No I am Not...

Pregnant!!!!!

Darn you Carrie!


Will post anew asap. My work computer is updating and the estimated time is flippin 8 hours.

BTW, my twitter explains the vast amounts of wine consumed this weekend. If I was preggers, I would not be doing this.

Crackberry Friday: Gossip!

Ok, kinda. Do you know what this is?

It's called a Gossip Chair. It was in my Nana and Grampy's home. The phone on it is a PB take on a vintage phone. When my Nana sold her home to move down here, I was asked if there was anything I wanted from the house. I was so scared that someone else was going to want this chair but fate played it's part and it was mine.

When I was growing up, this chair next to the stairway and it had a phone on it and an address book on the shelf under the seat. For many years the phone that sat there was an old black rotary phone, very heavy in the hand. It also was the first and only phone in the house and it wasn't a small home. Many an hour was spent in this gossip chair on the phone. I loved this chair and the phone. On holidays we would call family members that couldn't be with us from it and if I wasn't there for a holiday I could imagine the people I was speaking to sitting at that chair, under the stairs, beneath the clock.

My Nana's home was my favorite place on earth. There are smells and sounds and sights that I will forever associate with that house. When I was extremely stressed, I would dream about her home and it became a safe haven in my dreams. Having this chair in my home is like a dream come true.

Oldie But Goodie

This is a blatent repost but as I am overwhelmed with work (I should have already done but was blogging) I need to do it. Enjoy.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Why Blackberrys are Dangerous
Actual email I sent to my Mom while she is on vacation..."So Peter and I are totally drunk and I decided to email you to let you know. If we were drink img Carib with you we would probabbly not be so drunk. Byt the way we decieded if we had a child and it was a girl her name would be Vesper.Love JenSent via BlackBerry by AT&T"My Mom told me this was the first drunk email/text she'd ever received. Let this be a lesson.

Senior Cut Day 1991

We were warned, our parents were warned. If we even tried to cut on "Senior Cut Day" there would be severe consequences.

Pah!

My friend J and I convinced our mothers' to write notes. I had a lot of badgering to do but J didn't. Where did we decide to spend our Senior Cut Day? The beach? A pool? The mall? No silly, with our boyfriends...at their private all boys school.

This was before everyone and their little high school kids had cell phones so the timing had to be exactly right. This school was not in the best of neighborhoods and two HS girls standing outside this school would not be a safe thing. J had a car and she drove us to the school. We made it there with no problems and we even snuck inside with no adults seeing us. We were ushered to the Yearbook Room as it was the room furthest away from any adults that might be passing by.

One small problem.

There was Mass in the chapel today and everyone had to attend. This also meant that adults would just be looking for boys trying to get out of Mass. The Yearbook Room had suddenly become one of the worst places to be. Luckily, the Yearbook Room was next to the Mother's Guild Room. There were tons of boxes and shelves for holiday decorations and all matter of motherly guild-y stuff. So the boys hid us behind boxes on shelves. For some reason, we brought books. I don't remember why. I guess it was for when our guys were in class and we had nothing better to do. So we were comfortably arranged on the shelves, books available and Diet Cokes in our hands.
For awhile all was quiet as the boys were at Mass. Then, we heard it. Footsteps coming through the Yearbook Room. J and I looked at each other and froze. We barely breathed as we saw shoes and pant legs enter the Mother's Guild Room. The shoes and pants walked past the shelves, turned and went out the door...

then. shut. out. the. light.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we heard the shoes retreat down the stairs. We just sat there...in the dark...in the all boys school....

After about an hour, our boys came back and rescued us from our hiding places. The rest of the day was spent as honored guests. Boys bringing us lunch, snacks or just coming by to say hi. Eventually, when 8th period rolled around, we even attend a class...in the all boys school...during senior cut day. The teacher was cool and assumed we were there just at that moment, not all day.

And

We got away with it. Their school never caught us, our school never caught us. It went down as one of the best capers in our short history. We still revel in it.

