More Dreamin'...

Since this topic has generated more comments than I've had in a long time, (plus it's fun) I'm going to roll with the dream theme some more.

There's a funny thing I like to do when I'm at a party or get-together that involved both men and women. First, get the topic to turn to dreams. Then ask:

Are you ever NOT yourself in a dream?

Then sit back and watch all the women nod "yes" while most the men look confused. I've done this many times, with the same result. I can't explain it! Women are often not themselves in dreams...men rarely are. The exceptions to this that I've found are very right-brained men (graphic designers, artists, etc.).

Of course, I'm stereotyping horribly with this "finding", so forgive me if you are a male science teacher that often dreams he is a dog. If so...My bad.

I am actually rarely myself in my dreams. I am often animals, clouds, birds, and even men. I'm often just omnipotent and watching as the story occurs. I've always thought this was because I had low self-confidence, and that I could just not picture myself doing some things as myself. As I've gotten older (and gained some chutzpa!) I actually am myself more in my dreams. It's still only 1 out of about 12 dreams.

The best dream I've ever had was one in which I was a large, person-sized bird. And I was flying. It was extremely real and it felt so good. I could feel my wing-muscles pump as I flew, then glided through the sky. I looked down at the ground beneath me and was not scared a bit of the height. Because I was a bird, of course. Birds aren't scared of heights. It was an amazing feeling. I imagine the only thing that might come close would be hang-gliding, which I hope to do someday, to compare of course.

Are you ever NOT yourself in a dream? Who are you? What do you make of all this? Am I full of shit, or do I have some book material here?

Goofy Dreams

Okay, enough class participation. Now I'm depressed that I'm stuck in the boring midwest, with sleet and snow looming.

So here's a random goofy thought - the absolute worst dream I've ever had. It was three years ago and I can still remember the entire dream vividly. It shook me up for about a week.

So here it is...

I'm sleeping. Some noise wakes me up. I get up and walk over to our bedroom windows to look out. We have three bedroom windows and all the shades are open, so I can get a good view. It's somewhat light outside and a weird grey color. Off in the distance, I see a large mushroom cloud gradually rising towards the sky. Then I see that there is a flurry of destructive activity on the ground, starting from the mushroom cloud and headed towards our house. Headed very fast towards our house. I stand there in awe, thinking, "So this is the end" and "I wonder who the hell started THIS". I want to turn around and tell my husband (who is now standing behind me) goodbye, as well as take one last look at my dogs, but I cannot tear my eyes away from the ballooning cloud and the destruction racing towards me. I feel fear in my heart.

Then I wake up.

More Class Participation

I had so much fun with yesterday's post, I'm going to do blogger laziness class participation again.

Here's today's question (not so cerebral, more emotional this time):
If you could go anywhere in the world for a 7-day vacation (all-expenses-paid and trustworthy babysitter included) where would you go? What would you do? Who would you bring?

My answer:
I don't have one yet. I'm currently trying to plan my adventure trip for 2006 and I'm still deciding. Of course, money is an object right now, so that limits me within North America.

I have always wanted to go to Alaska, so that might win this year. There's also the Grand Canyon, which, believe it or not, I've never seen. And British Columbia is supposed to be beautiful.

And if you're curious, if money were no object, hands-down I would go to New Zealand. No contest there.

So think about it and weigh in. Then ask yourself: What's keeping me from going?

Dinner note: Today's supper was Honey-Pineapple Pork Chops with Cranberry Walnut Cous Cous. The pork chops were yummy, but just not big enough. The cous cous was good in spirit, but too dry after being frozen, then reheated.

I am getting so many great ideas for recipes from my Social Supper experiment.

It's Class Participation Time!

While I finish up the last of my first Social Suppers (Cheese Ravoili with Artichoke Tomato Sauce - so far so good!), it's time to hear from the peanut gallery my devoted readers.

Here's your question (reply via comment) :
If you could learn the answer to one secret (i.e. What killed the dinosaurs; Who killed JFK; Are Britney Spears' boobs real, etc.) what would it be?

To start you off, here's my answer:
What the fuck is Stonehenge? What is its purpose? Is it a temple? A sports stadium? Maybe just a pretty stone sculpture? A domino set for gigantic aliens? And while we're at it, how the hell was it built? And who did the building? (Okay, okay, so that's like twelve questions. So shoot me.)

I just saw a documentary tonight on a dude that built his own re-creation of Stonehenge, based on his interpretation of where the stones originally were. It's very pretty, all symmetrical and shit, but it didn't shed an eon of light on its purpose. I've heard speculation that it has something to do with the equinox. Why did early man care about that? Why go to so much trouble?

...now it's your turn!

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

Quite literally, in fact...

My last post was about these "supper clubs". In a meeting THE NEXT DAY, a co-worker gave me a flyer about one of these places. It wasn't one of the ones that I had mentioned before, it was a locally-owned place, and their prices were slightly cheaper than the other two, and they offered the option of assembling the dinners for you.

