catch up . . .

Thursday:  4.02   Today was a better day for sleeping than walking!

Homemade . . . sort of . . . chicken soup for dinner.  It's a Tyler Florence recipe . . .  made using a rotisserie chicken from your local store.  Fast, easy, tasty.  The 9TS wanted it for dinner. Unfortunately, his altered taste buds make everything taste metallic.  Boo!

Still transferring everything over to my iMac.  And downloading Lion.  Forever.  Five hours so far and still not half way.

Friday:   Took 9+ hours to download Lion and 33 minutes to install.  Monster program!!!!   Yoga/lunch/nap day.  YAY!   The only bummer . . . the 9TS was feeling too poorly to go to Carrabba's for dinner.  Sigh.

Saturday:  3.47  Oh how I would have liked to pull the covers over my head instead of getting up to walk.  LOL.  But now I feel accomplished and soggy.  Love the summer humidity. 

Happy Birthday Biker Boy!!!!  You know who you are, Mr. Bass.

so there we were . . .

happily noshing on corned beef and cabbage . . .  the 9TS, Kidlet and I, when Kidlet exclaims, "Holy Smokes!!!"  Look in the tree, there's a raccoon.  Well, really that isn't so surprising.  Behind the pool is an easement of woods and it is home to possums, coons, snakes, feral cats, and various and sundry other critters.  We see them all the time.

But Kidlet's voice was an octave higher and she was pointing to the tops of the far trees . . .  those engulfed in kudzu.  Glasses on, I got up from the table and peered out the sliding glass doors.  Nothing.  Kidlet kept giving my eyes directions.  There on the very top of a tree, out on the kudzu was a rather obese coon.  But wait, it wasn't a raccoon, it was kudzu shaped like an animal head.  Silly Kidlet.

She was insistent as only Kidlet can be.  "Go grab your camera mom and take a shot from the loft."  Obligingly, I did, but only because I had already finished stuffing my face with cabbage, corned beef, rye bread and butter.

It took me a minute to focus on the right area.  It's a jungle out there:

Sorry for the flash reflection, we had a storm coming in.  Do you see it?   Need some help?  Here is what my eagle eyed Kidlet spied:

and once again!!!

The vines are actually thick enough to hold this porker way out on the limb.

And that folks, was our dinner time entertainment.

disjointed . . .

• You know the conundrum?  When you are on meds that make you feel lousy so you don't want to eat anything, but if you don't eat anything, the meds make you sick?  Meet the 9TS.  GAH!!!!  

• It's Kelli's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Kel!!!!

• You know when you spill catnip all over your daughter's floor while making cat toys and you really want to leave it there and sprinkle patchouli around the room and see if the cleaning lady says anything.  Yeah, it's that kind of day.

•  Last night you put all the ingredients in the crock pot and stuck it in the fridge so this morning all you had to do was put the entire mess in its base and turn it on low.   Yes!  Fist pump!  A complete corned beef and cabbage dinner with no effort. 

• Kidlet is coming home so I can sign her rental agreement for another year, which is really, my rental agreement.  Which means I live in two places at the same time?  One for each side of my brain.  Works for me.

• Pippin:  Mom, I need more kitten dope!  Me:  You're already higher than a kite.  Pippin:  Higher and higher.  Me:  Patience, Grasshopper!  Namaste.

• You're going to lunch at a local fish joint and one friend says she'll bring the linens, another volunteers to bring the china, while the third offers finger bowls.  That leaves you with the sterling . . .

• 0.00.  It's my day off.

this a house shot from Cassadaga last fall:

Credits:  Paper:  Roben-Marie Smith, File, Stuffed Papers, Recorded Stamp: Katie Pertiet, Stitched, Splotches, Story Transfer:  Anna Aspnes, Frame:  Lynne Favreau, File Tag and Tape:  Dawn Inskip, Keys: Derek M Designs, Push Pin:  Pattie Knox, Paper Clip:  Agnes Biro, Lyrics:  Rosemary Clooney, Fonts:  Georgia and LB_Typewriter.

