Toys for Tots Year 4 Final Post, Finally!

I apologize to those that have been patiently waiting for the Toys for Tots post to come up. I haven't been slacking on it, I literally just haven't had time to get on the computer for long enough to get it done lately. With the holiday madness plus 50+ hour work weeks and other personal issues going on, life has been hectic. Though I did get the images uploaded to Flicker and posted the link on Twitter about a week ago and sent it to many people that e-mailed asking so I don't feel as bad about not getting this posted in a timely manner.

I know plenty of you guys were sick of seeing me post and tweet about it but it really is one of my favorite charities and doing the blog fundraiser is a great way to earn money to be able to donate a lot of toys for it. I do a lot of charity and volunteer work through out the year and it's always sad to see how much more is needed. At least with this particular charity, I can try to reach out to others and get some help with it so some kids who would have otherwise gone without got something to brighten their Christmas morning up.

The first year I did this, I ended up with 83 toys.

Last year was the second year I did it and I was beyond stoked when I ended up getting 105 toys.

The third year turned out even better than last year did with a grand total of 132 toys.

This year? 146 toys. Each year gets increasingly a little bit better. Here they are all laid out, as usual....



I usually lay them out on the bed but I decided after last year being so frustrating trying to make everything fit for a picture, I'd try a different place and luckily I had the house to myself to get this done without interruption. 

As much work and as stressful as making this come together really is, I love doing it. And while I generally hate shopping, shopping for this is always so much fun for me despite having to keep track of everything I'm putting in the cart and the cost of it all. I didn't have a friend to help me this year but no big deal there. I try to get a good mix of toys for varying ages and get a good variety of things...

 


Once I got everything back off the couch and floor and into bags again, I got everything outside to my boyfriend's car. His Mazda has a far bigger trunk than my little two door Civic has so we always use his car to take the toys to the Toys for Tots warehouse. The bags took up all the space in his trunk and part of the backseat as well.

 

 

The location for the Dallas area Toys for Tots headquarters changes every year but it's thankfully always in the same general area so it's never too hard to find. Plus, they're always more than willing to give out detailed directions when you ask for them. ;) They're also super helpful in unloading the toys...





If you want to see the rest of the pictures from the shopping trip, more shots of them laid out and more from them being dropped off then you can see the full photo set here. There are a little over 30 pictures total.

I want to say thank you to those of you who donated. Whether it was $2, $10, $25, $50 or more; it doesn't matter. I appreciate it and I know the families that benefit from Toys for Tots doing what they do appreciate it, too. I have so much fun being able to do this. I've donated to Toys for Tots since I was a little kid and my mom let us each buy a couple toys of our choosing to give to them and kept doing so for as long as I can remember.  So blame her for getting me started into this one. ;) Doing it on such a large scale the last few years has been so awesome. I couldn't do it without all of your help so thank you. I also want to say thank you to everyone who posted on their blogs, tweeted links and otherwise badgered told their friends and readers alike about what I had going on in hopes of getting more donations. To everyone who donated or helped in some way... thanks so much! You're wonderful and I heart you. :) 

Now we're done for this year and y'all don't have to hear me go on and annoy the online world with this anymore. Until next year anyway. ;)

Happy Sunday!

Toys For Tots Blogger Fundraiser Year 4!

***NOTE: THIS POST WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP OF THE BLOG UNTIL I'M DONE WITH THE FUNDRAISER. Scroll down for new posts. :D ****

UPDATE: The cut off date to take donations via paypal for this year will be December 14, 2012. I'll go shopping and deliver the toys by the 17th. 

UPDATE: See this post for information on how you can enter for a chance to win a $25 Target gift card by donating or/and promoting the Toys for Tots fundraiser.

UPDATE: I have purchased my first round of toys for Toys for Tots, see the post and photo here. :) Remember, December 14th is the last day to make donations via paypal for the fundraiser then I'll be going toy shopping soon after! Thanks everyone!
 
I've had multiple people email me, ask via Twitter and message me on Facebook about this so I figured I better get this up and going for the fourth year in a row! :)

Every year I donate some toys to Toys for Tots. I pick and choose other things to donate to as well through out the year. I don't think I can make a big dent of change in the world but I can do little things to make things a little better for other people. Be it with toys during the holidays, money for food, donating clothing, etc. I bitch about things that I wish I could fix but really, all that bitching does nothing if you're not willing to step up and do something to help make it better. So, I do what I can when I can to help out. It makes me feel good to know I've done something good and I help out with a lot of different things.

In 2009, I got an idea to do a Blogger Toys for Tots Fundraiser. I got the idea damn late it the year though so there wasn't much time to work with for Toys for Tots. I did it again in 2010 and last year in 2011 as well. And now I'm doing it again this year. Don't know what that is? Let me inform you before I get on with the rest of the post.

Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity is the fund raising, funding and support organization for the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. The Foundation was created at the behest of the U. S. Marine Corps and provides support in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commander, Marine Forces Reserve, who directs the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. The Foundation has supported Toys for Tots since 1991.

The mission of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.

Like I said, I donate something every year. Sometimes in toys and sometimes in money. Sometimes more and sometimes less. Sometimes I don't have much money to spare but I do a little bit anyway because I know even if I'm hurting a little, some little kid and their family is hurting more. I prefer doing toys, though. I like going in to a store and picking out toys that I know will make some little kids happy. I never see the kids who get these but I always wonder if they liked what they got or if they were just happy for something, anything.

