's camera, and generally watching Charles make funny faces anytime a camera came within snapping distance. 

The crowds were HUGE... so crowd weaving was a must. I consider myself quit the crowd weaver (Dancing in the District days were good practice) but Charles was the only one who made it behind enemy lines with me. There was one point when everyone around us stopped to watch a guy trying to climb a tree- people were climbing trees, sitting on top of porter potties and stop lights just to get a better view- and we took it as our chance to do some mad-dashes through the crowd.

Needless to say, it ended up being me, Charles, and two cell phones with no service. 

I had fun either way. Charles' height advantage allowed him to read every sign in the crowd- and boy did people have signs. Some people (who obviously didn't get the point of the rally) had serious signs, and other people (who obviously did get the point of the rally) had some of the funniest and most outrageous stuff. That, paired with it being Halloween weekend (costumes encouraged) made for a very interesting outing. 

Thanks for getting us out of the house Clarksville Crew!!

To round out this blog post- I went out with friends last weekend and wake up on the last day I have our rental car and Kara says the following fatal words:

"What happened to your car?" - Kara

"Ha. Ha. That's not funny Kara. Don't even joke about that." -Me

"No- I'm not kidding, right there in your grille." - Kara

Only me. Only me.

Of course, on the way to drop Husband off at the airport so he could drive back our new vehicle from Tennessee, a concrete construction rod or whatever it is, flew into my car. I, of course, just assumed I had run over something on the road at the time it happened and had no idea that really another vehicle had kicked up what could of been a potentially horrible situation had it been an inch higher and into my windshield. 

Kudos to the Rental Car guy at Enterprise- who was possibly the nicest guy ever about it. Then again, we shall see just how nice I think they are after I receive the bill. 

But in better news, Husband went and picked up my gangsta! new vehicle in Tennessee and drove it allllllll the way back up here. Dr. PaPa and Husband's dad FIL (or Sam) got us a great deal on the vehicle and really took care of us... so happy!

I would of taken some better pictures, but it gets so dark so early now, I haven't had a good chance to yet. And so begins the fall back daylight-savings depression I go through every year. 

I intended for that to be my last tid-bit of information, but I've been missing Witty so much lately I decided I really need some Mexican food (!!) and a funny movie to help me out. Husband and I got to the theater a little early after grabbing some grub, and our Margarita-induced confidence led us to believe we could be triumphant at one of the biggest money-making scams known to kids everywhere: The Claw Machine. 

But it was no match for ANIBSHO and Husband! Because we dominated:

Count them- not one, but two! wierdly shaped dinosaur things... It was all about the journey, not the prize. 

The best part was that as we were walking out of the theater after the movie, the cutest little seven year old  girl was all googly-eyed over the stuffed animals in the machine and mumbling under her breath as she pointed at them through the glass, "look how cute they are... they're so cute."

And in come Husband and I handing one out to her as she turns around to look at her mother- "You want one?"

Now, I love kids. And I have seen some pretty cute kid moments in my lifetime (after all, my little sister Jessie was basically the cutest little kid ever)- but the bug-eyed look this girl gave us made me feel like a guardian angel or like I was in a scene from a movie like Miracle on 34th Street. She just stood there staring at us in silence with the most adorable wide-eyed look of disbelief ever. 

We repeated our offer- "Would you like one? I have two."

"Really?"

"MmmHmmm. Really."

Shakes head yes. 

"It's all yours." We hand it off to her and start to walk away. 

"THANK YOU!" She jumps up and down waving it in the air as we smile and walk out the theater doors. "THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!"

Life is good.