Happy for the Day

I don't mean to steal from Christy--- she had the brilliance to start posting funny clips from The Office, but I saw this episode today and I lost it when this happened....



*Incidentally, Dwight has a blog. You can read the hilarity here

Uneasy about opportunities

So I made the pumpkin seeds--- they turned out badly. I don't think I made them wrong. They were all golden brown and crispy but I just didn't care for them. So now I have all these seeds. I keep trying to give them to Tyler to "take to work." He keeps resisting. I think they may go in the trash. It's too bad. I was all excited. If you're in the area and want seeds, I have a big batch. Some were roasted in cinnamon and sugar, others with salt and a pinch of garlic. Oh well. At least our pumpkins turned out all cute.

Be advised that I am blogging under the influence of several glasses of champagne so this could be funny. I bought a bottle of champagne a few days ago because I decided I WOULD be getting a job offer (and soon DAMN IT). Apparently all you need is liquor in your fridge. Cause I had the bottle and then the offers rolled in. I am a little conflicted.

What would you choose?

JOB A: It's in a field that you've always enjoyed and felt you excelled in. You've worked with this "boss" for months already and you know she's cool and you like her style. However, this job is part-time to start, no benefits and no guarantee that it'll eventually be full time.

JOB B: Full time, benefits, paid vacation, 401k, opportunity to grow in the company, seems like a cool place, cool people. Starting as a receptionist making 50 cents/hr LESS than Job A.

I think I gotta do Job B, at least for a little while.... but I seriously hate decisions.

I spent over $60 today on a dutch oven. Totally worth it. Made amazing pork chops. I am rather obsessed with learning how to cook. This is why I need a full-time job. I'm blowing perfectly good shoe money on dutch ovens. 24 hours ago I didn't even know what the f*** a dutch oven was.

It's amazing that two days from now it's Halloween. I used to love that holiday but now that I'm not in college there isn't much in the way of partying to be done. I don't even know what I'd dress up as. I DO KNOW what I would NOT dress my daughter as..... any of these:




Sick. Those are marketed to "child to tween girls" -- BLECH.

Okay-- must go, weird thing just happened. Knock on our door at 11 pm and it was a cop! I was like --- what did I DO!? Apparently there was a 911 hang-up in our building. Scary! I hope no one is hurt.

Taking on the seeds

click to enlarge

My fear of cooking or anything resembling cooking... is really big.

I have a recipe here and I keep walking out, staring at the seeds and going, EHHH.

How sad is that?

Ok, I think I'm gonna go get some cinnamon and try and make half sweet seeds and half salty.

I'll let you know how it goes...

WISH ME LUCK!

My life without employment...

In many ways its cool. I can sleep in, take walks in the middle of the day, print off recipes from the internet and act like I'm gonna learn how to cook (someday... someday). I also get to do lots of odd jobs. This weekend I went to Crookston to help my friend/hair stylist. She and her husband are moving into a farmhouse that needs a lot of work. I felt like I was part of an HGTV special. I actually learned how to make a floor! HA! This weekend I made a floor, what did you do?

Sorry, I'm weirdly proud of my accomplishment. We painted every room in the house, including ceilings, ripped out carpet for new hardwood floors--- it was a big job. I'm actually still sore.

Perhaps I went about college the wrong way, I should have gone to a tech school to be a carpenter. It's fun, hard work and since a lot of people don't want to deal with it you can make serious money! For example, this is the first three advertised jobs in the Forum today...



lame. I totally went to school for the wrong thing. I could be putting floors in right now and making bank.

Tyler and I are getting ready for Halloween. We carved the pumpkins we obtained from the patch.


So strong!


Oh no, I cut off his head


And now I mercilessly gut him


And during the carving we watched Land Before Time -- ah the childhood memories


The family of pumpkins -- ahhh the love
*the one with the glasses is supposed to be me, the shorter one is Tyler*
:0)


Spooky


Ahh the romance of dismembering gourds

I saved a bunch of pumpkin seeds and now I need an online recipe on how to roast them. How about that, a recipe I may actually use.

One last thing... Usually I do Disney clips but this week my clip is animated but not the disney variety. In honor of the video we watched last night, and how much I love Spike... here you go.

Off to the patch

Some days you just need to get away. Tyler and I set off this afternoon for Glyndon, Minnesota and the Buffalo River Pumpkin Patch.

I was excited because I LOVE FALL. The smell, colors, pumpkins, the crunchy sounds of leaves and Halloween costumes. Buying a pumpkin in a grocery store just isn't the same as getting out into the "wild."

