Not a snowball's chance in Ohio...

[raefinlay]

I'm pouring sweat. Something to do with the 90% humidity and no air conditioning. Instead of getting grumbly, I will make a list of things I love and adore about Ohio. Right? Right. I'm sure I can think of a couple. If I try reeeeeally hard.

Ok, Stuff I LURVE about Ohio:
1) Charlie and progeny are here.
2) Fireflies!
3) Cicadas!
4) Summertime isn't a mini-apocalypse of Death, like it is in California.
5) Closer in timezone to more of my friends.
6) Bats!
7) Cost of home ownership
8) Kid #2's "awesomeness" (that was his contribution)
9) The cold winter makes you appreciate summer, and the hot summer makes you appreciate winter (that was Kid #1's contribution)

See? Not so bad.

Comments

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Really, not so bad. Yay for states with four letters, three of them vowels!

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

An elite club, indeed!

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

How's the food?

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Gah. There's a GREAT Mediterranean restaurant nearby, and a healthy-but expensive burrito place. stillnotbored and I have been on a mission from God to find real Mexican food. Our last foray gave her food poisoning, but we are determined!

But I miss Thai food. And real burritos. And Italian that's not Olive Garden. *sigh*

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

*stiffling giggle*

Actually I was thinking of good ol' midwestern harvest-time food.... I didn't have breakfast.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

I think I have a lead on real Italian. *g*

Next week, when I have three days off for vacation? The two of us may run away for a day....

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Excellent idea!!

[stevenagy.livejournal.com]

You forgot buckeyes, the peanut butter and chocolate kind. :-)

And the variety of ethnic food. It's not California ethnic, but it's craveable. I'm seriously jonesing for stuffed cabbage and legvar pirogis.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

YES!!!! Buckeyes!

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

!!? What's a buckeye??? It sounds like some grotty sweet....

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

It's a small round ball of sweet peanut butter covered in chocolate.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

Difefrent from all the Reese's product because it's a sphere?

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Ha! Good question.

Different from all the Reese's products in that they taste better. They're all very authentic and homemade-tasting. It's a pride thing here.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Okay, better. I have a hard time with sweets. Sometimes I adore peanut butter; sometimes peanut butter and chocolate is just too much.... Do they have a variet with crunchy peanut butter? (She said hopefully)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

I don't know! I'll have to ask Charlie who is The All-Knowing One.

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Great, is this what I have to look forward to next week? I should ask David is his old home had central air conditioning...

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

should ask David *if* his old home *has* central air conditioning....

Clearly, the making of mental packing lists has addled my brain.

[purdypiedad.livejournal.com]

Dooode! If cicadas made your list, I am soooo not moving there. Ever. We have them here too and I think they are pretty gross.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

They are SOOPER gross. But they sound pretty.

[aimeempayne.livejournal.com]

Go to Westerville at 1:00am tonight and get Schneider's Doughnuts. You won't feel any cooler, but the glazed are so good you won't care. (It's another thing to love about Ohio, too.)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

There's a place to go in Ohio at 1:00am? *dies of happy*

I thought the world ended at 10pm around here.

[aimeempayne.livejournal.com]

It's close to a college campus. Schneider's opens at 1:00am so Otterbein students can buy the doughnuts fresh out of the fryer. Mmmmm...

[ccfinlay.livejournal.com]

10) Fantastic writers' group?

Paul, Toby, Jaime, and Tom asked me to put that one in.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

:: slips Charlie the 20 she promised::

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

fireflies rule!

(as do kid #1 and #2)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

They do!

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

4) Summertime isn't a mini-apocalypse of Death, like it is in California.

Oh, it's not a mini-apocalypse... summertime in So Cal is the apocalypse. This year's been especially bad because we've gotten the friggin' humidity!!!! Bleh!!!!

You forgot to add "No Earthquakes" to your list. :-)

[(Anonymous)]

What was that flavor of ice cream again? ;)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

fireflies, cicadas, and bats FTW!!

seriously. aren't they awesome?

[safewrite.livejournal.com]

...and no black widow spiders! How could you have forgotten so quickly?

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Too true! It was hilarious...the first few months I was here, I backed away from every cobweb spider I saw, just out of habit.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Just wait until fall. The leaves will take your breath away and there will be some of the most beautiful, perfect weather ever.

And you forgot Denise's Ice Cream and Mozart's, the cardinals and the woodpeckers, owls hooting at night and waking up to hear the hawks over the river. There are many, many things to love here. :)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Yes, to all those things, but especially CARDINALS! When I first got here:

Me: Dooode! Check out that bright red bird!
Charlie: Uh, Rae, that would be a cardinal.
Me: *feels stupid*

[kelly-swails.livejournal.com]

kid number 1 is right on the money with the season-appreciation business. Right now I'm all about chilly october nights.

Buckeyes=awesome. You can make 'em with crunchy or regular PB, milk or dark chocolate. Mmmmm. They're a Christmastime staple around these parts.

Ohio sounds an awful lot like Illinois to me ... I'd alway thought of it as pseudo-east coast before, but now I'm not so sure.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Are you telling me you have a Buckeye recipe? *looks cute*

[kelly-swails.livejournal.com]

Why, yes. I'll e-mail it to you.

[kelly-swails.livejournal.com]

Well. It would appear I don't have your e-mail addy. While we remedy that situation, though, here's the recipe:

1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
mix these ingredients well, roll into 1-inch balls, chill.

12-oz package chocolate chips
1/2 square parafin (for the record, I usually leave out the parafin, but they hold up better at room temperature if you use it, I think)
melt chocolate and parafin and mix well. Using a toothpick, dip
chilled PB balls into the chocolate and place on wax paper. Presto!

I know the recipe calls for smooth pb but you can use chunky, too. and experiment with dark, semi-sweet, and milk chocolate chips to see which you like best.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

I've got to get you talking to Susan. Her take on 90% humidity (and near misses by tornados) is quite different. Maybe that's because there are no buckeyes.

Wish I were a fish

[susanjett.livejournal.com]

Fireflies are good, but yeah, cicadas are the best.

And, yeah, I remember whining about the impending apocalypse in Arizona, when it felt like my skin was going to actually catch fire. That doesn't happen here. Mostly because the water in the air instantly smothers any flames as well as all of us oxygen-users stupid enough to try to function as air-breathers.

Wish I were a fish. A tropical fish.

Going to go sit in front of a fan and think about February now...

[writerswife.livejournal.com]

We always joke that the weather changes about every 10 minutes here. At least we used to. This summer just goes down as unbelievably uncomfortable. There's a Mexican place south of us that's great, but I'm not sure if it's the same as what you're craving. We'd be happy to take you there sometime--provided you're in the area.

The leaves in fall are amazing and the corn looks pretty when it's drying out before harvest time.

[safewrite.livejournal.com]

You have not posted for days, so I thought I would slip your happy birthday wishes into this post, and mention that I have not been to Ohio in ages. My dad's family is from the Columbus area.

Mostly I remember Ohio as being unrelentingly flat. Kind of like the south shore of Long Island: the only hills are for overpasses on the interstates.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Wendy!

Yes, Ohio is incredibly flat. Whenever the boys point out a "hill" to me, I generally scoff and say something demeaning like, "Oh, you mean that tiny speedbump?"

Do you ever get out here to visit family? If so, we should def hook up!