Painting....H-E-L-L!! I did five - yes FIVE coats on the damn door and fixed the ceiling paint today (I have those damn textured walls where you can't ever get a straight line....but I'm trying).

And No....I am NOT anal or OCD or whatever just because I bought special teeny tiny little brushes to fix the ceiling (and then the wall from the bleed over from the ceiling) to make the unstraight lines as straight as possible.

Am not.

The nail lady chewed me out so I went and bought new gloves.

I took the tape off the door and trim....now blue paint has disappeared in some places and white paint has appeared where it's not supposed to be - in the blue paint area.

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow? Getting on that damn ladder again, teeny tiny hobby brush in hand, fixing the blue parts near the ceiling.

Then....I will get down on the floor and lean over in a near fetal position to fix the blue wall near the trim.

Again, not anal. Just want all the white stuff off the blue stuff, that's all.

And now....I think I have the beginning of one of those glorious three or four day headaches that like to hibernate in my head and come out at the most inconvenient time.

I HAVE to finish the blue stuff tomorrow...I promised Scytheboy he could have a friend over. A friend that likes to play pool. A lot.

Help. Please.

I should probably preface this post by telling you that I stayed up way too late reading last night, and as a result developed a headache behind my right eye which I still have. It's down to a dull ache after Excedrin and a trip to the gym, but nevertheless when I have a headache people in general just annoy the hell out of me. Following is a list of the people I encountered so far today which annoyed me:

1. The girl combing her hair while on a cell phone driving through the school zone at 15 mph and weaving between lanes.

2. Not sure if he counts as a person...but...THE CAT annoyed me this morning. You see, I went back to sleep after dropping Scytheboy off in an effort to get rid of the headache. And, at 10:00, for some reason the cat felt like I had slept enough and needed to be up. So he pounded on the door and meowed until I was fully awake. Damn cat.

3. The guy on the Kia commercial which runs on multiple channels at the same time in the morning. I HATE that Kia guy.

4. The person driving the truck in front of me at 30 mph in a 45 mph zone on the way to the gym. Hate slow drivers. Hate 'em.

5. The 2 yr. old girl that decided to unleash a high pitched screech while walking past me in the parking lot by the gym.

6. The screecher's mother which did absolutely nothing to stop the screeching hellion....she just simply continued to talk to her mother (the screecher's grandmother) as if nothing was happening. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to be parents.

7. The old guy walking up the stairs in front of me, taking up the whole wide staircase as he wobbled back and forth across the hand rails. Slowly. Very slowly. Hate slow walkers. Hate 'em.

8. The multiple guys with pasty white skinny legs and knobby which wore shorts to the gym. People with legs like that should wear sweats until they at least have some meat on their bones. Seriously. Nobody wants to see that.

9. The woman wearing the iPod behind me while I was doing flyes and bench presses which decided everyone needed to hear her sing along to whatever song she was litening to. Yes, I gave her the dirtiest look I have every given anyone, and yes...she stopped singing and looked away nervously. Don't mess with me when I have a headache, people.

10. The guy that arrived at the four way stop beside me at the same time on the way back from the gym, rolled through without even braking completely, and went out of turn. I HATE people who don't obey traffic laws...they are idiots and also the ones that will some day cause someone (maybe even themselves) to be seriously hurt due to their uncaring negligence.

I am going to take a shower and remain in the house for the rest of the afternoon...AWAY from other people. Tommy should be glad he's in London.

That is all.

For a long time, I've been teasing my sister and her husband because they're enthralled with the Grip 'n Flip. To be honest, I could NOT believe they had been suckered in by the commercial which claimed all things great would happen in the kitchen when using said utensil.

Then....in December Scytheboy and I visited them. During our time there, they made these really good sandwiches that had all sorts of yummy things in them....and they used the Grip 'n Flip to turn them in the pan. Oh sure, it looked like it might be a a little more convenient...but to actually pay money for the thing and pay for shipping too? In my mind, clearly it had not been worth it (the sandwiches were mighty tasty and held together, though).

Today, as I was haphazardly flipping our grilled ham and cheeses in the skillet (both sandwiches slid apart and I practically burned my fingers trying to get them back together before the cheese melted)...I suddenly realized the value of the Grip 'n Flip.

So, okay...I admit it....I WANT THE GRIP 'N FLIP!!.

