My father's name was Richard Howell. Many called him Richie - some called him Dick; (The some were right.) I grew up in a HUGE condo development on Heritage Drive, in New City, New York which was a suburb about 1 hour north of NYC. Now Richie Howell, (that's how Luis and I refer to my departed father - we call him Richie Howell;) was a real character (I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in my family;) and he fancied himself, quite the politician. SO, Richie Howell became the President of "the Association." Now as an adult, I assume that it was the equivalent of a homeowners association; BUT this was SERIOUS business. Richie Howell was President FOREVER. He was like the FDR of Heritage Drive, minus the bucked tooth wife and wheel chair. No one dare run against Richie Howell for President, he was just a fixture. He hired the lifeguards, he interviewed the local political candidates and "suggested" to our residents who to vote for. He came up with the idea to sell permits to ice cream men that wanted to come into our community (BUT that definitely will be a story for another time;) and basically he was just IN CHARGE.
Now, there is an older gentleman who lives in my neighborhood; and although Luis is NOT often funny, one day he referred to this guy as Richie Howell and I just laughed myself CRAZY. I thought this was HYSTERICAL. You know, he is the guy who is always going door to door with a petition for something or letting people know about this and that, and believe it or not, he's not even on "The Association." I guess he's just a good citizen. I mean I KNOW he goes to the meetings; and he may have held an office at some point, but I don't believe he currently does. AND, I have to say this while I'm talking about him. 2 Thanksgivings ago, Luis decided to go out in the evening for a little run (Yes people who know Luis; he CAN run.) Anyway, when he came back he told me that he got sick while he was out running and threw up on 2 people's lawns - OH dear god; you guessed it; one of them was Richie Howell's. LOL We were convinced that he'd have had video cameras set up; or that he was going to go knocking door to door saying "Neighbors, I just want you to know that there is someone out there going around and throwing up on people's lawns; so beware." Ahh, too funny. I LOVE that story.
Let's round the curve - OK so tonight when I got home from Lyndzi's swimming lesson, I saw Richie Howell going up to someones door with what looked like a clip board;and as I pulled into my driveway there was a woman and girl at my next door neighbors. The woman approached my garage and started talking before I'd even gotten out. I asked her to repeat herself because I couldn't hear her (I was still IN the garage) and she told me that she was going to have a blood drive at her house on Saturday and she was trying to sign people up top give blood.
OK; well you all should know by now that I am Queen of Fearing needles. I mean this is me we're talking about. Girl who had 3 kids with no epidurals and no drugs - and why did I do that? NO, not because I'm some crunchy, Granola girl, I mean I DO have several good reasons; (if you ever want to know them; just ask me;) BUT #1 at the top of my list is FEAR OF NEEDLES. OK, so I decide to be honest and I say "I'm sorry but I have a terrible fear of needles; I just can't." And with this Mrs. Howell (well I'm assuming it was Mrs. Howell) Rolled her eyes at me and turned down her nose. Say it with me "Oh no she didn't!!" Well yes friends - SHE DID!! OK, well, you know me, this was not going to be left unaddressed. I got my back up and in a civilized voice I said "Excuse me ma'am, but you are going around trying to get people to volunteer, and there are people who for whatever reasons are going to say no and you're going to roll your eyes at them - How rude." And then she retorted "Well, you'd better hope that your children don't ever have to go to the hospital and need blood when there are people like you out there who won't help them." OH BOY! Let's just say I had a few choice words for her and they weren't Merry Christmas. I honestly couldn't believe it; I mean like #1. I don't even know this woman's real name and I'm supposed to give her a personal reason that she might accept so that I don't have to give blood at her blood drive - and I mean what kind of loons, just decide to have a blood drive at their house on any given Saturday? I mean what if I was HIV positive, or had some kind of disease (God forbid) that would prevent me from giving blood; should I have had to explain this to Mrs. Howell, just because she felt like being a good Samaritan - sheesh!! I'm sure that some of you may be disappointed in me; because I wasn't going to give the blood; and God help me, I sure hope there doesn't come a day that me or my family or friends need blood; but hey, I do
a lot of other things and give in a lot of other ways; and hopefully that will buy me a free pass in the blood department but I DON'T have to explain or justify that to Mrs. Howell - only to you.