In 2009, 2010 and last year as well, I did a Fundraiser for Toys for Tots on my blog. The results were far better than I had expected in 2009 and they were amazing in 2010 and surprised me yet again in 2011. I was beyond touched at all of the help and support I got. I got so many people who donated little amounts and it all added up to so many toys that I went and purchased. I take plenty of pictures and get it well documented on the blog because it's important to me (and lots of you!) to get pictures to show that I was doing as I said I would. I had so much fun going to get the toys in 2009, 2010 & 2011. This year, I'm doing it again. :)

The final results from 2009: Here
The final results from 2010: Here
The final results from 2011: Here 

If you want to see more posts with more details and pictures, then just click here or go to the Toys for Tots tab at the top of the blog on the tabs section.

On the right side of this blog on the side section under my profile, you will find that there is a PayPal donation button there.
If you want to donate money to help buy toys for Toys for Tots, just use that.

I will take all the money that gets donated and go buy toys. For proof that I'm doing what I say I'll be doing with the donations, there will yet again be pictures of the toys as I buy them and pictures of all those said toys being loaded into the car and more upon being delivered to a Toys for Tots location near my house once I'm done with the fundraiser.

I know with the economy being what it is, things are rough for a lot of people (myself and my boyfriend included) BUT if you can spare $5 that would be enough. With $5 I can buy an action figure, toy cars, Legos, a stuffed animal, various kinds of dolls, PlayDoh sets and various other things. $5 will buy a toy and in some cases more than one toy. I can get 8 or 9 Hot Wheels cars on $10 so no amount would be too small. If 15 people donate 5 dollars, I have $75 and that will buy quite a few toys to brighten a child's day. You can do something to help and leave all the work up to me.

Like I said, I know life financially sucks for a lot of people right now. If you can give just a little bit though, you'll be making someone happy and doing something good. It's not that big of a deal to let go of $3 or $5 to a great and very worthy cause.

And yes, I know Christmas isn't about the toys and other presents but imagine being 7 and not looking forward to waking up Christmas morning because Santa couldn't bring you anything this year. It's a bummer.

If you want, please feel free to post about this on your blog with links and send people over. I would appreciate that quite a bit. If you do pimp this post out on your blog, email me after you do so with the post link so I can include you in a post that's to come later on. Also feel free to tweet about it or post it on Facebook. A few dollars from a lot of different people goes a long way. :)

This post will stay at the top of the blog for quite a while. Actually, it will be up at the top until the time I'm done with the fundraiser. The cut off date to take donations via paypal will be December 14th. I'll go shopping and deliver the toys by the 17th.

There's also a tab Toys for Tots at the top of the blog if you want to go check out all the previous posts and pictures from the previous two years.



The tab just has pretty much what this post has plus links to the posts I did last year including all of the pictures as well as a donation link.

Happy Wednesday!

2 days left in the Toys for Tots fundraiser! & other stuff...

Two more days left to donate to the Toys for Tots Holiday Fundraiser and two more days left to enter the $25 Target Gift Card Contest.

If you've entered the GC contest and I haven't emailed or DM'd you on Twitter to let you know I've counted you, then please email me [amorousrocker (at) gmail (dot) com] and let me know. I'm working 50 hour weeks right now so keeping up with everyone has been a little tough with real life being so busy on top of working a lot of hours. If you didn't have me tell you that you've been counted yet, I haven't entered you into the drawing for the gift card yet and you need to email me. :)

Yesterday sucked. This month has sucked so far despite my best efforts to look at the bright side of things but I digress. I had a bad morning thanks to an early morning argument with a friend, bad day at work, burned my hand, broke the keyless entry remote for my car and then on the way home from work I got into a minor accident because some dumbass woman was busy on her phone on the highway and ran smack dab into the back of my Civic. So weird how people don't just fucking drive anymore while driving. A lot of people don't anyway. I'm fine and my car is fine, thankfully. I don't cry easily but I'm going through some stuff and a lot of stress right now and blah blah blah. Anyway I almost started crying when I got out to look at the potential damage and was so relieved to see nothing major that I almost started crying out of relief. Especially since she informed me she didn't "exactly" have auto insurance currently. Today will be a better day. Yep yep yep.

Anyway. I'm pretty much done Christmas shopping. I have my boyfriend, my family & most of my boyfriend's family members that I get gifts for covered. I'm glad I actually got started early this year so I don't have to deal with it when everyone really starts getting crazy because it's getting closer to the day and they're still not done yet. I hate shopping as it is the rest of the year but during the holidays? This is why I do the Toys for Tots shopping either early in the morning or super late at night. Stocked shelves and not near as many crazy people to deal with. Win/win. I'm super excited to go toy shopping soon and I'm sure a lot of people are equally as excited to not have to hear about it anymore after I do the final post next week, lol.

Happy Wednesday!

The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza!

I love baking. It's one of my very favorite things to do in my free time and something I at times to find therapeutic. Even though I work in a bakery, I still enjoy baking goodies for friends and family members, especially during the holidays. Doing the annual Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza brought to you by JZ of the badass blog, A Reluctant Bitch, is also a fun thing I love taking part of during the holidays. What's not to love about sharing recipes and discovering some new ones? As always, I'm going to post a few. :)

Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar and the eggs and mix thoroughly with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy and well combined. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt, and stir into the shortening mixture.

In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon.

Shape the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (1 tablespoon per ball), and roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar. Arrange the dough balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake two sheets at a time until the edges of the cookies are set but the centers are still soft, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Transfer the cookies to wire racks for cooling.

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Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 batch Sugar Cookies, recipe follows
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1/2 cup crushed candy canes or peppermint candies

Sugar Cookie:

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Directions

Add chocolate and vanilla to 1 half and incorporate with hands. Add egg yolk, peppermint extract, and crushed candy to other half of dough and incorporate with hands. Cover both with plastic and chill for approximately 5 minutes. Roll out doughs separately to approximately 1/4-inch thickness. Place peppermint dough on top of chocolate and press together around the edges. Using waxed paper or flexible cutting board underneath, roll dough into log. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Place cookies 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat and bake for 12 to 13 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

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Peanut Butter Cookies 
Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup additional to roll cookies
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

 In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in egg to mixture. Mix in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy. 

