It's a mad, mad world...

OK, so it's been 15 days since my last post. Not exactly consistent, but definitely better than a whole year between posts, no? I'll blame my job (as usual), and my neurotic animal kingdom. I seriously curse the gene that causes me to have the compulsion to rescue and take care of every single needy animal that crosses my path. Thanks to said gene, a huge chunk of my time is now dedicated to caring for Charlie (the unwed teen mom kitty) and her 4 (absolutely adorable) 2 week old kittens. Besides the time, we are also dedicating a considerable amount of money to this little family. N. is not happy about this.

On top of this little newly adopted feline family, we also still have our permanent animal family: The blind-don't-talk-to-me-or-I'll-take-your-leg-off-and-still-look-cute-doing-it dog:

The I-will-eat-anything-and-everything dog:

The I-will-sit-on-anything-and-purr-24-hours-a-day cat:

and last but not least, the try-to-climb-these-stairs-and-I-will-cut-you cat:

To add insult to injury, they all hate each other. The majority of the time, it feels like a mad house. They also all seem to develop these weird, bad habits...at different times. So, just when you think you've solved one behavior... another one begins. I could probably write an entire blog just about their odd behavior, but I won't.  So, I-will-eat-anything-and-everything dog has decided that from now on, she's going to eat the windows and doors. This includes anything around the windows and doors, such as, but not limited to: curtains, blinds, doorjambs, doorknobs, etc. Not only does she have separation anxiety and chews on doors in an attempt to get to us, but she also flips out if she sees other dogs outside. Hence, causing her tear up the windows. We tried to solve this problem by putting decorative window film up. Let's the light in but keeps her from seeing outside. This worked for a while. Until she figured out how to peel it off. It's as if, upon her discovery, she decided to throw herself a celebratory party and proceeded to tornado her way around the living room and dining room. Everyday. For the past two weeks. 

just a little sample of some of her work...

This is her "guilty" pose. She does this when she knows you're mad... I don't understand.

N. usually gets home before I do. I have the pleasure of not only coming home to a mess, but also to a very pissed off girlfriend. I guess as I'm writing this, I'm starting to understand that look she gives me when I try to convince her to let me raise chickens in the backyard. Note to self: Don't mention the chickens for a little while.

So yea... getting home past 6 everyday, then spending about an hour or two cleaning broken crap, dinner, etc. hasn't left much time for blogging. There's the weekend, but we kinda filled these past two up with apple/pumpkin picking, pumpkin carving, visiting Occupy Boston, and visits to the free animal clinic with Charlie and her kitties. I think we should shorten the work week to four days a week. I'm going to make a sign and hold it up at the next Occupy Boston march. I'm just sayin'.

On another note, I actually got out of bed at 8AM this morning.. on a Sunday. For no reason. So I did some yoga. It's been a long time, and it felt awesome. I keep telling myself I'm going to get up earlier and do it every morning. But, that alarm goes off at 5AM and I can't get up! I'm really going to try though. I'm starting to feel very high strung and anxious. I need to....chill. I think I'm going to give myself a spa day. A ghetto spa day of course, because I'm broke. I'm thinking, yummy light food, tea, yoga, incense, DIY mani/pedi, bubble bath, no computer/phone/etc. Sigh... 

Namaste bitches.

Guess who got a J-O-B?!

Happy Wednesday (invisible, possibly non-existent) readers! I know, I know... I haven't posted in like a week. But, I blame this on all of you (or the one or two of you) actually reading my sporadic blogging. It's hard to stay motivated when half the time, I feel like I'm talking into an abyss. I know I have some readers (due to my page visit counter thing-a-ma-jig), but since I have no followers as of yet, and two comments (both posted by people I know outside of Blogworld).. I could very well be talking to myself. I'm used to talking to myself, so I guess it's all good. Despite my typical conversations with myself, it's still nice to know that someone is listening. Anyone? Hello?...

OK, well I'm going to keep writing, and hopefully you (whoever you are) will keep reading.

So, I'm having a great flippin' week. Guess who got a J-O-B?!

Yep, I am now, once again, a member of the workforce (well technically not until August 30th, but who's talking about technicalities here?). Come September, I will be teaching preschool. In Spanish. Pray for me, ya'll.

