Conversations with a Conservative

I had some issues with blogging a while back, and I knew it would cause my number of followers/readers to suffer.  However, some of my great blogging friendships suffered to, and it was my fault.  I just want to give a few shout-outs to some bloggers that I have known for most of my blogging career, and I haven’t been able to comment on their blogs lately.  I usually have to do most of my commenting on my phone, and embedded comments don’t work.  I’m so sorry to those of you I have neglected! First – Preppy 101 .  You are one of my favorite bloggers ever.  I LOVED your daughter’s wedding.  So beautiful!  I love reading your blog because it somehow just comforts me.  I’m sorry I haven’t been able to comment lately.  I still read and love you! Next – Jennifer at Diary of a Southern Belle .  So I totally fell off the fit wagon and keeping up with you on that.  I’m trying again though.  I’m so excited for the wedding plans...

I have been having a weird health thing lately, but the upside is that it has made me want to be healthier.  One thing I knew would help me was some greek yogurt – that stuff is healthy! I don’t mind some kinds plain, but the kind I got in bulk needs a little sprucing up.  I decided to buy some granola at Whole Foods to spice it up, but that just wasn’t going to be an everyday thing because it was quickly going to get pricey.  I popped on the ol’ internet and found a recipe from one of my favorite people: Alton Brown. Here is the recipe: Ingredients 3 cups rolled oats 1 cup slivered almonds 1 cup cashews 3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1/4 cup vegetable oil 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup raisins Directions Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup,...

So I have this weird hobby; I like to watch the home shopping channels, even though I have never bought anything and probably never will through that medium.  Although, they do tempt me.  One of my favorite hours to watch is the D*ooney & Bour*ke purse hour on QVC, because let’s face it, I have a purse addiction. I don’t own any of said purses, but I just love oogling over them and seeing the new pretty colors and styles.  I really have no idea why this entertains me so, but cheap thrills I guess! Anywho, one day while looking through the guide during my lunch break (I live close enough to go home – it is amazing and I recommend it), I saw in the little preview screen a girl I thought was modeling a wig.  Guess what?  I was right.  I had to check it out because I think wigs are a bit weird unless you have a good reason for wearing one.  Well, it was Ken Pa*ves with his Hair*do line with Jessica Simp*son, and they were advertising the long wig (...

I have decided that I want to share a poppy, upbeat song each week that just sounds like summer because I love all of the fun and cheeky summer tunes that come out each year.  They might be new or I might throw in some golden oldies! This week: My First Kiss by 3Oh!3 featuring Ke$ha What is your favorite song this week?

Social Programs (welfare, food stamps, social security, medicare, etc.) sound like a good idea in the ideal world, but do people ever think about where that money comes from?  Ever wonder why we have $13 trillion dollars in national debt?  Free programs are never free.

(Photo from: http://www.artsjournal.com/bookdaddy/Home_Photo_books.jpg ) One of my favorite bloggers, Domestic Goddess , was talking about her new book club, and I am super jealous! Recently, my mom and I have been brainstorming on ways to meet people for me (that sounds weird, but let me sort of explain).  I had a fairly unconventional college experience (my fault for transferring colleges) which basically means that I didn’t make a ton of lifelong friends in college.  I have five friends that I consider pretty close, but they all have very busy lives and it makes it pretty hard to get together.  Plus, three of the five are pregnant, and I know that it will change our relationship (post for another day) as it should – they need to tend to their new babies.  One of them is also moving away soon, which leaves me two non-pregnant friends.  One of those friends is in PA school and super busy, and the other is just finishing grad school and jumping back into ...

Have y’all read The Blind Side ?  I’m sure most of have you seen the movie, but I don’t recall this particular point I’m going to talk about being a major point in the movie. The book talked about the Offensive Left Tackle – the one who protects the blind side – about being one of those players that no one remembers or watches when he does his job right. But if he does his job wrong and let’s the quarterback get tackled, well everyone will remember that! While watching The Next Food Network Star the other evening with my husband, he told me the same sort of the thing about the dessert course.  The competitors on the show had to each make a course of a meal, and those that got dessert seemed really discouraged.  I asked him why because I love to bake so dessert would be my favorite, but he said something similar about dessert as the book said about the left offensive tackle.  He said people don’t remember the dessert as much as another course if it is great, but ...

