I hope

If one day it is proven that God does not exist, I hope that some people realize they've been complete bigoted jerks.

If one day it is proven that God does exist, I just hope I get to stick around to hear what he/she/it actually intended when the world was created. And if things like being homosexual and not going to church on Sundays is what puts you on God's bad list? Well, I'll happily burn in hell with the rest of the folks.

whew, I feel better.

Surprise visit

Thin slices of parmesan and apples today.

So, Wednesday, after Chris's accident (did I tell you guys about that? The hood on a state vehicle flew up while Chris was driving it down the interstate at 75 mph...windshield shattered, roof dented in. Luckily he maintained control and nobody was hurt) messed his whole day up, he gets a call from his mom..."Can I come down tomorrow and stay with you til Saturday?" Sigh.

She received an email from pastors in flood-damaged areas down by us, requesting help. So she's delivering "flood buckets" from her area churches, which consist of buckets, lysol, etc. to the churches. And the help she's giving? We'll, she's going door to door, offering to listen and pray with the families. Um, ok. Maybe someone will really like that.

She showed up an hour late last night. I had the table on the patio all set up for us to eat dinner and dinner ready at 7:30. Because it was dark by the time she got there at 8:30, we had to move everything inside and eat dry chicken. Oh well. Not that big of a deal, just a little annoying since she has a cell phone and didn't call.

I'm fine with her staying with us, but that means her giant, hyper black lab is at our house all day. She wanted to stick him in the laundry room all day, which consists of a 5 foot strip of walkway with all the stuff it already has in there. I wasn't ok with that, nor was Chris. Both for the potential bathroom hazzard and for the pure sake it's mean to do to a dog for so long (7-5:30 at least), especially a big one. So we had to clean out the garage this morning and he's happily sprawled out in there with a big blanket.
-------------
OMG, my boss just called and RAMBLED. She basically repeated the ten minute message she left me this morning and then rambled for another ten minutes about carp that has no bearing on me.

Off to do some work...

Blowing off work and stuff

Boo called me cheesy. I take that as a compliment. :-)

Baby swiss, gouda and spreadable blue cheese today. Much away.

I just came back from all school work day. Note, it's only lunchtime. I blew off the afternoon in favor of getting some work done here. I made my splash by presenting some big ideas in our brainstorming sessions, so now I can waltz away.

So, what have I missed this morning?

And would anyone like half my brownie?

ETA:
We may be victims of identify theft. Chris apparently had $3000 of medical services last year in Racine that haven't been paid. Considering we haven't lived there since um, 1998 and I don't think Chris EVER received medical services while we lived there....yeah, not sure what happened. A collection agency is after us now. Sigh.

Whew!

Chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick today because I love you. And you? Because you are my favorite, you can have the raspberry swirl cheesecake dipped in chocolate. Oh, and you? Because you don't like chocolate, you can have a cherry cheesecake cocktail.

I'm slowly getting to a more managemable workload. Next week will be busy, but then I think it's smoother sailing.

I have lost all desire to do yardwork. Do the rest of you get excited about it in the spring and then lose all interest as the summer goes on?

On a semi-related note, Chris made some yummy tomatillo blended salsa last night.

Your choice...

Cojack and Pepperjack with crackers today.

You have a choice between the following services. Which would you choose? Go ahead and rank them if you'd like.

• Interior decorator consultation for a day and $500 to spend on decorating.
• Hair makeover, free of charge.
• Clothing consultant for a day and $500 towards clothing.
• Body waxing services, even the ones where you have to make return visits, free of charge.
• 1 massage per month for a year
• Nutrisystem-esque membership and food for a year (any of those kinds of services, not specifically nutrisystem)

I'm into surveying you, apparently.

weekend recap

Cheesy margherita pizza today. MMMMMmmmm.

I'm working at home today. Little House on the Prarie is on right now, simply because the tv WAS on Discovery Health and I quickly had to change the channel to ANYTHING because I was seconds away from watching a baby crowning. I'm such a wimp.

