Royals Opening Weekend!

Ah...good weekend :)

Hung out with the Boys in Blue for all three games this weekend. The new K is awesome. Most of the new features you've probably heard about by now, the sports bar, diamond club, the fountain seats, pepsi party porch...but there are a few little known new improvements that I'll enlighten you with!

A produce stand (my favorite upgrade):
So somewhere close to home plate on the lower level concourse (I think on the third base side of the diamond club) there is a produce stand that sells...fruit and nuts. You can make your own small bag (but very adequate...Jenn and I couldn't finish one bag) of nuts ($3). They had baskets of different nuts and such that you could fill your bag with...we choose to layer with yogurt covered raisins, spicy trail mix, smoked almonds, and corn nuts. The spices they used on them were wonderful...over all we gave this option five stars in ball park flare.
Also at the stand were small fruit bowls for $2, apples and oranges for $1, 2lb box of strawberries for $4, and a slightly bigger (then the strawberries) box of red grapes for $5. They also had Izzie sodas (in cans) for $4 as well.

The super cheap fountain seats:
They are only $7! However you can only get them on game day at the stadium.

Royal Nites:
Every Monday night (except 9/21), upper level seats are $5 and parking is $5...SO CHEAP!!

The Royals statue of liberty...by the hall of fame...a must see. There are no words to describe it.

And as we all love to find out each year...what deals do we get if the Royals win or do certain things during the game? Here they are straight from the Royals website:

STEAL A BASE, STEAL A SONIC FAMOUS SLUSH!
"When The Royals Steal a Base, You Steal a Medium Famous Sonic Slush!":
If the Royals steal a base during any home game, fans can take their ticket to any participating Kansas City-area Sonic drive-in and receive a free medium Famous Slush.
How to redeem this offer »
Redemption period: Valid until midnight the following night.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum - $3 off Museum Admission
(go to Royals.com for more info)

Planet Sub: Six-inch Turkey Sub for $2
Go to any local Planet Sub location and mention the Royals the day after ALL Royals wins (HOME and AWAY) and receive a 6 inch turkey sub for only $2. No ticket stub/redemption is required.
How to redeem this offer »


My comment to those of you know very little about baseball/Royals who fall back on the same generic comment that the Royals suck...shut your mouth and open up a paper...even if your paper is from 2008 you'll see that our Boys in Blue really are a pretty good team. No one who knows anything about baseball/Royals will make such an uneducated comment...so unless you want to expose yourself as uneducated/having been hiding under a rock...read something about the Royals. You don't need to be an expert to like baseball or watch the Royals. That's part of the fun of the game, but have faith in our boys.

For those of you who would like a few comments to make instead of the generic here are some for you: The Royals minor league teams are doing pretty well, most of them having over a .500 season last year (meaning they won over 1/2 their games), some baseball speculators think that the Royals could take the Central league if all goes right for the Royals...meaning there is a chance :)

Well, I think that's all for now (stepping off my soap box). I have faith that this year is our year for the Boys in Blue...no more lame insults thrown out by weak sauce Kansas Citians about our team...the Boys in Blue are back. They may not take the world series but I bet they'll surprise us a bit. So let's put on our Royals shirt and go to a few games!

A blah post

Trying to do anything to avoid doing my paperwork...
I've discovered that I'm beginning to become lazier and lazier knowing that my butt is going to lit on fire come June (with school) for the next year and a half with no option to stop and take a breath. So I'm taking all my breaths now...as can be seen by my apartment (my kitchen sink) and my paperwork (as it's all been signed around 11pm...last night 11:55pm...must be in by the end of the day).

I officially replaced my earring backs with erasers...the real backs sucked.

I think I'm going to put work on hold again until about 11pm and watch some Chuck...I know I should use it as a motivator...but I just don't feel like it...yeah I know could I be any lazier?

