Mrs. Weasel's Blog

Life.

2010-07-10T01:00:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile and lots of things have happened. I was laid off, got a new job, loved it for about a month and then got out of training and hated it. It's my first call center job. Need I say more? Just in case you don't quite grasp that concept, I will: I've started crying in the middle of a call twice since I moved to the phones full time. I don't cry at work. That just doesn't happen.

I was offered a new job today, doing a menial labor poor person job, cleaning houses, but I'm terribly excited about it. I was really happy and in a much, much better mood for the first time in about two months, and then I got onto facebook.

Where I had to read someone gloat about how awesome it is that the Governor of Hawaii has vetoed the bill that would have granted homosexuals the right to marriage and how now we just have to get more politicians like her elected into office, because now gay people can't pretend that they're married, as we all know that marriage is between one man and one woman and anything else goes against God's natural law.

I'm past the point of anger. Actually, all I really want to do right now is curl up in my bed and cry until I wake up and realize that it's all just a terrible nightmare. No more anger, just the worst sickness and sadness I've experienced.

They say we're the country of freedom. What a joke.

So much for equal rights. Love doesn't deserve equal rights in this country.

Your hate, it makes me hate you. See what you're doing?

Thrift Store Finds!

2010-04-04T19:03:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile I know, so here's a brief update before I get to the important stuff - that being things I found at the thrift store.

- I moved back to Boise, Dan should be joining me in a few weeks hopefully, but it may be as long as two months.
- I got a job the day after Dan left to go back to the job, I'm working at the Scentsy warehouse (they make candles and sell it through consultants like Mary Kay) full time from 3:55pm-12:00am Monday through Friday. It's exhausting and my feet hurt but it pays well so I'm sticking with it for now.
- The room at my parents house is completely full of me and Dan's stuff.
- I'm really stressing out about school.

So Easter morning arrives and my sister and I go to none other than Savers. I was surprised they were even open, and when we went inside, we found out they were hiding plastic Easter eggs around the store with 50% off coupons in them. A very nice man came up and gave us one because he had found two and only needed one - as if I needed any more reasons to spend money there.

I purchased: 5 glasses, 2 coffee cups with saucers, 1 giant mug, 1 Pampered Chef sauce pot, 1 pie tin, 4 bowls, 1 adorable tea pot, 6 shirts, 1 dress, 1 pair of shorts, 1 old sweater, 1 jacket, 4 records, and 5 books. Here are pictures. I'm sorry they don't look too spifty but since I reformatted my computer I haven't re-downloaded my image editing program so they're just straight from my chip.

Adorable tea pot: $2

Mug big enough for soup: $1

Two cups and saucers: $0.69

Four purple bowls: $4

Cute clothes and one ugly sweater: $17

Four vinyl records: $1

Successful day, huh?

The Trucker Breeds

2010-03-21T22:11:00.005-06:00

We are fast approaching the eight month anniversary of not only my dream-day wedding (haha) but also of when I first moved into the truck. Eight months of living in a tiny, cramped space, eating primarily fast food, having smoke perhaps permanently anchored in all of my belongings, and most importantly, driving, driving, driving. On one hand this is slightly depressing, but on the other, it’s reassuring because it’s a reminder that shortly, I will no longer have to live like this.

Over these past eight months, I’ve become far to accustomed to the different types of truckers, so I have taken it upon myself to label and describe these different groups to give you normal folks a look into the life of…us. Some groups coincide with others, and of course, there are exceptions that do not fit into any of them. Like Dan. I prefer to think of him not as a trucker, but just someone who drives a truck for a living. For the time being.

The Cowboy Trucker

He wears a felt hat, big belt buckle, wranglers, and possibly snakeskin boots. Quite possibly one of the cleaner of the different types of trucker, he is not often seen socializing with truckers in classes other than his own. He probably drives a livestock truck that smells terrible, and would be quite happy with a pair of long horns mounted on the front of his rig.

The Foreign Trucker

English is not their first language. And this is why they drive a truck. Most trucking companies claim to have some sort of standards, but in fact, they don’t. As long as you can drive and get the load there on time, who cares if you can actually effectively communicate with others via spoken word or writing? Commonly seen in this category are guys who look like they could be related to my husband, except really skinny and with a turban thing, as well as very African-y Africans. Some of them will attempt to speak to you when your husband is not around, because apparently someone told them all single girls roaming around the truck stop are hookers (or lot lizards, as the truckers call them) and they innocently believed them.

The “oh my god, that IS a woman” Trucker

I believe this label is self explanatory. You have to double take about three times before you, horrified, accept the fact that this person is actually female. It appears they may have an issue with their own sexuality and spent their childhood wishing they were a boy, and once reaching adulthood sought out this “manly” profession and immediately began competing with the guys to see who could get the dirtiest. They also curse like sailors and like to talk on the phone while sitting in the stall next to you in the bathroom.

The Social Outcast Trucker

This label may seem to general, because as everyone knows, all truckers are social outcast. But this kind of trucker is a breed of their own, and stand out, because even amongst the dregs of society that compiles truckers, they are an outcast. Several terms describing different mental illnesses come to mind. They associate with no one but seem to have some warped sense of self confidence. If they weren’t in a truck, they would probably be living in their mother’s basement dissecting the neighbors’ dog, stalking children on the internet, or planning their next serial murder. So for the safety of society, I suppose it’s better that they are in a truck.

The Midlife Crisis Trucker

Oh, these poor, poor, misinformed fools. Have you ever heard a perfectly normal person with a perfectly normal day job and perfectly normal family get that dreamy, glazed look over their face and say, “I think I’d like to drive a truck and just see the country…” They’ve had their career and raised their family. They’ve spent the past thirty years driving a mini van, and now they think they are going to liberate themselves by dropping all of that and moving into a truck. They are sweet and innocent and polite. They wear polo shirts and Birkenstocks and look rather timid while fueling their truck. They actually take showers on a somewhat regular basis and keep their trucks neat and tidy. They appear to be quite frightened of the other truckers, but you can be sure that their stories will be a big hit back home.

The Redneck Trucker

He has about twelve teeth. His pop was probably a trucker too, and therefore he probably has eighteen other half brothers and sisters in twenty three other states. You’ll probably see a rebel flag decal on the grille of his truck and some sort of grammatically incorrect statement lettered on the back such as “the difference between men and boys are the size of there toys”. (I did just see this today.) When they come rolling into the fuel island, Dueling Banjos starts playing and if you’re smart, you hide your ass.

The Trucker for Life/Really Lonely/Dedicated Trucker

I couldn’t really think of a better name for this group. They were suspenders and stand around outside the truck stop in groups, or in the drivers lounge, or the diner, or anywhere they can legally conglomerate to chain smoke and talk about one thing and one thing alone: trucking. At all hours of the day in all locations in the country, these guys are massing, and talking about the same things over…and over…and over. It never ends. It never varies. Shipper this, miles that, chained here, overweight there. Their favorite thing to complain about is normal car drivers - all four wheelers’ are idiots, because obviously if you could drive a truck, you would be doing so. These poor souls are really a lost cause.

The Trucking for Jesus Trucker

I can’t even fathom how emitting tons of horrible fumes in the air and guzzling diesel by traveling hundreds of miles each day is doing something for Jesus, but some guys think it is. They like to paint “JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, NOT A SWEAR WORD” all along their trailers and go into those creepy, cult trailer-chapel’s at the truck stops.

