Category: random orts (Page 3 of 4)

1. Questions in the comments about the recipes: Here you go! Squash Rolls – I can’t believe so many recipes are featured in this Google Book. If you’re interested in other recipes from this cookbook, I highly recommend their French bread, the apple pie with cheddar cheese, and the Cuban black beans. (Sadly, two of those recipes are in the “omitted” part.) Here’s the recipe for Libby’s Great Pumpkin Cookies. Git to bakin’!

2. The Tripping Point: No mention of Tripper the past while – that dude wears me out as much as I adore him. So I think he’s staying with us. Two weekends ago I was at 85% certain he was ours, JWo was at 40%. But then this past weekend, JWo made the point that Tripper’s Fetching Tag will have to say “Three’s Company”. That tells me the little dude might actually be a NuWo for good. Granted, we are now outnumbered by the dogs, but Tripper needs us on his side, since Suzy and Polly are still none to pleased by his presence. Polly at least romps & plays with him? Suzy just low growls and will occasionally lunge at him to remind him that SHE is not to be trifled with. And the consistent use of peanut butter in his Kong is pissing them off. Sigh. I think I’ll be better with it all once he’s out of puppy stage – and just when I think I’m at my wit’s end with him, he’ll do his real hard leeeeean up against you, just every ounce of his being squirming and telling you he’s RIGHT HERE and ready for some love.

3. Halloween Costume: I was intending to come as a client – either one with lots of changes, or one with lots of cash. But now, I think I’m going as spaghetti & meatballs. So I gotta make some meatballs that can be attached to clothesline (spaghetti) & I’m going to wear a red shirt. Then I can drink red wine freely at the afternoon party!

4. Aw hell. My new socks that I finished knitting are black & orange & won’t go with the above outfit. I’ll get pictures up tomorrow, hopefully, but still. Maybe I’ll wear black & figure out something else for the red sauce. ARGH.

5. The new camera is a little Kodak, purchased from Costco on sale – 12.1 MP, EasyShare V1233. It isn’t on the website anymore, it looks like it was one of their limited time offers – under $200, with a free 2GB digital card, and I had a gift card from my birthday (thanks Momma Linda!) which made it even more attractive. Pretty sweet, and it’s SMALL, which was the one thing lacking in my Canon. Which still takes amazing pictures, it’s just too bulky to put in my purse. (And I have some big purses.) I still need to install the software, but anymore, it’s just so handy to take the digital card out, offload the pictures, and be done. If only I had mad photo editing skillz….

6. I bought a SNUBNOSE cap gun at CVS over lunch. It was the name “snubnose” that got me. I was really in the aisle for a Tide-to-Go pen, and the snubnose cap gun caught my eye. (You can buy most everything you need at CVS. Laundry needs, toys, craft supplies, clothesline? Check, check, check and CHECK.) I never had a cap gun, or really got to play with caps at all as a child. Better late than never. Plus, I think it might be an effective way to handle some of my frustrations with deadlines and changes. Controversial, yes, but therapeutic nonetheless. The brand is “Super Bang” and I kept reading it as “Super Bad” which only appealed to me MORE. Aw hell. I’m reading the directions and cautions right now. “Do not use indoors.” Fuck. Oh and I sure won’t want to have it around in my encounters with KC Swat – “This product may be mistaken for a firearm by law enforcement officers or others, that altering the coloration of markings (my snub is orange, green, yellow, red & clear – clearly the choice of hard core advertising bangers everywhere) required by state or federal law or regulations so as to make the product look more like a firearm is dangerous (really? Duh.) and may be a crime and that brandishing (oh hell, I’m a brandisher) or displaying the product in public may cause confusion (the public, they are easily addled – by FIREARMS, plastic or otherwise) and may be a crime.
Now, how many 8-year olds are gonna read THAT fine print? And I must say, the most fun part – next to brandishing – is already ruined, because the barrel doesn’t spin. Sigh. That’s what lets people know you’re a true badass. Super Badass.