Weekend randoms:

1. I worked on job stuff all Friday night (until 9) and for about four hours on Saturday. That sucked, but it needed to be done. Chris was gone, so it was ok.

2. On Saturday, I also mowed the entire lawn (about a 2 hour job), picked 8 lbs of romas, 4 lbs of tomatilloes, 2 lbs of hot peppers and basil at our CSA farm. Tomatilloes are NOT fun to pick. The abundance of mud didn't help. My stench reminded me that the "mud" was probably 50% manure. Thus, had to clean my shoes and the floor mats immediately upon returning home. I also shucked and washed all the tomatilloes and canned about half the peppers that afternoon.

3. I rewarded myself with food for all my hard work (shame on me). I deep fried zuchinni, potatoes and onions for dinner. Yep, that was my dinner (*hangs head* *licks lips*)

4. I'm eating so many yummy tomatoes (Swami, wasn't that you talking about eating lots of maters?). Pitas with tomatoes, hummus and cukes two meals, bacon egg and tomato sandwich for breakfast, BLT for a dinner...the list goes on. Today I will continue the pita and BLT trend.

5. I washed our feather bed and pillows this weekend. It is the first time I've attempted to wash the feather bed. Usually I have it dry cleaned. I used the giant 4 load machine at the laundromat and the giant dryer. It dried for an hour and it's still wet. It wasn't supposed to rain today, so I was going to set it outside. However, a storm is passing through again. Sigh. I think I'll take it to the laundromat today and dry it again.

6. I went to a Partylite show on Sunday *waves at dragonflies* I bought a pretty candleholder. The show put me in the mood to home decorate. I have to wait til I save up some fun money, though. Instead, I finished the old butcher block that was given to us just over a year ago. I did a lot of sanding to it (thank cod for electric palm sanders) and used a cherry stain. I couldn't get out a few old burns/stains on it, but it still looks nice. Wish Chris would hurry home so I can bring it upstairs.

7. We have to many bottles of liquor in the house. I need to have a party.

Survey

Triple cream brie, served with currants, baguettes, and figs.

I have a lot of work today, so might not be that chatty. As a side note, Chris is getting much better (I don't think I told you it ended up being cryptosporidium) and is leaving for the weekend. I'm glad to have lots of sleeping time. It's been a long, sleepless week. Anywhooooo, here's my survey:

1. What is your favorite clothing store and one you dislike?
2. What is your most frequented restaurant, chain and non-chain?
3. What is your favorite fall food?
4. What is something you want to do this fall?

Another one from the radio

Chili cheese dip and chips. Mmmmmm, cheesy.

"Karen" is happily married to "Brad" and has two children. Recently, Karen was explicitly hit on/propositioned by her officemate "Louise." Karen can't get it out of her head. Karen experimented in college and now is questioning her sexuality.

Karen asks, "Should I tell Brad about this and discuss allowing me to experiment and figure out this confusion in my head?"

So, Bloggers, put yourself in both Brad and Karen's shoes. How do you think Brad would really react (without knowing anything about him)? What would your advice to Karen be? I actually had an immediate response to all of this, didn't really have to think much about it. It's pretty black and white to me.

Would you rather....

Cheese stuffed soft pretzels today!! Mmmmm, tasty!

Courtesy of a radio morning show:
Would you rather:
Date someone that constantly complains about your friends?
or
Date someone that constantly flirts with your friends?

The djs clarified that by flirting, it would be flirting to the point it made you a little uncomfortable.

In other weird news...

Chris has food poisoning. Salmonella or Cereus. Awaiting test results....

Poor fella.

Strange Cat Behaviors

Allouette herb cheese spread and crackers today.

I have several cat behaviors in our house to document. Can you relate with your animals?

1. Super attachment issues. Ali is at my hip every second. She is my shadow. And if I even start walking towards the couch, she's already jumping up, ready to curl in my lap.