The “I get to go home every night” Trucker

This guy actually looks like he took a shower this morning, wears a button down shirt and a company hat. The only thing he has in common with these other truckers is that he drives a similar type of vehicle. Lucky bastard.

The Trucker Who Went to Kindergarten with Dinosaurs

How can this man still be alive? He probably invented trucking, the car, and the wheel. At very least he was the first man to ever professionally drive a semi. His hands shake while fueling and you are tempted to ask yourself, “is it actually legal for him to still be operating a vehicle of this size?” and more depressingly, “why can’t this poor man retire already?”

Babies.

2010-03-16T00:07:00.007-06:00

This post is going to scare my mother infinitely, especially because we just had a long, passionate discussion about people having children too early. I have an excuse though. Since I'm late for my horrible un-natural anti baby shot, I figure that my hormones are going crazy. Suddenly, my uterus realizes that it is once again able to develop a lining of blood to nurture a tiny egg and is screaming at me, "babies! babies! babies!"

I've already found the natural birthing center where I will have my babies (the price drops by $600 if you pay by your 32nd week of pregnancy!). I've found a yoga studio that offers pre-natal yoga classes. And I'm currently trying browsing the Doula Network to select the right one for me.

Oh, lord. This has never happened to me before. I don't get baby crazy. But I don't think I'm going baby crazy right now, I think a more accurate description is that I'm excited that I have at least five years ahead of me to do all of the research I want. Especially since I have been introduced to the world of natural child birthing in recent years. I remember the days when I absolutely under no circumstances was never having children. Which progressed to the days when I was having all of the pain medication available and a c-section. Which progressed to actually learning some of the evil ways of doctors and hospitals. And now here I am, being all hippie and stuff. It's great!

All silliness aside, I think it's something that more women need to look into. I think too many of us grow up just assuming that going to a hospital, having procedures and medications we do not need (nor really want) pushed onto us because we've just always known that "the doctor is always right", going through hours and hours of labor in an unnatural setting and position is just expected of us. Not so, says I!

This applies to not just child birth. I think we need to apply it more fiercely to all aspects of medical and health care. Admittedly, there are some things you just can't handle on your own. Sometimes we need doctors and nurses. But I'm a firm believer in self healing...I will tell the world!

That is all. And mom, aren't you so excited to come watch your grand kids pop out in a non-hospital setting with understanding, nature-oriented women and a nice big tub of water? It actually sounds kind of gross, but I'm sure I can get over that. Doesn't it just make you wish you could go back and have us all naturally?

This is an interesting article about natural child birth...of course, I don't know how reliable all of the information is (you know how Wikipedia is), but reading about the horrifying practices that were - apparently - common when hospitalized birth first became popular is downright terrifying. I'm glad I live in a day and age where I'm educated, intelligent, and independent enough to understand my body and make my own decisions for it.

Wikipedia on Natural Childbirth

So while the idea of having kids naturally (and healthfully) is really exciting, when it comes time to think about them growing up - I get scared. Mainly about schooling. I have no doubts as to me and Dan's ability to raise independent, free thinking, intelligent children. They will not be raised with any religion, because I do not believe in organized religion. I personally believe it's one of the worst things that man kind has invented. This is not to say that I'm going to shelter my children from religion. I assume that my family will still be attending mass by the time I have kids, and they are more than welcome to also attend mass and see what they think of it. But I will not be pre-selecting a religion for my children and forcing it on them. When they are old enough, they can decide for themselves if they want to involve themselves in something like that or not. Of course I don't doubt that my own opinion won't escape sometimes - I know it will. And I think as a parent it must be very hard not to try, consciously or not, to pass on your own beliefs onto your kids. But I will make the biggest effort possible to remain open minded and neither force nor keep anything from them.

Then comes school. I used to think that I would never home school my kids, because it'd be to hard, and I'd never have any alone time. But after meeting, socializing, and knowing so many "traditionally" schooled children, and having gone to a public high school myself - briefly, this is something I never, ever want my children to be exposed to. Now, I have met some exceptions, and I am very glad for them, but from the rest of my experience...the comparison between home or unschooled folk and brick and mortar schooled folk is drastic. This is obviously very subjective, but it's just something I've noticed. The home schooled ones (although I want to point out not certain home schoolers I grew up with who were raised in exceedingly conservative, religious households, that's another issue entirely) are intelligent, independent, not afraid to speak their minds, truly unique, they have integrity. The kids I went to school with? Shallow, addicted to drama, apparently incapable of spelling even the simplest words correctly or stringing together those words to create a grammatically correct sentence. They were all drones, copies of each other, forced into a box and forced to adhere to only one type of education, learning only what they were told to learn and therefore losing all natural desire to learn. Not to mention the exposure to drugs, sex, lying, stealing, drinking. The pressure to take part in all of those. Needless to say, I did not fit in. The wonderful exceptions I mentioned were decidedly not the kids I went to school with.

Because of this experience (which has made me so glad I decided to go to real school, even for a short time, so I could see what it was really like - oh, lord, I can't imagine twelve years of that!!) that my kids will never be forced to go into a school like that. I want them to grow and develop their own ideas, morals, be truly and sincerely independent and intelligent, not just book smart, but really smart. I want them to enjoy learning and to able to learn about whatever they want, not held back by grades and teachers and homework.

A problem arises, however. Home schooling takes time. So much time, and effort, and stress, and heart ache. I can't even begin to fathom how one would be capable of home schooling one, let alone multiple children and also maintain even a part time job. To be perfectly honest, I don't see myself being able to quit work (and school?) entirely to devote all my time to educating my kids. It's not really plausible, financially, and I don't think I would be happy. I like working. I'm going to school in order to get a real career, in order to have the money so that Dan and I can own our own house, own our cars, and not be in debt. After all of the work put into the schooling to achieve this career, I can't picture myself dropping it as soon as I have kids. All I can hope is that I would be able to work as a nurse part time, which is very common, from what I understand, and home school in the mean time. Certainly home schooling is more flexible and you are not put into a certain time frame of learning, from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon. Kids can learn any time of the day.

I just worry about not being able to give my kids the wonderful experience I had growing up. Not having to wake up before sunrise, get dressed, and be packed off into a school bus full of noisy, mean kids to sit at a desk all day staring at the clock. Getting to go out to the orchard in the back yard to pick a plum off the tree, just because I feel like it. Getting to read what I want, not just what is in the school library designated for my grade. Having reading time outside in the sun with a picnic. Collecting insects to study in a bug jar, conducting experiments. Tea parties and not only the opportunity, but encouragement to pursue learning what I want to learn about. Really learning and feeling good about understanding the subject, getting good "grades" not because my teachers and parents tell me I have to, but because I want to.

Even if I can, I worry about them turning out like everyone else. I think the worst thing that could happen, the thing that would make me feel like the hugest failure as a parent, would be to have typical, sheep like children.

These are my biggest nightmares about having kids - not the labor and the birth, but raising them to be the best they possibly can be.

And this is precisely why I need a minimum of five more years to prepare myself!

Marriage

2010-03-07T19:20:00.002-07:00

A year or two ago I never really expected myself to be married. Seven months ago I never really expected to be thinking about problems in marriage - not to say that I pictured myself and Dan as the perfect married couple who never fought or argued, but I just never really pictured it, you know? Don't worry mom, we're not getting divorced or anything.

