I Suck At Installing Curtain Rods

yesterday, karen and i thought we would be productive and work on our house. in particular, we figured that we would finally install curtain rods in our living room and actually hang curtains from them. it's too bad i suck at installing curtain rods.

for a few weeks now, we have had the curtain rods lying in our living room... just waiting to be installed. karen had picked up the curtain rods one day when she went shopping with my favorite sister-in-law (janine), leaving me to demolish our bathroom. needless to say, the curtain rods (and the curtains themselves) sat in our living room until yesterday. in my defense, we did not have the rings/clips to attach the curtains to the curtain rods until a couple of days ago.

anyway, i figured i would finally install the curtain rods while karen ironed the curtains. might i add, curtains are a big racket, especially for something that simply hangs on your window. the curtain noob that i am, i did not realize that curtains are sold by panels. a panel apparently is enough material for one side of a window. i don't know how many people actually buy just one panel for a window. so unfortunately, if you want a window with a left and right side... you need to buy two panels per window. (and for anyone curious, our living room has five windows... so that is a lot of panels.)

things were not looking good for the curtain rod installation. unaware that i was going to be installing curtain rods for the day, i did not charge the battery for my cordless drill. and as luck would have it, the battery needed to be recharged. (i actually fear that the battery may be dead for my drill as it has been failing to maintain its charge. it's very sad.) so i would have to install the curtain rods using the old standby of the simple screwdriver... and some elbow grease... to my obvious disdain. i don't know how people did things around the house before the creation of power tools.

anyway, i managed to install curtain rods for all five of our windows in the living room.

(pictured below is our living room with the new curtains in the windows.)


after each curtain rod was installed, karen started hanging the curtains. when all was said and done, the curtains actually made the room look nicer and more finished. previous to the new curtains, karen and i had used curtains that were given to us by my friends (hugh and jenny). unfortunately, there were only four curtains that were given to us. so for the longest time, our living room looked a little odd by having five windows... and four curtains.

anyway, it was nice to finally cross a project off of the to-do list. the living room does look much nicer with five curtains for five windows. plus, it's always good when i can turn to karen and say "it's curtains for you"... i'm just kidding.

I Suck At Making Macaroni And Cheese

yesterday, karen and i got to hang out with my friends (marc and kelley). in my attempt to become a little more proficient with my culinary skills, i offered to do something that i normally don't do... cook dinner for everyone. (it's not that i do not want to cook dinner or anything like that. i actually like to cook. it's just that karen seems to enjoy cooking more. so, i simply stick with the manly duties of grilling and stir frying whenever the opportunity arises.)

on the menu yesterday was macaroni and cheese... made from scratch and not of the box-orange variety. too bad i suck at making macaroni and cheese. i heard that making the meal was fairly simple, so i figured i would give it a try. plus, marc loves macaroni and cheese. (i aim to please.)

anyway, marc and kelley lent me a macaroni and cheese cookbook in preparation for my culinary task. after reviewing all of the recipes in the cookbook, i decided that i would start with the basics and if it went well, would progress further with more complicated recipes. unfortunately, the aforementioned cookbook did not have a basic recipe. thus, i ended up scouring the internet.

the recipe i finally used came complements of my man, alton brown of food network fame.

it was definitely an interesting exercise in making macaroni and cheese. the recipe calls for the use of a diced yellow onion. well, needless to say, i have never diced an onion... ever. i have cut them into strips... but never dicing. my eyes were actually tearing by the end of my dicing experience. lucky for me, i have two working tear ducts unlike my friend (hot amy).

as well, i had a little setback with my "rue". i have no idea what a rue is. in fact, i just got exposed to the word yesterday only because karen started telling me that i should be doing x, y, and z for the rue. (i am thinking this is why karen cooks the majority of the time... bossy boots tendencies.) of course, karen was absolutely correct in this case because i was making the rue incorrectly.

when all was said and done, i had created a cheese filled mess in a casserole dish... and not only in the dish, but also in the kitchen... all over the countertop... all over the stove... yes it was fun to clean up.

(pictured below is the macaroni and cheese dinner prior to baking. the guinness bottle is just a shameless plug.)


i was actually concerned because the cheese filled mess looked nothing like the picture online. as well, the cheese filled mess looked like it contained more cheese than macaroni. unfortunately, i did not have a plan b. all i had was faith... in my man... alton brown.

to my surprise, the meal actually came out pretty well. everyone told me that they liked it. of course, they could have just been saying that. i was pleasantly surprised. and let this be a lesson: always have faith in alton brown. alton brown will never lead you astray!

needless to say, all of us polished off the mac 'n cheese while we watched the latest episode of "lost". the episode of "lost", by the way, was excellent. had someone walked by the window at the right moment, that person would probably have seen all of us pumping our fists in excitement and joy over the latest twist in the show.

and naturally, after "lost", we were also able to catch a few more episodes of the greatest tv show ever: buffy the vampire slayer. the three episodes were "helpless" about buffy's rite of passage upon turning 18; "the zeppo" about xander and his usefulness to the group; and "bad girls" which introduces the new character: wesley wyndham-pryce.