7. I just noticed that this lovely “toy” was made in China. I guess it gives a whole ‘nother level of caution & alarm to eating my gun…..sorry, gallows humor. But seriously, all sense seems to be lost anymore & governments have to step in and be parents – like the dude on NPR this morning, who informed us that there’s a huge recall of those fugly fake teeth, because they have “too much lead paint” in them? Maybe we shouldn’t use lead paint on things that GO IN OUR MOUTHS.

8. That’s all folks, for today. I’m disappointed in the state of our trees – that spring frost and unseasonable weather really jacked up our foliage displays, they’re normally gorgeous and this year they’re just blah. I guess I wasn’t quite done. Oh, and I was thinking that my number ONE driver irritation is people who go BELOW the speed limit. Followed quickly by lane drifters, due to jabbering (or texting) on the phone. Third would be shitty lane changes/cutting off cars/forcing yourself into a lane even though you knew you had to be in that lane but the line was shorter over there and now you’re being a dick about it and creating a problem for everyone? OK. I’m done. Fo’ real.

AOKey in your dokey, here we go.

1. I took Friday AND Monday off from work. And from most things in life, except you know, knitting, tv, food and sleep. Oh, and shopping. I did shopping tours of duty three out of the four days. (Some of which involved necessities, like groceries.)

2. I barely made a dent in my List. Oh, List. You sweet cruel mistress. I am a forgetful gal and having a list is so helpful. Except when you leave the list at home and you’re at the grocery store. That’s how you end up with 5 12-packs of Diet Dr. Pepper, 2 bags of Nestle Chips, a tub of sour cream, some Miracle Whip and a can of crab meat in your cart. And then, my whole saving-the-earth thing, bringing my own bags? Yeah, that doesn’t work if you LEAVE THEM IN THE CAR. And the one thing I said I’d get done? Sew a skirt? Nope. Didn’t happen. I did locate the fabric. Maybe I’ll get it washed so I can try at that list line item this weekend.

3. I have to go shopping again because Tripper? (Who has not found a forever home, or HAS HE AND WE JUST DON’T KNOW IT?!) Tripper loves the baby Kong, and it goes under the various sofas a LOT. So in an effort to get it (and prevent the yelping of displeasure, for there is only one thing he wants when the Kong is under the couch and that is THE KONG), James accidentally knocked over the floor lamp (that we bought to replace the last one that was broken (by someone else)) and I need a new lamp! It’s too dark to knit in the living room without it. Poor Wo, I made him go out to his workshop to get sandpaper, because the lamp also gouged a chunk out of the barn door table and it was rough and discolored and was sending my personal universe spinning into the Black Hole of FreakOut (Things are messed up! Things are different! Things aren’t how I want them to be! Oh My God! I am not in control!), and I wouldn’t let him eat dinner until it was sanded & oiled. Actually, I had dished up his dinner but he was perhaps making a bit of fun of me and my Unsettled-ness that eats at me and makes me slightly unbearable when things need to be done in order for things to be Back To Normal. A casual observer would think I beat him, but don’t you believe a word of it. As it is, order is barely restored, it is hanging on by a thread, until we get a new lamp. And perhaps the jumbo Kong, one that will not roll under a sofa!

4. Sunday was a nice day together, we drove down to Schell City & visited his duck club (the house where the hunters all stay) and took Polly and Tripper on some water retrieves. Poor Tripper, he didn’t go out far enough so he was coated in algae. Poor Jen’s Shirt, because Tripper is still learning Do Not Jump Up, and my naive belief that I wouldn’t get dirty was trashed within five minutes, as muddy pawprints and shaken muck decorated most of my t-shirt.

