http://lisareen.com

Please come visit and let me know what you think!!

These were AWESOME. Super easy, really delicious – I can’t wait to make these again.

They only thing I did differently was instead of dippy eggs, I scrambled them before pouring them into the muffin cups. I don’t think I can adequately express how awesome these egg/bacon muffins were. And so simple to make.

While breakfast was baking I put a pot roast in the crock pot and let that cook all afternoon. The house smelled like pork by two o’clock and every time I walked outside then came back in I felt like drooling a little and saying “Mmm…” The pork roast turned out great, by the way. I made home made gravy and mashed potatoes to go along with it and although I did not take a picture of this wonderful meal, rest assured that it was great.

Around seven it was decided that someone needed dessert so I looked around and found this recipe. Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake. Looked delicious, smelled delicious, and again, really easy to make.

I am done cooking though – I was up to my arse in flour and grease today and although everything turned out beautifully, I’m wary of the kitchen.

I’m sure I’ll be ready to start again tomorrow though.

Because damn, those muffins were awesome.

Today was one of those days – I woke up late and had to rush around in order to get to work on time. My pants were damp because my dryer is awful and hates me. Work was crazy busy and I was ready to go home by eleven. By the time lunch rolled around I was near tears but a good meal and a healthy dose of JayZ kept the tears at bay.

The song I listened to?

I don’t handle stress very well – the older I get the easier it is to handle, but some days are worse than others. Today it seemed like every time I turned around there was another problem, another request, another thing to add to the “To Do” list. A few times I was ready to chuck myself out the window.

But now I’m home and feeling better. Tonight’s my night to work out but I made the mistake of eating first and now I’m afraid I might upchuck my dinner if I attempt to do eight minutes worth of crunches. I think I’ll just wait until tomorrow, and do sixteen minutes worth of crunches to make up for my laziness.

I need to look on the bright side – tomorrow is Friday, I can wear jeans, drink some rum after five, and forget about this horrible day. After all, tomorrow can’t be so bad.

I’ve finally finished this book tonight.

This was a 563 page book, but I could have done without 500 pages of it.

Quick summary – Lisbeth has been shot three times by Zalachenko and is in the hospital. She’s being charged for attempted murder and as soon as she’s well enough, she’ll be sent to prison to await her trail. While inside the prison she writes an autobiography about her life, including her ties with Zalachenko. Blomkvist sets out to expose the Zalachenko club who’s been covering for him since the 70′s, and who ultimately are responsible for putting Lisbeth in the psycho ward when she was twelve. Her civil rights have been violated, and Blomkvist and his sister, who’s Lisbeth’s attorney, make it their mission to have all charges dropped against Lisbeth, and to expose the “Zalachenko Club”.

I don’t want to be mean, but this was probably the MOST dragged out story I’ve ever read. I heard there’s a fourth book somewhere out there, and I think I can be truthful in saying I will probably not read it.

The story wraps up quite nicely at the end though so it gets extra points for that.

But really though, I don’t get the hype about this series of books. The first one was good, the second one wasn’t bad, but this last one was just not as fun to read. It was hard to get into it, what with all the crazy Swedish government crap I didn’t understand.

Perhaps I’m not giving the book a chance – here are some good points:

• The end wraps up the whole story very nicely.
• The trial scene was great – it was nice to see the bad guys get what was coming to them.

I think at this point, I’m just glad to be done reading it. I wondered for awhile what these books were about and I’m glad that I’ve read them, but this won’t be a set of books I’ll read over and over again.

Again, I’ll say that the author does a great job of wrapping up the story and he obviously did a lot of research to put together this book, but over all, I’m going to have go with a rating of:

– Um, no

– Little better than just

– Not bad, not bad at all

– Go get it, but don’t rush.

– Oh-my-god go buy the damn book right now!

First up, a harelipped reminder…

One of the best music videos I’ve ever seen…

The best car jacking…

Another great song…

I’d like a glass of better daughter…

Who wants chowder?

I could literally post videos all night long but I feel like I’ve overloaded you for the moment.

Hope you laughed as hard as I did.

So Brett Favre and his Wee-Wee Gun have been the brunt of many jokes in the past few days. I couldn’t watch the Vikings game last night without thinking about it – and not in a Oh Yeah I Want Some of That way – more like You Are A Pretty Disgusting Old Man way.

