God Bless Grandma Iny!!

I never had a Grandma Iny, but after making one of her recipes last night, I wish I had! Pioneer Woman is the one with the Grandma Iny, and she and her grandma are genius in the kitchen.

I read this recipe on PW's blog a few weeks ago and the idea of it had been haunting me ever since. I made sure I had all the ingredients about a week ago. I only had to buy the buttermilk as I keep everything else on the list in my kitchen anyway. I had the pan and the ingredients that weren't refridgerated out on my counter all week, just waiting. I spent the weekend at Sheldon's wishing I was home so I could make it.

Last night I got home from work and exercised first, but then I went into the kitchen and set to work. It wasn't work though. It was truly a joy. There is something about baking from scratch that puts you in touch with all the women who came before you. As I mixed the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and folded in the secret ingredient, I just felt such peace. And excitement. It smelled SO good while it was baking. So Good. Miles came home while it was in the oven, he knew what the secret ingredient was because he had seen the recipe on the counter, so he was very suspicious. But he couldn't get past the smell, it smelled GOOD!

Miles loaded the dishwasher while I cleaned up from the cake and starting making the icing. He was still suspicious, but the smell was pretty magical. I took the cake out of the oven and poured the icing over it as instructed and we left the kitchen. Miles went into his room for a while and when he came out I was eating some cake with a big glass of milk. He asked if it was good. I assured him it was. He hesitated. I offered him a bite of mine. He tasted it. His eyes rolled back in his head and he turned and sprinted for the kitchen. He was back in a flash with his own piece and his own glass of milk.

I cut some for a neighbor who I always share yummy stuff with. I cut another piece for the mom up the street who drives Miles to school everyday, I cut another piece for Miles and I took the rest to work. It has been a hit on all fronts.

Here is the recipe. Don't let the secret ingredient scare you! I promise, you'll be blessing Grandma Iny too!

I heart Katie Couric

Did y'all see this article about Katie Couric in Elle Magazine? Loved it. She has always been one of my heroes since she was a local reporter here in the DC market. I would love to hang with her. I think we could be buds. I'm from Virginia, she's from Virginia. I love NY, she loves NY. I have a teenager, she has two teenagers. She's cute, rich, talented, smart and funny, I'm from Virginia.

My Tiny High School

I just called my hometown high school because even though I have been going to college for 26 years and have been in and out of my current institution at least 5 times, they need my HS transcripts again! Anyway, while looking up their number on the internet I found out that they currently have 625 students. Woo, imagine that. They had 500 when I graduated in 1983. Town has grown a lot since I left. High School has completely remodeled and grown since I left. Student body? Not so much. Wonder why that is?

My Crazy Ass Brother has cried wolf toooo often...

Hello Dear Readers,
I hope you had near the fun and sunshine that I did this weekend! Sheldon and I went to the DC Home and Garden Show and got all kinds of good information and ideas for the house. We also ate a delicious lunch on the waterfront and went for a lovely drive on the GWParkway. Sigh. It was a perfect day.

My brother didn't have such a great weekend, or so he says. My brother claims to have a broken leg from a motorcycle accident. But we are not sure we believe him. Why on EARTH would we doubt said brother? Why do we not trust him? Let me count the ways:

1. likes to play elaborate April Fools jokes
2. often starts early, mid March is not unheard of and we are already past that point this year
3. often uses accomplices to help him pull his prank
4. he usually calls my mother with these pranks in the middle of the night when she is muddled and sympathetic
5. often these pranks have involved accidents and hospitals
   

In this case he sent my cell phone a picture of motorcycle that I ignored because I had never seen it before.

He emailed me and asked why I hadn't weighed in on his leg situation. He had already called my mother late on Saturday night to tell her of his plight. He claims to have bought the motorcycle 3 weeks ago, but didn't tell anyone. He claims to have two fractures, one of which is a spiral and needs a metal rod. What facts in this story make me suspicious?