But, I feel so strange sitting here and thinking about how difficult this "journey" can be at times. Marriage is something for grown ups. Husbands and wives are grown ups. Problems are for grown ups. I'm just a kid, aren't I? Marriage isn't something for kids. I guess by that token, I don't really see this as marriage, then. I'm just living my life with my best friend and my other half. It doesn't even feel like he's another person. We click like two pieces of something that just need to be clicked together, and left that way.

I don't want to talk about anything but the great, happy, everything-is-perfect stuff, because I don't want my family and friends to love my husband any less. But at the same time I'm realizing now that they should also realize no one is perfect, and if they can't accept that about him, then they're not worth the effort anyways. That, and it's good to talk about things sometimes.

I'm really unhappy lately, or maybe a better description would be bi-polar. I think it's just living in the truck. I hate being dirty all the time. I look like a sick alien. My hair is so oily and limp and gross looking, I brush the crap out of it every day but I still look like a hobo. I haven't shaved in a month. All of the progress I made with my skin by means of tanning and excellent face wash is down the drain. I need a new toothbrush, mine tastes gross every time I brush my teeth. Over all I just feel really unattractive, and that's a really miserable way to feel when you're still a newlywed.

I'm also really tired all the time. My diet is atrocious, I don't get any exercise, and I don't sleep well. All this adds up to is that I'm constantly falling asleep while we're driving and it seems to really annoy Dan. I'm getting really tired of constantly getting crap for falling asleep. I'm tired. There's nothing else to do. Why not sleep? I don't do it on purpose. I honestly make an effort to try and stay awake, but I feel so crappy all the time I just can't do it, and I don't like feeling like it's my fault.

I'm also really tired of the computer. Aside from driving and sleeping, that's the only thing left. The computer. The internet. I'm sick on sitting on the computer, because there's nothing to do on it. Maybe if I had a massive, time consuming addiction to video games and other computer procured things, I could manage to spend twelve hours straight on the computer like Dan does. But I don't. So I'm left sitting in my corner mindlessly playing solitaire for hours and smoking even though I'm seriously sick of smoking and feeling like we never do anything together.

And at times I feel very angry at my husband for getting angry at me for things that I think, sometimes illogically, are his fault. Like he's in a bad mood because his back hurts from me pushing on it all night. My internal response: I'm not the one forcing us to live in a truck with a tiny, uncomfortable bed, and I'm not the one keeping the heat off all night so that I have to try steal body heat from you in attempts to be warm enough to sleep.

I miss my family, and social interaction. The only people I interact with are cashiers in truck stops. I miss my family, getting to see them and eat with them and talk with them in person, I miss my little sisters, and they're growing up right now and I'm not even there to see it or be an influence or a mentor for them. They don't even like to talk to me on the phone.

Essentially, I think this comes down to the fact that ~~I don't get laid enough~~ (oops, did I just say that?) I hate the truck. I'm only in here because of Dan, because I love him and as his wife I know it's my job to be here with him, and I think that because I'm making this sacrifice - for lack of a better term - he should be wonderful and sweet to me all the time. I guess it just doesn't work that way.

Time to go drown my woes in obsessive playing of Sonic the Hedgehog!

Travels!

2010-03-01T06:21:00.001-07:00

I found this nifty tool that enables me to show you on a map all of the states I've been to!

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

Pretty, nifty huh? I almost have all of the continental forty eight done...

How to be a Barista, or: Barista FAQ

2010-02-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

After my last post, which I published approximately two minutes ago (again, I know I post too often), it occurred to me that being a barista is a pretty popular job that a lot of people want. And it's not surprising, you go into a cute little coffee shop you like: the atmosphere is great, the people are friendly and having fun, who wouldn't want to work there? What a lot of people don't realize is, although you don't need a degree to do it, it's also not as easy to get a job in a coffee shop as you might think. I have, thusly, taken it upon myself to write this nice little article answering common questions and explaining things about being a barista!
You may be wondering what qualifications I have to be writing all of this. I have fourteen months of experience as a barista and have worked at three different coffee shops, which I think has given me a well rounded view of the industry as a whole. I've worked at Starbucks and two local coffee shops, which pretty much covers the entire spectrum (considering that Starbucks and the local coffee shops are definitely on different ends of the spectrum!) At the first local coffee shop I had training at their local roasting plant where I learned a ton of things about roasting beans, the maintenance of espresso machines, and primarily steaming milk. Seriously, we stood around and steamed milk for like two hours, but I consider it a good thing. My technique is flawless and my foam is like an orgasm of the mouth. After that it was pretty much just practice, practice, practice. I don't really like espresso drinks (I know! Blashpemy!), instead I prefer drinks made with drip coffee. It just tastes better to me, and it also has more caffeine. Despite that, I know what good espresso tastes like compared to bad espresso, and over time I have perfected the art: I also can tell what people want, after a little clarification, so it's not like I just make what I think people want, I actually had them a drink they enjoy. Enough bragging, we'll be moving on!

What do coffee shops want in a barista?
1) Experience - sometimes. When I decided I wanted to make coffee, I applied at many, many different coffee shops. I dreamt of working at this impossibly hip and cool coffee house in down town Boise, where I'd been with my mom once or twice. It didn't happen. As it turned out, the only place I could get a job was at Starbucks. They seem to be one of the only coffee shops that doesn't require some previous experience. Since then I've found one or two local coffee shops that actually prefer that you don't have experience (something along the lines of they don't want you to have bad habits, so if you have no experience you're essentially a coffee virgin and they can ensure that you're trained the "right" way), but for the most part this is not common. Obviously, this makes it kind of difficult to get a job at a good coffee house if you haven't done it before, but don't be discouraged: you can wow them other ways.
2) Knowledge. I didn't drink a lot of coffee before I started working as a barista. All I knew was that a mocha was chocolate and hot and a frappuccino was blended and cold, and I liked that. I did, however, know what a chai mocha was, which is more than I can say for some baristas. What I've noticed about a lot of customers is that they have their one favorite drink, and that's the only drink they know. It's good to know the build up of all of the basic drinks: latte, cappuccino, americano, mocha, etc. (See the end of this entry for a basic explanation of coffee drinks!). And if you know what a ristretto shot, con panna, and real macchiatto are? Even better.
3) Energy. Seriously, the more hyper you are, the better. If you are out going, friendly, and energetic enough at your interview, that may just be enough to get you the job without any other qualifications. Of course, every coffee shop is different. All of them are going to want you to be friendly, of course, but some might care more than others. For example, Dutch Brothers. Just go to one and you'll see what I mean. SO. MUCH. ENERGY! I can honestly say from my work, nothing is more irritating than a co-worker who won't talk to the customer, won't call out the name of the drink, ask them how their day is going, and telling them to have a good night. It's a huge part of the job.

