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#megsboringlife: Surviving Summer

August 7, 2014 by Meg Bateman 4 Comments

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

Well, it’s safe to say my pocket scrapping project is still dead, but who knows? Maybe it’ll get revived soon. But, I felt like I should at least blog about what’s been going on in our life so far this summer.

Not much.

Jeff doesn’t get any time off from work, and since we share a car, our weekends are like get-all-the-errands-and-shopping-done-or-die.

Here’s the last few weeks, in a nutshell, thanks to my instagram feed. Plus, there’s something big coming soon 😉

It’s hot. Really hot. Riley has discovered the awesomeness that are fans. It wasn’t even that hot the day I took this photo, but it was hot enough to make folding all that laundry miserable… so I’m glad she solved that problem by laying on the pile of clothes.

Jeff broke the NO GLUTEN EXCEPT BEER rule, and brought home some bacon orange chicken from Panda. I think everyone was impressed that I didn’t kill him, with me being all celiac-y and unable to enjoy such sweet nector of the fast food industry. Maybe I’ll attempt to make some myself, but that’s not happening anytime soon.

He also broke his diet to eat that Panda, because he’s currently obsessed with body building and body builders don’t eat that crap. He wont let me post photos of all his competition poses, maybe when his muscles are bigger. Yeah, he has poses.

The guinea pigs have gotten really really bold. And demanding. Instead of being office piggies like at our old house, they’re now sitting room piggies… and loving it! They SEE ALL THE PEOPLE and pop corn like crazy whenever someone walks into the room. Especially if they have a tomato. But as you can tell from this photo, they still refuse to have close-up photos done.

My parents & grandparents took my youngest brother and sister back to the UK for a family reunion with our cousins, and to show them where they get all their craziness. I thought it was interesting how they raise prostate cancer awareness on their postmarks over there. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could get the same over here for Parkinson’s Disease?

Jeff and I ran a 5k, because we were all… hey! it’s only five dollars! why not??

Oh yeah… here’s a few reasons why not:

The last time we ran a 5k was early May, at night, in the dark, and somewhat cool weather.
It was 106F
In direct sunlight
With only one water stop
and I was in denial that I had a summer cold.

Not the smartest thing we’ve done this summer. Really.

We’ve been eating a lot of pork, but pictures of carnitas aren’t as exciting as pictures of big-ass ribeyes.

A few days after that 5k, I realized I really FUBAR’d my good knee, so I loaded up on collagen. My UPS guy totally sympathized with me when he delivered it. Oh, and I also got a weather station… because the “official” weather for Fresno comes from the airport, in the somewhat central-east-ish area of the city, and we’re in a completely different area near the river… so, weather is never the same. And I’m obsessed with knowing how miserable I’ll be on Riley’s four daily walks.

Oh, I cut off all my hair, and I still haven’t taken a decent photo of the new haircut. Just this sweaty, opps-I-ran-errands-right-after-my-cut-and-forgot-to-take-the-after-photo!

There’s been less nail polish purchases than usual. Well, until recently… when I discovered Sally Hansen’s Miracle Gels and that Target had put all the Color Foils on clearance.

Did I mention that it’s smokey here? We’re just south of two major forest fires, and it’s pretty terrible. Yeah, that’s smoke, not clouds. Jeff has it worse at work in the mountains, he’s coughing up his lungs from it.

I restocked on my favorite essential oil blend, “Relieve” from Native American Nutritionals. It’s really come in handy with all the headaches from the terrible smokey air.

Riley received a new dog tag from Lofted Designs, she loves it! Even though the different noise on her collar bothered her for a little while 🙂

Jeff and I braved the heat on Tuesday night to see Angel Pagan and Hector Sanchez do a rehab game with the Grizzlies. It was an insane game, but not because of the score…

Last but not least, I’m working on something pretty awesome to wrap up this summer… the bulk of which will land on August 22nd. Mark your calendars, subscribe to the newsletter, follow on facebook… all the safeguards you can get so you don’t miss this!

The Rock ‘n Roll Detective

March 21, 2013 by Meg Bateman 4 Comments

I’m terribly behind on my reviews, but I couldn’t wait to share this one with you. Recently I received a review request for a Not-Your-Nana’s-Cozy… Heavy Mental by P.J. Morse. The main character – Clancy Parker – is an indie rock guitarist who pays the bills working as a private eye.

I don’t think P.J. realized I’m a total punk at heart — I did go through a long phase of Tsunami Bomb shirts and safety pins (before it was cool again, and long before Chris Carrabba had left Further Seems Forever… mind you…) — and I still enjoy the music, even if I’m no longer active in the scene… and I definitely enjoy wine and bourbon too much to be a straight edger like I was back then.

Yes, I, Meg… the hobby farmer, digital scrapbooker, former missionary, and a small business owner… was a straight edger with an addiction to TGUK, Hey Mercedes, and Saves the Day… just to name a few (ok, so I was a little on the emo side of punk.) Then I met Jeff, and I guess he tamed me.

Enough about me, onto the review!

Clancy Parker is living in San Francisco working as a Private Detective to pay the bills while she waits for her band, the Marquee Idols, to take off… that is, if they ever find a new bass player. Clancy’s socialite mother refers a woman from her social circle to Clancy, and Clancy quickly regrets accepting the case. The woman is an heiress who lost a necklace due for the auction block at Sotheby’s… and she seems to be completely off her rocker. Clancy needs to find it, and fast.