1. he called mom in the middle of the night to share the story of his plight which had supposedly happened more than 10 hours previous
2. he is allegedly in the hospital where he used to work and still has plenty of friends who would help him
   
3. he sent pix of the bike the day AFTER he supposedly wrecked it
4. he is sending pix and emails from a hospital room
5. he has had his girlfriend call and assure us that this is real and question our fealty for doubting him
6. he sent pix of "a" leg in a "cast" that may or may not be HIS leg

In case you still wonder how I could be so mean let me tell you a little story from about 1992. Keep in mind that this is just one in a long list of April Fools Pranks he has pulled.

The X and I lived in a little cabin in the woods of Harpers Ferry, WV the second year that we were married. At this point my Crazy Ass Brother or CAB as he will now be known, had not yet moved to Florida and had a girlfriend in Charlestown, WV.

One day in mid-March, out of the blue CAB dropped by our house for a visit. Now you have to understand that CAB and I have never been particularly close, he is 5 years younger and we don't exactly have the same circle of friends or interests. At that point I was an old married lady and he was just barely out of his teens, so why on Earth would he drive all the way out to our house unannounced?

Anyway, he stopped by for a visit. During said visit our telephone rang. (This was the days before cell phones.) It was his girlfriend calling to ask if he was there. Odd. Why would his girlfriend call me looking for him? I had had little interaction with her and barely knew her name. She asks for CAB and we put him on the phone. They have a little back and forth conversation and then he says "Oh, the results came back?" and then there are a couple "uh huhs" and such and then, and I kid you not, the boy went white. All the blood drained from his face and he looked a little sick. He said he understood and he was on his way and he hung up. Now being the nosy older sister I immediately asked him if everything was alright. He assured me that it was and then he beat feet out of my house saying that he had to get over to her house right away.

The X and I discussed this weirdness a little and decided that if it was something serious we would hear soon enough, I decided not to call my mom since I didn't know for sure and didn't want to get her in a tizzy over nothing, and then we never gave it another thought.

Two weeks go by and I have completely forgotten about this little visit; I drive into my driveway one evening to a bouquet of flowers with balloons by the door. The X worked midnight shift at that time so he was in bed asleep. I carried the flowers in the house and opened the card. It said something to the effect of "Congratulations, you're an Aunt".

I was floored. He had gotten the girl pregnant. The test results, the white face, (such acting) the whole thing. I was also furious. How could he be so stupid. I called him up and started reading him the riot act and was met with hysterical laughter. When he could breathe again he said it.

April Fool.

You see?

Do you understand the depth of his deviousness? The acting job, the accomplices, the $50 bucks spent on flowers and balloons?

I ask you, why should I believe him this time????

All Concerts All The Time

Since Sheldon and I have been going to so many concerts lately I thought I'd better find my list of concerts I have attended to update it. Woo, some of these I had forgotten. I'm sure I've left some out, so I will update this as I remember more.

Bacon Brothers x4

Billy Joel

Bon Jovi

Bonnie Raitt

Brian Setzer Trio

Bruce Hornsby

Danni Leigh (went to high school with my brother)

Eddie from Ohio

The Fixx

Fountains of Wayne

Garth Brooks x2

Goo Goo Dolls

James Taylor x7

Jeffrey Gaines

Jewel

Justin Townes Earle x2

Kasey Chambers

The Kennedys

Kenny Chesney

Kenny Loggins

Kenny Rogers

Lovell Sisters

Marc Anthony (met him before the show)

Maroon 5

Martina McBride

Moody Blues

Nanci Griffith

OAR

OJays x2

Paul McCartney

Poco

The Police

Pure Prairie League

Red Molly x2

Roberta Flack

Rick Springfield x2
Ricky Skaggs

Sammy Kershaw

Shane Nicholson

Temptations x2

Toby Keith (met him before the show)

Tom Petty

Whispers x2 

 

I'm eating like it's my JOB!

Oh Lord, please make the eating stop! I am down 7 pounds from my all time high, but Sheldon and I haven't been to the gym in a couple of weeks so I have been stuck at 156. Yeah, that's right, I just gave my actual weight on the internet. Whatever. It is currently 2:36 in the pm, or 14:36 for those of us in military time...and I have a headache. I keep thinking it is a hunger headache and I keep eating, but the headache isn't going away. Why do you think THAT is?