Sift the salt,baking soda and flour and mix into the creamy mixture until well combined.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in sugar. Place on baking sheet and flatten with fork. Bake for about 12 minutes.

Note: Throwing in some chocolate chips to the peanut butter cookie dough is never a bad idea. ;)

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Mmm, cookies! Those are three of my favorite cookies to make and hand off to others during the holidays. And to eat myself. :D

To see JZ's post and all of the other exchange extravaganza participants, check out JZ's blog post here. 

And lastly, there are now 8 DAYS LEFT TO DONATE to the Toys for Tots Fundraiser! Also, the Fundraiser Promo contest for a super easy chance to win a $25 Gift Card to Target ends on December 14th as well so there's still time to get it on that. A donation isn't necessary to enter the contest but definitely appreciated! And again, big thanks to everyone that has already helped out via donations or other ways, I appreciate y'all so much. :)

HAPPY THURSDAY!!

35 Happy Things....

I haven't done a post on things I'm happy for or things I'm grateful for in a while. I've felt particularly whiny lately because life has been stressful and a little unpleasant lately. I see my boyfriend two days out of the week and only for about half the day those two days because our work schedules are so opposite. And working in a bakery is awesome but during the holidays, it's insane and big fat daily reminder of how rude and impatient and all around obnoxious the general public is. Plus other more personal stuff I won't be putting out here. :)  So I like doing these posts to remind myself that I still have things to be happy about and as a reminder that life never sucks forever unless you let it. So here we go.

35 Things That Make Me Happy Currently

1. AWOLnation

2. Gift shopping for my family and boyfriend being complete

3. Getting holiday cards to send out to people

4. I have a job I don't hate even though the hours some days really suck

5. I have a job

6. My brother's hockey games

7. Those days I get to sleep in passed 5 AM

8. Apartment hunting 

9. Massages

10. Baking holiday treats for others 

11. Yoga

12. Imagine Dragons

13. My boyfriend being done with his radiation treatments

14. No car payment because mine's paid for

15. My friend's Adam and Rob always being there when I need someone

16. Gnigerbread cookies, because I love those like people love pumpkin everything in Autumn

17. Random sweet and/or goofy text messages

18. Songs I haven't heard in years but still love and know all the words to

19. Having time to volunteer more

20. Drawing

21. New pillows

22. Cooler weather (it's in the 70's right now so a little bit cooler would be welcome)

23. Old books 

24. Occasional Sunday dinners at my family's house

25. The amount of cute penguin stuff that comes out during the holidays

26. Peppermint hot chocolate

27. Laughing a lot because I have some really funny people in my life

28. Trips to the aquarium

29. Nights hanging out at home with friends 

30. Waking up every day

31. Card game/board game nights

32. Genuinely nice people

33. Movie nights

34. Trans Siberian Orchestra

35. Fuzzy socks

It might seem easy to list a bunch of random stuff that makes you feel good or happy but sit down and try to do it and you might be surprised how much thought it requires some days. Which isn't a bad thing, it's good to remind yourself of all the good that's around you. 

And lastly, there are now 11 DAYS LEFT TO DONATE to the Toys for Tots Fundraiser! Also, the Fundraiser Promo contest for a super easy chance to win a $25 Gift Card to Target ends on December 14th as well so there's still time to get it on that. A donation isn't necessary to enter the contest but definitely appreciated! And again, big thanks to everyone that has already helped out via donations or other ways, I appreciate y'all so much. :)

Happy Monday!

We have toys! Toys for Tots Fundraiser Update...

It was brought to my attention by several (seriously, 6 of you!) other bloggers/Twitter people that I've thus far failed to do something that I've done the last 3 years I've done my Toys for Tots Fundraiser. Which is just to go buy a little bit of toys with my own cash before the fundraiser ends to show people I'm really doing what I say I'm doing and to show that a little bit of cash can really go a long way in buying toys for Toys for Tots. My bad, I forgot about doing that this year because I've been super busy with work and personal issues. I definitely didn't want to skip doing that this year so I appreciate the e-mails inquiring about when it would happen. ;)

In any case, I was doing some holiday shopping yesterday afternoon and decided to scoop up my first round of toys that I'll be putting my own money towards. I always do that and then add a little more of my own money to the total amount received via donations as well for the big shopping trip after I end the fundraiser.

Anyway, aside from the stuff I got for the family members I was shopping for, I spent a total of $60 on this small pile of toys. There are 24 toys here including a princess set, toy cars, puzzles, books, coloring sets, toddler instrument sets, action figures and memory games. 

You might not think donating $5 or $10 will be much help at all but it really does help more than you think. The cutoff date for PayPal donations is on December 14th. I'll be going shopping a few days after that with all the donated cash and as always, a final post including lots of pictures will be posted showing off all the toys you generous folks helped buy and showing the delivery of the toys to my local Toys for Tots headquarters. Also, the Fundraiser Promo contest for a super easy chance to win a $25 Gift Card to Target ends on December 14th as well so there's still time to get it on that. A donation isn't necessary to enter the contest but definitely appreciated! And for the 20th time, a big thanks to everyone that has already helped out via donations or other ways, I appreciate y'all so much. :)

Happy Monday!

Reminders, Rambles & Rants....

I feel like rambling to clear some thoughts out. Or as some people who remember the story about my friend's relative, "Clearing some monkeys out of the attic." So ramble I shall! After this...

As a reminder, there is less than a month left to donate to the Toys for Tots blogger fundraiser. Cut off for paypal donations is December 14th.