Saturday and Sunday

See what happens when you don't have internet access over the weekend...it spills into the week.

So Saturday I spent all day outside. I weeded all the gardens with the exception of the jungle with the poison ivy. Still don't know what to do with that. I also took G-dog for a LONG walk along one of the trails close by. She was totally wiped out when we came back. I needed her to be so I could finish weeding without her staring at me through the screen door. I then went over to get some more plants for the gardens. On my way to the farm stand I called my Mom and invited her to dinner and to stay over since P was out of town and because she is ready to kill my brother for not putting her furniture back in the house (long story). So I made Grape Tomatoes with Shrimp and Romano Cheese over Orzo and salad. We also consumed 2 bottles of wine. This of course opened the flood gates for her. We had one of those mother daughter conversations that goes down in your personal history. There was laughter there were tears...there was TMI (in the form of what is going on with her boyfriend in Anguilla and stuff about my Dad)...and secrets revealed that I intended to keep forever (in terms of stuff you don't tell your mother for fear of how she'll react even if it was something really bad that happened to you). It is better that they are out there now though.

So she stayed over and we had coffee and cheddar dill scones (homemade, thank you) and cherries for breakfast. After she left, I planted my new plants and in the process dug up MORE dafs that I now need to replant in the fall. It looks really pretty out there and now I need to make some hard decisions about the azaleas. They look completely tired out and I don't think anything can bring them back to their former glory. Just means MORE digging.

Friday Continued...

THERE ARE SATC SPOILERS HERE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

So FINALLY the day had come where I get to see Sex and the City. I have been waiting to see it with my girlfriends for weeks now. I've been avoiding the reviews, talkshows, conversations, etc. I hit the grocery store and bought kettle corn and M&M's to put in my big bag o' contraband. So, the movie...I loved it. It was every bit of the show and more. It was also the closure I think I needed. I laughed, I cried I had FUN! I haven't had FUN in a movie in years. Here are a few notes:

1. Poor Charlotte, thinking something bad was going to happen to her because it did to Miranda and Carrie. I wanted to hug her.
2. Ok, the bird on Carrie's head for the wedding...we all know THAT is why he didn't get out of the car. It might have pooped on his tux.
3. Miranda and her...um...untamed landscaping, spoke VOLUMES about her relationship with Steve (mental note, find good esth...eist..waxer).
4. Did anyone else thing Smith became a tad arrogant? He was still a pretty good guy but he was pretty much taking up all her time and space. He also should have been a lot more sorry about not being home for the sushi thing.
5. Did ANYONE see the Steve thing coming!? BOOM, out of left field. Still love him though.
6. Louise...I LOVED her. She should have been on the show, period.

Anyway, that was my take. I will probably buy it and watch it over and over again much to P's dismay.

The Dog Tried to Make Brownies

This is how my weekend without internet started.
I walk in the door to let G-dog out at around noon Friday and notice a bottle of vegetable oil on the rug in the living room oil spots on the sisel rug and the cap next to the bottle AND a bitten but not eaten box of brownie mix on the floor under the dining table.

Me: (calling out) G-dog!, (waiting) G-dog!

G-dog: (Comes out of bedroom, sleepily blinking eyes and wagging tail) Dude, I was sleeping. What's up.

Me: What did you do?!

G-dog: Well I ate the treats you left for me. The one you hid under the pillow was hard to find. Relaxed a bit, got bored with moose, rabbit, squirrel, et al and went into the kitchen to find something to do. I went in to the room I'm not supposed to and decided to make brownies.

Me: Brownies.

G-dog: Yeah. So I got the brownie mix out and then realized I needed vegetable oil so I went and got that. Then I realized the oil was in a plastic bottle and you know how much I like plastic bottles.