One of my favorite things about summer is all of the cheeky pop music and peppy music out there.  If it were cooler, my even more favorite thing would be to roll down the windows while singing these fun songs at the top of my lungs. My two faves are right now are: California Gurls by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg (who is a total guilty pleasure) The video is really weird in my opinion, but the song is catchy. I’m also really enjoying B.O.B. these days, and his latest MAGIC with Rivers Cuomo (lead singer of Weezer, whom I love) is super summer fun: Let me just say, I do not condone any foul language, so if this online version has it please mute your volume for a second!  I just hear them on the radio where it is somewhat censored.  Anyway, what summer music are you loving right now?

I have been trying to keep the blog lighter lately because I’m never sure if y’all get bored of the political droning.  I just read this in an email my husband sent me from the Patriot Post, and I wanted to share it.  This oil spill is awful.  I’m sad for the families that lost loved one, and it makes me sad to see wildlife destroyed.  But there is always another side to every situation.  Here is the short piece I wanted to share: "Who is in charge of stopping the oil leak and the cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico -- BP or the Obama administration? If you have a hard time answering the question, it probably is because the president has told us the 'buck stops' with him and officials of his administration say they are 'in charge.' Yet the administration also tells us that BP has the responsibility for stopping the leak and for the cleanup -- but the company's every action has to be approved by the government. If you have noticed a lot of ambiguity in the state...

How about a little spring/summer face lift? That is exactly what our sun porch needed.  I wanted to really make it feel like a room, another living space, an expansion to our house.  Honestly, the oppressive humidity and extreme heat the last couple of weeks has rendered it useless unless you rise in the wee hours of the morning. Oh well.  It still needed an update, and I love being able to entertain out there.  It gives are tiny living room and moderate kitchen a much needed break. Let’s first take a walk down memory lane of what it looked like in the beginning. Here is a shot of the sun porch on the first day we looked at our house.  Don’t you just love the indoor/outdoor carpet?  Oh, and we are pretty sure we found an old rat’s nest when we took down the barely working ceiling fan. This was what the outside of the house looked like with the sun porch.  I had forgotten what all we had done back there.  Sadly, we had to remove those ...

If you live in the DFW area (in the great state of Texas), then you definitely need to check out this consignment sale this weekend.  I went in November to the fall sale and found some really cute items.  Go here to learn more about it.  Oh and did I mention admission is FREE!!!!

If you have followed or read my blog back when it was “Not Your Typical Engineer” then “A Pretty Peony” then “A Sassy Engineer” and now “Conversations with a Conservative,” you may have realized I am apparently quite indecisive.  Well, not entirely, for some reason I had no problem making decisions about our wedding or what I house I liked best – I just flounder with the small inconsequential stuff. Perhaps I am a bit backwards. Anyway, no major changes here other than the titles of my blog.  I still want this to just be a place to converse, and I really hope y’all start conversing more (hint hint).  I knew I was running a risk in losing a lot of followers when I jumped ship from the old address, but I really needed a change.  In fact, it is hard for me to believe it will be two years this September since I first started blogging.  Anyway, I’m liking this blog for now.  I like the title – it is sooooooooo me.  I LOVE to talk (too much I’m told) and...

jeans that is!  I decided we needed a little lighter post today.  It is Friday after all!  So I wasn’t so sure about the boyfriend jean trend at first, but it was actually the extremely fashionable GingerSnap that inspired me to try it.  She always pulls it off so flawlessly.  I don’t think I pull it off anywhere close to her, but here is my version of it: I know this picture isn’t awesome (I think my dresser has a more starring role than me) but you get the idea.  I think it would be fun to try and dress up the boyfriend jean with heels and a flirty top, but y’all know I like to play it safe, at least at first. I didn’t actually buy “boyfriend jeans” by name, but instead I bought some straight leg jeans a size big.  They have worked perfectly and they only cost me $7 at the Gap on sale!  I just couldn’t quite stomach spending more on a fad I wasn’t sure I would love.  Sometimes I wish I could wear them everyday because it is just so ...

I was reading the blog Bower Power earlier today, and Katie was talking about in one of her recent posts about ways to build your blog and keep it authenticate.  One of those things was to be yourself, and blog about your passions.  This post may make some people crazy, but this is me. I have been MIA because I have been distraught or worried.  I am going to assume that unless you live under a rock in a cave in Antarctica, then you have surely watched the news about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  You maybe closely following it or you may just get a snippet every now and then, but perhaps I can provide you a different perspective. You see, my grandfather worked for Standard Oil Company back in the day, which has gone through a few changes and now is known as BP.  Therefore, you might realize that in some ways this oil spill hit a little closer to my life than maybe some others.  My grandfather has passed away, but my family does still have ties t...