Gordon and Woody Be Blogged

Well Christmas is finally over… I slaved and cooked for 6 days straight. Gordon and I decided to make gift baskets for our families. In the gift baskets we had one jar of my homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce, one jar of my homemade Marinara Sauce, 1 Christmas container of homemade hot chocolate mix, 1 canister of a dozen homemade cookies consisting of sugar & gingerbread cookies, plus a couple of extra things that I didn’t have to make. The meat sauce takes 2 ½ hours to cook and I made 3 batches and the marinara sauce takes 1 ½ hours and I also made 3 batches of that, so you can imagine how busy I was all week. Thank God I work part time!

Christmas Eve rolled around and I made the Savannah Bowtie cookies with the chocolate dipping sauce that everyone liked so much at our Christmas get together, along with Green beans with fennel & onions and Asparagus with olive oil, kosher salt and a squeeze of lemon. I made the two veggie dishes at my mom’s house that night and it was such a bitch because she has a kitchen that is not very functional. But I got the job done and helped her make some sweat potatoes that she wasn’t sure what to do with. I ended up mashing them up with some butter, heavy whipping cream and some brown sugar and one egg for more fluffiness and cinnamon & nutmeg and because they were so cold from sitting out for so long I just but the oven on broil after she took out the turkey and put them in there for a little bit until they warmed through and were crusty on top.

It was a great night and everyone was in great spirits. There was no awkwardness which was nice for a change and everything was just peaceful. On Christmas morning I got up at the crack of dawn with Gordon and we headed up to Victorville to see his family. I slept all the way there and then some more once we got there because I was so exhausted and I got no sleep because I left suddenly from my mom’s house extremely sick. I am fine now but I don’t know what it was that got me so sick. We opened our presents and I was so grateful with what we got. Gordon got his Kitchen-Aide mixer that he has been wanting for a long time and I got a Panini maker that I wanted for a long time and a new deep fryer for both of us because our old one finally took a dump. We also got a mini food processor which was just in time because our big one broke after trying to make the gingerbread cookies because it’s basically just pure molasses and the blade got stuck. Gordon got a pasta maker which will be fun to experiment with and some new baking sheets which we needed badly. Gordon’s sister Eve gave us this nice 5 Quart saucepan with a lid so that was pretty sweet and all the Flannery kids including myself and the grandkids got new PJ’s.

I left Gordon in charge of one thing that whole week and it was to get gifts for his niece and nephew. He got his niece a gift certificate for iPod music and his nephew a gift card for Walmart. Stephanie never got the iPod gift certificate emailed to her and he couldn’t find the gift card for Jonathon. This actually became a joke between all of us, at least me and the kids and we just laughed about it. They thought it was funny he did that after that just being his one responsibility, when I think about it too I chuckle to myself. All I can say is that he better make it up to them somehow. Poor Gordon!

We got home last night around 7pm and Gordon and I finally got to have our Christmas, alone, together. It was nice and peaceful. I got Gordon a pair of Jeans, a shirt and a belt. In his stalking I got him a plastic Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo from South Park so he can always say now that his wife got him shit for Christmas… LOL… I thought that was pretty clever! He stuffed my stalking with a bunch of goodies like candy that I eat and he surprised me by signing me up for a cooking class, it’s actually just a knife skills class to learn knife skills. I thought that was so cool. So I am doing that on January 3rd. We didn’t get each other much because we were decided on just getting a big gift for the both of us that this family really needs. I think that we may be getting a kitchen cart, mostly because this kitchen is large but there is absolutely no counter space in here at all and it is a real bitch sometimes. And we have been talking about getting one for a very long time now and I think this will help the both of us since we both cook a lot. Now it’s just a matter of trying to find the right one and an affordable one but Gordon is good and finding bargains so I am sure we will find a good one to get.

Last night I was all motivated to get up this morning do some laundry, take the car to get washed, mostly because Gordon spilled almost a whole bottle of Sprite in there on the way home last night so its should be like syrup now and then I would go shopping and buy stuff with my gift card and then go to my moms. Well… its 12pm and I am still in my PJ’s, I have only managed to put laundry in the washing machine and I am no where close to getting out of this house right now. I believe that I am on melt down at this moment. I tried to sleep in the best I could this morning but my back was aching like it was been for over a week now. Not sure what is wrong with it but I do know that either I need a nice dunk in a Jacuzzi or I need a good strong massage. I hope that one comes to play soon because I am in a lot of pain lately.

