Bye Grandma

Toga Party
In the most current issue of Sunset magazine there is an insane full page ad with George Hamilton. I thought about scanning it but the scanner was put away and it seemed like a lot of trouble. I was sure I could find it online. So far no luck. However, I can describe it to you.

George is standing there in a bright white toga with giant sleeves trimmed with gold ribbon that looks like it was put together by a costumer in 5 minutes using glue and safety pins. George's head is crowned with what I guess is an olive wreath? And he's holding the new product: Pita Thin Toasted Chips and the quote is "Golden toasted with impeccable taste. Just like me."

I don't even know where to start.

So I guess the idea is ancient Greece=pita? This seems like a stretch to me. And why George Hamilton? Maybe he fits with the Sunset demographic which is no doubt women my age and older.

While I was searching for the ad so you could enjoy a chuckle with me, I had the fun of finding the Nabisco® website. You can sign up for a logon and password. Why would you possibly want to do that? Special subscriber content? Member only Oreo contests?

The Pita Thin stuff which is in the "no fry zone" shows George either standing in his white terrycloth bathroom eating pita thins OR in snappy golf togs in the middle of a sand trap with his packet of chips. You can ask his magic golf ball a question.

My question was, "George, why the toga?"

The answer: "I can't tell you now. The paparazzi are listening."

Erin, Cover Your Eyes
The mango splitter is awesome. It's a sturdy plastic-titanium circle with rigid eye. (These are my words, not official product propaganda.) You set the mango on its end and center the splitter on the mango. A firm but not forceful press down and: ta da. Two mango halves separate from the pit. I'd like to buy a case of mangos and split them all. Also, I like to nibble the extra mango bits from the pit just like chewing the meat off a bone.

We had mangos, yogurt and muesli for breakfast. Bob had oatmeal.

Excellent weekend. I made a pie and yesterday made spinach pasta by hand. Kenman helped me roll it out. Bob did an arty from-outside-the-dirty-window shot. Too bad we didn't move the coffee apparatus. I made a walnut-herb béchamel sauce and it had goat cheese and parmesan and turned out spectacular. We all hoovered big plate-loads. I expect to play around with this recipe more very soon.

I worked on some Photoshop lessons today and learned several features that would have saved me tremendous time had I learned them a long time ago. It's amazing how often I use a particular type of software and then one day maybe I'm looking over someone's shoulder at a document and they go click-clack and fix something with a keystroke that I was doing as some sort of neanderthal hack in a text editor with cutting and pasting and I'm thinking, "Oh, you can do that?"

I had other items I wanted to talk about but neglected to take notes so my mind is basically two brain cells floating free, hoping and praying to bump into each other.

Mt. Hood At Sunrise
A larger version here.

The other morning the sunrise was heart-stopping. The photo doesn't do it justice. It was hard to resist the impulse to keep taking pictures and just stand back and enjoy the view.

Last night we stopped by Priscilla's to drop a few things off and I noticed at least 4 snow patches in the front yard. If I would have had my camera with me I would have taken photos because who doesn't love photos of lingering patches of snow?

This morning I had an early morning appointment to get my brakes done. The idea behind the early appointment is that I'm up and on my way at the start of the day and then can run errands and so forth ushering in a day of hugely gratifying productivity. I apparently haven't learned my lesson from last time where I made an early appointment and it just meant I got to sit in the waiting room all morning instead of all afternoon after a leisurely morning of sleeping in and hot cocoa.

I didn't go to Toyota for the brakes, I went to Les Schwab and let me state again publicly that I love Hazel Dell Les Schwab. They had a problem with a part and had to get it replaced and they were very good about communicating what the problem was so I wasn't stewing at my long wait amongst the giant tires and shiny custom wheels.

I had another appointment nearby that I didn't want to miss so they drove me over there and by the time I got back, the car was almost finished. I still didn't get home until after 12:30 so the morning was shot. But at least I have new brakes and a kick ass haircut.

I think tomorrow is going to be the technology free day since I have a cooking and baking project to keep me occupied. However, Kenman is going to be here and I bought two mangoes to go with my new mango splitter so stay tuned for a mango splitting demonstration on Sunday.

Who's Tired of the Snow Patch?
It was sunny today but much colder. I ran out to grab a burrito and almost didn't take my coat and I'm glad I did because I was hopping around at the burrito cart.