Why is Starbucks bad?
Oh man, don't get me started. Okay, I'm started. Starbucks is bad because a) they're a big, bad corporation...you know, just like Wal-mart, and b) they definitely do not make the best coffee. I don't know all the in's and out's and facts about big, bad corporations, so I won't go into that other than to say that, obviously, they're very bad for local economy and local (good!) coffee shops. Starbucks baristas are not real baristas. Admittedly, I have only my time as an employee there to go off of, but based on what I've seen from going into other Starbucks, I think it's a pretty standard experience.
We'll start with their coffee. They use automatic espresso machines, which essentially means you put the beans in a container on top of the machine, push a button, and the espresso shots come out. Why is this bad? The barista has little to no control over the quality of the shots. A lot of this has to do with the time, meaning, the amount of time it takes for the shots to fully produce themselves. Ideally, a perfect espresso shot will take between 17 and 23 seconds to fill up the shot glass. If it's too fast, it will be watery. If it's too slow, it will be bitter. When you are using an automatic espresso machine, the beans are ground, tamped (essentially packing the grounds together) and pulled all with the push of one button. The tamping of the grounds also has a lot to do with how short or long your shots are. With a semi automatic machine you are usually tamping the grounds yourself, and you also control when the shots stop and start.
A lot of people complain that Starbucks burns their beans when they are roasting them. Dan and his friend (my sister's boyfriend) both used to work at the roasting plant in Nevada and agree with this. I haven't been to a roasting plant and I almost never had drip coffee while working there, so I will refrain from commenting on this. I can say, however, that their espresso is not the best I have ever tasted. In fact, it's pretty bad.
They leave their milk sitting out for way too long. When I worked at Starbucks, there would be up to six or seven pitchers of steamed milk sitting out on the counter with thermometers stuck in them - as long as the thermometer showed that the milk was in the red section, we could use that milk to make a drink. That. Is. Nasty. You always want fresh milk for your drinks, it just tastes better. If you must re-use milk, the best method to use is to put the picture of steamed milk into the fridge, and then when you need to use it again, add a little bit more of the same type of milk and re-steam this, but you only want to do this once. Never, ever re-steam milk more than once!
Starbucks teaches their baristas almost nothing. Oh sure, they give you a folder full of different books on working the espresso machine, drip coffee, and cold drinks but...they're books. As someone who knew very little about coffee to begin with, being sent off to sit at a table and read a book by myself for two hours taught me nothing about actually making an espresso drink. As if that weren't bad enough, after I was "officially certified" as a barista I almost never got to work on the bar, i.e. making drinks. Instead they stuck me on cash register or drive thru so I had almost no hands-on learning. The only time I got to make drinks was when there was absolutely no one else there to do it, and more than likely I messed them up and they were nasty drinks.
Also, they aren't the best employers ever. They brag about offering benefits to anyone with an average of 24 hours per quarter, but then they'll cut your hours just before the end of the quarter so you won't get benefits. They're notorious for over staffing and over scheduling and sending you home early. They are so fake: not just to customers, which is appalling to me, but with each other, as co-workers. Fake friendliness is almost worse than just being down right rude. Also, the assistant manager actually threw stuff one morning when she frustrated. Scary!

What do you mean, "real" macchiatto?
This is possibly my biggest pet peeve with Starbucks. You may be familair with one of their signature drinks, the "caramel macchiatto", as they call it. In traditional espresso, a macchiatto is one or two shots of straight espresso with a dollop of foam on top. In contrast, Starbucks' "caramel macchiatto" is a vanilla latte with caramel sauce on top. Two totally different things. Why did they name it so? To keep their customers. Someone goes into Starbucks, orders one of these atrocities, and likes it. The next day they go to a local coffee shop and order the same thing. What do they get? A real macchiatto, and they are totally disgusted, so they decide that this coffee shop doesn't know what they're talking about and keep going back to Starbucks. Admittedly, it doesn't work this way much so often. Most baristas have, by now, figured out what this "caramel macchiatto" thing is and when asked for one, will clarify if they want vanilla latte or a real machiatto. But it's still really irritating.

How much do baristas get paid?
Obviously, this varies widely from state to state. When I first started, the standard starting pay for baristas was $7.00. At the time this was more than minimum wage, so not bad. Since then minimum wage has gone up to $7.25 in Idaho and from what I gather, this is now the standard starting pay for baristas. However, you should take tips into consideration, which in the right setting, can greatly increase your income.

So what about tips?
Tips usually work in one of two ways. Either all of the tips are pooled together at the end of the week and divvied out to the employees based on how many hours they worked, or you take home the tips from your shift: for example, if you are working with someone else, you split the tips in half during the time you worked together. If they leave and you are working alone for awhile, you keep all of the tips made during that time. The former is supposed to be a more "fair" way of divvying up tips, like if someone is working when it's really, really slow, they're not missing out. I highly dislike this method, though. I've always made more money in tips when I get to keep what I'm actually bringing in, and I find it very unfair to have to share my full tip jar with the unfriendly girl who does a crappy job who is working the day after me. Not. Cool. Legally speaking, you are supposed to report your tips as income when you do your taxes. Starbucks is the only place that actually enforced this; everywhere else you worked, you got your tips in cash, and it was up to you what you did with them. I find it very ridiculous that the government tries to tax tips, which are in essence a gift. You can't tax gifts! So anyways, how much you make in tips will vary based on how friendly you are (the friendlier you are and the better the drink you're making, the bigger tip you will get!) and how they are divvied out, either weekly pool or per shift, and also how busy your shop is. At Starbucks I made between $20 and $30 a week in tips. Not a lot to brag about. At one local coffee shop that did tips by shift, I made anywhere from $15 to $50 per day, and it wasn't even a busy shop! At my last job, which was done by weekly pool, I averaged at $80 and I would say it was a fairly busy but not packed shop. At some popular drive thru coffee shops I've heard baristas say they make anywhere from $30 to $90 in one shift, and then if you get into the bikini barista category, which is almost something all on it's own, it's not uncommon to make over $100 a day.

What are some things I should know about being a barista before I apply?
You're not likely to be a full time employee. Unless they are a supervisor or managers, and sometimes not even then, baristas are almost always part time. When thinking about how much pay you want to ask for you should keep tips in mind, $7.25/hour may not sound like much, but tips may add several dollars an hour to your pay. Of course, every shop varies, so be sure to ask how they divvy up their tips and see if you can ask the other baristas what they average per week or day.
You need to be able to get up really, really early in the morning. Coffee shops open anywhere from 5:00am to 7:00am, and when you need to actually be at work will differ. To give you an example, at job #1 we opened at 5:00am and I had to be to work at 4:15am if I was opening. At job #2 we opened at 6:00am and I had to be there at 5:00am. At job #3 we opened at 7:00am and I had to be there at 6:00am, so it varies greatly, but chances are you're going to have to be waking up before 5:30 in the morning.
Be prepared to work alone. The only coffee shop I worked at where I was never alone was Starbucks. Most other shops will find you working alone in the morning or at night, so it's something to consider if you're uncomfortable working without another employee there.

Espresso and Coffee Drinks 101
These are the basic ingrediants for most espresso and coffee drinks. Espresso is a stronger and more highly concentrated type of coffee and is added to drinks in "shots", like shots of alchohol, for example. A standard for most sizes is two shots, but many people like to add extra shots to their drinks. And obviously, coffee is just coffee, like what you make in your coffee maker at home. Flavors can be added to most anything in coffee, syrup, or sauce form, it differs from shop to shop what type and how much flavor is added to drinks. Unless other wise noted, pretty much all of these drinks can also be made iced, either by using a shaking or but pouring over ice and not steaming the milk. (Using the shaker is a better method, though!)