2. Ali has also been peeing on the shower rug in our bathroom for the last month. Nowhere else. It's a really fluffy, long shag rug. I've removed it for good this weekend and she doesn't appear to be going anywhere else. Chris watched her pee on it one day right in front of him. He said she didn't appear to be straining or anything else, so we are assuming it's not a UTI. She's otherwise seemed fine.

3. Yes, Puffy, Bartleby crawls and curls on my chest while I'm in the tub. He's ok with his body getting into the bubbles and a little bit of water.

4. When we are sitting on the toilet, Loki likes to crawl in the pants around our ankles and nest.

5. Which leads me to the strangest cat behvior of all. This morning Chris is still sick. He's been spending a lot of time sitting on the toilet, IYKWIM. Bartleby (not usually the nester) crawled in Chris's flannel pants...and peed. Chris had cat pee on his leg and everywhere.

WTF is up with our cats???

Weekend carp

Plain ol cheddar cheese today. An assortment of medium and sharp. Sometimes a good cheddar is hard to beat.

Chris is sick. He's running a high fever and has the chills/sweats thing.

I ate too many muffins this weekend. Ever had Tastefully Simple's Cinnamon Muffin Melts (*knows a few of you have*)? I ate six this weekend. At least I only dipped the tops in butter before coating them, and not the whole muffin like you are supposed to.

We've been getting pounded by rain and there's lots of flooding in the area. This is when I'm happy we have super sandy soil. In the neighboring counties to our west (where my dad and lots of our friends live), there have been major mud slides, homes flooded out and people stranded. Luckily everyone I know is ok. How are the Texans doing? I should go check momma's blog. They deserve a break in bad weather.

The rain and cool weather meant it was a great weekend for a bath. I tried The Big Comforter (I think that's what it's called) bubble bar. It was ok. More fruity than I tend to like. The cats all came in the bathroom and crawled on me and then laid on the floor cleaning themselves. We were one bathing bunch.

P.S. My toenails have not fallen off. I think I'm safe.

T-Shirt

Gouda and grapes today!

My t-shirt giver is the smartest person evah, which totally gives away her identity. I could not dechipher my t-shirt (well, I could decipher generally what some of it was referring to, but it was making no sense). But, I figured it out with a little research. Now I'm worried that if people see me wearing it, they will conclude that I'm totally smart and will ask me complicated questions.

I would show you a picture, but I'm not sure if we are supposed to reveal until after Labor Day. :-(

I love my t-shirt, despite my fears.

On an unrelated note, would anyone like to join me on my toenail watch? The big ones and littlest ones are still hurty and purple. Who is betting they will fall off over the weekend?

Appraisal

Pan grilled halloumi cheese today with a side of raspberry honey mustard.

We are getting our house reappraised by the bank tomorrow (The appraiser called yesterday...surprise-I'll be there Friday at 7:30 a.m.!). We are doing some debt consolidation, hopefully. I'm a bit worried our reappraisal won't be much. *worries*

This all means that I'll be cleaning house tonight. The good news? I won't have to clean much this weekend. Friday we are going to the outdoor theatre for a beer tasting followed by "Much Ado About Nothing." If my toes are healed enough, I want to do a 10 mile walk on Saturday and catch up on reading The Memory Keepers Daughter that evening.

Menu planning

Monterey jack quesedillas...extra jalepenos in mine.

I'm feeling much better today. The muscle aches are virtually gone. The blisters are healing, but I'm still gimping a bit because they are tender.

What is your dinner menu for the rest of the week?

Tonight:
NY Strips on the grill with sauteed green beans and grilled sourdough garlic bread

Thursday:
Turkey kielbasa with dipping sauces and a side salad

Friday:
Homemade pizza on the grill (ok, I'm using a packaged crust mix)
*We might be having friends over. Thought this would be fun.

Saturday:
? Our plans are up in the air. I bought stuff to make low fat chili dogs, so maybe we'll do that.?

The 3 Day Recap

String cheese today, because that's one thing we had each day! I apologize for the lack of pics. My camera was burried in my pack and I didn' t have the energy to take it out during the walking part.

