Ah! Interesting. . . .

Sure I might have more piercings then Mama Kunk would like, BUT... After she sees a picture of this guy, I doubt I will hear another complaint for a while.

Did you Know......
A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were all invented by women.


Not only the Kunkel family has this talent... Hungry? Why Wait!

let down of the day

A few short weeks ago I heard "Your So Vein" by Carly Simon on the radio. I laughed and laughed because I thought the words were "Grounds in my Coffee". And if you read the previous post, you can understand why I appreciated that song. However... I just found out it is "Clouds in my Coffee".

"Your So Vein"? More like "Thats so Lame"

Complicated Much?

Who would have thought something so simple as a coffee pot could be so complicated? The owners manual is 3 pages long. That indicates just how simple it is. Or so I thought. . .

About a year ago my fabulous mother bought me a nice little black 4 cup coffee maker. It had been working just fantastic until I moved to this new apartment in January. I'm not sure if it got justled and bumped around during the move, but all the sudden it stopped working great and I constantly had grounds in my coffee. :( Ick! One morning I got so frustrated that I actually poured the coffee with grounds back to run another cycle through. At this moment I took the pot and chucked it as hard as I could into the . . . drum roll please . . . dumpster!

It has been about 3 weeks since that little incident. I have not had 1 cup of coffee, which means I have increased my dietcoke drinking in order to get the sustanance that I need and desire. Last night I finally took the plunge and bought a new coffee maker at Walmart. A pretty snazzy one that will dispence right into your travel mug. I was so excited to try it until . . . .

I woke up this morning. Read the 3 pages and quickly added the water and coffee grounds to get it to start brewing. I got out of the shower and expected to smell the sweet aroma of coffee, but - Nothing! No scent, no hot coffee, nada! I pushed start again, but still nothing. Finally I gave up and took out a diet coke. Yum!

After a long day of work, I came home and decided to figure out what is wrong with the lil bugger. Turns out..... I had been pouring the water in the wrong hole. Opps! Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

A Few Things That Make Me Smile . . .

A really great hug
Singing in the shower
Finding money an old pair of jeans
Surprises
Making Out
Jumping on my bed in my underwear
People Watching
Fountain Diet Coke
Jeff
Cruising
Snuggling
Chocolate covered strawberries
Wind in my Hair
Rolling down hills

somethings money can't buy...

but for everything else theres mastercard

It Always Happens To Me x2

If cars were like cats and had 9 lives, Old Betsy would be dead. It has been exactly 1 week today since the flat tire incident. Over the past week I have heard a strange grinding noise coming from that same back tire whenever I push on the brakes. Luckily I have a papa bear who is able to handle such issues. 3 1/2 hours and $75 later the grinding noise is gone. Yahoo - Thanks Dad! What will happen to Old Betsy next and will she pull through? Stay tuned to find out!

Happy Earth Day

It Always Happens To Me...

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining. I had the windows rolled down. The music turned up. A great day for a Sunday drive. A drive right down to Peoria to my sisters Confirmation. However, suddenly things began to take a turn for the worst. What was that loud thumping noise? Is that burnt rubber I smell? Is the car slightly out of control? Yes - all the signs pointed to a flat tire. As I slowly pulled off to the side of the road I began to panic. Luckily I had a manly man with me who knows about things such as this (aka Jeff). I turn on the flashers and after spending 5 minutes moving all the blankets, tennis rackets, shoes, salt, and random moving boxes out of the trunk we were able to reveal the smallest doughnut tire I had ever laid eyes on and the most rickety jack known to mankind. Jeff quickly and swiftly changes out of his Sunday best into jeans an a t-shirt and sets right to work. As Jeff is half under Old Betsy (my trusty ol' cavalier) car after car drives by without stopping to offer assistance. One old woman actually came to a rolling half and gave us an evil glare until Jeff shooed her away. Eventually the car was jacked up, lug nuts are off, but something isn't right. The wheel wouldn't budge. After several phone calls to papa bear, many kicks, and a few shakes we decide to call Triple A (thanks to Jeffs account) and have somebody come help. While Jeff is on the phone and I'm near tears sitting on the guardrail a car comes to an abrupt halt. Out jumps a young man asking what the distress was all about. After explaining the situation to him he quickly asks for permission to "abuse your car". He began pounding and kicking. Hitting and whacking. Shaking and bumping. Until tada! The tire came free. We (actually Jeff) put the doughnut on. Got a diet coke to calm my nerves. And head to town to get a new tire. 2 1/2 hours and $139.00 later I am back on the road and things begin to look a little brighter; however, The confirmation is over and I missed it. :( Thanks Jeffy for all the help today you kept me calm! Thanks strange man who abused my car we couldn't have done it without you.
But I still must ask myself - why do things like this always happen to me?

Newest Addiction (not better then dietcoke)

Where else can you find a page with information as random as mine?
Squidoo is just up my alley!

No War!

Once again, not to get all political/hippie on you or anything, but I came across this image on google. Look closely and see if you notice anything ummm interesting. Make sure you shield the young ones eyes though! You may need to use your zoom a little if it isn't big enough.

Goal Accompished??

As the week draws to an end, I decided it was time to accomplish this weeks goal of making homemade crab rangoon... Here is my documentation of the experience.

Step 1: Go to walmart and buy necessary ingredients
1 quart oil for deep frying
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 (6 ounce) cans crab meat, drained and flaked
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 (14 ounce) package wonton wrappers

After realizing I had no idea where to find water chestnuts or wonton wrappers and I had officially wandered around the grocery section aimlessly for 20 minutes I decided to call my mom. A nice lady at the store overhead me and pointed me in the right direction. I continued to wander around aimlessly until eventually stumbling across them. And how do you "flake" crabmeat?