Cafe au Lait - half drip coffee and half steamed milk, Starbucks calls it a "cafe misto".
Shot in the dark - drip coffee with shots of espresso - this goes by a lot of other names.
Americano - shots of espresso and hot water.
Cafe latte - shots of espresso and steamed milk, often referred to as just a "latte".
Cafe mocha - chocolate, shots of espresso, and steamed milk, often referred to as just a "mocha". Also white mochas are pretty popular.
Cafe breve - espresso and steamed half and half, often referred to as just a "breve".
Cappuccino - 1/3 espresso, 1/3 milk, and 1/3 foam is the basic set up for a cappuccino. Essentially, it's a really light and foamy drink. Some people prefer it more "wet", meaning more milk, or more "dry", meaning with more foam.
Espresso- just plain shots of espresso, served to the customer immediately after they are pulled. (espresso has a time limit: it should be "saved" by mixing with milk or sugar/syrup as soon as possible, preferably milk, this with maintain the quality of the shot. Otherwise the standard time limit is ten seconds before the shot goes bad.)
Con panna - shots of espresso with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
Cubano - shots of espresso pulled over raw sugar.
Macchiatto - shots of espresso with a dollop of foam on top.

So, there's some basics as far as coffee and baristas go. I hope you have found this informational and also fun, if a bit wordy. There's really so much to cover I could never get it all down in one blog entry without it being roughly the size of a novel, but these are just some things I wondered about when I was new and getting into it. Have fun!

Good luck, Weasel!

2010-02-28T09:36:00.001-07:00

Everyone needs to immediately cross their fingers...and their toes...and their hair...and wish me luck. Because I have applied for the most awesome job I could possibly get at this point in my life, except maybe one at the hospital. I figure I can brag about it now since I don't have it (yet), so here's the run down:

It's a barista job. Making coffee is what I do. It's my passion. I'm the best. This may sound vain...but I'm just being honest. I make good coffee.
It's a full time position. It's very rare to find a barista position that's full time unless it's also a manager or supervisor position. Also Dan has said I need to get a "grown up" job and to him grown up job = full time.
It has benefits. Medical, dental, vision, all that good stuff for both me and my spouse, plus some savings stuff with lots of numbers and percentages that I didn't really understand. I didn't see anything for a 401k plan but the savings plan they do have is available to anyone 18 and older, whereas with 401ks (as I understand it) are only available if you're 21 or older. They also have eleven paid holidays.
Starting pay is from $11.02 to $13.74/hour. Do you know what I made at all my barista jobs? $7.00/hour. Admittedly, I also got tips which added $3.00-$5.00/hour, but it was still always part time. So either way this makes me more money. Enough to, if need be (and there better not be that need) support Dan and I - I mean, we have a nice tidy sum of savings right now and my sister has been supporting herself and her boyfriend on a salary of $10.50/hour for over a year.
It's a set schedule from 6:15am to 2:45am. That leaves plenty of time for school in the evenings or on the weekends. A normal job!

That's why you need to pray, hope, wish, whatever, that they can wait for me to get there. I was honest and in my cover letter explained I wouldn't be in town until a week after the job posting closes, but I also told them I was available all day by phone. After I sent in the application and other paperwork they sent me an automatic email saying that all applicants would be updated of their status within two to four weeks...? So maybe that means I have more time?

Yup, a great job. This would make the transition from the truck to back home so much easier, a lot easier than both of us just showing up with no jobs lined up. It might even mean getting to move out of the truck sooner. Overall, it would be so amazing. I think I deserve it.

That's my news. Oh, like my new layout? I get happy every time I see the Weasel's at the top.

Humans Need Food

2010-02-25T11:27:00.005-07:00

I feel bad posting more than once a day. I feel that since I don't get to update regularly due to living in a truck with 9sqft of space and jumping from truck stop to stop, I should space them out. I recently decided (seriously, I just decided this as I was typing that last sentence) since I don't get to update often...to hell with regulating my literary genius, I will post five entries a day if I so desire!

This one is about food. It's not going to have pictures that look as good as the meals they are depicting taste. It will not have recipes. Why? See above. I live in a truck. It has a bed, cupboards, two chairs, and disturbingly massive shifter. No kitchen.Cooking for me means making a sandwhich for Dan out of pitifully small pieces of wheat bread, bologna, nasty American cheese (oh, how I hate American cheese...) and condiments out of those little packets that I stole from Wendy's when I thought no one was looking.

Living in the truck has encouraged me to, once we move out of here, completely swear off fast food and almost completely swear off restaurants entirely. But only almost, I imagine after getting back to cooking for awhile it won't be as exciting to me as it is right now. Still, I dream of the days when I can cook and bake, take pictures of my tasty creations, put it all together into a blog entry, and then: eat it. Since I can't do this right now, I live vicariously through food blogs. I spend hours poring over these pieces of interweb heaven and have been adding to and perfecting my recipe collection for...well...pretty much since I moved in.

For quite awhile I was under the impression that making posts about food would be pointless for me. There's already god-knows-how-many food blogs out there, and the people who write them appear to be really great cooks. I mean, spring loaded cake pan? Cream cheese dough? What? All of this left me feeling pretty, um, inadequate. But then I started noticing some things.

Example 1: there are people out there who don't know how to make pie crust. Oh, the blasphemy. Furthermore...there are people out there who don't know how to make pie crust....so instead they buy pre-made pie crusts. From the freezer section at the store. I may have almost expelled the contents of my stomach.

Example 2: there are people out there who have only ever made cake from a box and soup from a can. Don't these people have mothers? Is this percentage of the population made up entirely of orphans?

Needless to say, reading this really awesome food blogs that have to include information on the aforementioned made me feel pretty good about myself, even if I've never made a soufle or attempted something as scary as a bagel. My mother in law, however, does not. I love her to death, but, she makes me feel like an idiot in the kitchen.

Me: Where do you keep your spatulas?
Mother in law: -proceeds to enter kitchen and cook the entire meal for me-

You get the idea.

All this comes down to is that despite the fact I'm not a professional pastry chef or amazing cook, when I have that kitchen of my own...I will enlighten you, because I guess there are some people, pity their souls, who might actually learn from what I have to share.

Now that wonderful husband of mine, oh man, I want to make him into a life sized Weasel suit so I can wear him all day because he's so comfy and warm. Really. He's the comfiest person on the planet. Just ask anyone who has hugged him. He doesn't even have to put effort into the hug, and it's still like rolling around in gently toasted duck feathers. This is one of the primary reasons I allowed him the privilege of marrying me. Anyways, this comfy guy is going to bed, so it's cuddle time for me. I'll continue this later...with the topic of the human-food relationship.

Free stuff and Swagbucks

2010-02-25T09:40:00.003-07:00

Dan is constantly making fun of me because of all of my paid emails...you know the ones, you get paid a penny or more to click on an ad that is sent straight to your inbox and after five years of clicking you have enough money racked up in your account to request a check? Yeah, I am that clicker. Recently though I found an even better way to not necessarily make money online but get a lot of neat stuff, and you don't even have to click on ads or change your internet habits at all.

