Magical Fruit

I made a quick and easy version of Mexican pizza for lunch today. Of course, refried beans were a main ingredient. For some reason, the whole time I was eating I had this little diddy in my head:

Beans! Beans!
A musical fruit
The more you eat
The more you toot

The more you toot
The better you feel
So let's have beans
at every meal

My grandpa and my mom taught this song to my sister and me when we were little. It's funny for many reasons, and funny-odd because beans aren't a fruit. When I was little, I used to sing the song: Beans! Beans! A magical fruit... I never could make the connection between that and the following lines. It makes a lot more sense now.
Somehow, I got to thinking about that, and it made me wonder what the most magical (perceived as magical) fruit is. I think that it's the pomegranite. Maybe I pulled that idea from a book read during my youth, but it might be a widely held notion.
I had never tried a pomegranite until quite recently. I hear that they are very popular in Iran, so Reza gave me an intro to the mystical item. I was expecting something along the lines of palate-overwhelming ambrosia goodness. Holy Crap! Pomegranite is absolutely disgusting.
Another interesting tidbit: the refried beans were manufactured (Is that the word for making and canning a food item?) by Celestial Seasonings, the tea company, here in Boulder. Who'da thunk it? Tea and refried beans, a match made on Mt. Olympus.

Could I Be Established?

Yesterday, I received my new Colorado driver's license in the mail. Unlike the fine system at the MI secretary of state, the Colorado camera is one of those deceptive ones where you end up looking over the lens. In short, I have my first bad license picture.
More importantly, I got the job at the ski resort yesterday. I told her I wanted the weekend to think about it, because of the MT thing. Now, though, I know that I just don't want to move. I know that some people may think that I am crazy for taking a job like this, but never fear. I have a plan. I want this job in order to meet fun people in the area and also because it is seasonal. I don't want to get integrated into some system, and then say, "It's been great, but SURPRISE I'm going to grad school now." So, I'm pretty happy about the whole thing. Oh! I will also get to learn how to ski for free. Yay!

Most Exciting Day Ever!

...and keep in mind that all this happened since 5pm-ish...

So first I receive an email from the Montana Americorps thing, saying something along the lines of: Welcome to the MLSA blah blah blah. Whoa. So now I have to think about that, you know, for real like. In order to cope, I go for a little run, the only uneventful activity of the evening. My mind is going. I'm thinking about Great Falls, MT (which by the way is in the high plains/"frontier" not the mountains), and if I will go there. I don't know. It's like I see all these great reasons to go, but the gut reaction is not excitement, which I would think appropriate.
After the run and the post-run (stretch, shower...), it's time to make dinner. I hear my phone ring the voicemail signal. For some reason the you-have-voicemail signal comes through every now and then. The phone doesn't ring. I can't call my voicemail or anyone/thing else from the phone. The occasional alarm is all I've got going for me. Anyway, I decide to listen to the messages. Three. Number 1: athletic director calling me back about a middle school girls bball asst coaching job. I was surprised because the first interview had ended with, "Um...well...we might get back to you..." after I had said I couldn't commit to more than one season. So I was pretty psyched about that. Message 2: Eldora ski resort calling for an interview. Yay! Now I'm super excited. (The last message was for Reza.) This is the reaction I want to feel about a job, especially if I have to drastically change my life (read: move to the Kansas section of MT).
Now, I don't think that the excitement from the recently received news was the cause of the day's Grand Finale, but maybe... I open the oven to check on Reza's chicken and my yam (which I am learning to like b/c of high vitamin content). The chicken looks good and needs a closer inspection. I grab the towel from the oven towel hangy bar to pull out the shelf without scorching my delicate hand. The next thing I know, THE TOWEL IS ON FIRE. Now when you're inside and you are unexpectedly holding something that is aflame, you (I now know from experience) don't act perhaps as rationally as you would otherwise. Let's just say that I completely ignored the sink directly to my right and instead threw the towel down onto the floor to stomp on it (followed by wacking it with the slipper in hand). That worked and luckily did not burn or scorch, in any way, the beautiful wooden floor. All is well now except for the towel with an unfortunate blackened hole in the corner. The incident has motivated a relocation of the ovenmits to a drawer more easily accessible from the oven.

