Not Berry Funny

Lunch Time at My Desk:
A piece of turkey with a generous portion of cranberry sauce (home-made, with no added colors) falls face down on my lightest colored pants - my favorite khakis. "Are you kidding me?" is yelled, but since I'm alone in my office, no one answers me. I scrape the chunks of cranberry off my pants and proceed to spray half a bottle of OxiClean stain remover on the area, blot repeatedly, and notice that there's still a big bright reddish-pink stain. So I sprayed the rest of the bottle on the stain, blotted some more, and have a slightly-lighter-but-still-very-noticeable pink stain, now surrounded by a 6" wet circle!

I called Scott and begged him to come to my rescue with a clean pair of pants, and of course he agreed. He's wonderful like that. And so, I did all the work I could that wouldn't require that I leave my office. Mostly, Iwas trying to avoid going in the kitchen where a) I'm going to be made fun of by the cooks, and b) I run the risk of being seen by the diners at the kitchen table.

About five minutes before Scott arrived, I pushed back from my desk and glanced down at the stain, preparing to be sad about ruining my favorite pants. I was not prepared for the two things I saw: the stain was about 90% gone and barely visible, and there were two NEW chunks of cranberry on my pants! I guess some of the original plop of cranberry got transferred from my leg to the underside of the desk in my initial panic, and then transferred back to my leg.

At this point, I'm out of OxiClean spray, and I have nothing to do but wait for my knight in shining Saturn to arrive. Luckily, my wait wasn't much longer. He brought me pants, and even waited for me to change so that he could take the first pair home to stain treat and wash. And today I am happy to report that they are stain-free!

Note: not any sort of paid endorsement...I really love that Oxi stuff a million times better than the Tide pens. The Tide pens smell like puke to me, and don't work half as well. Oxi smells like Febreeze and have now saved that same pair of pants twice (the first time was an exploding Coke bottle)!

Musical Interlude

I don't think I'm supposed to tell you why I'm learning this exact version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful, but I'm still not sure I believe it myself. Anyway, it sounds pretty. Enjoy!

Pop Quiz

Which is a worse answer to the question, "guess what I just killed in the garage?"

a) a small child who was hiding under my car. I need you to come home and help hide the body.

or

b) a black widow spider.

Of course "a" is the worse situation. So hey - on the bright side, Scott just found a black widow spider IN MY HOUSE. Nothing bad about that, right? I'm not nearly as freaked out as that last sentence would lead you to believe. The first thing I said was, "ooh...did you get a picture?" Of course, Scott and I are wired differently. Bloggers are a different sort. Those of you who have been around long enough to remember the tree-frog-in-the-garbage-can incident can attest to that!

We went out last night, and when we came home, he pointed into the corner and said "that's what's left." And of course, I immediately look at the dead black spider and questioned him on why he said it was on the bottom of his shoe. "That was her mate." He was already dead. So...looks like he caught the spider before our garage became a set from Arachnophobia II: Jamie Never Comes Home Again.

*shudder*

Apart from the Apartment

Scott finished cleaning out the apartment today while I was working my O.T. shift. Yay Scott!

Of course, he proudly proclaimed that the "finished" apartment had a roll of paper towels and two or three other things left in it. That's ok - we have to go back over there to return the keys anyway. What's one more trip up the stairs?

The sad part is that Monday is the 30th, which means either I'm going to have to go over before work or Scott is going to have to go after work.

The happy part is that we'll never have to go back there again. Take our security deposit. We're just glad to be out of there.

Happy Thanksgiving To All...

...and to all a good night!

(If you need me, I'll be burrowed under a blanket. Finally!)

Assorted Nuts

Today's post is really more like a handful of Tweets. Enjoy the odds & ends!

* Why is it ok to talk about puking your guts up or having a splitting headache, but not ok to tell the world about the extent of your diarrhea? It bugs me. Sickness is sickness. Poop is so misunderstood.

* Speaking of sickness, I went home sick halfway through my shift last night. My stomach still hurts, though I'm being careful to feed it a steady diet of bland foods and a distinct lack of dairy. Scott was having stomach problems last weekend (manifesting differently from my own), and we thought it was the fault of the pork nachos. But given my stunning digestive pyrotechnics yesterday (hat tip to "10 Things I Hate About You" for my favorite euphemism), I'm starting to think perhaps it was viral. I'm back to work today. I'd rather take the day off, but if I do that I'll lose my holiday pay.

