The Scrolls » Life

Fun in the Sun

Cole — Tue, 22 May 2012 06:47:05 +0000

Since my best friend moved back about two weeks ago, I’ve been spending a lot of time with her. The result is that I’ve actually been less active online. I’m so exhausted from fitting in the work and the play that I come home, usually skip the computer, and spend at least five hours trying to sleep. Anyway, it’s been a lot of fun. I enjoy spending time with her so much and I forgot how much I missed her. She has two little girls — and a big husband — and getting to know the little ones better is fun, too.

Her mother-in-law hosted a welcome home/bithday party Saturday, so I attended. I got a lot of sun.. but only on one arm. It looks pretty silly. I’m enjoying wearing shorts and tank tops and feeling more comfortable with my body. Plus, I am considering that I might tan. The sun I’m getting isn’t working toward a tan, but I’m okay if I get a little tan. I like it, especially on my face, because it helps to even out my ruddy complexion.

On Sunday, she and her husband went house shopping. Because we’re kind of, sort of talking about moving in together, I went with. We visited seven or so houses, most of which we’d found online through a friend’s realtor. There was one that all the ladies liked and it happened to be the first one we saw. It’s not huge, but a great starter home, with five bedrooms, an extra den/family room and a clean, albeit not finished, basement.

There really was only one other home that worked for them, until they realized they couldn’t get a loan. A lot of the houses were simply ridiculous, in need of far more DIY work than the couple could realistically put in. Still, I enjoy looking at homes. I like DIY and house flipping shows, too. It’s interesting to see how some are laid out. There were two houses that were particularly interest.

Was a tiny bungalow. It wasn’t on our list specifically. Someone else suggested it. However, it was really too small for my friend. It did have a nice backyard, fenced in with dog kennels and a fire pit. However, it was a tiny house with an awkwardly placed third bedroom (dining room?), walkthrough living room that led to a loft/style staircase. It definitely wasn’t meant for a growing family. The strange part, however, was that there was a front door pretty much painted on. The only entrances were at the back, and I guess the owners felt that the house looked odd. So they attached some 2x4s and painted into a fake door, with a fake knob and lock. Then, they surrounded it with a deck. When we realized this, we were all perplexed. Plus, the listing said there was a basement but no one could find a door.
The second house was some sort of prefab from the ’50s or ’60s, complete with a carport. Above, was a screened in porch area, but it didn’t seem safe enough to really use. The split level design was interesting; although, the previous owners had started a renovation they never finished. There were no baseboards, the windows needed to be redone, there was a gigantic maze of a basement that appeared to have been gutted, the deck was falling apart and it didn’t even seem like there was heat. It looked like it might have been something in its heyday, but that day was long house. Because of its labyrinthine basement, we call it the dungeon house.

I don’t know if I’ll go along for any more house hunting, but I definitely felt like it was an adventure! At one point, we drove passed a gaping hole in the street. At another, someone shot off a single firework right next to us. I nearly jumped into the closest person’s arms, Scooby Doo style. Perhaps everything is more exciting with the right person. d=

Om Noms

Cole — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:06:02 +0000

I.. don’t love to cook, but I like to eat and I like food that is tasty. My sort-of-interest has led to a recipe collection. First, they cluttered up my bookmarks. Then, I moved them to AllRecipes, but I tend to forget about them there (oops!). More recently, I’ve been repinning recipes on Pinterest.

I quite liked this “brunch casserole” and I think it’s spectacular for any mean. It was easy enough and filling. I used half the eggs, because I ran out, but I still needed to cook it about twice as long as the recipe suggested for it to be done enough.
I’ll need to pay more attention when I made these oven-roasted potatoes. My bacon was probably a bit too done. The whole thing seems a little salty and hurt my mouth.
I tried these baked cheese balls, but it seems like you need a vary specific type of cheese (and heat?!) for it to work.
These crack potatoes? I’m not addicted. They were okay the first time around, but reheated far too salty.
I loved the taco bake, however. I’ve done something similar with chicken. I let everyone know how much I loved it!
This creamy, cheese corn makes for a great side and lasts quite a while.
I swapped the pepperoni for Canadian bacon for these pizza crescent rolls. Easy snack. Kid-friendly, too. I imagine you could add in some veggies, if you like, or use sausage, instead.

