Passing Out on Couches

Somehow, it's now been 20 full days since I last wrote a post.  I guess when you write one per day for an entire week, if you're me, it feels like I've written enough for a while?  I don't know how that happened, but it happened, and I'm sorry.

Anyway, let's talk about falling asleep.  I don't know why, but I've been falling asleep on couches in the evenings.  I don't mean to, I didn't even realize I was all that tired, but there I go, drifting off... And it ain't even about lack of sleep because of the kids.  These kids sleep amazingly.  I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it has to do with my insanely healthy lifestyle.  My dad used to fall asleep on couches.  I'm more and more like him everyday, I suppose.

So now I wanted to write a post, but I'm tired, so I'm going to stop now.  Thanks for reading.  Be sure to like my page on Facebook.  Follow me on Twitter.  Buy all the merch at Zazzle.  Donate to the cause.  Take care, grow out your hair.  Have a nice day. 

Daddy Problems

Remember what life was like before kids?  I do.  I remember clearly.  I remember being able to do stuff (if I had the money, that is) whenever I/we wanted.  I enjoy going to Triple A baseball games.  I would love to be able to just go with my wife, buy a few beers, get in late, sleep in and not take care of kids.  Please please don't take this the wrong way.  I love my kids.  There are people who would love to be in the position I'm in, with a family and the family life.  I don't want to bitch about having a pretty amazing life right now.  It's just that sometimes, I miss the freedom of not having kids.  Is that so bad?

I was thinking this as I cooked breakfast this morning, what it would be like if I didn't have kids?  Why didn't I take advantage of the time before I had these little kids.  How many times did I choose to not do stuff when I could have, and now I would love to but can't?  Then I looked into the living room and saw Miles sitting in his bouncy seat snoozing and Evie sitting on her knees watching Curious George on the TV and realized that even if I can't go out and do stuff like other adults I know, I have these amazing kids that are truely a blessing.  I'll take the trade off.  Even now, as I'm writing this post, I had to put Evie down for her nap, as she carried her stuffed Mickey Mouse that's almost the same size as she is, we laid her down and covered her up.  Such a cutie and a sweetie. How could I wish for a life without her?  And Miles is right now laying on the floor by himself, eating the back of his hand, bending back and almost rolling over...at eight weeks old.  So proud of this little guy.  He's getting so big.  He's so good, he only cries when he's supposed to cry, like when hes' hungry or wet or uncomfortably positioned...How could I wish for a life with out him?

So maybe I can't go the the baseball game tonight?  Is that the end of the world?  No, it's not.  Life without my kids?  That would be the end of my world.

With that being said, anyone wanna babysit?  There's this baseball game I want to take my wife to...

Skinny Vanilla Latte

I feel weird ordering something that has the descriptor of "skinny" for myself.  I feel like things that are marked "skinny" are marketed to skinny people who want to maintain their skinniness.  Sure, I'd like to be skinny, but ordering a skinny vanilla latte isn't going to help...well, it's not going to hurt either.  I won't get fatter by not drinking whole milk and 80 grams of sugar.  I will get fatter if I do.  See what I mean?  But it's the marketing of it all, it bothers me.

I know it works, I know people want to be skinny, so attaching the term to a drink that is usually fattening is a good idea.  I just feel less manly ordering a skinny vanilla latte.  I'd rather order a non-fat, sugar-free vanilla latte, which I could totally do, I suppose.  I don't know, it's not like I'm concerned with being manly.  I'm no tough guy, I'm no bad ass   I guess I don't really have a problem with it.  I just felt like I had to order it like it wasn't for me.    

I got a bunch of Starbucks gift cards from my Mother-in-law for Easter/my birthday, and I've been using it a lot this week.  Starbucks has half priced Frappuccino from 3-5 everyday, so I've gone over and gotten a cup of sugar and fat both Monday and Tuesday this week.  I might just go ahead and do that again today.  Who knows?  It might get crazy up in here. I didn't even know Frappuccinos were so delicious.