A few months ago, I agreed to do a small contract for a neighbor down the street. Without going into too much detail about who he is or what he does, let me just say that he had a ginormous Word file containing a training manual he needed to update.

And...he doesn't know too much about Word so he figured he'd farm the edits out to a friend and get the brother-in-law discount. I was only to happy to oblige. I mean, after all...how hard could it be? Making edits to an existing file?

WRONG!!

Turns out one of his buddies who works at the consulting firm he's teaching the course for had already "worked" on the file for many hours before I got my hands on it.

Let's just say that working on that file was one of the most frustrating things I've ever done on a computer...and that includes trying to figure out how to do things in Photoshop with no training. There were many changes that needed to be made in the area of uniform structure, moving many images around, spelling errors, etc., etc. And it turns out just for fun the guy changed formatting wherever he could, including hanging indents in random paragraphs and changes to bullet formatting for no apparent reason. In many cases, it took five or six tries in different menus to figure out just what the hell the guy had done.

Clearly, the man was not an expert in Word. I don't claim to be an expert...however...I AT LEAST USE THE SAME FORMATTING THROUGHOUT ANY GIVEN WORD DOCUMENT I'VE CREATED, PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY!!.

I mean, seriously....I had a migraine for four days after completing the job.

Guess who called tonight at seven right after we finished dinner (chili and home made cornbread with fresh chocolate silk pie I put together with my new mixer...thanks for asking). Apparently, he'd had the file printed out at Kinko's and there were some formatting concerns (Kinko's is still on Office 2003).

Needless to say, our friend...being the typical guy...had waited until almost the last minute to begin printing the manual in preparation for his class this week. So he was pretty freaked out. I told him to come on down and we'd take care of it.

After a call to Kinko's to determine if RTF format would work, deleting many pages and moving some images around, we finally got it done. It took about an hour and 20 minutes. So I gave the guy a piece of pie, the file, and strict instructions for him to tell the idiot at Kinko's to set the margins correctly before he opens the file so formatting would not be an issue.

The good news is he can bill my time as a pass through expense to his client and I'll be getting a check in a few weeks.

The bad news is....he wants me to edit the PowerPoint file he has to accompany the manual with him at a later date. Well, at least I'll get paid....that's something. But really, I wish I never had to see that project again!!!

That's all. Done whining. Goodnight.

I've got this under whining because I'm sick and I really don't want to do it. But...Paula asked so I guess I have to.

1. Four jobs you've had in your life: accountant for base fuels at Del Rio AFB, TX; data entry clerk at the IRS; marketing manager; communications manager.

2. Four movies you could watch over and over: The Princess Bride, Buckaroo Banzai, XMen II, The Matrix

3. Four places you've lived: Madison, WI; Layton, UT; Austin, TX; Tampa, FL

4. Four TV shows you love to watch: Medium, ER, Deal or No Deal, Nip/Tuck

5. Four websites you visit daily: FoxNews, MSNBC, Yahoo, Google

6. Four of your favorite foods: Chocolate, Bread, Cheese, Bacon

7. Four places you'd rather be: Buenos Aires, Dublin, Hawaii, London

8. Four albums you can't live without: Sorry. Not a big music fan lately....

Too sick to have the heart to tag anyone but if you'd like to play please feel free and trackback here so we know you have your own four's we should go see.

Cough...sniff...wheeze...whine....

Yeah, apparently all that drinking and stressful traveling took their toll on me. About 3:00 a.m. this morning my body decided to reject any and all contents currently residing therein...in a very expedient manner.

I won't go into details...but...ewwww.

So poor Tommy had to take a cab home from the airport this morning. Happy freakin' New Year, right?

He also had to take care of Scytheboy and cook the ham and blackeyed peas. They said they were good...I tried to sequester myself in our room for fear of getting sick again from the ham smell. Never could stand to smell meat cooking when I was sick. Today wasn't any different.

The good news is I've kept some stuff down and I'm feeling much better. Our 19th anniversary is on Tuesday so hopefully whatever it is that got me sick will be long gone by then.

I hope your day was better, whatever you did.

I know I've posted this under "Whining". But before I start let me make it clear...I am NOT whining about having gone to Scytheboy's first band concert or about how well he did. I wanted to go, would go again, and will go to all his concerts. That's what good parents do.