I’m not quite sure what I think about it, other than it’s weird, and not what I expected of Brett Favre. I half expect it to be a big joke, with Boomer popping up with his trademark “WHOOP!” and saying “Yeah, we got you GOOD!” I tend to think the best of people until there’s actual proof of some wrongdoing, but after the whole Big Ben scandal I just don’t know what to think.

I was a HUGE fan of Big Ben but now I can’t look at him without thinking about it. There’s no proof that he did rape that girl but since the thought’s been planted in my head, I can’t look at him the same way. Part of me hopes he’s lost his football talent when he comes back this week because after the last 4 weeks, the Steelers have proven they can do it without Big Ben. (Except for that last game. But really, 3-1 is not bad at all.)

Favre’s Wee-Wee Gun though – he deserves to be made fun of for this one. If he did send them, and expected nothing to come of it, then he’s an idiot.

The big question though – is that how you got Randy Moss to join the Vikings? I know they say it was a trade, but I wonder…

That’s it for my rant. Hope you enjoyed hearing how much Brett Favre and Big Ben disappoint me.

Oh, and yesterday was the day we observed Columbus Day and I’d just like to say that it’s mean to make people work on said day.

There, I think that about covers it.

So, we’ll start out with my favorite player of all time:

Mark Teixeira. You are awesome. And hot.

I get excited when you come up to bat, because you like to hit home runs, and you’re really good  at it.

And you look really sexy when you hit said home runs.

Derek Jeter – while not as hot or sexy as Teixeira, you are good enough to hold your own.

I went to Baltimore with James a few years back to see the Yankees play and Jeter hit a home run. I like to think he did it because he knew I was there.

And the evil stare of Jonathan Pabelbon – would NOT want to be on the receiving end of that glare!

That’s about it for baseball. I am a Yankees fan and until I find someone else who can rival Teixeira’s hotness and/or awesomeness, I will continue to be a Yankees fan.

NASCAR comes next:

This wonderful specimen of a man is the whole reason I got into NASCAR a few years ago. Martin Truex Jr started out with lots of promise, but after a few seasons of finishing around 20th in every race, my interest has waned.

You’re still my favorite, but I’ve given up on expecting you to win.

If you make it to the finish, I call that a good day.

Ahh, Tony Stewart.

I’m sad that I missed the angry, punch throwing Tony from the early 2000′s… You’ve definitely calmed down a bit but sometimes I get to see a shadow of your former self.

You’re a great racecar driver and if you won every race, I would be happy.

Dale Jr – you’re my husband’s favorite and while not my favorite, definitely top 5.

Your interviews are the best.

I love the awkward pauses and the great way you have of rambling on about whatever it is you’re talking about.

You hold a special place in my heart, Jr.

And now we head on to Football. I am a Steelers fan but my favorite player is…

When you do your foot hike, Peyton Manning, I feel a bit faint.

And I don’t think you’re a crybaby, like my husband, and most other people I talk to.

Just keep hiking your foot and I’ll be your fan forever.

And that’s about it for the sports men I follow. I will let you know if another hot one crops up.

My husband likes to say that Dave Matthews imitates Michael Stipe and although I will concede they have the same type of vocals, they are nothing alike.

I’m not a huge fan of Michael Buble, but there’s something so uplifting about this song.

I’m a big history buff and I love Johnny Cash so this song is just perfect.

I like this one for a few reasons – The Grapes of Wrath is a favorite book of mine and well, it’s just a really cool song.

This one’s for the Yankees… who ARE going to win the World Series.

So I say goodbye to this horrible week and welcome the next one, which will hopefully not be so bad. But at least I’ll have some good tunes to get me through it.

A friend of mine let me borrow this book last week after telling me all about it and I looked forward to reading about this crazy family. The book did not let me down.

This is the memoir of Jeannette Walls, who’s childhood is craziest one you’ll ever read about. Her parents never settled down in one place until she was in her early teens and they had a much different view of the world compared to most people. Her father would rant about the “Gestapo” and the Mob, and how they were out to get him, while her mother was a free spirit, who painted and wrote stories.

At first I felt really bad for Jeannette and her siblings – I mean, how can you have a happy childhood with these crazy parents and no real upbringing? But the more I read the more I found good things about her family – no, they didn’t attend school very often but her mom and dad taught her things that, after 12 years of public schooling, I never learned! She learns different languages, learns how to write in binary and gets a more “hands on” approach to life.

