Peppered Thought – The Spice of Life

Earlier today, I hung my sheets out to dry and made a gloriously breezy lil fort.

I come inside and look online, and what has Gala Darling put up? SHEET FORTS WERE MADE FOR SUNDAYS!

The girls who wear false eyelashes to the gym have spoken.

Nothing funny to add to this one, i just want this for my as-of-yet imaginary kid.

Brandon “The Truth” Vera v. Jonny “Bones” Jones

I am very excited to see Jones fight again. His disqualification last fight was so unfortunate, and I know he realized that he can only be so much “wild and crazy,” but he has to rein himself in when it comes to the haphazardness. He has been training at Greg Jackson’s MMA gym for about seven months now, and it shows in his precise actions and his quick-to-learn flexibility. 

I think if Jones ends up on his back it might get a little tricky, but other than that, the fight’s his. A lot of people underestimate what a great advantage reach is, and his is pretty great for his stature. Just another trick in his arsenal. What amazes me is that this kid is such an amazing up and coming star in MMA, and has so many videos and fantastic GIFs already, he’s focused and humbled. He doesn’t say he wants to beat everyone up to be on top of the heap, he wants to better himself, it’s more of an internal thing. Very cool, in my book.

Junior dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

I like Dos Santos, so I’m rooting for him. That is all.

Cheick Kongo vs. Paul Buentello

Both these guys are coming off losses (Frank Mir and Stefan Struve, respectively), and although Buentello has a lot of experience and head kicks to his name, I have to keep hoping Kongo is gonna pull off his glasses Clark Kent style and deliver a wake up call to Buentello and, hopefully, himself.

Alessio “Legionarius” Sakara vs. James Irvin

I don’t know anything about these two fighters, except that I have been watching too much Spartacus, so the name ‘Legionarius’ doesn’t really rub me the right way. He’s a striker, Irvin’s a striker, this fight is probably not goin to the ground.

 
Clay Guida vs. Shannon Gugerty

Good news for Echo: this is probably the fight where Guida’s heart will come in handy. I have a feeling it’s gonna happen this time. 

  “I don’t know what to do with my hands.”

Gettin down in it

This was something I was kind of nervous about making and posting up here, since I had never tried it before, but for the sake of trying new things, I risked it all.

Beverage pairing:

Mexican beer would pair well with the spiciness of these rollups. I prefer Dos Equis, because I like to pretend I am The Most Interesting Man in the World.

Turkey-Salsa Rollups

2-3 tablespoons tablespoons salsa
pre-cooked turkey or grilled chicken strips
3 tablespoons red pepper-flavored hummus
4 (12-inch) whole-wheat or plain soft flat bread wraps or tortillas
1 avocado, chopped
2-3 handfuls of shredded, Mexican-style cheese
Chopped iceberg lettuce or baby spinach, and cilantro

1. I put my cheese first, so i could melt it on the bread as it was warming up. For practicality sake you should smear the hummus on first, to protect the bread from the salsa. But cheese is a practicality for me, so everything I do is related to cheese somehow.

2. Slap on your turkey, hummus, spinach, avocado and salsa, roll as tightly as possible and cut in half. Voila!

baby spinach and melted cheese mmmm…

• The hummus acts as a nice buffer to keep the flat bread from getting too soggy. Make sure you spread it around the middle – you don’t want your wrap to be structurally unsound and collapse mid-conversation with someone, avocado and salsa plopping in a heap. Although the remnants make a fantastic impromptu dip!

• You can use any kind of flatbread you like. I had never made something with flatbread before, so I just grabbed some Sprout’s wheat ones. I highly recommend them – phenomenally tasty.

• The jarred salsa and prepackaged turkey add a high sodium level to the recipe. Making your own salsa (hello, salsa garden!) and using leftover turkey can help you control the salt content.

I took part in Operation Nice’s attempt at a complaint-free week.

I gave it an honest try, was mindful, and with the exception of talking about the sharp pain in my back, i was successful.

Fate was trying to throw me a curveball this week, though. While driving on the freeway, this happened:

Now that it’s over, I wonder if it was because I declared this week no complaining, or if it was just a coincidence…

Good things that have happened:

• The mayor of my city emailed me to say she loved the city employee newsletter that I wrote. My very first issue and she liked it. No pressure for the second one!!
• After worrying about money for my window, turns out my insurance covered it ALL! Sigh of relief and all smiles.
• Drove down to tempe to help my friend look for jobs. I’m glad I could be of help and, despite the torrential rain and almost flying away Mary Poppins-style, was really fun!
• Rediscovering this song:

• Last but not least, friends and plans. My close friends are a hip and groovy bunch of cats, and making plans to travel, road trip, be goofy, cause mischief with them is a constant source of enjoyment for me! 