5. Back at work, there were a few gems waiting for me – but for the most part it hasn’t been too arduous or enraging. However, the day’s only half over. 🙂

6. I was surprised and delighted to learn I won the Guess-How-Much-Stuff-I’ll-Buy-At-Rhinebeck contest over at YoYo Knits! I started daydreaming about going to Rhinebeck myself, and wondered if I’d just get so overwhelmed, I’d climb into a pen with a sheep and clutch it, emitting low moaning sounds and twitching. Please note that in my daydream, I have no idea I’m kneeling in poo. Anyway, thanks for the shout-out, Alyson, and it looks like you had an awesome time! I feel lucky…oh so lucky….. 🙂

7. Speaking of dinner (back a couple of orts), I made a kickass soup yesterday – and since it was a cold windy day, it was perfect soup weather. I just slow-cookered up half a brisket (cut up) with some of the straggling garden tomatoes (crushed), and diced onion, carrot & potatoes – some seasonings, beef bouillon, a little water – on high all day. It was yummeriffic. We put some habanero vinegar (homemade) on top & it gave it just the right amount of spice & zing. I was worried the meat would be too tough, but it was perfectly tender.

8. Dudes, I’ve only had rice crackers for lunch & I have to move my car so clients have a place to park (bleah, I hate our parking situation) so I better get to it. I’m overdue for a blog post & everything’s sorta floaty-out-there – just like it is in my head! Latah gatahs……

I came home last night & crawled into bed. Not to sleep, but to rest, and somehow give my brain a break from the day/week. It wasn’t quite as nuts as last week, but somehow that stress accumulates (even with treadmill time) and I had hit the wall…..

1. We moved offices at work. Same building & all, but my boss moved up to a corner/windowed office, and I went into his office. Kristin went into mine, and our other team member went into the one next to Kristin. We all have tall walls now, not that it changes the travel of sound since none of the walls go to the ceiling, but hey – I got a ton more space, and I also moved all my stuff in the space of a few hours.

…. I just deleted Ort 2, because you know, sometimes you just can’t write it all down, but let’s just leave it at Moving is Stressful.

3. Auntie Karen sailed through her procedure this week & things look good, so that was good news to hear. Fingers crossed that everything comes back just fine!

4. The heat has finally abated a bit – which will be welcomed by every resident, I think.

5. My childhood home/farm has officially been sold.

6. After hearing me on the phone yesterday, JWo was in a place of wanting to help & fix. He even offered to come into the office to help me organize my office (since that was some of my stress & I was hearing only criticism instead of humor at that point) Instead he went to the grocery store last night, and then to Gates. Ribs can soothe the irrational beast, and they did.

7. Speaking of beasts, we watched Sexy Beast last night, and what an odd, but interesting movie that was. Usually when I watch a British movie, and the accents or dialects are thick, I have to put on subtitles for the first ten-twenty minutes or so, until my brain starts connecting the sounds to the words. (I discovered this when watching Gosford Park. Worked like a charm!) Since we watched this movie On Demand, I can guarandamntee you I only hear about half the dialogue correctly. Except for when Ben Kingsley was saying, “YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!” or conversely, “NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” Liberal use of the words “fuck” and “c*nt”, perhaps even astonishingly so, and from me, that’s saying a lot. I did, fortunately, get the gist of the movie, and liked it, despite having missed key points (I thought they were in Australia, fortunately the Wo heard “Spain” and corrected me.)

8. I’m off to pick more tomatoes. I don’t have an extensive to-do list for the weekend, and I’m glad. I moved on to Clue 6 in the MS3 last night, which means -woooooohooooo- second-to-last-clue and then I’ll be on the last clue & then this will be DONE! It’s been a great learning process, with the first and foremost lesson being, in lace? If you make a mistake? It is not the end of the world. Not at all. In fact, I have gotten pretty good at spotting & catching myself being off in the pattern, within two rows of the error, figuring out where the mistake is, and fixing it. My culprit is the elusive yarn overs that sometimes get slipped or forgotten, so fortunately, those are pretty easy to fudge.

Have a good weekend!

1. The bridge collapse in Minneapolis – I can’t even describe fully how I feel, but I know you all were equally horrified. I lived up there for five years, and it’s still a place I miss. Given the time of day and the number of people who did survive, I guess we can only be grateful the tragedy wasn’t as large as it could have been. Just bizarre.

2. I’m done with Clue 3 on MS3! Of course, Clue 5, and the mystery of the theme, are published tomorrow, so I’m still behind.