Of course, N. and I had to do a little celebrating. Just before the weekend, we tried this new place in the South End called The Gallows. We've been hearing great things about it, and since it is literally like 5 minutes from our house we decided to give it a shot. Oh, and we heard that they have poutine. If you don't know what poutine is, you better ask somebody! We had it in Toronto and have had a love affair with it since (of course it is very rare to find it in the States, so guess how excited we were!).

It's been dubbed a gastropub, so we though we could get away with a couple of drinks and a few appetizers and not have to wash dishes after our meal. Boy were we wrong. Don't misunderstand me, the prices were decent. It's just that the menu made my mouth water and the waiter's description of dishes made it completely impossible to just order a "few appetizers." But let me go back for a minute and describe the "scene" before I get into the food. The scene: absolutely no diversity. I felt like I walked into a "whites only" restaurant in the Jim Crow South. Not one brown face in the packed-to-brim restaurant. We walked in and about 75 sets of eyes followed us to our table. But, after about 2 minutes, everyone went back to their food and conversation and forgot about the two Hispanic lesbians. Our (very gay) waiter came over and made up for the "uncomfortable" entrance. He was awesome.

OK so back to the food... The food was absolutely wonderful. We had two appetizers: the poutine (of course) and the Little Neck stuffers.

poutine

Little Neck Stuffies

The poutine was to die for. The gravy.. I wanted to pour it in a tub and bathe in it. Yea, I know that sounds gross, but talk to me again once you try this stuff. The cheese curds were a bit different (more ricotta/cottage cheese texture) than the poutine we've had in Canada, but delicious nonetheless. The Little Neck Stuffies were.. OK. We weren't blown away. The main course, however, was.. well let me just say that I caught N. closing her eyes while she chewed a couple of times. We shared the brisket with this tangy salsa over it, served with fried eggplant and a cucumber yogurt sauce (I think). N. is now on a mission to recreate this dish at home. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Sorry, no pic of the brisket. We attacked it faster than I could grab my camera.

After dinner, they serve you this yummy soft serve ice cream in a cone. Which was good, because we ordered the flour-less chocolate cake and it was ..meh. All in all, The Gallows gets thumbs up for the food and decor, but thumbs down on the ambiance (no diversity and way too loud). Oh, and they lose points for this in the women's bathroom:

O_o

The weekend went by too quickly. N.'s family came over on Saturday for a spontaneous BBQ and slip n' slide party. We went out to a bar called Wonderbar with N.'s sis later that night. Had a good time, although I'm starting to think there really is no hope for the bar/club scene in Boston. Hot messes everywhere and not one DJ worth a crap anywhere to be found. N. was a bit hungover the next day, so she got a Dominican breakfast courtesy of moi- full of grease and carbs (not me, the breakfast). YUM!

Sunday, we spent the day at Ikea and got new covers for our Tylosand couches. It looks so pretty. I can't wait to finish the living room. Today, I'm attempting to repaint the front and back porches, all by myself. N. has forbidden me to paint anything any other color than the colors she has approved (she is so afraid she's going to come home to a hot pink door and a rainbow colored porch). I'm also not allowed "decorate" the outside of the house, without her approval, either. So, I'm sticking to a nuetral palette of walnut brown for the porch floors and ultra white for the trims. Oh, and I got this pretty blue called River Rock(or something like that) for accents. What? I need color. Otherwise, our house will look just like everyone else's... and that is simply unacceptable.

I hope N. realizes that the only thing keeping my "decorating" under control is not her, but rather, my lack of funds. Boy, is she going to be overjoyed when I actually have income. I'm going to have to get a camera set up to record her expression everyday when she walks in the door and sees my new creations!

Alright invisible readers, off to paint the porch I go. But first, I will leave you with some pics of Maya's 5th birthday celebration. She got a Pupcake from KickAss Cupcakes and presents. Don't laugh. Birthdays are special in this house...even for the pets.

Happy Birthday Maya! (Ignore the crap on the floor in the background. K thanks.)

She got a winter coat! Yea, i know it's the middle of summer, but it was on sale. You get what you get and you don't get upset!

It wasn't his birthday, but Blue Bear got a Pupcake too because he's cute.

Just because she looked adorable in N.'s hat. ::shrugs::

Namaste bitches!

-D.

Bubbles, Pie and Kickass Cupcakes!