Oh yeah… before I forget… I started my new job last week at Anaheim Automation. So far I really like it and the people there are really nice and down to earth. I like that I work with other music enthusiasts, that really means a lot to me no matter what kind of music they are into. I worked with my friend Cathy for a year at CSAA and even though we didn’t listen to the same music it was so awesome to have a friend that had a passion for it like I did.

So I hope everyone is well and they had a great Christmas, I know that we did. The dogs even scored this Christmas, my mom got them ropes to play with, we got them big bones, Gordon’s mom got them treats and his sister Kathy got them little coats, which Abi’s is the cutest, it is pink and furry and has white furry trim around the collar, I will have to get pictures of her in it, she absolutely loves it. So I leave with a goodbye and hopefully I will have a new post in me after New Years.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments  

Gordon and I decided about a month ago that we wanted to have something special for our friends for the holidays. You spend so much time with family through the months of November and December that you end up neglecting people that are sometimes more important to you than the relatives you only see once a year. So we decided to have a dinner between Thanksgiving & Christmas and call it Thanksmas.

We had it this Saturday and we didn't invite a whole lotta people, because after all, I do have a small place. Even after we only invited a few still only half showed up because of so many things that were going on that weekend, the Long Beach Harbor Boat Parade, company Christmas dinner's, etc. But it was so awesome with the people that did show up. I had four of my friends show up and it completely gave me time to hang out and pay attention to all of them. Usually when you have too many you don't have time to kick back and just talk to all of them at once. It was really cool. My buddy Paul & Sergio showed up that I haven't really hung out with like that in years and my friend Pennie & Pat showed up which I do see more than others. We just kicked back, talked about music and talked about the old times.

I attempted to make a Christmas Goose. I personally thought it turned out real crappy but people still seemed to eat it and cleared their plates. I thought it was rather dry but it was fun to experiment. Along with the goose I had Green Beans with Roasted Fennel & Onion, Roasted Asparagus Tossed in Olive Oil, Kosher Salt & a squeeze of Lemon, Mashed Red Potatoes with Green Onions and a Caprice Salad. My buddy Paul ended up bringing egg rolls and that was a big hit also.

For dessert Gordon and I made Ginger Bread Cookies, Sugar Cookies and I got a great recipe from Paul Dean called Savannah Bow Ties dipped in a chocolate sauce, those were quite a hit. Oh and for appetizers I had Spinach dip served in a bread bowl and a torte I got from Trader Joes that consists of three layers of Cream cheese, Pesto & sun dried tomatoes.

If you want any of these recipes my hubby has posted them up on our food blog or at least they should be posted soon.

All in all we had a great time with some great friends and I really look forward to doing something like this again probably in the summer doing a nice bar-b-q and all.

On another note, I was offered a job this last weekend at a furniture store and was completely caught off guard so I said yes to the job, however there was something inside of me that just did not feel right about the job and felt like the Lord had something else and something better for me so I declined the offer Monday morning.

Right after I declined the offer I got an email from a job interview I had actually missed last week, I decided to go ahead and go that same day. So I headed down to Anaheim and interviewed with probably the two nicest people I have met in a very long time. The interview was almost 2 hours but most of it was talking and laughing and by the time I left I felt like I had known them forever and we were all old friends.

Yesterday I slept in and woke up feeling guilty that I wasn’t up looking for a job, so I forced myself out of bed and started sending out my resume. I received a call from one of the people I interviewed with offering me the job. I was so thrilled so of course I accepted. I was so glad and so happy to get this job, I will be working part time Monday through Friday 8-12:30, which are perfect hours for me! And they offer medical and dental and you can also accrue vacation hours all working part time! What a blessing! The company is family owned and I ended up interviewing with the owners daughter and grandson, they were so down to earth and so fun. They admitted being a chatty group, like I am going to be bothered with that! Common! LOL! I don’t know when I will be starting yet, I will be going in today to get some paper work to take a physical and drug test and I think after that we will discuss when I start. But I was so happy to find out that they are closed for the whole week of Christmas, up to the beginning of January. Gordon’s family’s company does the same thing and I have always thought that was so cool.