Spring Goodness

I realized today that it had been awhile since I updated this...so I grabbed my laptop, a bag of chocolate chips, and my water bottle and headed to my porch to give you all a wonderful highlight reel of my life...here are my random tidbits/highlights from my life...


So it turns out the extra $60 a month I decided to splurge on the apartment with the patio was SOOOOOO worth it...to the point that I may not consider it a splurge any longer, rather a pure necessity to my sanity.

Yesterday was wonderful...woke up read in bed, got a text from Becky saying she was heading out on a run to my apartment, hung out with Becky on my porch, and then walked to World Market to admire beautiful things. Once we traveled back, we headed down to City Market and bought some pasta and dropped by Planters Seeds to get me some tomato seeds that are specifically designed for basket growing. We then headed to the grocery store picked up the needed items for our experimental lunch designed by Becky, I got some strawberry milk from Shatto Farms - first milk I've had in a few months...so good. Headed by to my place, Becky made our experimental lunch - Mac and Cheese made with cream cheese...SO good. Becky was crazy and decided to run home on a stomach full of pasta (she says it went okay). My mom came over, she cleaned/waxed/buffed my floors (I know I have the world's greatest mom) while I spray painted some patio furniture. Mom and I headed back to World Market (2nd, but not last time) to get her opinion on a sea grass rug for my porch. Got some ice cream from McD's with mom and then finished up the floors and patio furniture. Hung out by myself for a bit reading The Pitch about the JE Dunn lawsuit, then met Becky, her sister, and friend for dinner down the street at Jazz for some goooood Louisiana food. Had a first craving for Boulevard Wheat in 4 months (I stopped drinking 4 months ago when I realized it was crazy for me to drink for any other purpose other then desiring the taste of the alcohol), so I happily satisfied it with a beer...and to my enjoyment didn't feel anything from it...only the satisfied taste buds. Becky and I headed back to my place again, then to World Market for one last trip for me to buy a platter I had been looking at for the last few weeks for my coffee table/trunk. After Becky left I discovered the pot of water I put on for tea had...well, run out of water...and my pot was smoking/burning. Discovered, to my dismay, that my smoke alarm (that was going off) was the puniest thing I've ever heard. Luckily I had extra smoke alarms from my previous place...forgot to get reimbursed for them, so I took them with me...good thing. Hooked up a new one today so I wouldn't die in my sleep. Sadly though, the combination of smoke and recently waxed floors woke me up at 5:30 this morning, luckily I no longer have my crazy fear of someone breaking into my apartment, so opened all my windows/doors and browsed Pottery Barns website until my place was decent enough for me to sleep in (don't worry I closed all windows/doors before falling asleep).

(just added Jack Johnson to the ambiance of the porch)

So today...I'm finishing my air out of my apartment, manged to make it to the 11am service at church, rode my bike there...so nice. Really like the neighbors in my apartment...one of the guys heard a "blood curdling scream" from a house on the street so he called the cops (I heard it but thought it was a car screeching to a hault). Nice to know that if someone did attack me in my apartment that I neighbors that don't ignore things. Had a conversation with one about the green gooey spots on the ceiling of my bathroom...she said it probably mold...I might need to take care of that. She also told me a story about how she made eggs explode in her kitchen once...made me feel better about nearly catching our apartment building on fire. Now I'm thinking that I may ride my bike the store to buy lemons to make lemonade, to Prydes (housewares store) to buy a juicer, then to bookstore (maybe look at some magazines), and maybe to tanning place (for a dose of happy UV rays). Then some Jesus time, maybe read The Shack some, make my lemonade, and eventually off to my parents for dinner with the family.

Wow, I'm long winded today...let's keep this going :)

In other news...I've planted my seeds this week in hope of growing little seedlings...cilantro, lavender, basil, and cat grass.

I got few tickets to Royals games, I accidentally bought tickets to a game on Easter though...but much to my surprise my family was all up for the idea of going to the game. So I'm SUPER excited.

I bought the book The Shack this week, excited to read it.