When I got home I jumped out of the car to see if any trace of the snow patch remained and found this little teeny blob left. I almost wanted to scrap it in a bowl and put it in the freezer.

No Coat. Can you Believe it?
Click here for larger, prettier photo.

A Tuesday List:

1 – I might have already written about this. Bob and I used to subscribe to zillions of magazines. It was totally out of control. I think at one point we had three weeklies in addition to 8 or 9 monthlies and probably a few that only came 4 or 6 times a year. We cut way back and let things run out. We've had MacAddict for years but we actually had a conversation discussing it and agreed that we barely look at it and this was a good one to let go. So you can imagine my surprise when I came home from work one night and my beloved spouse told me that a nice phone solicitor had called and he'd re-upped us for MacAddict for three more years. No, I'm not making this up. Phone solicitor. THREE more years.

Does anyone else remember when Apple was in dire straits and they did this EvangeList stuff for Mac diehards and then iMac happened and then iPod and now it's a whole new world and apparently the time of the loose and casual MacAddict is over.

A couple weeks ago we got a magazine called MacLife and to be honest, I've only started to look at it but already I'm feeling confident that I hate it. This is exactly what happened when Yoga Journal was sold from its association of yoga teachers roots to a professional magazine corporation. The magazine becomes stupider. How much you want to bet there's an article in MacLife about a celebrity that uses Macs?

MacAddict included a CD filled with applications which MacLife is too cool for so they added even more time to our subscription. We're subscribed until NOVEMBER 2009 people. I'm going to try harder to like it.

2 – I brought my lunch today and I sat in the lunch room eating my little thermos bowl of soup and my carrots and apple and thought to myself: what was I thinking? This isn't enough to eat. So I had to go to See's candy and restock my supplies for snack food. I keep a box in my desk and I'm very disciplined, the box can last me 6 months. I don't need it every day, but when I need it, I need it.

In the store they had the heart shape Valentine's boxes. When I was a kid my Dad gave me, my sister and my Mom heart-shaped boxes of See's candy thus sealing my love of expensive chocolates at a very young age.

Later I was still hungry so I went to the office fridge to finish my breakfast since I didn't eat all of that and then, hey, there's the leftover pizza and other vegetables (should I be embarrassed to say that I brought steamed chard to work?) that I brought and totally forgot about. I can't even remember what I brought for my own lunch.

3 – I polished off my Kitchen Kaboodle gift card today and they wanted my name and phone number. Why?

I asked him, "why?" "Just in case something is wrong with the card." Really, that's what they're calling it? I hate this. Isn't enough that I'm patronizing your store? Why do you insist on mining my data? I gave away a perfectly good giftcard (for a different store) because the physical store is not convenient and there are websites devoted to how hard it is to get off their catalog list.

I know, I hate shopping. What's wrong with me?


4 – We're the only house on our street with snow left. (L) is the "big" patch from where I shoveled the driveway. Just enough for a pitcher of margaritas. Yum. (Just kidding). (R) is the little patch. I should have put a quarter down for reference but it was dark and damp and I didn't want to get too carried away with documenting the minutiae of my existence.

Technology Break
I think I'm going to make a computer free weekend day part of the regular program. The fact that I feel a little twitchy about not turning on the machine makes me see the addictive qualities of my usage. Well, I don't like the word addictive. And who's to say that fiddling with digital photos and art projects is any less valid than gardening or movie watching or whatever? This is my internal tyrant dictating the rules on how one should best be productive in the Universe. Why can't I be one of those people who can watch 8 hours of TV on a Saturday and not feel guilty about it?

It was nice to be free of the distraction because I freely admit that I waste a lot of time online. I got out the sewing machine again. I've been wanting to learn to sew. Remember the pirate pillowcase?

At the time I made that I found a couple of other free patterns online. I want to make a few small things to get the hang of the machine and the whole process. Yesterday I made a headband. You can get a real feel for my dedication and aptitude when it takes me 5 months to make a headband. And I have to confess, I did turn on the computer yesterday but only to check the pattern because from the instructions I couldn't understand how the elastic was supposed to go.