* Scott and I had a miscommunication regarding our late-November feast. It seems I didn't tell him the ingredients I needed for my cheesecake. And so the poor guy went out in the rain today to buy me a graham cracker crust, caramel topping, and 2 bricks of cream cheese. I was going to make the pie this morning, but I'll try again tonight. I just wanted to get it done and out of the way so I don't have to jockey for oven space at a later time.

* As I mentioned, it is currently POURING! I won't be complaining though. Yes, it's so uncharacteristic of me. I won't complain about this one day of rain because it is a cold front. Tonight we'll have the windows open and in the morning, I might actually be using a blanket. I guess I should find a jacket and umbrella...

Nutcrackers

A co-worker and I have been planning out our entry into the annual Holiday Door Decorating Contest at The Hotel. For the past two years, there has been a theme - using recycled materials and last year was "favorite holiday." This year there's no theme - just decorate it! So we've planned a fireplace with a 3-D mantle with stockings hanging from it - each one personalized for a different restaurant employee. We're hoping the chefs will let us use their door and include their people too. If not, it'll just be our door and the wall next to it. Either way, the part I'm looking forward to is editing the managers' faces onto nutcracker bodies. I even figured out how to give them that square-jaw nutcracker look. My prototypes in low-resolution done on Paint were so funny I can't wait to see how they turn out when I actually use good software and pictures.

So Scott and I are off to Target today so that I can take photos of their stock of weird nutcrackers. My Google image searches haven't really turned up what I want. I *really* need ones without long fuzzy white beards, and apparently those are hard to come by! Plus, I need them in high resolution so that I can print them out 10" tall and not have them look pixely.

I figure I'll also make one for myself - not for work, but for Facebook and another "I have nothing to write" blog post.

Fly-Over

I had one of those moments at work yesterday when I said something I thought was funny, but the joke was completely missed.

Manager: There's six more weeks of football season.
Me: Did the groundhog see his shadow?
Manager: [silence]

Experiments

Sure, Thanksgiving is all about tradition. But what's the point of watching Food Network all the time and owning a gazillion cookbooks if you're never going to try anything new? While what I really want to do is find a stuffing recipe that Scott and I both like (hint: it's not going to taste like sage-flavored grits) (no offense, honey), that's going to be an ongoing project throughout the year.

So for our own humble late-November feast this year, I am trying out two new recipes: healthy (ok, healthier) sweet potato casserole, and caramel-apple cheesecake.

The casserole will, of course, be made without the pecans. Helpful hint to all the nut haters out there: marry another nut hater. I'm quite happy that neither of us "has to" live with nasty nutty pebbles in our baked goods because the other likes them. That said, I may substitute almonds because we don't hate them, but I prefer my sweet potatoes lump-free.

And for the cheesecake, the first thing we're going to do is pretend that it's not a Paula Deen recipe. I also bought a jar of fried apples from Cracker Barrell to use in place of the canned apple pie filling. I really wanted to do a real pie with a scratch-made crust and filling that didn't come from a jar, but I just didn't start planning soon enough. I'm going to make a real pie for Christmas for sure.

Also on the menu: turkey (breast only), cornbread dressing, broccoli casserole (can't remember the recipe, so I'm going to wing it), rolls, and scratch-made cranberry relish (with orange zest). I feel like I'm forgetting something... I'm sure Scott will let me know!

Money Trail

Our mortgage was sold by the builder's lender before we even made our first payment. It was sold to Bank of America. Hey - reputable bank with national strength, right? It's also one of those banks you hear horror stories about when it comes to foreclosures and short sales. Literally the first thing I said was, "Bank of America, huh? We better pay on time!"

I'm not worried about that though. That bill is our #1 priority.

...and that's all the money talk I'll be engaging in today.

It's Beginning to Look...

It's beginning to look moderately like Christmas here at Casa ParkHopper. We put together our tree last night. We didn't decorate it (though allow me to say again how freaking awesome the pre-lit tree is!). We just assembled it and left it alone. This gives the cats - especially Elphie, who hasn't been around a Christmas tree before - a chance to get used to being squirt every time they touch it.