I think that this whole situation really amazed Gordon and I. Here I was offered that one job and just felt in my heart and gut that it was not the right thing and once I obeyed by feelings and intuition God completely opened the other door to this other one! I know without a shadow of a doubt that He is watching over us and I feel so blessed each day I think about it.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments  

Remember the blog that I just posted? And remember I said that the week was going so well that I was waiting for something bad to happen. Well, it kind of did, not to me personally but something sad happened which affected me a lot more than I thought it would.

I received an email Saturday from my friend Ethan telling me that our friend Dan Lombardo had overdosed on some pills over Thanksgiving weekend and passed away. I called him yesterday to get more details and spoke to my friend Ed who gave me more information. Apparently the overdose was intentional and Dan had even left a suicide note which he wrote in Latin. I didn’t ask the details of who found him and when and I didn’t even want to ask him what the letter said, it was too fresh for Ed to talk about and I could hear it in his voice.

When I was 12 years old I was going to Calvary for school and my friends Christi, Mary and I would go to the Mall at South Coast Plaza every single day after school and hang out. One fine day some boys were walking through the mall and we all started to talk and went over to Carl’s Jr. to hang out. We ended up spending hours just hanging out with them. In the group was my friend Ethan, Ed, Dan & Casey. All of which I still keep in touch with over the years now again, Ethan more than the others, he is usually my connection to the other people. Meeting these guys and the other kids that were also in our group really began a new journey for me in my life. I was already smoking cigarettes but seemed to be a full time smoker once I met them and if it wasn’t for them I would n’t have smoked pot at least until high school. They were all a year or two or even 3 years older but we were all friends.

I remember being in Jr. High hanging out at Dan’s apartment quite a bit stealing his mom’s cigarettes and making fun of his bunk beds he had in his bedroom. He was always an odd boy and seemed so much older than any of us. He was so smart that sometimes you didn’t understand him and his social skills really lacked some. When I was about 16 years old I seemed to be hanging out with Dan a lot more than I had ever before and there was one day that him and I drove around in his car all day and night with my video camera just filming everything around us and what was going on in my life at that time. One night hanging out with Dan & Ethan I was also hanging out with two grade-school pals of mine Shya & Natasha which oddly enough these guys had never met before. Ethan fell for Shya and Dan fell for Natasha, each of them ended up dating my old girlfriends for quite sometime.

I lost touch with Dan in my early 20’s just because that seems to happen amongst people and old friends mostly and I would hear about him and what he was doing through Ethan. And about a week ago I was just thinking about him too. We were driving past the old apartments he used to live in and I remembered that his mom had died quite awhile ago and they had owned the apartment and it was his after that. He had no siblings, never knew his father really, it was just him and his mom. I was wondering if he was living there or renting it out. Strange enough I got that email from Ethan a week later. It was so Dan too to leave a suicide note of all things in Latin, such a Dan way to go out.

I’m not sure why this is affecting me the way it is. Usually I deal with death very casually. I guess there was a time, a short time, that Dan and I were just really connected. Usually if you’ve been connected or bonded with a friend and you don’t see them for years you can see them and just pick up where it left off with no problem but I am never gonna be able to do that with him like other people and that really gets to me.

Ever since I can remember I have dealt with depression and thoughts of killing myself, I used to think that this was a normal thing that everyone thinks these thoughts until my husband told me it wasn’t. But I would never ever take my own life. Number one reason is because I Fear the Lord. I Fear Him and I know that He is the Great Judge of my life and I wouldn’t want to do anything to piss Him off. Number two; I think of all the people I love and realize that they love me too and they would be heartbroken and devastated if I ever did anything. Number three; I think of the future and all the things I still want to do and haven’t done yet. All these rule and over-rule any thoughts I may have. It just saddens me to think that Dan didn’t know the Fear of the Lord. It saddens me that he didn’t have people he loved enough in his life that he did not want to hurt or he thought there weren’t people in his life that loved him to even consider them being hurt by it. It also breaks my heart thinking that he had no goals in his life to even consider and any future and hope for a tomorrow. Just knowing there is a God who loves me is enough to get me up and out of bed in the morning, if I didn’t know that, I couldn’t go on I don’t think… Dan didn’t know this.