I'm serious about wanting to learn this and in another five months I should be able to make an apron and by the time I'm 50, some pajama bottoms. Sophie's 14 now. If she doesn't get married until she's 38, and I work really hard, perhaps I can make the garment bag she uses to carry her wedding dress.

I set up the sewing area in the dining room which is the same room where the turntable is. We're one of the 8,000 families in America that has a turntable. I dusted off Camper Van Beethoven II & III, and Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart. I haven't heard these in years and years and don't remember loving them when I bought them (1987-88-ish) but they sounded FANTASTIC yesterday. I wonder what other music from 20 years ago I would love more now than I did then.

Other than sewing I did lots of reading and tidied part of my recipe file and strung some beads. Then I made a killer taco dinner. An excellent day.

On Saturday There Will Be Pizza
Last night I finished The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks.

At Christmas, Mom said she was almost finished with the book I gave her. She described it and I had no idea what she was talking about but I was intrigued. She gave it to me when she was done and first of all, I would not have given her this book since it doesn't seem like a Mom book. [Aside: however, I saw two movie reviews that look like total Rentz women movies. One has Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter and the other is called The Painted Veil with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. I wish Erin and Mom could visit now.]

Back to The Traveler, what I wrote in my review blurb (#2) is that I think the potential of the story is more interesting than the story that came out.

The story is about these Travelers who can cross over into different realms and these bad guys who want to eliminate them. Later the bad guys want to capture them and use their power for evil. I love stories with different worlds and strange organizational hierarchies and long intricate backstories. Wasn't the best part of The Witching Hour the middle part with the history of the Mayfair witches? I wanted to know more about the different worlds and how the organizations developed and not so much about the bad guys chasing them.

It was a fun book. I didn't hate it but now I'm looking forward to finally reading that Jonathan Lethem book. He's going to be the Arts & Lectures person in April. I think I can finish by then.

This morning the sun was shining and I stood in the doorway and it felt actual warmth. There are still a few patches of snow. The snowman across the street finally crumbled. The one next door lost his head.

Between work and recreation, I've been spending way too much time on the computer lately so tomorrow is going to be a computer free day. Not going to even turn it on.

One more note, I just did something I never do. It's 4pm and I made a frozen pizza. I wanted a snack and none of the usual things sounded good or substantial enough. Now I'm not going to be hungry for dinner.

Downtown
I put a few photos of my public transportation day. If interested, look here.

Today is rainy and most of the snow is gone. I intended to run some errands across the river this morning but at 10am there was still a big back up to get over the bridge and the idea became less attractive. I guess everyone and their uncle has been putting off getting out and about all week so now's the big rush.

Mister Two

This morning I passed a bashed up 80's era Toyota MR2 on the freeway. Back in the late 80's when I lived in Los Angeles, I worked with two men who drove MR2s. Both of them had them stolen. One of them was stolen twice. He said the second time he wasn't even surprised. His insurance agent told him it was the #1 most stolen car in our area. The other guy had the car stolen out of his garage. The thieves opened the garage door, backed up a truck, drove the MR2 into the truck and took off with it. All while he slept in bed.

A third guy I knew drove a MR2 and he took me to see Mr. Big and told me not to freak out but he kept a gun under my seat. Of course not, why would I freak out about that?

Looking at those cars now, it's hard to believe they were the target of organized thievery.

The weather seems to be improving and about time. My spouse was home one day last week. He had a holiday Monday. He was home Tuesday and Wednesday. I came home yesterday and he wanted to play one of those, "do you notice anything different in here?" games. I grew tired of playing after about 3 seconds and told him to show me what's up before I brained him with a bottle of cheap red wine.

He had taped a photo of Keller Williams in the back of my closet. He wrote on it, "To my biggest fan, love Keller." KW is a super annoying jam band guy who plays with Cheese and earned my eternal ire for playing a stupid song which consisted of strumming his guitar and singing about how great his dog is. Bob likes to mention Keller to me just to see my head spin around. I told Bob it was time to get back to work.

One thing about all this cold weather is that I can't stop eating and the main foods that sounds good involve chocolate or cookies (or should I say, digestive biscuits). Other snack foods that seem especially delicious right now are chips and Wheat Thins (big).

