Channeling Karen Walker

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For those of you not familiar with Karen Walker, she was a character on the late 90's/early-mid 00's sitcom, Will & Grace. Karen "worked" for Grace as her assistant in her interior design office. (Yes, "worked" is in quotation marks, as Karen did as little work as possible.)

Karen had NO filter.

Karen said what was on everyone's mind.

Karen didn't beat around the bush.

Karen was pretty hardcore.

Here are some of her witticisms:


"Wow, ten years of game night. What a milestone. Maybe you should celebrate with a suicide pact."


"Oh hey! Somebody got flowers. Or as I like to call them, poor people jewelry."


"The only other person I’ve apologized to is my mother and that was court ordered."


"Excuse me, lady, would you happen to have a breath mint? You do? Well, pop it in your mouth, woman. It’s not doing any good in your purse!"


"Well, you’re all boring and I’m fun."

Some days I wish I could be Karen Walker.

I guess I'll just have to channel her via this blog.

Here would be my Karen Walker witticisms (and they're not NEARLY as good as the real thing):


"You don't know how to use the Internet in 2015? Where'd you park your horse & buggy??"


"Is there a reason you're not putting your groceries on the belt? Are you waiting for a green light? Written invite?"


"I appreciate you putting all of your random and mundane thoughts into writing and sending them to me via text. Really, I do."


"Yes, Secret is a deodorant brand, but it's no secret that people like you should use it!"


"I wrote that email to waste some time I had on my hands. Feel free to disregard it and respond with something that will require me to write it again. And again."

Long Weekend Means Posting Two Days In a Row!

When it rains, it pours!

Literally (here in New England) & figuratively!

It's Patriots' Day here in Massachusetts where we commemorate the Battles of Lexington & Concord, the first battles of the Revolutionary War.

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It's also known as Marathon Monday, as the Boston Marathon is run.

So, what does that mean? That means no work today and a three-day weekend!

Let me catch you up on the doings around here.

This is in the oven right now:

You can find the recipe and the photo for Italian Sausage Lasagna here.

I'm trying to use up stuff in our freezer and we had some ground Italian sausage (which I usually use to make Paul's Pronto Penne) and I decided to find a new recipe to use it in. It was somewhat labor intensive, so I REALLY hope it tastes good!

Since we didn't have work today, I was able to stay up and watch BOTH of favorite Sunday night shows. 

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Call the Midwife & Mad Men! 

Call the Midwife peaked last season, in my opinion, but I really enjoyed last night's episode. 

It's Mad Men's last season and again, I think it peaked long ago, but I'm doing due diligence and seeing it through to the end. (Plus, I'm enamored with the fashion. Come to think of it, I'm enamored of the fashion in both of these shows.)

This month marks the fact that this blog has lived on for NINE YEARS!!!! Can you believe that? You can read my first (somewhat boring) post here. I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping this project alive for that long, since I tend to have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to projects.

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While this blog started mostly for me to chronicle John and I buying our first house together and all that entailed, it's turned into so much more. Writing is very cathartic for me and when I make the time for it, I enjoy it and benefit from it. (And if it's just my mother reading still, so be it! Love you mom!)

I'm actively on the look out for an Idaho blog to feature in my 50 States? 50 Blogs? feature, so if you have one to suggest, let me know! (I don't want to go six months between states again!) Perhaps a potato farmer's blog? (Sorry Idahoans, but that's what I associate you with.)

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(Yes, it took me a minute to figure that one out...)

We did some yard work on Saturday and I'm really ready for Spring. (I was ready weeks ago!) I must say that I am thankful that the rain is not snow. Can you imagine? Let's not.

I was inspired by a blog post I saw from Mommy's Kitchen to do some container gardening on our back porch. I bought this from Walmart (minus the flowers) and will set up on our porch with some colorful flowers of my own that love lots of sun (if it ever shows up).

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That's what's doing around here. How was your weekend?