3. All my childhood stuff and the precious few things I asked my father for before he died are arriving tomorrow. A family friend was already planning a trip to New Mexico and this worked out, almost miraculously. I don’t even know what all is coming, beyond the list I had made. (List one. List two still has things on it and it’s very uncertain if I’ll get anything on that one. I’m trying not to think about being forced to decide if I’ll buy back my parent’s things, things I always believed I’d have until he changed his will. ugh.) I already feel my steel doors clanging shut. I got chided in the comments a while back for avoiding and not going THROUGH things – well, all I can say is, I’m getting through it the best I can, each day. And when I look back on the months when he was sick, and then the months that followed, how I felt – and believe me, I :felt: everything, there was no denial of emotion whatsoever – it was like crawling through a tar pit and then scaling a cliff. So now, I flinch at the first sight of tar or a sheer wall of rock, and I steel myself. I shut some of my defense doors, because I ran a marathon of grief, openly, freely, and only now do I feel like some of the muscles are beginning to heal. And yes, I am afraid. I am not ready to jump into the wading end of the tar pit. Or climb a practice rock wall. It feels like a horror movie, looking back. I wouldn’t undo how I handled things – I wasn’t capable of doing it any other way. I guess some people slap a smile on and pretend everything’s fine, and I just wasn’t able to do it. I still have anger. I spend each night before sleep, running through my anger issues, trying not to, but I’m unable to not FEEL it.
So. Welcome to the Jumble. Jumble of emotions.

4. We’re about to get some self-defense training because there have been a rash of carjackings in the area near our office. I’m a little worried that the copper will be wearing a gun, because we all know my deep-seated irrational fear that I’ll lose my mind and try to take his gun from him. Maybe this would be the perfect chance for me to ask if I could try! Put this fear to rest once and for all. Though getting taken down by the po-po in front of all my co-workers might be less than glamorous. I’ll let you know.

5. A guy at work is having a birthday party – and he decided the theme would be Pirates and Ninjas. He’s serving rum & sake. I totally would have gone but now he’s going to Lollapalooza instead (whatEVER)so it’s been rescheduled & we’ll be out of town. Shoot! I’d have to go as a Ninja. Everyone would go with the Pirate, and I have to be different. Plus I have a LOT of black clothing.

I have more orts but the training session is about to start. If anything really awesome happens, I’ll be sure to re-post later!

Oh mah god. It was like a little calm? And then another storm. I think it’s the whole “meetings” thing that gets me off my game, more so than a pile of work. Because it’s not like paper doesn’t stop shooting out of the pneumatic tube when I’m not at my desk! (Dude. I totally don’t have a pneumatic tube, and if I did, they would probably disable it, because I would be constantly testing the Power of the Pneumatics, and dropping things like Goldfish, Werther’s Originals, and pencils into it, to see just how well it worked.)

Let’s see. I have some random orts, but I have no idea if I’ll remember ’em all, because my brain has been tempura-battered, put on a shish-ka-bob, and fried beyond recognition.

1. Greatest line ever, last night: “What do we need a big-screen tv for when we got two pop cans an’ a dog?” Because I was half-torturing, half-delighting Polly with two empty Fresca cans by rattling them like maracas in her general direction. She is skittish around the unfamiliar, yet she understood on some level it was ok, and playful, so she was leaping around, and curling up her nose more than I’ve ever seen her do, EVER. So I couldn’t stop doing it. GOOD TIMES! But I’m not canceling cable anytime soon.

2. Hm. Wonder what they were. OH YEAH. I am one of the lucky, who got an account on Ravelry, and Kristin reminds me fairly regularly that I am not using it to its greatest potential. And then I feel guilty, because it’s like driving right on by the homeless and so I have tried to step it up. One of those steps involved making EVERYONE MY FRIEND. At least everyone who has a blog that I read, and is on Ravelry, and then some folks who are knitting cool stuff and then some other folks that the Ravelry Wizardry kept suggesting I be friends with, because of our shared interests and whatnot in colors and patterns and so I added a lot of people and felt a little crazy doing it. But also a little crestfallen when people didn’t make me their friend back. So really, one wee lesson is that high school/elementary school never leaves us. BUT, I am older, and a smidge more Teflon, and so I trundle along and whistle and never you mind that those are my underpants being thrown around on the school bus because I’m grown up now and I CAN BUY MORE.

