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Dan bought a big ol’ box of Ritz crackers at Costco, now I have to make stuff to put on them. First up, my mama’s cheese spread. Yes, she’ll probably haunt me for sharing the recipe, but it’s not like you couldn’t find it on AllRecipes.

Two blocks cream cheese, softened
One cup cottage cheese
One TBS fresh lemon juice and maybe a dash more (Please don’t use the bottled stuff, my mom did, and, well, my way is better.)
One heaping tsp onion salt
One heaping tsp garlic powder
A handful of chopped Parsley (No dried stuff! Don’t do it!)

Blend it all together.

♣

Someone started the Flathead Valley Roller Derby and I really wanted to join. I even went to the roller rink to try out. I actually managed to get one skate on before I chickened out. When does shyness turn into agoraphobia? Yuppers. Full on panic attack. No roller derby for me.

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Why do people expect President Obama to fix eight years worth of Bush’s fuck ups in only one year?

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I’ve been trying to learn how to crochet, and in the future would like to learn to knit. I usually learn things pretty quickly. Not so with crochet. I’ve been going through the Crochet for Dummies book and I’ve got the stitches down, but it’s the patterns that baffle me. Even with the dummies book I can’t make heads or tails of the language crochet patterns are in (Unless it’s a very basic pattern). I’m either getting dumber or slower.

♣

That’s all I got. I’m not going to pressure myself to come up with more. Like I said, random.

1. Warehouse 13 — Secret Service agents searching for dangerous, supernatural relics? Check. The chick from Drake and Josh? Check. Elements of Steampunk? Check. Saul Rubinek? Aww yeah, check!

2. Super Cute Kawaii — Make sure you get a super-sized dose of insulin before checking in with Monsieur Le Bun. When you’re done there, check out Cuteable.com.

3. Leverage — I know, it’s another television show, but I dearly love it. Clever cons, great one-liners and a fabulous cast.

4. Nancy Drew games by Her Interactive — I have all but one of the games, and I play them over and over. I like both the Original Adventure series and the new Dossier series. There’s brain stimulating puzzles and fun characters. Well, the newest game, Ransom of the Seven Ships, was a little low on puzzles and characters, but the rest are great.

5. Penpals — The old school kind. Where you actually have to use a pen and paper. Whoa, I know, what a concept!

6. The Northwest Montana Fair — I don’t usually have a good time at the fair, but this year I was really looking forward to it. Dan gets sick on rides, so this year I decided I’d just go on them by myself. I’m glad I did; I’d forgotten how much fun they can be. Fair food isn’t quite as good up here as it is back east, but I was able to enjoy my pulled pork sandwich in spite of it.

7. Cow Pooling — Anyone wanna share a side of beef with me?

8. My dog, Bella — I’ve had dogs in my life, but Bella is THE dog. The best dog I’ve ever had, and I love her to bits!

9. Bento Boxes — I just got my first one and I can’t wait to pack my lunch! I also got six egg molds so I can shape hard-boiled eggs.

And I guess nine is all I’ve got.

What are some things you’re lovin’ right now?

The ones in bold are my favourites.

You know you grew up in tornado alley if…

The first thing you do if you hear tornado sirens during the day is check your watch to see if it’s noon…or run outside to look.

You don’t get worried unless the sky looks “green”.

You use the word “tornado” as a verb.

You chuckle at all the facebook groups called “I survived the ___ tornado.”

You might go indoors when there’s a tornado, but you won’t “seek shelter” for anything less than an F3.

You know what Doppler radar, Hook echo, wall cloud, and rain-wrapped all mean. And you can read the radar map.

You’ve never exactly memorized the tornado precautions, but you’ve heard them enough times that you know them by heart anyway.

Watching the weather is entertaining. And red on the Doppler radar is exciting.

The phrase “Tornado on the ground, take your immediate tornado precautions” sends exciting shivers up your spine.

You’ve seen photos/videos of tornadoes and said, “Wow, that’s a nice one!”

You can feel/smell tornado weather brewing a few hours before the storm actually begins.

There’s an odd feeling as though you’ve misplaced something if you make it all the way to June without a tornado warning near you.

You think people that live in earthquake and/or hurricane prone areas are crazy.

You know what people are talking about when they mention the “May 3rd/Moore” tornado and the “Greensburg/May4th” tornado.

You watch the movie “Twister” just so you can point out all the inaccuracies in it.

You know your weathermen by their first names. i.e. Gary.

When you hear the tornado sirens go off, you go outside to watch the storm and take pictures.

Most of the tornado video footage comes from everyday people with camcorders instead of from actual news/weathermen.

You’re sure there’s a giant tornado magnet hidden somewhere in Moore. And that there are smaller ones distributed throughout trailer parks.

You know that the four seasons are actually: summer, late summer, winter (if you’re lucky), and tornado.

You don’t consider it windy until the windspeed is faster than 30mph.

You are highly entertained by people from outside tornado alley when there is a tornado watch. (Hilarious!!!)

You learned that some other states don’t have tornado drills from this list.

There’s enough random stuff in your tornado shelter that you could live there for a year.

You stand under your carport or open your front door to watch hail and/or thunderstorms.

You know the difference between a basement, a cellar, and a storm shelter.

The weather is a completely acceptable subject for conversation, at any time, for any occasion.

Your local mall has “tornado shelter” signs posted.

It doesn’t bother you the next day to find out that your area was under a tornado watch the night before and you had no idea. Unless, of course, it caused you to miss some interesting cloud formations.

Getting to “play” in the basement/cellar/storm shelter numbers among your favorite childhood memories.

You keep matches, candles, and candleholders in more than one place in your house.

Your town will never get hit by a tornado because you’re between two rivers or because an old Indian legend says so.

You complain about severe weather reports that interrupt the TV show you’re watching.

You can get together all your most important possessions in 2 minutes flat.

When tornado sirens woke you up in the middle of the night…you rolled over and went back to sleep.

You’ve ever tried to reassure someone by saying that “if anything forms it will only be a little tornado”…and couldn’t understand why this didn’t calm them down any.

It’s normal for your area to be under a tornado watch for multiple days in a row.

When looking at houses/buildings you give them a “tornado survival ranking”. i.e., how big of a tornado it would take to destroy it. Also, if you are in a new building or house, you evaluate in your mind the best place to take shelter.

You’ve ever asked (probably w/ disdain) “Don’t they know the difference between a warning and a watch?”

You know what towns/cities a tornado normally passes through before coming your way.

From watching radar maps, you’ve heard of almost every small town in your state. And you know what towns are around them, but you have no idea where in the state they are.

You know what the freight-train noise sounds like from personal experience.

You laughed at everything in this list, but you also respect a tornado’s power. And you know that after it’s over, clean-up and re-building has to begin.