Trick or Treat!

It is 7:55, and I have had only one Princess, and one Power Ranger knock on our door. I have a big bowl of candy and no Trick-or-Treaters! Please come to my place and trick or treat, I am on the 3rd floor and I think this is why no one is coming here? I bought 4 bags of yummy candy, (they were on sale 2 for $4) so I spent $8 just to have no one Trick-or-Treat here! I carved some mini pumkins which look so cute by my door.

Breath Taking Fall Beauty Ohio 2005

Photos by: Martiel Hay, my first Fall Season here in Ohio, so beautiful! From Lipstick Red to Pumpkin Orange.

I can cook really I can!

I took a photo of my stove, to help explain my blond moment if you want to call it that...
This stove is modern, electric, with all of the knobs in the back and a digital timer to set on it. The oven dial is also used to switch to the Broiler part.
Tonight for dinner I made some ribs from Montgomery INN, The Rib King. The directions say to place the ribs in the broiler for 4 minutes and flip over for another 3 minutes. OK simple, I can do this.

I placed the ribs in the broiler drawer at the bottom of this stove as I would with older stoves. Four minutes pass, the electric timer on the stove is beeping, and the broiler is cold, then notice the oven part is all warm. ???Apparently this modern stove is a broiler/oven in the middle part and what I thought was the broiler is JUST a drawer. On my moms stove her drawer is actually a broiler, and the stove we had in Burbank was a broiler...So why would I think differently with this one? So I put the ribs on the oven rack to start over with 4 more minutes to cook, then flipped them over for 3 minutes till done.

We just moved in over the summer and I have not used the broiler part to this stove yet until tonight, so cut me some slack, for those who are laughing at my blond moment.

The ribs came out great, the meat was perfect, falling right off the bone. YUMMY!

What's Your Middle Name?

Interesting tid bit of information. I have meet a couple of people over the years who use their middle name as their first name, and some people would never guess it was their middle name unless they mentioned it or you checked their ID. I could think of a few off the top of my head that I know of.
An old friend of mine named Courtney Maren, goes by Maren
My friends boyfriend named ? Kenneth, goes by Ken
My supervisor is named Van Brian, goes by Brian
We have a friend named ? Aaron, goes by Aaron
My Hubby is named Andrew Stephen, use to go by Steve

Then a gal who is pregnant is thinking of a middle name to use as the first name and the baby is not born yet. (?) Why not have the middle name be the first name? I don't understand?

Then there is my brother who has 2 middle names, both family names to keep in the name, and he could have used either one as his first name if he wanted to. Instead of Robert we could call him Luis! I wont tell you his other middle name, because I want to use the name for a Boys name, if I ever have a boy some day. It is a cool name and unique at the same time, so I don't want to advertise it and have it become popular. You will have to ask Robert what his other middle name is. :P

Another old tradition is referring to people by their last name. My brother has gone by the nic-name of Hesse, referring to him by last name. My Grandma had a best friend named Tomi, but this was actually her last name short for Thompson. Her first name was actually Ramona. I just know her as Tomi. To get even more complex, her last name currently was Brown, so in my address book I have entered her in as Tomi Brown, BUT! those are two last names! If we all used our first, middle, and last names in the proper order, it would be less complicated. My Grandma's friend would be Ramona Brown...I would not even know who that is? A whole different person! She has been Tomi for so long!
Back when I was dating Andrew, he went by Steve (his middle name) and my friends meet him as Steve. A couple years later we were getting married and the invitation comes in the mail to my friend Janets house, and she read the name Andrew on it. She called to congratulate me and then asked, "What ever happened to the other guy you were dating?...Steve was so nice." I cracked up once I realized the confusion and told her, "Oh no, he is the one I am getting married to, Steve was just his middle name that he used as a "first name" and now he goes by Andrew his original first name! She then told me, "Good because I liked Steve, I mean Andrew, and you two will be happy together." That is about as complicated as it gets!