Racially Charged Nachos

Scott and I got take-out from one of our favorite local Tex-Mex chains tonight. In addition to my tacos and his combo plate, we ordered pork nachos with no lettuce, black olives, or jalapenos. I'm pretty sure someone over there needs to work on their shorthand. Check out the actual un-edited writing on the top of the box:

Alpha Cat

Photographic evidence that no one messes with the alpha cat!

(even when he's being a bad, bad boy)

Next Door

Given the choice, Scott and I would have put tile or hardwood floors downstairs. We bought too late in the building process, and ended up with the generic beige plush carpet instead. We've been pretty laid-back about the carpet, figuring when it got destroyed, we'd have an excuse to replace it.

Right now, there's two workers in the house that my office window faces. They're painters, doing final touch-ups. One was just sanding paint off the tile right inside the front door, and I thought about asking him to come over and scrape the ridiculous amount of paint on my powder room and laundry room floors. But I digress...

While they had the door open I noticed something else - their voices were echoing like crazy. I'm not so sure I want to live in an echo chamber. Those echoing voices also reminded me of babysitting the four Whirling Dervish kids when they lived in the house with the hard wood and the vaulted ceilings. No matter how well-behaved they were, every time I left I would soak up the quiet in my car on the way home. I craved it. Squeals of delight bouncing off every wall... *shudder*

Maybe hardwood isn't for me. And as for you, no cola/juice/red wine in the carpeted areas!

Falling Flat

The banana bread, though delicious, did not come out correctly. Mostly, it didn't rise. I don't know what went wrong - too much banana? too little flour? wrong cooking temp?

Like I said, it's delicious and we've already eaten more than half of it. But it's just not as pretty as it usually is.

Also, I don't have time to take a picture and upload it, etc. etc. etc., but right now Elphie and Milo are sitting on opposite sides of the desk. They're like perfect little bookends...or gargoyles! You'll just have to take my word for it when I say how cute they look!

Baking Without a Net

Either our printed-out recipes haven't moved from the apartment yet, or they are in a box still. Whatever the case, I just made a loaf of banana bread sans recipe. Not only that, but we're out of granulated sugar (ok, almost out), so I substituted brown sugar. And just for fun, I eyeballed the vanilla.

I know I've posted the recipe on this very blog before, and how long could it take to go through posts labeled, "cooking?" But I thought it would be fun to test myself. And so, the bread that I made contained the following:

* 1 stick butter
* 1 egg
* 3/4 cup brown sugar (not packed at all)
* 1 cup self-rising flour
* a dash of vanilla
* 3 bananas

The batter tasted the same, so I'm hopeful it comes out ok. The timer has about 20 minutes left. If I don't have anything more interesting to talk about tomorrow, perhaps I'll revisit this fascinating topic.

Like Living at the Zoo!

Scott is officially jealous of me now. Why? Because I was home to see the OTTERS and he wasn't! That's right - we have otters in our pond! This is only the second time I've seen one in the wild, and the first time it was running across the road. This time, well, they were frolicking just like they do at the zoo!

wrestling on the shore

have fish, will travel

(again, photography through a window screen isn't the best idea, but there wasn't an alternative)

This definitively answers the "are there fish in the pond?" question. Also, Milo senses there is another cute animal vying for my attention, so he's curled up on my lap and purring, as if to say, "no more kittens needed." That's how he rolls.

Work

I broke my own recently-enacted rule and checked my work email (twice) over my days off. I shouldn't have. My days off are much more enjoyable when I don't know what's waiting for me on the other side.

The View from Bathroom #2

Since I shared the view from the master toilet yesterday, I thought I'd share another toilet point-of-view today. I call this particular view, "Meditation in Purple."


Yes, we were at Lowe's today. How did you guess? We are contemplating this color family for the powder room, along with this lighting fixture. Below is an enlarged, white-balanced, and brightened picture of the paint colors. Anyone have a favorite? (I still think the photo is darker than the real colors)

And while we're on the subject of colors, check out today's home-tastic purchase: throw pillows!

They are actually matching reversible pillows. The orange is iridescent, and turns red and yellow depending on the light and the angle. If World Market had more than two in stock, we definitely would have bought more. Sadly, what you see is what we were able to get. The house needed a color outside of the beige family, and the pillows are definitely a (small) step in the right direction!

Bird Watcher

I was sitting here at the desk a few minutes ago watching a pair of sand hill cranes out the window. They were jack-hammering the edge of the pond, and I was wondering what they ate. The way they were digging, I'm thinking bugs. (and if that's the case, I want one as a pet!) I love all the birds that the pond attracts, and am getting curious about them.