The Target gift card contest lasts the duration of the fundraiser so you have until December 14th also to gain an entry or two or five to try and win that. A donation isn't necessary to get an entry but is appreciated and $5 is the minimum donation for an entry for the gift card if you want to make one. Check out the details here. 

And ramble ramble ramble....

I don't really understand a couple popular expressions I hear people use a lot. "You know you're getting older when...." or "You know you're from [insert city/state here] when...." OR anything like those two. I know I'm getting older because I get how time works and days keep going by and those birthday things keep happening. I'm not made aware of the fact that everyone gets a little older every single day by some obscure fact or occurrence. I'm also really aware of where I'm from without some random little tidbit to tie it to. Which tends to usually be some stupid generalization anyway.

I realized recently that I have an irrational hatred for wind chimes. I realized this at my boyfriend's mother's house because she has tons of them all over the place. Maybe it's not a single wind chime I hate but tons of them. They each make their own unique sounds which can be pretty. When there's multiple going with their unique sounds all going together? It drives me insane, I can't stand that noise. Pus it always bugs me when they start moving around when there's not any air flow changes I can feel. Also, I just really don't like the things.

A couple days back, a guy outside of the grocery store was stopping people because he was selling Twinkies for $25 a box. I don't eat Twinkies. I think they're disgusting. I don't eat any little snack cake or donut product either because I'm just not a fan of junk like that. I don't really get the insanity people are feeling over this. It's a fucking snack cake, not an important necessity that you literally cannot live without.I get there's things you get attached to but being willing to pay that much money for a box of snack cakes is ridiculous.

I don't think people realize that having tinted windows on their car doesn't make them invisible in there. Unless they're super dark, almost illegal or actually illegal dark. Then you're fine. Most people? You're not invisible in there. Or maybe people just get really lost in there like they're in the privacy of some little world and don't think about people being able to see inside their car when they're walking by or sitting at the same light for a prolonged amount of time. People do some really gross things in their cars. Window tint is not an invisibility cloak for your car.

I hate when people get their undies in a bunch when I don't text them back immediately. I work a lot. I'm busy a lot. I have a lot going on. I can't and won't always stop in the middle of everything just to respond back to a text message. I guess most people will do that but I won't. And if you text me while I'm driving, I'm not replying to it until I'm stopped or done driving. It's never over anything important. Phone calls are for important things. Getting mad at me because I didn't text you back fast enough to help you decide what to have for lunch? Ridiculous.

A little girl that came into my job yesterday asked me why water wasn't purple or lime green then proceeded to tell me why she would be willing to drink more water if it were purple or lime green. Her mom told her she would start putting food coloring in her water. The little girl told her that would be cheating and she didn't want any poison color water, only natural colored water. A short while later, a little boy came in with his dad and told me that he didn't like the bells on our Christmas boxes because bells reminded him of balls. He also told me that he had small balls but that dad told him they would get bigger and hairy one day. He doesn't want hair because hair is itchy. His dad looked mortified and told him to play the quiet game for the rest of their short visit to pick up their goodies. And lastly for the parade of interesting kids yesterday, a mom with four kids came in. The little boys shook my hand because they're "learning to be little gentlemen" and the little girl told me, "I can't shake your hand, I have a butt finger. My finger was in my butt!" She wouldn't stop giggling over that which made one of her brother's start giggling and tell me that he had his finger up his nose then his but so I had touched his nosy butt finger. Their mother laughed hard over that then apologized for her kids behavior and told me I'd understand when I had some of my own. I said I didn't ever plan on having kids personally. She looked at me like I said I'd shot her grandma or something. Which I'm used to since it's a typical reaction to someone announcing they don't ever want to have kids which I've done every time someone has broached the subject of having kids with me for the last, oh, 14 years now.

I'm super excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow because it's the first time I get to make more than just one or two items for the big family dinner. Usually by the time I ask about helping, everyone else already has everything covered and I get to make one maybe two things. I get to make four this year. I know a lot of people find having to cook like that stressful and unpleasant but I love to cook and I love cooking big meals for people. It's a challenge to get it all done and I love a good challenge. Especially one in the kitchen.

I'm done now. If anyone read all of that or even skimmed most of it, thank you. ;)

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Mind fucks aren't fun at all..

Before I get to the actual part of this post where I say random stuff that you weirdos enjoy reading for some reason, let me be annoying and mention two things for the 123rd time so far this month.

First things first, if you haven't seen the Toys for Tots Fundraiser I'm doing (somehow, maybe you don't follow me on Twitter and haven't been here before ;]) then check that out here. It's a great cause and a donation of just a few dollars goes a long way. ;)

Second, there's a contest going on around here for a $25 gift card to Target. You don't have to make the $5 minimum donation for an entry into the contest because there are other ways to get entries that don't cost you more than some of your online time but a donation will get you can extra entry for the gift card. For the rules for the super easy contest, check it here.

Now on to my ramblings.

I organized a food drive late last week and had a couple of my friends help me out with it. I asked around and they volunteered so yay for having helpful friends. We managed to gather up 93 pounds of food from co-workers, neighbors, other friends, etc for the North Texas Food Bank which I delivered yesterday. I know if you have a lot of canned goods, that's not a lot. Out of curiosity, I asked, and only 29 lbs of that was made up from canned goods. See, I bother my real life friends with charity stuff too. ;) While I was delivering our haul, I ran into a friend I haven't seen in around 9 years. We used to work together when we were teenagers and I'm surprised she recognized me. I was heading back to my car when I heard someone from the sidewalk call my name out. We talked for about 5 minutes before she leaned in and asked me if I still got high then without waiting for an answer asked me if I wanted to go hang out back at her apartment because she had some "good stuff" as well as some good pot back there. I declined because I stopped doing the kind of drugs she was talking about almost 8 years ago. I did have a minor lapse with weed a few years ago but it's been 3 years and 2 months since I've done that. I work really hard to not fall back into old habits because I'm unable to use substances "once in a while." If I start, it's an every day or almost every day thing and I won't let myself be like I was ever again because I wasn't a functional, happy person then. I politely declined my former friends invite and for some reason, she got mad. She asked if I could give her a ride and I asked if she had any drugs on her. "Just a little heroin, no big deal" was her reply to that. I declined giving her a ride but offered to give her money for the bus that was pulling off. She took that and handed me a card with her cell phone information on it. Then informed me she also worked as a dealer so if I changed my mind... Sigh.