Me: Uh-huh

G-dog: So it started innocently enough, I was working on getting the cap off then I bit the bottle and it felt so good I continued. Then I tasted the oil and decided, ick! So I dropped it on the floor and nosed it around a few times, trying to get the oil out and eventually I went back to the brownie box and realized that I needed eggs AND water too. Well I had water in my bowl but the eggs are in the fridge and I couldn't reach them so I abandoned the whole brownie idea and went back to the bedroom and took a nap.

Me: So you do realize that you can't have brownies. They are chocolate and not good for you.

G-dog: Really!? Huh. Well I guess it's a good thing I didn't make them then.

Still Alive...

...but without internet. Grrr! I am quickly doing this via Crackberry. Have lots to blog abut but it's starting to fall out of my ears. GAAAAA!

Friday Crackberry: A History Lesson and Beer

Click to view larger

I pass this historic inn every day on my way to work. It is the General Lafayette Inn and Brewery. It is located in Lafayette Hill, PA. You can probably guess who the town and the Inn are named for, General Lafayette (duh). Here is some history about the place. If you don't have time to hit that link, General Lafayette spent time here and in the town which was called Barren Hill during the American Revolution (for you readers in the UK, that scuffle that happened after Concord and Lexington. BTW, HBO's John Adams taught me more about history than any history class). He fled at one point b/c the British had a plan to capture him there. They didn't (FAIL!) and he came back. He spent time in the Inn with his fellow strategists but history does not tell us if he slept there...maybe he just passed out at some point.

Anyway, now it is an eating and drinking establishment. They brew their own beer which is quite good. They have a Sunset Red which seems to be P's drink of choice but I like to sample the others when they come out. The Chocolate Porter is a thing of beauty and if you 1/2 it with the Red Velvet, well you have a really nice beer you can sip on for a good long time. P and his friend W spent many a night in this bar before I came along and a bit after. They even had their own mugs and thought themselves kings of the pool table. Now that W has a child and P plays flippin hockey or soccer every day (ok maybe not every day) their trips there are much fewer. I will always remember it as the first place I met my future SIL and was insanely nervous and the first place I was jealous (from of the attention P got from the female bartenders). Ah memories.

We have not been in awhile but I love looking at the building and thinking about the spirits of many generations past going on about the place. Maybe someday I'll catch a ghostly pic with my Crackberry. :)

Dizzy with Bloggy Love

Or it was that 3rd glass of white wine.

Seriously, I have been blogging for around 6 months now. I enjoy writing and putting it all out there (in a tasteful way, *snort*) for all to see. Yesterday though, I was overwhelmed with what other writers had to say about my blogging. We all carve out a little time to write then visit our friends on-line. In this day and age, that is an accomplishment in itself. I am privileged to say that so many of you took the time to comment and read. I am overwhelmed and trust me...that is a rarity in this cynical gal's life. :) You can see how my blog roll has grown. I am going to do everything I can to hit your blogs on a daily basis beacause...

(OMG, JAAAAAAAAAAAA! there was just a flippin spider on me. Get the Raid, get the net, get me another glass of wine)

ahem, we all can use that boost, that juice of comment-ism to just brighten up our days.

Ya'll rock! And I don't break out the NC accent for just anyone.

Crackberry Pic: Not So Fun...

**NOTE**
Today is Thursday and while my Crackberry pictures are usually on Fridays, I could not let this one wait till then.


We are all trying to cut back to be able to fill our gas tanks and buy those groceries, increasing in cost by the millisecond. We time our errands efficiently, we buy local, we brown bag it, we push the envelope on the sell by dates of dairy (ok, eww); anything that might help. When we look for a small indulgence to remind us that someday we will be able go back to our normal, therapeutic levels of retail therapy sometimes we get b-slapped.





Today the full scale of the economic crisis hit me.





M&M's downsized their fun.