And then my own nature called. (sorry, but it's sort of essential to the story) I was in the master bathroom checking out the drab gray sky through the partially-open blinds (the window is high - it's not an immodest thing to do, I swear!) when all of a sudden I couldn't believe my eyes. I don't care what you look at when you're on the toilet. Be it book, magazine, or peeling paint, I am quite sure you're not looking at anything as amazing as what I was looking at...

I can't remember whether I've already mentioned that the bald eagles around here have been a source of fascination for Scott and me since we moved in. We saw two at the top of a tree near the dumpster, and have both seen - and failed to photograph - a single eagle down at the pond. For all their size and terrifying sharp talons and beaks, these birds are skittish! One camera BEEP from 50 feet away and they fly off.

I still can't believe I finally got a picture. The camera was downstairs, so I turned it on and did all of the noisy steps before I even got back to the window. The BEEP as the picture was taken once again sent the eagle flying off. No second chance today! Hopefully I'll get another chance, maybe with blue skies, another day. For now, I'm off to reprogram my camera and turn off the sounds.

Domestic FAIL!

I wanted to sleep in today. Mentally, I needed to sleep in today. Despite my new later shift, my eyes have popped open every day for the past 10 days between 7 and 8. The alarm has been set for 10. I forget what it sounds like!

This morning I had a minor panic attack when I woke up at 6:50 to the sound of a very large boom. Scott assured me that it was a dump truck or something, and I managed to get back to sleep. And sleep I did...all the way to 10:30.

Unfortunately, instead of rejuvenating me, the extra sleep this morning has basically turned me into a lump. A lump with bad eating habits. Two slices of Amish friendship bread for breakfast, and a cinnamon scone and cheddar-sour cream potato chips for lunch. It also doesn't help my motivation that the cool weather has kept Elphie on my lap most of the day. She'll pretend she loves you for HOURS if she can curl up on a warm lap, and I'm a sucker for a sleeping kitten.

None of that makes me a domestic failure. It just means I'm lazy. News flash? Not so much! I'm also giving myself some leeway since last week's "days off" involved playing hostess and popping cookies in and out of the oven and smiling and giving tours and pretending the whole thing was effortless. It was fun, but damn! When do I get to just sit? Oh yeah - today!

Scott had a craving for eggplant parm, and we figure it should be an easy enough recipe to tackle. Apparently it's so easy that none of our dozen cookbooks has a recipe. It's like okra all over again - if you were supposed to make it, your grandmother would have taught you. Luckily, you can find anything on the Internet. I emailed him the ingredients, and we'll probably make it tonight, since nothing else is thawed. Meatless meal? He'll probably bring home a bag of frozen meatballs. Mmm...meatballs... Maybe we can negotiate the eggplant after all...

Blow Dryer

I just got out of the shower and put clean pajamas on. Nope, not skipping work, just taking my time getting ready. And since it's a little warm here in the office (windows closed due to the rain, thermostat set to 80), I have a fan pointed at me. And since I have the fan pointed at me anyway, I flipped my hair over the top of the chair in hopes that it will be mostly dry by the time I get ready for work.

This post has been brought to you by NaBloPoMo, where it doesn't matter what you write, but that you write it!

Amish Friendship Bread

I have two loaves of bread in the oven right now (and now that I've mentioned it here, the message has been spread across my whole Internet footprint!). The Amish Friendship Bread has a weird ingredient when you get to Day 10 and are mixing & baking: 1 box of vanilla instant pudding.

It's sweet, it smells good, and I like vanilla pudding, so I'm not questioning it. I'm curious though if it has to be vanilla. I have another batch that will be ready in 10 days, and am thinking about using the new seasonal pumpkin pudding and adding a little extra clove and whatever else those pumpkin pie spices are to give it seasonal flavor. Maybe raisins or chocolate chips?

I doubt I'll be able to hear the oven timer from up in the office, so we'll leave it at that for now. Anyone have input on changing the flavor up?