I will stick to my first name, Martiel, to keep simple. Well not too simple, most people have a hard time catching my name right being a unique name. It is pronounced Mar-T-L (Martiel).

winter waredrobe

Two Californians living in Ohio, the West coast meets the Midwest. There are seasons here, with the fresh, crisp, cool, air in October. No more flip-flops or short sleeved shirts to wear because it is getting cold. I go to the closet and I am looking at my shoes, they are all open toe, or exposed heal, one pair of white sneakers, I need shoes that are warm and covering my whole foot! I don't like my sneakers anymore, because the shoelaces don't stay tied together. Let's see what I have in long sleeve? Oh three tees and two sweatshirts, one that says Wavelengths on it, a surf sweater. It screams California. I need winter clothes and Andrew needs a jacket warmer than his Adidas Windbreaker, and some more slacks. I hear an excuse to go shopping! Fun times, I love shopping...

…I hate shopping! I don't know what size I am any more? Come to think of it I have always been in an awkward size my whole life. As a kid I was smaller in size with not equaling up to quite the right size in clothes, it seemed I was always between a sizes. Say # size was too big but the next size down was too small and I would look for something in-between. Or in High School I was the average size for so long where my size 5 clothes were the first to go out of stock and I couldn't buy the cute top, with my size sold out. This happened to me again today, with trying on these cute plum colored cords. I wanted to get these but one size that fits well in the hips but is too short in length and the next size up is looser but is in the right pants length. UGH!

I am still not a set size, and I am 27, it is not like I am that scrawny little kid I use to be, who use to be awkward in sizes. Apparently I still am. :) Maybe I can set my self at a set size and not be in-between any more? Heck I will even settle for the cute size 5 again and deal with items being sold out; at least they will fit right when I do buy them. I didn't end up buying the cute, plum colored, cords, but I did find a cute, cozy, blue sweater and some long sleeve shirts. Andrew found two winter jackets, both on sale. Thank You Kohl’s Store for the great sales, aside from the cute cords not coming in my size!

I have been watching a reality show, called The Girls Next Door, on E! It is all about Hugh Hefner and his three girlfriends. I started watching it back in August, when I was taking a Mythology class. I did a paper on Hugh Hefner tying him into the myth of Pan, a God of Romance, and half man half goat. Pan frolicked with the goddesses, and played on his merry flute, and chased them around and the goddesses adored him as well. So in a way Hefner is like Pan, chasing after young beauties, and a modern day God of Romance. He lives out his fantasies, enjoys his life there at the mansion and entertains who ever is in his company. Living life the fun way and seems to have no worries. Apparently he is 79 now, wow! I wonder who would ever replace him to keep the play boy mansion alive and kicking. He has lived such a lavish bachelor lifestyle.

So I watch this show every Sunday night after the show Charmed, and a couple of episodes back they did on the girls doing a photo shoot for Playboy, and I thought it would be neat to buy the issue when it comes out. Last Sunday’s episode they mention the magazine shoot again and that it is out in the November issue, meaning it is on news stands now in October! Hmm do I really want to buy a Playboy? Sure why not? It is not like I am a teenage boy getting a playboy to "whack off" too. LOL I am a mature, 27 year old, gal, wanting to buy my very first Playboy...and yes I will read the articles!

Thursday after work I go to the gas station and remember to look for the Nov. issue, I was at UDF gas and they don't even sell the LOTTO there so of course not Playboy Magazine! so I hope in the car down the road to a different gas station and there aren't any magazines sold there either (not even People or Readers Digest type), OK let's go to the Food- Mart near my house, and I see a gal behind the counter and I ask (Quietly) "Do you sell any magazines here, I am looking for a Playboy?" She said, "Sorry babe, we don't sell them but check the one down the road, somebody must sell them?" and she had a confused look on her face like it never occurred to her that they had not sold Playboy.

I felt so out of place already buying this Playboy, and to have to go to four different places and not find one was getting frustrating. Later I was chatting on IM with a friend asking where to buy one and she said to check the local Boarders Book store! I would have never thought to look there! I just know that back home I always saw them near the counter of convenience stores, like 7-11 or at gas stations. When I am not looking for something it is in my face, and when I want it I can't find it. Go figure. I finally bought it at Borders Book store; I had it on hold by the cash registers, because I had called before hand to see that they had it. So Andrew comes along (just to laugh at me) and I tell the clerk, "I have a magazine on hold under Hay." (Not mentioning the title of the mag.) lol Paid for it and left the store got to the car and did a sigh of relief.