"the zeppo" is one of marc's favorite episodes proabably because the episode is xander-centric and he enjoys the xander character. of the three episodes, i actually liked "bad girls" the most... not only because it has the faith character in it (which it does)... or introduces wesley... but because the episode sets up the rest of season three. (this is probably where you can tell i was a psychology and sociology major because i find the episode so interesting with its id versus ego underlying theme.)

anyway, last night was quite enjoyable... with the macaroni and cheese... lost... buffy the vampire slayer... and hanging out with marc and kelley. it was definitely a good time.

I Suck At Thoughts And Prayers

i found out today that one of my friends lost her child. granted, i probably should have asked my friend if it would be all right to blog about the loss. after all, it is a personal and private matter for the family... and i respect that.

as a friend, it is hard not to feel the ripple effects of the loss. after all, friends are supposed to support you in a time of need... and i cannot think of a greater tragedy than the loss of a loved one, especially when the loss is of your own child.

i remember when my son (braden) passed away almost five months ago, many of my friends and family said something along the lines that their "thoughts and prayers" are with karen and i during our loss. obviously, i would like to extend the same sentiments to my friend who just lost her child. unfortunately, i suck at thoughts and prayers. after all, i'm not religious. (don't get me started on the cult-like behavior of church. drink kool-aid/blood of christ? it's not as far fetched to believe.) plus, i occasionally still have the feeling... whether warranted or not... that the supposedly merciful god has forsaken me by taking my son away from me. so needless to say, the "prayers" part of the sentiment would not exactly fit were i to offer "thoughts and prayers". and just offering "thoughts" does not exactly have a good ring to it.

anyway, i wanted to write this post in honor of my friend's lost loved one... to at least recognize that the child existed in this world if only for a brief time. personally speaking, one of my frustrations after the death of braden was to have people who i knew... people who also knew about braden's death... not even mention or ask or make any indication to recognize that braden ever existed. it was frustrating to me because braden was (and still is) important to me and the fact that people would seemingly ignore braden's memory felt insulting. (and all right, maybe i may have vilified some people for it...)

obviously, the topic of loss, particularly the loss of a child, is never a cheery topic and probably is a topic that is mostly swept under the rug or is considered taboo or "hush-hush". so, i can understand that people are sometimes at a loss for words because the topic is outside of their comfort zone.

regardless, the topic is real and people who are uncomfortable with the topic need to deal with it. i am still astounded by the pregnancy mortality rates given to karen and i after braden passed away. the doctors told us that about 30% of pregnancies do not make it. that is an amazing statistic... one that definitely shatters the illusion brought on by the media and television that pregnancies are pretty much automatic. you get pregnant... you have a child.... not always the case in real life.

i didn't mean to go off on a tangent. obviously, the feelings about my own personal loss with braden are still with me. those feelings will probably always be with me... until i'm fortunate enough to see braden again. people have said that life will get easier in time. with my current fickle mood swings, i sure am hoping sooner than later. i sometimes feel like i am losing my mind.

as for my friend, i wish you and your family all the best. obviously, if you or anyone in your family ever needs anything, please do not hesitate to ask karen or i. we would be more than willing to help. i guess you can even say that my thoughts are with you and your family during this time. (see, the phrase doesn't really have the same effect without the "prayers" part.)

hopefully braden will find your lost loved one and they can hang out and be best friends... and do all the things that their parents can only wait to learn about in the afterlife.

I Suck At Grocery Shopping

this week, i told my friends (marc and kelley) that i would try my hand at cooking and make dinner for our weekly get-together on thursday. the dinner of choice: macaroni and cheese. like many culinary tasks, i have never made macaroni and cheese... ever. my culinary ineptitude may be one of the reasons why i challenge and make wagers with my friend (hot amy). to the victor goes the spoils... and as i generally win those wagers, i usually get to enjoy the bounty of the food wagered.

anyway, in my attempt to be a little more hands on in the kitchen, i figured i'd try making macaroni and cheese... from scratch and not from a box. marc and kelley lent me a cookbook specific to macaroni and cheese. as i was flipping through the cookbook, i looked at all of the possibilities... and there were a lot of variations. each and every one of the recipes looked delicious. i'm salivating just looking at the pictures.