Jeannette writes the story from the perspective of a child and because of this, her parent’s actions don’t come across as crazy. It’s an adventure to pack the car in the middle of the night and drive away towards the next town, leaving the trailer home behind like a piece of trash; or to sleep in cardboard boxes because there’s no money to buy a bed. One Christmas when there was no money, her father took each of the kids outside and told them to pick out a star, any star, and it would be their very own. He said what was the point of presents when you could have a star that will always be with you?

But as Jeannette grows into adolescence her parents’ behavior quickly shows it’s true colors. It’s when they move back to her father’s hometown of Welch, West Virginia that things start to look bad. There’s no money – her mom won’t work and her dad spends too much time drinking and gambling. Jeannette and her siblings have to fend for themselves, which includes digging through trashcans to find food to eat, or trying to fix the broken down house they live in. The eye opener for me was when her mother hid under the bed covers eating a Hershey’s bar while her children sat around with empty bellies. Or when Jeannette and her brother find a genuine diamond ring which they want to sell to buy groceries, but her mother insists on keeping it, saying that her self esteem was more important that food.

In the end though, Jeannette makes it through, and when she’s seventeen she moves to New York City and life starts looking up. She attends college and finds a job working at a newspaper. She’s got balls – I’m not sure if I could have moved to New York even after living the life she led.

I really liked this book and after reading it I wanted to read it again, just to go back to the “good” times, when Jeannette was three years old and in her eyes, her parents did nothing wrong.

My rating?

– Um, no

– Little better than just

– Not bad, not bad at all

– Go get it, but don’t rush.

– Oh-my-god go buy the damn book right now!

“Can you spare a dollar?”

The urge to roll her eyes is hard to ignore but she patiently explains that sorry, she doesn’t have any cash. She opens her car door and sits down, expecting the man to walk away. But instead he moves closer, so close she can’t close the door.

“Well, do you have any food?”

She’s holding a bag with a donut in her hand and hastily she tosses it in the back of her car. People are starting to notice what’s going on, but no one says a thing. “Sorry,” she says, “I’ve got nothing.”

The man finally backs away and she closes the car door but watches as he walks around her car as though he’s planning on joining her in the passenger seat. There’s not enough time to lock the door and she starts the car, hoping she can leave before he tries anything.

He leans down so he can see her through the window and yells, “What? You won’t help a homeless man?”

This happened to a friend of mine today and although I took some liberty writing this little story, everything I’ve written did actually happen. We live in a very suburban area and I’ve only ever seen a handful of homeless people in my twenty-five years, all of them on bus trips to New York City. So when I heard this story I immediately felt bad for my friend – I would have been scared out of my wits if this happened to me! I can just imagine how hard her heart was beating as he stood blocking her door, or when he walked around the car as if to join her. It makes my skin break out in goosebumps.

At the same time, I feel some compassion for the homeless man too – again, I can’t imagine what it would be like to not have a home to go to, or own possessions that make our lives a little better. Most people, and I’m not excluding myself from this, automatically assume that any money given to homeless people go towards drink or drugs, and why aren’t they trying to get a job, live a normal life like everyone else? Having never been in a situation like that before I don’t know if you can get a job without living somewhere, or not having a drivers license. Is it possible to work your way up from the bottom?

Is asking for a handout a sign of laziness, or are there other circumstances that need to be considered? I saw the man this afternoon and was surprised at how well he looked – he wasn’t overly skinny, nor did he have straggly hair or a long beard (which is how I pictured him when she told me) – he looked like a normal guy just walking down the street. Because of the Army bag slung across his shoulder I immediately started coming up with a story for him.

He’s a veteran who came home with bad memories tucked away in a corner of his mind that’s not often visited. He takes up drinking and suddenly his life is going down the road at a crazy speed and he can’t control it anymore. Perhaps his wife leaves him, or maybe his parents kick him out after watching him ruin his life and suddenly he’s homeless, wandering the streets looking for handouts.

But I don’t know him, nor do I think I need to know his story. Every person has a life and what they do with it is their own business. I feel compassion for them, but only to a point. I just don’t know if that crumpled up dollar bill I hand over is going towards the future or towards a bottle of booze.