Thursday

I was packed and ready by noon, and was super antsy. I didn't have to pick Boo up at O'Hare until 6:00 and it was a three hour drive there. I decided to leave early and avoid rush hour traffic. So I loaded up the car and headed to our hotel for check in. After realizing I forgot a few things and locating a Walgreens near the hotel, I went to grab Boo Boo. I was pacing around the baggage claim area and saw a Cheesehead from the back. I knew it was her! We hugged and laughed at her silliness. Turns out the cheesehead had to be her pillow on the plane, as she'd forgotten her pillow at home. LOL!

We hit the hotel to drop off stuff and headed to the Olive Garden, as that is one of Boo's favorites that she rarely gets to enjoy. And, we needed to carb load. Let's not talk about how far we had to drive to find an Olive Garden, mmmkay? It's ok, though, we had tiramisu, so all was well with the world. We also hit Sears (next to OG) to find her a real pillow. Did you know it's hard to find a pillowcase for under $25 at Sears? We finally found one for $5: Dora the Explorer. How cool did Boo look? :-)

We got back to the hotel later than planned and showered, then hit the hay around 10, so we could get up at 4 a.m. Gulp.

Friday

Rise and shine! We got our gear on...and realized my Camelback hose had a leak (that's a hydration backpack for those that don't know). Thanks, Bartleby (the cat). A little tape fixed it up and we headed to the shuttle and to opening ceremonies. It was still dark as we arrived and wandered around. It was so fun to check out all the crazy outfits people were wearing and chatting with other walkers and crew. Finally, a few hours later, we had group stretch with some zen yoga chick. Luckily, and Owen Wilson look-alike was also leading the crowd. :-) Then opening ceremonies began. We'd already been on our feet for over an hour. Sigh. But opening ceremonies were very cool. Lots of survivors and widows marched through the crowd and onto the stage with banners displaying messages of hope and survival. Lots of tears were shed (by me, anyway). Then, as U2's Beautiful Day blared through the park, we left on our walk. Lots of cheers and high fives everywhere, to the crowd of over 2,000 walkers. Ooooh, and we got 3 Day buffs. How appropriate!

Gus at opening ceremonies & general pic while waiting:

The first half of the day sucked, because everyone was bunched up. We enjoyed the snack stations, where we discovered the best graham cracker pb & j sammiches. There was Gatorade, cold water, "dunk stations" for wetting your buffs with ice water, bathrooms and snacks at each station. Hooters sponsored one station.

Us, new Hooters girls:

We had lots of hot men in uniforms ushering us through crosswalks and cheering us as we walked along. Woohoooo! The crowds of cheering peeps were amazing. There were entire fire departments out cheering, residents in their lawns saying "thank you for walking," and big organized stations of supporters handing out things like popsicles (Boo's favorite) and cheering like mad. Again, I got misty eyed.

Enter: Mile 18 of 23 on Day 1. We hit a low point. Boo's feet were swelling and super sore. I didn't catch my blisters soon enough to mole skin them, and they were bulging. We doctored up, rested and soldiered on. The afternoon terrain was terrible. We were off city streets and onto park bike paths, construction areas where there really were no paths, and rocky paths. We weren't talking much by that point. The pain was intense. Boo found drugs, luckily, and we managed to cross the finish line that day.

THEN IT WAS TIME TO SET UP CAMP! Good cod, that was the last thing we wanted to do. We got our gear and a tent and marched over to the campsite. I got to be the "Boss of (our)Camp" due to Boo's lack of camping experience and she got to be the "Camp Decorator." :-)

We then hit the camp post office for our mail and headed to dinner. Holy Batman! We had lots of mail! Thank you to everyone who wrote to us. After such a hard day, it was so uplifting to have those letters and cards. We gushed to the girls next to us about our friends in the box. :-)

After that, it was shower time (they didn't want us to shower before eating due to peeps passing out). The showers were basically semi trailers. In the trailers there were 8 shower stalls and benches, very specialized kind of thing, not at all makeshift. Kind of weird, but they were warm and had decent pressure.