What inspired me to go get a skinny vanilla latte this morning was the fact that my birthday free drink coupon was set to expire today.  So last night I got in my mind that first thing in the morning I would head to Starbucks and get an expensive latte.  When I woke up this morning, I checked the Starbucks app on my phone to see that my free drink coupon had expired as of today, not after today.  So no free drink for me, but my heart was still set on that stupid latte.  So I went and got one anyway.  I hate spending more than $4 on a drink. I did it, but remember, I had credit on my card, so not really out of pocket expense.  Thanks, Kris Ball!  I'm happier for drinking that latte this morning.  I'm glad I did it.  And now I'm skinnier for ordering it skinny.  I mean look at me.

(this is a picture of me as of finishing this post.)

Sriracha Sauce on Everything

Remember back in the day when I used to post blogs on weekdays?  Wow that seems like forever ago.  Well I never wanted to be a weekend blogger, but that's sort of what it became.  Not today, junior.  I'm here to talk about food some more.

Sriracha sauce.  I know that many, many people are well aware of this sauce.  I know that a lot of people love it.  I know that a lot of people used to love it and are sick of it now.  I know that I'm late to the party, probably.  Heck, they flavored Lay's potato chips with it by popular vote.  But yesterday I bought my own bottle of it for the house.  I had it once before, a few months ago at Lipscomb's Bison Cafe while eating some kid of stir-fried noodles.  It was awesome, but very spicy.  Yesterday while shopping, I thought it would be a good idea to buy a bottle to keep here.

So last night we made Pigs in a Blanket (mine with veggie dogs, of course).  I usually use ketchup to dip it in, and I did that.  But I wanted to try out Sriracha sauce on there.  It was pretty great.  Not like, life changing, but pretty damn tasty.  And hot.  But then I put some sauce on some Cool Ranch Doritos and oh man that was real good.  Something about the flavors mixing together was just too good.  Then I realized that the delicious Sriracha sauce had caused me to eat far too much food and I was in pain.  Too much of a good thing,

So there you go, I'm one of those people that puts Sriracha sauce on everything.  Makes food taste good!  I can't wait to find out how it tastes on more foods.  Follow along on Twitter while I try out different foods with Sriracha sauce on it.

@bradperala

Two Things

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

Okay this post can go one of two ways.  I can talk about things that happened to me this week, or I can talk about things I thought about this week.  So, since I can't decide, and I know you'll probably read it anyway, I'll just do both.  I said this could go one of two ways, and then told you it's going to go both ways.  I'm a good writer.

As far as things that happened to me this week, I traded in my first new car for my second new car.  The Focus, the wonderfully dependent and reliable Ford Focus, it had to go.  The family had finally outgrown it.  When we bought the thing in 2010, we were 13 months away (unknowingly) from adding another member to our family.  When we bought it, it made perfect sense.  Good, compact car with good gas millage.  Sporty design, nice features.  A perfect car for a married couple in their 20's and no kids.  Well, now we have two kids and they didn't fit.  Well, they fit, but not like, super comfortably.  So I went and got an oil change on Monday morning, and while I was there, I got to talking to a salesman, Alfredo.  I told him the wife and I were considering upgrading to a larger vehichle, like perhaps the Ford Escape.  He showed me one on the lot, and I noticed it was even larger than I had imagined.  Okay, thanks Alfredo, but not today.

He calls me on Tuesday saying they have a great one-day deal on a Escape, and it's the last day of the month so we should go there and see if we can get a deal done.  Long story short, we got the deal done.  We got the bigger vehicle that we can fit comfortably inside.   Our payments didn't  go up much.  Overall it was a win-win situation.  I'll miss the Focus.  I was a good car.  But this Escape is really, really nice.  Serious upgrade.

Okay, so that's what happened to me.  So what did I think about this week?  Cottage Cheese.  Man, Cottage Cheese is weird, eh?  Usually when you see curdled dairy, the first instinct isn't "EAT THAT!"  Yet, when it comes to cottage cheese, that's exactly what I do.  I eat that.  Even as a kid, I've always loved cottage cheese.  Kids usually don't eat weird-lookin' food, but I guess I did.  Love cottage cheese, but it just seems counter to what you should actually eat.  Like, the idea of cottage cheese is gross to me, yet it's one of my favorite foods.  Weird.

Anyway, that's all.  Hope you have a fantastically wonderful day.  If you read this, that means you woke up and are alive, therefore the only thing stopping you from having the best day ever is your attitude.  You can make today great.  Try doing something new today.  Make a damn memory today.