3. So you probably want to know what that underpants reference was. That’s a good post in of itself. Now that I wrote about in passing, I’ll do the full story, this week. Promise.

4. It’s not the only embarrassing underpants story involving school buses. Sigh. You think I bought my Teflon at the store? Hmmm? I EARNED IT, through fire and blisters and underpants stories.

5. It’s hot and I hate it. The only way I can be on the computer upstairs is a Fan Trifecta – window fan, big fan behind me, little fan blowing at my head. Which makes my eyes dry out like nobody’s bidness.

6. I listened to some classic Dr. Dre today (when I wasn’t in a meeting, doing that in a meeting could be problematic…Yes, this is Jennifer & she fancies herself a GANGSTAH)…. anyway, the music brought back some fond memories of my dear friends Liz, Ashley & I totally head-bobbing to it on full blast as we pulled into the company picnic. Sometimes my parallels to Michael Bolton (of Office Space, PUHLEEZE) are far too real for comfort. Though speaking of the OTHER Michael Bolton, I once pulled a cheesy, dramatic, eyes-shut hair-blowing hands-gesturing-upwards-passionately full-page b/w photo out of Entertainment Weekly & put a note on it that said “Michael Bolton Is My WORLD!!!!” and hung it outside another analyst’s cube at the big agency I worked at in Minneapolis. The beautiful thing is that she didn’t even notice it for days. I still get a little high-pitched giggle inside when I remember that one…..

Well, that’s pretty good for not remembering half of what I wanted to say. God help y’all if I ever get it all down at once.
Yo. Up wif Teflon. Down wit’ bitch knittaz. An shorties. Scrubs. Whatevah.

-Our boss shut the office down at 2:00 today. I heard him, I thought, saying, “Go home, we’re closed!” and I started jabbering aloud (which is how we all communicate with each other, and it is why the IT developer wears his headphones frequently) “Did he just say the office is closed? Huh? Did he?” And then he came over and confirmed it, and I think Kristin shrieked a little. I might’ve even gotten a little RennFesty and Huzzah-ed. Woo hoo! Everybody’s workin’ fo’ the weekend! I got my red bandana on right now.

-I could’ve stayed & worked like mad, but since that’s what I’ve pretty much been doing all week, it was nice to just chuck the piles & files and tear out to recharge. And wear a red bandana.

-So, speaking of letting go of indignation, and pride comething before the fall and all, I had lunch yesterday with a former co-worker & found out that she’d had some lengthy chats with a person in-the-know about the state of affairs in my old department. And I mean in the KNOW. And she told said person that she never really knew much about the department, but that everything she did know had come from me. Anyone who’s read this blog for over two years knows exactly what THAT narration must’ve sounded like, and I recall many of the conversations my friend referenced involved the phrase “LOONEY TUNES” because my paranoia (justified) and anger (justified, but damaging me) and despair (inevitable) were triggered on a weekly basis. And Person In The Know? Said “She (meaning me) was right on.” Sad but true. I think I’d have reveled in the statement a lot more in the wake of leaving – now it’s just nice to know I :wasn’t: as crazy as they tried to make me feel/seem, and that I have a job I truly enjoy, and work with people who are just as nutty and creative and exuberant as I….

-For the first time in three days, I actually remembered to She Laq my eyebrows on, so I was able to express my joy more….expressively! With raised eyebrows! Like I said, if I don’t she-laq ’em, they just fall right off my face. My eyebrows aren’t bushy or dense or dark, and they need powder or pencil to really be noticeable. But those things also rub off, and the only fix I’ve found that works is She Laq. It’s spendy stuff, but I pretty much only use it on my brows, and in a year only used half a bottle. (Since I rarely forget to use it, it sees pretty regular usage, too.) I’ve read reviews of people using it on their eyeshadow & being frustrated by it making their eyelids stick – here’s a handy tip: Keep your eye shut after you She Laq the makeup on, and if you have a cold shot button on your hair dryer, use it to help speed up the drying process. THEN, apply a small amount of eyeshadow powder OVER the She Laqued lids, and you won’t have the sticky lids. And your eyeshadow will seriously stay on all day & night until you wash it off. I love makeup, can ya tell?

-Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers are on sale at the local Price Chopper, and eagle-eyed shoppers will note the “$1 off seasonal items” coupon on the display. Since the wine coolers are 2 for $5, and you can use two of those $1 coupons, dude, that’s like a four pack for $1.50. I don’t really frequent the wine coolers, but that was too good of a deal to pass up! However, I have noticed that on the last two visits, the checkers have entered my birthday year as 1910. I am SMOKIN’ for 97, let me tell you! I think it’s their easy handy-dandy number when they don’t need to card you, but still. 97?

-Three! Day! Weekend! I am reveling in the nothingness. Sleep, look out. You are going to be doing some overtime at the NuWo household! Have a safe & happy weekend, wherever you are & whatever you’re doing!

– My boss & I are going out on a sales pitch this afternoon. I immediately had the image from The Traveling Salesman episode of The Office, when Phyllis and Karen get makeovers so they resemble the client’s wife. (I think this is influenced in part by the fact I have a haircut at lunch.)

– I’m really digging the band Guster right now.

– Since my cough continues to plague me, I wrestled with Option A (doing what the ENT said, get a sinus scan and consult a pulmonary disease specialist, which hello, does that sound scary or what?), Option B (going back to my regular physician to review my options), and Option C (ignoring everything and simply willing myself back to health.) Turns out, there is Option D. Two people, in the same night, emailed me and raised the issue of allergies, since they have been struggling with theirs and had some similar symptoms. My thanks to Beth and Mosker, because as I mulled and considered this option, I found myself mentally running back to Easter weekend on the calendar and saying, “But see, self? We WERE fine for a while back there!” and then, it hit me. It froze that weekend. It stayed cold. And last night? Loads of rain. Cleaning the air. No coughing – at least nothing that woke me up. I’m coughing a bit again today, and I have an appointment a week from today with an allergist. The woman on the phone said they had seen a lot of people with these symptoms, so I will have three days of hell (you have to go off your antihistamines in order for the tests to work), but then hopefully we’ll have some answers that don’t involve snaking cameras and equipment down my nose and throat. I figure I’m due for an allergen review, anyway, since it’s been over 10 years since the first & only one I had. Which I do not remember with great fondness. While I wasn’t allergic to a lot? I was WILDLY allergic to several things, and I recall the madness of sitting there, feeling my skin react to the cat dander, dust mites, mold and whatever tree and grass pollen spazzes me out. Apparently this has been a dreadful season for those with allergies, so I’d like to find either the right drug, or explore allergy shots, so I don’t go through this again.

– I have a million things to do, that I want to do, and I have a feeling the weekend’s going to whiz-bang by! Tonight’s knit night, the KC Gardener’s Association plant sale started today, and I’m almost done with the 3rd chemo cap for my co-worker. I’m going to deliver them all when I take her family dinner in a couple of weeks; now I need to come up with a good dish to make, preferably vegetarian, that freezes well and doesn’t involve mushrooms. Any suggestions?

And while we’re open to suggestions, what sort of extreme sport should YOU try? I love the notion of mine….

You Should Try Street Luge

With speeds of up to 70 mph, Skateboarding laying down is not as tame as it seems.

1. While I love Planet Earth, it does get a little hard for me to watch. JWo keeps saying “Survival of the fittest!” “Circle of Life”! And while I know it intellectually, I can’t help but root for the critters to escape the predators.

2. The Easter Bunny is never going to come to our house again. Suzy caught and SWALLOWED a baby bunny. I told her she was NEVER going to get on Cute Overload with behavior like that. She remained unfazed and of the clear conscience, for she understands the Circle thing.