Then? It was almost bedtime. We were exhausted. I took a pic of my blisters, but I'm guessing you don't want to see them. :-)

Here's a pic of tent city (over 1000 pink tents!). This? Is why the cheesehead and furniture came in very handy:

Saturday

Oh for cods sake. How would our shoes go on? Well, they did. We rolled out of bed at 5 am and had a hearty breakfast. We literally limped through the morning walk. Our moods were a little less light. :-) Still, the cheering sections were even better, since it was Saturday and peeps were free to come and cheer! The pain, however, was excrutiating. There was a cute cheerleader group cheering "We, We want, a cure for your boobies!" at one point. At least that made us laugh.

When we got back to camp, we immediately pulled our sleeping mats from the tent, found some shade and napped. Pure pain and exhaustion had set in. We managed to hang out and read our books and some magazines in the "cafe" area before bed. We also used some great foot massagers that La Croix had set up on site. Yay for foot massages!

Oh, I forgot to mention my hot medic. My heel blisters on Day Two were really, really ugly. They needed to be lanced, so I went to the medic tent. Boo had gone to get an ice pack for her swollen feet and thought she'd meet me outside in a bit. Well, it was taking longer, so she came in the medic tent to find me on a cot, with a hot medic at my feet. :-) She happily sat and chatted while he worked on my blisters. What a good friend that Boo is. *giggle*

We found some time to play with sidewalk chalk at camp!

Then we hit the rememberance tent, a tribute to walkers lost and to others we all have lost. We were invited to sign the official tent of Chicago in rememberance, and to fill in the "memory books." It was an emotional visit. There were several women signed up to walk in this event that passed away before the weekend arrived. Their pictures were displayed. I spent time thinking about my loved ones, and all the loved ones of people that donated and otherwise supported me on this walk.

We went to bed around 9:00, after listening to a horrid "3 Day Idol" contest. Poor girl that was in the final three. "I hope you dance" is not an easy song to sing. It hurt our ears.

2:00 a.m....it starts to rain. I made sure my gear was all waterproofed and zipped the front of our rainfly (it was so hot, we left the screen door open and rainfly door tied back for sleeping). The zipper broke on the rainfly. Oh well. At about 2:30, the crew came around camp, yelling for us to grab our flashlights and evacuate our tents immediately, as there was lightening (stupid policies). By then it was pouring. We found our ponchos and flashlights. Then, I had to put on shoes. I almost cried. Mommy Boo helped me loosen up my laces and get into my poncho. :-) We headed to the college campus's building (we were at Oakton Community College grounds) quite a jaunt away, where we sat for about an hour. Then we could go back to our tents. It was just sprinkling at that point. Our tent was dry, so we thought we'd catch an hour of sleep before having to wake up again. Well, some people decided to start breaking down their tents and getting on the road instead. Bastards! We couldn't sleep, but we laid there til about 4:45, when we got up and broke down camp.

Sunday
Okay, so we didn't make it to the big finish on Day 3. We could barely walk. Period. We took an early exit from the event and headed home, feet in utter disrepair.

It was such an honor to do this walk with Boo. She's a fabulous person with a wonderful heart. I loved to hear her stories of her family. I can't wait to meet them some day. I love that Boo.

Next year, we are thinking of crewing or going somewhere to set up a kick aras cheering station. We'll be inviting you....just wait.

Thank you again for all your support for this event. It means a ton to us.

Ta Ta

I'm in a rush to leave, so I'll bid you a quick farewell. I'll be thinking of all of you as I walk with Boo this weekend. Love you much!

Dating Advice

Not for me, sillies. Chris and I have a friend we'll call Paul. Paul came over last night with love woes, looking for advice. Paul is looking for a long term relationship. Yet, Paul is very guarded about his life he's built, and is protective of his time. Basically, I don't think he likes to let girls into his life very easily.