Why does this never fail? I always seem to get myself into these messes. Can you say "You have a Big mouth your highness; or you need some anger management your majesty, or maybe just - you should have said you weren't going to be home on Saturday you moron."
I'm sure Mrs. Howell didn't leave her house thinking that she was going to alienate her neighbors by trying to do a good deed; but I tell you I feel like over feeding my husband and pointing him in the direction of her house - Feel like taking a run Luis?? Can you tell I'm still annoyed?
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING
Monday, June 2, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Diet Coke Chocolate Cake
Welcome to my 51st blog!! It hardly seems possible. I actually had no idea that I had reached such a mile stone, or should I say 'Mild" stone; (I mean in the world of blogging, 51 is probably not even a drop in the bucket, but for me Queen of Less and Less Free Time Lately, I think 51 is impressive.) Anyway, I logged on just to put this little and I do mean "little" post and there it was, my profile, and it said 50 posts - who knew?? SO yay Queen of writing a blog once and a while !! Happy 51st blog, and may it not take me another 15 months to post 50 more - LOL
Anyway, on to my little post...
Earlier tonight I sent an email to many of my friends, so most of you are probably going to feel REALLY cheated right now; because all I'm going to write about is the Diet Coke Chocolate Cake. Sorry for the tease friends; but on the off chance that anyone who reads "The Bumpy Ride" isn't on my personal email list; I want them to know about this AMAZING cake; cause you know me, I'm ALL ABOUT the GREATER GOOD.
OK, so yesterday I ran into my friend Mari in the Super Walmart parking lot. She mentioned my previous blog, or should I say mine & Michelle (.....K's) previous blog, and we were talking about weight loss. Mari told me that she's been doing Weight Watchers for 2 weeks and she had made this Chocolate cake with Diet Coke, and it was D-Licious. I was fascinated and since I was heading into the Super Walmart I felt compelled to buy the ingredients.
It really couldn't be any easier. All you do is get a Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix (she specified Duncan Hines, so I bought Duncan Hines; if you want to try something else; let me know how it works - see again there's that Queen of Following the Rules thing in full effect. Anyway, you add 1 can of Diet Coke (and yah, I don't know, I asked if it had to be DIET COKE per se, and Mari couldn't really say one way or another - and so of course I had Luis buy 1 can of Diet Coke - you know why. ) I personally prefer Diet Dr.Pepper; which actually might be pretty tasty in the cake; Diet Pepsi or Coke Zero, but for the purpose of this cake I put in the can of DIET COKE; and that's it. No eggs, no oil, just stir the cake mix with the Diet Coke and bake as per the instructions on the box. Serve it with some Cool Whip Free and I swear to you it tastes like a Hostess cupcake. Mari had told me exactly that and by golly she was right - a Hostess, Friggin cupcake.
Now, make no mistake, of course there's still sugar, and there's still carbs, but it's a lot less fattening and moist as can be. I recommend eating it before your last meal of the day, because about 2 months ago I stopped eating carbs and dessert during my last meal of the day and or after; and I attribute MOST of my weight loss thus far to this; even though I'm still going to the gym 5 times a week. (I have the metabolism of a snail and it is difficult for me to lose pounds, but this practice really has seemed to help - AGAIN , information being shared for the purpose of the GREATER GOOD.)
