RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) You know how in my last post I told you about the new cookbook I got at Peach Park, and how I hoped it wouldn't have an actual recipe for possum in it?  Well, it does. It also tells how to catch, kill and burn the fur off of them before you eat them.  I died a little inside.

Oh, and as for the peach cider I got at the same place, it was so very, very sweet.  It wasn't bad, but I think it would be better if mixed with something to cut the sweetness a bit.  You could have poured it over pancakes!  Ooooooh, that would have been good...

2) Raise your hand if you like over-reactions?  Heehee.  Don't ask me how I came across this train wreck of an article, but it has to do with those "Happy Family" stickers that a lot of people have on the backs of their cars.  You know the ones, the mommy-daddy-kids-pets stickers in various themes that basically tell every stranger who sees your car how your family is made up?  I've heard of them referred to as "pedophile menus."  Anyway, someone wrote what I'm sure was intended to be some kind of sociological statement piece about family hierarchy, and it just came across as a little silly, in my opinion.  Actually, the article aside, it is the comment section that really made me roll my eyes.  Really?  People get their panties in a bunch because the male figures are depicted as being taller than the female figures?  Geez.  Some people...

Oh, and as for some of the comments about how you don't see homosexual couples with kids depicted on these stickers, that is untrue.  I saw a two daddy car the other day! 

3) This has to be one of the funniest Flickr photo streams ever!  You may have heard about this already, but in case you haven't, please go click through this.  Apparently there is a haunted house somewhere near Niagra Falls called The Nightmare Fear Factory.  Part of the attraction catches people off guard with bright lights and some kind of jump-scare where their pictures are taken, kind of in the same vein as roller coaster photos.  Whatever the scare is, it must be bad, because these people look terrified and the resulting pictures are hilarious.  Steve and I laughed until we cried over some of these.  If you're having a bad day and need a laugh, please take a look.  It'll make you feel so much better!

4) You know, I've never been to Wisconsin. 

5) My allergies are kicking my butt right now.  I wish I knew what kind of thing was blooming or dying at this time of year so I could destroy it, because it never fails that when fall comes my sinuses shut down and try to murder me.  It's been that way for years.  I can deal with the stuffy nose bit, but the headaches are what get to me.  Blarg, headaches.

6) Yesterday I got out the Sodastream maker and set about making a bottle of soda.  I know that it might seem to be a silly thing to own, but if you consider how much soda we drink, you'd know it's paid for itself many times over.  Anyway, I bought a bottle of tonic water flavoring, because I like drinking tonic water with lime, and I thought that it would be more economical to just use our machine to make it rather than buy it.  We don't normally use the mixes from the Sodastream company, we use fruit juice or something of the like.  My problem with the Sodastream flavorings, which I think I've mentioned before, is that they use a mixture of sugar and artificial sweeteners - and the result is that the mix often has that bitter, artificial taste that some diet drinks have.  I didn't think that it would be a problem with tonic water, though, because it is already kind of bitter and wangy, albeit in a pleasant way.  However, since I don't know how to mix quinine into something drinkable, I thought the mix would be ok.  Well, I made the bottle of soda and put it in the fridge to get cold, and then I had the brilliant idea to taste the concentrated flavoring to see what it was like.

Oh, dear Lord in heaven, it was foul. All I did was dip my fingertip in the bottle and touch it to my tongue, and I think my whole head tried to turn itself inside out.  It was bitter and sour, and the taste of the artificial sweetener that I dislike so much was turned up to 11.  Not only was the concentrate disgusting, the taste stuck in my mouth and I couldn't get rid of it.  I could have gone outside and licked the dog, and still tasted that yuck in my mouth.  Of course, since that happened, I can't bring myself to drink the diluted tonic water that I made.  Although the soda itself would be lighter and not anywhere as bitter, and the artificial sweetness would have been way less noticeable, just the thought of it right now makes me gag.  So much for being economical.