Yesterday I did the public transportation thing and my hugest compliments to C-TRAN. They were totally on the ball and then some. I took a million pictures ("here I am, getting on the bus" "here we are, waiting for the train") and then when I got home last night I was too tired to deal so that riveting tale will have to wait for later.

11:30am. Looks like it's finally stopping.

So Unpredictable
Remember last week when all the schools closed for the big storm but instead we got about three snowflakes?

This morning we were supposed to have some wet flurries but nothing to write home about. Wrong.

I stepped out on the driveway at 6:15a to warm up the car. Usually if the driveway isn't slippery, I know the drive in will be fine. There was a dry frosty sheen and some sprinkles coming down but the situation seemed mild. I made my lunch and combed my hair and headed out a few minutes later and by then it was coming down hard and building up fast. I thought I'd be fine once I hit the freeway but I slid through the first two stop signs I came to and then turned around and came home.

Turns out to be a good call because the TV is showing a big fat mess out there.

I brought home a couple of work assignments so I can do something productive. Then I'll probably scrape the walk. Then I can watch the second half of 24 and drink hot chocolate.

And Bob has to go to school. They're having classes this morning.

Update: Nope. Officially pulled the plug at 9am.

Parents Gone Wild
The good thing about having to work on a national holiday, if there could be such a thing, is that I didn't even tap the brakes coming into work. I don't know why I didn't just leave at 10 minutes to 8 because I would have been here on time. However, it's about 50 degrees in my office and my feet are little blocks of ice. I might have to start a little fire with that pile of old phonebooks too keep warm.

I'd also like to report that I watched The Devil Wears Prada this weekend and did not think it was so great. It was watchable, but nothing special. It also brought up long repressed memories of being an assistant to a crazy person.

The true purpose of this post is to tell you about the Washington D.C. trip back in 1974. We did the standard sight-seeing and museum stuff but mostly what I remember are things like my sister throwing up in the car, losing my favorite red t-shirt on Chincoteague and the biting crabs in the water, insisting on taking the stairs down the Washington Monument and counting them, and being left alone for the night while the grownups went to New York.

In 1974 I was 10 years old. That means that the oldest person in the photo above was 14 and the youngest, 5. What were our parents thinking? I was telling my husband the story last night and he said, "Wait a minute. You mean they left you all alone with Jeff in charge?"

Look at Aunt Janet and Uncle Barry and my Mom all decked out in her pink-checked mini-dress wandering around NYC having a blast while their young children were hundreds of miles away under the supervision of a 14 year old.

We ended up opening a brothel for the night and making oodles of cash and never would have been caught if it hadn't been for that crack in Janet's crystal egg.

I know I said I was stepping away from the computer but I lied, sorta. I scanned some old photos while I sorted out some non-computer related junk.

I had to post this photo of my cousins (L to R) Jennifer and Lisa and me in a kickass orangey outfit with bitchin clunkity shoes. It was August on the east coast. Where were my sandals? Lisa does not look her best and will probably come over and beat me up for posting this which would be nice since she lives in Germany and I haven't seen her since August.

I believe this photo was taken in August 1974 because my family was visiting their family in Falls Church, VA and I'm almost certain that we were there when Nixon resigned.

Friend of Birds
The past two days I've been hunched over the keyboard, working on my Photoshop/Illustrator skills. I think my neck is ruined.

I put a up a new set of photos of the birdhouses at Mom and Dad's. Enjoy.

Time to step away from the computer.

Change of Plans
I had some major dreaded errands to do today. I have some returns to make and gift cards to use and it's for places not close by and as I have mentioned before I'm not one who loves shopping so I've been psyching myself up for this all week.

I got up early and did a little yoga, bathed and made myself presentable for the public. I had my list in one hand and my stuff in the other and was one foot out the door, except: where are my keys?

This never happens. I do not lose my keys because I always put them in the same place when I come home from work. I've done a major search which included all normal and accustomed places plus pockets, gym bags and inside cupboards but no luck.

I did find an earring that I thought was history and I forgot to mention that Bob found my glasses stuck inside the comforter on the bed a couple days ago. Maybe that's where my keys are.

After saying a bunch of bad words and kicking a few things, I decided that this is a sign from the gods that I'm better off at home today and that I need to vacuum under the sofa cushions (because that will be the next level of key searching.)

Last night after I got home we jumped into Bob's car to go to the market so I'm hoping that the keys are in his car.