That whole interaction actually really fucked with my head. I started thinking too much about the person I used to be. The people I hung out with, the people I ignored but shouldn't have, the relationships I ruined, the multiple ways I just utterly fucked my life up... and instead of focusing on the fact that I'm not that person anymore, that I learned from those mistakes and that I made my life better; I let them swallow me and I felt suffocated by things and emotions that don't have a place in my life anymore. It's not like our passed is ever just gone but I don't live in the passed. Things happen, they shaped the things I did and got me to where I am and there's no sense dwelling on choices made that can't be changed or undone. I've never done that so the feelings I was having yesterday were almost foreign to me because I don't worry about things that are long since done. I didn't really know how to get out of the mood I was in. I wanted to talk to my friend Rob who has known me for over 10 years and knew me back when I was a much bigger mess than I am now but I knew he's been sick and didn't want to bother him. I wanted to talk to my boyfriend whom I met while I was in the process of trying to put my life and self in some kind of order but he works from 7 pm till 4 or 5 am and I can only reach him on breaks anyway. So instead, I didn't talk to anyone and decided I'd write about it. Which didn't help because I couldn't make the words in my head come out right on paper. I went to the gym and decided I'd work out because physical activity helps me when I'm stressed out or feeling bad. Sometimes it does anyway. I'm usually able to clear my head and focus more while working out and last night's session helped a lot. Now writing it out like this is helping because I finally got the words out that I wanted out and got back to realizing who I am and where I'm at in life which is far from where I used to be. And that's a good thing because that girl was an extremely unhappy, angry, self-destructive mess.

As an aside, there was a guy at the gym on the row of treadmills in front of me. While running he was playing something on his cell phone. He some how got so involved in whatever was on his phone that he lost his footing, tripped, smacked his face on the grip bar you ca hold on to, then fell down off the treadmill. He wasn't hurt. He actually laid there looking stunned and then started laughing. The girl next to me asked if I thought he legit was being a dumb ass or if I thought it was some kind of hidden camera show stunt going on. I said I honestly believed the guy was just being a moron and had an accident occur due to his stupidity. She disagreed and thought hidden camera show was more like it. She didn't want to be on "no damn reality hidden camera TV show" because she "don't look no damn good on TV" which she knew because she was on the news once after some kind of storm had happened and she looked "a fool" apparently. So she said she was going to go check for hidden cameras or a TV crew before she could finish her workout. I thought she was joking but she wasn't. She went around the gym checking for hidden cameras and asking the two employees there at that hour about if they knew anything about hidden camera shows. She even asked the treadmill guy if he was aware of anything. She eventually got satisfied that nothing fishy was going on but then left anyway just in case everyone was in on it. That weird incident also put me in a better mood because the entire thing amused the hell out of me.

That's enough out of me. Thanks for still reading and thanks for the emails many of you send always checking up on me when I'm not around much. I appreciate it. :)

Also thanks for those of you that have donated to the Toys for Tots fundraiser and thanks to those who have helped me promote the fundraiser. Even if it is just because you're trying to win that gift card, I still appreciate the effort and help behind it so much. :) <3 nbsp="nbsp">

Happy Thursday!

Who wants a $25 Target gift card?!

If you read my last post about some of the fun we had in Vegas, then you saw that I was also waiting on confirmation to use a giftcard given to me to use as a blog giveaway for my Toys for Tots fundraiser. No, not to help buy toys because the people who gave me the card also gave me a $25 donation as well because they're awesome. I got the green light to tie the giveaway to my fundraiser so here's what's up.

If you're a blogger or tweeter and want to help spread the word about the fundraiser via twitter, facebook, tumblr or your blog/website; please feel free to do so and let me know about it. I've decided that people that help me promote the fundraiser will be the ones who get entered for the giftcard, which happens to be for Target, and the only way to enter the gift card contest will be via promotion of my fundraiser and/or donating to the fundraiser.

The minimum donation for an entry to the giftcard giveaway is $5. That's all you have to do but if you want to do more, no one's going to complain.You don't have to do a donation to be entered into the contest, you can just do the promoting (and tell me about doing it!) for entries but donations are definitely appreciated. :)

Promoting it on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or your blog/website will get you one entry per method of promotion. You will have to show me proof of the fundraiser promotion so you'll need to please email me [amorousrocker at gmail dot com] and let me know with linked proof. If you delete the post, tweet, etc after a few days, that will negate your entry and yes, I'm going to be checking. You have to leave the post, tweet, etc up for the duration of the fundraiser for it to count.

Each promotion gains you one entry and you can promote daily via Facebook, Twitter, your blog, or Tumblr if you want to though you'll have to email me your linked proof for each time so I can verify you're actually doing what you say you are.

Also, if you've already donated, your name has already been added once to the drawing for the giftcard. However, if you don't want to be included in the drawing for some reason, just let me know and I'll remove your name.

The last day to donate to the fundraiser is going to be on December 14th so that will also be the cut off date for the gift card giveaway and I'll do a drawing the following day for the giftcard.

Thanks and good luck!

Happy Monday!

Vegas fun...