And...can I just say that Scytheboy is a rock star? He and his fellow sax players did an outstanding job harmonizing when they played "Angels We Have Heard on High". IMO, the sax section ruled the day last night. However I must say that all the 6th graders did an outstanding job in the 45 minute program, each section highlighted with their own song. They had a couple of group songs as well. They had only ever played together as an entire group once before last night and it was surprising how well they played given that they only picked up their instruments for the first time in August.

Anyway...back to me. Because this blog is about ME. We were sitting there, and then of course a family with one six year old who stomped up and down the stairs constantly while we were trying to take pictures sits directly behind us. Included in the group was a three year old boy. This boy found it absolutely necessary to continually kick me throughout the program and also mess with my hair and slap me on the shoulder a few times. Although the parents kept telling him to stop, there were no consequences so he continued and laughed about it. He also talked through the entire performance and many people around the family kept saying "shhh" to this boy.

WTF? Why the hell didn't they just take the kid out of there? Talk about a complete and total lack of consideration for others. Every time he kicked me I looked back. So much so that now my neck hurts on that side. The parents knew what their kid was doing, knew he wouldn't stop, yet allowed him to remain at the event harassing others (namely me) throughout the whole concert and making noise so as to ruin the professional recording they were doing that was to be put up for sale after the event.

Some people should just not be allowed to be parents. Especially the parents of that poorly behaved and loud three year old. I mean, seriously.....

OK, OK, you've all heard me gripe about going to the grocery store, from people balancing their check books while you wait to people standing in the aisles to people talking loudly on their cell phones while the clerk's trying to ring them up, etc., etc.

So anyway...I'm sure you all are sick of hearing about my weekly trips to the store. But I thought it was worth one more post. Because I have yet to mention how the timing of your grocery store visit is key. So here's a handy-dandy checklist of items you should consider before deciding which day you will go out for supplies:

- Do you have a lot of time? Because if you go when the seniors do you will need to factor in about 20-30 minutes of waiting for them to move through the aisles and waiting for them to write checks slowly and balance their check books before handing said checks to the clerk.

- Again on time....if you go during in the daytime during the week, consider this is when the slowest checkers work. And I mean S-L-O-W.

- Another day time thing...get ready for crying babies and women talking loudly to each other and on their cell phones while said babies cry and toddlers whine. It's a given. I can't say I blame them for some of this...I mean they have to shop some time, right? And they care for their kids so they have to go...but do they all have to be so damn loud?

- Do you mind bagging your own groceries? If you go during the week, chances are you will need to bag your own groceries as they are usually short on baggers. At least at my store they are.

- How are you with a crowded store? If you go on the weekend or any time past 4:00 p.m. during the week, chances are the store will be quite crowded.

- However, if you go when it's crowded chances are they will have their super-fast baggers and checkers there so overall you will be in the store for less time. Something to consider.

So, for me...this is what I've decided. I really can't stand waiting for checks to be written or people to move or loud people or crying, whining, screaming children or slow checkers or bagging my own groceries. I can deal with a crowd if they'll check me out quickly and bag my groceries and generally leave me alone. So my new grocery day is Sunday morning when all the fast checkers are there and they have a full bagging staff and just before the church crowd gets there.

How about you? Do you really care either way, or are there certain things you try to avoid and time your food shopping accordingly? Do tell.

I know I tend to gripe a lot about customer service...but this time the owner of the establishment was actually in my corner.

Let me explain...

Day before yesterday they predicted it would begin sleeting with freezing temperatures in Dallas some time early in the day (like before noon) and in the northern sections of the metroplex the roads were predicted to be quite hazardous.

Well....I had a dentist appointment scheduled at 10:30 in the morning to get my permanent on-lays (step below crowns) put in to replace the temp fillings I've been saddled with the past month. And...can I just say...it sucks having to chew on one side of your mouth for Thanksgiving dinner?

Anyway, I digress. As stated, my appointment was for 10:30. They called at 8:50 to ask me if I could come in "as soon as possible" as they were going to close the office early since most of the girls lived north of Dallas and were afraid of icing on the overpasses.

OK...fine...I hauled my ass out of bed, took a 10 minute shower, barely dried my hair, scarfed breakfast, put on a wrinkled sweatshirt and headed off to the dentist office with damp hair and no makeup on.

So...I get there...wait 20 minutes...they put me in the room...start the anbesol numbing thing prior to Novocaine....and the dentist asks where my stuff is.

