Chicken pimpin'

The Turkey likes chicken.

Wait. Let's do that again....

The Turkey LUVS him some chick-kun! (insert hearts here)

Better. Much better.

He likes it so much he has started inviting his friends over for dinner when he knows we're having chicken. The last friend that was subjected to our chicken went home a very happy camper. And today, as we left the grocery store with fresh chicken breasts, the Turkey reached for his cell phone and simultaneously asked if So-and-So could come over for dinner tonight.

Um. Hold the phone! How about asking if I purchased enough chicken to feed not one but TWO teenagers? How about that tonight is a school night? And what ever happened to asking before inviting? And while we're at it ... this is the kicker, folks ... ready for it? ... you sure? ... here goes ...

"Why are you pimping my chicken?!"

Yes, folks. I accused my son of chicken pimping. *heavy sigh*

I don't think chicken pimping is a punishable offense so we're probably safe for the time being. Well, as safe as one can be when they are laughing so hard there are snorts and snirks. (What's a snirk? Dunno. I just made it up. Like it?)

Anyway, the laughter subsided and dinner was good. Friend So-and-So wasn't here tonight but the Turkey liked him some chicken pimping anyway. :-)

Cluck on!

Photo time

It's snowing again. Again! Sigh. So instead of shoveling (been there, done that enough this winter) I thought it would be good to share some photos from this past fall. The shoveling can wait.



All of these pictures were taken by my favorite Turkey with our cheapo digital camera during Thanksgiving week. These were the shots he submitted for his mid-term project in digital photography class. Whaddaya think?


PS - click here if you want to see the album and captions instead of a slideshow

Two words: New Coke

While I am not a fan of Valentine's Day (we'll save that tirade for a later post), there is a certain excitement every year when the VDay candies hit the retail shelves. I just see the red and pink bags and start feeling giddy. Giddy because my all-time favorite candy has just been released again. We're talking my FAVORITE candy, people! February is the only time of the year when I skip the chocolate and head straight for the sugar, straight for the conversation hearts. I heart hearts! And not just any conversation hearts. Nope. Give me the classic conversation hearts by NECCO complete with the cutesy sayings and sugary goodness. Yum! I am on a virtual sugar high just thinking about them. Double yum!

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I opened my first candy hearts bag of the season and was overwhelmed by a fruity sweet smell. Conversation hearts aren't supposed to be fruity. What's this? Hmm. Maybe it was just a fluke. I eagerly ate one three and thought I bought the wrong bag. I checked and, yes, it says manufactured by the New England Confectionery Company, Inc. right there on the bag so it wasn't a case of brand switcheroo. Another few hearts hit the mouth and the taste was, well, fruity. What's going on? These are definitely NOT my favorite conversation hearts. Panic is beginning to set in along with a very icky aftertaste. I'm not sure which is worse at this point, the panic or the icky aftertaste.

Still having faith in my all-time favorite candy I forged ahead. I even ate a few more. When the Turkey and his friend got in the car I gave each a handful of candy hearts with instructions to try them. Knowing my obsession with conversation hearts, the Turkey was happy to see them again and eagerly ate the candies. He quickly had much the same reaction I had earlier: BLECK! When the boy in the backseat echoed another ICK (which sounded curiously like "these suck!" at the time) I knew something was amiss. It was no longer just me.

As soon as we got home I was on the computer and scouring the web for information. This was a complete travesty. Why would anyone mess with a perfectly good candy, much less my FAVORITE candy? It had to be corporate terrorism or something. But no. I quickly learned this ickyness was intentional. NECCO was unleashing their version of New Coke on the unsuspecting world. Here is what their website says:

New Sayings & Colors
For the first time in 145 years, Sweethearts® discarded all its previous phrases and asked the American public to tell us how they express their love. The 2010 Sweethearts® are featured in bright and bolder new colors.
New Flavors & Texture
All new flavors for 2010 Sweethearts® include Strawberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Grape, Orange and Blue Raspberry. The new Sweethearts® have been re-formulated to be softer and more fun to eat.

Um. People. People. People! If it was working for 145 years and you had a terrific share of the VDay candy market, why get rid of a good thing?!?! One hundred and forty five years for goodness sake! I can understand the need to diversify and offer a new flavor, but take a page from Coke's history and keep classic conversation hearts. Puh-leeze! Bring back the classic conversation hearts! BRING BACK THE CLASSIC CONVERSATION HEARTS!

