The Pilver

September Eve

Posted on August 31, 2009 by kristiane

It’s been a good summer. I cannot believe it’s over and it seems to have taken three years all at once. I bought about four dozen fall scented candles last week. I dug out all my Martha Stewart September through November issues from the past many years that I have been nerdily collecting. I signed The Max up for school today. I’m ready.

Nothing…NOTHING excites me more than the beginning of fall. I live for it. I dream of wool sweaters as soon as the April thaw hits. A yearly heaven is beginning. Here’s a list of the things I anticipate when September hits:

cider

Apple Cider

Pencils-large

Pencils-The kind you sharpen

yarn balls

Knitting and Crocheting-exclusively cold weather activities

cookie-gift-baskets

Baking

redmen football vs vert et or sheerbroke

Football-I never follow. I love the sound in the background as I sit and read the Sunday paper and look at Target ads.

OrangeLeaves

Orange- leaves, pumpkins, etc

autumn sky

Dark nights before I even get home from work and dark mornings as I wake up

fireplace

The smell of neighbors’ fireplaces. The first one you get a whiff of each year is the most memorable.

Clearly, I would go on for hours…What did I miss?

Posted in Blogroll | Tagged autumn, candles, fall, fireplaces, football, knitting, leaves, pencils | 11 Comments

Hell’s Kitchen Blog

Posted on August 30, 2009 by kristiane

Hell's Kitchen

Last spring, my boss (who rules) asked me if I would be interested in penning blogs for the place I call home from Monday through Friday. I work at Hell’s kitchen. It has nothing to do with the reality show…it is far more interesting a place. My immediate response was, “O MY GOSH I’D LOVE TO!”

The blog went live last week. The first post was made by the wife of the founder of the restaurant and includes a video of peanut butter preparation. If you didn’t know, Hell’s Kitchen is rightfully famous for it’s home made peanut butter. Every morning I get to work and I toast a slice of multi-grain toast and smother it with the PB. Not only does it keep my stomach from growling while I pour coffee and serve eggs to the fine folks of Minneapolis, the stuff is amazing to taste.

So, at the very-last-super-end part of the video, there is a short bit where yours truly eats some peanut butter. I was working a lunch shift one day and he approached me with a hand held video camera.

Boss Man: Let me know when you have an extra five minutes, I need to have you eat some peanut butter.

Me: Ya, sure, OK. (I was unaware this was going to be on the internet at this point.)

*five minutes later and I am sitting at a table in the middle of the lunch rush with a slice of sour dough and a jar of the infamous condiment in front of me*

Boss Man: Ok, I want you to spread the peanut butter on the bread, and then eat it

Me: *nodding my head*

And then, well. Go watch the video. I ate PB sans the J. It’s a thrill. The video is long and is mostly taken up by my pipe smoking boss and the kitchen employee only known as “Shaggy.”

CLICK HERE!!!!! to see the thrilling footage!

And if it is convincing enough, you can actually buy the PB online via the website.

Posted in Blogroll | Tagged blogs, food, Hell's Kitchen, peanut butter, TV | 6 Comments

Scatology

Posted on August 26, 2009 by kristiane

Have you ever felt the urge to get down on the ground and tear apart feces from various animals? Me neither. Despite my general stance of avoiding poo, this past week I went out and found lots and lots of crap!

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While vacationing in Washington, I was allowed to ride along with a biologist for the Bureau of Land Management. I was titled a “volunteer”, though I am not so sure I helped out in any way. I was allowed to keep the hat. (SCORE!)

The day’s intention was to inspect and repair fences used in cattle pastures. The pastures were in the mountains in eastern Washington. These mountains are home to not only rancher’s cattle but also to deer, elk, cougars, bears and coyotes. Not to mention many smaller critters.

So, knowing there were bears out there, I was on the lookout for poo. I could spot the poo from a good distance. I figure, if the poo was fresh and smooshy, the animal was probably close by. There were A LOT of cow pies. Everywhere essentially. Big piles, small piles, and piles that grew mushrooms…no lie.

mushroom cow pie

Then there was the deer number two.

washington 2009 072

Little deer poo

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Big deer poo.

Then, we saw coyote crap.

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That’s weird stuff. I would be embarrassed if I lived in the woods as a wild carnivore and pooed like that.