after a long deliberation, i actually decided to start with the basics: a simple macaroni and cheese recipe that was not even in the cookbook. i actually found a simple recipe online. my train of thought: if i can make the basic version, i can then progress to the more scrumptious version later on. call it a "building block".

the only problem of course was that i needed the ingredients to cook the meal for tomorrow. there's nothing like a little procrastination. lucky for me, i am generally good under pressure. i have been known to write many papers for school the night before they were due.

so needless to say, i had to go grocery shopping tonight for some ingredients. too bad i suck at grocery shopping. on our way home tonight, karen and i went to star market in quincy. to our surprise, we ran into my friend's (joanna) father in the produce section.

joanna's father was looking for a squash. he cracks me up. (in fact, joanna's entire family cracks me up.) joanna's father was going to try to recreate an "everything" meal that he had earlier. the meal consisted of... everything.

as we chatted in the produce section, he told us that joanna's brother (john) was expecting to be a father this year. (joanna's father's eyes lit up with excitement on telling us the news.) and unfortunately due to the pregnancy, john would not be able to visit joanna this summer in seattle. joanna is graduating this summer with her masters degree from a college in seattle. she wanted to have everyone come visit her for her graduation (which i might consider because i have always wanted to go to seattle)... for anyone curious, joanna lives in portland... not seattle.

anyway, it was a good grocery shopping experience. in addition to having a good time with joanna's father, i did actually get all my ingredients for the macaroni and cheese recipe for tomorrow. so hopefully the macaroni and cheese recipe will turn out okay.

I Suck At Watching The Super Bowl

yesterday actually began a little sluggishly because my bff (kerry) and i did not go to bed till 3:00am the night before. kerry, karen, my favorite sister-in-law (janine), and i had watched the first season of veronica mars into the wee hours of night. when janine went home and karen went to bed, kerry and i simply hung out a little more. (we were surprised ourselves when we found out that it was 3 in the morning.)

needless to say, kerry spent the night. as is customary for whenever someone spends the night, we generally make or go out for breakfast the next morning. it simply completes the whole "bed and breakfast" experience. on the menu for breakfast... eggs and toast... because it's hard to mess up cooking an egg (or toast for that matter)... and i can handle making that. plus, we were able to use up the leftover french fries from the night we went out to the 99 restaurant with bill and jen.

after breakfast, the three of us did what any person would do after watching the first season of a tv show: we watched more episodes from the second season. and so, kerry, karen and i spent the rest of the day watching more episodes of veronica mars. it's amazing how much time gets sucked away when you watch five more episodes of the second season.

when we eventually stopped watching, kerry looked up rob thomas, the writer and producer of veronica mars on the internet movie database. it turns out that rob thomas has ties to dawson's creek and 90210... two of kerry's favorite shows. so it's no wonder why kerry (or me for that matter) likes veronica mars so much. and for anyone curious, there are rumors that there may be a veronica mars movie.

anyway, after kerry left, karen and i were feeling rather unproductive. normally on super bowl sunday, we usually have plans. in the past, our plans generally involved going to mass for karen's grandfather, followed by a party at my friend's (ron). yes, karen's grandfather's mass has coincidentally always been on super bowl sunday.

this year, however, karen's grandfather's mass was scheduled for a different sunday... and ron did not have a super bowl party. my friend (cass) had thought about having people over for a party, but i do not believe he ended up having it. so needless to say, karen and i did not have any plans for super bowl sunday. it was actually nice to have no plans for once on super bowl sunday.

after spending countless hours watching veronica mars, karen and i were not in the mood to go out. and we really weren't in the mood to have more people over. so, we basically hung out and watched the super bowl together (with the occasional channel flip to "my big fat greek wedding" because karen loves that movie). yes, i suck at watching the super bowl.

i must say, this is the second year of a disappointing super bowl. (the first being the utter collapse of the unbeaten new england patriots last year to the new york giants.) although not as bad as last year, this year had the pittsburgh steelers winning the super bowl. the steelers have a great organization. too bad i dislike the steelers... a lot. plus, i would have liked to watch the arizona cardinals win because it would have been the first time ever for their organization had they won. it would have been one of those feel good stories... whereby kurt warner, quarterback for the cardinals, could finally retire and go out on top. but oh well... i don't care that much about it, so i'm sure i'll get over it.

anyway, it was nice to just spend time with karen and have an unproductive day.

i almost forgot. yesterday also marked the beginning of our attempt to dine out less, which should be good for my ever increasing waist line. i have been noticing, as i have been writing posts to this blog, that i seem to eat out... a lot... due to my sheer laziness in wanting to cook. this of course, may lead to an increase in my attempt to make wagers against my friend (hot amy) so that i can simply have her make meals for me instead (and consequently karen). but, we'll see how the diminished dining out thing goes. i fear for my health, and probably for my wallet, that it is best that we do dine out less.