Actually, now that I think about it my eating hasn't been THAT bad today. I have had:

1. the white of a hardboiled egg.
2. a brownie that my darling son made.
3. an Entemann's choc covered donut
4. caesar salad with bacon bits
5. another brownie that my darling son made.
   
6. leftover buffalo chicken casserole (why yes, I DID make it twice in the same week, why do you ask?)
7. caffeine free Dr. Pepper

Really now, since 5am? That is not so bad!

New Caledonia

So we found a house!!!! We are referring to it as the New Caledonia House. Well, actually, Sheldon is referring to it as such. I guess to differentiate it from the Old Caledonia House, wherever that may be. After weeks of searching and falling in love with short sale after short sale, we finally found a house that was ACTUALLY FOR SALE!! And we bought it. That very night. A couple of days later we went back to take pictures. (I couldn't even remember what the dadgum thing looked like because it was the last of 8 houses we viewed that night and I was so tired and cross eyed and grumpy from stupid short sales.) While Sheldon was taking the pictures and I was poking into every nook and cranny realtors kept showing up to show the house to other prospective buyers. I would run to the front door and breathlessly inform that the house was no longer on the market. Sold! Sold! Sold! It made me very happy! We may actually be able to move in by the first week of April. It was a relo and the other family is already ensconced in their new home somewhere far far away. I am so happy that they left this behind for me. :)

Romantic Movies

I was reading Big Mama's archives today and she had a Valentine's day entry about her favorite romantic movies. She didn't list several of my favorites so I started my list and then I started reading everyone else's comments to the blog and my list got longer and longer and longer. After I wrote all this up as a comment for her, I decided to go ahead and make it an entry here as well! :) These are in no particular order...

1. Ever After
Went to see this with a girlfriend years ago while our husbands watched all the kiddos and football. Near the end when the prince was marrying the wrong girl we were both holding our breath. I turned to her and said "WHY are we holding our breath? It is Cinderella we KNOW how it ends!!!!

2. P.S. I love you
Saw this just recently and absolutely adored it. Denny from Grey's Anatomy is in it! What the husband does to comfort his wife after his death is just amazing.

3. Notting Hill
love the scene at the end when they are reading in the park and she is pregnant. Sigh.

4. 4 Weddings and a Funeral
don't know why...just like it...

5. Steel Magnolias
an all time favorite. "Mama, I'd rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special."

6. Say Anything
John Cusack and Peter Gabriel, need I say more?

7. City of Angels
Oh Lord, as a library girl, the angels in the library always makes me tingle.

8. Shopgirl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG, If you have not seen this movie, go. rent. it. now!!!! Steve Martin and Claire Danes. So sweet.

9. Dirty Dancing
Say it with me..NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A CORNER.

10. Sliding Doors
what a great little movie. Love that guy...scottish accents just slay me.

11. Lakehouse - loved it

12. On Golden Pond
I don't think anyone else mentioned this one, but the love between Mr. Fonda and Ms. Hepburn was palpable.

Yummy New Casserole

I just made a casserole for dinner for me and Miles that was SO yummy! I took a Rachael Ray recipe and made it even simpler if you can imagine that!

Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Cut up boneless skinless chicken breasts or strips into bite size pieces. Saute the chicken in a little olive oil. Toss the cooked chicken with enough buffalo wing sauce to coat and spread it out over the bottom of a casserole dish. Mix up a box of Jiffy Corn Bread according to directions, fold a quarter cup of bleu cheese crumbles into the batter. Pour the batter over the chicken in the casserole and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

That is IT! So easy! So yummy!!!! I highly recommend it if you are a buffalo chicken fan you will love it!

My Smart Sister

My sister Cricket is so smart. No really, I mean it. She has introduced me to VERY valuable websites like hotmail (back int the day before anyone else had ever heard of free web based email). Then a few years ago she upgraded me to gmail, which is the best! She got me hooked on Pamie one year when she was a camp counselor and needed me to mail her Pamie's journal posts because she was in the woods all summer and didn't have access to the internet. She taught me about Amazon Wishlists and got me on myspace to help me find a man. Then she upgraded me to facebook when that became the way to communicate.