More goat cheese smeared on grilled french bread, topped with thinly sliced grilled zucchini and olive oil infused basil.   Will I never tire of this dish.  NEVER.

3.49+

moral of the story . . .

don't let the village idiot play with sharp knives.

A couple of weeks ago, mushroom man/child called the 9TS to see if he could practice on us for his new gig.  He got a job selling Cutco.  The 9TS quickly agreed.  Gee thanks, sloth. 

And so I quickly ran to my computer to see how good this stuff was or was not.  Epinions rated it very highly.  Pricey but 5* for the most part.  The biggest disgruntlement seemed to be that they were too sharp.  That should have been my first warning.

And so since none of our knives can cut their way out of a paper bag, we ordered two knives, a pair of kitchen shears and got a free whatchamcallit.

They arrived a couple of days ago and sat around until I decided to pick them up, wash them and get them stashed away.  The first time I touched a blade lightly to my skin, I thought to myself, OK not too sharp, but of course not being suicidal, I didn't press hard at all.  And then I looked down and saw the trickle of blood.  Hummm.

These things evidently were dangerous to the dimwitted.  After reading the instructions which recommended hand washing, I set carefully to work with a sponge and some hot soapy water.  It was the second knife that got me.  Slipped sideways out of my hand and clipped not only my palm but also the inside of my middle finger.  Gusher!!!!

After dinner tonight, being very careful to play nice with the nefarious knife, I went to scrub the stove top with the sponge, only to find it nearly severed in half with just a quarter of inch of material keeping it from a complete amputation.  GAH!!!!

I dug the cardboard guards out of the packing box I had marked for the dumpster and carefully replaced them on each blade.

The 9TS and I very well may have matching digits if this keeps up.

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2.00 (+-)  Went for speed rather than mileage.

miles, animals, nooks and other fancy things . . .

2.11.   I didn't want to push it with new sneaks, not to mention ungodly humidity.  When you walk a lot, boredom is sure to set in at some point . . . especially when taking the same old paths.  And so, we started counting animals:  three dogs, three cats, two armadillos and a hawk.  Not bad for 2.11.  Today I will be the 10th animal . . . a sloth and drift around the pool, paperback in hand.

Speaking of books, I have a woeful tale.  The other night as the 9TS wandered from room to room in the wee hours of the morning, trying to feel comfortable in his own sloth skin, he put my laptop on the highboy on top of a pile of clothing.  Not good because apparently, it lost its balance and came crashing four feet down.  Wide awake, I booted it up and found that my Mac was sturdy indeed.  No harm, no foul.  Back to bed.  Come the following afternoon, I turn on my Nook and discover that a half inch of screen is all blurred out.  Can't read the bottom line of each page and the page numbering was MIA.  Hum.  Rebooting it didn't work.  Neither did taking out the battery, waiting for it to reset.  Grrrrr.  Down in the kitchen I am still mumbling and grumbling about electronics that don't make it past the first year of life and also that I had opted not to pay for the warranty . . .  when the 9TS blurts out that the Nook was on top of the laptop in the great crash of July 2011.  He offered to buy me another.  I am now the proud owner of a new Nook with warranty and the nice woman at B&N said it looked like something had been dropped on it.  My Nook sacrificed its life for my Mac.  Awwwww!

6.06 . . .

dragging butt.  GAH!!!

But since I blew out my sneaks, I had fun buying a new pair.  There's a place in town that custom fits athletic shoes and do these guys know their business!  I ended up with a pair of Brooks very similar to my old pair and I love them.  The blowout was caused by my orthotic inserts.  Since they are the only thing between me and plantar fasciitis we had to work around the fact that they raise the foot slightly above the natural heel of the shoe.  New socks and a new way of lacing and I am good to go.

I stuffed the sloth back into the gray goose and took him with me . . .  he needed some fresh air.   He was up all night and miserable.   This morning we started him on his new pain meds and they seems to give him some relief.  I just have to make sure he doesn't wander away from me. 

Oh and the scales were my friend this morning.  Total loss of 10 big ones.  YAY!!!!