I Suck At Veronica Mars

last night, my bff (kerry) and my favorite sister-in-law (janine) came over. our plan: to watch the rest of season 1 of veronica mars. now, i suck at veronica mars.

it just so happened that kerry was going to be down on the south shore this weekend for a little family function. as she was already in the neighborhood, she thought it would be nice to get together. similarly, janine's original plans for the night had fallen through. so janine was likewise available.

thus, kerry, janine, karen and i were determined to finish the first season of veronica mars, which for kerry and i... began back in august of last year. since that time in august, kerry and i got karen into the show... and waited for her to catch up on the past episodes that we had already watched. from there, we got janine into the show when her dryer broke down and she came over to use our dryer. (we were watching the show and she got hooked while waiting for her clothes to dry.)

needless to say, the four of us watched the remaining six episodes of the first season. it was a little comical to watch the final episode together. karen gets all skittish at times when watching shows with suspense and or suspenseful music. she will sometimes shield her eyes under the blankets when she thinks something suspenseful is going to happen. apparently, janine is the same way. the both of them were on edge as we watched the final episode. it was funny.

the first season of veronica mars was simply great. in addition to a bizarre love triangle that was created in the show (to which kerry has become a big fan of that character), the killer of veronica mars's best friend was finally revealed. the cliffhanger to the first season ended in such a way that everyone had me run to get the second season of the show. so, after unwrapping the second season, we watched the first episode of season two to see what would unfold.

anyway, i had a great time watching the first season of veronica mars. the show is written very well. too bad it was one of those great shows that nobody was watching when it was on television. i think what i enjoy most about veronica mars (much like watching lost or the greatest tv show ever: buffy the vampire slayer) is actually watching the show with my friends and family. i find that the journey itself is very enjoyable because i get to hang out, be silly and experience something special with everyone. and now that the six month journey for season one of the show has finally ended, we can embark on season two.

I Suck At Hanging Out With Jen And Bill

tonight, karen and i hung out with my friends (jen and bill). too bad i suck at hanging out with jen and bill. it seems like it has been quite some time since the four of us just hung out together. it was definitely nice to hang out again.

the entire plans for today actually started earlier in the week. jen had asked karen and i if we were available some time this week because she wanted to get together... laugh... drink... be silly... and think of some ideas for a photo scavenger hunt. (i had previously asked past participants for some ideas on what they would like to see on this year's photo scavenger hunt list. jen is always chock full of good ideas. i probably could have just asked her to brainstorm all of the items for the scavenger hunt list... and she would have.)

anyway, jen, bill, and karen came up with a bunch of possible ideas for the photo scavenger hunt. depending on how things go, bill might even participate this year. i have toyed with the idea about opening up the photo scavenger hunt to all of my friends. unfortunately, i sometimes worry about how all of my friends will interact with one another because the formation of the four-member team is randomly created. it's the whole mixing of the circle of friends that i am afraid of. the other alternative would be to have everyone decide on their own teams beforehand... i don't know. i'll have to give it some more thought. so, we'll see.

in addition, jen and bill tried to convince us to go to new orleans with them for st. patrick's day. unlike me, karen has never wanted to go to new orleans. tonight, however, i think karen was actually considering the trip. traveling with a group is simply difficult... not because of the group. for karen and i... or at least me anyway... i know that since our son (braden) passed away in september, my moods have changed from high to low... not just on a daily basis but sometimes hourly. for me, it's frustrating because i know my mood swing is happening, yet i can't control its fickleness. if it's frustrating me, i can only imagine what it must seem like to my friends. so, i imagine traveling with a group now is difficult.

i was quite surprised that karen was interested. of course, it could have been the alcohol talking. by the way, i tried a "hand grenade"... or three... for the first time today courtesy of bill and jen... it's very good. but we'll see about new orleans. i always wanted to go to new orleans, not for the rampant flashing of naked breasts although i'm sure that helps, but more for the cajun cuisine. (surprise... food.)

speaking of which, the four of us went to the 99 restaurant in quincy tonight as well. one of the things that i like about the 99 restaurant in quincy is that there are pictures of high school sports teams in there that decorate the wall. karen is actually in one of those pictures. i want to go once and have them sit us at a table beneath that picture of karen. i just think it would be funny.

anyway, tonight was a good time. i'm glad jen invited us to go out tonight because it does seem like it has been a while since all of us hung out together.