It's called Swagbucks. This is how it works: you get points, or "swag bucks" for using their internet search engine, which works just like google. You don't get points for every single search you do, instead you'll randomly be award anywhere from ten to twenty swag dollars. I was worried at first that I would never get points, but from my experience I get about two rewards per every six searches I do. But like I said, it's totally random. I've been using it for a few months now and I have $390 or points so far. One of the great things about it is that once you download their search toolbar, you can set that little search box up in the top right hand corner of your browser to automatically use it instead of google, so you really don't have to go out of your way at all to make points.

Now, Swag bucks don't actually equal out to money...for example one Swag buck does not mean one crisp, green dollar bill. To give you a very rough idea of how it converts, $400 in Swag bucks can get you a $25 Reasturaunt.com gift card, or $450 in Swag bucks can get you a $5 Amazon gift card. It varies. Also there is no way to convert your Swag bucks into cold hard cash.What else can you get? Posters, books (!), CD's, mp3s, donate to charities, TV shows on DVD, gift cards, and if you save up your points for a really long time you can even get an Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Zune mp3 player, digital camcorder, 19" flatscreen TV....you get the idea. It's especially great for gifts without actually spending money...save your points all year and bam!, Christmas presents without ever hitting the mall.

Go ahead and give it a try. I don't want to sound too much like a sales person but - it's free, it's easy, and it won't spam your inbox. Also if you do try it using my link, I get a referral bonus and I'll love you forever. Trust me, I've explored so many ways to make money, like the paid email thing...this is my favorite so far, and the least annoying (in fact, it's not annoying at all!) and least time consuming, because you're just doing what you'd be doing on the computer anyways. Hence why I'm advertising it instead of InboxDollars and SendEarnings...but hey, if you want my referral codes for those, too, by all means, ask!

I primarily suggest this to my mom, have the whole family do searches for you and before to long you can have a $50 gift card to Amazon. Think of all the books you could get. I certainly am.

Elephants, Owls, and Alcohol, oh my!

2010-02-24T11:39:00.002-07:00

As you may remember, before/during our last vacation in Nevada I was on the hunt for mead. It may or may not have had something to do with the fact that Dan has us listen to nerdy fantasy books all day (we're currently on the fourth or fifth book of a series entirely based on Dungeons and Dragons...yes, my husband is a geek. He even went so far as to download character sheets for Dungeons and Dragons the other day.) and they're always drinking mead.

I did more than my fair share of research and deduced that 1) making your own mead is the best way to go and 2) if you can't make your own mead, go for Chaucer's brand mead, it's the stuff they use at Renaissance festivals.

So, the Fluff and I are out running errands and we stop at the liquor store...I thought Dan would go in by himself due the fact that although the government tells me I'm a legal adult, old enough to go and die for my country (well, if I were male, anyways), lease an apartment, spend and make money, have a credit card, drive, get married, make babies.....I for some reason cannot purchase nor consume alcohol. Ridiculous, huh? But the Fluff says that it's fine, "this is Nevada!" and I go in with him. Lo and behold, there is some Chaucer's mead sitting on the shelf! We approach the check out. When she asks us both for our ID's, I'm honest and tell her I'm not 21 and she informs us that she cannot sell Dan the alcoholic beverage.

Weasely anger! I understand where they're coming from. But. I'm not some underage kid trying to get someone else to buy alcohol for me. He's my husband. We're married. He is of legal age to buy alcohol. Say I'm just running errands with my husband and he is barred from buying alcohol just because I'm there with him. They'll sell alcohol to my mom when I go into the liquor store with her, what's the difference? So yes, I was particularly irritated, we left and went home, and later my wonderful mother in law went back to get it for me.

And the tasting. It was good. But it wasn't mead. It was honey wine. Mead is an alcohol made from fermented honey...not honey flavored wine. I'm now very intent on brewing my own mead once we have a house. It was still enjoyable though, and the bottle came with two spice packets that looked like tea bags that you're supposed to put in the mead and heat on the stove. I just stuck mine in my glass and let it steep cold and it seemed to work alright. I am a fan, but I still want to try the real thing. To end this story of the mead, they need to lower the drinking age to eighteen because it's redundant and ridiculous to tell someone they're a functioning adult and able to do this, this, and this, but they cannot buy alcohol. There's always going to be people from eighteen to ninety nine (if they last that long) that are irresponsible or alcoholics. I doubt lowering the drinking age by three years is going to effect that at all. Maybe I should just move to Germany, or France. Which are countries with significantly lower rates of alcoholism...you know why? Because they don't make a big deal out of it like they do here in America. Drinking is something to accompany your dinner. You have a glass of wine with almost every meal. It complements the food. They have no need for a higher drinking age because people are introduced to alcohol early on in a safe and relaxed atmosphere. Where as in this country, too many people only drink for the sake of getting drunk, and as children we're constantly bombarded with "if you drink, you'll be an alcoholic! Alcohol is bad, bad, bad!" so when we get to the drinking age we expect to be irresponsible and alcoholics because it's an image that has been forced on us since we were able to understand was beer was. End rant.

And now for some more crafts. I made this Happy Anarchy Elephant for my friend's daughter:

On today's agenda, maybe: making an owl.

Crafties

2010-02-15T17:00:00.003-07:00

Here are the stuffed animals I've made recently...the truck is going to be full of them by the time we get our next vacation, I predict.

The penguin with small eyes

Penguin with big eyes! Mr. Sprinkles, the magician penguin.

Frank, the mafia bunny

Frank and Mr. Sprinkles

The Box/Robot guy

Back to the truck world

2010-02-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

We just finished our very nice and extra long vacation in Nevada and are now back in the truck. I have a lot of ideas for blog posts I want to do, but right now I'm really not feeling the motivation. It could be because I've been up since 10:30 yesterday morning, or could be because going back to the truck is always at least a little depressing. I'll get around to something soon. Look forward to a book review, my first chaining experience, and a recap of our vacation including taxes and mead.

Worth how many words?

2010-02-01T14:34:00.001-07:00

The general update goes something like this: we are in Nevada now and will be delivering in Reno tomorrow morning then going to Carson to visit with my in-laws for about four days. I have plans to make some cupcakes, pumpkin pies, and whatever else I think of. Dan and I have a relatively long list of movies to watch. We're going to go and add my name to the bank account. Then there's the matter of getting taxes sorted out. Additionally, we (meaning, mainly me) have developed an obsession with mead: I must try it. I have spent a great deal of time today scouring the internet trying to find good brands of mead and some sort of store in Reno or Carson that sells it. I've narrowed it down to Chaucer's mead. All but a few reviews of that one were good, although pretty much everyone seems to be in agreement that home-brewed mead is better than bottled from the store. Unfortunately, I don't have a year to brew, ferment, and age some mead...so the commercial stuff will have to do, presuming I can find it. Supposedly Chaucer's can be found somewhere in Reno. I've sent some messages to random beer-fans on the internet in hopes of getting a specific location or name. If all else fails, I can happily settle for some wine.

I have no other interesting things to discuss, so instead I will grace you with some photographs. Copyright Rachael Simas, not available for use without express permission.

Genoa Cemetery, Genoa, Nevada - 2009

Mojave Desert, New Mexico, 2009

Spendthrifts: Good or Bad?

2010-01-28T20:18:00.002-07:00

Apparently there has been some debate lately regarding opposing views on frugality. Frugal Babe discusses her own views after reading about a interview of a personal finances blogger where his interviewer called him a "cheapskate" and some views on the same issue on the Make Love Not Debt blog. With my handy dandy links you can go and read exactly what happened and all of the opinions voiced before I decided to barge in with mine...which I will continue with now.