These new hearts taste fruity, icky, like Bubble Yum gum. The sayings are sloppily imprinted and many are illegible. The colors are fake, bright pastels. The flavors are icky. They leave an awful aftertaste. Even the new packaging leaves much to be desired. And have I mentioned they taste icky? Bleck! I am disappointed. I am sad. I am bereft. My favorite candy is no longer available.

You might think this is a big joke. You might think that I had nothing else to say today and chose to go off on a funny tangent about Valentine candy. You might think that and you would be wrong. No, I mean it. I am upset. NECCO toyed with my all-time favorite candy, the one thing that made this time of year bright. I may not have had a VDay date or an excuse to buy-in to the VDay hype but I always -- and I do mean always -- had conversation hearts throughout February. They were at home, on my desk, affixed to cards and candles, stashed in the car, purchased in bulk and eaten throughout the year. These were my signature candies. Like Reagan was to jelly beans, Jess was to hearts. Was. Past tense. *snif*

Much like the debacle with New Coke, I am hoping NECCO quickly recognizes the egregious error of their ways and re-releases classic conversation hearts. Keep these new [icky] fruity thingies for the kids if you must, but bring back classic conversation hearts. BRING BACK CLASSIC CONVERSATION HEARTS!

I am not just ranting to you, dear reader. Oh no. This is serious. My strategy involves facebook posts, office taste tests, encouraging others to write to NECCO, flogging, talking, complaining, not purchasing the new hearts and sulking. I'm sure the sulking will sway the company. Not! But letters will! If you feel the same, similar, or even remotely close about the new conversation hearts please write to NECCO here. Hopefully they will get the message. New conversation hearts = New Coke. Bleck!

Come on, chant it with me, people: BRING BACK CLASSIC HEARTS! BRING BACK CLASSIC HEARTS! BRING BACK CLASSIC HEARTS!

Nephew love

More travels

Yesterday -- Tuesday -- I took an unplanned trip to New York City. Yep. Just hopped on a train and headed up to the Big Apple. You'd think I was tired of traveling after last week but this one was a personal trek. It was fun being on the train in jeans and walking around Manhattan and not lugging a laptop and other miscellaneous work stuff for a change. See, I was there to meet my nephew. Big smiles! :)

Nephew Tate arrived early Tuesday morning and this first-time aunt just HAD to be part of his welcoming committee. Want to see? Here is Mr. Tate Emerson:

Aw! What a cutie patootie! On his birthday, January 26, he weighed in at 7lbs 13oz and 21.5" long.  Tate's mom is doing well and getting much-needed rest in the hospital, while his dad (my bro) is exercizing his parental rights as a photographer. Case in point:

Apparently photographer dad has already exhausted one memory card with baby pictures and was making headway on a second while I was there. I helped stage a few shots -- the baby's fingers with dad's wedding ring on, lots of feet and hand shots, sleeping on a lap, that kind of thing. Tate's dad will hopefully post some of them soon (hint!) so I can repost here later, but here's what came home on my cheapo camera yesterday:

Check out those long toes! It's so cute how his toes stretch and curl and grip. I had forgotten how much fun it is to play with baby toes.

I had a good time with my brother and sister-in-law and baby Tate yesterday. We chatted for a few hours in the hospital before I headed out to grab dinner and catch a train home. The best part of the trip, though, was ... wait! Can you guess what the best part was? Cuddling with a new bambino? Um, super nice but not the best. Becoming an aunt? Totally groovy but not the best. Seeing my little brother as a dad? A little surreal but not the best. Out of guesses? The best part of the day was ...

... giving Tate lots of love, spoiling him rotten and then giving him back when I left! AWESOME! I think I'm really going to dig being an aunt. :-)

Hard traveling

Operation Meals on Wheels was a success! After 4 full days of hard traveling I am quite happy to be home. Happy HaPpY HAPPY!

What's that? You want to know what "hard traveling" means? Ah. Since I didn't divulge our travel plans in the earlier post here is the itinerary in a nutshell: Landed in West Palm Beach on Tuesday and drove up to Jupiter for dinner. The next day was Delray Beach and then down to Key Largo for dinner. After dinner we crossed Alligator Alley and stopped for the night in Naples. Naples for breakfast. Ft. Myers for lunch. Put boss on the plane and then I started driving north. Spent the night in Gainsville then headed to Destin for a lunch meeting. Wandered around Destin for a bit and then caught a flight home. And that, my turkeys, is the definition Hard Traveling. We were either in the car or in an eating meeting for FOUR DAYS! That and hotel rooms.

