The magic of the pantry

Since my pantry is underneath the stairs it is quite the odd shape. You basically have to fold yourself in half and insert yourself into it.

Luckily I'm short.

And bendy.

I'm deep into the massive Red Hot Popcorn campaign and going through Red Hots like water. A quick trip to the store was in order last night. Three boxes later I felt better. It takes 9 oz. for each recipe and since each box is 7 oz. I have to have at least two. While at the store again today I found three more boxes.

Why not? We're also using them in another recipe this holiday. So now, six boxes purchased, one and a half at home, I was comforted.

When I got home with enough groceries for the whole neighborhood I decided to clean out the pantry while I had the time and the obvious loss of my mind.

Look what I ended up with.

I think I'm good for a while.

Maybe some other time I'll tell you what else I found in the pantry.

But not yet.

I need to work through it.

14 years!

Today is my 14th anniversary. I can't believe it. It seems like it was just a few years ago that we tied the knot. We were so young, 21 and 24. Now, three children, three houses, five cars, five jobs, two refrigerators, four comforter sets, and 10 paint colors later I am more in love with him. If I didn't have 14 things that had to be done today I'd spend more time on this, but he'll understand.

I love you honey!

Aha!

Thank goodness for Facebook! I got the answer to my question. This is from a friend from high school. Well, I don't know that we were friends...acquaintances? We didn't run in the same circle. Well, in a class of 72 there really weren't that many circles.

Have I lost you all?

I guess I'm saying...thank goodness for the internet! I now have a relationship with people that I knew in high school but didn't know like I wish I could have.

Now, knew, know. My goodness. I sound so theological.

Anyway, if anyone is still reading at this point, here's her reply.

She is married to a military man who is currently deployed. She's raising two boys while he's gone.

LOL.... I totally get ya. We live very close to the border and even going to Walmart or Target is a multi-national event. I am often the only English speaker in line to check out. Irritates me like none other when I have to tell the salesperson to speak English.

The "candy" is probably Tamarind flavored. The kids all eat stuff like that in Hawaii and here in AZ. It is spicy, smokey, sour, and paired with dried squid strips or sweet sticky candy here....gross... but the kids like it. It even comes in a powdered, salty form and the kids shake it out of the little plastic shakers and lick it off their hands. They also eat salted plums(salditos) stuck in fruit, yuck.

Even though it's gross, don't you love the new experiences? That is what I love about being in a military family; we are always learning and trying new things.

Well, I learned something today!

Technical Difficulties

I came home from church yesterday and grabbed my laptop to finish up the Christmas card envelopes and start on the letter. It takes me quite a bit of time every year to print out the letter and make it fit in the borders of the cute paper I always get at the end of Christmas sales. I hit the hibernation button and eagerly waited.

My laptop is like my best friend. Always there for me.

But not this time. All I got was a black screen and a blinking cursor. Thankfully Shawn was home. People pay him big bucks to fix their computer problems. I have no money, but I can cook for him!

He's been working on it off and on since 1:00 yesterday...and still no luck. It's the weirdest thing. I have become his most challenging client. It was bound to happen some day.

So here I sit on the old laptop. The laptop I loved until I got the nice newer one. Now I just hate it. And it knows. The battery is shot and the power cord doesn't connect exactly like it should so it shuts off at any given time. I've had to restart 4 times just to make it this far in the post.

I have no Photoshop, no pictures, and no videos. I feel lost. And alone.

I might actually accomplish something outside the computer world today.

Oh boy.

The search for a sucker

McKinley's drama class presented their showcase this week. For one small, tiny, little, miniscule part she needed a sucker. Not a Dum-Dum, but a big swirly old-fashioned one.

I looked at Wal-Mart and Target but couldn't find one. Any other kind of sucker, it was there.

My last chance? The store I don't like to go to. Where I'm a minority. Where I don't understand any of the announcements or words in the music being played. And where I certainly don't want to walk by the meat department.

They have obscure things so I thought I had a shot. We searched all over and finally found a unique candy area. I couldn't read any of the titles but figured out the things on the stick weren't suckers but chocolate covered marshmallows in the shape of a foot.

Interesting.

I also found these.



Those would be fish, and shrimp.

Dried apparently.

Let's process this.

They're in the candy area.

Are they sweet?

Are they necessary?

Anyone out there know?