My boyfriend and I just got back yesterday from a small vacation in Vegas. It was my first time going as well as his and the city was as much fun and as full of awesome as the people we know who have gone said it was. Not that I doubted them at all.

We spent Halloween there which was awesome. And yes, we did dress up. I was a pirate and my boyfriend was Mario from Super Mario Bros....

I won't bore you all with every detail of our vacation in Vegas. ;) I'll share a few things, though.

A few of the things we did:

Saw Cirque Du Soleil's Mystère at Treasure Island. The show, no surprise, was fucking amazing. I love Cirque shows and seriously wanted to see that one again at the next show time I enjoyed it that much. We didn't do that however since there's too much to do in Vegas for repeating stuff like that. 

We went to Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. That was awesome. I learned about a few different species of sharks and saw one of the largest manta rays I have ever seen in my life. I love the ocean and it's creatures and going to aquariums is one of my very favorite things. Also, I met a guy at the Aquarium who owns a Batmobile. I was wearing a Batman tee & he said, "I bet I'm a bigger Batman fan than you are." Then proceeded to show me the Batmobile he has parked at his house. Not sure about a bigger Batman fan but definitely a huge fan with a lot more money than I have. Though he was kind of a douchebag so I think I need to track him down and "borrow without intent to return" his Batmobile because someone that douchey doesn't deserve something so awesome, haha.

I was also mistaken as a prostitute on two separate occasions by two different guys that were probably in their late thirties to early forties. At least that's how old they both looked to me. Neither of them were creepy about it though, they were both discreet and left me alone once it was made apparent that I'm not a hooker. Oddly enough I was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans both times that happened. 

"Excuse me miss but can you tell us who you think has the nicer fake rack?" -Random guy to me, asking me to judge between two dudes dressed up as Showgirls for Halloween. They both made compelling arguments for why they each thought their rack was the better looking one and I made my pick based on the dude with the best argument since their fake racks looks almost identical, haha. 

And one of the funniest things I overheard happened in a restroom in one of the many casinos we checked out, between a couple of drunk women at Treasure Island.

Lady1: "Look, a mini plush pirate! Isn't he cute. Laura, say hey to my little friend!"

 Lady2: "No thanks! Lately all I've seen is little friends made out of limp material!"

Then they both laughed so hard they ended up laying in the bathroom floor holding their sides and crying. One of them started kicking her feet around and ended up sending one of her heels flying across the room into a sink. The woman at the sink next to the one the shoe landed in picked it up and threw it pretty hard at the two ladies and that ended their giggle fit and almost started a fight.

On Halloween night, we got stuck outside the Bellagio hotel because they were shutting the street down because they were filming a scene out of a movie and couldn't get down the sidewalk. The scene was someone parachuting out of a helicopter so they had that portion of street shut down for about 15 minutes. We could have gone back in and gone around a different way but opted to stand there and watch since they said we could do that. They wouldn't tell us what the movie was but we figured out that they'd been filming scenes for the Hangover 3 in Vegas all of this week and also ewkn they had shut part of the Bellagio's casino down on Monday for the first day of filming whatever movie. So now I'll have to watch the damn movie when it comes out to see if that's really what it was. They were cool and let us take pictures as long as we could do so without moving further out passed their barrier.

And that's all I'm sharing. I had a great time and will definitely go back since there is still plenty of stuff I want to do and see out there. Plus it's a lot of fun and makes hardly sleeping totally worthwhile.

Non-Vegas related, the Toys for Tots Blogger Fundraiser is up and running right now! Thanks to the people who have donated already and thanks to those retweeting my tweets about it and trying to help promote it with me. I appreciate it. I might have a giftcard contest going on shortly for people helping me promote the fundraiser as well as people who have donated and are going to donate a few bucks. I've been given a giftcard to do a giveaway with on my blog and I chose it to be for Target. I have the idea that donating and/or helping me promote the fundraiser will be the way to gain entries for the giveaway but I have to make sure the people that gave me the giftcard don't mind me tying the giveaway to my fundraiser. So, keep your eyes out for that one.

Happy Friday!

Shit My Co-Workers Say.....

My co-workers often amuse me with their commentary and interesting discussions. So I'm going to share some of their brilliance with all my lovely blog readers. Enjoy! ;)


 
 Co-worker1: "Muffins are bullshit, they're just fruity cupcakes without icing."

CW2: "Uh no because cupcakes can't have fruit. Duh."

CW3. "Wrong, cupcakes can have fruit. Like lemon cupcakes. Muffins can't be unhealthy."

CW2: "Uh not true. Chocolate chip muffins, double fudge muffins & peanut butter chocolate chip muffins for example."

Me: "Or, muffins are more of a bread and cupcakes are cake."

CW3: "No that's dumb. I think muffins just can't have icing whereas cupcakes do. So yeah muffins are definitely bullshit."

1 & 2 agreed with 3's final point. I just laughed & was glad the debate was done instead of trying to actually explain the difference.

----------------------------------

Co-worker: "Can you burn a marshmallow hard? Like do they ever get hard or would they just burn until they melt? Or maybe explode like a fireball?"

Co-worker2: "I don't know. Do you think we could find someone off CraigsList to try it out and see so we don't have to risk it? We could offer like 25 bucks or something."

CW1: "Nah, I'll just get my brother and his friend's to do it and offer to film it so they can put it on their youtube channel of dumbfuckery. For free. Win win."

------------------------------------

Co-worker: "I'd eat nacho cheese and jalapenos off of Channing Tatum's abs. Actually I'd pretty much eat anything off his abs. Even peanut butter and I have a minor peanut allergy but it'd be worth the hospital visit. Probably."

------------------------------------

Co-worker: "Its SO HOT in here!"

Me: "It's your surroundings."

CW looks perplexed.

Me: "You're standing right in front of a space heater, dude."