I had hoped to be able to document the trip in photos but after the first 24 hours I forgot the camera was along for the ride. Here's what I did get, though:

This was my mini suite in Delray Beach. I got this nice living room, large bathroom and comfy bedroom while my boss got a *cough!* closet.  Hee hee! All I can say is that it pays to be conversational with the front desk staff. :-)

Directly across the street from the hotel was the beach. The mangroves created a tunnel over the path that was way cool.

Pictures from the beach:

 

 

The sun was so bright I couldn't see the screen on the tiny digital camera so I just started clicking and hoping a couple pictures would turn out. You can see a few of the sandpipers in the last picture as well as the shells that washed up with the tide. It really was a lovely morning.

Turning around you could see our hotel peeking out above the dunes:

 

And downtown Delray Beach: 

After Delray Beach it was south to Key Largo through the Everglades. The boss lady had the camera for a few minutes and this is what she got:

 

It was nothing but mini islands, roads, water and sunshine as far as you could see. We lost track of the number of bridges we crossed but it was a lot. Once at our destination the landscape changed significantly.

 

Sunset in Key Largo. Mmmmmm.

Taking pictures of the marina from the back of a moving golf cart is never a good idea. Let's try again...

Much better! Next time I would like to try traversing the state in one of these uber comfortable modes of transportation. :-)

Speaking of traversing the state, here are the remaining shots from the trip:

I-75 somewhere north of Sarasota.  It was flat. And straight. And long. And flat. Did I mention it was flat?

 

About the same time as I was trying to capture the flatness (did I mention it was flat?), I looked west and realized there was a pretty sunset. Snap! And that was the last snap of the trip. By the last day I could have cared less about the camera and was just interested in sticking the toes in the sand and soaking up the last snitches of sunshine before heading back to the metropolis.

Next up is a massage to work out these traveling kinks. Toodles!

Meals on wheels

I am in Florida on a business trip. Shh! Don't tell anyone. This is our little secret. OK? (Well, as secret as a trip with your boss can be.)

We arrived yesterday, picked up a rental car and drove to our first meeting which happened to be dinner. Today we have a lunch meeting, drive to our next location, have a dinner meeting and drive again. Tomorrow we have a breakfast meeting, drive to our next location, have a ... wait! Can you fill in the blank yet? What's that? You think we might have a lunch meeting next? Yes! We have a winner!

This whole trip is eat, drive, eat, drive, eat, drive, sleep, eat, drive, eat, drive, eat drive, sleep. It's meals on wheels! :-)

This is how I roll

 You'll have no problems spotting this pink turkey in the airport!

Pizza update

After I was grumbling so much about pizza sales for the younger turkey's two clubs we hit upon a grand idea. See, the boy scouts are helping at a homeless shelter in February and they will need to provide two meals to the shelter folks. Wouldn't it be great if people just bought pizzas and/or other food stuffs that the boys could serve at the shelter? Ding ding! We have a winner! Six pizza kits were sold yesterday once we mentioned that the pizzas could be donated to the shelter. Six! People were thrilled to help the boy scouts (one of the pizza sale beneficiaries) AND the county shelter. Not only that, now the boy scouts only have to provide beverages for lunch that day because the pizzas will already be there. It is a total win-win situation.

Want to buy pizzas to benefit the boy scouts and help feed the homeless?

I did the macarena with a phone... ???

I did the macarena with a phone at the dinner table because I'm NOT crazy.

Really? What's not crazy about that? I mean, people haven't done the macarena in YEARS, much less at the dinner table. With a phone? Hello?

This was the crazy thing going around facebook today. The month you were born -- July for me -- relates to "I did the macarena with..."  But if you were born in, say, January, it would be "I kicked..." The day you were born is the next phrase, and so on. Thus, I did the macarena with a phone at the dinner table because I'm NOT crazy. Ta da!

But I really wanted to be born on November 16th:  I yelled at a pickle in line at the bank because I'm cool like that.

Who has the time to come up with these things anyway?

Want to buy a pizza?

Would you like to buy a pizza? What about pizza dogs? A cheesecake? Cookie dough? Every year we get slammed with not one but TWO food fundraisers during the same weeks in January. ARGH! I hate this. I really wish these programs would resort to the old fashioned fundraising of "give me a dollar (or five) to help me do X." Pretty please? With whipped cream on top? I hate that the kid has quotas for both programs and HAS to sell pizzas and pizza dogs and cheesecake and all the other unhealthy products in these two catalogs. Bleck. Would someone puh-leeze come up with school fundraisers that are NOT food based?!?!