This 'fun size' pack of M&M's had only 5 M&M's (and 1 crushed to smithereens but that doesn't count). I thought maybe that this was a rouge bag and someone on the assembly line decided to pull a Lucy and Ethel, making this particular bag light on the goodies. BUT NO! I checked a couple other bags (I did not open them, I felt them up) then more. Some of them had 4! Is this fun to you? It's not fun to me. It should be called "almost fun but enough to make you upset you don't have more size" or "cheap grandma size" or "bad box lunch on field trip size."






There is nothing fun about 5 M&M's when you have your period, period.



If any kids whose parents work for TM & Mars come to my house for Halloween, they are getting toothpaste.

And the Winner Is...

one lonely glass of wine.

Why you might ask?

Because P was being a PITA and I needed a glass to calm down after he tried his very best to make me say I was wrong when I knew I was right.

BTW...I have those BIG wine glasses that look like fishbowls on a stem.

Beer or Wine

I am contemplating this because I think I want one of them but I am a bit out of it today. I have a period headache you see. Sorry to you men who just read that but that is also why this post is a bit off. I am tired, maybe a little dizzy but it is a GORGEOUS evening here and all I want to do is sit outside with a beverage. The thing is, I won't finish a whole bottle of wine but I am not thinking a beer will do it for me. This is one of those rare summer evenings here where the humidity is low, there is a soft breeze and it's in the low 70's. My period headache is keeping me from enjoying it. Damn you Aunt Flo! So, I am going to go back downstairs. Make my choice and let you know tomorrow which way I decided to go.

Kids, Kids, Kids!

You'd think I was complaining but I am not. This weekend friends of ours had a beautiful baby boy and we visited them in the hospital. The little guy took to me right away (supposedly did not do that well with one of the G-mom's, I'm just sayin) and totally made my ovaries hurt more than any other child has. Also my neice and nephew are in town from CA (their parents are too but while they are funny and good to drink with they are not as cute).
I love my neice and nephew. They are extremely well behaved, smart and imaginitive kids. I give all the credit to their parents and hope that if we do have kids that we can be half the parents they are. I also got to read my nephew his bedtime story. It was so sweet to me that he thought it was a big deal.
We will see them again tonight at dinner as well as P's G-mom so we will have 4 generations under one roof. I think that's a cool way to spend a Monday evening.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad!

Today we celebrate our Dads by showing them that we care. We may do it by bbq-ing, giving them presents or just letting them relax. Today I did something I know my Dad could relate to an appreciate. I edged grass.

My Dad was an engineer, methodical, precise; a perfectionist. He took care of our 2&1/2 acres of property like it was his second full time job. The front lawn always looked perfect, like a pool of green that you'd want to roll around in and fall asleep. He had a push mower and a tractor. He NEVER drove the tractor on the front lawn because he said it was too heavy. The flower beds were perfectly lined up and the stone wall he built around one of the huge trees in the front lawn looks like a professional landscaper painstaking laid each field stone to this day.

So today, when I went to the cemetery to leave some flowers and have a little chat, I noticed that the around the edge of the plaque that marks his spot, the grass was starting to grow over a little. I thought that the cemetery maintenance was supposed to keep up with that. Anyway, I thought to myself, "This would have bugged Dad. I wonder if I have scissors in the car still." I went and check the glove compartment and sure enough I did. So I went to work and edged the plaque by hand.

When I was growing up, people always thought that I was more like my Mom. As I went through my twenties and now halfway into my thirties, I think I turned out more like my Dad; always striving for perfection, even when not warranted or needed. Today, I was my father's daughter, edging the grave marker, making sure that it was out lined tastefully and crisply. Clipping a blade here and there, blowing off all the stray clippings. I know that Dad would have gotten what I did and appreciated it. That made celebrating Father's Day a happy occasion for me instead of the sad one it could have been.

Special G-Dog Day

Today is G-Dog's 1st Adoption day!

One year ago today, P and I traveled up the NJ turnpike to the Woodrow Wilson Service Plaza to meet and bring home our sweetie.