I've helped her a time or two as well...she has a Mazda, a laptop and TiVo because of me.

This year she has introduced me to a whole new concept. This one has nothing to do with communication or the internet. It is a little more personal and close to home. She introduced me to the concept of brushing your teeth in the shower! I know! Sounds weird doesn't it? It is the GREATEST thing! I love brushing my teeth in the shower so much, I almost hate to do it at the sink. I now have 4 toothbrushes and 4 tubes of toothpaste! One in my shower, one at my sink, one in Sheldon's shower, one at Sheldon's sink! Sheldon and Miles both think I am bananas and refuse to take part in this crazyness. Frankly, I thought Cricket was crazy when she first mentioned it to me...but I was wrong. So...try it. Then you'll see how smart my sister Cricket is!

Birthday Wish List for Sheldon

Okay so my birthday is coming. I love birthdays. Not as much as my sister who starts reminding people 6 months in advance, but still, I'm giving you 28 days notice. I'm making a list of things I would like. Don't worry if you weren't planning on getting me anything, I'd rather do something fun with you than get a present anyhow...BUT, if you wanted to buy something these are the things I'd RATHER have:

Perudo (Liar's Dice)
Packrat Tickets
A walk amongst the cherry blossoms (ooh a free one!)
Anything on that Amazon Wishlist in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Peacock, Heather, Evergreen, Ivory, or Chocolate Fiesta Dishes
A new cupcake stamp for letterboxing.
KISSES, lots and lots of KISSES!

a bodybugg so I can track my workouts!
ummm...a new house?
a trip to Germany to see pregnant Jeannette!!
A lapframe for cross stitching.
This gorgeous shoe cabinet.

No Pain for Miles

Ha, that's a pretty funny sentence.  Cause it doesn't mean what you may think.  My son Miles has absolutely NO PAIN TOLERANCE.  I mean none.  I have said this for years but I was reminded again last night how true this is.  Whenever he has pain of any sort it is the end of the world.  To him a papercut is like a broken arm.  No joke.  Any pain whatsoever causes immediate vomiting.  

This means if he has a headache he is miserable and can't keep pain meds in his tummy.  Right now he is suffering with a killer ear infection and can't tolerate tylenol or motrin or anything.  Luckily the last time this happened our doc gave him ear drops instead of oral meds and they worked like a charm.  I had forgotten all about the drops but after 24 hours of suffering he asked me to take him to the doc for more drops and when I checked the medicine stash, low and behold they were still in there and they were not expired!  Today he feels much better.

This pain issue was most clear when he had his appendix out at age 10.  He woke up in the night in horrible pain and I knew from the location and symptoms that it was his appendix cause I had mine out when I was 10.  We took him to the ER and they checked him out and although nothing seemed to be showing up in their various scans they opened him up and took it out.  The surgeon told us that in 20 years of appendectomies he had never seen one LESS inflamed!  That's right, the INSTANT that little bugger started to flare up, my kid was in agony!

I'm not sure how he will handle this as an adult.  Right now a headache is enough to put him in bed for days and this ear infection has kept him out of school for two days already.  He will have to figure out how to deal, cause no boss is gonna put up with this!

Monthly Resolutions - Month 2

I started a new habit this year, setting monthly do-able resolutions.  

Here is the January list.

Monthly Resolutions for February:

1. Meet someone new (I had a lovely conversations with the people around me in line every time we went to the Birchmere last month.  I didn't get any names or numbers, but I'm sure I will see them again, the Birchmere is a small family of fans!!!)
2. go to a museum (FAIL)
3. paint a room in the house (FAIL)
4. spend time with an old friend (Kiki and I hadn't spoken in 8 years and we talked for 4 solid hours last Tuesday)
5. try a new recipe (Sheldon and I tried two new recipes on Valentines weekend!  Nos 108 and 111 in Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats Cookbook.  Park City Cashew Chicken and Pork Chops with Grainy Mustard and Raisin Sauce.  Both were Yummo!)
6. go dancing (FAIL)

I wanna go to Madrid too!!!