Now we are talkin'! I signed up. I got 8 dinners and got them split into two (since they feed 6 people as one). So it's really like 16 dinners.

Here's what I got:

• Beef & Black Bean Burritos
• Cheese Ravioli w/ Tomato and Artichoke Sauce
• Chicken Mirabella
• Cranberry Walnut Cous Cous
• Grilled Raspberry Chicken w/ Coconut Rice
• Honey Pineapple Pork Chops
• Salmon Fillets with Mustard-Chive Butter
• You're Gonna Love These Big Dawg Ribs

Yummy, eh? Trust me...I'll let you know.

Now...I need to get someone to come do the dishes afterwards!

Stress..It's What's for Dinner

Dinner is one of my favorite, and also unfavorite things. When there is time to spare, it is a wonderful thing. Pour a glass of wine, start a few side items, assign Loving Husband to the grill to lovingly rub and grill some nice thick steaks. Then eventually everything is done and you sit down to a yummy, relaxing meal.

This almost never happens on a weekday.

Weekdays are more like this:
Me (looking in the fridge): What's for dinner?

Loving Husband: I dunno. How about peanut butter?

NOTE: I hate peanut butter. He knows this.

Junior: Peanut butter!!

Me: (looking in pantry): No way. What else do we have?

Junior: Cookies!!

Me: No, we don't eat cookies for dinner, silly!

Junior: (grins)

LH: How about tuna?

NOTE: I hate tuna. I know, I'm a picky little shit. Get over it.

Me: Try again. How about Sonic?

LH: Uh, okay.

Junior: Tator tots!! Yeah!

And we pile in the car and go to Sonic.

So I was more than a tiny bit interested when I started seeing these 'gourmet dinner' places that claim to provide you with 6 - 12 meals that feed 6 people each. Doing some quick math, I figured that since there are only three of us (me, Loving Husband and Junior), this could actually last us 12 - 24 meals...almost a whole month!

I checked out some of the websites. They had cheesy names like Dream Dinners and Super Suppers. Their dinners included items like Sweet Cider BBQ Chicken, Mango-Glazed Pork Chops and Sirloin Steak with Garlic & Herb Butter. Yum! I was getting excited about this. And only about $100 for 6 meals. That's like $3 a meal per person. Economical, too.

Then I figured out the 'catch'. You gotta cook the meals yourself! What?! They provide the kitchen, the ingredients, etc., but you have to find the time to go to their store, read the recipes, make the stuff, then carry it all home and plop it into your freezer. The very thought made me feel tired.

If one of these places would offer to make the food for me, deliver it to my home and put it in my freezer for me, now that would be something!

Any entrepreneurs out there looking for a good idea? Hello? Hello?

Goofy...Now with Less Filter!

It's performance review time in Goofyville. Big fun! This time 'round, I got real brave and asked my on-site bosses for some feedback. This, as opposed to my off-site bosses, who actually do the review and bestow the raises on me. Don't ask. It's a strange deal.

Anyway... one of the on-site dudes said something that hit home. You know when someone tells you something about yourself and you do a big mental head slap, like DOH! I can't believe I hadn't realized that, yet it's so obvious. Well I had one of those moments.

What did he say? He said that I filter myself too much.

Since I had to ask him what he meant, let me explain....

I'm a pretty tactful person. Some folks (including readers of this blog) would call me "protected" or even "introverted". You'd never guess it by meeting me at first, since I'm a sociable kinda gal, but I have this knack of not really sharing anything very personal with folks until I know them really, really well.

So back to the "filter"...

He said that it was great that I had tact, yada, yada, good with the clients, blah, blah, blah... but with the current situation at our place of employment, there are some shakeups going on, and "being squeaky" (his words, not mine) would help me more than being tactful.

So his advice? Take off some of the filters! In other words, speak my mind! be squeaky! if my shorts are in a bunch, scream about it!

So look out! Who knows what will come outta my mouth now! (you've been warned!)

Einstein...Baby Einstein

We all know it and love it. It's like crack for babies and toddlers. They just can't get enough of that Einstein stuff. And there seems to be a Baby [Fill in the Blank] for every possible topic: Baby Shakespeare (poetry), Baby Noah (animals), Baby Picasso (art), ad nausem.

I started thinking of Einstein titles that you would never see. Here are some:

Baby Darwin

• Exposes your baby to the wonder of evolution through Darwin's theories
  (not available in Kansas)

Baby Stern

• Long-hair main character introduces the birds and bees with color and sound
• Visually stimulating real-world objects

Baby Bush

• Grammar can be fun!
• Exposes your baby to sounds of foreign languages

Baby P. Diddy

• Baby's first introduction to rap!
• Features many of P. Diddy's favorite compositions, like Shiny Suit Man and If You Want This Money*

Baby Paris

• Baby learns the value of money and power...and good shoes

...Are there any titles I've forgotten?

*These are real P. Diddy song titles...honest!