There is no funeral or service that will be held for Dan. His father and that side of the family are in charge of everything which I know Dan would have had a fit if he knew that but they were the only next of kin. All I can do now is mourn along with my friends. Dan was a good guy… like I said he was real odd and as a teenager he was an old man… but he was a pretty cool old man. I at least have one image of him burned into my brain… when I was in high school I walked in on him and my friend Natasha having sex, I just remember his naked chubby body and it has forever been burned in my mind… what a way to remember a friend huh? I guess its better than on the toilet.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments  

Well, I have to certainly say that this has been a great week. I have absolutely enjoyed myself. I have gotten so much done in the house, I worked out on Monday and then I worked out last night with Gordon and I feel great. Instead of just picking up the house I have gone into detailing the house, it’s amazing how much unwanted junk you can just shove into drawers sometime. I have also found how amazing dust can collect on your lamp shades and when you actually clean them off the room is a lot brighter… lol.

I feel like at this point in my life this is exactly where God wants me. At home attending to my house and husband and I am enjoying it every single moment. I actually get up and out of the house while the sun is shining and I am so productive throughout the day. I feel more satisfaction doing these simple life chores than any high paying job I have ever had.

I actually had a job interview on Wednesday at a furniture store in Fountain Valley. It would only be for two full time days and two part time evenings during the week, which wouldn’t be bad. However, I preferably want to work days, in the morning that is, so I can get the stuff done around that house that needs to be attended to. I had the second interview today with the head manager and most likely I will get the job, however I will still be looking for something else in the meantime, I really don’t feel like this is it for me.

But everything is well in my life right now and I am just now waiting for something bad to happen… doesn’t it always work that way?... lol… kind of sad but very true. But at least I am trying to get ready for it.

This weekend should be fun, my friend Miki is going to be down from Oregon so I will get to hang out with her for a little bit tomorrow, I am real excited about that. And next weekend my husband and I are having just a small quaint get together for the Christmas Holiday with a few friends, I am going to be making a Christmas Goose with Cranberry stuffing and other yummy food. Anytime I can show off my cooking abilities I am always happy. I absolutely love to cook, I am not a baker though, I don’t like to measure things, I just throw it in, whatever looks right or tastes right, you can’t do that with baking. Which brings me to my next ambition in life, I am thinking of taking a cooking class, I already know how to cook, but I would love to find out more and sharpen my skills. I was also wanting to take some sewing classes, Gordon bought me a sewing machine last Christmas and I have never gotten the thing out of the box and I have a quilt that I have been wanting to quilt and tons of pants and things that need to be sewn. So I might look into that next week. All in all I am so excited with what life has for me right now, it is a completely new beginning.

On a sad note, my mom and I are still kind of weird with each other from that big fight we had almost two weeks ago. I decided to stop being like my mother and try to act like nothing is wrong and go back to normal so I tried to apologize to her for my behavior, she said it was OK but I don’t think she wanted me to nor did she expect me to bring it up again. But it is something that happened and I need to face, the reason why we got into the huge fight in the first place was because she was acting like nothing ever happened. But I love my mom and I know she loves me unconditionally so we will heal as time goes on so I have faith knowing that.

My sister is actually moving back into my parents house this weekend, she will be living with my mom for awhile saving money, the wedding put her and Caleb in the hole so my mom offered to help them back on their feet, which she did for Gordon and I when we moved back from Oregon. It will be nice to have my sister back down the street and for her to finally have a phone I can get in touch with her at. The girl hasn’t had a phone in almost a year! I am sure my mom is real stoked also, she hates being in an empty house all by herself all day, it will be good for her to have people there with her again.

Oh… I can’t forget… tomorrow is Abi’s Birthday, she will be 1 Years Old! Happy Birthday Abi!

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments