Posts Tagged ‘JenTastic’

I’m belatedly finshing up Janssen’s recommendation for June, which was These is My Words and so far, I’m really enjoying it. I took a small break to hit the library and stocked up on a few books for this week.  I have about three more weeks of Summer Break before I have to start easing back into school-mode.  I’m going to read as much as I can during the next three weeks.

I checked out Soulless by Gail Carriger and it was really good.  It’s a genre called steampunk, which I’ve heard of but was not familiar with. Apparently that’s a sub-genre of sci-fi with fantasy elements usually set in 19th century/Victorian era (thank you, wikipedia). It’s not at all the type of book I’d normally pick up (not necessarily the genre, but that era is not one I’m particularly in to – shame on me, I know), but I’m glad I did.  It was fascinating and I couldn’t put it down.  I don’t know how to explain the story but it’s about a woman who has no soul and it involves vampires and werewolves. Hmm, that really isn’t helping, is it?   Ok, I’m going to let Publisher’s Weekly explain it better:

Starred Review. Carriger debuts brilliantly with a blend of Victorian romance, screwball comedy of manners and alternate history. Prickly, stubborn 25-year-old bluestocking Alexia Tarabotti is patently unmarriageable, and not just because she’s large-nosed and swarthy. She’s also soulless, an oddity and a secret even in a 19th-century London that mostly accepts and integrates werewolf packs, vampire hives and ghosts. The only man who notices her is brash Lord Conall Maccon, a Scottish Alpha werewolf and government official, and (of course) they dislike each other intensely. After Alexia kills a vampire with her parasol at a party—how vulgar!—she and Conall must work together to solve a supernatural mystery that grows quite steampunkishly gruesome. Well-drawn secondary characters round out the story, most notably Lord Akeldama, Alexia’s outrageous, italic-wielding gay best vampire friend. This intoxicatingly witty parody will appeal to a wide cross-section of romance, fantasy and steampunk fans. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Seriously, how can you pass up a review like that?  (even as I admit that half of the review didn’t make a lick of sense to me) I thought the characters were interesting and likable, and the fantasy elements involving supernatural creatures didn’t seem so implausible.  It’s the first book in a series and there are romance elements as well as the mystery, sci-fi and fantasy components.  Overall, it was a really entertaining story and I’m looking forward to reading the next installments.  I know what you’re thinking;  the vampire/werewolf thing is really overdone right now, but I’m just going to say that if the Twilight werewolves were more like Lord Maccon …well… Team Edward would cease to exist.

I also picked up Stephen King’s latest short story collection called Just After Sunset.  I adore his novels and his novellas even more.  I’m always pushing his story collections on to people who say they don’t like his books.  Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption?  How can you NOT love that story (and movie…it’s on my top 10 list).  I haven’t been happy with his novels since “the accident” but I have high hopes for these short stories.

Let’s see, I also have Stardust by Neil Gaiman.  I admit I only got this up because my library didn’t have American Gods.  No, I don’t mean it was checked out, they don’t have a copy at all.  I find this very strange.  Every Neil Gaiman fan I know raves about this book, more than his others, but my library doesn’t have a copy.  *sigh*  I don’t understand this particular library (even though it’s where I got my start as a 16 year old page, so I will forever be thankful for the humble beginnings of my librarianship). OK so my real beef with Gaiman is that I don’t “get” him.  Yes, Coraline was terrific, odd and weird, but terrific, but The Graveyard Book?  I just….didn’t understand it.  Sometimes I think that whole British thing is lost on me.  Anyway, I have high hopes for Stardust and that I’ll be reading American Gods as soon as my library can get me a copy.  I used to follow NeilHimself on twitter, but Heavens to Betsy, that man tweets a little too much.

Another book I got today is PostMortem the first Kay Scarpetta – Patricia Cornwell book.  My friend, JenTastic recommended them and I’m going to give this here mystery genre a looksee.

I have some good reads ahead of me…hope you do too.  I know I have another five weeks to wait, but I’m anxiously awaiting Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  It will be like Harry Potter release day all over. I will not answer my phone, facebook, blog, or tweet (ok, maybe I’ll still  tweet) while I’m devouring that book.  But more on that later.  If you have not started reading Hunger Games yet, what are you waiting for?

Yes, this has been delayed a bit, but hey, at least it’s done now.

JenTastic and I set out on the long drive from Chicago to North Carolina on a Tuesday morning.  It was a bright, happy morning and we were armed with coffee, grapes, potato chips and french onion dip (safely ensconced in an iced baggie) as well as other random car snacks.  We had plans to drive about halfway and then stop for the night.  No specific plans about where to stop, just whenever we felt tired enough.

As you will soon find out, that is not always the smartest strategy!