Step 2: In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese, crabmeat, garlic powder, paprika and water chestnuts.
First off, I do not have any mixing bowls. However, I do have a very large red bowl, which should do the trick. Second of all, I saw somebodies comment on allrecipes.com which said this recipe had a bit to much crab in it. So I decided to just use 1 of the cans of crab meat. Since I didn't know what flaked meant, I just drained it and poured it in.

Step 5: Place approximately 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture in the center of wonton wrappers. Moisten wrapper edges with water, fold over the mixture and pinch to seal.
Piece of cake! I've got this step down perfectly.

Step 4: In a large, heavy sauce pan heat oil to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Exactly how are you supposed to know how hot oil is? Typically I would do the finger test, but I didn't feel this was appropriate and I wanted to keep all my phalanges. So I turned it on HIGH and left it for a few minutes. I did the water test, it spattered and so I assumed that meant it was hot.

Step 5: In small batches, fry the wontons 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown.
Upon putting the first wonton in it started sizzling and immediately turned black! I have proof! Maybe this means it is to hot?


All the sudden my apartment is filled with smoke and I can hardly see. I quickly turn on my vent/fan above my stove, attempt to scoop out the black wonton (of course burning myself) and open the windows and patio door. It looked something like this...


Step 6: Turn Heat Down/Off and repeat Step 5
This time it turned out something like this...


I also made a flower shape...


Step 7: The Ultimate Taste Test
It's time to test the product. Will it be as good as Cathy could make them??


The Outcome/Lesson
After spending approximately $13.71 on groceries to make these crab rangoons, I've come to the realization that I should just stick to buying the ones from the Chinese Restaurant and leave the Rangoon making to the pros. I sit here with a full plate of crab rangoon before me and don't even want to eat them - yes they are that bad. However, the most important lesson I have learned is that apparently my smoke detector doesn't work.

Bucket List

I've decided to start my bucket list. No, I'm not at any greater risk of dying at an early age than I was yesterday - unless your counting my risky behaviors of adding salt to my fries and the occasional fake bake. But I just figured it would be a good idea to get motivated. After all, I am in the prime of my life! So here is the beginning in no particular order.

Take a ride in a Hot Air Balloon
Make a Ship in a bottle
Send a Message in a bottle
Shower in the Rain
Drive Coast to Coast
Learn to Juggle
Learn to play the Guitar
Go Kayaking
Learn how to Sail
Go to the Opera
Take a Pottery class
Take a trip to Ireland
Get my Motorcycle license
Learn the tablecloth trick
Solve a Rubiks Cube
Donate Blood
Invent Something to help others
Get Married
Make a Baby
Go on an African Safari
Participate in a huge Food Fight (preferably the La Tomatina Tomato Fight in Bunyol Spain)
Donate to Locks of Love

Expect more to be added!

The Wonderful World Of Bicyles

There was a time when I had a bicycle. I loved cruising on that thing. I made all kind of great memories on it. I felt the wind blowing in my hair. I would ride to crystal lake park to watch the geese and get ice cream after (Estevan!). I would ride to the farmers market to buy a treat and have a picnic (Laura!). I would ride down the rolling hills at Windy Hill Farm and do a front flip off the handle bars (Andrea!). I would go down a hill without any breaks on my way to mushroom hunt and rip a piece of my skin out (Maggie!). I would accidently hit some poor college kid who doesn't look both ways before crossing a bike path (poor college freshman!)
After reflecting on all these splendid memories I realized it is time to reinvest in a trusty ol' steed, but of course not without doing the proper investigating and considering all my options. Here are a few that are in the running. Cast your votes!

The Cruiser


Slender 2 Seater


Smooth Sailin'


Practical Pooper


Unrealistic (I don't have this many friends)

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, it is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."

Goal of the Week

My goal this week is to make some homemade crab rangoons. I believe I am addicted to crab rangoons and maybe it would be less expensive if I learned to make them myself. Or perhaps it will be my downfall and the absolute end of life as I know it. I'll keep you posted.

Quotes

This is an odd little cartoon and random, but relates well to what I experienced this weekend. Jeff saying movie quotes and Dave responding with "wait, don't tell me, i know this one".

2 Places At The Same Time

This is a picture from my trip to Omaha last summer to visit Laura. I was in 2 places at the same time. Iowa & Nebraska :) It was a fun trip.

Out Sick

Today was a sick day. I was up during the night and puking. Ick! This picture pretty much is me, except I'm not quiet as cute as it is.

Macho Macho Mug

Macho Mug is a drinking game where you fill a large pitcher with several beers. While standing in a circle each person chugs from the pitcher until they can't any longer, they then pass it to the next person. While drinking, the entire group sings the Macho Macho Mug song... The song goes like this and is sung to the tune of Macho Macho Man:

Macho Macho Mug, "Name" is drinking the macho mug.

This is continually sung until the entire pitcher is passed around and consumed. The person who is able to finish the pitcher then throws it on the ground and stomps on it until it breaks.

Why have I always wanted to play this game and have not yet? Lets Play!

Happy Easter

While driving to my parents house for Easter dinner I decided to stop by McDonalds and purchase a diet coke (my favorite) for the 3 hr trip. This is the vision I had pop into my head....

McDonalds Drive Thru Worker: Welcome to Mcdonalds may I take your order
Me: Can you please fertilize my eggs?

These are the types of things I want to say when they suddenly pop into my head, but somehow I manage to refrain from such. I thought it was rather humorous considering it was Easter and all.