The Real VD

I haven't forgotten about the cheese update. I swear. I will give full details soon, but right now I want to talk about something new.

 A job. That's right. I got me a J O B.


Two years ago Triple S and I moved down here (the South) to try and improve our quality of life. NJ had just about sucked every last bit of it out of us.
I consider it a success. I yell less, I have so much free time I occasional try insane things like making my own cheese and blogging, and I get to go to the gym and try and stay healthy. Basically everything is coming up roses.

Initially I had told triple S I wasn't sure how I would handle not working as I've either had a full time job or been in school full time since I was 16. No summers off for me.



That was of course foolish as I reveled in my free time after the shock of not having to be busy every minute of everyday wore off I basked in the joy of staying home. Getting to spend more quality time with my family and feeling much less guilty a…

About a week ago I was discussing my love of fresh mozzarella cheese and lamenting it's cost. (for some reason they charge you like it has gold in it.) I explained that I use it in my go to picnic fare.

Tomato and mozzarella salad. A little fresh basil, some olive oil and some Balsamic vinegar and it's freaking delicious! Seriously simple and fantastic.

 A few days later she sent me a link to make my own fresh mozzarella.


I checked it out.

Then I checked it out again, and printed it.

Then I started shopping.

There were two items on the list that I didn't have in my pantry. Rennet and citric acid. The rennet was easy enough to get at my regular grocery store, the citric acid was another story.

I tried every local grocery store and then started scouring the internet. What else could it be used for? Would a different kind of store have it?

I found mention of it being used in beer making so I tried the local homemade beer supply store and they looked like I was ins…

In addition to Facebook, twitter, and this blog I also have an Instagram account. (seriously I am in trouble when the robots take over. Or the EM pulse takes out all the electronics. Pick whichever tech apocalypse you prefer.)

I mention this account because a few days ago my beautiful cousin posted a picture of me and my Mom from  a long, long time ago. This of course prompted me to pull out the old albums and share some photos.







 This would be me (in the blue sweater. I was a paragon of femininity. Even then.) my younger brother Sal and my Pops. Or "The Big R E C C O" as we affectionately called him. He wasn't huge. More like regular size but there was something larger than life about him.

His hands though, were scary big. Ask triple S. He was certain Pops was going to choke the life out of him.

He probably wasn't far off. Luckily pops always liked him so there was never any attempted homicide.



16 there. I asked for a Nordic Trac instead of a sweet 16 party. That w…

Groups that apparently overlap way too much.

I should be asleep. It's late and the kids are tucked in bed, but instead I keep hitting the "next blog" button at the top of the page.

One blog after the next.

Here's what I've learned:

 Bloggers like knitting.

Or knitters like Blogging?

I can't be sure. The data pool is insufficient, (when I'm tired I get seriously nerdy).
Or maybe it's the Sample set? (I'm sleepy! Not a statistician.)

Bottom line, in order for this blog to get more popular I'm going to talk about knitting a lot more. Sorry if you don't knit but I'm an attention seeking lunatic.

Driving home from the gym today (like how I throw that in there to remind you that I am still preparing for that evil Spartan Race?) Colin starts his usual requests to go to various people's houses.

Social etiquette is lost on the young.

Me- "Not everyone likes to have crazy kids running around their house."

Colin- "Why?" (that questions never gets old)

Me- "Maybe their house is smaller than ours."

Colin- "How small?"

Me- "Not small, just smaller. Like our house in New Jersey."

Colin- "That's small."

Mind you our small house in NJ was over 2000 square feet. My beautiful delusional son lives such a spoiled life that our old house was small to him.

This is also why his insane lust for a bunk bed baffles me. I mean I get why he wants one. Sleeping on the top bunk is a rite of passage. I just don't get why he thinks he needs one.

I had a bunk bed as a child. Not because it was cool or because I wanted one. I had a bu…