If you don't already enjoy the lovely and funny Crazy Aunt Purl you should hop right on over there. I wanna be her when I grow up!! I wanna be smart enough with my money that I can hop on over to Madrid for a long weekend!


http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2009/02/the_email_machi.php

Red Molly Tonight!!

Sheldon and I are going to see Red Molly tonight. Can't wait! Hoping they play this for us again!!!!!



Oh and this one too!!!

Fountains of Wayne

Sheldon and I went to see Fountains of Wayne at the Birchmere last week. I really didn't know what to expect as the only song I had ever heard of theirs was Stacy's Mom. Sheldon had actually bought 2 tickets for himself and his son Jack, I went over to the venue when I got off work because it is open seating and an early slot allows a much better chance at a good seat. I was only planning on getting their line number and then waiting for them to show up but listening to the people in line around me I decided to try for a ticket myself. The concert was sold out, but the Birchmere releases any seats that the band doesn't use at 5pm on the day of the show. As it turned out the woman behind me in line had an extra ticket when one of her friends didn't show, so I got a seat no problem. The show was really good. Sheldon had already bought the new album so he loaned it to me the next day. I have listened to it a LOT already. The video above is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

49.5.5 books

The BBC recently stated that most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books listed below. I find this a little hard to believe, especially after I marked all the ones I had read. I mean, I know I like to read, but I thought everyone read the classics. I had to laugh when I got to the Russian authors. My dad had a large collection of those in the bookcases at home and I would resort to them when I was finished with my library books. I think I made it through all of them on his shelf before I left home.

Here's the list:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (x)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (x)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (x)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (x)
6 The Bible (parts)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (x2)
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (x, I read this in 1977 and it scared the crap out of me! I thought it could all still happen, hey I was 12!)
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (x)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (x)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (not sure)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (x)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (prolly half of these)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (x 2, first time at age 8)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (x)
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (x)
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (x2, first time at age 10)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (x) (and everything else he wrote)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens (x) (and everything else he wrote)
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (x)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh (not this one, but others by him)
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (x)
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (x) (and a bunch of others by him)
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (x)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (x)
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (x)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (x)
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (half of these)
34 Emma - Jane Austen (x)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (x)
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (x2)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (x)
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (x)
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (x)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (x)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving (x, thought this was the best book I had ever read at the time)
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (x) (and a ton of others by her)
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding (x)
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan (I have this on my pile to read right now)
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (x)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (x)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (x)
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (tried to read this and just couldn't do it)
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (x)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (x)
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt (x)
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (x)
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac (may have, can't remember for sure)
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding (x)
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (tried and couldn't)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (x)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (x)
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (may have, not sure)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson (read others by him and love him)
75 Ulysses - James Joyce (oh lord, tried and couldn't)
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (x)
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (x read it and acted in the play twice with a professional company)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker (x)
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry (x)
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (x2)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom (tried and couldn't, does that make me a bad person?)
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (x)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (x)
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (x)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (x, took me three months. might be the longest I ever spent on one book)

You realize that now the rest of them have to go on my list of books to read...right?

A Rose in Every Color!

I love roses.  I love growing roses.  I love receiving roses.  I love buying roses.  My favorite roses to buy or receive are yellow ones, I love growing every color.  My great-grandmother died when I was about to turn 14, in fact she was buried on my 14th birthday.  Her favorite flower was yellow roses and her casket was covered with them.  I decided at that moment on a beautiful sunny April morning that yellow roses would always be my favorite as well.  I have a china cookie jar that once belonged to her.  It is very old and the glaze is cracked and darkened with age.  It has yellow roses on it and I love it.

I mention all this because it is Valentines Season and I love roses and hearts and all things involved in this holiday.  I sent Sheldon a bouquet today that was yellow roses and orange lilies (his favorite).  I can't wait to see it!  He called me just now when I was driving home from work and we got to talking about the meanings of the different colors of roses.  He asked what blue meant and I had no idea.  So I went online (thank God for google) and looked it up.  I was so fascinated that I decided to share my new knowledge with you, my dear readers.  :)

red - love, romance

white - purity, innocence

pink - happiness, grace

dark pink - gratitude, thank you

yellow - joy, friendship

yellow with a red tip - falling in love (I love this!)

