on tap . . .

postponed the cleaning festivities until after a chinese lunch with lee and kidlet.  slurp.

i was worried the propane tank in my car would blow little miata pieces to kingdom come but the gas man told me not to worry . . . like that works.  since the three of us are having christmas dinner together, i thought it would be nice to have a backup tank just in case.  usually, it is a no-brainer.  the tank not on the grill is empty, but when i went to pick it up, it was a heavy beast and i wondered if i had swapped tanks and forgotten.  what to do????  i loaded it in the car and headed to my friendly ace hardware to let them figure it out.  the conversation with the first employee didn't go well.  i asked if anyone could tell me if a tank was full or empty.  she told me to pay for the new tank and she would send someone out.  i tried again to explain that i really needed someone to assess the situation.  she told me to buy a new tank.  i said what if it turns out the tank is full, will you refund the new tank.  "oh, you need to know if your tank is empty, why didn't you say so."  in my best christmas voice, i thanked her while she called for backup.  the sucker was empty.  now of course that we have it, the steaks will happily grill to perfection without incident.  well, two of them will.  lee likes hers so raw you can put your foot on it and it growls.  actually, she really only loves the bone and the fat.  the steak is just a condiment.

the ziti is made.  add more parmesan to tomorrow's shopping list . . .

as i am sitting here typing, i keep hearing this scratching and my brain tells me it is one of the cats in the litter box.  after ten minutes of this, i have to go check out the situation.  little box is unoccupied with no one in sight.  i still hear the scritch scratching, but since the litter needed to be changed out and i was down there, i figured i would get the job done.  it was no problem except pippin escaped into the garage and refused to be caught.  so i did the only logical thing.  i  hit the opener on the garage door.  it is ancient and heavy and noisy.  one very frightened pippin ran in the house and is still under the bed.  one of these days, that trick is going to backfire on me.

still with scratching.  i did a quick cat count.  pip and ninji accounted for.  bear was up to mischief.  it seems, that pippin's semi empty food plate was in the bottom of the plastic bag hanging on a door knob until it was taken downstairs.  bear was relentless in his attempt to garner the goodies.  poor bear, he is the least ferocious of all the monsters and made no headway at all.  garbage removed.  cat frustrated.

and last but not least, a shot of dezzy and kidlet with kidlet's christmas socks from joanie:

it's almost time!!!