#18

So Mark and I have been looking at houses for a long time and I have found that I really love looking at houses. I like thinking about comparison houses and the number of bathrooms and the resale value. I like watching HGTV and all of the "how to sell your house" shows. I really really want to be in a house, but I think I will always be interested in real estate and how things are priced and whatnot. Maybe someday I'll dabble in realty-I think I'd like that. It'd be a fun part time job.

I love me some Thin Mints

It's probably a really bad sign for my diet when Mark and I have completely finished off all of our boxes of Girl Scout Cookies before the check has even cleared our account.

How to Amuse Me

Run knees first, crotch first really, into the camera during the SuperBowl halftime show. I will now forever be a fan of the Boss!

#19

#19
I have a particular way that I eat my food. I always try to save one bite of everything for the very last. And I will carefully consider which bite to save for the end and which food item should be my last bite. I guess I always want the very last bite of my meal to be the best. And I'm a little protective of my food.

Mark constantly will try to steal my last bite, just cause he likes to mess with me. If only I could understand the thoughts of a man, intentionally pissing off his wife. Makes as much sense as him buying me a huge cast iron skillet for our anniversary. Seems a little counterintuitive to me.

This small idiosyncrasy of mine is an example of the small issues of OCD that I have. In fact, one time, when Mark was comfortable risking his life, he ate my last bite of sausage link while I was quietly making my way down to the final bite of my pancake. This sacrilege so bothered me that I felt the tears welling my eyes. All was fine though in the end, as it was an all you can eat breakfast, and I was able to get another sausage.

Mark's Opa (grandpa) also once made this same mistake as he reached over and took from my plate (from my own plate!) the last deviled egg that I had put to the side. Did he think I didn't want it? I just take these additional foods to make my plate look fuller? But after some steady breaths, I knew I would be ok, and though it may have bothered me some that I didn't have that last bite of egg, I didn't have a meltdown. It made me feel that perhaps I wasn't so crazy.

#20

#20- I love to cook. Hate to bake. I can't make a cookie to save my life. It's because I don't like to follow recipes. I just toss and go. I've always got to Miranda-ize the recipes. I even add stuff to blue box mac and cheese. And for the most part, I really think it turns out better in the end. But when I do miss the mark, man I really miss it. I really think I have a disease, something that requires rehabilitation for this compulsion.

#21

#21 I love to read. A lot. You can typically judge the length and activities of my weekend by the number of books I take with me. And I've always been this way. When I was little I would get in trouble for reading my book instead of doing my chores. My mom would even go so far as to ground me from reading. I would take my book down to my room and use a flashlight under my blanket so that I could read. Yes, I am that big of a dork. And I still am.

#22

I know I didn't get this done last night, but I have a good excuse!

You know how excuses are like feet, don'tcha? Everybody's got them and they all stink!

Anyways, last night my sister and I took one of our younger sisters out for supper in celebration of her reaching her Teen years. Lots of talking about womanly subjects, and lots of strawberry lemonade.

So, my #22 is in honor of this momentous occasion. And no, it's not about any sort of womanly subject.

#22 - I am the oldest of 10 total children, as of last count. This includes full, half, step, whole, claimed and unclaimed siblings. This does not include ex-step-siblings (that would bump the number up to 13 and I would then be second oldest.)
This is a list of my siblings, w/ age and how they are related.

-Morgan, 19 We share the same mother and father. My only full sibling. She got the hair, the looks, the boobs, and I was supposed to have got the brains-but she was the valedictorian of her class, and I was definitely not-so I just pretend like I got the better humor and call it good! She does tell me I'm funny.

-Kylie, 13 We share the same mom. She and I are kindred spirits, we are so similar it's kind of freaky.

-Ethan, 8 He'll be 9 in about one week. My little red-headed brother. We have the same mom. He's the cutest thing ever, and a very sweet soul. He use to wrap up his own toys just so he could give gifts to others at Christmas.

-Lexi, 12 We have the same dad. She is going to be a wonderful mom, she is a natural with children, and absolutely loves helping out.

-Sidney, 9 We have the same dad. She's one of my twin sisters. She has beautiful blue eyes and is also very caring and quiet. She seems very introspective and I can't wait to watch her grow up.

-Taylor, 9 We have the same dad. She the other twin. She looks more like me, while Sidney more resembles Morgan. Taylor is very mischevious and quick to action.

-Tana, 22 Step-sister through my dad

-Spring, 20 Step-sister through my dad

-Tyler, 17 Step-brother through my dad

My dad just got married this past August. He has a wonderful new wife that makes him very happy, and I look forward to getting to know my step-siblings in the future. So far, we've had lots of fun at the few family get-togethers we've had. So, it's looking pretty positive!

So that's about it. I love the craziness, the constant things going on, and I love being the oldest, helping out my younger siblings, watching them grow up and all the other good stuff!

PS-Just in case you're wondering, Mark has one sister. One. That's it.

Let the comments begin...