orange - fascination, desire

peach - sincerity, sympathy

lavender - love at first sight, enchantment

black - death, farewell

blue - impossible, mystery

roses sent every month - beauty ever new

The Hunt

The hunt is on! Sheldon and I have been house-hunting. I love looking at houses. I used to work for a new home builder and I loved visiting the models and poring over the floorplans, all of which was part of my job. One of the communities where that builder built houses is a very exclusive shi shi neighborhood (Michael Jordan plays golf there when he is in town), that is beyond gorgeous. I never in a million years ever thought I would live there. And then, the housing bubble. OMG. We found an absolutely perfect house last night. It meets all of our requirements and then some.

I am trying NOT to get excited because this is a business deal and not an emotional one, but that is hard. Sheldon is all business about it, don't get me wrong, he loves the house as much as I do, but he is able to look at things rationally. This is a very good thing. It is so nice to have a partner who zigs when I zag. I will keep you posted!

Come live with me and be my love.

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Christopher Marlowe

My Dad thinks he's so punny!

My dad prides himself on his punniness. He has been a punster since Hector was a Pup, and if you don't know who Hector is you have obviously not met my dad either. The all time great pun story though happened long ago and far away. I was 12 or 13 years old and for some reason was home alone with my dad. I'm pretty sure I was sick from school that day, but whatever was wrong with me didn't involve my appetite because I was starving at lunchtime. This was before the days of microwave ovens (yes, I am old, I told you it was long ago!) so kitchens were not so kid friendly and a child, even a teenage child didn't just skip into the kitchen to make lunch for themselves. I was begging my dad to feed me and all I was getting in return was stupid jokes.

Hungry Child: (imploring) Dad will you please make me a hotdog?
Punny Dad: *employing imaginary magic wand* Poof! You're a hotdog!
Hungry Child: Daaaaad! *sighs*

Hungry Child: (tries again) Dad, will you FIX me a hotdog?
Punny Dad: (without even looking up from the book on his lap) I didn't know they were broken!
Hungry Child: Dadddddy! *rolls eyes*

Hungry Child: (really getting desparate but also thinking she has this wordsmith licked) Daddy, will you please PREPARE me a hotdog?

My dad put his cigarette in the ashtray, set his beer on the side table, snapped his book shut, jumped up and ran to the kitchen. I thought FINALLY, I'm gonna get some lunch! Until I heard this...

Punny Dad: *opens the refrigerator door and shouts* LOOK OUT HOTDOGS, HERE SHE COMES!!!!!

Gawjuss

I'm here to tell you folks that if this is what global warming means, I'm all for it! It is February 11th and it is 70 degrees right here in Washington, DC! I just went for a walk on my lunch break. No Coat! The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, it is absolutely wonderful weather. So much better than the 17 degree temps we had only a week or so ago! I wish it could stay like this til June! Really. Please?

Spring Awakening

I am betting that you have never heard of this show before unless you heard about it from me. I am a lifelong theatre lover. My dad was an actor when I was a child and I was exposed to the theatre from toddlerhood. I have even done a turn or two on stage myself. All that being said, I didn't see my first Broadway show until I was in my 30's. I have only seen one Broadway show twice and it was Spring Awakening. To say I love this show would be a complete understatement. I was completely mesmerized the first time I saw it and bought the soundtrack on my way out of the building. I made my date play the cd all the way home to Virginia. That was two years ago. I still listen to it often. The music was done by Duncan Shiek and it is so fabulous. The play was not originally written as a musical, it was in fact, a very dark controversial play that was banned for more than 80 years! It was written in Germany in 1891 and that is where the story is set. The twist that this show has brilliantly done is bring the story to the present through the use of rock and roll. The fact that the themes are still present in our modern day high schools is almost scary. The story involves teenage sexuality, pregnancy, abortion, suicide, drug use, homosexuality...all the same things our society still struggles with.

The cast on Broadway was magnificent, especially for such a young ensemble. I know the same cast won't be on the road show, but I hope they can do as good a job. This video from youtube will give you a better taste of it...