Guess what? The stuff's not there. The assistant knew the stuff wasn't there and would NOT BE THERE and didn't bother to tell the office manager before she called me to rush in early so they could do the work.

Well...I was pissed. I told them it wouldn't have been so bad if they had called to wake me up so they could tell me my stuff wasn't ready so they had to reschedule. And they understood that and the dentist was pissed and called the lady at the lab to gripe her out while I was standing there. Turns out the lady at the lab didn't want her delivery people (her daughters) driving in the icy conditions (yeah, right....can I just ay it was NOT icy at that point?)...and....one of the things wasn't even ready. So icy streets or not they could not have done my appointment anyway.

So...we get done rescheduling the appointment about 40 minutes after my quick arrival...and....one of the daughters who "would not be allowed to drive due to the icy roads"...shows up...as I was walking out...to pick up MORE WORK!!

Of course, the office manager was mortified and said, "Oh, my God!" Turned bright red, apologized to me, and escaped to the dentist's office to speak behind closed doors.

What a cluster. I'm stuck with temp fillings until Tuesday, the dentist and his office manager are duly embarrassed, the assistant who neglected to tell the office manager my stuff was NOT going to be there will more than likely be fired.....and I'm sure other work set to be done that day was canceled due to no deliveries from that "lab".

Turns out this is a lady who does this mold stuff from a converted old house, has all family working for her, and is basically a sole proprietor contractor. But...apparently she does the best work in town...and knows it. Because she was late with the last pieces they had to install in my mouth too. But that day I waited while they "rushed" it to the office.

Anyway...when Tommy and I got back from errands yesterday (due to having time since I did not get drilled) there was a message on the machine saying they were going to give me a $50 discount on the work when I come in next week. So at least there's that.

In summary...was supposed to get drilled on and get permanent stuff...was awakened by dentist and rushed my ass in to get drilled early but didn't get drilled ..was pissed (still am pissed)....still have temp fillings and thus still have to chew only on one side which is a pain in the ass....have to set aside ANOTHER morning next week to go get drilled....but at least they're paying me $50 for the inconvenience.

'Kay? Kay.

We were getting ready to put Scytheboy up for the night, and what flashes across the T.V. screen? His school district has announced it will be CLOSED tomorrow!

Okay, I just don't understand it. I grew up in Wisconsin, and spent five years in Utah through some pretty harsh winters later...why the hell do they have to close all the schools just because of a little sleet? If you have front wheel drive, you can make it there and back just fine.

Having said that...no matter WHERE you live, we all know that first bad winter storm brings out the worst in drivers. Nobody can remember how to drive on slick roads....the idiots in pricey SUV's and Lexi (Lexuses...I'm not sure) all drive at the normal speed and then are surprised when they hit a patch of black ice, slide all over the road, and cause four and five car pile-ups.

If people would just slow down, observe common sense rules for driving on slick roads, and keep their cools it would all be OK. But they don't. So on second glance, maybe it's better we're not having to drive him to school tomorrow. And on the bright side....Tommy doesn't have a trip so we can all sleep late.

But...seriously....a little sleet and there's no school? Come...on.....!!!

Total calories burned: 666.

Enough said.

The time of year where the leaves fall, my friend. The leaves fall. A lot. In the pool. And you have to use the net through the water to take them out. Did you know the net gets a helluva lot heavier when you pull it through the water? Eventually your shoulders start to ache and you get carpel tunnel in your forearms from angling the net this way and that trying to get the maximum number of leaves per pull.

Having said that, this is the only time of year that I absolutely hate having a pool. That is all.

The dentist had an opening today so I went in to get the temp fillings for two teeth. I saw the pictures, and let me just say...ewww. They really did need to be replaced And my jaw hurts now, so.....ouch.

That is all.

Yes, hockey is one of the things I hate, and it's back. I guess I don't hate hockey itself, really....it's just that the season is so damn long and the games are so damn long and you have to listen to announcers and cheering and the spouse stays hold up in the media room all night, every night there is a game when he is home.

I should have known tonight was opening night. He spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon taking care of all the yard work. Now I know why he was so industrious.....trying to lead-turn all the time he's gonna be spending watching the damn hockey.

And others appear to be just as happy as he is that the season is upon us. At least some people are sorry....

Yes, I hate hockey season. Here's why in case you need a reminder.