3. Tonight’s our tequila-tasting dinner. Woo-hoo! Bring on the mariachi band!

4. I hate this weather, officially. Chance of snow this weekend? Are you kidding me? Does this current weather mean we’re going to have a summer filled with 110-degree days to counterbalance the bone-chilling damp cold?

5. I am not for the self-censorship too much, and I am also not for the making my blog private, because I know there are a lot of people I don’t even know who read my blog. I find myself grappling with the “I share myself on my blog space for my own therapy and enjoyment and the similar effect on like-minded others, with hopefully a laugh or six” with the “I then am sharing myself with the people who do not so much like me yet read me still” schools of thought. Reminder to self: Cannot control the world yet. Continue working on that. Keep being great. Everything else is fluff in the lint trap.

6. I am officially in love with CVS. We are so serious, I have a Care Card and I get bonus dollars. It’s almost as good as a Woolworth’s, though I was sad they had little to no Easter candy left (my candy bowl at work gets raided throughout the day.) I loves me a bargain, especially on chocolate!

7. I started the bucket hat over, with my new calculations for my gauge with the Mango Moon viscose yarn. It’s so perfect, and a riot of color, that it makes up for the fact there’s no elasticity/give, it’s just like knitting with cotton. And we all know how much I love knitting with cotton. HAH! I essplode with the laughters at you. Get it away from me, now, rapido, gigante, go!

8. Long ago I mispronounced “Sabado Gigante” much to the amusement of my co-workers. Now I love to insert “gigante” as an adjective, noun, adverb, whatever. Gigante! Make it so! Gracias!

9. I gave a friend of mine some advice the other day, and one line from my email to her jumped out as I re-read it for typos and clarity (I know, you are gigante shocked, what with the random sentence structure in this post):

Sometimes I think we’re blinded when we’re in pain, and it’s because we simply can’t divide our energy between learning and healing.

10. Never stop learning. Unless you’re healing.

1. We saw the Blue Man Group Saturday night…if you ever have the chance to see them, I highly recommend going! I will admit I was a wee bit skeptical, seeing how they were super-group popular like, omg, 10 years ago already? But it was a feast for the eyes, ears & mind, funny and thought-provoking, and unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Mike Relm opened, and I’ve never seen video scratching before – it took me a bit to actually figure out what was going on, but his stuff was also really cool.

2. Fish Fry Friday went down in a horrible way this weekend. We tried to go to a shrimp boil, and apparently it was a ticket-only event that required going to Mass and buying the tickets afterwards – weeks ago. Too bad, because it looked (and smelled) awesome! BUT, you know how they say, one door closes and a window opens… we went to the fabulous Guadalajara Cafe, and not only had a dinner that could only be described as exceptional, we also bought tickets to their tequila-tasting dinner on April 11. Six courses, six tequila drinks. Let’s hope we get a reinforced table so I can dance on it.

3. Planet Earth series on Discovery. I can’t shut up about it. I’ve never seen anything so gorgeous, and has the bonus of being educational. We watched two episodes yesterday, the ocean deep & the mountain ranges. If you’re not watching, you simply have to give it a try. Kudos to Bank of America, the sponsor, because they run maybe 1-2 commercials in each 45-minute bank of programming.

4. Funny Farm. Kristin got me hooked on this word puzzle and I’m going crazy. It’s all I can do to keep myself from cheating.

5. We have a lot of daffodils. I dead-headed all the ones in the front yard yesterday, and when I went to bed last night, I had my own twisted version of American Beauty behind my eyelids – I just saw thousands of shriveled daffodil heads, swirling and falling. Not as glamorous as rose petals, that’s for sure.

6. Today’s the Royal’s home opener….our agency will be at the game, and I realize it’s going to be 82 degrees – which is better than rain/snow/freezing temps, but still…. I’d like to hold off on sweating season for at LEAST a few more weeks!

7. This is a busy week! Lots going on each evening, and it’s Good Friday/Easter weekend coming up. I’ve got to get my Operation Haremail package out the door, too.

8. I’m almost done with the Lost Points Shawl/Wrap that I started on last week’s road-trip adventure. Pictures forthcoming.

That’s it for today! Happy Monday – you KNOW you love Mondays……