The second time I saw the show I knew all the songs by heart but was still moved to tears and laughter, maybe moreso because I knew what was gonna happen this time. The show has closed on Broadway now which I think is a shame, but luckily it is now on tour. I have every intention of forcing Miles to go. He is horrified as he wants to pretend like I don't know a thing about sex or about being a teenager. I really want him to see it though, I think it will show him a lot about how he is no different from the teens of every generation.

I hope you go see it too! It is so so so wonderful!!!

Travel

I love to travel.  I can't afford to at the moment, but I want to go to Europe before Miles is grown and gone.  The following is a list of the countries I'd like to visit, in order of importance and why.

1. Iceland - cause I've wanted to go there since my Aunt and Uncle sent me a postcard of their trip to the Blue Lagoon when I was a teenager.
2. Italy - because every book or article I have ever read gushes about the light and the food and those are two things you just have to experience for yourself.
3. England - because I am an Anglophile from way back.  Dickens, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Rowling, McCartney-Lennon et. al.  Not to mention the hundreds of movies about King Arthur and other royalty and all those palaces!  Plus when I went there as a teenager I was only there for 24 hours and that is not NEAR enough time to explore a city block, much less an entire country!
4. Ireland - the green and the accent, need I say more?
5. Portugal - because it looks so beautiful and unique on Amazing Race
6. The Netherlands - tulips, windmills, fascinating.

Where would YOU like to go?  Comment with your list...I'd love to know!

The Weekend

Sheldon and I had a fabulous weekend. It started out in a weird way, I had probably the worst panic attack I have ever had on my way home Friday night. I was on the Metro (DC subway, for those of you not from these parts) when I felt it coming on. My chest started tightening up, I got flushed and felt very hot and I was sure I was gonna throw up. I managed to make it to my station and get out of the train without passing out or otherwise embarrassing myself. Between the gates and my car though I began losing it. I think I was away from any other people before I really started sobbing, but I didn't turn around to find out. I got in my car and REALLY lost it. It was weird, because there wasn't any real reason for it, but it kept escalating anyhow. I managed to dig the Xanax out of the bottom of my purse and find my water bottle. I tried to call Sheldon but he was still in school and had his phone silenced. I tried to call Wren but was crying so hard she couldn't understand me. In the end I just had to let it out until the meds started taking effect. I drove home and packed up my stuff to go to Sheldon's. I drove over there and asked to take a bath in his big tub, I went upstairs and set myself up in a wonderful bubble bath and read my book. I was in there for at least an hour and when I got out I just climbed right into bed, didn't even go back downstairs. I was still feeling pretty shaky. He came up and read with me for a little while and then after I fell asleep he went back downstairs to watch tv and play on the computer.

Saturday Sheldon and his son Jack went Snowboarding again. Sheldon is the faculty sponsor of his high school's snowboard/skiing club so he goes 4 times a year with a busload of students. He invited me to join him, but since he didn't need the chaperone I stayed home. I putzed around his house for awhile and then went home and putzed around my own house for a while. He and Jack were due back around 7pm so I headed back over there and started dinner around then. I made him chicken piccata and mashed potatoes and a caesar salad. So yummy! We even had wine and candlelight. We talked and looked at houses on the internet until close to midnight. He is shopping in earnest for a new house, he'd like to buy this spring before the market takes off again. We are discussing me buying it with him. It has been a very up and down year for our relationship, so this might seem a little soon, but we both really feel like we have turned a corner and are in a much better place than we have been in the past.

Sunday we got up and got dressed up and went into Georgetown for a lovely brunch at the News Cafe on M Street. I had found this place online and the menu sounded wonderful so we decided to try it out. It was truly delicious. I had the eggs benedict and he had the crepe sampler. He had a mimosa with his and I had my first bellini in years. As yummy as it was though, the portions were pretty small and we were both still hungry. I'd recommend the restaurant, it had a cool funky interior and a terrific wait-staff, but don't go if you are starved! After brunch we walked around Georgetown, popping in and out of various shops and art galleries. The weather was scrumptious...it was sunny and in the 50's and felt like a summer day after all the freezing temps and ice we have had lately! On the way home we discussed our finances and house plans some more. We also bought chili ingredients and went home to eat and watch the Big Game. :)