Meanwhile, these are the photos of the 1970's bathroom at the office. Too bad you can't see how orange the ceiling is. The bottom photo is from the (don't laugh Daisies) "snow storm" the other night.

Update: Keys were in Bob's car. Yay.

Stormwatch 2007 Coverage Continues
Last night a few snowflakes sprinkled down on the drive home but the major surprise was when I crossed the interstate bridge and there was a thin frosting of snow everywhere. I took a photo in the front yard but it was too dark and my skills too basic to make it look cool.

When I first moved here I was the biggest pansy about driving in anything more than really wet slush. Now if it's freezing rain, I'm still a pansy, and general snowy weather I'll stay out of if I can, but for work or essentials, I get out there and do my thing and don't feel like I'm about to keel over from terror.

This morning was a snap, especially since officials everywhere closed and/or delayed schools. My spouse gets a day off. It was a bit slick on our street but as soon as I hit a main road, it was wet and noneventful the entire way in. There's nothing weather-wise going on downtown except a clear and gorgeous view. I wish we had an observation deck in the building, I would take photos.

Huge pile of work to do today. Huge.

Wednesday Round-Up
Yesterday I had a quickie post prepared but then blogger went wonky and later I got caught up in this work project which, put briefly, involves hundreds of pages of old documents and no search tools other than my eyes.

Now I have a bunch of items and will lump them all together.

1. Yesterday's Oregonian had an article headline: "Van Halen, others to be inducted in Hall of Fame." Others being R.E.M., Patti Smith, The Ronettes and Grandmaster Flash. I'm a huge Van Halen fan even though they've been a complete trainwreck for the past 20 years. But come on. R.E.M. and Patti Smith, "others"?

2. Yesterday afternoon the news reported that we were going to be having snow this morning. I packed up a box of work (see item on hundreds of pages, above) I could do at home, just in case I couldn't get to the office.

As usual, when I go to bed with reports of snow, the first thing I do when I wake up is peek out the window. As usual, nothing.

I turned on the TV and they had brave reporters up in the hills with a few snowflakes floating around their heads pointing to a nearby patch of dirt with a thin sheen of what could possibly, with great imagination, be characterized as accumulation. They made sure I knew to dress warmly and wear a coat.

As I got in the car there was a slight drizzle and some wind. A radio station reported snow downtown. I'm here now and all I have to report is that the clock on my desk needs a new battery. I have yet to see a snowflake, unless snowflake means rain.

They say the cold air is coming so maybe this will all change. I'll report back with proper hysteria then.

3. Last time I was in Trader Joe's I bought this Korean BBQ style beef thing because it looked like something Bob could use to make his lunch. I'm not a big beef eater and very rarely cook it. Last night I was cobbling together odds and ends for dinner and thought that, at least for Bob, the beef would round out the meal nicely.

Dinner was ready and the meat resting on the cutting board when he came through the door. He looked at it suspiciously and said, "What is that?" I told him it was the Korean beef thing and he leapt in the air and said, "Cool!" and then tore his coat off, washed his hands and was ready with his plate in about 15 seconds. He made a sandwich with the leftovers after dinner talking about how great it was going to be.

The secret to happiness in our household: beef.

4. For the old office I enrolled in some sort of IRS program online. I can't even remember because I only did it one time. They just sent me a notice that my PIN is about to expire and I need to renew it. If I no longer need the PIN I need to logon and deactivate it. Why? If I let it expire, won't it be deactivated? [This is where Bob would chide me for applying plogic to the IRS. ]

5. This is a quote from an article in today's Dining Out section of the NYT.

"But most Americans spend no more than three minutes shopping for breakfast … . "

When I first read that I was speechless, but now that I type it out, I realize the rocket scientist from the "food industry research firm" who said it was referring to people who shop for their breakfast on the go. There's something here about McD's v. S…ucks. Don't people know you can buy yogurt and bananas at the market and bring them to work? I've eaten one Egg McMuffin in the last 20 years and it wasn't pretty. I can't imagine eating like that every day.

Tales from Dinner
It never fails that I have some choice item for a post but don't have the time and/or inclination to write about it right then and then the moment is lost.