In the meantime, if you want to buy a pizza or something similar we've got you covered. If you want to contribute $5 or $10 or more to support either the Botball Competition Team or the Boy Scouts and skip the pizzas altogether, well that would be super wonderful too.



PS -- I neglected to mention we also have candy bars for $1. HELP!

Novel twizzler

I read this book in a single day. One. Uno. Eins. Yep, ONE day from start to finish. That was yesterday. A week day, no less! Of course it helped to have 3.5 hours of semi uninterrupted reading time while in the waiting room at the auto mechanics'. (I was waiting for new tires that weren't in stock. Always fun.) And after the morning at the shop, I read a little more. Got some work done. Attended a thingy-ma-bobber at the high school. ("Thingy-ma-bobber" is a highly technical term for Overly Complicated 11th Grade Scheduling). Dinner. Load of laundry. Email and facebook checks. And then a little more reading. The book was cracked at 7:30am and was finished by 11pm, with a little life in between. Not a bad day at all!

It's been a loooooong time since I've read an entire book in one day. This particular book is a good choice for a single-day read because the entire plot takes place in the course of one day too. It felt like I was keeping pace with the action somehow. And, yes, I would recommend it if you are looking for something entertaining, well worded, intellectually stimulating, exciting and fictional. It definitely scores 9 out of 10 gobble gobbles.

My only complaint is that I was utterly exhausted by page 438. (There are 509 pages to read, by the way.) There were so many plot twists and turns I was beginning to feel like I was being jerked around. Like I was inside a twizzler instead of a novel by the way it was all tightly wound.  30 pages later -- at #463 -- I was ready to call it quits. It didn't matter if the last few pages tied up loose ends, I just wanted out. "Please, Mr. Brown, make it stop!" she cried. And what a great relief it was when the last 50 pages were skimmed and book was finally finished at 11pm. Whew!

So have you read the book yet? Did you have the same twizzler issue? Did you get whiplash from being jerked around so much? Or was I the only one?

If you haven't read the book yet, do yourself a favor and don't wait for the movie. Read the book. Twizzlers are cheaper if you don't have to buy them at the movie theater. ;-)

Moving on up

THIS is my new house. Go ahead and click on that link. Click and drool. G'head. Gorgeous, isn't it? Spectacularly wonderful even. Mmmm!

Drool all you want but I would like to mention yet again that you really don't need to enter the contest. Nope. Do not enter. DO.NOT.ENTER.THE.CONTEST. Get it? I mean, why waste all that energy and computer power by entering the HGTV Dream Home giveaway when, in the end, it will be mine? Hmm? I'm just protecting you from elevated expectations and unwarranted disappointment and depression when you don't win and I do. Isn't that nice of me? ((bats eyelashes))

Stay tuned for details on the housewarming party! :)

Giving life an extra squeeze

Yes, my friends, it's confirmed. We always knew there was some fun here but now it has been scientifically proven. At a staff retreat today we used the Myers Briggs type indicator which, as expected, categorized me as an ENFP. For the record, that's been the standard result for all three Myers Briggs tests I have taken. It's Extraversion, iNtuition, Feeling, Perceiving. Here's what the worksheet said about me:

• People oriented
• Creative
• Seeks harmony
• Life of the party
• More starts than finishes
• Most optimistic

Perfect, no? But wait. It gets better. For each type there is a phrase to describe that person. So an ISFP says "sees much but shares little," and an ESTP says "the ultimate realist." (Sooo not me!) Mine says....are ya' ready for this?....like REALLY ready?....here goes....mine says

GIVING LIFE AN EXTRA SQUEEZE

Yep. Squeeze life. That just makes me smile. Smile big smiles. :)

No matter what your type, you are invited to join me in the ENFP world for a bit and squeeze. That's right, just give your life an extra squeeze today. Squeeze like a hug. Squeeze like your lungs during a laughing fit. Squeeze like you mean it! Just squeeze! Trust me, your life will love you all the more for it.

**Squeeze!**

Just right

What? You think this template looks pretty much the same as the old pink turkey? You think I was pulling your leg with yesterday's post? Well, if you checked out this blog any time between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. last night you may have needed a hard hat because construction on the blog site looked like one of these at any given moment:



Click here, here or here to see these templates in full size. The last one was my favorite of the three. What's yours?