CW: "Oh! So that's what that thing is! No wonder it's always hot."

-------------------

Co-worker: "Kidney stones should be like a cool color so you know what it is & can recognize it when you pee one out."

CW2: "Wait.... You can pee a stone out?"

CW1: "Um duh, how do you think they get passed?"

CW2: "But why and how are there stones in our bodies? Pissing out a rock is weird but having one in there in the first place is scary."

CW3: "What's scary is the other stuff she's peeing out if a kidney stone is puzzling."

------------------------------------

Co-worker: "I wish I could fart glitter. Just to freak people out."

------------------------------------

Co-worker: "I want to come back as a camera someone in the paparazzi uses in my next life because of all the weird stuff & naked or mostly naked people they see."

CW2: "Why not just come back as a paparazzi member?"

CW1: "Because they're disrespectful, immoral, rude & creepy. The camera sees all the fun stuff but is just an innocent bystander."

------------------------------------

Happy Wednesday!!!


Don't forget to check out the 4th Blogger Toys for Tots Fundraiser!!! Donate a few dollars for a great cause. :)

A new non-meme blog post? Ohh yeahh,

I took a break from blogging and spending time on the internet (not that I was doing much of either in the first place) and decided to focus on other things I needed to get back on track.

I was so unhappy for a while that I didn't even care about not blogging or much of anything really and I let too many things I enjoyed fall to the wayside because that's what I do when I get down. I don't wallow and feel sorry for myself but I tend to get rather self-destructive in a way. I'm working on being better about that.  I purged a lot of things from my life that didn't need to be there, a few people included. Things are on track and slowly but surely improving. Plus, I'm happier.

Writing has always been a good outlet for me. I haven't been blogging but I've been writing in a journal. Pen and paper. I'm old fashioned like that and still really enjoy putting pen to paper and letting the words flow.

I've had a few people who regularly read my blog email me recently to see how I'm doing, if I'm blogging ever again and if I'll be doing the Toys for Tots fundraiser again this year. I think it's so nice to have random people checking up on me just because I went MIA without any notice. I appreciate y'all and I'm amazed that so many people still check here every day to see if I've updated or not. Blog stats are so cool, haha.

Anyway... I'll definitely be blogging again. As for the Toys for Tots fundraiser, I'll likely be doing that again for the fourth year in a row. It depends on how crazy things get with work. Even if I don't, y'all can still donate cash directly to Toys for Tots! Though I'm almost certain I'll be able to handle it again this year. Plus, it's something I so look forward to doing so I can't see myself passing up on doing the fundraiser.

Happy Thursday!

Sort of Rant: The Uninvited....

I was over at a friend's house recently, hanging out and directing him on how to make a fairly fancy cake he wanted to attempt for his girlfriend and her family. He had an incident and ended up with batter all over his face, in his hair and down his shirt and decided he would go take a shower quickly before a second attempt. 

I hung out in the living room and while waiting, his brother's girlfriend came storming into the room mumbling and fuming about something. I looked at my phone hoping that if I avoided eye contact that she would ignore me, as usual. I don't care for her and she isn't a fan of me either. I'm a curious person but when it involves someone I don't like, I generally couldn't care less. I don't care much gossip and drama with people I like so the business of someone I dislike is even more dis-interesting. However, she wanted to vent and after several attempts at dialing people on her phone to no avail, she turned to me.


"Hey," she said.


"Yeah?"


"So my friend Mariella, well not my friend, but we are co-workers and we sort of get along at work because we're professionals and know how to be cordial but I don't really like her but she doesn't know that. Anyway whatever. So Mariella is pregnant and she's having a baby shower next weekend. Mariella created a Facebook event page for her baby shower and of course I saw it because we have each other on Facebook. So I go look at it and the page isn't even private to only invited people can see. She invited like 54 other people including some other people from work but not me. I waited a few days and checked again and saw a couple more people were added to the invite list but still not me. I'm pissed off because she's inviting a handful of people from work but not me even though we get along okay enough up there and she thinks I like her."


At that point, she tried to keep rambling but I cut her off with a question.


"Did you even plan on going if you did get an invite?"


She snorted, rolled her eyes and said she wouldn't go even if they were giving away cash at the door for showing up because she doesn't like her.

"So why do you even fucking care about not getting invited if you don't want to go and don't like her anyway? Seems stupid to me."

She rolled her eyes again and stated it was "the principle of the thing" and went on a little rant about office politics, being polite and probably some other stuff but honestly I stopped listening. She ended up tossing a pillow off the love seat me, then she rolled her eyes, told me I had to be a male stuck inside my decidedly female body and stomped off trying again to get someone on her phone presumably to rant to.
 
She's not the first person I've heard have a  bitch fest like that before. 


"So and so didn't invite me to this. I didn't want to go anyway but at least they could've invited me!"

"I don't like her but I can't believe I didn't even get an invite!"


I will never understand that. I've had a couple people try to explain their various issues behind it and all I get from the explanations are that they're being stupid and petty along with some other unflattering adjectives.

In the case of my friend's boyfriend's sister, chances are her co-worker isn't as dumb as she thinks and is likely aware of her feelings toward her. She probably doesn't care much for her either, obviously. 

If someone I don't like doesn't invite me to something, I don't feel insulted by it. I don't feel left out and I honestly just don't think or feel anything about it at all. I personally feel relieved when I don't get invited to things I wouldn't want to go to anyway. Not that I mind declining invites nor do I mind having to explain why I don't want to attend if the situation calls for that to happen. It's just easier to not have to deal with that if I don't have to. 

I get that not everyone is going to like me. I sure as hell don't like every single person I come in contact with. Sometimes they're annoying. Sometimes there's just no common ground. Tons of factors play into it. I absolutely don't feel a need to be liked by everyone, especially people I don't even like. If more people would get over that, they would be a lot better off. At least in my opinion anyway.