Paul is in his thirties and never dated much. Everyone thought he was in the closet. Turns out he had some abuse in his past and was a late bloomer. He's very educated, enjoys the arts, has a very interesting and good job, is financially stable, and has a few hobbies. He's tall, thin (but not scrawny), and a good dresser. His most noticable flaw is that he's a bit socially immature. He says silly things and giggles at odd moments.

He is a guy who checks out, emotionally, from relationships very quickly. If there's no spark, he quickly checks out. His only relationship that's lasted more than 6 months was with a girl in Japan while he was living and working there. He's started to date a lot recently and is having trouble. He has two girls on the line right now:

1. A Japanese exchange student, 22, in college in the town where he lives. They had an instant connection and started a physical relationship immediately. She leaves in November. If she were staying her forever, he'd probably be dating her exclusively, as he's excited about spending time with her. In a perfect world, he'd want to spend a lot of time with her between now and when she leaves.

2. A girl he met online, from a town about 1 hour away, who is cute, stable and in her thirties. She's applying to law school and likes similar hobbies to his. He also has a physical relationship with this girl, but spends less time with her. He doesn't feel an excited spark, but likes her as a person and enjoys their time together. He knows he's putting her off because of the other girl that is closer in distance and he's more excited about spending time with the other girl.

He's in knots about trying to juggle both girls. What advice would you give him?

Misc.

Pitas, hummus, fresh tomatoes, olives, and feta for your snacking pleasure.

1. I had a good weekend. I watched three movies (Memoirs of a Geisha, The Forgotten, and The Holiday). The Forgotten sucked.

2. I meant to walk back-to-back distances this weekend, but it rained all day and evening on Saturday. So, I did a few miles on my broken treadmill and worked out with weights and my ball. Sunday I did 14 miles outdoors. I'm tired of training. Good thing the walk is this weekend.

3. Tonight we are setting up new bank accounts. Our current bank sucks. We are going to the place that holds our mortgage. Nice to start the consolidation process to one bank.

4. I need to start packing for the weekend, so that I have enough time to realize what I've forgotten and need to purchase.

Movies

Plain havarti and dill havarti, in honor of Seana, today. Also, there is venison jerky available from Breezy's friend. *munch munch*

So I plan on reading and walking a lot this weekend. I have some minimal cleaning projects to work on, also, but I'll need some entertainment. I don't think more Netflix movies will arrive on time for my weekend, so I might stop at Blockbuster. Any recommendations for newer (last year or so) movies?

We finished The Shield Season 1 last night. Cripes, there are six seasons so far that we need to watch. The seventh and final season is airing this fall. I think we'll skip watching it and just wait to watch that season til we get through the others. It's such a good show.

Working from home

Yummy breakfast pastries for Swami this morning, many with cream cheesy fillings. Take that, Tom!

I'm working at home today because I have a major report to finish. I got up as usual this morning, but had a leisurely breakfast and baked brownies. Not cupcakes? Nope. I didn't have enough liners. Chris will be iritated because I used applesauce for half the oil in the brownies.

They just mentioned the Green Monstah on the Today show, as they are doing a segment at Fenway Park. It's the 7th spot on their "America the Beautiful" list. I waved at Monsty.

I also got to see a rather buff looking Matt Damon. I mentioned elsewhere, I now find him attractive. I never did until Bourne and Oceans.

Maybe I'll go to the post office and mail my t-shirt out today. I also have something to mail my walking buddy Boo, as well as some thank you cards to mail.

Anyone want to bring their laptop and work at my house today? I made a very good pot of coffee and the brownies are fresh.

Weekend

The pizza burgers were yummaaaaaay last night.

Today, we'll have Italian kabobs of provolone cubes, salami and grape tomatoes.

Chris is going away for the weekend. Guess that means I can get two long training walks in. Way to live on the wild side, eh?

What else should I do? I should make cupcakes before the weekend, otherwise, I'll be home alone with cupcakes and eat them all.

ETA:
My donation page (Hopefully Boo will post her page on her blog, or you can click on the "Team Page" link on my page and find her name):
http://www.the3day.org/chicago07/nolet

Love you guys!