Even though it was 20 minutes away, the patch was worth the trip. One of the three pumpkins we bought was actually taken off the vine. There was also a petting zoo with some very pushy goats and a horse-drawn carriage ride through a "haunted forest" -- completely G-rated but cute.

It was great leaving adulthood for a day-- Here are some pictures from our adventure.

*CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS*


Pumpkins everywhere!



Artwork of the bale variety



I am so popular when I have corn



SO MANY FRIENDS



My new best friend



I try and get fresh



Tyler's new girlfriend



Our future family

After we left we decided to be TRULY adventurous-- we went the next 30 miles to Detroit Lakes. We had dinner in a bar that overlooked the lake and on the way home -- THIS HAPPENED IN MY CAR!



TO THIS...

Emily's short hair

Scary nostalgia of the day

Ugh. Games for little girls frighten me.

Major DUH of the moment

<--- This book is really amazing.

I love Susan Faludi because she gets me thinking. In this book, she points out that Americans haven't really TALKED about 9/11. On each anniversary we replay the clips of the towers falling. We substitute repetition instead of reflection. WE NEED TO DISCUSS 9/11 and the plethora of issues surrounding it or we are doomed.

Here is my light bulb moment (give me a break, it's 2:30 am) --- Remember how Bush kept saying we were attacked because "evil doers" hate democracy and freedom???

Okay, fine. Then why was no one flying planes into Sweden, England, the Netherlands, France--- all other countries who have democratic freedoms-- some of those countries have even more liberal freedoms when it comes to sexuality, drugs etc -- all those issues. Why target America? Perhaps it's not as easy as "evildoers hate us." Perhaps it's very, very VERY complex and we should talk about it.

GOD I LOVE THIS BOOK!

If you please

Once again, ripping off Christy with the "Disney clip of the week" <-- This week you have to click to watch because the contributor "disabled embedding" -- WEAK.

Lately I spend a lot of time trying to get hired. Technically I am "unemployed" since my Americorps internship ended. I have freelance jobs keeping me busy and paying the bills but am trying to scrape some interviews here and there. Hopefully I look hire-able to someone. I'm willing to start small and work my way up. Frankly I just want a paycheck and health insurance. Not that I'm getting desperate or anything.

In order to keep spirits up, I keep busy. Today I stopped at Starbucks to get my nonfat carmel latte and bought two stuffed creatures. My reasoning was this:

Pretty soon I'll get hired.
I'll probably have a desk at this job.
I want cute little stuffed things at my desk.
And these creatures look sort of quasi-Emily like with their glasses and books.

So what the hell. They were clearance at $2 each. Hip hip hooray.



My life is one big contradiction. I realized that last night as I alternated between nonfiction author, Susan Faludi's new hardcover, "The Terror Dream" and watching the VH1 reunion special of "Rock of Love".

It actually worked out really well because whenever the book really riled me up I could switch to something brainless. Keeps me from elevating my blood pressure.

This past week I've had great opportunities with my freelance work. Today I interviewed a man who works at a comedy club. I really enjoyed the time spent with him because he was funny but also thoughtful. He said -- the only thing that should really offend people is hate. And I tend to agree. He also told a really off color Planned Parenthood joke that I found clever. Cause it's sooo bad. I'll relay for you to judge:

A man goes to a PP clinic to get checked for STD's and he's given a clean bill of health-- whew. So he thanks the staff and heads out to the parking lot. He then realizes he has stupidly locked his keys in the car. He ventures back into PP and asks -- hey, anyone in here have a coat hanger?

Yowza. Got a shock laugh from me though. And kudos for telling a joke about abortion without picking an apparent 'side.'

We also had a discussion about why stand up comedy was so male dominated. I was fascinated to get his take on this and also surprised because it shows some real insight, not just "cause dudes are funnier." His sentiment was something like this:

Stand up comedy requires you to be bold and confident. Not just-- fearless in front of an audience, no stage fright confident but confident to make fun of your flaws -- physical especially. And "our society doesn't raise confident women" I thought that was really true. Part of me wants to go to amateur night and just go nuts. But the other part wants to hide in the closet. Course, that may be more of an "Emily thing" than a "woman thing."

I also got to interview a woman who paints religious icons. She was fascinating. Grew up in communist Bulgaria where religion was touted as "poison of the mind" and here she is painting religious icons. A sample of her breathtaking work...



Pretty wicked. Makes me resent the little stick-people I create.

My goals for the next week are as follows:

-- Help pull off an excellent Harvest Moon Fling event
-- Find a pumpkin patch and capture pumpkins for carving
-- Get another interview, or better yet a JOB!
-- Continue my nightly walks -- even though it's getting COLD