Happy Tuesday, y'all!

50 Things That Make Me Smile...

Life has been pretty rough lately so I'm going to do one of my favorite writing exercises to lift my spirits a bit. Any time life hasn't been going so well, I like to write out a list of things that make me happy or make me smile. I don't put a lot of thought into it, just list of things as they come to mind. It's kind of an easy reminder that while things suck right now, there are still plenty of things to be happy about. Plus, I always end up feeling a little better spirit wise after doing this. Here we go.

50 Things That Make Me Smile.....

• The Dark Knight Rises being so so so good.
• Christian Bale.
• When people love the food I create.
• Swimming.
• My adorable niece always being so happy to see me. (And no, that doesn't change my mind in the least about wanting a kid. I still don't want one, at all. ;))
• Rollerblading.
• Cinnamon rolls.
• The smell of a brand new sketch pad.
• The Avengers.
• Ice skating.
• When a song I actually like gets stuck in my head but only for a little while.
• DIY Projects.
• Watching my youngest brother play hockey.
• Adorable bunnies.
• My new haircut. 
• The movie Brave, for having a lead female princess who isn't looking for her prince charming.
• Also, the beautiful soundtrack in Brave. Gorgeous Celtic music.
• Sweet tea.
• Sweet tea lemonade.
• Days where I can actually sleep in.
• Video games.
• Walking into a wonderfully air-conditioned house after being out in the Texas heat.
• Comic books.
• Finding Batman and Avengers socks at Target.
• S'mores. 
• Making people laugh.
• Getting an actual handwritten letter and/or a card in the mail.
• Sending a handwritten letter or a card to someone randomly.
• Finding gift cards I had long since forgotten I had.
• Boobs.
• Evenings with my boyfriend and friends at Top Golf driving range.
• New cookbooks.
• Unexpected gifts.
• Fruit.
• Comfy clothes.
• Lazy Sundays.
• Doing something nice for someone I care about.
• Thunderstorms.
• When my boyfriend has a day off & we spend all day doing fun stuff.
  
• Jello shots.
• Air hockey.
• Massages.
• Doing something nice for someone I don't know.
• Brunch.
• How good freshly cleaned sheets feel.
• Doctor Who.
• A shower after a long day.
• Hugs.
• Funny movies.
• Loud rock music.

Happy Wednesday!

Recipe: Fried Mac & Cheese Squares

I had fried mac and cheese at a restaurant and contemplated making them for a special occasion after that. I'm not a huge fan of fried foods but mac and cheese in a crunchy Panko crust with a creamy cheese sauce just oozing out? Not bad.

A week ago, a friend of mine asked if I could make some fried mac and cheese for a party. I agreed and then decided, like with all things I've never made before, I'd do a test run of it. My boyfriend was fine with being my guinea pig for all of this.

Most recipes I found cited using boxed mac and cheese. That didn't work for me and I already have a great recipe for mac and cheese. So I just decided to go at from there and it worked out. I had several people from Facebook and Twitter ask for the recipe so decided I'd put one together since I winged this dish and put it up on the blog for sharing.

Fried Mac & Cheese Squares

Ingredients:

• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk, warmed, plus 2 tablespoons for egg wash
• 1 pound grated Cheddar
• 1 pound grated smoked Gouda
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

Cook the macaroni according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again and set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour into the butter and stir it with a whisk, cooking for about 2 minutes. Whisk the warmed milk into the flour mixture, working out all the clumps. Cook until the sauce thickens, for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the cheeses and stir until melted and smooth then season with the salt and pepper. Fold the cheese sauce into macaroni. Pour the mac and cheese into a shallow pan. It needs to be refrigerated until cold, at least 3 hours.

After that, shape the cold mac and cheese into small squares by cutting them evenly and removing them onto a waxed paper-lined tray.You can use a table spoon or ice cream scooper if you prefer a ball to a square. Freeze the macaroni squares overnight.

Next day, beat the eggs and 2 tablespoons milk together to form an egg wash and pour it into a shallow bowl. Put the bread crumbs into another shallow bowl. Mix the garlic, onion powder and paprika into the bread crumbs. Remove the mac and cheese squares from the freezer. Dip the frozen balls into the egg wash then into the bread crumbs, making sure to coat thoroughly. Put the squares back into the freezer until you're ready to fry them up.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Fry the mac and cheese squares until they are golden brown and center is hot, about 4 to 5 minutes.

You can serve them as is or marinara or alfredo sauce goes nicely with it as well.

Happy Thursday!

TMI Tuesday: Blankety Blank...

TMI Tuesday: Blankety Blank

Complete the sentences by filling in the blanks.

1. I could spend all day listening to music but couldn’t stand five minutes watching "reality" TV shows about any housewives anywhere, following famous people around all day, pregnant teenagers, baby daddy drama, random people being thrown together to attempt cohabitation together, competing for "survival" on an island, bridezillas.... you get the gist of where I'm going here.

2. I would love to have a robot in my house to do laundry because no one else ever does I hate doing it.

3. The older you get the more adventures you get to have. (Or maybe that's just me but whatever :D)

4. I want to smash rude and/or annoying people's heads through the glass door's of the frozen food section when I go grocery shopping at a normal time.

5. My appetite for books, laughter, music, coffee, hockey games, good times, air hockey, bbq, ice cream, rum, fun, giant Jenga, smoothies, comic books, Italian food, art, Discovery channel, kissing, whiskey, baseball and Pixar movies can never be satisfied.

Bonus: If I were a hoarder, I would hoard hockey jerseys, vinyl records, Captain Morgan bottles, Batman related stuff, shot glasses, books, colored pencils and pirate treasure. 

Happy Tuesday!