Happy Monday, people. OK well, it's almost over. I'm late..sue me. I meant to blog early today, but I got caught up with my damn EEC certification crap. The second interview/demo class went really really well on Friday. All I'm waiting for now is for my references to be checked out and that I have all my qualifications for my certification..which is a royal pain in the ass. You don't even know what a relief it was when I walked into that office after the demo class and the CEO said she absolutely loved the class. I swore it was over for me when one of the kids sucked up the bubbles instead of blowing out, and another child picked up the container of purple-dyed bubble juice and just poured down the front of her white blouse. But apparently, this school is really as amazing as they seem and LOVE to see kids making a mess. So I pretended that this was exactly what I meant to happen and TADA! Two points for me.

So, in celebration of a job well done (still cross your fingers though because I can't count those chickens just yet) N. and I decided that we should treat ourselves to some yummy food. Of course, we're still broke because I don't actually have the job yet, so we had to settle for something semi-affordable. I've been wanting to check out this place in Newton called Pie, so that's where we went. It's a bakery/café that even serves wine and beer, and of course..pie.

The place is pretty cute. Nice tables with comfy booth-like benches in the front, and a counter in the back where you order your food. That was a bit confusing at first. We weren't sure if we seated ourselves or  waited to be seated, or whether we had to go up and order or wait for a waitress. We finally figured out that you sit wherever the heck you want, go order your food and/or drinks, pay and then go back and relax until a waitress brings over your stuff. I would have preferred straight up waitress service for customers staying, and reserved the counter for take-out orders. N. liked this set up though. She said she liked ordering and paying and getting that out of the way, so you don't have to worry about waiting for your bill or being rushed out.

So, I ordered a mimosa, and N. ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio. Like I said, we were trying to stay on a budget (plus we had plans for dessert somewhere else), so we split an appetizer and one of their savory hand pies. We had the crab cake special, served with a spicy coleslaw and the "Philly" style Beef and Cheese Hand pie. The crab cakes were amazing. N. said they very well could have been the best crab cakes she ever had. I thought they were good, although not the best I've ever had. They were light and airy as opposed to heavy and dense like traditional crab cakes. They also had a fresh flavor... very summery. The coleslaw was.. disappointing, along with the hand pie. It was dry and there was nothing "Philly-esque" about it. The cheese was non-existent. I'd definitely go back though and try something else. They have a glass partition on one side in the back so you have a clear view of the kitchen and can watch all the baking being done. Everything tasted really fresh, and the menu was filled with things I would love to try... I'll just pass on the Hand pies.

You would think we would have tried the regular pies at a place called.. Pie, but we had something even better in store for dessert.. Kickass Cupcakes (in Somerville)! We've been hearing about this place for a while and given my dessert obsession.. I had to go. I looked up the menu online and almost had an orgasm just from reading some of their amazing cupcake concoctions. We parked down the street and on the way there from the car, we discovered that When Pig's Fly Bakery was right next door! OMG. They make delicious artisan bread. They usually sell the classic ones (like whole wheat and sourdough, etc.) at Trader Joe's, and some Stop N' Shops I think. But, they also make crazy flavors that you usually can't find at other stores (we found them at the SOWA open market). So, we forgot all about Kickass Cupcakes for a second and found ourselves gazing at all the delectable breads. We got a loaf of Mango, Pineapple, Raisin with Toasted Sesame and Ginger (that's a mouthful, huh). Oh, and we also got a jar of their cranberry onion red pepper jelly.  o_O

On to Kickass Cupcakes! So, they have two stores. The cupcakes shop and.. the Dairy Bar. N. wouldn't even let me go in. She dragged me away while I screamed "Gelatoooooooo!!!!!" She pushed me into the cupcake shop, where both our mouths hung open as we took in the variety. Then N. almost fainted when she saw they had deep fried cupcakes... served with ice cream and whipped cream. Can we say triple bypass?

So we grabbed 3 cupcakes (and one doggie cupcake they call PupCakes! :-D) and ran out of there before we bought one of each thing they had. 

We couldn't even wait till we got home, so we tore those cupcakes up in the car. We got (bottom..clockwise from left) the Mojito cupcake, the S'mores cupcake, and the Cookie Dough one. 