Last night I changed my settings, now anonymous people (or people w/o a blog and w/o signing in) can comment on my posts. So, now I expect to be just bombarded with tons of comments - this means you husband!

#23

#23 - I've had lots of different jobs in the past 23 years. I thought it would be interesting to go through my list of former jobs.

1. Kitchen Aide at county hospital

2. Mowed the local cemetery

3. Worked at a local zinc plating shop as a secretary/janitor/painter

4. Scale girl during wheat harvest (at least I had air conditioning and cute farmer boys.

5. Factory worker at Manville-we made fiberglass insulation and I worked 12 hour days 6-6, switched between boths days and nights. It was a hot, itchy, interesting, and fun job.

6. Target - check out chick, for about one month. Worst job I've ever had

7. Lunch Lady at the Derb-the central dining room for the dorms at K-State- I mainly worked as a sub sandwich lady and then at the stir fry station

8. College Pro - I was a job site manager for a house painting company. Most difficult job I've ever had, but I ended up w/ some great friends

9. Disney - I went to local retailers and made sure their Disney displays looked good and I was pretty good myself at putting those cardboard things together

10. Quiznos - Shift Manager for the restaurant with the yummiest fast food sandwiches

11. K-State Athletic Dept - Marketing Gofer/Intern - whatever they could make me do

12. I spent one day selling DARE t-shirts at a truckstop in Oklahoma. But only one day and that's another blog post.

13. Yea for bank jobs! I've worked at a bank in Oklahoma as a teller and a personal banker, and of course, currently work as a teller here in Kansas

14. Mary Kay - I don't really consider it a job, just a lot of fun and a lot of makeup.

And I think that's it, at least all that I can or want to remember. You will notice that I don't have listed exotic dancer or stripper. There is reason for that. That is one job that I did not do. I mainly note this fact in the rare case that my ex-boyfriend's mother runs across my blog. I just wanted to straighten up some things you know. Get it all out in the clear. Though I am sure if I had, instead of making sandwiches, I would have ended up with a lot fewer student loans.

#24

I'm a slow eater. And yes, I know part of the problem is that I just talk too much. But I also like to enjoy my food. I can't say the same for my husband, or some of our friends, or even our family. And they point it out too. Just because they eat faster than I do, that does not make them better people, right? Why can't they just leave me alone? I don't really need the snide comments about how well, we've just got to wait on Miranda now. I'm kind of sensitive about it, if you hadn't noticed. So, when you see me eating, just understand I'm appreciating the cook's fine work. Don't complain if I'm still eating my fries two at a time, making sure they're of equal length and dipping each bite into my ranch dressing. Because I'll get all huffy and quit eating and no one wants a huffy, unfed Miranda. So #24 is valuable information for you, to make your life safer and my food more enjoyed.

Pasta alla Miranda

So one night this last week I wanted to make a recipe that I got from Pioneer Woman. As I started cooking though, I realized I was missing a few key ingredients, of which I do typically have somewhere in my pantry-but realized it just a little too late, and I didn't want to make a run to the store. So, instead I made some substitutions up....and, it was awesome. So, here's my recipe for Pasta alla Miranda.

First, I boiled some water and added in some macaroni. I'm cheap, so it was the only kind of pasta I had in the house!

In a big skillet I melted some butter and added half a chopped onion and one minced garlic clove and let that cook for a couple minutes. I then added about half a cup of vodka! and let that cook for 3 min. I then added in a can of cream of mushroom soup. Of course, I also added some yummy cheese-parmesan and a little bit of sharp cheddar.

I let that all simmer for a little bit, added some red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and added some milk. Mark and I only drink skim milk, so I also added some sour cream to help thicken it up a little bit and make it a little silkier and smoother.

I then drained the pasta that was cooked to al dente. Make sure to reserve a cup of the pasta water in case your sauce is a little too thick. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and maybe some of the water. Make sure to taste the sauce along the way, I added a little more salt and pepper as I went, because it did need some more. I then added some chopped parsley and a little more parmesan and oh my goodness! I just about died from all the yumminess. So much tastiness all wrapped up in an oops kind of recipe.

Try this recipe, and try it this week. And do not skip on the vodka ( I mean in the recipe, you at least have to save some to actually go in the recipe.) SO worth the taste. And the alcohol will cook out, you can feed this to your kids without any fear of being turned into social services. It's just deliciousness!

#25

I was tagged on facebook to write 25 little know facts about myself. What I've decided to do is to take those 25 things and put them here. I will try to be faitful with it, and every day give you something weird and fun about myself.

So, #25

Insurance commercials can make me cry. I get all emotional watching that big burly dude giving the kid a stuffed animal, or where the guy grabs the older gentleman's suitcase off the baggage claim conveyor belt thingy. Oh Liberty Mutual, what you do to me. And don't even get me started on the songs! Oh man, "and I don't know is this the part where you let go..." Responsibility, what's your policy? I just can't talk about it anymore. Good golly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw97CfZtyGw