And the rest of the post I will dedicate to the visual people of this world (which I am one of)...these are my new favorite things/my weekend in pictures...




My new spice rack...yes, that is a cookie sheet on my backsplash






My soaps that I love so much from the little store done the street. (left to right) Black coconut, Tee Tree (for shaving), and Lilac :)







My burnt pot :( When it was burning yesterday it was orange...odd.







The new platter I bought for my trunk/coffee table (moss and rocks added later).







Wall decor in my classy Royals themed bathroom.








My little soon to be seedlings.











Where I'm currently typing to you from/my newly painted furniture (used to be brown).










My wonderful glider that I got from a thrift store last summer and repainted...this picture is really to highlight my new compost bin on the left in the kitty litter tub...I figured it was crazy that I was throwing away so much food waste like orange peels, so instead I'm going to save them all and then dump them in SaraBeth's compost pile (she's so nice). Also, I'm super excited about my gardening stuff underneath the glider...I made some watering cans out of a salsa jar and jone's soda bottle and bought a pair of gardening gloves this week that I had been eyeing a target.

Alright, I should probably call it quits, this a bit long...thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed :)

Nitty Gritty World

Here is some of what's been going on in my brain as it's been awhile...

So I don't watch the news, read the paper, read internet news sources, or magazines...I'm intentionally uninformed. Yes, intentional, I make a point to avoid these at any cost, change the channel, skip articles, close internet browsers. Somewhere in the past few months I decided it wasn't good for me to know all the nitty gritty details of the world, because one, almost all of those details are negative - and more importantly driven fear...as anxious as I am with maintaining my life in general and as obsessive as I am at analyzing things, I don't need anymore. Which brings me to my second reason, contrary to popular belief (for me and only me), it's not good for me to be over-informed. For me, this does more harm then good, I rely on God waaay less, I feed my already too large of a desire to analyze things to death, and I provoke more of this anxiety as "discover" that there is one more thing that I watch out for, get tested for, precaution to take...before I know it...all I'm doing is taking precautions --- and that's NEVER been me. Now, I do agree that I shouldn't be stupid - I drive on ice only when necessary, I don't eat paint chips, I brush and floss my teeth...but really...do I need to do all those other things??? The thing is it appears fairly logically, that yes we should. I should make sure I get that vaccine, not drink from the BPA plastic water bottles, and check my credit score. Now most people the ability to prioritize these things for themselves, however, I do not. I struggle greatly in the area of prioritizing, it comes very very unnaturally to me. So, I take all the information as level 1 priority. I think it stresses me out more then I know. Thus, why I've cut the over-information out. I'm fine absorbing what I need to from my coworkers, friends, and the radio. If I really need to know more, I'll google it.

When did it get so late??? I'm doing well at maintaining a decent bed time this week...so I'm off.

My (cheap) easy dinners...

Living on my own I've discovered that I don't know how to cook and that eating out is too expensive. I'm not really sure how I survived the last year, I remember eating lots of chips and salsa... So in the past few months it's been my quest to learn how to cook, simple, healthy recipes. I thought this would be a breeze, but it turns out that one, it's really hard to find simple, healthy recipes and two, being a visual and kinestic learner, I don't learn best by reading a recipe. And besides, I wanted (still want) to actually learn how to cook so I can create things on my own or vary a recipe (without it turning terrible). So I've been on the hunt, asking anyone and everyone to share their everyday recipes - I'm not looking for the fancy stuff, just what you make yourself for dinner. And forcing all those I come in contact with at meal time to teach me what they are doing - beware you may fall victim to this.

So in light of what I've been learning I thought I would share my recipes (note, these are not all healthy...that has been waay more difficult).

Mom's Super Simple Chili:
2 cans of tomatoes "chili ready" (it will say this on the can)
1 can of beans "chili ready"
1 lb (or less) of ground turkey

Brown turkey, drain fat, put everything together in a big pot, wait until it's hot (some think letting it simmer makes it taste better) then eat.