Inspired by Kelly Oxford’s own memory post.

Kindergarten:

• School was so crowded we had class in a “portable,” which was just one of those manager trailers at a construction site. But with more desks.
• I had a boyfriend, ’Kyle.’ He picked flower-weeds for me on the playground. I decided I didn’t want to be his girl anymore, so he kicked me all the way to class one day. I silently cried and never told anyone.
• We had a graduation from kindergarten and our parents came and some boy was named Class Clown. I was so mad and because I wasn’t, even though I had no idea what a Class Clown entailed.

Every Field Day:

• Panic attacks would ensue. Not because I’m a particularly poor athlete, just the possibility of humiliation, being last. It doesn’t sound so serious, but the attacks started to become an everyday thing (before school started, when a teacher would call on me, etc.) that I didn’t have checked out until about 3 years after I graduated from high school. Doctor said I had a mild social anxiety disorder. But that’s a story for another post. So yeah, field day sucked.

Every Rainy Day in Elementary School:

• Rarely ever happened, so it was a magical treat, getting to sit in the library, watching Ralph the Motorcycle Mouse, Rikki Tikki Tavi or Princess Bride.

First Grade:

• Had a teacher with a name 13 or 14 letters long. We called her Miss D.
• Was introduced to the ICMM Card. And probably the first way to get myself hated by all the ADD, non-attentive kids. “Hey look guys, I get to have a Friday Recess this week because I did what I was told!” “DWEEB, you’re gonna be out there alone!”

Second Grade:

• weird cage-style swings were installed on the playground. I cannot find pictures of them online to save my life. They were orange and you had to pump them with your hands once you got going.
• began the era of chasing boys because I liked them/ they made fun of my ears/ they were mean to someone/ just to be competitive

Third Grade:

• I filmed (with my mom as cinematogrpaher) a “Save the Rainforest” PSA commercial for class, and used Happy Meal Disney toys Rajah and Baloo to show rainforest animals in their natural habitat. I believe I was also wearing a HYPERCOLOR t-shirt.  
• Recess turned into how a game of how big a chanting-lil-kid-circle we could make. For a significant amount of child time (probably a week), we had at least a 20-kid diameter circle. This was the last grade that boys and girls could hand hold and it was about fun and frivolity, and there were no cooties.
• Can’t be entirely sure it wasn’t earlier, but started the Gifted class at school, SAGE. As if I needed another reason to be outed as a nerd to my fellow students. Our teacher was very strict and awesome in her wise, smarty-pants ways, so of course we nicknamed her Dragon Lady. She wasn’t Asian, and we knew nothing of stereotypes way back then.

Fourth Grade:

• Was nicknamed “Alexander the Grape” by my guy friends because of the Otter Pop. Am thinking about resurrecting said nickname as a pseudonym for my novellas.
• During P.E. team games, the members of the losing team’s punishment was to do the Pee-Wee Herman dance. 
• Getting notes from my best friend, and returning them with the spelling mistakes corrected. It was amazing I even had a friend.
• Had my very first male teacher, who had the most awesome beard-to-striped-shirt ratio this side of the 70′s. He was the one who ignited my fascination with astronomy and science I have today. Who knew the two things I liked most had some of the most complex math ever? BOO

Fifth Grade:

• reading the encyclopedias. Sounds like a tortuous class lesson, but in actuality, it’s what only I did in class. Everyone else would be learning their state capitals, while I would be reading Greek Myths. I was obsessed with Greek and Egyptian myths when I was younger (actually, I still am). By the way, for anybody thinking because of this I didn’t know my state capitals, I still know them all, and I got straight A’s until my sophomore year of high school. Once again, a wonder I had even one friend.

Sixth Grade:

• Moved to a new school and like my other 5 years of schooling, was shy beyond all belief. I didn’t believe I had made enough friends to warrant a party when my mom asked. So, she called one of my only friends and they set to the task of throwing me a surprise party. I had no clue until they opened my garage and it was decorated like a little grunge (it was ’95-96, gimme a break) birthday paradise. I received Ace Ventura as a present. 
• Went to AstroCamp in California, thanks to being smart. Made a rocket, put together a space center underwater. While there, I ate ants when a friend dared me too (Love you, Mark, RIP). Another friend left chips in our dorm room and we had ant infestation. Creepy kid was obsessed with them and kept talking about trying to “locate the Queen to destroy her.” Was surprised he didn’t turn into a crew member on Starship Troopers or Aliens.

photo credit

“One day I will be the person I would consider my best friend.” my newest friend, HH