While the three templates all offered new and cool stuff for this blogger and the reader (that's you!), none of them felt just right. Like baby bear trying out chairs, tasting porridge, then finding a couple of beds before snuggling in to the one that was JUST RIGHT, none of these way cool templates felt JUST RIGHT. So I thought it would be good to start with a clean slate and build something similar but better. New year = new things, right? Make that JUST RIGHT.

Construction will be going on for a few days. Keep checking back to see the changes as they progress. And please let me know if there are any widgets or features or design ideas that you would like to see here on pink turkey as it gets pinked up. :)

Cheerio!

Editing in progress

Dear Reader,

I am getting creative with this blog layout and trying out new things. After all, new year = new things. :) Please don't be alarmed with new and funky templates in the interim. I promise to give you a heads up when I'm done. Oh, and feel free to leave comments about whether or not you like the new layouts, you're getting whiplash, or if there is a particular widget you've been itching to see on pink turkey.

Blog on!

Happy Days!

Happy New Year! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Black Friday! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Halloween! There have been a lot of holidays (or jolly days) since the last "official" post so I have some catching up to do. What? I missed a holiday? Oh yeah. Happy Guy Fawkes Day! Happy Bosses Day! Happy Boxing Day! And let's not forget...Happy Bouillabaisse Day! (December 14th, of course. But you knew that already, right?)

Anyway, somewhere between National Flashlight Day and Eggnog Day I received a gentle-ish reminder to blog, Blog, BLog, BLOg, BLOG! Apparently some pink turkey readers out there have been feeling a wee bit bereft with the absence of current posts. Sorry, my turkeys! Now that I know you are checking in I will try to do better in the posting department. Let's start now...

We are currently pet sitting for my sister and her brother-in-law while they are on a Caribbean cruise. The cat and hedgehog are here while sister and family are on a grand excursion. Yeah. They got the cruise and we got the pets. Can you say "short end of the stick?" They are due back in town today and, other than their pets, will be greeted with howling wind and temps in the teens. There has to be some sort of payback for a winter cruise and this is definitely it! But let's get back to the animals. The cat is sweet, gives us hugs, purrs freely and often, plays fetch (honest!), and likes to snuggle under blankets. The hedgehog is prickly, stinky, nocturnal and sounds like a coffee pot percolating when awoken. We might adopt a cat one day. 'Nuf said.

Ready for some updated pictures? (Hint. This is not the time to say "no.")


Drew and I went to separate New Year's Eve parties and we both took these 2010 glasses with us. Drew hung out with several friends and won the Who Stayed Up The Latest Contest by going to bed at 7:00 a.m.! The boys were playing video games, went outside to pop confetti guns at midnight and then they played more video games and more video games. On the other hand, I was at an adults-only dinner party and crawled in to bed around 5:00 a.m. We both had fun. We both also napped a lot on January 1st. And please note that picture above was taken well before I showered and got gussied up for the festivities!

Merry Christmas! This was taken as we were stepping out to attend the Christmas Eve service. We met my parents and sister and brother-in-law for church and it was a lovely time. My sister and I started out with a giggle when we saw the hymn It Came Upon A Midnight Clear printed in the bulletin. She reminded me that two years ago there was a misprint and it said HE Came Upon A Midnight Clear. Yup. So wrong but soooooo funny! This time, however, no typo. At least not there. Glory to God in the High Test was a different story. Hee hee.

Did you happen to notice that there was no mention of my brother in that paragraph above? He and his wife celebrated a quiet and travel-free Christmas this year, opting to stay home since their baby is due in the next two weeks. Yes, a baby! Exciting news, 'eh?! We missed them at Christmas but will see them soon when we head up to meet the newest member of the family.




On December 18th (National Roast Suckling Pig Day) we awoke to snow. Maybe I should say SNOW! It snowed for 22 hours straight and left us with 20 inches in the driveway. It was gorgeous but took a long time to dig out. The photos were taken from our front porch during the storm. And, yes, that is indeed a Christmas tree on our front porch. It looked much prettier with the [real] snow on its [fake] boughs. Oooh. Aaah. It was nice that the snow stayed around long enough for us to celebrate a white Christmas this year. Thanks, Mr. Snow! :-)

That gets you caught up on the last two weeks. We hope you had a terrific holiday season and are enjoying a grand start to 2010. See you here again soon!