And then there were bears. Now, I was told that the bears were nothing to fear, only to be respectful of their space. I am certain this is the truth. However, those animals are made out to be viscous beasts, and I was having a hard time not worrying as their bowel movements were left all over the place. If there is bear scat, there is going to be a bear nearby, right?

bear scat

This bear ate berries, as I was told. Lean in real close, you can see the seeds.

bear scat 2

This bear ate an animal with hair.

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And this bears porridge was way too cold. Sorry, bad joke. I just have no idea what it ate. You can see the hive/honey comb right there next to it. The bear possibly was snacking as he did his business. I wonder if that’s like reading while on the pot for the human male.

So, I’ll tell you the truth. I loved spending the time outdoors. Nature is hard to come by around here. I kind of wish we had run into a scarier animal than the chipmunk we saw. I need to get my first encounter out of the way. But golly, all that poo in one day was a close second. 😉

Posted in Blogroll, food, health, how to, job, Life, science, tonasket, travel | Tagged bears, cows, coyotes, deer, Mountains, poop, scat | 7 Comments

Diesel Pepsi

Posted on August 25, 2009 by kristiane

Early this morning an Amtrak train rested itself in St. Paul. I fell off the train and located my super kind friend who drove me home. Two weeks of family reunions and family vacations halted today. Amazingly I’m not too tired, though the idea that in twenty-four hours I’ll be serving eggs to hungry yuppies again kills my soul just a bit.

Vacation was great. Outstanding. Near perfect. For the first time since I started blogging, I did not have internet while on vacation. Most of the time I did not even have cell phone service. I barely missed it. Spent a lot of time in the sticks. I have tons of pictures and blogs in queue. I’m gonna start with something that requires little brain power because though as I said, I’m not really tired, I do still feel like I am on a train and the false swaying my body is experiencing is making sitting still more than difficult.

So, let’s talk about Pepsi. Let’s talk about a gas station on the north end of town in Wenatchee, Washington. This gas station was brought to you by the letter R the number 3 and The Pepsi Cola Co. No lie, you could not look anywhere on the property without the red and blue soda begging for your attention.

pepsi 1

pepsi 2

pepsi 3

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There were ads for the beverage everywhere. They really want you to drink Pepsi. We stopped by after the store was closed, so they could not provide us with the tasty drink…no…wait…

pepsi machine Now this was not a service station/get your car fixed type of gas station. I’ve seen soda machines on the outsides of those in plenty of places. This convenient store is special. They will let you have your Pepsi 24/7/365.

Why did we stop? Why did we visit a clearly closed gas station late at night? Cause it may be the only location on this planet serving a variety of Pepsi that none other has the guts.

diedel pepsi

Great gas mileage. Refreshing. Toxic. Diesel Pepsi.

Next blog I’m gonna show you all the poo I found!

Posted in Blogroll | Tagged diesel, night, pepsi, soda, Washington, wenatchee | 7 Comments

Saved By The Bell Reunites!

Posted on August 9, 2009 by kristiane

The title of this blog post hooked you. You salivated–admit it. You spent your afternoons after school as I did. We all watched Saved By The Bell. Whether you care to believe it or not, the show began TWENTY YEARS AGO! Crap, it does not feel like that long.

I am on a bit of a spending limit this month so my magazine purchases have come to a halt. It was such a no brainer that this issue of People Magazine was the king of all exceptions. Just look at the writing on the front page

Hookups? YES! Meltdowns? YES! The memories are great and all, but it’s the killer juicy gossip that the public needs to know.

First of all, the memories they shared were…nice. It seemed as though they were all buddies back in the day. The hook-ups? All it really said was that they all had crushes and/or dated one another at some point in the shows very long run. Boooring! As far as the supposed meltdowns, there were none mentioned. These folks are as exciting as vanilla ice cream.

Here’s the girls. I have to say, either there is a whole lot of airbrushing going on, or they have aged in the best way. They are all in their mid thirties but I’d card the three of them in a heartbeat if they ordered a drink.

saved by the bell boys

And the boys. The signature blond is out of Zack’s hair and the mullet has been cut from Slater’s. I had a minimal crush on Zack when I was younger. He’s still looking pretty good.

But where’s Screech?!?!

screech

There he is! If you can read the fine print, you will love that he is penning a tell all book about the show. I probably won’t buy it. I dunno, maybe. Maybe you can buy it for me so I don’t have to stand in line at Barnes and Noble embarrassed about a book sporting Dustin Diamond’s face on it.

So, that was it. I blew a few dollars on this. SBTB is still playing apparently, on cable. If we ever have cable again, I am going to force The Max to watch it with me.

Sing Along!