I went through so much effort for this issue. I am a little disappointed though because they show in the issue only group photos of the 3 girlfriends, and in the photo shoot that was on the reality show the girls were taking single shots also to have photographed, and the magazine is more about the articles than photos. There are not as many photos in a Playboy as I had thought there would be. Who would of guessed, me buying a Playboy, laugh out loud!

OH. Weather in CA.

It is now October, where it should be getting colder, and maybe even snow towards the end of the month as some Ohio locals tell me? But I don't see it. I grew up on the central coast of California, and have not lived with snow yet, nor had much of the seasons to live in yet. So last week I was noticing the leaves changing colors on the trees for fall, and became all excited about the seasons changing, and how different this will be living in Ohio at this time of year compared to a California fall. In California maybe there will be some trees turning color, but not like the trees here. Ohio is beautiful with an abundance of trees, all changing slowly from green, to light yellow, to orange, and to lipstick red on some. There is a batch of trees by my home I keep wanting to take a series of pics to track the color changing, then I will post them on a later blog.

OK, so visibly I see fall coming, and maybe it has dropped in temperature to about 65 from the humid summers here, but this is not very noticeable. This morning I was driving to work in the FOG! This fog was thick like a cloud had lost its air and sank to ground level. Not like Morro Bay Fog, a lighter form of it. Occasionally there is a dense fog in Morro Bay (CA), but usually light fog. (Listen to me, I sound like a weather girl!)

Anyways I went to MSN.com where I checked the weather in Morro Bay, and the weather here in Ohio, and it is about the same right now. Back home in California it is 58 degrees, and here in Ohio it is 61 degrees, with some fog. Right now we share the same weather at this time of year (so far), and I feel a tad bit closer to home some how with the same weather.

California is not all sunshine and warmth as people believe...and for the palm trees, most of those are put in by landscapers. California has a lot of hype, to the ideal it presents to the rest of the world, but as for today, it is cloudy and colder than Ohio, "So there" Not so sunny in California after all. :^P

Your age by chocolate math

> >DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST! >It takes less than a minute .. >
Work this out as you read ... >Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)



2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)


3. Add 5



4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator


5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1755 .... If you haven't, add 1754.


6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number. > > > >The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week). The next two numbers are ... YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

You can't lie about your age when it comes to chocolate math! cool huh? Mine was 327.

You can leave comments to my BLOGS now.

I reset my settings to allow people to leave comments. I was wondering why no one could do so. You may click on the word comments at the end of each Blog saying what you want to say and not have to be a BLOG member.

I have to split, off to work now. Will blog later alligator!

Good Morning Sunshine!

I took this beautiful morning photo a few days after hurricane Katrina, here in Mason, Ohio. With the hurricane down south, it brought us rain up in Ohio; the sky had some puffy storm clouds, with the morning sun peaking through. This was about 8 am heading to my car to go to work. I stopped and looked out to the beautiful heavens shining through the grey clouds. It took my breath away, so beautiful. It was literally a "ray of hope" =)

Hope anyone who was effected by the hurricane Katrina and Rita and all the hurricanes in between are ok and recovering. I share this photo with you as a ray of hope.

This blog is for Dad. I have been looking into real estate around here in Ohio for my mom and dad to buy a vacation home to stay in when they feel like visiting us out here, from California. So last month, I came across this prime real estate for mom and dad to have as their vacation home in Ohio. This is also just 3 hours away from us, so Andrew and I will stay in the red guest house in back when they visit.