Our first cool sighting was the wind turbine farm we saw along I65.  These things are HUGE.  They don’t look that big, but when you get up close and personal, they are gigantic.  I hear there’s lots of controversy about strobe light effects on the people who live nearby, as well as the dangers to the birds flying through the area.

Still cool to look at, though!

Ooh hey look we’re in Kentucky!  Drive faster!  I can say this, as someone who lived in Kentucky for a few years.  I went to a grade school where you got extra credit for wearing shoes.

This was in 1980.

True story.

Need I say more?  Hunk-a-pizza?

At one point, the car started making a really loud grinding noise every time Jen hit the brakes.  Since we were at least 8 hours from our destination, this was cause for concern.    In the end, it turned out to be something easily fixable (though not until we arrived in NC.)

We were never in danger of crashing into a ravine.

No, Jen really, we were safe the whole time.  Promise!

Then there was the time we stopped at a doozy of a place to fill the tank.  I had to use the bathroom (remember I have major public bathroom issues).  One, teeny tiny problem. This wasn’t a gas station. It was a service shop with a few gas pumps, a garage and a greasy spoon dinette/shop/place.  The bathroom was inside the restaurant (and believe me when I say I’m being polite calling it that). Throwing caution to the wind, I left all my stuff in the car and ran into the building. I had to ask the short order cook, who was flipping over eggs and hash browns to direct me to the bathroom.

It was about 1 1/2 feet from a table where people were eating.  Ew, that’s a little gross, but beggars can’t be choosers.  I went in and closed the door quickly realizing the light was not working.  It was literally pitch black in this tiny room.  I panicked.  I opened the door to let enough light in about three times so I could see where everything was. Let me be clear here, I’m not scared of the dark, but I have an irrational fear of tiny, public bathrooms with no lights.  I was so mad that I didn’t even have my phone to use as a light source.  Needless to say, it was the quickest bathroom trip ever.

Back to happier things…along the way, there were sightings of beautiful scenery

and, um, some not so beautiful scenery. As if Piggy Bank Pawn isn’t bad enough, they are in a town called Locust.  I’m sure that’s a lovely place, but I prefer not to stop anywhere named after bugs.

At the end of Day 1, we stopped in a little town in Tennesse.  This was the bad part of the “no planned route” trip.  This hotel, while it was clean, safe and full of friendly people on motorcycles, was out in the middle of NO WHERE.  We asked about a restaurant and we were told that the mini-mart at the gas station had a great food selection.  For real.

Someone also had a fascination with statues because the property, outside and inside, was filled with them.  Here is a sample of the greatest.

Zeus

Then Genghis Khan

I’m not sure why the eagle is eating JenTastic’s foot, but it looks painful to me.

No idea what’s happening here. When she gets this like, I just nod and smile.  That happened a lot on this trip.

I thought this was creepy until we saw what was next to him….

A strange hungover, sleep deprived Mr. Lincoln.  He looks like he could use some coffee.  And shampoo.

Here’s the lovely eagle again, without Jen’s foot in it’s mouth.

I don’t know what’s weirder here…you decide.

After we had a good night’s sleep, a decent breakfast and stocked up on coffee, we were ready to hit the road for day 2.  JenTastic commandeered the camera and took these shots.

A few hours into our drive, I did a spot check with Roberta (the navigator) to see what interesting things were around us.  Hey, we were 2.9 miles away from Gran Nanny’s Goat Milk.  Too bad it was in the opposite direction, that just might have been fascinating.

Ok, this is not scary or dangerous at all.

Really, Mr. Truck, you’re doing a great job with that dental floss holding back the tree trunks from flying into our car and crushing us like ants, and those tiny orange flags, yeah, those are really obvious.

Finally, we arrived at our destination, lugged our stuff into the house and quickly collapsed for the night.

I did get acquainted with Chick-fil-A on this trip. Boy, they have delicious lemonade.

I also discovered the Food Lion grocery store chain, where I saw this very exciting ad, especially for someone like me with an eyeball fascination.

Another Food Lion gem (reminiscent of the potted meat product Kim gave me for my 20th birthday, along with a hot pink toilet plunger)

We went to a local place for lunch and the food was absolutely terrific.  We shared a cheesy seafood dip with pita chips (delish!)

as well as a burger with brie, carmelized onions and arugala and the best sweet potato fries I’ve ever had. They tasted like candy, so sweet.

Look at that burger!

The only weird thing…look at the ads on the glasses?  Strange, no?

You’ve already seen the tour of the house and our trips to PikNPig but I’m strictly forbidden to discuss anything else that happened on this trip.