50 States? 50 Blogs!: Hawaii

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(As you can imagine, there are no road signs that say "Welcome to Hawaii," so this is one from the Honolulu Airport.)

Hastings in Hawaii

First let me start by saying that it's been almost six months to the day since I wrote the last "50 States? 50 Blogs! post." (Never mind the fact that I haven't written a post in general in about two months. UGH!)

I've had a particularly hard time deciding on a blog to feature for Hawaii. There were a few that I liked OK...one stopped writing regularly (kind of like me!) and the other one just didn't wow me or feel worthy of me featuring (I take this VERY seriously!)

Since I joined Bloglovin', I've found that it's a good site to search for blogs/bloggers from specific states. I found Hastings In Hawaii via a search on Bloglovin' and knew that it was the one! I've had it in my back pocket for a while, but I had to hurry up and write about it, as it won't be "Hastings in Hawaii" much longer, but "Hastings in Nevada!" So, here we are.

The Hastings are Amelia (the blogger), Matt & furchildren, Bennett & Frankie. The Hawaii part is due to Matt being in the USMC and being stationed there. (Although, as I alluded to above, not for long! They'll be moving to Las Vegas in the near future.)

When I read Amelia's first post and saw "ate an entire bag of Fritos in one sitting," I knew it was Kismet. We'd get along just famously.

Amelia's blog is not your typical military family blog (in my opinion.) She certainly does talk about the challenges of military life, specifically deployments (Matt will be on deployment #3 in June), but she talks about "real life" stuff. (If you've been reading my "50 States? 50 Blogs? series, you'll know that these are the types of blogs I like to read and showcase.)

Here are some examples of "real life" for Hastings in Hawaii:

• Bennett (aforementioned furchild) had to have an emergency trip the vet due to urinary issues. (Turned out to be a UTI and Bennett was fixed up and returned to his normal self shortly thereafter.) In the post, Amelia shares Bennett's "rump shot" x-ray. TOO CUTE!

• Amelia shares her struggles with weight and going on and off Weight Watchers (which I can definitely relate to.) She not only shares her losses but also her gains. She's real about how tough it can be.

• Amelia also shares her struggle with social media, specifically Facebook and how it can "suck the life out of you" (my words...not hers, but I'm trying my hand at paraphrasing her feelings.) Not only do we have the fact that we could each eat a bag of Fritos in one sitting in common, but I believe our personalities are similar. In her post about quitting Facebook, she says this, "But the thing is, it can go from 0 to obsessive like THAT." Um yeah, that's me. I can sucked into the Facebook rabbit hole for hours and constantly checking, checking, checking. (I *might* also have an obsessive personality about stuff in general...)

• As I mentioned, Amelia does talk about military life and it's her posts about making friends and then losing them to new military assignments that are the most interesting to me. For those of us who are somewhat shy/introverted, the thought of making friends as an adult can be somewhat daunting, but then to know that you'll potentially have those friends taken away geographically? Tough.

• For me, one of the most "real"/moving posts is Amelia's letter to her dad near the anniversary of his death. It is the most eloquently written personal post I've ever read. I wonder how long it took Amelia to write it, because it's just so "right." I also love the fact that she ends the post/letter with this P.S.S.: 

"I'm glad you weren't around for The Talk. Seriously. Growing up in an all-female household definitely had a few perks."

:)

Things that caught my eye about this blog:

• It's gorgeous! I love love love the header and the fonts that Amelia uses. The pink background with the flower bouquets is awesome, too. Very pretty and not over the top.
• Great professional photo of her and Matt.
• The fact that it's not busy with headers, columns, etc..

Things on this blog that I'd like for my blog:

• see above 
• see above (except the photo would be of John & me. :)
• see above

I hope that Amelia keeps blogging once the move to Nevada happens. "Hastings in Nevada" doesn't have quite the same ring as "Hastings in Hawaii," but I have no doubt the content will be just as great!