the past few

Well, the chili cookoff went well. I got third place overall, which ain't too shabby for a vegetarian chili. The scene wasn't as crazy as last year, but I don't know how it possibly could have been. I mean, last year I was clubbing in downtown Denver, eating at a waffle house 45 minutes from there, sleeping in a truck, and hiking in Estes Park all within a 12 hour time frame. I won a mix CD for my third place showing, and it's pretty good. Overall, a success, though I must admit it was hard not to win. Rumors were flying about the second place winner being rather skilled with a can opener, if you catch my drift.

Yesterday I met the baby and gave the blanket I made to her. Her name is Melicka, and she is super tiny! She is a month old and still three pounds lighter than I was at birth. Her mom thinks she's big becuase she can't hold her in one hand anymore. Anyway, she's cute and seems like a pretty happy baby.

New Pictures

You have a crazy gum.

Hey, what do you know, I'm actually doing stuff!

Yesterday, I finished the baby blanket that I have been working on for a friend's new addition. I even have sores on my finger to prove it. I may put up a picture of the blanket sometime. I really like how it turned out. While I worked on it, I listened to a book on tape, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I've noticed a lot of similarities between his and my writing styles. The book on tape while crocheting (and cutting and cutting and cutting...) was one of my better ideas. Now I can get back to work on Cait's afghan.

On Monday, I met Alicia, Brittney, Holly, Katelyn (I don't know how she spells it, actually) and Allison for dinner in Boulder. We went to an Asian Bistro or some such thing, and I was a little sad because Holly ordered something better than me (seasame tofu vs. my tofu curry). On the other hand, I ordered a delicious seaweed salad, pardon me, sea vegetable salad. Now that I'm vegan, they are sea vegetables because I actually eat them. Well, I ate them before, but now I just know better what to call them. That aside, we had a fun time and it seemed silly that Brittney, Holly and I haven't gotten together before.

On Sunday, Reza and I went to a Persian celebration in Sunshine Canyon at this beautiful little event "hall" (it seems weird to call a twelve-sided structure a hall). The little kids put on a production (in costume) and they were so cute! There was lots of good-looking food, and I felt sad that I couldn't eat a lot of it. Reza and I danced and had a lot of fun, even though we got seperated a couple times because of a combination of his popularity and the need to showcase his high-caliber dancing skills. One thing that I found very strange was that they were only serving hot tea and beer for beverages. The hall was rather hot, so I had my first beer in quite a while, which I think bothered Reza just a little bit.

On Saturday, we went to an outdoor bluegrass concert in Niwot. The music was pretty good, I thought, but Reza didn't particularly care for it. The town of Niwot was a new discovery for me. It is great! It reminds me of a liberal version of Manchester, and it has a good-looking quilt shop.

I'm not sure what day it was, but I watched American Beauty for the second time and was reminded of what a great movie it is. Soon (I am at the library right now and about to check it out) I will see The Good The Bad and The Ugly. (Wow, I almost just got drunk from smelling the two fellows who just walked by my little desk cubby.) They have a strange selection of movies at the Boulder Public Library. I have to believe that it is one of the few libraries in the country that boasts a series of videos on improving your skateboarding trick skills.

I think I'm going to go to New York for the marathon and a visit.

real snow and apples

It really snowed! About 11 inches. Now, I realize that this is old news to all you Weather Channel watchers out there. I went to their homepage to check out what was in store and the whole thing was littered with info about the HUGE SNOWSTORM "blanketing" us. Debra's reaction was, "It usually snows sometime in September; this is a little late." These news stations really get worked up about stuff. I don't think they even had any snow stick in Denver. Interesting... So, even though the roads were all clear (the whole time), I used the snow as a good reason to stay home, build a fire and relax. It was great. Well, the fire got a little too stoked for a while last night, but I lived. I guess I need to buy my snow tires now.