Well, as promised; just a "little" blog. I just wanted to share this CRAZY recipe with you; and or affirm that this recipe DOES WORK (if you happen to have seen it before.) Now with my luck there's probably some study out there showing how baking the carbonation of the Diet Coke into the cake has actually proved harmful. But now I've done it; I've gone and posted a blog about how great it is; so be prepared for me to recant my recommendation at any time; cause you know, sometimes I'm just the Queen of being The LAST To Know. Hahaha BUT in case it really is safe; I'm told there is a yellow cake recipe with Diet 7 up or Diet Orange or Diet Mountain Dew (a lot less restrictive than the DIET COKE I guess;) and for some reason lately lemon EVERYTHING has been sounding great to me, so I'll keep you posted.
Alrighty, I've said enough. I hope you try and enjoy this treat as much as me and my family did.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING
Anyway, on to my little post...
Earlier tonight I sent an email to many of my friends, so most of you are probably going to feel REALLY cheated right now; because all I'm going to write about is the Diet Coke Chocolate Cake. Sorry for the tease friends; but on the off chance that anyone who reads "The Bumpy Ride" isn't on my personal email list; I want them to know about this AMAZING cake; cause you know me, I'm ALL ABOUT the GREATER GOOD.
OK, so yesterday I ran into my friend Mari in the Super Walmart parking lot. She mentioned my previous blog, or should I say mine & Michelle (.....K's) previous blog, and we were talking about weight loss. Mari told me that she's been doing Weight Watchers for 2 weeks and she had made this Chocolate cake with Diet Coke, and it was D-Licious. I was fascinated and since I was heading into the Super Walmart I felt compelled to buy the ingredients.
It really couldn't be any easier. All you do is get a Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix (she specified Duncan Hines, so I bought Duncan Hines; if you want to try something else; let me know how it works - see again there's that Queen of Following the Rules thing in full effect. Anyway, you add 1 can of Diet Coke (and yah, I don't know, I asked if it had to be DIET COKE per se, and Mari couldn't really say one way or another - and so of course I had Luis buy 1 can of Diet Coke - you know why. ) I personally prefer Diet Dr.Pepper; which actually might be pretty tasty in the cake; Diet Pepsi or Coke Zero, but for the purpose of this cake I put in the can of DIET COKE; and that's it. No eggs, no oil, just stir the cake mix with the Diet Coke and bake as per the instructions on the box. Serve it with some Cool Whip Free and I swear to you it tastes like a Hostess cupcake. Mari had told me exactly that and by golly she was right - a Hostess, Friggin cupcake.
Now, make no mistake, of course there's still sugar, and there's still carbs, but it's a lot less fattening and moist as can be. I recommend eating it before your last meal of the day, because about 2 months ago I stopped eating carbs and dessert during my last meal of the day and or after; and I attribute MOST of my weight loss thus far to this; even though I'm still going to the gym 5 times a week. (I have the metabolism of a snail and it is difficult for me to lose pounds, but this practice really has seemed to help - AGAIN , information being shared for the purpose of the GREATER GOOD.)
Well, as promised; just a "little" blog. I just wanted to share this CRAZY recipe with you; and or affirm that this recipe DOES WORK (if you happen to have seen it before.) Now with my luck there's probably some study out there showing how baking the carbonation of the Diet Coke into the cake has actually proved harmful. But now I've done it; I've gone and posted a blog about how great it is; so be prepared for me to recant my recommendation at any time; cause you know, sometimes I'm just the Queen of being The LAST To Know. Hahaha BUT in case it really is safe; I'm told there is a yellow cake recipe with Diet 7 up or Diet Orange or Diet Mountain Dew (a lot less restrictive than the DIET COKE I guess;) and for some reason lately lemon EVERYTHING has been sounding great to me, so I'll keep you posted.
Alrighty, I've said enough. I hope you try and enjoy this treat as much as me and my family did.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Top 10
Oh where oh where have I been? I'm hoping that's the question on a lot of peoples minds; or well at least ya, know, the 10 people or so who read my blog. Well, you know me, busy, busy, busy and although I have WANTED to write like it is nobody's business; till recently I was void on time and hadn't really found a compelling topic; but now, man the floodgates are open and I'm full of ideas, which I PROMISE, will not all be crammed into one blog - BELIEVE IT or not.