As a side note, I've had a really bad headache since last night and it's still here...probably my body's way of letting me know the hockey season was to start today. SO not nice.

That is all.

I am from Wisconsin, but I live in Texas. Texas is a lovely place. My husband is from Texas. There is no snow to blow, rarely are the streets slick and icy in the winter, there is no State income tax, they know how to manage natural disaster crisis quite nicely, the school system where we live is very highly rated...etc, etc, etc. I could go on and on about all the reasons why I live in this wonderful sate.

However.......I HATE THE HEAT! I cannot stand that sweaty, humid, icky feeling when I walk out the door of my beautiful air conditioned house into the blazing Texas FALL weather. Last time I checked it was the END of friggin' SEPTEMBER! Guess what the heat index is for today? 102! And tomorrow? 104!! Enough already.

Here are some reasons why I hate the heat:

1. I sweat when I'm hot. I sweat a LOT. Some might say I sweat profusely. I sweat constantly in the heat. It's so uncomfortable. I hate that.

2. Being hot makes you tired. Very tired.

3. Being tired makes you grumpy.

4. Being grumpy leads to petty bickering with your spouse, whom you are annoyed with because he is loving, L-O-V-I-N-G the heat. I think I even heard him singing a tune about how great the heat was the other day...seriously.

5. I can't sleep when it's too hot. It's expensive to run the A/C as cold as I'd like it when I sleep so I am constantly throwing the covers off, then on, then putting one foot out, then the other.....all this does not sit well with the spouse who is shivering in the corner of his side with what few blankets he can steal while I'm thrashing all over the bed trying to get comfortable in the stifling, 75 degree heat of our bedroom.

6. You can't really wear makeup when it's hot out. And humid. It basically slides right off your face while you sweat and then you get this icky, gooey look that is not so attractive. The spouse would say that's a bonus because look how much money we're saving on makeup and how much time we're saving while getting ready to go somewhere. Hmmmpphhh...I say.

7. When it's this hot out I can't even enjoy the hot tub we have with our lovely pool. The spouse loves to go out there and drink a beer and run the hot tub when the pool water is at 98 degrees and the heat index is 102. So at least someone gets some use of the hot tub in the summer months...at least that's what he'd say.

I could continue but I won't. because I'm hot. And tired. And grumpy. I saw the weather report and it said by the end of the week it MIGHT get down to the 80's during the day. I will keep my fingers crossed. In the mean time, I have to go get a tall glass of ice water and stand in front of the open freezer for a while....

Okay so for the past day and a half our next door neighbors have had roofers over there tearing out and replacing their whole roof. While I know they are doing this for good reasons since they are trying to sell their house...do they have to start so damn early and work so damn late?

Now...I DO understand that time is money and they have to get this done quickly. I just wonder....have they considered the neighbors (ME in particular) who might not necessarily want to listen to hammering, yelling, loud machinery and sundry other things for 13 hours a day? That's right...they started before 7:30 yesterday and went until 9:00 at night, then again started at 7:25 this morning and they are still at it. I mean...they have six or seven guys over there...how the hell long does it take to do a new roof?

There are people here with small children that probably didn't get naps and in our case...we like to sleep late. Don't these people realize it is, in fact, all about ME and MY sleep? I mean, how DARE they make all that racket both early and late. You couldn't even have a decent conversation in some areas of the house.

AND...let's not forget....while they are over there I can't go outside without a number of them making comments about certain parts of my anatomy. While I appreciate the fact that they think I have an "ample" chest and a nice ass....do they have to say it in such a perverted manner with the leering and the hisses? I mean, I know they probably don't realize I understand everything they're saying in Spanish, but it's just rude to talk about someone that way and to act like that in general.

In summary....loud, rude roofers...that talk dirty....and are nasty....I HATE THEM!!

That is all.