Beans and Weenies (as inspired by my grandparents, but made with mom's simplicity)
1 can of cheap pork and beans
Favorite BBQ sauce
2 turkey hot dogs

Slice turkey dogs, add to pork and beans, add as much bbq sauce as you like (I go by color), then heat up (stove or microwave works).
*I found a bbq sauce that is light on sodium and calories.

Katy's Baked Chicken
Chicken tenders or breasts (however many you want to eat)
Crackers (I use healthy saltines)
Spices
*Egg if you are making more then one or two servings

Thaw chicken, preheat oven to 375 to 400 degrees, crush crackers (enough cover your chicken) into a very fine dusty like texture (Katy says so they don't look like crackers anymore) - Katy uses a food processor to do this, I crush them in a bowl with the bottom of a spice bottle. Add spices to crackers - this is where I have a hard time and have to consult the internet - whatever spices you like and think would go together. If you are making enough that it makes it worth it to crack a whole egg, then do it, coat the chicken it the egg (Katy says it makes it better, but I've never made enough to try it). Season chicken (salt and pepper it). Put chicken in crushed crackers and coat well. Coat pan with Pam - if you don't own Pam like me, I wipe a bit of oil on the bottom of the pan - Katy says to do this even if you're using a non-stick pan because it helped it brown the outside a bit. Bake in oven for 10 to 20 minutesish...I check every 10 mins. and cut the chicken open a bit to see if it's cooked.

Black Bean Pizza (it's been awhile since I've made this...so it's a bit vague)
1 can of black beans - rinsed
Pesto (can typically find this premade in the store - my mom finds hers in the produce department by the salads at Target in a tube)
Mozzarella cheese - shredded
Premade pizza crust (whole wheat if you can find it) - I think find these in the pasta aisle
*Tomatoes (fresh or canned - drained) (optional)

Preheat oven to a reasonable temperature (350ish), rinse black beans, spread pesto on pizza crust enough to cover the crust you don't need a ton, add black beans, then tomatoes if you would like, then cover with as much mozzarella as you would like. Bake until cheese has melted and crust looks good enough to eat.

So if you have any simple recipes please let me know...variety is a good thing.

Passive Voice?

I finally learned what "passive voice" meant! I just hit ignore on grammar check all through college, because I had no idea what it was talking about. Who knew it helped make my ideas more clear? I can now be even more anal when writing papers. :)

Sorry to all those grammatical experts out there that twinge every time they read improper English, but I plan on being as passive as I like on here...being unpassive would require waaaay too much thinking...and this is about free flowing thoughts.

Otherwise, good day. Had breakfast with an old mentor, did laundry, worked on my super secret book - to get me in the mood for working on my essay, hung out with awesome cats, and now working on my essay. It amazes me something so short can consume so much of my time.

Eating beans and weenies drinking dr. pepper...and writing

So I'm trying to write an essay for a grad school application...it's suppose to be a narrative. I haven't got my spark...which is killing me. I hate writing without a spark on things like this...because it just turns out manufactured. It's so much more real when I do it when I have a spark. And for some reason that spark makes it go from simply okay, to INCREDIBLE. And since I would really like to get into this particular grad school, I'm shooting for the incredible. That being said, I can only recall a handful (or once) when I've written with the mindset that I truly wanted something incredible...but it wasn't a paper paper. So, alas this trying to write an incredible paper is new territory. I don't normally care. Now I care. And I'm a bit scared because of it.

I've been trying to listen to songs that make me want to change the world to get my spark. I've been trying to think of all the great times I've had with clients. I've tried drawing pictures to help. Drinking caffeine to get me a bit more hyper (and passionate). I'm thinking that I just need to go to bed and try again tomorrow evening. I'm tired. Arg. Now I can feel my adderall kicking in...getting too tired to write, but not capable of sleeping. This ought to be interesting.