Mild Amusement

One of the more interesting things that I've noticed as I've gotten older is that parents control what their children eat. For example, most parents try to limit the amount of sugar that their kids consume. Sugar tends to make kids really hyper, so it's just best for everyone involved if they don't eat enough of it that they start bouncing off the walls. In that spirit, one of the tricks that I've often seen employed is to water down juice. Some of the juice that you buy is just teeming with sugar. I occasionally check the nutritional information for these things, and I was surprised by just how many grams of sugar there are in a serving. It's not quite bouncing-off-the-walls high, but it's high enough that I did a double-take the first time I noticed it. I don't have any recollection of this happening to us as kids, but it's entirely possible that my folks were just really good about hiding their tracks. Or that I was entirely oblivious to the w...

I get a lot of mistaken identities. I've been suspected of stealing my own car , and had random people assume that I was my own gardener . I also look young for my age, while simultaneously  making old people plans  on occasion. Throw in my apparently surprising penchant for speaking Spanish , and I'm just full of surprises for other people. All in all, it makes life pretty interesting. Now, I've gotten used to it. I've clearly had plenty of those experiences (see the links in the above paragraph as proof), so it comes as no surprise any more. However, if there's a second person involved, things get exponentially funnier. Take, for example, dinners out with the Mild Fiancée. She is only a year younger than me, but she looks even younger than that. We both get carded routinely, as we apparently do not look our age. For the record, that is not a complaint. The two of us will happily look young for the rest of our lives, but it's just funny when it happens. I...

So, I was home alone one day. This was not a particularly special day, it was just another weekend. It's not like we're talking about Christmas or a new member of the family or something. No, it was just another weekend, like any other. The only real difference on this particular day was that I was by myself in the house. Now, I had to do chores around the house. The first thing I was focusing on was laundry, so I threw a load into the wash. Everything was going well, and I was multi-tasking so that I could do some writing while I waited for the laundry to finish. Of course, washing the clothes is only the first half of the chore, so I had to throw that load of laundry into the dryer. I also had a second load of laundry to do, so I decided to multi-task. I threw the second load of laundry into the washer, and moved the first load into the dryer. Yes, I know that everyone does this. It's more or less standard practice. But you can't help but feel a little bit product...

Somehow, I got into crocheting a while back . I even got to put my skills to use for my new nephew, since I figured he could use a one-up mushroom beanie . All in all, I'm pretty happy about this turn of events. I get to make people hand-made gifts, and that goes over pretty well. I've also found that it's a half-way decent way to relax and unwind in the evenings. If I've had a rough day at work, I can spend some time thinking about a crochet hook instead. So, yeah, it's been a good thing. That said, it's showed up in other parts of my life, sometimes in surprising ways. For starters, my brother made fun of me. I forget exactly what he said, but it was something to the effect of me being an old lady. I can't say that I was entirely surprised, since I figured someone was bound to poke fun eventually. It just so happened to be him, in this case. Also, it was all in fun, so we both laughed about it. The other thing that came up, however, was at work. So...

Let's start today's post with a fact: I don't wear make up. That may be a strange opening line, but I mention it so that it's clear that I have zero first-hand experience with the stuff. The little knowledge that I do have comes from overhearing some video that the Mild Fiancée is watching. So take everything that comes after this with a grain of salt. Okay, with that disclaimer out of the way, I have actually learned a few things about make up over the course of this relationship. Some of it is really easy to remember, because it's led to some interesting discussions. Guys, if I asked you whether primer or foundation goes on first, would you know? My female cousins and friends immediately know that it's primer, but the really amusing part is that half the time, they scoff at the fact that a guy wouldn't know. I mean, it's called "primer," for crying out loud. Whenever you paint something, you put the primer on first. Of course, after the gu...

I've mentioned it before, but my family and I play fantasy football . The first season we did this, we had hilarity at the draft, and people were demanding that we start the whole thing over. We also had people who had never once cared about football rooting for individual players. All in all, it was a good time. Heck, I even joked that we should institute a fantasy league for a reality TV show and I wasn't laughed out of the room. Well, that was last year. Now that it's a year later, that means it's time for another round of fantasy football. This time, we've got some one-year veterans who are chomping at the bit to go, and the Mild Fiancée is also in on the fun. As you can imagine, this has led to all sorts of fun. Now, I'm hardly an expert in any of this (as the performance of my fantasy football teams can attest to), but it's been fun imparting some knowledge to the Mild Fiancée. There are terms that I have taken for granted for so long that I've...

So, the Mild Fiancée and I have a history with Mac and Cheese . The last time we decided to bring it to a family meal, there were all sorts of shenanigans. As it turns out, though, this was not an isolated incident. In that particular case, we decided to bring a very healthy version of mac and cheese. This time around, however, we decided to go the exact opposite route. There was no Greek yogurt this time around. No, instead, we put bacon and chorizo into it this time. We also put in something like five cheeses. I say "something like" because I'm not even sure how many ended up in the mac and cheese. In fact, that was part of the hilarity. We started with a very vegetable-heavy base (onions and celery), as we are wont to do. Then we added the cheeses. I had personally grated 3 different kinds of cheeses, and the Mild Fiancée had grated a different one, so let me tell you: there was a lot of cheese. However, the sauce still didn't have that gooey, yellow color th...