Not even the batch of raw cookie dough that was never baked, but mysteriously disappeared from the fridge

or the entire morning we spent laughing hysterically over Photo Bombs and Passive Aggressive Notes and didn’t get anything productive done

or the mysterious techniques we resorted to when building Rick’s desk

or the gem of a movie Jen dragged me to starring her movie star boyfriend that left us both stunned and in shock

or the “giving of the eyeball” at WalMart and the slippery shoes that almost caused my death or at the very least, serious maiming

or how I was tortured with Ke$ha for ten days and Jen was tortured with Celtics/Lakers games

or the countless times Roberta yelled “RECALCULATING” at us while we drove around

or when I had to restrain JenTastic from taking out a neglectful grandma in Barnes and Noble

or how many cups of coffee we actually drank

or the way JenTastic’s van kept giving me a concussion

or the number of times JenTastic called someone an assclown

or “The Great Eating Dessert in the Car” caper

My lips are zipped.

Nope.

Not saying a word.

JenTastic and her family are renting a lovely home in NC.  Being a military family, they are used to moving around a lot and basically house bouncing.  She had to choose this house sight unseen with the help of the Interweb and her friend Sarah who lives in the area.  They had a pretty good strategy going…JenTastic would scope out homes online and then Sarah would go visit them and report back with her assessment.  Kind of like Match.com or eHarmony for houses.  I think I’d like that job.

The upside to moving every 3 years or so is that you get really good at purging crap and packing. JenTastic is an amazing packer.  She can also rip open boxes like no one’s business. Another upside to moving a lot is that you get to live in a lot of different places and really learn what kind of house you like (or dislike). She’s lived in restored barracks, stand alone homes, townhomes, apartments, you name it.

The downside to moving (and renting) every few years is that you’re often stuck living with questionable decor. That my friends, is the subject of this here blog post.  Nothing against the lovely lady who owns this house, it *is* a nice home.  She just has strange ideas about decor and dare I say, taste?  After walking through this house I had the impression that she was in her 50s/60s, but alas that is not the case.

Me: So, the lady you’re renting this house from…she’s in her upper 50s-ish, right?  From the generation before us?

JenTastic: NO!  Can you believe she’s OUR age! (said with a great deal of sassy head shaking and widely opened eyes emphasis – Jen’s friends will know The Look of which I am speaking)

Me: Really?? NO! (cue the dramatic music)

JenTastic:  YES!  This house is like a granny gone bad and there’s no EXCUSE for it!

Me: *shaking head* So sad.  Don’t let me ever go down the path of poor taste in home decorating.

JenTastic: Giiiiirl, I will be your home decor reality check, dontcha worry.

OK, maybe I made up that very last part, but I’m sure she was thinking that in her head.  But yes, the lady who decorated (????) this home is in her 30s.

Now I will present the evidence of questionable decor.

Let’s start with the dead flowers in the bathroom.  I’m all for the “Picket fence” look, but maybe with silk flowers.  I mean seriously, these roses are dead.  Dried flowers have ROTTED and DIED, people.  Do you really want something rotten and dead hanging in your bathroom?

Bathroom #2 – Crazy Balloon Land.  WTH? No, this isn’t creepy at all.  Not even when you look really really closely.

The other side of BalloonLandia. What is that?  A BLIMP?   In the bathroom? Next to a mobile of shooting stars.  Nice.

(Actually JenTastic just informed me that her children call it the “Dirigible in the Bathroom” How smart are those kids?)

Moving on from the dead flower, balloon infested bathrooms to one of the children’s rooms where we see this lovely switch plate.  Personally, I don’t do cute, fuzzy OR snails. This would have to go.

The back porch is a really nice area and I’ll be so jealous of the lovely reading zone when it’s not a million freaking degrees out there.  This is overall a nice room, full of screened in windows that will allow for a good breeze.

BUT.

Check out this madness.

Yes, that really bold border goes perfectly with the raw wood paneling.  The kind that will give you splinters when you touch it.  Love it.

Now, let’s direct our eyes to the floor.  A hand painted harlequin pattern complete with pink ladybugs which JenTastic already covered with the carpeting. (Secretly, I kind of like this…but maybe not in this room)

Moving on to the kitchen.  This lady has a rooster border, which I guess in itself isn’t terrible, but look at these roosters.  Do you notice anything strange about them?  Go ahead, take a good look. I’ll wait.

THEY ARE WEARING ANIMAL PRINTS!

*bangs head on wall*  Lady, you’re killing me.

In the dining room, I have no words. I will let the wallpaper scream for itself.

I just have to say that Jack better hurry on up and climb down so he can escape the Giant.

This house is full of dormers on the second level, which generally means lots of little storage rooms of some sort.  I’m sure as a kid, I would have loved a little minature room in my own bedroom to have as a play room, but from an adult’s perspective, it’s not going over so well.

This would be the perfect time to mention that JenTastic has an irrational fear of little things.  I’m going to leave it at that.

Check out the weirdly cut out doors.