Yes, she peed in the car on the way home but we were prepared with a tarp in the back of the car. Yes, she barely sat down the whole way home. Probably just really happy to be out of the traveling RV kennel. We were just so happy to be bringing her home after 2 months of waiting that we could barely contain ourselves.

It all started when P and I decided we were ready to take the big step to getting a dog. We knew we were going to adopt and I began searching Petfinder.com. A couple places faulted us for not having a fenced back yard and this made me sad. Were we unfit to be dog parents? After all, all the books said you shouldn't leave your dog outside unattended anyway. We were planning on twice a day walks for an hour each. Being rejected was heartbreaking. Then we found Daisy through PAWS - New England. PAWS works with Tipton Treasures in Tennessee. They bring dogs out of the kill shelters, vet them and adopt them out to people from Tennesee all the way to New Hampshire! Daisy was a lock for us but there was a family that just got in before us so Daisy went to another good home. As soon as they found out Daisy had already been adopted, I got an email about G-dog. She was at a kill shelter in Tennessee and was surrendered with two other dogs. We could not resist her cute face and smile from the picture we were sent and there was NO way we were going to let her be in a kill shelter. It was just SO wrong!

So we immediately said, YES! Get her vetted! We want to bring her home!

She still needed her heartworm test and she still needed to be spayed so we waited for each of those hurdles until we had our pickup day scheduled.

On June 13th 2007 we brought our little G-dog home. She is our southen belle and we love her more than we ever thought we could.

Click on the slide show for better viewing. :)

The Bells

Awhile back I wrote about my Cape Cod summer love (ok, not really love but you get the idea). I mentioned that there were bells involved at some point and that I would write about them later. It is now later.
So this guy that I met on the Cape who turned out to be the best kisser ever and I were out on the beach near our house one night. It was dark and I couldn't see my watch. I didn't worry though because I could always hear the church bells ring the hour. I had to be home by 11pm. So there we were, kissing on the beach on a blanket. The moon was out, the water lapped on the beach and his sweatshirt smelled heavenly, like suntan lotion and 'guy' (in a good way). So I listened for the bells to let me know what time I needed to be home. You can see where this is going. I of course lost track of time and never heard the bells. My Mom sent my brother out to the beach to look for me and of course he saw me but what was he going to say, "Um excuse me, but can you get your face off that guy because it's after your curfew and mom is pissed"? Considering he was all of like 7 or 8 at the time, I think not. So he of course reported back that I was kissing a guy on the beach on a blanket. (BTW, my brother was also the one that told my Mom about my tattoo and my bellybutton piercing. Thanks, T.) Eventually, I must have gotten it through my head that it was late and I did not hear any bells. So we made our way back to the house. He left and I went inside. Sitting at the dining table in their nightgowns (not pj's, nightgowns) were my mom, my aunt and my grandmother. They were all still up. My mom was all, "What were you doing out there this late, you were supposed to be home by 11pm, yadda yadda, yadda." I was all, "But it wasn't my fault. I didn't hear the bells!" They all looked at me, like "What is she talking about." I said, "You know the church bells. I was waiting to hear them and I didn't hear them. It's not my fault!"
All 3 of them burst out laughing, trying to compose themselves to be mad at me. My mom snorted then my aunt. Eventually I just had to walk away because they couldn't stop. Unfortunately, I still got punished the next day. I had to come in an hour earlier my last night on the Cape. From then on, every year, I was the butt of the joke about "The bells, the bells!"

Way to Go FEMA!

I just read this article on CNN:
FEMA gives away $85 million of supplies for Katrina victims

FEMA claimed it was unaware that there were people still in need of items.

Um....

Are you serious!?

You need to read this article especially in light of the most recent flooding in Wisconsin and Iowa. Why is FEMA still run by people who it seems try to stay as uninformed as possible. I do not doubt that there are capable people that work for the agency that probably get beaten down by their superiors but to actually come out and say "the items were no longer needed in the stricken region. So it declared them "federal surplus" and gave them away."

