Photo Op

I remembered my flash drive. I don't forget twice. :-)

What would you like me to take a picture of during my 4 day weekend in the sticks (Michigan's UP)?

Hmmmm....

My palm itches and it's driving me nuts. Do you think I might be catching The Gay?

Happies

I will post about happy things, since I was grumbly last week.

1. Our three apples from our young tree were very tasty.
2. It was a great weekend for the convertible.
3. Next weekend we are doing a fall color drive in the UP (Michigan).
4. We finally have a DVR. Does the man-desire to record EVERYTHING end soon? And the desire to re-watch every football play?

Now, if someone could massage my shoulders, that would be great. I helped sis pull out all her carpet yesterday.

*grumble*

Five reasons I'm grumbling:
1) I've gained four pounds over the last month. It might have a lot to do with the Thai food bonanza, cinnamon roll and latte yesterday, pie, and onion rings in the last week (and no exercise).

2) I have too much to do this weekend and now my sister wants help with her flooring (they are pulling carpet and installing wood).

3) I forgot my flash drive today. I couldn't take my bag because we were driving the convertible and had stuff crammed in for our overnight at Chris's dad's house (there was a cooler and gun in addition to our bag). The flash drive contained my homework that is due this week. I had to email the prof and ask to upload it tomorrow. He was nice, but I hated having to ask.

4) My computer is freezing up a lot today.

5) It's dark in the morning when we get up. I hate this adjustment.

Popcorn

I only buy microwave popcorn when it's on sale (it was yesterday). Sometimes I buy the big bag of kernels and pop in the popcorn pot (one of those tall pots with the "stirrer"). But, it takes me like a year to go through one of those bags.

Good times, good times.

The Dixie Chicks

Kim: "You know, it would just be nice to know what it was like to be rich."
Carey: "Remember that band The Dixie Chicks?"
Kim: "Yeah"
Carey: "That was me."

*alarm goes off*

This was the start of a dream this morning. *snort* Could've been interesting.

P.S. Thai food was GREAT this weekend. My coworkers all showed up and it was very fun. I love parties! Plus, I got a late afternoon nap, two of my football teams won, and a friend stopped by with leftover awesome ribs last night. *content sigh*

Big Day

I'm a sucker for joining clubs if they offer me something cheap and cool (You know, like joining you bloggers a few years ago).

Today, I finally cancelled my Doubleday book club membership. I've been very neglectful of saying "no" to my featured selections lately, so it was time. Now, I'll wait until the temptation of "We want you back, get 6 books and free shipping with only two more to buy in the next 24 months!"

Food questions

1. Mahi Mahi, Swordfish, Tuna or Salmon tonight?
2. Crabcakes or coconut shrimp for an appetizer?
3. Wine or cosmo?

What I ate:

Jerk Mahi Mahi with pineapple/mango salsa
Crabcakes
Wine (they had carmenere, which I love)

I need a weekend again

Aside from catching up on last season's The Shield episodes and watching a little football, it was a constant working weekend with housework. I'm having coworkers over next Saturday, and our Thai student is staying over on Friday night, so we cleaned and did projects.

1. Build workbench in garage
2. Painted laundry room door
3. Polyurathaned the butcher block (that we use as a liquor shelf, not for cooking)
4. Made homemade bbq sauce
5. Made tomatillo salsa
6. Touched up deck stain
7. Bottled beer
8. Hung pictures (Which meant moving deer head! Yay!)
9. Cut down some plants that were dead and ugly (lilies and such)
10. Fixed garage door trim
11. Scoured & polished coutertops.

Hm, it actually FEELS like we did even more than that.

Hate Crimes

My coworker's house (well, her front door), in a nice suburban area of Madison, was vandalized overnight. They wrote something to the effect of "Move by this weekend or else." She is a transsexual living with her wife (some may remember I've explained them in the past...They were a standard Mr. & Mrs., until B had surgeries and hormones to become a Mrs., too).

I'm shocked, sad, angry.....and feel helpless. Any thoughts on how I can be supportive and help my coworker?

Oodles and Oodles of Miscellaneous Tidbits!

1. Chicago Peep Meet was fun. Going to Wrigleyville and gazing at the buildings were my favorite parts of Chicago. We don't like baseball, but Wrigleyville is much like Madison on Badger game day...uber fun! We had lots of Goose Island beer, a big stein at the Hofbrauhaus, and hit a few little bars and shops. Second City was also awesome, a very funny, politically charged show.

2. Riding public transportation in any city always makes me feel more at home there.

3. I started school today! I did my first reading assignment yesterday. It was a seriously dense paper. It was 14 pages, but I had to read it in three chunks just to digest it all. I felt like I should be riding the short bus. *hopes Bravie saved me a seat*

4. We canned lots of salsa and diced tomatoes yesterday. Tonight we'll do lots of sliced hot peppers and more salsa. It was a bumper crop of tomatoes, as usual. The deer have devoured the mystery volunteer squash in our garden. Guess that solves that issue. We should get 4 good apples off our apple trees we planted a few years ago. Yay!

5. Allergy season sucks. Chris has been feeling like crap, as have many of my coworkers and students.

6. Maroonclown is my favorite this month.

7. My anniversary is next week: 8 years. It falls on a Tuesday, which is Chris's worst day of work. Guess we'll REALLY enjoy those dinner cocktails.