Clancy immerses herself into the client’s life and soon has a long suspect list — the fumbling husband, sexy shrink, a huffy receptionist, and immigrant maids. When lives begin to be threatened, Clancy realizes this is about more than just a missing necklace.

I honestly didn’t have high expectations, Heavy Mental was self published and most of the time I don’t even bother with self published novels because they tend to be littered with problems. But, I’m glad I took the opportunity — and very glad to say my assumptions were wrong! It was very well written — the plot and characters were all well-developed, and P.J. magnificently described the S.F. neighborhoods without detracting from the story. The story was a little slow at first, but I find that to be pretty common in the first books of a new series. P.J. dropped hints throughout the story as to possible solutions, without giving away the true ending. It was masterfully done!

There were a few weak points, but not enough to make me change my mind about this being five stars for me. I do think that this isn’t a typical cozy that diehard cozy fans will enjoy, it definitely is a bit more edgy… definitely different from the typical cozy formula of “single woman finds body, finds a love interest, cooks or bakes a lot of things, stumbles upon the solution and gets the guy.” I’m honestly very sick of the typical cozy — Heavy Mental was a breath of fresh air!

I can’t wait to read the next installment — sounds like Clancy finds herself on a “Rock of Love” type show!

I received a copy of this book for free from the author, which did not influence my opinion.

Dumb Luck = Great Trip

January 8, 2013 by Meg Bateman Leave a Comment

Jeff and I have some of the dumbest luck in the world, and I love it! When traveling north this last weekend, we stumbled upon Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s release party for their Ruthless Rye IPA.

But we ordered the Kellerweis…

We had a ton of fun — I’ve never toured a brewery before (Jeff has) and I’m honestly not a beer person… but, the free tasting after our tour definitely helped me figure out what I really dislike in a beer, and what I can… tolerate. At the release party, I did find that I like things made with beer but not so much for drinking. Their “beer cheese” made with the Ruthless Rye was amazing, I’m going to have to replicate it the next time we have people over!

Lots of traveling happening over the next week, lots to share when I have more time! We’re having a great time — poor Jeff is going to get exposed to a LOT of my family he’s never met before. I’m excited 😉 hehe

Project Life | Week 3

January 24, 2012 by Meg Bateman 4 Comments

Another busy week in our home! I promise – I really do more than drink and eat – even though my Project Life pages seem to be showing differently. I’m just too busy and occupied to capture things, which I’m hoping to work more on this week.

Thank you so much for all your comments on last week’s post! They really mean a lot and keep me motivated to keep up with this project. If I haven’t already, I’ll be returning your comments soon!

Katie asked if I’ll be using the same materials throughout the entire year. Probably not, because I can’t commit to one kit for long. I almost did this week’s pages in the same kit as last week, but I felt like I needed more color – so I finally used a collection I’ve had sitting on my hard drive for a while – Bloopers by Pink Reptile Designs and Studio 68.

On to the details from this week…

Ok, I might of drank a bit this week — but it was all yummy! We’ve meant to go to the bar at the restaurant that one of Jeff’s cousin-in-law manages, and we had a great time. Josh made me an amazing drink! The next few nights I had a class of this wine – Pink Dreamstone – a sparkling moscato. Definitely a nice way to unwind with a book before bed!

Finally, on to something that wasn’t booze! Here’s one of my favorite meals – I don’t really have a name for it – but it’s basically Sour Cream and Onion Chicken. I’ll be sharing the recipe for that soon, as soon as I have time!

Also, an OK picture of some of the contents of this week’s CSA box! I had a hard time grabbing a picture without setting the box on the floor, and I don’t have a good space to unpack and photograph everything. I haven’t been very good at cooking with everything we get in the box, but that’s changing! I’m getting used to it! It’s just hard trying new recipes on things that are completely new to me — it seems to double my chances of a failed recipe. Which isn’t a good thing when I have a picky eater to feed!

Lastly, we finally got some rain! It’s been a pretty devastating fall and winter — zero rain! After a sixty day dry spell, we finally got a decent storm! As you can see in the radar screen capture 🙂

That’s it for this week — feel free to ask me more questions in the comments, I’ll be sure to answer them!

Time in Tahoe

June 24, 2011 by Meg Bateman 2 Comments

Several weeks ago, Jeff and I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Reno, NV. On our way back home, we spent the day stopping along Lake Tahoe. It had been over a decade since we had both been to the area, so we decided to enjoy it as much as we could before we really had to go home.

It was absolutely majestic – even for May, there was lots of snow everywhere. Normally when we go to a new area, Jeff researches everything and has a list of possible places to go or activities to do. This trip, he didn’t do any research, so we just drove around the lake and enjoyed the sights!

You don’t really get to experience how large the lake is unless you drive around it. We drove from Incline Village to South Lake Tahoe… which I guess is about 2/3rds of the perimeter of the lake.

For lunch we took it easy and grabbed some random cheeses and crackers and just relaxed at one of the many lakefront parks.

It made me wish we lived closer, and could do this more often. It probably was one of the best picnic lunches I’ve ever had. At home, we just have small reservoirs that are always overrun and crowded by loud boats. None of them are nearly as pretty!!

My favorite part of the drive was the stop where you can look out over Emerald Bay. The island and castle are fun to look at, but the view from the bay is amazing. It’s this tiny little bump on a huge lake, like a little secret.

We wished we had spent more time in the Tahoe and Truckee area, instead of most of our time in Reno. We almost went back just a few weekends later, but gas prices were at their peak and we decided we’ll go later this summer. I can’t wait!