While I was cleaning my desk off yesterday I found two scraps of paper with notes of stories from Xmas dinner. I've forgotten the details and don't think I can capture the original energy of the discussion but here's a short version.

Story #1
Carole invited Mom and Dad to her son Rob's Halloween party. For the three people reading this who don't know the backstory: my sister and parents, and a huge group of other relatives, live in No. California in a very small town. There are no places to go, as in bars, clubs, restaurants, but there are lots of private social gatherings and such activities are rarely confined to one generational group so it would make complete sense to invite Mom and Dad to Rob's party.

Last summer Mom and Dad rented costumes from a lady in Eureka, so they thought it would be fun to rent costumes and after a bit of wrangling, Dad ended up with a pimp costume. I can't remember if Mom was his Ho, but it sounds good so we'll go with it.

They arrive at the party to find it in full swing including DJ's, music, lights, more than a slight whiff of Otto's jacket and they were the oldest people there by at least 20 years. Carole wasn't even there.

They ended up having a good time.

My sister said she never thought she'd see the day when she was out around town and someone would shout at her, "Hey, your Dad makes a good pimp." She also said that every time she turns up at a party, people ask her if her parents are coming. Our Mom and Dad, the hip party people.

Story #2
This isn't so much a story as a discussion. Aileen was with us at Xmas dinner and Aileen and I are hardcore list people. We like to make lists, consult lists, train others who share our household how to contribute to the list, keep our lists handy and feel lost and insecure without our lists. Mom is not a hardcore list person.

The discussion was shopping with vs. without the list. Aileen and I felt the list was vital. Mom said she liked to go row by row and riff. That she could be more creative that way rather than going by the list. I think I liked the story because Mom used the words "riff" and "grocery shopping" in the same sentence. I doubt that has ever happened before.

A Frayed Knot
First — my email has been haywire all day. I haven't tried to troubleshoot it which I will probably regret later but there you go. I'm hoping if I ignore it, it will go away.

For Christmas, Mom gave me a new black sweater. Priscilla gave me my first Pendleton cardigan almost 10 years ago and it is one of my favorite pieces of clothing, ever. I've probably worn it at least three times a week, during the cold season, every week since then.

I'm wearing the old one right now. It's completely in tatters. One elbow is worn throught. The collar and shoulder seams have holes. I cuff my sleeves because my arms are short and because the fold makes a handy spot to keep a tissue (am I an old lady or what?) and the cuffs are completely worn and frayed. Priscilla gave me a green cardigan a year or two later and that one's also in bad shape although I still wear it in public.

I love these sweaters because they are warm, they aren't bulky and they don't pill or look like crap after you've worn them a few times. If I was ever to be a spokesperson for a product, Pendleton clothing would be it. I have a pair of wool pants that my mom gave me when I moved to Oregon 15 years ago. They were hers for years before that. They still look fantastic although the lining is starting to protest.

The new cardigan has been hanging in the closet all pretty with the tag and extra button still on it. I kept putting off wearing it. It's so perfect and new, what if I went to the bar and people were smoking or what if I ate marinara sauce and got sloppy?

I finally wore it last night for bluegrass and nothing bad happened and I suspect this will soon be in the regular, all the time clothing rotation.

Bluegrass turned out to be pretty fun. There were a few organizational snafus. We started out to the left of the stage and a few kids were playing there which rapidly turned into a pack of kids playing there and being kids, they made a lot of noise. At first a few adults seemed to pay attention and shush them when they got too loud. But as more and more kids joined the games everyone seemed to shrug and look the other way. When you were a kid did your parents let you play balloon volleyball and hit adults who paid $55 for an all day bluegrass pass with your balloons? I didn't think so.

We moved closer to the middle which worked great except for the beer garden. The event is gaining momentum. I think this is year #3. They had a lot more vending taking up space in the back of the hall so the beer garden was moved up to the side of the bleachers. Before it was behind the bleachers. Emmylou was in the middle of a heart-melting melody and for accompaniment: the din from the beer garden. You have to ask yourself why someone would pay $55 for a bluegrass pass and then sit in the beer garden and talk.

Lots of people were looking over there unhappily so I suspect they'll rearrange next year.