I am in absolute shock...although I know I really shouldn't be. Also, there are a couple comments that are really off the mark and sickened me even more. I

Community Bathroom Etiquette

Dear Ladies,

I realize that some of you have to hover pretty darn high over the seat to avoid touching the virus/bacteria/Andromeda plastic on said toilet. It looks like for some of you aim is becoming quite bad. Might I remind you that this bathroom is used by clients as well as employees on this floor and no on wants to have to play musical toilet seats while searching for a clean one (I won't even go into the whole non-flushing thing and YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE YOU NASTY WHORES), especially not that client you are trying to land with your lovely smelling lunches that you don't offer to the rest of the floor, but I digress... Please take a moment to wipe your urine off the seat so that some unsuspecting visitor with a full bladder and weak eyesight doesn't rush in, sit down and then slide off the seat due to the slip and slide nature of which you left the seat.

Your cooperation is most appriciated.

5th Floor Pee Seat Buster

Pimp My Blog!

I am SURE this has been said before but I REALLY need help. This totally is not my style with the exception of the name and the pic. I really need help from

eightcrazydesign

Have you seen this site? Wow she knows what she is doing. I really need some help.

Building on Fire?

Apparently not.

That did not stop all 8 floors of our building to have to go out into the 90% humidity at about 95 degrees. About 10 seconds after I wrote the post below, our fire alarm went off. I am not sinning in my office, sweaty, itchy and generally yucky. I understand the safty issue of fire alarms and needing to evacuate buildings but since there was no actual emergency and since the air quality today is at such an unhealthy level, don't you think it would have made sense to let us stand in the freaking shade eventhough it was technically outside the 'saftey zone'?

Really Boring Post. Hopefully Won't Happen Again

I am inhaling my lunch as I write this b/c I took my real lunch time to go to the doctors. They don't seem to know what's wrong with me either but sent me on my way with a perscription for prednisone. Hopefully it will work and that will be the end of it. If it's not, I will be back there again next week.
Most of my weekend consited of hiding from the heatwave that has hit us. I literally looked outside with fear on my face. G-dog got 2 walks in the earliest part of the day possible and she was content to lay around the house the rest of the time. The only time I was out for a significant amount of time was when we met friends out for dinner and we got ice cream afterwards (the poor girl we were with is 6 days overdue with her first child). Other than that we did nothing at all. I read a good deal and Mom called from Bobo-BS5-Suburbia country to let me know she was having a fabulous time with L and they took a nice river cruise up the Thames. Oh, supposedly it has been quite warm there too, 75 or 80. So I was able to explain to the doc the green color of my skin today but not the itchys.

It is Not Time for this Heat!

Very quick post before I die of heatstroke. It has been EXTREMELY hot here and way too humid. As our computer is on the second floor, I have chosen to live rather than spend time up there. Hope your weekend was good. I will post on Monday about my fabulously boring weekend in the heat. ;)

Friday Crackberry Pic: Makin' Whoopie

HA!

What did you think you were going to see here!? I am going to run out of title teasers soon. Anyway, this is a Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish delicacy; the Whoopie Pie (yeah, yeah other places have them but they have a cooler name here). This is what Wikipedia has to say about them:

"A whoopie pie, sometimes alternatively called a gob, black-and-white, or bob is a baked good traditional to the Pennsylvania Dutch culture as well as New England, made of two small, chocolate, disk-shaped cakes with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them. In Western Pennsylvania they are known as "gobs."
Moist, creamy, and simply delicious with a cold glass of milk, they are popular both as a simple dessert or as a snack food. They can be purchased wrapped in plastic at Amish farmers' markets throughout Pennsylvania, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio and are often found in restaurants and gift shops throughout Pennsylvania Dutch Country. They can also be found in most convenience stores and supermarkets throughout New England and in some convenience marts and supermarkets in New York as well as in Quincy Market located in Boston, Massachusetts. As one of the most common delicacies of the cuisine, recipes for whoopie pies are almost always included in Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks."

