Popcorn Night With Mini-Me

It's getting chilly outside, which is a sure indicator that Fall is upon us.
It also means that our park visits are going to have to be strategically planned moving forward, lest we get out there and freeze our fingers off doing so.

That being said, Syd and I opted for a lazy Monday night in: movie & popcorn after dinner. She wanted to help with the popcorn part, so of course we did that together. (:

my little helper!

We did a lot of snuggling up under a pile of blankets this evening... not our most productive night, but we've got time for that this week.. and besides, it was worth every minute ♥.

love her!

So there's Monday.
I'm already looking forward to Friday; I'll be back in Illinois with Rob to see some familiar faces and celebrate Mike & Kelly's wedding. One day at a time....

xo | cmd

Well Isn't That Somethin'

I discovered popcorn chips this week.

Let me repeat that:

I discovered POPCORN... CHIPS.... this week.


these things. hello, new addiction.

I partially blame this on Elisa for introducing me to these things late last week. I was on a mission to find some salad dressing just around the corner at Kroger, and I happened down the chip aisle. I snagged a box of these things, and while I liked the variety Elisa had better, these are still delicious and I thiiiiink... I'm hooked. Dangit! I already told Ali about these [we share an affinity for popcorn], and advised her not to judge me if she shows up next weekend and the house is full of these things. Haha.

Anyway, that was a tiny highlight of the day [it doesn't take much for me, seriously]. I'd prayed that the rain would hold off long enough to get a quick paddle in with Becky. That didn't happen; instead it stormed all afternoon and well into the evening. Since her and I are always so great at making actual plans [< that's a lie], we decided that I would just head her way and we would go from there.

who knew....

Insert also, that I finally broke down and made a pitstop at Home Depot to pick up some shelf supports. I've so desperately needed these tiny little things to get the rest of my shelves up; the original pegs are still packed away, I'm thinking likely in a box somewhere still at Rob's house. Either way, I never thought such a big part of what I had left to do would be contingent on something so small, but I reached another milestone in putting my place together with them.

Anyway, Becky and I did dinner at the Thai Cafe down in Ludlow, then retreated from the rain back to her place to hang out for a little while before I headed home.

pad thai (:

It. Is. ALMOST. Friday.

Tomorrow I'll see Kim for the first time in..... well, it's been a while. If it's not raining, I'll get this lawn mowed, too. Haha. We'll see.

xo | cmd

Back to the Popcorn

Popcorn!

I've been going through weekend withdrawal.

Sometime last week, I found this at Goodwill, and I didn't think twice about snagging it. It sat on my desk for a few days, unused, because I was out of popcorn. I replenished my supply towards the end of the week, but forgot about this ceramic bowl for fluffies until I got back to the office today.

This is the second shortened work week in a row. We're getting spoiled. I'm not sure what we're going to do when we have to actually work a full 5 days. Ha. Anyway, it's been somewhat of a trying 8-5, so I'm gonna go get these chicken quesadillas going for the fam and call it an early night.

Ciao!

xo | cmd

Popcorn, EXPOSED.

I love popcorn.

I haven’t met too many folks that don’t; even my 2-year-old can fashion her version of the word just from the picture on the box. To be honest, I’d never really put much thought into the journey that the bags of little puffies had taken prior to me plucking them off a grocer’s shelf. [Between elementary and middle school science fairs, you’d think we would have covered this!]

So there I was today, mid-morning, sitting at my desk with a ceramic bowl of Newman’s Own [you’re welcome, free plug]. My boss happened by and started telling a story about a girl that had previously worked here, and how her affinity for popcorn seemed to always translate into her burning it accidentally in the microwave.

I feel her pain. Burnt popcorn is the worst. It’s one of those things that probably won’t alter your life, but bears the same annoyance value as trying to avoid wet or salt-crusted pantlegs during snow or rainy season. Plus, the smell of burnt pops lingers … for a long time. Stellar.

Anyway, I’m not alone as a popcorn fanatic in my office. We’re definitely contributing to the current realization of popcorn’s economic reputation. It occurred to me suddenly that I couldn’t honestly tell you the origin of popcorn.

Google [free plug #2, on a roll buddy!].

So I did some research and learned a few things:

1. I was far more ignorant on corn, generally speaking, than I had thought.
   - ‘Regular corn’ [sweet corn, usually] and popcorn are two separate things.
   - Popcorn starts as an ear, just like other types of corn. Funny as it is, I’ve seen popcorn ears plenty of times, without realizing that’s what they were.
2. There is no defined origin of popcorn. I was searching, thinking I would run across a name much like George Washington Carver. No such luck. Apparently, popcorn sightings were reported by everyone from early explorers to archaeologists with fossilized examples.
3. There is in fact, such a thing as vanilla-strawberry flavored popcorn. I’m still unsure if I’d want to try it.
4. Popcorn’s popping process is caused by water. There is a trace amount of water left inside each kernel after the drying process. That water, when introduced to heat, has nowhere to go except out, and voila: popcorn.

I felt like a MythBuster [free plug triplet!] after reading through all of the info, and had it not been for my lunch break drawing to a close, I would’ve probably had time to imagine a science fair project to go along.

Ah, to be a youngster again J

I’m an answers kinda gal. Today: Popcorn. Tomorrow: Rationalization on a certain country’s leader’s wacked-out budget theories.

Bahaha.

G’Nite.

xo | cmd