We had a good time and heard lots of great music. Today I'm still trying to get organized whatever that means. I'm making progress. I got the paper edition of the newsletter done. I used Illustrator this year which made it a lot easier. If you're an experienced InDesign user you're probably laughing right now but I don't know how to use InDesign and it takes about 10 years off my life trying to figure it out on the fly, just for the newsletter. I didn't process my text properly, as learned in class: don't tell my teacher Nancy. I'm going to take to the printers tomorrow and get those in the mail next week. I also finished putting together a bunch of stuff I need to mail to people, another long procrastinated project. I thought I'd have time to watch a movie and hem my pants this afternoon but never got that far.

The weekend days always go by so quickly.

Tired On Fire
The 07 book page is up.

I finished a book this week and realized I had to make a new page. I just spent the last hour and a half dicking around with it and trying to do something arty with the banner and side photo. Sadly, my skill set still does not even meet the level of my primitive artistic ideas. Here's the part where I normally say, I'll fiddle with it more later but I doubt that will happen so instead I'll say, I meant to do it that way.

Yesterday was my first normal Friday in awhile so I seized the opportunity to do a bunch of errands and chores.

After dinner I felt really tired so I figured I get into bed a little early and read. Outside it was dark and windy. Rain whipped against the window. What could be better than curling up under the covers?

Except the clock said: 7:30pm.

There's no way that could be right. I couldn't be read for bed that early. I checked another clock. Nope, I was ready for bed at 7:30pm. I bravely kept the light on until 9pm although couldn't tell you with any accuracy what I read about.

Naturally I woke up at 5am. Too bad we don't have any cows to milk.

This morning we're doing a quick trip to the market and picking up our vegetables and this afternoon/evening is bluegrass.

A Few More Things Because I Keep Getting Distracted
I found a whole bunch of articles about having your domain hijacked for spam here. Sadly, it's not uncommon and it looks like not a whole lot I can do, especially since I don't want to invest much energy into it. The 50 + mailer-daemons per login is growing very old although also entertaining because half of them are from other countries like this subject line: MANCATA CONSEGNA: L'utente progettohspr (progettohspr@progetto.net) non è elencato nella Rubrica

If, like me, one of you favorite expressions is "smells like ass," you should drop everything and read this. (The part that comes after the Winnie the Pooh stuff.)

Omigod, I drank tea with regular caffeine this morning. My regular caffeine intake is about: nothing. I don't know how you people do this every day. I feel all shiny and jittery and like I'm about to blast off. I'm thinking of drinking a downer tea to see if it will counteract it.

Firmer Thighs in 60 Days
Someone in our office convinced the building management to let us use the stairs. There's a secret passage and codes involved but I'm not allowed to say anything else because, you know, it's a high stakes security environment.

Now the situation is transformed from a pain in the ass to an opportunity for the ass. Running up and down the stairs several times a day will surely promote firming and toning like nobody's business. I didn't even have to make a resolution.

Speaking of resolutions, one of the things I like to do at the end of the year, both at the office and at home, is clean out drawers filled with various kinds of papers that accumulate over the year and refile, toss, or shred as necessary. Or in some cases finding something and saying: "Ah-ha, that's where that went."

This year I didn't have time at home or the office. And I guess this isn't really a resolution. More like a new years practice.

The office is going to be a lost cause. I did manage to get 9 months of filing done right before Christmas so at least I cleared off my sorting table. But I have boxes to archive and little odds and ends that I never had time to get to, that will remain ungot to. Too much else going on.

I like cleaning out things partly because I'm a little bit insane and it relieves my anxiety and but also because it's a symbolic exercise. Clear out the old, make room for the new. You never know what new great thing you're inviting in by creating a fresh space for it.

UPDATE: I tried the upstairs bathroom. The secret part all went fine. The bathroom, geez: it's still 1972 up there. Orange and red. Also a green sign that says: Thank you for not smoking. I've got to bring my camera next week.

Building Upgrades, Phase 1
Our building at work is under new ownership or new management, or both. I don't know since it has nothing to do with me.

What I do know is they are reportedly trying to make the building more appealing to potential tenants and in the process, making it a pain in the ass for the current tenants.

First they refurbished the building entry which involved closing it for 8 weeks so that we could only enter in the back of the building. The new entry is nice but not a huge difference and whatever they paid: not worth it.