I got mine today at the Conshohocken Farmers Market. Actually, today they probably should have called it the Conshohocken Farmer Market as there was a poor showing of farmers. Anyway, there was a nice Amish family there today and they happened to be selling whoopie pies (they had other stuff too but the WP's took precedence for me, it being lunchtime and all). Yes, I realize that the Amish have a bad rap in PA for being puppy mill purveyors and I shouldn't support that blah, blah but since they didn't seem to be selling any puppies, I purchased their pie. (Workin' the alliteration today, can ya feel it?)

Since the chocolaty goodness is now wafting to my nose I must close this post, grab some milk and have at my Friday Whoopie.

I Know What You Did at Lunchtime

Today I had to go home at lunch to let G-dog out. P and I try to alternate, and by alternate I mean mostly me, getting home around mid-day to let her relieve herself and have a little quality time with something other than her stuffed toys and the woodland creachers that torture her from just outside the window. Usually I play (or try to, she is not a play-y, dog), sit outside or work on her manners but today, I did something really indulgent...just for me...my own version of afternoon delight...

I took a nap.

I only had 30 minutes for it but it felt oh so bad (in a good way) to slide under the covers in the middle of the work day just for a little while. G-dog joined me although she probably didn't sleep so much as resent the fact that I was not awake. I set my alarm on the 'nap' setting (BTW, I highly recommend getting an alarm clock that does this) and fell asleep in all of probably 5 minutes. When the alarm went off 30 minutes later, I actually smiled. It was just enough time to feel indulged. I stretched, turned off the alarm and sighed. G-dog did the same and then we went though our routine of me heading back to the office.

I would be lying if I say that nap did my energy level a world of good. As a matter of fact I am drinking liquid crack (Monster - the green one) because I have to be nice to customers at Lottery Yarn tonight and me, tired and itchy is not a good combo. So if I am just itchy maybe I'll only be 1/2 bitchy when someone complains about a price...but I digress (don't we all). Naps to me are like little presents. The feeling of letting your body slowly sink into relaxation is one of my favorite expereiences. Being able to do it without hearing P or G-dog snore...ecstasy.
So now that you all know what I did at lunch, I must swear you to secrecy lest my bosses know that I was late getting back because of my nap and not traffic.

Food Porn: Shrimp and Orzo with Grape Tomatoes and Romano Cheese

Bobo, the ENTIRE time I said, "tom ARE to" instead of "tom MAY to".

Shrimp and Orzo with Cherry Tomatos and Romano Cheese

This is a Cooking Light Recipe and it ROCKS!

Things I changed:
1. Used grape tomatoes, like them better
2. Added some white wine (about 1/2 the glass I was drinking) to deglaze (aren't I fancy) just before putting shrimp back in the pan.

REALLY good and you can probably use rice too that was already cooked and leftover. Just omit the cooking orzo part. Also, an SB white wine is quite good with it...

also before...and also after. :)

Finally! The Scorpion

In this post I mentioned that my Mom had a confrontation with a scorpion. This information had been relayed to me via my brother, T, when he let me know that she was alive and well in Honduras (you see, she forgot to text me to let me know). Anyway, this is it. It doesn't look big on first glance BUT, that leaf, is the size of my hand, fingers spread out. It was outside the house that she stays in on the orphanage property when she is there.

Orphanage, you say? Yes, my mom spends about 2 weeks every quarter in Honduras volunteering at an orphanage/school. She is a retired teacher. When this opportunity came up, she took an immersion course in Spanish in Guatemala and although her accent is that of an American learning Spanish, she is doing really well with it.

Some of the stories about the kids there will break your heart. One kid they nick named machete because his mother beat him with one, and not the flat side. One keeps running back to the streets because he can't adjust to any other life. Also, there are 'police' that round up street children cart them out of the cities and either kill them or just abandon them.