The other day, I took a flying leap into adulthood: I bought my own insurance, auto and renter's. I imagine it will seem even crazier when I take out my first life insurance policy. It wasn't too much of a hassle anyway. I called a bunch of places for quotes, then I went to the cheapest plact and took care of the thing. I was pretty surprised by the range of prices. Geico was outrageously expensive AND their claim to fame is a lizard. I prefer the AllState ads, in which they say that they will help you in case of an accident. Somehow that is more reassuring to me than a lizard driving a convertible. Maybe the whole thing was spurred by the Aflak duck?
When I called Geico (my first call), and I told the woman that I needed to call around more, she reiterated the basics of the policy she had quoted and warned me to be sure to "compare apples to apples." Now, I've probably heard this saying a hundred times in my life, but I started thinking about it this time. Maybe it's the fact that my apple selection is more limited here than it was in MI. Maybe it's because the Geico policy was $300 more for $75,000 less coverage than AAA. I don't know, but something struck me: that "apples to apples" saying doesn't make any sense. There are so many kinds of apples. They say when you don't compare apples to apples you compare apples to oranges, but comparing a red delicious with a cortland is like comparing a Geo Prisim with a fighter jet. Don't you agree? A red "delicious" may as well be an orange (although oranges are better). The real problem here is this: I haven't seen one cortland apple for sale here and it's (obviously) making me crazy.

I also took a big step toward becoming a Coloradoan. I got my car registered here. Don't worry, though, when I was home I made a stop at the M-Den and the license plates are ringed with Wolverine swag. I haven't gotten my driver's license yet, but don't listen to those people who say that the only reason is that I'm growing my hair out and it looks ugly. They don't know what they're talking about!

Help decide the pumpkin carving contest winner! Check out the pictures!

New Pictures

mountain lodge

Yay! The house is turning into a mountain lodge! For one thing, Debra is dressing it up a little for the season. She decided to install a non-life-sized scarecrow into the flower box next to the main door. Now, this scarecrow is a smiling, happy guy without a care in the world. You know, it's the kind that was never intended to be scary. Well, that plan fell through. After a cold and blustery night, our innocent hero (me) went downstairs to have her daily dose of granola for breakfast. When what does she spot sillohetted in the glass of the doorway? Some guy! AHHHHHHH! Okay, it reallly only took me a moment to realize what it acually was, but I had a momentary bolt of fear strike my heart. What am I, some kind of crow? Anyway, I am going to contribute today by buying my pumpkin(s) and cooking the seeds. Yes! Last night, Reza and I winterized the house and enjoyed playing cards in front of the fire. To top it all off, I received some super-sweet warm goods from Dre on the very day of the first snowfall. Okay, it was just flurries that didn't stick, but it was still exciting.

New Pictures

Bruised Butt

Two days ago Debra and John took me out biking on this close-to-home trail. Reza came, too, and ran while we biked. The trail was really fun, but basically a rock garden, which means lots of bouncing. Now, I don't know why I haven't switched to a better seat on my mountain bike, but I haven't, and now I am paying the price with a painfully bruised tush. It wouldn't be dumb, but this isn't the first time this has happened. My palms are a little sensitive, too, becuase I didn't wear my gloves. I thought it was going to be an even dirt road kind of ride; it was good and bad that it wasn't. Then yesterday, I went for a five and a half mile run, and I think my knee is pretty much okay. Yay! I am still going to use some Athletic Recovery Oil on it though.

Two apologies to my readers: First, I think that my posts might be getting a little boring. I can't really tell for myself, though. Anyway, I am going to work on it. Second, I had to enable letter ID for posting comments. I can't take the spam anymore. Maybe it was bothering you, too.