A tribute to pickels

I am a pickel freak. Wait, let me specify that I am a dill pickel freak. I hate sweet pickels of any sort. It's strictly just dill for me. I have always been a huge fan of dill pickels. My brother and I both devoured pickels when we were little. One year for Christmas our Grandma got us a HUGE jar of pickels and don't ya know- we ate them all. So I was thinking about all the ways I like to eat pickels, and I came up with a list.

1. a crunchy pickel wrapped in a thin slice of ham

2. pickels on a sandwich of any sort

3. pickels dipped in ranch dressing or ranch type dip

4. sliced pickels on a peanut butter sandwich

5. fried pickels..... "aaaaaaah" the Gods have spoken (my favorite!)

6. pickel slices in tuna

7. pickels or pickel relish on a salad

8. pickels or relish in potato salad, deviled eggs, and egg salad

9. pickel sandwich (bread, butter, and pickels)

10. beloved pickel juice

If I said the word pickel would you think of the top picture or the bottom half? I think most people associate pickels with the top part of the picture. I think my friend- "the pickel" is very misunderstood. What about fresh pickels, aka cucumbers? There are so many ways to eat a cucumber that are so yummy. My Grandma always used to make pickels and onions. I make it now and it's always a family favorite. It consists of : thin sliced cucumbers (peeled), mayo, white vinegar, and seasoning (some put sugar in it). I also love cucumbers, tomatos, and onions tossed in some sort of vinegarette dressing. Simple and yet so fabulous.

How do you eat your pickels?

recapping and reminiscing~

well, monday is here- already. the weekends never seem long enough and i am always bumbed to start a new week. i got a ton of Christmas shopping done and i only have a few gifts left to give. i am trying to think of something to get my almost 6 yr old nephew. he has hundreds of toys and really doesn't need anymore. i wanted to get him something educational. any ideas? i thought about some kind of crayola set and maybe some books, but i'm still undecided.

the girls shopping trip on saturday was a huge success and we had a great time. i hope that we are able to make it an annual event. we shopped all day, stopped for a fruit smoothie break, shopped some more, had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and crashed at the hotel. we shared a piece of white chocolate caramel macadamia nut cheesecake. "aaaaaaaaaaaaaah" (singing) it was fantastic. melon brought bagel dip to snack on at the room and let me tell you - it's the shit! i told her if she ever made it again i would have to kick her ass. mmmmmk!

we finally got Christmas pics taken yesterday. the place was a zoo and i could tell that Big Country was getting irritated. he's not much of a crowd person, but we got them done and they turned out so good! Here are a few:

it was so hard picking which ones we wanted! mason smiled in so many pics. he babbles all the time now and sometimes he gets pretty vocal.

this morning as i was getting ready for work, i found myself reminiscing on events that happened this time last year. it was almost a year ago (Dec 20th ish) that i became deathly sick and couldn't stop throwing up. i laid at home in bed for a day and couldn't keep anything down until i let my husband take me to urgent care. i sat in the waiting room- throwing up. the urgent care dr walked past the waiting room and saw me and called me back right away. he told me that i needed to go to the ER b/cuz i needed fluids. so onto the ER we went. i found out there that i was 2-3 weeks pregnant. so they gave me phenergan (sp) and fluids and sent me home. we announced that we were expecting at Christmas. we got my parents, brother and sis in law, and grandparents Christmas cards signed from Big Country, Lindsey, and baby Dunbar#1. everyone was so excited. now, our little present is here and growing like a weed!

i must get back to work. have a wonderful and safe day. i hope the holiday season is bringing you and yours much happiness.

God bless.

caylee anthony time line

i was just searching the internet for updates on the discovery of what they believe is caylee anthony's body in FL. i read that casey (mother) and grandparents have been notified of the find and the jail has put casey anthony in some sort of protective custody so she can't hurt herself- i'm assuming. as i said in a previous blog, i have just been catching bits and pieces of the search for caylee over the last few months. the time line that greta v. talks about is pretty fascinating. casey anthony is guilty, guilty, guilty! isn't it interesting that caylee disappeared mid june and casey hid from her parents and everyone for a month before the grandmother found casey and reported caylee missing? that speaks guilt right there- in my opinion! why was casey hiding out for a month? God, i pray that caylee didn't hurt or wasn't tortured. experts on nancy grace last night said that they obtained a search warrant for the gparents home and are likely looking to check the perforations of the trash bag and duct tape to see if it matches sampes at the gparents house. i'm wondering where this is all going to go. i hope they are able to trace dna on the garbage bag or tape that was used. poor little caylee...

well, tomorrow morning me and my besties head off to columbus for a day of shopping and a night of good laughs and tons of fun. we're staying in a hotel and i am so excited! we are going to have a blast! i hope you have a nice weekend full of happiness and holiday cheer!

