huff and puff . . .

i'm pretty much a home-body.  it's where i am most comfortable.  but the world keeps moving whether i want it to or not, so at 8:15 a.m. i was loping down the aisles of Publix, tossing condiments, shrimp, paper towels, cuties and bok choy into my cart along with a special order of a dozen ciabatta rolls. 

by 9:40 Joanie and i were trucking through the local neighborhoods hoping to stave off the ravages of old age.  11:00, found me stuffing my face with a lovely Virginia baked ham sammie with pepper mayo sauce and baby romaine.

by 11:53  i was cleaned up and headed for the library.  it seems i had expired. not i.  12:12 p.m. and i am the proud owner of seven spray guards for the back sprinkler heads.  yeah.that.was.exciting.not. very.  12:42  and i was picking up shampoo at the salon.  1:34 i was returning a damaged frame to Michael's,  2:03 . . .  kidlet's newest script was tucked safely in my pocketbook.

whew!  breathe.

at 6:40, i will pick up Joanie and head to our camera club meeting.

8:30 will find stir fry and rice simmering on plates ready for dinner.

this is the minutia of my world.  the stuff that requires my attention.  the business of life that no one remembers unless they write it down. but really, WTH. 

goodness . . .

just an afternoon snack.  a little Colavita roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil with spices and hot from the oven ciabatta roll.  slurp!!!

equal parts: rosemary, garlic, oregano, parsley, basil, red pepper, black pepper, kosher salt, thyme.

fresh is best but dry will do fine.  if you do use dry, reconstitute with a couple of drops of lemon juice before pouring the oil.

                                                         ************************

happy 70th birthday, dear sloth.

todays highlights . . .

Joanie, who is always there, gave me a hug as we started our walk this morning.

Robin, who knows me so well, helps more than she knows.

Nancy, of few words, brought us a plate of her delicious brownies.

And Kelli.  Well, Kelli, who knew my world lost some of its sparkle last year,  had a star named in memoriam for the 9TS, complete with its new name and coordinates, along with a chart.  how totally freakin' awesome is that!!!!

i love you all.

my world shifted . . .

6:19 p.m. 2.25.12

pippin the dragon slayer . . .

so pippin has been running in and out of the wooden blinds in the dining room for several months now. 

the objects of her affection seem to be the chameleons who scamper up the overgrown palm bush just outside. (this being an after shot)  not only do they scamper up the fronds, but they make their way between the window and the screen.  it drives pippin berserk.  she leaps off the dining room table onto the window sill and follows the little lizards around, pacing the length of the sill and stretching her little body as tall as it will go in hopes of catching one of those marvelous fellows.

you can hear the clatter as she throws her tiny body between the slats and then again as they rattle while she runs the gamut behind them.  i finally had to raise the blinds to keep both them and my sanity intact. we won't mention her nibbling through the pull string in order to abscond with the dangling wooden knob . . .

now she has more freedom to chase the chameleons but she also has more freedom to fall off the sill.  she has literally broken both tusks off the elephant.  sigh.

it's not necessary to ask why i have an elephant in my dining room, by the way.

the solution??  eliminate the critter convention.  today, dressed in my yellow polka dotted rain boots, i tried to do battle with the palm.  it won.  not only could i not remove its root system, it bit my shin which is now covered in bandaids.  oh most foul frond, you are so not a bouquet of roses.

after cleaning out the dead leaves, some scraggly ferns and other trash of the floral variety,  i managed to get two old bags of mulch dragged from the other side of the house to under that window and now it not only looks much better, but hopefully, the creepy crawlers will leave the window and my cat in peace.

oops, now i need a broom and some rust-out.

i'm certain pippin will be disappointed.

and i leave you with my next project:

rabbit hole update . . .

the newest round of meds is not working, so kidlet needs to be weened off it and we start down a different path.  the problem is, these two meds do not play nice with each other so unlike all the other times where we tapered the first while slowly increasing the second, she will have to be totally free of the old meds before this new protocol.  sigh.

so kidlet, when the world looks like this:

try to remember this:

because it will be back one day soon.  love, mom.

why i should and should not be allowed in the kitchen . . .

well, i finally got my paws on some Roasted Garlic Colavita extra virgin olive oil.  Slurp!  so last night i sauteed some 'shrooms in half butter/half roasted garlic olive oil and added some dried oregano because that is how i roll.  double slurp.  and since we had grilled flank steak, i rubbed some on that before i sprinkled on the salt and pepper.  triple slurp. it wasn't over powering just a hint of yummy flavor.

the thing is, the olive oil smells so good right in the bottle, i can't wait to use it for a dip for some thick crusty bread with spices.  it's on next weeks menu.

in other news, mother nature is still ticked . . . expecting 37 degrees tomorrow morning but my river rock sure looks great and as soon as she gets over her snit, i will get out there and remove the delta of dirt currently occupying the edge of the deck.

and because i am my own worst enemy . . .  the other night for dinner, i made baked ziti.  since it requires a cup of grated parmesan, i cheated and used the bottled version which has a tendency to clump.  there i am slapping the bottom of the plastic jar on the granite counter top and thinking i had loosened it enough, so i started shaking the bottle violently from side to side to loosen the rest.  except the top came off.  yep, cheese strewn from the sink, across the counter, onto the stove, across the floor, onto the throw rug and into the pantry. 

wake me up come spring.