Camping, Goo-Monsters, The Mess and Weird Summer Nostalgia

     First, Camping!  I happen to have a family and large "village" of people who camp, dirtbike, surf, skateboard, be musical, be strange and be there. I went camping for a week with said group of people.  This is where I finished Lamentaion (which I found to be a very worthy endeavor.)

     AG, what did you do on this trip you adventuresome and daring adventurer?

Well, since you asked so kindly...

Most of what I did was read and jump off of rocks.

But, I also
Caught a frog,
Called a river a lake,
Ate S'mores,
Geeked out with my cousin-person,
Took illegal(ish) river showers,
Celebrated my Aunt and Uncle's Anniversary,
Played 'Catchphrase' for the first time,
AND
Last, but definitely not least,
I got to spend time with some of my favorite people. Ever. *

     Something I think Hyperspace would want me to mention is that he has full permit and is close to being able to drive to were I am. This will be a big improvement from our current approxiamtely-once-every-three-months arrangement. I have a standing offer with Addyday for driving lessons in the college parking lot.   


     There is a new Goo Monster in my part of Cali. She is the daughter of the sister of Blondie. Which makes me sort of an Aunt, I guess. She is loud and smelly and has adorable toes. She also has the same largeish head that both of her parents had as Goo Monster/Very  VERY small people. 
     The Mess is nearly clean. Which is nothing short of miraculous. It only took me two months. (NOTE: the sarcasm)
     My summer is nearly over, but I hope to get my summer homework done and at LEAST 

spend at least one more day at the beach. 

*Ammamay is more for "outdoorsing". I don't mind tents.

Love You, Stranger,
AG

Top O' the Mornin'

     Well, as the flag hanging out in front of the porch of The Homestead so boldly pronounces to the world, I am "LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE IRISH".  That's right, folks! AG, the crazed Italian chick posting all over the interwebs, is also Irish. 
     So, St. Patty's Day has always been a bit of a big deal 'round these parts.  You go to bed in Green Clothing the night before, unless you'd like to be awakened(quite rudely, shall I add) by a pinch.  Green through the day and Green when you go to bed that night.
     I went to bed with a green shirt on and some red sock-monkey(think Nick&Nora*) PJ's(the monkeys have green scarves).   I stumble out of my room and slump onto the couch next to Emboo.  I'm still not quite awake yet.  She leans over** and pinches me. 

No joke.

She pinched me.  

      This.

               Means.

                          WAR.

     I pinch back.
....and get a very startled look from her "oh-so-innocent" face.  Her head whips back to shoot a questioning look at Jax.  "She's wearing green, Emboo."
"No, she's not," comes the "victim"
"Yes, she is," I return, holding out my shirt for inspection.   It turns out that it actually is green.
     Nami was even wearing a kelly green bow and bright green socks.***

Ok, enough of this.
To Business.
To FOOD.
To this.

      It is Shepherd's Pie and it is delicious.  We substituted corn for the peas(they were gonna make me go out and buy peas.  In the rain.  Besides, I secretly wanted to use the corn in it.  I love corn. MWAHAHAHAHAAA.)
     The irony of the situation is, we had to eat this as a substitute to Corned Beef and Cabbage due to corned beef and cabbage being too expensive.  You may not know this, but Corned Beef and Cabbage started out as a luxury, but Irish consumption in the USA shot through the roof.  Because it was cheaper here.  Psha!
       Also, to breakfast!  Ammamay made bacon and eggs and hashed-brown potatoes with onions.  YUM~!
     After a long, lovely day, we watched THOR.  *ADJUSTS GLASSES* I'm more of a DC girl, myself, but I can honestly say that I liked it, Marvel and all.****
Happy St. Patty's day and may the Luck of the Irish be with you and yours.

*It has a jacket, which I had worn over my green shirt(although, it had green in it and wasn't exactly blocking my solid-green t-shirt)

**She's all decked out, man.  She's got a Green necklace(with shamrocks on it), an "Irish"(think "Leprechaun and Pot O' Gold") pony-tailor, an all-green shirt and Green-and-Black "Got Luck?" socks.

*** Thanks to Emboo.

****Spiderman, Iron Man and X-Men are my secret, secret exceptions for Marvel.  Ssshhhh!

Why T-Rex Is A Cannoli

#CLEARS THROAT#

This is the story of how T-Rex became a cannoli...


     Ammamay* made Latkes** for breakfast, which ended up causing mayhem amoung all of us young people.  T-rex is worried about trying some new food,  Jax took an extra, effectively stealing Emboo's allotment, which made her get in a frenzy, "MOOOOM, he stole my Latke!  Make him give it back!!!!"(Sheesh! "Now, Mummy, now!" Veruca? Is that really you?)  He ended up giving it back to her, wherein she, in turn, gave it to me. ("It's cold, you have it.  Also, it has sour cream.(she scrunches her face)")  
T-Rex's big, blue eyes grew huge.  "Can I have some, please?"

Hold up.

     ~"Please?"~

He said,  "please"  to me‽ This is serious.