Anyway, I was thinking that I'd try to be clever and come up with a top ten list of reasons that I hadn't written "The Bumpy Ride" in so long; but thought better of it and recruited Michelle (May finally become legally K at some point this year) to do my funny work for me. Michelle (......K) is a Master at creating Top Ten lists; I mean she gives Dave a run for his money (not to build her up too much) but I have seen some that almost make me pee my pants, (not as if that's so uncommon; although I must say that going to the gym has greatly helped this ailment.) So, you get the point, she's friggin, fantastically, talented and unbelievably funny and yes, this time it is at my expense, but I had to share. So without further ado, I give you our top 10 reasons that I haven't writen my blog in so long:
1. Spent last six weeks poring over Bazzil cardstock to find the perfect color match to a layout she is doing over.
2. Is on her 4,999th visit to the gym - one more and she gets to appear in a commercial!
3. Is still trying to wake up Luis.
4. Is busy trying to coordinate 14 crops, six couples Nights, three kids' parties and a Memorial Day barbecue.
5. She's working on new cheers and her cartwheel for next soccer season.
6. She is trying to watch the 64 hours of General Hospital she has DVR'd.
7. She's trying to get Kelsie to do something she doesn't want to do.
8. She is busy stalking the bobble head woman in hopes of getting a picture of her from the front.
9. She's down 19 pounds - her fingers are too skinny and keep slipping between the keys on the keyboard tray, making typing bothersome
10. Let's face it - blogging does not burn enough calories!!!
She kills me!! So basically this is my first blog back in a while and most of it was written by Michelle (......K) NICE!! If you want to check out more of Michelle (......K 's) writing, you can read her blog at Dysfunctionaltales.blogspot.com and as promised; I do have irons in the fire, tales to tell, and pleanty of news and opinions to share. I just wanted to wet your appetite. I promise to be back soon.
Till Next time....
Queen of EVERYTHING
Anyway, I was thinking that I'd try to be clever and come up with a top ten list of reasons that I hadn't written "The Bumpy Ride" in so long; but thought better of it and recruited Michelle (May finally become legally K at some point this year) to do my funny work for me. Michelle (......K) is a Master at creating Top Ten lists; I mean she gives Dave a run for his money (not to build her up too much) but I have seen some that almost make me pee my pants, (not as if that's so uncommon; although I must say that going to the gym has greatly helped this ailment.) So, you get the point, she's friggin, fantastically, talented and unbelievably funny and yes, this time it is at my expense, but I had to share. So without further ado, I give you our top 10 reasons that I haven't writen my blog in so long:
1. Spent last six weeks poring over Bazzil cardstock to find the perfect color match to a layout she is doing over.
2. Is on her 4,999th visit to the gym - one more and she gets to appear in a commercial!
3. Is still trying to wake up Luis.
4. Is busy trying to coordinate 14 crops, six couples Nights, three kids' parties and a Memorial Day barbecue.
5. She's working on new cheers and her cartwheel for next soccer season.
6. She is trying to watch the 64 hours of General Hospital she has DVR'd.
7. She's trying to get Kelsie to do something she doesn't want to do.
8. She is busy stalking the bobble head woman in hopes of getting a picture of her from the front.
9. She's down 19 pounds - her fingers are too skinny and keep slipping between the keys on the keyboard tray, making typing bothersome
10. Let's face it - blogging does not burn enough calories!!!
She kills me!! So basically this is my first blog back in a while and most of it was written by Michelle (......K) NICE!! If you want to check out more of Michelle (......K 's) writing, you can read her blog at Dysfunctionaltales.blogspot.com and as promised; I do have irons in the fire, tales to tell, and pleanty of news and opinions to share. I just wanted to wet your appetite. I promise to be back soon.
Till Next time....
Queen of EVERYTHING
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