Andy’s birthday is a week from today, and he needs new undie pants ’cause his parts keep falling out of the ones he currently owns, and yesterday he re-wore a pair because he didn’t do laundry, and maybe if he had more that wouldn’t happen. (You’d think that if he had to re-wear a pair, he’d at least choose a pair that didn’t have TWO holes in them. [And I don’t mean the holes that are supposed to be there.]) I think he wears large and prefers boxers. I am too tired to go shopping, so if anyone wants to send Andy a birthday present, consider undie pants.

Have you ever noticed how many products contain high fructose corn syrup? Not just the obvious things like Super Hyper Pink Crunchy Flakes, but try finding a something like loaf of bread or crackers without it. Yogurt. KIDNEY BEANS. Kind of freaky.

So I’ve always avoided making Vietnamese food because, like Korean food, I don’t really know much about it so it scares me. Aunt Linda sent us a Vietnamese cookbook, though, so we gave it a whirl. I made caramel chicken (because we had all the ingredients in house), which was surprisingly good and not all that strange. And it gave me an excuse to use part of our big bottle of fish sauce. Which may have gone south, but, really, with fish sauce it’s pretty hard to tell.

So my latest obsession online has been sweepstakes. I stumbled across a sweepstakes site near the end of last December while hunting for information on something, and thought ‘hey, maybe I should try some of those.’ So I started working my way through the single entry ones and the daily and instant winner sweeps. It’s nice because if I don’t do it for a few days, it’s not like I’ve missed much, and since it’s just filling in your name, address, and so on, I can do it while we watch tv.

So far, I’ve won five things (four of which haven’t arrived yet): a Tide pen, a loaf of bread (hehe), a Jelly Belly baseball hat, $100 worth of cream cheese and bagels, and a pair of women’s pajams with one of those little eye masks and a package of licorice. I’ll probably give Cabol the pajamas, although I probably look sexy in a stretchy black tank top.

So no new car or trip to Jamaica yet. That licorice is sure good, though.

Andy fell asleep on the couch a while ago. I got up to do a few things and came back about ten minutes later to find him like this. Sorry the picture is blurry, but I can’t stop laughing.

This evening I was watching Fletch for the first time in forever, because I have a weakness for 80s comedies. And all throughout the movie, Chevy Chase’s voice, mannerisms, and one-liners kept sounding so familiar, yet it has been ages since I’ve seen him in anything. Finally at the end, I realized who I was reminded of:

Dirty Jobs will never be the same.

Why don’t we see headlines like this in American newspapers?

So when I have some free time, I like to browse (mostly the forums) on Fatwallet and Slickdeals. Usually for Staples coupon codes for work (everyone likes free gifts) and the ‘free stuff’ forums.

I really like the free stuff ones. Walmart is always mailing us samples of things, and the toiletry ones are the perfect travel size. And munchies from different places. But the most impressive so far was a ‘short survey’ I filled out for Barilla. Except it turns out the short survey took about 20 minutes while I was watching tv. Recently, we received the reward – coupons for 12 free boxes of pasta and 12 free jars of sauce!

It’s little things like that which make me happy when I get the mail.

Today I saw an ad on tv for Hormel Natural food products. They were serving pre-sliced ham, and ‘there are no preservatives!’ Um, isn’t the whole POINT of making ham to preserve the pork? What is the salt, if not a preservative?

Now, I’m the sort of guy who likes a big salty country ham. And it worries me somewhat that folks are more concerned about the preservatives in their preserved meat than, I don’t know, where the actual meat is coming from and how it was raised annd processed.

I don’t post much about our farm life, because Cabol is so much better at making things sound interesting and stuff. But I thought I would write about our trip today into Roanoke to pick up a large crate – it was free on Craigslist, and who can resist a 6′ x 5′ x 2′ wooden box on wheels? It was about an inch too long to shut the tailgate…or at least it was until I pushed it really hard. Good thing that bedliner in the truck is flexible plastic.

The side says ‘Pageant of Peace Tree Star’. That must have been for one hell of a big christmas tree. We’re not sure what to do with it yet. We had thought maybe a sheep shelter of some sort, but I think it’s too narrow for them to want to go in. I can always use it for storage up in the workshop – or maybe we can add some shelves and keep plant stuff in it!

Crate and Truck