I had the pleasure (??!) of sleeping a few feet away from these rooms and I’m not ashamed to say they creeped me out a little.  Even more in the morning when I’d wake up and the DOORS WOULD BE OPEN.

OK, just one of them. The one with the square window.  It took me a few days to figure out that Dexter the Cat was jumping in there at night and exploding out like a flying monkey, which I personally experienced at 5 in the morning and thought I was being sent to Jesus.

Finally, the last and most disturbing thing isn’t really a decor issue. It’s the scary locked door at the back of the house.   Bad enough that it’s a scary locked door, but it also has a gaudy mirror attached. Oh the horror!

See for yourself.

Extreme close up of the lock.  it’s like the Lost numbers, what is the mystery of 8 7 3?  Do we dare open the lock and see what lives in this closet?  We will have to stay tuned to see what happens!

Have I mentioned that I think I gave myself a laughing hernia on this trip?

Why can’t you get ripped abs from laughing?  I may invent that exercise program.

We discovered a hidden gem in Carthage, NC.  Ok, maybe it’s not hidden and we didn’t technically discover it.  How about I just get to the food?

PikNPig is a bbq place specializing in pork.  Pulled pork and ribs and some chicken.  I’m all about the pulled pork so I was very happy.

This place is situated next to a small airstrip. You can sit outside and watch planes landing and taking off while you are shoveling down the food.

Pics of the smokehouse

I freely admit I don’t know a lot about BBQ, except that I like it. A lot.  I live near Chicago, which is not known as a BBQ hotspot, so I eat as much as I can when I’m traveling and it’s available.

This was the best pulled pork I’ve ever had.  The meat was tender, flavorful (really, does anything taste better than pork? I didn’t think so) and it just fell apart on the plate.  It tasted great even without sauce, but of course I used some.  They had a honey bbq and a spicy bbq sauce. I don’t like really spicy food, but I found the honey and the spicy together were a winning combination.

Oh that big jug in the middle is famous southern sweet tea.  It was delicious and not overly sweet, just enough.

Take home sauces.  Honey Butt Sauce and Spicy Butt Sauce.  Really, I’m not making this up.

Ok ok, on to the food.  I ordered the pulled pork combo for $6.95 and it came with cole slaw, hush puppies with jalapeno butter, and a sweet potato.  Um delicious! So delicious I took two photos!

Let me take a moment to tell you that the hush puppies were not at all like the grease balls you get at Long John Silvers (if you dare.)  These were little nuggets of dough, fried and chewy.  Tasty.

Look, it’s almost all gone. This was the kind of meal that after you’re done, you don’t want to eat or drink anything for a long time because the flavors linger on your tongue.

Now for desserts! 

JenTastic ordered this delicious concoction of yellow cake, pudding, crushed pineapple, whipped cream and coconut. They call it “Better Than Sex Cake’.  You’ll have to ask her if it lived up to it’s name.

I tried the Coco-Cola cake, also called Co Cola cake.  It looks dry, but it was really moist. I think they use a special kind of cocoa powder.  The frosting was really tasty, too!

Can you tell I liked it?

Our meal was very reasonably priced and the food was incredibly good.  The restaurant itself is small and a little cramped. It was a former post office filled with a lot of the original furniture.  All sorts of cool stuff.  The waitresses were friendly and it really looked like a neighborhood place.  They told us they get a lot of people flying in for take out and heading back out to their planes.  Must be nice.

I’d recommend PikNPig for anyone near Fort Bragg, NC. It’s worth the drive.

I know, I know, I’ve been neglecting my blog. I even forgot to post a Wordless Wednesday picture this week!  I’ve added a few more scheduled posts so I stay on top of it.  In the meantime, while I write some more posts, I’m going to share some of the blogs I’ve been reading.

This one belongs to my college friend, Jen’s blog. She’s crafty and talented. I’m so jealous. If she lived closer, I’d make her teach me how to be more crafty.  Her blog is called Jentastic because frankly, she is!

Somehow I started following the blogs of two sisters. I’m not sure I how I found them…I think I was searching for library bloggers and voila.  They certainly know how to multi-task since both of them have their own blogs and now they are doing a joint blog with their mother. It’s full of frugal tips and tricks about out how to conserve your money and gain a stronger financial footing.  The only thing that bugs me (and it’s not about the content) is that the blog is geared towards wives, when I feel like this is information that is useful to anyone.  Check out Frugal Wife = Frugal Life for yourself and see what you think.  I’d really like to test drive Mint.com, but my bank doesn’t cooperate with it.  In the meantime, I’m trying out various google docs to find a good, user friendly budget.

If you’re into books and looking for a good laugh Awful Library Books never fails.  Sad part is that I’ve found some books in my school library that should be showcased here.  I’ll have to remember to bring them home and scan them.

What about you?  What are some good blogs you’ve been reading?
Happy blog reading!