The to-do list this week includes two other recipes: corn casserole and crispy cheddar chicken. For some reason, looking at all the recipes I’ve tried makes me feel accomplished.

Mr Cuddlepants

Cole — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:25:19 +0000

Mr. Cuddlepants is my nickname for Phantom. One of many, actually. It is a somewhat patronizing nickname; although, it’s also suitable. You see, Phantom loves to cuddle his mommy and, as his mommy I love that he loves to cuddle. But he has certain requirements. He only cuddles in the bedroom and usually only if I have a specific blanket on the bed. When I say cuddle, what I really mean is that he kneads in proximity to me. See, he was separated from his kitty mommy too early, so he kneads and sucks on blankets like a kitten would. Often, this kneading leads to claw marks on his human mommy, but I try to deal with it because I like being close to him.

While Phantom remains curiously aloof with other people, we have a strong bond. In fact, my roommate has never even heard him purr. If you visit, he’s friendly. He’ll come right up, smell you out and then promptly leave when he’s figured you out. There’s no doubt that he’s a smartypants. There’s a reason why he looks so intelligent and I always describe his cunning and his badassery.

Yes, I’m still talking about a cat.

He is mentally and physically at the top of his game, boys and girls.

But, behind the bedroom door, he is Mr. Cuddlepants, a little boy who loves his mommy and shows it in a very specific way.

Musically

Cole — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:33:57 +0000

I love music. I spend hours listening to it every day. I don’t understand people who just don’t get it, just like I don’t understand people who have no sense of humor. Music has been helping to make me very happy lately. I’ve been dipping into the indie/pop singer/songwriter genre. There’s a lot of Regina Spektor, A Fine Frenzy and Ingrid Michaelson, among others. In fact, I’ve been downloading songs and listening to the hell out of them.

I want to talk about music all over the place, but no one has the same tastes and I don’t know how to make it an interesting blog post. Is there a GoodReads for music?!

The thing is..

Cole — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:22:07 +0000

If I blogged about my life on a more frequent basis, a lot of posts would be about how fucked up my sleeping schedule is. Last night, I woke up at around 6pm. It’s crazy, I know. I hate waking up that late. I hate waking up and it being dark or near dark, but it happens because it takes me so long to go to sleep. I get stuck on these schedules until, one day, I just decided to stay up as long as possible, and I eventually get back to schedule I like. Yet, it only seems to last a few days at most, and I go through the cycle all over again.

I suppose what I need to do is get on a schedule. It’d probably be best all around, but I hate the sound of an alarm. I hate waking up when I don’t have to, and that’s exactly what I’m thinking when I crawl back into bed. That I just want to enjoy my sleep because I can. And I’m certainly no good when I haven’t had enough sleep, and getting enough quality sleep is hard when the cats are so bothersome on a daily basis.

Ideally, I’d wake up at 11. I’d be up before noon, have a few hours to myself while the roommate napped and be able to hang out with people during the day. This would put me to bed sometime in the early morning hours.. except I need far more than 8 hours of sleep it seems, especially when it takes at least 3 to fall asleep.

Well, that’s enough of my first world problems. I suppose I’d down some Benadryl and try to sleep for a few hours.

All Better

Cole — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:13:48 +0000

Last night, I was down in the dumps. I feel one million times better today. Here’s a quick list why.

My legs feel so good guys. Amazing shave.
Last year’s shorts fit — loosely.
Today’s weather is amazing.
And it’s not even dark yet. I love DST!
I smell amazing.
I’m not quite as broke as I expected.
Goliath’s yucky fur is all clean.
Cupcake and Mountain Dew.
I don’t live in a third-world country.
Kwik Trip makes amazing carrot cake.
I am awesome!
To be announced.

I’m Sick of Writing, I’m Sick of Reading

Cole — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:24:03 +0000

There’s been changes, and I have had to write a lot more to make the same amount of money that I was making. It’s not really and end-of-the-world deal but it does mean that I find it a lot more difficult to blog or even to write reviews. Similarly, I signed up to read a bunch of eBooks and, as it turns out, I am not a big fan of eBooks. So I’m all worded out.