As I was reading Tommy's site today, I suddenly realized that very soon I would once again become a "Hockey Widow". As my beloved spouse looks forward with anticipation to the upcoming season, it's hard not to reminisce of how our life had become seemingly normal in the absence of his hallowed sport. Here is a look at how things will be once the first puck drops to the ice (H/T to Ian Robinson of CNews):

o Before the canceled season, "body check" meant running into an opposing player. But during the canceled season, it meant he was actually noticing what I looked like. I'm going to miss that.

o When he talks about "expansion," he'll be referring to adding new teams to the league. I'll be thinking about what the peanuts-and-lager diet of the season is going to do to his waistline.

o Face-off. For him, two players vying to take control of the puck as it's dropped. For me, the part of his body I want to tear off after being ignored for months on end.

o Lie. The angle made by the shaft of the stick and the blade. Also what is going to be coming out of his mouth when he phones me from his favorite sports bar on game night to explain why he's skipping dinner with my family.

o Neutral zone. The area between the blue lines. Soon to be the office of the marriage counselor we'll be seeing by season's end.

o Offside: When both skates of an attacking player cross the blue line before the puck. This year it'll also mean the nature of the insults we fling at one another that land us in the neutral zone.

o Offside pass: For him, when a player passes the puck from his defensive zone to a teammate on the other side of the red line. For me, what he tries to pull when he rolls amorously into bed after the six-pack and peanuts are gone and the game is over.

o Sudden-death overtime. For him an overtime period that ends when a goal is scored. For me, the state of our relationship by season's end.

Seriously, though. I know he loves hockey and if he's going to love a sport I suppose I can take comfort in the fact it's one I grew up watching in Wisconsin. I will at least have a vague notion of what's playing out on the screen.

But still...the strike was so nice. At least for me it was....

Tamara said I had to make the key lime pie and I had to do it with real limes. Looking for anything that would make the job easier, I decided to use DrinkJack's method and put them all through the garlic press.

I used to only get about 1/2 cup of real juice using the old manual juicer. Now I can get almost a cup, but I needed a cup so I did augment with a little of the bottled stuff - sorry, Tamara. And thanks for the tip, DrinkJack. Right tool for the job.

After it came out of the oven, I noticed it appears to be lighter using mostly real juice.

It was only after I'd run all the limes through the garlic press that I realized I would have to zest squishy lime halves. I don't even want to talk about how messy this got, what with all the seeds and excess juice that landed in my little zest bowl. No picture of that. I'm too disgusted. The zest is now in the refrigerator drying out. Hopefully, it will be dry enough in a few hours to use as garnish on the frosting so I can finish the "Sprinkler System Re-Vamp Reward Pie".

So said Peaches on the topic of "Whining" & "Yummy"
Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Why in the world do grocers feel the need to package chicken in such ginormous quantities? Clearly these people rarely, if ever, cook. Most recipes call for 1 lb. of boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenders - not 1.57, 1.82, or worse even....2.53 lbs. I looked forever, and had to finally settle for a 1.23 lb. package of chicken breasts.

Geez, It's stressful enough going to the store with all the screaming children and extremely slow seniors during the day without having to do math to determine how much chicken to freeze and how much to use. Seriously.....don't you think?

So I HAD to make something out of them. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the overly-ripe, disgusting smelling bananas. But a picture of the first batch of muffins I'm making is in the extended entry.

Back story...I had some bananas in the bowl on the table before my in-laws got here. She's sitting right here so I have to be nice.....so anyway, they were getting REALLY ripe and REALLY smelly. I threatened to throw them away last night, and again this morning, and she said:

No, you're not throwing those away. Those are just right for eating.

I told her I was going to throw them away tonight while she's sleeping. One problem...she doesn't sleep very much at night so I could just picture her digging them out of the trash and putting them back in the bowl on the table. She HATES to waste ANYTHING.

So anyway....today we got back from shopping and there they were...the gross overly-ripe bananas...stinking up the whole kitchen. Nobody else said they could smell them, but I know they could smell them. They were just toying with me to see how long they could guilt me into keeping the damn bananas. I just know it. And NO, I am NOT paranoid!

So I searched the Internet and finally found a recipe that called for FOUR overly ripe bananas (here's the receipe if you want to give it a try). And....I began making the muffins. Well, wouldn't you know it, there was one banana left. Do you know that she sat there and ate that banana, marveling at how perfect it was?

Her:

Oh, this is just perfect. Not green, not black, it's firm, it's not dark. It's absolutely PERFECT for eating.

Me:

Humph.

OMG she just said:

Your kitchen still smells like bananas. It smells like banana muffins.

Finally, she admits it. She COULD smell those damn bananas!!

So, here they are. And they're fabulous. Of course, she claims they're "just right" because SHE insisted on mashing the bananas for the damn muffins. Oh well. At least I don't have to smell those skanky bananas anymore.

