Pure Bliss

The heat continues, no break in the forecast either.

Here is how we are getting by

Bliss. That is all. 

Pianos Make Me Swoon

Howdy bloggers.....

So last night I was driving home from work jammin to the radio per the usu when I heard an advertisement for free Gavin DeGraw concert that started in 30 minutes!!

I thought to myself for a second, man wouldn't it be nice to be one of those spontaneous people who can just up and decide to go out last minute and find a gaggle of friends to go with?? Pause as I ponder this. Then realization. I CAN be one of those people. Okay, not regularly because it's exhausting. But for one night I decided that I would not mope around the house after work on this Friday night until my 9:00pm bedtime. Instead, I dialed my three most favorite people in the KC Metro and found an accomplice. So off we went, spur of the moment like, to Power and Light.

There are several reasons why I don't make a habit of frequenting Power and Light and I was reminded of all of them last night. The list mostly includes drunk girls in four inch heels and dresses so short that I'm pretty sure if they bent over you'd see their lady parts. Maybe that's what they were aiming for. Add that to lots of cigarette smoke and awkward middle aged drunk men and you have my worst nightmare.

But last night was different. I didn't mind the smoke as much, laughed at the sorry drunk guy and felt pity instead of intimidation for those heels. Overall it was a great time. Great company, great people watching and great music.

Behold. 

I love free fun. 

PS. Any man that can play a musical instrument makes my heart skip a beat. Especially a piano. Something about watching a man pound those ivory keys makes me swoon. Or maybe its less about the man and more about the piano. Note to self, get back on the "reteach myself  to play the piano" bandwagon. 

Anyways, I'll leave you with something lovely. A warm fuzzy of sorts that I got in the mail today from someone I love very much. 

"Oh, that i could shrink the surface of the world,

so that suddenly i might find you standing

at my side."

(wang chien)

I heart quotable cards. 

Oh Greggles, You're so Handy

I have the best Handy Man. Ever. Jealous, I know.

I'm not kidding you, he can fix anything, build anything and make anything look new and shiny. Every time I call him he comes over for one thing and then ends up doing ten other little fix it projects that I've put off around the house because I don't know what to do.

The only thing he doesn't do is build fences :( Darn it Greg.

Behold my shiny bathroom that he gutted and made new for me last year :)

And a year later when I had a problem with one of the tiles he was over in a jiffy taking care of it, no charge. I asked him if he was interested in living next door, or perhaps renting the room in the basement. For reals.

He also put dreamy crown moulding and closet doors in my house. Love.

But today is your lucky day because I'm going to share him with you! Get your pen and write this down:

Greg Clayton
House Calls Home Improvement
913.709.9736

Basements, bathrooms, kitchens, you name it, he does it. Except fences. Sad face again.

Glorious Zucchini

I love baking. It's so much easier to bake then to cook real food. If I had it my way I'd eat baked goods for every meal. Unfortunately my metabolism can't keep up with my sweet tooth. So when Kaylene pawned off a few zucchini on me, (who doesn't like zucchini??) I decided to transform it into "healthy sweets" that won't leave me feeling guilty.

Behold. Glorious Zucchini Bread in perfectly shaped loaves. 

It tastes like cake people. Cake chock full of vegetable healthiness. 

And Zucchini brownies!! Even chocolate can be healthy :) Who would have though a lanky green veggie could be so delectable?

Recipes as follows:

Zucchini Bread

2 eggs                                                  1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup vegetable oil                               1 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar                                        1 tsp. cinnamon

2 cups grated zucchini                         nuts and raisins if you like

3 cups flour                                          1 tsp. vanilla

Beat eggs until light and frothy.  Add oil, sugar, squash and vanilla.  Mix well and add the dry ingredients, nuts, and raisins.    Don't over mix.  Pour into 2 large loaf pans and bake at 350 for  about 1 hour or until done.  Bake time depends on size of pan.      

Zucchini Brownies: (courtesy of Elaine Weber)

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup oil

2 cup sugar

2 cup flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

3 cup shredded zucchini

1 cup chopped nuts, walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine eggs, oil and sugar.  In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, cinnamon, salt and cocoa.  Slowly add flour mixture to sugar mixture.  Finally, add vanilla , zucchini and nuts to batter.  After mixing thoroughly, spread onto a 15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan or large sheet cake pan.  Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until center is set.

                  

Fresh Air

Cliques. They're everywhere. It seems as of late, however, that they are particularly thick at work these days. It makes it difficult to penetrate the social network for an outsider like myself. I'm not even sure I want to penetrate.

Today, though, something glorious happened. Fresh air. I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with two seperate but wonderful people. Being with people like that allows me to take a breath of fresh air and remember that there are those that I can call my friends. No pretending, no holding back required. For these people I am grateful.

Of course on my way home from middle of nowhere country land I spotted these babies on the side of the road screaming for a rescue.

Okay, they were eating plastic and ran away from me at first but I lured them into my car with dog food. Within an hour their family was picking them up giving some lame excuse on how they got out and how it happens all the time. Don't they know this is unacceptable? Just because you live in the country does not mean you can just let you dogs run down the middle of the road. That's a soap box for another day. Another day, another life saved. Remember, paws can't dial.

Happy 4th of July

Crazy that it's that time of year again. The summer/year/life is flying by. Fall and thus my 25th birthday just a mere three months away. Insanity. Well here's what we did today. It wasn't anything special but it was lovely and filled with my favorite black doggies. And we did it all because so many of you and your loved ones have fought and died for this country.We are grateful today and everyday.  Enjoy my montage.

 Behold Scoutie fetching a ball at the dog beach. What a nice boy. 

Euns is more of a wader. I tried to tell her it would feel good on her arthritic hippies but alas she stayed shallow end. 

And this handsome man is Chowder the neighbor dog whom we are sitting for the day. I've never seen a dog more obsessed with water. Ever. He doesn't get out much. 

Happy Day. Makes me lonesome for my mother. I remember many a 4th of July with her. Sparklers. Fireworks from the roof of her car. Getting lost in corporate woods parking lot after one particular show. No fireworks for us tonight. Doggies don't like them and work calls me in the morning. Love you mom, love you America. Goodnight. 

"I Dream of Chicago"

Welp I've taken an unintentional hiatus from the blogging world. What have I been doing you ask? Well I wish I could say I've been traveling the world, soaking up the sun in the carribean, making guest appearances on a variety of talk shows or falling madly in love. Alas, I'm still here, in the same place I was when I last signed off.

Several weeks of power outages, work marathons, missing internet, arguments with my neighbor followed by a visit from the Fairway PD and flooded basements and I'm back. Wiser and poorer.

Yes the "build Rachel a privacy fence fund" has become a reality, only the donations aren't pouring in as I'd hoped. Thus my credit line is swiftly shrinking. Still getting quotes and each one hurts more than the last. Updates on this to follow shortly.

In the meantime it's hotter than a black lab on a hot summer day here at the Ogren's. Poor black labbies, constant panting and drooling going on over here. Sorry puppies but mommy has to build a new fence to keep creepy neighbor out, can't afford to turn the air up.

Mindset is solemn these days. I find myself "dreaming of Chicago" and the family that lives there. About those that I continue to reach out to and continue to be disappointed by. So to cheer me up I've added a nice selection of solemn songs to my blog so turn up the audio! Thanks to Jami Nato of The Natos for helping me figure out how to do this. Enjoy. I swear to come back again soon.