I’m still pinning, however. Yep, I joined Pinterest. Yes, it’s more of a waste of time than some people are willing to admit and there is a lot of content that I just don’t find appealing. However, I am interested in seeing how I can promote my websites or make money from this newfangled website.

Also, I like to look at the pretty stuff.

The Cat Shirt

Cole — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:49:54 +0000

Around the time that my sister was in the hospital, my grandma started making people T-shirts. I guess she acquired a printer that allowed her to print on fabric so she would give us all t-shirts as presents. Although these specific gifts were a fad, Grandma cross-stitches these days and gives us all table runners and towels and pillowcases like it’s going out of style. Anyway, she gave me The Cat Shirt. The Cat Shirt featured a fuzzy grey kitty surrounded by pink and purple flowers and I fuckin’ loved it. But it was bad. It was like the Tween version of the 3 wolf shirt. And the shirt itself was a white tee, which is almost never flattering, but was too big on me anyway.

But that didn’t stop me for wearing it on a weekly basis for, like, 3 years. It was bad guys. I wore it all the time until when, one day in sixth grade, I was working on a video project with a group of girls. We were doing a skit about bullying and our group of four split up into pairs and I, of course, wound up being one of the uncool kids and.. it was, in part, because of The Cat Shirt.

I stopped wearing The Cat Shirt after that and I forgot all about it, until, the other night, I opened an email from my aunt. In that email was a collage of family photos and there I was, standing next to Grandma, in my cat shirt. I was covering my face in an effort to escape having my picture taken or perhaps having my picture taken in The Cat Shirt. Nevertheless, photographic evidence exists.

I don’t know if I am embarrassed more by the fact that I liked The Cat Shirt as much as I did or because I still would have, had I not realized how uncool it was.

Last Night

Cole — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:01:23 +0000

Last night was among one of the crazier things I’ve done in my life and, to be honest, it wasn’t that crazy for a lot of people. It was for me, though.

I was a little sad, somewhat annoyed, exhausted and a whole lot of angry. So I did the adult thing, downed an entire bottle of alcohol and posted all my angry, man-hating thoughts for the world to see on Facebook/Twitter.

This is not an apology.

I mean, it was annoying, I can give you that. But I am not sorry. I needed a night to not care. I needed some time to refrain from being the responsible adult. I needed to express anger and I needed to let myself feel sadness and I needed to let it all out — which I pretty much never do.

Luckily, I did so in a pretty entertaining way and no one seems upset with me. In fact, the general consensus is pretty much that I would be a hoot to drink with when, you know, I wasn’t full of angry hate. I think anyone who knows me even moderately understands that I am not that person. I have tried so very hard to be responsible, mindful, positive and strong in the past couple years. I’ve made great strides but sometimes I needed a reminder that I don’t have to be those things all the time.

Last night, I found support from some awesome people, who I would expect to be there, and some awesome people who surprised me by being there. They all surprised me by telling me it was okay for me to feel and act the way I felt and acted because they understood.

I also knew that I would sleep on it and feel better in the morning. Which I did, more or less. Some of the things that set me off didn’t matter in the morning light and some of them are going to make me feel a little blue for a while but none of them are the end of the world or even any worse than anything I’ve had to handle before. And I guess that makes me feel pretty good. Maybe I just needed to check out for a little bit but I’m awesome enough to know how far out I can go and able to reel it back in when I need to.

What happened last night won’t be a regular occurrence, thankfully, but last night needed to happen.

Turn the Page

Cole — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:12:23 +0000

Apparently, Dez wants to read 25 books this year or did last year or whatever. I am such a horrible friend. I don’t pay enough attention. Anyway, when I saw this announcement I thought “That doesn’t seem like a lot of books” even though it’s slightly more than two per month and almost double what I read last year. I can count all the books I read, more or less, off the top of my head.

I’ve technically read 1.5 books this year so I’m on a roll. I’m finishing one that I started last month and I’ve got two more on my plate so I’m doing pretty well. Inevitably, I’ll slow down at some point as my life is taken over by MMOs or blogging but I hope to be slightly more consistent this year than last.