Ta-ta!

have you heard? it's so sad.

Have you been following the story on the little girl (Caylee) that has been missing in Orlando FL since June? I have been catching bits and pieces on Nancy Grace over the last several months. I am convinced that the mother had something to do with the little girls disappearance. From what I have heard on N.G., she didn't sound like a very responsible nuturing mother. I am so anxious to hear what the cause of death is and what theory forensic experts come up with on the motive. It's pretty amazing that the mother, Casey Anthony, had no idea where Caylee was, but experts found traces of chloroform and a decomposing body in her trunk. And isn't it intersting that Casey Anthony nor the grandparents reported Caylee missing for a month?!! I don't understand this! If my son lived with my parents and they didn't see him for more than 24 hrs (or less)... they would be reporting it. I don't believe the grandparents took part in the girls death (I hope I am right), I am fairly certain they have known what happened and have been covering for Casey. Authorities may never find out what the grandparents role in this was. I hope they are able to solve this murder- like they did for Maria Lauterbach's death. The loss of a loved one can be tragic. Although, if my loved one had been murdered or disappeared, I think I would find it harder to find closure if the body was never recovered. I think I would never find closure.

Anyway, I love Forensic Files, Snapped, Cold Case (on A&E) and Dateline murder mystery shows. I can get pretty engrossed watching these shows. I find them suspenseful, intense, and intersting.

All we can do is watch and see how this unfolds.

moving :-( OR moving :-) that is the question.

so. very unexpectedly, my mind has been wrapped around making a decision and it's all i've thought about all week. i didn't really quite know or understand my feelings on making the decision. we are getting ready to move. we are currently living less than 5 min. from a krogers and everything is very accessible. we are moving approx 40 miles west of where we are now- and into the country. our nearest neighbor is 1/4mi away. i have always wanted to live secluded in the country. i am a little bit nervous about it b/cuz i am worried about the dogs. jack and bella will listen to commands... BUT ...gus (he's deaf)... (or goose as O calls him)- well he can't hear commands (or really anything else either, lol) and sometimes its hard to get his attention. right now we live in a court and gus just runs out in the street- there is essentially no traffic. we are going to live on a major road- back off the road, but i am scared to death that gus is going to get hurt. i love him to pieces. he makes us laugh EVERYDAY! he is so sweet but so crazy!

anyway, my mind has been engrossed on this all week. tonight we went back out to the house and took my dad, brent, and megs and i am happy to say that i think i am actually getting excited. im def. not excited to move, but i think that i will like living there. i am trying to be at peace with this b/cuz i know big country is going to love living there. so i am going to give it a try. i actually like the new house better than where we are living now.

i am going to be a little further away from my friends, but i hope they will come visit me in the boonies. :-)

so, moving :-) is my final answer.

mass mental confusion

my computer says it's 63 degrees outside! wouldn't that be freakin' nice? obviously it's not 63 degrees. it's been cold, dreary, and pretty rainy here. so earlier i sent bugs an email and mentioned something about it being 50 degrees outside. i clicked send and went on to doing other non-related work things. then she emailed me back and said exactly this: "It's 33 doll." I'm thinking to myself, what is 33 dollars? i didn't get it. so i minimized the email, went on doing more non-related work things... and kept trying to put it together.

(light bulb) then i got it! duh!

she was saying it's 33 degrees DOLL!

welcome back, self.

hump day

i am feeling rather blah today. work has been a real drag lately and rather boring to be honest. it's december 10th already which means that christmas is two weeks from tomorrow. omg. i have only two things bought.
this saturday is our girls shopping trip to columbus. me, two of my besties, and my dearest sis-in-law are going. we are departing early (well 9:00am) and going shopping at polaris mall and staying in a hotel. it will be a marvelous time! it will be nice to getaway, do some shopping (without my little bubby-mason), and have some much deserved, overdue, hard laughs. i really love being able to shop without the little one. it's just easier all the way around. anyway, i am counting the days til take off!

that's all for now.