P and I joke that since we don't have kids my Mom is going get off the plane someday with a child for us to adopt. Someday I hope to go with my Mom for one of her trips down there (P can speak Spanish pretty fluently and I can understand it very well, it's the speaking part I have trouble with). For now, she'll just have to tell us about her adventures.

I Want to Be Naked

...or why I need my own office.

I am a mess today. Besides the poison ivy, I am itchy all over (no it's not PI) from probably cheap moisturiser or the new body pouf I bought yesterday. I am going insane though. I seriously want to strip naked and roll around on the carpet like a dog. There are images of it going through my brain and I think...last night while I was scratching...I almost had an orgasm. I am TOTALLY not kidding. I am wearing a silk sweater and khaki (how do you spell that flippin' word anyway?) pants and the appropriate undergarments. All I want to do is rip them of and S C R A T C H!

Also, after I blogged about my nice evening, last night, I gouged the hee haw out of my finger (seriously, there is a hole) putting the new fixtures on the freshly painted (dried) kitchen drawers. I am usually quite handy but this was a freak accident. I am not going to be able to paint my nails for awhile.

I need wine when I get home.

UPDATE: I think my office mate just saw the title of this post. Eek

Life is Good...

I am at my computer, glass of Red Truck wine, steaks marinating, potatoes cut and ready for roasting (olive oil, garlic, pepper and salt), zucchini ready to be diced.
It was a beautiful day today. I was in my office for most of it but I am going to try to take advantage of the evening part of the day while I can.
Today was the kind of busy day where I don't get to check in on my bloggy friends and that was HARD. I have a ton of work to do for this event in July so I have a feeling there will be more days like this. I hate missing reading them though because I love the fact that there are people out there that are over emotional about books and movies, that are extremely scarcastic to their husbands and often look at the world like I do. It seemed rare to me till I started blogging. Now I know there are other crazies out there like me. :) Off to enjoy the great outdoors.

PS. The poison ivy, still brutal I officially give up on the back garden. Bring in a landscaper if I have to sell my blood for it.

Secret is in the Sauce

Great new way to see other great bloggers and get intro-ed to their site. IT was put together by a couple of my fav bloggers. Check it out.

How to Irritate Me...

Decide to hold a conversation with a long lost friend IN THE PARKING SPACE I AM VERY OBVIOUSLY ABOUT TO PULL INTO.



asshats

All Good Things Must Come to...

a new beginning.

We were at a bbq last night mainly for my football team but there were other suspects there. The bbq was at my friend K's house...well not really HER house. She has been a Nanny for the same family for 10 years and this year her charge is going off to college. The house K has been living in is a gorgeous place downtown. It has been the site for MANY classic parties since I have known her. Now though, since her charge is off to college and K just finished up her Masters, things they are a changin'. As we walked out of the house last night, she said, "This very well might be the last time you see this place." It was kind of sad but at the same time, b/c is really is time for K to move on, it was ok.

Right now, K is not sure where she is moving to, what her next job will be (she was also a teacher) and even if she'll stay in Philly. As scary as that sounds, she sounds totally fine with it. It's like she was ready for the change and what comes, comes.

The thing is, she did ask me if I was going to take over the football team. I said no. With that, I think it is truly over. I don't mean just football. Playing held some of us together, otherwise our paths would not have crossed. So this final bbq meant that there are proabably some people that I will not see again for a very long time or maybe ever. It made me realize that for the past 8 years, this is where most of my/our friendships/social gatherings stemmed. Where do we go from here? It feels a little like being single and knowing you are not going to go to bars to meet people worth dating. Many people in our situation have kids, so that is how you end up meeting people. That is not the case with us. We'll actually have to rely on our own personalities (egads) to break the ice.

So, how do a couple 35 year old DINK's go about making new friends? This is a change that we have seen coming for awhile but never really thought about much. Looks like we better or P and I will have to start spending more quality time together, egads indeed.