Best Crackers Ev-ah!

I have fallen under the curse of the Crunchmaster. Back in March or April I bought a box of these Crunchmaster multi-grain crackers at Costco. I was really happy to discover that they don't have corn or wheat in them. So, I can eat them without worrying about what they will do to my dig tract, and I can eat them during passover. They are certified gluten-free, and they are wonderful. Now, the curse. After we finished the box this Spring Costco didn't have them for months. I became a bit obsessed. When they started carrying them again I bought two boxes to start, then bought another box every time I went to Costco. Ross told me I could ease up on the cracker-buying, and I did. We polished off our last box of crackers during the pumpkin carving party and now Costco doesn't have them again! Ross searched the internet and found out they sell them at Safeway. I went today and bought two bags. The bags aren't as big as the ones that come in the box (4 oz v 10 oz). And they were much more expensive at Safeway. Still, they are so good that I'll be buying them at Safeway until they have them at Costco again. Oh, and FYI, they don't have them at any Costco in the Northeast. I hate that. Costco gets you hooked on something, then they stop carrying it (too-ey, too-ey, too-ey), at least they still have my milk (I panic when they are out).

Ooops

My computer was giving me trouble. We backed it up before sending it in. The backup didn't work like we thought it would. The last time I had backed up my music was 13 months ago. Long story short--I lost about 300 songs. Oops. Over the weekend I've tried to get my computer looking the way it was before I sent it in to be fixed. I've manged to recover about half the songs. I've also downloaded a few (only 150) songs and some photos onto my new phone. Maybe next weekend I'll work on ring tones. I'll also work on downloading some of the other songs I lost. I'm missing most of my Magnetic Fields and a lot of Nouvelle Vague. I'll find it all eventually.

Hoarders

I finished watching the first season of Hoarders on Netflix. Hoarders is like a train wreck. Horrible, but you can't look away. I come from a family of hoarders. My parents are hoarders. My mother's parents were both hoarders. I try really hard not to hoard. I can be messy, and there are certain things I find hard to resist. I love paper. I love shoes. I don't love putting things away. I was looking for something in the back room recently and I found two other things back there that I didn't know I had. That's bad. I didn't find what I was originally looking for. I need to clean up back there. The last episode of Hoarders featured a 7 year old hoarder. The psych gave him rules. 1. Don't drop things. 2. Everything has a home. Not dropping things is great advice. That's how things get messy. That is how things get lost. Hoarders makes me feel good because I'm not as sick as the folks on the show. Hoarders makes me sad because those people are so sick that they lose all their relationships. Hoarders makes me feel bad because I know I could be better about keeping the house clean. I can't wait for more episodes.

New Phone. Finally!

I've had the same kind of phone for years. I've had three of them. I knew that this one wasn't going to last much longer because the clear coating was peeling off. A few Thursday's ago the mic died. I could hear the person on the other end of the phone, but they couldn't hear me. Ross says I killed it with boob sweat cause I carry the phone in my bra.

After a bit of shopping we both got new phones. This is mine:

I'm so excited. I've finally upgraded to a more modern phone: the LG Chocolate Touch. Today we went and got a micro SD card for it. As soon as I get my laptop back I'll be loading it up with songs, ringtones, and photos. Oh, and that jade bling on the side is new. It might end up being too big or heavy, we'll see. I also have to figure out how I'm going to carry the phone. I don't want to kill this one with boob sweat too.

Pumpkin Carving 2010

Last night we had a pumpkin carving party. We had lots of fun and the pumpkins turned out great. This year's orange food was curried butternut squash soup. We also had andouille sausage. And oh, we finished off a bag of crackers.
Ainsmar carved the small one in front with the musical notes. Monica carved the witch and Richard carved the jester. The one on the bottom right is mine. I really liked how it turned out.
This was Ross's tiger pumpkin. Every other year he has a dud pumpkin. This year was a dud. This photo actually makes it look pretty good. On the first lighting of his pumpkin (by the gentiles) Ross hadn't scraped the wall of the pumpkin thin enough and all we could see was the two round circles and the oblong shape above them. Oh boy, did that give us laughs--especially when Ross asked Richard to blow his out for him.
That's mine. I really like how the circle and the orange glow turned out.

New Vanilla

A long time ago (we used to be friends) I bought a vanilla infusion kit. I had seen vanilla made with bourbon, and I loves me my whiskey, so I decided to make vanilla using bourbon. I bought some Knob Creek and added it to the bottle with a couple of split vanilla beans on September 4th, 2008. I put the bottle in the cabinet, and it has been sitting there ever since. As you can see in the photo the liquid didn't turn black. It smells slightly like vanilla. I really expected more vanilla flavor after two years. I started using the vanilla a couple of weeks ago, and it gave the butter cookies I made a little something extra. A mellow bourbon flavor.
I've also made vanilla sugar using vanilla beans and regular sugar. We were running out of vanilla sugar, so I decided to buy new beans. When I found the beans I also found some vanilla paste. The vanilla paste is awesome. It is like a thick vanilla speck syrup. You get the vanilla flavor and the nice little specks. So far it makes great steamed vanilla milk and vanilla cappuccinos.

Musical Shabbat

Last night I went to a synagogue for the first time in years. I heard about a musical shabbat service on the radio and decided I'd like to go. I have a lot of anxiety about going to services. I don't like people talking to me and asking me questions. Of course, the people are just trying to be nice, but it gives me horrible anxiety. I was so happy when the service actually started and the woman who was talking to us went to sit with her kids. Ross says I just want to be left alone with my god. That's funny, and silly, seeing as I'm going to a service with other people, but that's really how I feel.

Part of the thing I like about going to services is that the words have been the same for thousands of years. The tunes however, are not always the same. I don't like that. I find comfort in the prayers and tunes that I know. I was expecting an upbeat services with singing and instruments. Instead the songs were almost all slow. One or two sounded like lullabies. One sounded really depressing. I felt like Carol King was singing the service. It was odd. The instruments included a drum, a tambourine, and a guitar.

I did really like the Rabbi. This week's Torah portion is when god tells Avram (who later becomes Abraham) to get himself going. Perfect. That's exactly what I need to hear, and exactly what I need to do. Get myself going. I wasn't a big fan of the cantor. He wasn't too operatic, but it was still too much for me. Then, there was a little girl up at the front who had her own mic. She was cute, but annoying.

I don't know if we will go back. The parking situation kind of sucked. I knew we were in the right place when I saw a security guard outside. Sad, but true. The seats had no leg room. I don't know when I will have the courage to go to services again. I wish I didn't have to go so far....