My favorite was the Mojito. N. liked the Cookie Dough one. She liked the S'mores

So that's it for my weekend food reviews. We spent most of the weekend at the BeanTown BreakDown (a break dancing event that N.'s sister and her boyfriend throw every year), but I'll talk about that tomorrow since this post is already long enough and N. will be home soon. I will, however, leave you all with the scene N. and I woke up to the other day. 

Our kitchen.... early the other morning.

He didn't even TRY to hide.

He may be completely blind, but do NOT underestimate his sense of smell. That dog can find food anywhere. You can bet we won't forget to take the garbage out again.

Namaste bitches.

-D.

At least the dog is OK..

So, my first yoga session went... OK I guess. Except for the foot cramp I got while in a camel pose. I fell out of it, rolled onto my side and kicked my dog in the face. She's fine.. learned her lesson though and took her bone and laid down on the other side of the room. I'm not as rusty as I thought I was balance wise, although I'm definitely not as flexible as I used to be (when did I stop being able to touch my toes?). I FEEL better. I have to get N. to try it. She's not the transcendental type though. She's more of the "sit-on-the-couch-with-a-beer-watching-UFC fighting" type. And I'll admit that lately I've been the "sit-on-the-couch-watching-the-Food Network-then cooking-what-I-see-and-eat-it" type myself. But we've both realized that love (and our food obsession) has made us... unhealthy. N. can barely walk uphill one block without having a coronary and me..I just said I can't touch my toes. Oh, and none of my clothes seem to fit anymore (without making me look like a double cheeseburger with a side of fries). It is safe to say that we both have ..expanded.. in the past 3 and a half years. We both have admitted that this is simply unacceptable and have vowed to do something about it. We've vowed for about 3 months now (even pretended to be on a diet for a few weeks, that is until we drove by Mama's Empanadas on a trip to NY... if you haven't tried them, then get your little butts there ASAP --> little pockets filled with heaven ) but have yet to really do anything about it.

I tried to convince N. that we should become vegetarians. That didn't go over very well, considering she could totally live off of bacon if necessary. I'm typically the cook in this household so I've been trying to keep it healthy and we definitely EAT better, but we still don't move very much. I don't think I can make N. go for a jog just yet, but I'm hoping at least yoga will make us move off the couch. Baby steps.

So, after my yoga session, I was feeling all at peace and at one with mind's eye and all that crap. I went outside to light my little Buddha incense thing and take a deep breath, wiggle my toes in the grass. On the way back inside, feeling all serene, I decided to check my mailbox. It was empty. Now, when I moved to Boston, I did a change of address and checked that little option where you can order magazine subscriptions to your new address. I ordered Food Network magazine, Good Housekeeping and Better Homes and Gardens (shut up, don't even say anything yet because it gets better). I moved in the last week of February. It is now June 23rd and I have yet to receive ONE damn issue of Better Homes in Gardens. This may not seem like a big deal, but with all the stress and craziness going on in my life, I look forward to those magazines in the mail. Especially since N. has forbidden me to purchase ANY magazines at the supermarket checkout (I have a little bit of a problem). I get absolutely ecstatic when I open that mailbox and see a new shiny magazine waiting for me. For that moment, I'm unstressed. I open up the pages and I imagine all the delicious meals I'm going to conjure up from the recipes and how organized my linen closet will be... yea I have a 50's housewife trapped inside of me. So what? The point is, that I NEED my magazines. So I leave my serenity on the porch and march instead to call these incompetent magazine thieves. I trip over the dog, stub my toe and knock over a glass of water on the way. So, now I'm cursing and stomping up the stairs. I get this bubbly, way too excited to be working at a call center, Paula Deen impersonator on the line. I demand to know where my magazine is and why they're stealing my money. She doesn't change her tone. Calls me "sweetie" and "hun." She tells me that it sometimes takes 6-8 weeks to process orders and according to my file, I should be receiving my first issue in mid-July. July! For cryin' out loud. So I ask her why it takes more than 3 months to put my magazine in the mail but only takes 3 days to cash my check. She calls me "sweetie" again and apologizes. She says she'll extend my subscription by 3 months. She asks if she can do anything else for me.

No.

I slam the phone down and stomp back downstairs where I proceed to slip on the water I spilled earlier and fall right on my ass. I lie on my back and scream obscenities.


So much for that peace and serenity thing.

-D.