The Roads that Shouldn't Be Taken

I got lost last night on my way home from work. Nope, not my proudest moment. And because it was so absurd, I thought I'd share it with you:

The green line on the above map shows the most direct route from work to my house (well, toward my house - I needed to zoom in and the route is too long). There are scheduled times when the road on the green line is closed, in which case I take the orange route home. There are also scheduled times - maybe 2 or 3 per month that I have to deal with - when the orange route is also shut down. In these cases, I take the red route, which joins up with the other two just off the top of the image.

Last night, the green route was scheduled to be open, but due to some situation was closed. I made it about 1/2 mile before I had to turn around and head back. I called Scott to tell him I'd be a little bit late, and while I was talking to him, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and took the red route instead of the orange. And then 10 minutes later I must have REALLY not been paying attention because I made a wrong turn and couldn't make a U-turn for a mile after that! (demonstrated above my the blue squiggle)

I finally made it home, though I'm not sure how late I was. Probably 15-20 minutes. That's pretty significant considering the normal trip home only takes 25-30.

Tonight? I'll drive home with my phone in its holster.

Theater Outing

Scott and my Encore buddy Katie and I went out to Winter Park last night to see Jekyll & Hyde at G.O.A.T. Two of my other Encore friends were in the show, plus it's one that I love the music and had never seen performed.

The performers were great. They were better than any community theater show I'd ever been a part of. They reminded me of beautiful exotic animals trapped in a zoo though. Professional-caliber performances (for the most part) trapped in a splatter-painted plywood cage. The venue is really small - maybe 50 seats - and really relies on the audience wanting to believe and being willing to absolutely suspend disbelief. Oh yeah - and canned music! That was a surprise.

We also had a great time people-watching before the show. Katie ended up next to a girl whose friends were in the row in front of us. Wearing sky-high heels and a pink dress that made her look like Club Hop Barbie, she leaned over to her friends and whispered - not quietly enough - "I'm not wearing any panties! tee hee" Katie told me in the car on the way home that she had a conversation with Barbie, who told her she never gets a chance to dress up, and what better time to do so than when going to the theater? I wonder what she wears to church.

It was a great night. Today before work (like now-ish) I'm off to the apartment to get a load of clothes into my trunk. Mom is coming up tomorrow morning and taking them and the giant ice cream maker off my hands.

Morning? I'll Take Your Word For It!

I think we can all agree by now that I'm not so much a morning person. I work nights for a reason - mostly so that I can have three hours between the alarm and walking out the door to gradually wake up. My mom was the same way when I was a kid. I could still tell you her morning routine, but I'm sure she'd prefer that I not!

Anyway, I'm in at 9 today. My alarm was set for 7 and I have to leave at 8:15. Not enough wake up time! Also not enough time for a juicy blog post. But really, nothing has happened since last night except Kilo crying at the bedroom door at 5 am. And since I haven't killed or maimed him, I guess it's not really news.

Big Weekend Gets Bigger

The open house was, to me, a wonderful success. Most of the people we really hoped would come made the trip out to "the development that doesn't exist on my GPS!" We had random overlaps and plenty of downtime. It was great. It really feels like home now.

And I think I started telling people we're having a Christmas party.

We'll see about that!

Tomorrow after work, Katie is coming over and we're all going to see Jekyll & Hyde in Winter Park. Two of my friends are in the show and I can't wait to see them. Right now though, I really want to just sleep! It's been a long couple of days. Maybe Sunday I can sleep in?

(Oh, and when you have a housewarming, people buy gifts in three categories: the traditional bread & salt, the bottle of booze, or the candle. We now have lots of those things. No ugly towels though...I guess that's more of a wedding gift!)

Open House

We're ready for the open house...except for the fact that Scott is currently vacuuming outside the office and hasn't showered yet. Luckily we have an hour to go. And to be honest, I'm expecting a very modest turnout.

Please let someone show up...

Photus Interruptus

I realized sitting here this morning that the office window has a great view. Well, if you look straight out the office window, you just see the building next door, in all its orange stucco glory. But if you look between the buildings, there's a lovely view of the "lake." I wanted to take a picture to show off the view, but Milo had other ideas.

Nature Photography with Jamie (and Milo)

Step 1: grab camera

Step 2: focus on beautiful view

Step 3: recoil in shock as your viewfinder is suddenly full of orange fur...Step 4: Go back to what you were doing on the computer. There's no sense getting the cat all pissed off by shoving him out of your way.