Personally, I tend to side more with Him from Make Love Not Debt. Most of the personal finance blogs I read use a tone that reminds me, very uncomfortably, of fundamentalist Christians. You know the people I'm talking about. Over-bearing, force their religion down your throat, get up on the table and proclaim that you've accepted Jesus Christ as your savior or else you're going to hell! kind of people. I know it can be argued that with text on a screen you can't really have a "tone" but, this isn't texting. We can use adjectives and other colorful descriptions to get our point across, and a lot of the points gotten across to me are pretty self righteous.

I drive a twenty year old car and I own nothing new, I only shop at thrift stores and I saved so much money and this and this and this. Okay: good for you. That's great, really, that is clearly a frugal life and it's a great way to live. But why, oh why, do you have to make it sound like anyone who doesn't live exactly like you is an irresponsible jerk? They're not. Again, Make Love Not Debt made an excellent point. Not all people with nicer, fancier things are in debt. Just because they don't have old, second hand belongings does not mean that they are careless with their money or that they have no savings put away.

I don't like this attitude, and maybe it's because I'm not as frugal as a lot of other bloggers. Like I've said. I don't want a lot of things, but the things I do have, I want to be nice. I don't need nor want a brand new car with all of the bells and whistles (mainly because it's so hard to find new cars that come with a manual transmission, which is a whole nother topic for a whole nother day), but I want a car that I find visually appealing, with a nice paint job, and air conditioning. And power steering. And ABS brakes. I don't want to spend eight hundred dollars on a bag or three hundred dollars on a sweater, but I want nice clothes that look nice, clean, and aren't going to wear out in less than a year (i.e., Wal-mart clothes. They are not very reliable.) This doesn't mean I want everything I get from the mall, I have found plenty of perfectly good, higher end clothes at the thrift store, but I'm not going to shop only at the thrift store. You know what I mean?

Because the point of saving money is spend it on something later, be it your retirement or a house or what have you. Why spend so much time saving money to not use it. I don't want to die and leave a fortune behind, but I don't want to die and leave my family with my debt. I want to use my money, but responsibly, and always with a backup emergency fund readily available.

Which brings me to another point. This obsession with not buying anything new at all except for food and personal hygiene products in hopes of putting all of the stores out of business. Have we stopped to consider what this is going to do to our employment rate which is already in shambles? The economy? For example, I've read rants about how by not buying anything new and making more of your own things we can erase the need for "gas guzzling trucks spouting exhaust all day". This hits pretty close to home because, as you know, my husband is a long haul truck driver and this is our livelihood. Without this industry he would not have a job right now, and the industry is already suffering severely because of the economy. Also, semi trucks use deisel, not gasoline, you fool. I'm not saying that we should keep all the trucks on the roads all the time...less would certainly be good for the well being of the earth. But think of how many people's lives would be destroyed without trucking as a means for income? And not just the truckers, but everyone in the corporate offices and at the warehouses, etc.

What I would like to see happen is to yes, cut down on buying new things, but primarily stop shopping at big chain stores like Walmart. If we can eliminate those everyone will have to go back to shopping and eating at locally own businesses, which in turn can hire more local people, which I think would greatly help the state of the economy.

What are your thoughts?

The Ultimate Fast Food Resturaunts Review

2010-01-28T19:14:00.003-07:00

Since fast food makes up the majority of my diet, sadly, I have decided I am a self proclaimed fast food connoisseur and will be writing the review to top all reviews...

The Ultimate Fast Food Restaurants Review!

First of all, a few clarifications: "fast food" generally means greasy hamburgers or tacos, so in reality, this isn't just a "fast food" review. To be completely correct I guess it's a "quick serve" review, because I will be reviewing all of restaurants that I normally eat at and find in truck stops where you 1) order and pay at the counter, 2) have an order number, and 3) do not have a waiter coming to your table. For example, you normally wouldn't think of Subway as a fast food joint, but is in fact a quick serve restaurant so it will be included in my review.

Rating scale on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being "don't waste your time" and 10 being "the best you can get".

$ = a whole meal for $4-7

$$ = a whole meal for $7-12

$$$ = a whole meal for $12+

A & W - 6 out of 10 at $

I know, you're thinking root beer floats. And in fact, the root beer floats and other wide assortment of frozen treats including slushies, real fruit smoothies, milk shakes (or "freezes"), and root beer floats are the only thing that gets this place a rating of 6 instead of 5 from me. I'm a sucker for cold, sweet things. Their burgers are mediocre, but fulfilling if you are hungry enough. The selection of food is also mediocre. There are several different burger varieties, a few larger sandwhiches featured on texas toast, chicken strips, and a chili cheese dog. That's about it. However, there is one other noteable menu item: the cheese curds. These are highly addicting and highly greasy little crunchy balls with squishy, stringy, delicious cheese inside. But be warned. Try and eat more than one side of these yourself, and you will get sick.

Arby's - 2 out of 10 at $

I go out of my way to avoid Arby's. In fact, if that's the only resturaunt in a truck stop, I will even go so far as to get stuff out of the hot wok instead of ordering a sandwhich. If forced to eat at Arby's, I will get a salad (usually limp and turning brown) or a plain roast beef sandwhich which is just that - roast beef and a bun, no sauces or dressing or additional condiments. Any of their sandwhiches featuring cheese should be avoided at all costs. There is something distinctly wrong with their cheese and it immediately makes me feel a dire need to vomit. They don't even have a very good or wide milkshake selection.

Burger King - 7.5 out of 10 at $-$$

I mainly like Burger King because of there kids menu. Yes, I order off of the kids menu. I like to get the macaroni and cheese because it's real Kraft (the blue box!) macaroni and cheese with fresh apple slices and apple juice. It's delicious. They also have a selection of desert pies including cheesecake, chocolate pie, and apple pie for under $2.00. They also feature a monthly flavor of milkshake besides the standard three flavors (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry) my favorite of which is the Oreo sundae shake. Their standard sandwhiches aren't too bad, either, their hamburger does not taste like sawdust and their chicken, although not jaw dropping, is perfectly acceptable.

Carl's Jr. - 9 out of 10 at $$

This is definitely one of my favorite fast food joints, unfortunately you don't see it too much in truck stops. Although a bit on the spendier side, they definitely have one of the best burgers. The meat is juicy and flavorful and they have a huge variety of burgers ranging from the Western burger (with BBQ, bacon, and cheese) to the Guacamole burger. Additionally, they recently joined up with "Green Burrito" - which offers very tasty burritos indeed - and some more Mexican style food items for variety. They also feature a monthly milkshake flavor and I've gotta say, they are some damn good milkshakes. Unlike some other fast food restaurants they also offer curly and criss cut fries instead of just your standard fries, as well as bacon cheese fries and chili cheese fries. It's a winner all around.

Hardee's - 5 out of 10 at $$

Hardee's is like Carl's Jr.'s little brother on the east coast, except without the awesomeness. They have about half the menu. It's really pitiful - three burgers (albeit almost exact copies of three burgers from Carl's Jr.) and chicken strips and one tiny side salad. Also limpy and turning brown. And no monthly featured milkshake flavor or Green Burrito. Not a big fan, but, the burgers are better than your average run of the mill burger so I must give it points there.