An ongoing joke from childhood, passing by an old fallen down barn he would point out to my brother saying, "there is your future house." My brother would always respond back saying, "NO! that is Martiel's house when she moves out!" Well now I say that old fallen down barn is Dads vacation house in Ohio. =)

Steak N Shake

SteakNShake is a diner, in the Midwest; similar to Margi's Diner or Johnny Rockets. Steak N Shake is a fun place to order a Milk shake with your tuna melt or burger. Their French fries are skinny, called shoe strings fries. I went there for the first time with Jenette, Aaron and their little boy. While we were there, some people from the local high school were all dolled up for Homecoming to have dinner. Fun to see them on a group date dressed up in their new threads. One guy was wearing a black velvet suit jacket with plain black slacks; I thought was very stylish, from the normal monkey suit guys wear to dances. Earlier today I saw a couple dressed up for homecoming in coordinating attire. The guy had on a pink tie to match the pink piping on her black dress. So cute and matchy-matchy.

So we are eating at Steak N Shake, and our server there was horrible! She was rude and forgetful. We ordered what we all wanted, and for their little boy Jenette asked for some crackers for him to have while we waited on the food, we were all hungry, but adults can hang on a little longer for food than a kid. The crackers would help, but she didn't bring the crackers until the third time they asked for some, and our server didn't bring our drinks until the food was brought out later. She only brought us 2 table settings seeing that there were two of us at the table while Jenette and her son were in the restroom. ? strange gal, she saw that we were a table of four before hand and later knew she only gave us the two sets when she made the realization that there were four of us, you would think she comes back with two more sets of silverware, but no she did not. She came back to our table with Aaron's coke and a kids cup of milk. UMMM? We would like some water please? It was not like she couldn't carry the four drinks together in her hands, she used a serving tray that she could have put all four drinks on to serve all at once.

The night went on with her making multiple trips to our table, making more work for her. It was very frustrating; to the point we decided not to leave a tip. Now I usually leave a tip, maybe some tips less than others and accordingly to how well we were served and the tip is to be an added extra to the bill, as a "thank you waitress/waiter for you time, and hospitality." Tips are not required, and should not be given lightly; our waitress tonight should not be expecting a tip from us the way she was rude and forgetful on so many items. This is once in a blue moon that I don't tip. Rare indeed. But why reward frustration? To top off the night, she only apologized at the very end as she gave the bill to us, I guess because she realized the tip is hanging on a thin thread. While we were there not once did she say sorry for the mix up or excuse me for being rude, she just seemed careless the whole time.

I will not let one waitress give my first impression of Steak n Shakes a bad rap. I liked the food, the fun diner atmosphere, and seeing the high schoolers there on a group date was cute. I would eat there again, just with a different server or at a different Steak N Shakes location.

OK so it is my fault! Sigh, my car is smashed in a little bit on the hood and I made a small dent on the SUVs plastic bumper. What happened was I was coming to a stop on Mullhouser road, sort of congested traffic, being 5pm after work, I didn't stop soon enough and hit the SUV in front of me bumper to bumper. Big Oops! When it happened I found myself in this slow motion act, I could see my car hitting her SUV and not being able to do anything, tried putting more of my breaks on but hit her still. The hood of my car was slowly approaching her big, plastic, grey bumper, and I then heard a bonk sound. It was now a car accident and I was at fault. Take the cell phones out of our purses, call the insurance people, and deal with it. She called for a cop to come to make the accident report while I was on my phone with the insurance.

SIDE NOTE: In California if I am the cause of an accident I don't receive a ticket. In Ohio I am the cause of a car accident I get a ticket! Cry...I have never had a ticket before, in the ten years that I have been driving. So now I was rewarded my very first ticket, by the cute officer of West Chester. UGH! 85 bucks later!

So of course the SUV is just a small dent in the plastic, my car is smashed in the hood area. Just turned in my car yesterday to the body shop, and today picked up a rental car. Oh and her bumper has a toe hitch on the bottom which left a small hole in my front bumper.

physically the other gal in the Suv and me are ok. I was coming to a stop in the first place so i was only going about 5 -10 mph. Why did this even happen? I drive this rought often and know that the stop is sudden on this road! Arrrrrrg!

Blog later, I am off to a friends house to a basket party. To be for warned...I have birthdays and anniversaries in mind, so you might get a basket from me. =)