So said Peaches on the topic of "Whining" & "Yummy"
Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Oh yeah, that's right. I spent five hours cleaning today, followed by swimming with Scytheboy, followed by cooking dinner, followed by five loads of laundry (the 5th load is in the washer now).

That must be why I'm so tired....

OK this is probably just going to sound like more whining. But you people in your SUVs - could you PLEASE stop talking on your cell phones and swerving into my lane without warning? And could you PLEASE drive at least the speed limit instead of 20 miles an hour? And if you are speeding, could you PLEASE stop tailgating me? And could you PLEASE use your signal indicator while you are turning left on a green light when I have the right of way instead of turning in front of me without notice and almost making me plow into you? And could you PLEASE park in the parking spaces made for your size vehicle instead of parking in the compact spaces, making it impossible for me to see anything whatsoever when I try to back out of my spot in the cramped parking lot (or should I say parking lot made cramped by all the SUVs parked in the compact spaces)?

Generally, could you PLEASE follow the rules of the road, get off your damn cell phones, stop eating while you drive, stop talking to the other passengers in your vehicle instead of concentrating on driving, and park in the spots assigned to your ginormous vehicles? PLEASE? 'Kay? 'Kay. Thanks.

It is SO not cool to brag about sleeping when you are supposedly "working" and your spouse is at home with horrible allergies. Yes, that's right. Tommy went ahead and pre-loaded a post bragging that he would be sleeping while people read his post. All the while, I am home suffering from a huge allergy attack in the humidity ridden boiling hot city that is Dallas. Did I mention that it's winter in Buenos Aires? So, not only was he sleeping, he was sleeping in a cool comfortable room (with the windows open probably) enjoying the nice, 60 degree south of the equator wintertime weather.

Well, he claims that he will take me there in a couple of weeks. And if he does I will forgive him for bragging about sleeping - while he's supposedly working - south of the equator in Argentina. Not fair. SO not fair.

I don't feel good. Allergy season this year is especially bad in Dallas. Even my doctor has admitted that he's been dousing his symptoms with anything and everything he can get his hands on.

And it doesn't help that we've been having a LOT of red pollution days lately. I learned very early on after my move to this state at the age of 16 that in Texas, EVERYONE likes to have their own ride wherever they go. And so those wonderful HOV lanes are rarely used, and if they are it's by people who are either going to lunch with a business associate or families going out to eat or to a game.

I've asked Tommy about this fascination Texans have with car ownership, and having that owned car with them everywhere they go. He said that's just the way it's always been since he can remember. He can't really understand the concept of NOT having your car with you - if you have one, that is. I believe in many areas of the state they don't even know what car pooling is, especially in the more rural areas.

Now, understand that I grew up in Wisconsin. One of the most conservation-oriented states there is. It's ridiculous what these people go through to save the world. I must admit their public transportation system is outstanding and that is an important side benefit if for some reason you find yourself without a car. However, the removing of the labels and rinsing of the cans and separating of papers and the plastics and the cardboards can get tedious at times - well OK most of the time. And ride sharing was ALWAYS preferable to taking many cars to school, games, movies, work, wherever.

Anyway, I digress. Going back to Texans and their cars. This car pride does take different forms, depending on where you are. If you are in a college town, it's usually enough to just have a car that runs and you can be proud of that. If you are in the country, your vehicle of choice is usually a truck that can haul things, or if you are a teenager in West Texas it could possibly be some sort of sports car you are proud to own and drive everywhere you go..

And if you are in Dallas or Houston...well....that's a totally different story. If you are in Sales, you must drive a Lexus, and if you are the top sales person, you must drive a Jaguar or a Porsche - or if pressed, a Mercedes. If you married well and are home with your kids, your vehicle of choice would be a Lexus SUV or a BMW SUV, or a Lincoln Navigator, and possibly even an H2. Or an Expedition if you bought it a few years ago and your spouse has since had to change jobs and you haven't been able to upgrade for a while. You will drive a fully loaded Minivan if you must, but it's not your first choice. And if you are like me - unemployed and enjoying it - you drive a Cirrus that has been paid off - for a while - and you don't care how those SUV driving, liposuctioned, tummy-tucked, sunbaked Dallasites look at your car. You don't have to work. And you have a pool. So you don't care.

So that's my diatribe on Texans and how they always have to have their cars with them, their lack of use of the HOV lanes, what kind of cars they drive, and how all this car-loving has contributed to many red pollution days. And did I mention that I feel crappy from my allergies? Especially on red pollution days caused by those Texas car-lovers. That is all.