Jack in the Box - 9 out of 10 at $

Oh, my love for Jack in the Box is ample...I mean, two tacos for a dollar? Need I saw more? It's the perfect drunk food. I'm sorry, but it is. Greasy, cheesey, melty, taco deliciousness. Mmmm. I know you're tired of the milkshakes, but, their Oreo milkshake is good and they actually give you a cherry on top. I hate those cherries, but I like that they go the extra mile to make my day and put it on their anyways. Their curly fries are my favorite. More importantly, they have a wide variety of foods - tacos, burgers, chicken, breakfast bowls, smoothies....yum, yum, and yum. And cheap, if you know what you're doing, like I do.

McDonald's - 7 out of 10 at $

You may be wondering why I gave McDonald's such a high rating when it is probably the most hated and bashed and law-suit suffering establishment in the fast food industry. I'll tell you why - it's reliable. Reliable in every way except for their use of mayonnaise: sometimes you get a lot, like I prefer, and sometimes you get one little dollop. It changes every day. Anyways, besides their use of condiments, you can pretty much always rely on good old Mickey D's to be consistent. They've improved their menu quite a lot the past few years to include more breakfast foods, like some tasty breakfast burritos, salads, snack wraps, and other healthier options. Their fries are the only fries in the entire world that I can eat without dipping them in ranch and still enjoy. And I'm a huge fan of their dollar menu. I can get everything I want off of there: McChicken, medium fry, and a hot fudge sundae. Three dollars and I'm done. It's good.

Subway - 7 out of 10 at $$

I am not on the Subway bandwagon like everyone else. In fact, as far as subs go, Subway is pretty nasty. A good percentage of the time their food makes me sick because their employees don't know how to wash their hands or change their gloves. It's gross. But I give it a higher score because it's not a greasy burger and they don't sell fries - props there. Also, I occasionally enjoy the sweet onion teryaki sandwhich. It's also nice to get soup every once in awhile.

Popeye's - 8 out of 10 at $$-$$$

That's some damn fine chicken. And their variety of sides is definitely unique stuff that cannot be found elsewhere. Gumbo, jumbalaya, cajun fries. You get the idea. They're expensive. But hey...someone has to wrassle them chickens.

Port of Subs - 10 out 10 at $$-$$$

Quite possibly the only restaurant that will get a 10 out of 10 from me. Delicious, delicious sub sandwhiches. Fresh, moist bread, crisp, crunchy vegetables, exquisite pastrami, perfected with some oil and vinegar, a touch of oregano, and some jalapeno chips on the side. Port of Subs is just the best. You will not be wasting your time here. Their food is actually healthy, fulfilling, and not at all lacking in the flavor department.

Taco Bell - 5 out of 10 at $

Taco Bell is hard to place. If I were judging them on flavor alone, the rating would definitely be higher. As long as you eat your food as soon as you get it and don't let it sit, it's a surprisingly nice treat for your taste buds. However, Taco Bell, without fail, always makes my stomach angry. My stomach does not like Taco Bell. Neither does Dan's stomach. Quite possibly, no one's stomach likes Taco Bell. But, if you must eat there, here are a few of my favorites: chalupas, gorditas, and cheesy fiesta potatoes. All with sour cream, of course.

Wendy's - 3 out of 10 at $

Wendy's is quick. If you're going through their drive through, they have your bag hanging out the window before you even pull up. Their chocolate frosties are uniquely tasty in combination with fries. Their water is cold. This is the extent of anything good about Wendy's. It is always disappointing - anytime you stop and think, "Hey, Wendy's might be good today" and follow through with your plans, you will only be disappointed. Their food is just not good. Not even the baked potato. It's usually under cooked and their fake butter tastes particularly fake.

I hope you've found this guide helpful and enlightening. All I have to say, is, I can't wait until the day when I completely swear off fast food unless I'm in some bizarre situation where I don't have a kitchen of my own and all of my family and friends have banned me from their kitchens. Like that would ever happen.

Edumacated

2010-01-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

I got accepted to College of Western Idaho! Which is good news, except all of the work is not over yet...despite the fact I already completed one year of college, I still have to go and take a placement test for math. Sigh. Unfortunately it's necessary since I will need to take a math course this fall. I want to enroll in the LPN program starting in the spring of 2011, and I only have three pre-req's I need to take because I already have the credits for all the rest: Math 143, Biology 101, and Allh 101 (medical terminology). I'm wondering if maybe I should skip the LPN program and just enroll in the RN program, but I don't know if I'm ready for that kind of commitment. The RN program is longer, so with the LPN program I could start working earlier and I'm sure that all of the courses I take for that could go to my Associate's (or Bachelors? Hmmm...maybe one day) as an RN. All I care about is getting rich, and doing really well in school. I want all A's and B's when I go back. I think my brain has had some time to grow and since (hopefully) I won't have to be on the phone all the time with my dear husband, I'll be able to devote more to schoolwork. Ah, motivation!

In the mean time

2010-01-25T01:08:00.001-07:00

While you're waiting for the next greatest Weasel post ever, I thought I might share with you some of my favorite blogs that I frequent (I have yet to figure out exactly how to make a permanent list on the side. No worries, Super Weasel is on it.) Knock yourself out!

Frugal Babe - mildly concerning personal finances, primarily concerning thrifty living which is a must, in my book. Here you will find all kinds of tips for saving money, from making cloth diapers out of second hand store sheets to growing your own vegetables, and other cool things.

Mrs. Micah - or "Finance for Freelance Life", Mrs. Micah is an English major who started this personal finance blog some years back and I believe is going back to school for a masters in Librarian-ism (clearly, I don't know exactly). There are plenty of helpful posts about things like those pesky credit cards and student debt, as well as the occasional guest post.

Ezra Pound Cake - clever, witty writing, delicious recipes, and pictures you could dive into your screen and eat, three of my favorite things all combined into this one scrumptious blog.

Smitten Kitchen - quite possibly my favorite food blog. Just as funny and entertaining as the aforementioned blog, with equally gorgeous photos and tantalizing recipes, except updated more often. I read this one religiously.

Poorer Than You - originally a personal finances blog specifically for college students or the recently graduated with all of those nasty student loans, this blog is run by Stephanie and includes a wealth of information as well as her own journey getting out of debt.

Living in Willoughby - and, of course, this one I have to visit every time I have the internet because it's my mom. My mother is a person who doesn't have nearly enough sane, decent, thoughtful people in her life, so if you fit into that category, you should go tell her hi. Also you can see pictures of my and my sisters and all of the canning and dehydrating she did last fall.

Revamp, anyone?

2010-01-25T00:48:00.000-07:00

There have been some changes around the good old Super Weasel intarweb head quarters - a brand new, shiny finish and suspicious lost of numerous posts. Worry not, faithful readers, all 3.592 of your! This was, in fact, a purposeful move on my part. It started off as simply finding a new layout (I know, I know, about time I got rid of that dusty old generic blogger look) and ended up with some larger changes regarding the general zen of the blog. Outlook. Idea. Theme. What have you. I figured it was a little too focused on just one thing: the moneys. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love the moneys. But I think this blog would be better suited with a broader scope of topics that encompass everything I do and am interested in. That way I don't have to mess with seven different blogs. I just hope you all can keep up! Yes, even you # 0.592.

Look forward to new and widely varied posts on spine tingling topics.