Where Have all the Good Carts Gone?

The other day, my sister and I were talking about grocery carts. We have come to the conclusion that the days of good working grocery carts are gone. Has anybody else noticed this? I feel like every time I go to the grocery store, I grab a cart and it constantly veers to the right. So I turn around and grab another one. It, of course it has a bum wheel that won't rotate anymore and thus makes a lot of noise when you drag it along. So I try a third time and if all else fails, I’ll just get a stupid basket. Why, oh why? Why isn’t there ever a grocery cart that works anymore? Where have they all gone?
Now I could be wrong about all of this, it's just a theory. But I'm starting to think that all those signs around your grocery store that state that the cart wheels will lock upon leaving the store premise must be false! It has to be a a scare tactic, or else people are just picking up the cart and carry it off the property.

The Car Wash

Yeah, that's totally my car, nice little BMW

I love to go to the car wash. I would love it more, if we had a car that was worth keeping clean, but I'm happy to go with anyone else to get their car washed. My favorite car wash is the kind where they have the spinning brushes, not the stupid touch-less car wash, those are stupid.

I went to the car wash while I was in Utah with my sister. We sat in the car, opened the cover of the sun roof (roof remained closed) and squealed (isn't that what sister do?). Oh yes, it was so much fun.

So the other day, I went to get the car washed because Bill is going to a wedding in St. George and he didn't want to drive up in a car that looked like it had been in a tornado of bugs. So being the good wife that I am, went to the car wash and lucky me it was a mop/brush kind!!!!! I was jamming out in my car to NPR talk of the Olympics while the wash was going, when I start to notice a large crack forming on my windshield. It was going right up the center, vertically. I'm totally bugged. I'm not going to be able to pass inspections with this huge crack.

Kind of like this, except straight up the middle

You can forget everything I just said rotating brush car wash, you're dead to me now!

Good Food Friday

It is time again for Good Food Friday, our favorite day of the week. And since it is still blazing hot outside, our recipe for the day will be cold. Here we go.

Cucumber Marinades
Variation #1:
6 cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 c thinly sliced onions
1 c white vinegar
2 c sugar
2 Tblsp salt
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed
Combine together. Let marinate

Variation #2:
1/3 c vinegar
1/4 c sugar
combine with sliced cucumbers. Let marinate.

And that is it. They are nice, tasty, and fresh.

Try it, you'll like it!

My.....Our Anniversary

If any of you are feeling sad, fear no more, I have something to cheer you up. I'm going to tell you about my anniversary, okay our anniversary. Yesterday, Bill and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We are so old. I was grumpy for the whole day. It started out that I was in the shower when maintenance guys came by and started pounding on my door. I had it locked. They pounded some more, and then they let them selves in. I yelled from the shower to get out. They yelled back that they had to come in. I told them to get out anyways. So they got out, and I grabbed a towel, stuck my soapy head out the door and told them to come back in 20 minutes. Stupid guy gave me attitude. I was bugged. Then I had to wait all day to go and pick up my man. I waited and waited. I knitted, I talked to my mom, I went to the library to check my non-existent emails and I waited some more. Then the hour finally came, hurray. So I drove down to his work, parked where I always park when I'm waiting for him to come down (next to a fire lane) and stupid parking police lady came and gave me attitude that my wheels are stopped, which means I'm park and told me to get lost. My bad mood came back, especially because Bill took his sweet time coming down from his office and it was 104 yesterday (cooler than usual but still way too hot). So I'm baking in our car until Bill comes down, I tried to put on a happy face, but it was no good.......until we got to our first activity of the night!
We saw The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2!! Mock me if you like, but it was fun. It didn't follow the 2nd book really at all, but I'm all about a silly movie occasionally. It gets better, Bill was one of three men there that night and I thought it was hilarious. I can never doubt his love for me, not after that movie. Oh yeah, the other great thing about the movie, Lena (Alexis Bledel), has lots of freckles!!!!!!!!

Okay, so after the movie, we went to a tasty restaurant called Rosemary's. Oh yum, that place was so good. We had all sorts of great/controversial food. The flavors were fantastic, the service was incredible, it was fine dining at its best. Besides all the great food, my favorite part was at the end of our meal, after we had had dessert (because I love dessert), the chef sent us a plate of bite sized desserts and wrote in chocolate "Happy Anniversary". It was a great night! The end