 

      This kid is the pickiest of picky.  I mean plain-out choosey.  He has food he likes, and everything else.  A lot of everything else.  

     This is an Italian kid who won't touch Manicotti or Cannelloni.  He won't even eat Spaghetti if it has red sauce on it.




"Sure," I reply as I cut him a half.  
     "I can have half?"(I think I see tears in his eyes.)
     "Absolutely."

I give him the half with no bite in it, and I think he sort of creates a rift in time and space with his joy.
     "Thank you, AG!"
     And I get an actual, real-live hug from my nine-soon-to-be-ten-year-old brother, the Fourth Grader.  And girls have cooties.  I'm overjoyed(also, I have an entire Latke more then the rest of the sibs, so......      Nah, it's the hug.  Probably.)



     While my picky younger brother returns to his seat, Ammamay and I exchange a glance.  

     "Hey!  A food he actually likes!" from Jax.(snarky li'l Eighth Grader.)
We all laugh.  It's true, though.  It's hard to find a food he likes, much less a new one.***

      "He's a funny one," Ammamay puts in, "He won't try spaghetti and red sauce**!  I bet he'd have no problem if he'd just try it." This last part is said slightly more indignantly.  I mean, come on people, she makes the red stuff herself(with occasional help from Prego****).

      I join in, "He's an Italian who won't go near Ravioli**, Manicotti**, Cannelloni**."
      "And he won't touch anything with garlic!" she adds, "Are we sure he's Italian?"

     "I bet he wouldn't try a Cannoli**."


We pause for a beat.


      I crack a smile, "He is a Cannoli."
My comment puts Ammamay into another fit of laughter.

     "He is!" She says through her giggles.

     The blue-eyed T-Rex looks up at us from his plate.  His eyebrows are furrowed and he is very put-off.

     "Mamma, what's a Cannoli?"

     Nooooo!  I try to plead with my eyes, out loud-
     "Don't tell him!" I'm laughing.

     She doesn't heed me and instead concedes to the weaker party,
"It's an Italian dessert."

     "Oh," he says.  He was placated, but his arms remained crossed and his cheeks hadn't quite returned from red, mostly due to "Italian dessert" not being the answer he suspected.


In the end, a delicious breakfast and a funny story and a new name! Ta-da! 





*(my mother, this is how I refer to her, this side-note is for future reference)
**YUM~ 
***(I'm not giving him any credit here.  He's gotten much better.  Still, it usually feels like you have got to pry his jaws open to get him to try anything that he hasn't already tried.)
**** "Prego!" = "Thank you!" in Italian.


Yeah, I capitalize food.  It's respectful. 

Life At The Homestead

     I am the oldest of four chilluns(children, to those of you who don't speak "AspieGrrl").  I have two bouncing baby brothers and one lovely little sister.
     Jax comes in at 14 years old and is an all-around athlete, participating in football, baseball and riding.  He likes photography.
     Emboo is 11, plays soccer/football(depending on where you are) and has dabbled in volleyball. She wants to take up surfing again.  She also rides a dirtbike.
     T-Rex(TSquawk) is the youngest in the bunch pulling a whole 9 years on him.  He rides, plays baseball and football and is very partial to processed foods.


     We have a dog, who goes by the name of Nami and she is a lovely black lab who thinks she weighs five pounds.

     She doesn't.

     She is two years old and has enough energy to match her human counter-part(dog years - psha!  She can outrun any 14 year old I know!).  
Common places to find her include-
-My bed
-Emboo's Bed
-Anywhere in the boy's room
-Out back/in the back(The back yard)
-Crying at closed doors
-Out front(with her leash tied to a post.  This is done to ensure that she doesn't chase any weary traveler and scare them to death with her loving, booming barks and doggie kisses.)
-Following anyone who happens to be walking(especially if they also happen to have food)


Speaking of food, I ~LOVE~ food.  I love to cook food, to smell food, to see food.  I love to hear the fresh snap or crunch  of a bell pepper, the sizzle of sautéing garlic, the pop of bacon.  More than all of this I love to eat food.
Because of this, I will remember to post some recipes when I have time, or when I remember the measurments.


PS-Italians love garlic and T-Rex is a cannoli.  I'll explain later, I promise.


Until then-  
Cheers!

An Introduction...

Hi, I like Astrophysics and webcomics and books and movies and conjunctions and run-on sentences and overly-long gags....  I like XKCD, TVTropes and Idioms, Cracked.com, Sandra and Woo, Belleveiw Academy of the Arts(a webcomic(WHY? Y U NO UPDATE????)) Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Star Wars, CoD MW2, CoD BlackOps(on Zombies), Doctor Who, The color Blue, LEGO, The Princess Bride(movie AND book), Insane Conspiracy Theories, Batman, The Tale of Despereaux, The Beatles and music/drawing/scheming/lasagna.  That covers most of the basics, I think....

My Ravioli Song-It's new (:

RAVIOLI~It's what's for dinner~!

Aaaaaand for breakfast, too~!

It's for those and all meals-

between, beside or near old movie reels!

so haaaaaaave

RAVIOLI

IN YOOOOUR MEEEEEEEALS!~