Then some mastermind came up with an idea to strip the empty units bare so that potential tenants could see what raw space they could work with. I don't know this for a fact but this is my best guess given that the other half of our floor was dismantled (not a quiet job) and then they did (and continue to do) something that sounds like a jet engine at take off, for hours at a time.

Meanwhile, some work in the building is making a union unhappy so periodically the union gets a bunch of people with whistles and drums to march around on the sidewalk and carry signs and yell which is surprisingly loud, even on the 18th floor.

Now, the absolute worst one is that they've closed the restrooms on our floor. The stairs are locked because, who knows why, so we have to take the elevator to another floor to use the restroom. For two months.

Rituals
Before I leave the house in the morning, I turn down the thermostat. Not too far, because I'm from the camp that believes that it costs just as much to bring your house back to toasty after letting it cool down all day, as it does to keep it on the low end of normal all day. I read a completely sane and well argued item that tells me this is a complete falsehood. I don't care. This is how I do it.

Also, I can't turn it too low while the husband is still home because if he gets cold, he'll crank it way up and then go off to work and now we're paying for a toasty house all day long. The only time it occurs to him to touch the thermostat is when he is cold. Conservation is not part of the equation.

Another thing I do is crack the blinds in the bedroom. The people who lived here before us had their bedboard against one of the windows so they didn't open the blinds for who knows how many years and there was furry band of mold growing around the window panes when we moved in. The idea behind the crack is moisture control.

I check the rolled up towel at the bottom crack of the front door to minimize chilly draft. This is another item spouse ignores because he doesn't like bending.

I put any stray cups or dishes into the dishwasher so the counters will be clean when I return home. Then I turn out all the lights and head off to work.

When I return home I do almost the same drill in reverse. Punch up the thermostat. Close blinds. Turn on a few lights.

The summer is opposite. I close the windows and blinds in the morning and open them all up when I get home because sunlight and fresh air are my favorite.

Spam Central
Happy New Year! It appears some spammer used my domain for a nice (s)pamfest. Thanks! Like I don't have enough stupid sh*t to deal with.

I had a busy day dismantling all the Christmas decorations, any remaining boxes, wrapping and fluff from the actual xmas gifts, rearranging shelves and cupboards to fit in new stuff, another clear out of the fridge and related kitchen projects including turning my beautiful pumpkin into eating material and finalizing the turkey carcass broth into turkey noodle soup. I also caught up on all the laundry.

Things I didn't get to? The list is much longer. *sigh* What is it? Does everything just take longer than you'd think? Do I poop out earlier than the average person? Am I slower or too detail oriented? My room is still a mess with gifts and books and papers strewn about and projects not even started. Short work week. There will be another weekend in no time. (And bluegrass next weekend, too.)

Like the eerie glow on the pumpkin photo? I have a vague recollection of a photo trick where you cover the flash with paper or something like that. I used my finger. This gives me lots of ideas.

While I undid the xmas tree and careful rewrapped all the ornaments and then did the advanced puzzle where you have to fit it all into the two boxes that go into the garage, I watched a movie I DVR'd earlier this month: Force Ten from Navarone.

I picked two movies, The Sting and Navarone.

I saw The Sting with my friend Julie, when it came out in 1973 which means I was about 10 and I liked it then. I'm not sure the last time I saw it but it's been at least 20 years and I say this: it holds up well. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Newman and Redford both look fantastic.

I've never seen Navarone but I picked it because Harrison Ford is in it. Long story short: it's a WWII movie and very fun to watch while doing xmas decorations plus there are numerous coincidences.

1 - Robert Shaw who played Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting, and is also well know as Quint from Jaws, which I also saw with my childhood friend, Julie. You might argue that his character in Navarone is the "Han Solo" character.

2 - Carl Weathers is in the movie. Last night Bob and I watched a half disk of Arrested Development and Carl Weathers appeared in one episode in a hilarious "as himself" role.

3 - Richard Kiel who played the unforgettable Jaws role in a James Bond movie appeared in Navarone as a bad guy.

4 - I liked Harrison Ford but you could see the Han Solo in this performance as well. This movie came out in 78 after Star Wars.

I'm sure there is more I could say but I've got a glass of wine and 2 more Arrested Developments waiting for me and I get to go to work tomorrow so must drop kick my big butt to bed early.