**Be jealous, how many of you can get your man to go to a traveling pants movie on opening night!?!

The Grand Canyon

Yep, we went to the Grand Canyon last Saturday and we had a great time, well mostly a great time. Let me give you a break down of our trip.
8:00 am pdt, leave apartment
8:01 am pdt, stop at McDonalds
8:05 am pdt, Bill comes out with 2 sausage and egg McMuffins, and giant coke (I already ate breakfast)
8:06 am pdt, hit the road, headed for the south rim in Arizona
9:00 am pdt, Bill starts feeling like booty (another word for sick) from eating 2 sausage and egg McMuffins
9:10 am pdt, Bill confesses that he always feels ill after eating 2 sausage and egg McMuffins, and wishes he hadn't eaten them
9:12 am pdt, Kate gets bugged that Bill is getting sick from eating crap, even when he knew he shouldn't have eaten it
12:30 pm pdt (yes it taks 4 1/2 hours to get to the Grand Canyon (south rim) from Las Vegas), arrive at the Grand Canyon
12:45 pm pdt, eat more junk food at Wendy's (limited options in the city by the GC)
1:15 pm pdt, drive into the park to partake of the beauty of the Grand Canyon, take lots and lots of pictures that all look the same but are cool nonetheless. (this goes on all day)
1:20 pm pdt, realize that we are about the only English speaking people there (apparently the Euro is doing MUCH better than the US dollar which equals vacation in America and a trip to the "Wild West")
4:00 pm pdt, leave the Grand Canyon to drive the 4 1/2 hours back to LV
7:00 pm pdt, stop in Kingman to have dinner, Bill got to choose so we had stuffed crust pizza at Pizza Hut (you'd think he would have learned his lesson from his breakfast, but apparently not)
8:00 pm pdt, leave Kingman and start looking for the Las Vegas turn off
9:00 pm pdt, cross over the California boarder, yes that is correct we saw this sign except it was very dark!9:01 pm pdt, start panicking and ask for directions.
11:02 pm pdt, drive into Las Vegas, hallelujah.

It was a very long day, but I'd say, the Grand Canyon was worth it!

Good Food Friday

Do you ever ask yourself, "gosh, why does Kate make so many mistakes (grammatical, spelling, punctuation) in her blog posts?"Well I'll tell you why. I go to the library around 1 or later, and then I take care of business (blog, write emails, do some soul sucking (search for jobs), check up on the Tour de France) you get the picture. But after sitting at the library for a couple of hours, I'm usually starving, seeing as I haven't had lunch yet. So I rush through my post so that I can go home and stuff my face. Preferable with something as delectable as this: COUSCOUS. I know, I stuffed this down your throat about how wonderful couscous is. But just give up and try it, because it is wonderful. And what better time to have this nice, cool, flavorful salad than right now, while it's blazing hot outside. So, I present to you:

Couscous Salad w/ Dried Cranberries and Pecans

Ingredients:
1 c. shelled pecans
1-1/2 c couscous
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 c boiling water
1 c thawed frozen peas
3 scallions, very thinly sliced
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 c shredded fresh basil
1 cup dried cranberries

Lemon dressing:
zest of 1 lemon
1/3 c lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/3 c olive oil

Toast the pecans in a shallow pan in a preheated 350 degree F. oven until very fragrant, about 7 minutes. Set aside to cool

Place couscous, cranberries, and turmeric in a large bowl. Pour in the boiling water, stir, then cover the bowl w/a large plate or foil. Let sit for 10 min. Remove cover, then fluff couscous with a fork. Cover again and let sit 5 more min.

Stir in pecans, peas, scallions, cucumbers, and basil.
Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake vigorously.

Try it, you'll like it!

You May Call Me "High Powered Executive"

Doesn't this say powerful/sassy/and classy

Yep, I'm a no nonsense girl, now get out of my way

For some reason, I'm really looking forward to having a job again. Don't get confused, I'm not looking forward to that action of finding a job, I just want it. The action of finding a job is what I like to call "Soul Sucking". Lets be real, I call it what it is. But I am looking forward to having a job a making some money.
I think this false sense of wanting a job comes from the book I'm currently reading, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. In all of her books (well the two that I've read/reading) one of the main characters is that of a strong, powerful, intelligent, and sexy women, and I want to be that woman. Okay, take out the sexy to everyone else, but feel free to substitute beautiful and well dressed. Yep, I want to be a powerful executive with a wardrobe from Ann Taylor, running a rail road (so I like Ann Taylor, who doesn't?). I want to be that strong woman who brings in an incredible amount of revenue due to my genius ideas and my no bull crap attitude.
But then reality sets in every time I begin that soul sucking process of finding a job. I have a degree, but that doesn't get you anywhere anymore, it's all about who you know. But as long as I keep reading this book, my view will remain optimistic. I can and will be a powerful executive someday, of whatever I chose.
So, to those of you out there who are in Chicago and you know of anyone that is hiring, feel free to drop me a line.

To see the prize from my D.C. trip visit Paige's blog.