Okay, I'm not saying Mr. Average caused a negative psychological or physical reaction in our poor innocent kitty. However....our cat....is bulimic. I'm convinced it has something to do with the fact that Mr. Average teased him not three hours ago about being too fat to jump up on the island. And then.....the cat began to spew his guts out all over the carpet. Near the laundry room wasn't so bad, but now he's done it in the dining room of all places. Our poor kitty has low self-esteem and a horrible body image because he now thinks he's too fat to jump up onto the island. Mean Mr. Average....

Could you....would you....please....GET OFF YOUR DAMN PHONE LONG ENOUGH TO WRITE YOUR FRIGGIN' CHECK?!!!! I mean seriously, who writes checks anymore. Oh yeah, those people who like to write checks and balance their checkbook, then have to rifle through their purse while speaking very loudly on their cell phone so they can keep everyone in line waiting the maximum amount of time....THAT'S WHO! I'm convinced you're either closely related to or VERY good friends with the other lady meandering through the parking lot while on her cell phone so other people couldn't get around her and the the other lady who was so busy talking on HER phone we missed three stop lights. Some people should NOT be allowed in public. I mean, seriously...

And Catherine, you may be right. I am quickly getting hooked on this blogging thing.

So today I walk out to get the paper...and they're having ANOTHER open house. This time from 7-7. Who goes to look at houses at 7 in the morning on a Sunday? We're in the bible belt. Don't these people understand most people go to church on Sunday and then they go to lunch. No way they will get any traffic until at least 2. If they did their open house when normal people do then I could lay out until 2. Jerks. They're actually really nice people but over this they are jerks. Complete jerks. I mean, I know they wanna sell their house and all but don't they realize it's all about ME? Just so you understand what I'm talking about with the whole fence thing, here's a picture (above).

UPDATE: Well it appears they might have actually sold their house using those long open house hours. All the signs came down last night. If they have sold it, I'm glad for two reasons. First (and most important) I can now enjoy my pool without all the gawkers touring my backyard. Second, I am happy for them if they did indeed sell their house that quickly. As I said, they are really nice people and with the exception of the whole open house during prime sun hours thing they have been great neighbors.

He's on his way back down to Buenos Aires for another vacation ("work" trip). The high is usually around 65 this time of year down there. Did I not say previously that it's DAMN HOT in Texas? High today is 96. The neighbors behind us are trying to sell their house themselves, so they have an open house ALL DAY today - 10-7. Now, there's this nice little open area with a creekbed behind our property that the city owns. Well, the neighbors got the bright idea to build a door from their fence leading into this open area. And they have the door open today. Which means.....all the looky-loos come down those steps into the open area, and.....look directly at our back yard and specifically our pool. There is only about a 10 ft. area of fence that they can stand behind and see into our back yard (it's one of those short wrought iron type fences). So, they stand there and gaze into the wonderland that is our backyard and pool area. One problem - would YOU want to lay out in your bikini (well, it is a cute little black bikini with a little silver buckle, but still) and have people gawk at you enjoying your pool on a very hot day? So now, depression because I really don't want to do that.

Next....I have really bad allergies and they are especially bad this time of year. Mr. Average mowed the lawn yesterday and one of the things I'm allergic to is grass....so I've been working on this grass allergy headache since yesterday. I thought I had it under control. Well as I'm writing this the next door neighbors have their lawn crew working on their grass. So I have a day of staring longingly out at our pool, unable to really enjoy it for fear people will come and gawk at me under the guise of touring the property behind us, whilst dealing with a brand new, fresh grass allergy attack. Nice.

All this while my hubby enjoys his overnight flight to South America, after which he will take a nap and make his way out to the streets and enjoy the tango dancers and a fabulous sidewalk cafe lunch. Of course he says I'm always too negative and should look at the bright side of things. Well dammit I don't want to....not today. Oh, did I mention that I had planned on going with him on this trip? Well as the time grew closer, the flight back became more full and now it would be impossible for me to get home in the near future. Oh well. Some day. Time to go take Excedrin, inhale some grass pollen, and enjoy the lawnmower and edger motors.

You have to wash the decanter. It's late. I had to wash the decanter because Mr. Almost Average is already in bed after enjoying his single-malt whiskey. I hate washing the decanter. Enough said.