Step 5: Realize the cat has left the windowsill and it's safe to try again

Step 6: Grab camera

Step 7: Focus on beautiful view

Step 8: Get frustrated thinking the only 'beautiful view' you'll be photographing today is the cat (who this time managed to obstruct the view so fully that the auto-flash came on)...

Step 9: When the cat finally leaves the room and you have the opportunity to take the damn picture, you realize that the screen in the window really messes with the auto-focus. Oh well... I guess you'll have to take my word that it's a beautiful view! Here's what I got...

Daily Show Moment

The Daily Show last night reminded me why I don't even bother trying to watch news networks anymore. Too much ridiculous spin!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Indecision 2009 - Reindecision 2008 And Beyond
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

(the mockery starts around 5:15 if you don't have time for the full clip)

While we're at it, I'm not going to embed the video, but it's worth a look at the "Clash of the Cretins," where they debate whether Philly or New York has the 'douchiest' fans. Having grown up there, all I can say is, "yep...that's about right!"

Busy Morning

I had a date at 9:30 this morning with a guy I've spoken to on the phone a few times, but never met. I tried to set him up with Scott, but Scott is working crazy overtime this week, so the date ended up being all mine. Some of the shelves on our b.f. tub had developed cracks, and since water damage terrifies me, and since the house is under warranty, we called it in. So after multiple rounds of phone-tag (as it turns out, I'm a hard gal to get a hold of), we set up a time for this morning.

And so I awoke at 8, showered in the other bathroom (Suave body wash? it sucks as much as their conditioner. I smell pink, and was still sticky after rinsing off), started a load of laundry, and started a batch of cookies. He called at 9:30 to say he was running late, but I didn't care. West Wing was on Bravo, and I was in full-on cookie mode.

When he got here, he said hi to Milo, who declined to politely return the greeting, and I showed him the damage. He assured me that there's no possibility of water damage. There's a full plastic cover behind the surround. And he went to work doing whatever it is he did. I think tape and epoxy were involved. And I went back to my cookies.

Now the bedroom smells like the inside of a bottle of nail polish. Luckily, it's cool, so I turned off the a/c and opened the windows wide. The bathroom window is wide open, the fan is on, and the door is closed. Hopefully by the time Scott comes home, the smell will have gone away.

As for the cookies, there will be no baking today. I made a batch of Toll House dough, split it in half, and made a half batch of orange-chocolate chip and a half batch of chocolate-toffee chip. I rolled them into slice & bake logs and stowed them in the fridge. This way I can make a dozen at a time and the house will smell like cookies during the open house. And of course, then people can eat the cookies. After all, it's one of the few things I make well!

I have a fine coating of flour, sugar, eggs, etc. on my hands and arms, and I'm convinced there's still dough under my nails, but that's the joy of baking, right? Yet another reason it's good to get that step out of the way today.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I seem to have forgotten the clothes in the dryer. I think they're going to need a fluff!

It's Sass, Isn't It?

The Restaurant is now the proud owner of a very expensive-looking round wooden table with what looks like marble inlays. It's one of those pieces that you look at and can't decide whether you like it, or whether it's ugly. But it definitely looks expensive. And at The Restaurant, it's usually expensive that they're going for.

The table came last week, flat-packed in a box that was probably 36"x36"x10". It was standing on its narrow side, so taking up roughly 36x10" of floor space, of course in my office. When I made a crack to the Chef about being punished for having less clutter than anyone else, he promised me that they were going to have maintenance come and put it together.

I returned from my days off, and found that the Chef had been true to his word. The table had been assembled, and left in exactly the same space in the office. Only now it's taking up roughly 3 times the floor space. And it's in front of a shelf that I use every day.

And so, much like an older sibling resenting the shiny new baby for taking up space and diverting attention, I sort of resent the table. So I made the table the butt of a joke:

Obviously, the tablecloth and the typed note were there before I got back. Had I written the note, it would have been in a nicer font and had a border. Anyway, in case you can't read them, the three yellow notes read, "(except this tablecloth)," "(and that note)," "(and these post-its)."

It's ok if nobody laughs but me. Because every time I see that, it makes me smile. And what could be better than that?

A Plan!

I'm meeting up today with Laura and Richard for lunch. They did the Food & Wine Festival yesterday, and are going back home today... after lunch with meeeee!

I'm glad I have cousins, since the "siblings" I have didn't enter my life until after age 20. It's nice to see them, even if it's not nearly often enough.