See ancient, non-important post: http://www.politicsgunsandbeer.com/2010/11/27/scratch-that-trying-intense-debate/

The hell is going on in the comments?

Ron Paul wins Iowa, because he heard it’s my birthday and couldn’t come up with a better idea for a present.

*nods authoritatively*

The other day, I decided to make some chili verde with a bunch of tomatillos and chile peppers I’d wound up with via Bountiful Baskets. I’ve never worked with peppers before, save the occasional bell pepper.

So, I didn’t know I should oil my hands beforehand, or–even better–wear gloves.

OH. EM. GEE.

About the time I finished my pepper-cutting, I noticed my hands were sorta tingling. At first it was just amusing and not very bothersome, kinda like Icy Hot. As time went on, however, it proceeded to burn hotter, and hotter, and hotter. Eventually, I thought I was going to lose my everloving mind.

For the record, to cleanse and soothe, I tried:

– Dish soap and water
– Baking soda
– Vinegar
– Milk
– Sour cream
– Bleach
– Hot water
– Cold water
– Purell
– Rubbing alcohol (topical)
– Whiskey (ingested…WHAT!? Don’t look at me like that.)
– Solarcane
– Vicks (BAD IDEA)
– Witch Hazel
– Foaming engine degreaser
– Oral analgesic gel
– Sugar and milk

ALL OF THESE THINGS WERE BULLSHIT. I was so confused, because most of them came from the internet, SO THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TRUE.

You know what fixed it, in the end? Whimpering, Tylenol 3, and sleep. Oh, and a fit of hysterical laughter over the multiple stories male friends told me of learning the hard way not to cut peppers bare-handed and then handle their junk.

I’ve always been hit with an introspection double-whammy around the new year, since my birthday is also two days later. Now, it’s a trifecta, since the Girl Child’s birthday is a week after mine. Nothing like a new year, new age, AND adding a kidlet-year-gone-by to make you reflect. And, you know, kinda want to drink heavily.

2011 blew. However, it’s 2012 now, and I figure it can only get better from here. Or the world will end. Either way, I probably won’t make it to 2013 too much worse for the wear.

Interestingly, 2011 seemed to blow across the board. From my highly scientific sampling of Facebook statuses and various tweets, the ratio of people who enjoyed 2011 to those who disliked it was vastly skewed in favor of the latter. Even more interestingly, the people who thought 2011 sucked included many of my generally optimistic/happy-go-lucky/even Pollyannaesque friends.

Anyway, sorry for being Debbie Downer. I think I’m going to try to do a little more regular blogging. My heart hasn’t been in it lately, but I’m going to try the fake-it-’til-I-make-it approach and see if I can’t reignite the fire.

Hit the decks a-runnin’, boys, and spin those guns around.

…That is all.

1. Go here: http://proposalawards.condenastdigital.com/entries/668
2. Click the little heart beneath the proposal description. It should look like:
LOVE | <3 [number of votes] [email] [facebook] [twitter]
The heart, make with the clicky, that’s all you have to do. No registration, no nothin’. Just clicky.

Why should you do this? Cameron and I go way, way back, he’s a good friend, it was a great proposal, and they deserve it. Plus, you don’t have to register, put in your email, or any nonsense. JUST CLICK!

I THINK YES!

I’m quickly becoming a fan.

So, I never blog. It warms my heart when you guys email/comment to check in; I do appreciate that y’all think of me/the fam and wish us well.

I’m unsure of the future of PGB. I have come to despise politics at all levels. I am a much happier, more productive person when I’m not constantly gnashing my teeth over an irreparably broken system.

It’s nothing y’all don’t already know: Shit is going to hit the fan. Sorry, Mr. Franklin, we couldn’t keep the Republic. To be honest, I’m not really upset or fatalistic about this. I’m just always preparing, wishing/looking/ready for the Gulch, wondering what the next proper step is, hoping we get it right next time around. I know a lot of good folks and am confident me and mine will be just fine. If you’re here, reading this, chances are our interests overlap enough that you’re going to be okay, too. Humanity is going to move onward and upward, but I really don’t think the United States–as we know it now, anyway–is going along with it. I’m okay with this. I just have better things to invest my time in, these days, than doomed politics. I threw ‘em on the GROUND!

S’anyway, the P in PGB is kinda defunct, and then there’s that whole paleo/clean eating thing eliminating the B, as well. I’ll confess: I don’t have any problem giving up beer in the nine(ish) months of crappier weather. Beer is a summer vice. I’m hoping my present iteration of paleo/health/fitness will have taken hold well enough over this coming winter/spring that I’ll be able to hold off next summer’s beer cravings. (Or, at least hold myself to a sorghum beer or two–they don’t seem to wreck my world like gluten-based beers do. So sad.)

I’ve joked before that I oughta change the title to Aviation, Guns and Whiskey (the guns aren’t going anywhere, duh), but I’m not even sure that’s proper. To be honest, I didn’t intend for this to be a gun blog, and I never truly counted myself amongst the ranks of gun bloggers. They, good folk all, tend to be much more dedicated, focused, and on-point than I’ve ever been. However, since most of you wound up here via gun stuff, I went more in that direction because I wanted to cater to the audience I’ve found. As a result, I’ve skipped posting a lot of the little daily-life vignettes that make it to my FaceBook, ’cause all the funny-shit-my-kid/husband/roommate-says seems a bit out-of-place. I mean, I get that it’s my blog and I can post whatever the F I wanna post, but… I dunno. Like I said, different direction.

So, it’s certainly not a lack of appreciation for my readers, nor an utter lack of things to write about. I just renewed the domain for another year, too, so I’m not shutting down, or anything. I just don’t often find the stuff I’m up to worthy of or appropriate to be posting here. Maybe a new blog is in the works? Maybe I think too much?

Last week, a friend told me about Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op. I gave it a try this weekend, picking up a conventional basket as well as an Italian-themed veggie add-on.

The cost breakdown was:
$15 for the main basket
$8.50 for the add-on
$3 one-time sign-up fee
$1.50 recurring processing fee
TOTAL: $28.

Because I’m a total dork for this kind of thing, I recorded, photographed and weighed everything I got, then went to Safeway today to do a price comparison. (Yes, Excel was involved. Dork, dork, dork.) I found that buying the exact same items in the store this weekend would have cost $37.74 for the conventional basket, and over $19.98 for the extra veggies. That’s a savings of over $30 total. (Safeway didn’t even have eggplant or cilantro, which were included in the add-on and would have added additional cost.)

The produce is all fresh, there was a nice variety, and the herbs included in the add-on were an especially killer deal. (Though, I’m never going to be able to use them all while fresh, so I guess I’ll fire up the dehydrator for the excess.) I will definitely be going back next week.

Basket sign-up/payment runs online from 12pm Mondays to 8:30pm Tuesdays (or until they sell out; times are Pacific, and Utah baskets go on sale at 10am). There are locations ALL OVER THE PLACE, and you can start your own location if one doesn’t already exist. As it is a co-op, participants are asked to volunteer once every 6-8 times you buy a basket.