Dog Stuff
Hmm.. so we have a wedding in GR on Sunday night and a large Grayson. Boarding places aren't open on Monday which means Grayson cna't be picked up and taken back to Cincinnati on Monday. I don't have a fully fenced back yard.
What do other people do with their dogs on long weekends?
I'm open to suggestions.
Insomnia
If there is one thing I do well it is sleep. I cna sleep on airplanes. In crowded airports slumped over my bag. In public parks. On a couch. Not on a couch. You getting the picture?
Yet tonight blissful dreamland eludes me. Apparently I ate the map to it with my mini-cheese at one of the the wineries (
the tour was very good by the way). Still the end result of this is the same. In three hours I need to get up, go to school and welcome another year of students. Perhaps it's excitement. Perhaps it's nerves. Perhaps it's lack of confidence (I have never been able to fully shake off the feeling that others do this better than me. This is somewhat true. I'm a good teacher, but I'm not one of the greats. And it never helps that almost all the feedback I get is negative--people are much more likely to complain than say thanks). Perhaps it's lack of excercise.
But I can't sleep tonight.
No good can come of this.
A fun Saturday activity: David burns weeds with a blowtorch.
We are Goetta! Pronounced "getta". The only time I will be the tall one in a picture.
Mmmm...vending machine for sausage with oats...Limit 4.
Pretty flower in the Ethel M cactus garden.
The bio-processing water area at Ethel M. Cleans up the water with bacteria and microbes.
Ethel M--This is for you Yi.
Oh. My. Word. It is 6:30 in the morning and I am up, dressed, breakfasted, packed up and ready to go. I think I have West Nile. I think the cat has fleas. I think my car needs service. May I be excused?
So. Huh. The craziness resumes today.
At least Joey's in it too. And I don't have to teach AP.
Ok. I can do this.
Return of the Being
Oh my. It has been two weeks and I have been reading blogs for the past hour and my but you’ve been leading interesting lives and I am back and have finished torturing a beloved little old man and went to an oat/meat product festival and an art museum in the middle of the night and “O” and saw dead Chinese people sitting around without their skins on and played poker at the neighborhood casino for a whopping nickel a pop and wore out a piece of my car and had it fixed for mucho dinero and rode the bus without a map to both drop it off and pick it up even though I had to borrow money from a homeless guy to get home and got called a honky and sat on an airplane for many hours next to icky old men who still had dents where their wedding rings usually are and wanted to “rank my winnings” and got a speeding ticket and bought a dress and now I am home ready to enter into the cavalcade of wedding activities that persists until October 28 and must festoon gifts with exciting ribbons and mail that gift certificate I’ve been meaning to since June and be glad the cat has quit yowling her displeasure about my leaving her for two weeks and try to convince her that installing herself up against what would be my chin and my chest inhibits my breathing and she should be glad for any cuddling and be satisfied with my legs. .
Did it rain while I was gone?
And then in the airport in Atlanta I walked from terminal A to terminal D which was very good for me at 5:15am EDT, but hurt a lot because I was on PST which made it 2:15 and the disembodied announcer person kept announcing the ENTIRE LIST of newly-banned substances in English and then in Spanish (which was especially funny because I had made it through security with a tube of hydrocortisone cream on accident) in betwixt playing Michael Bolton at many more decibels than he warrants playing. This is what I know about Michael Bolton:
A) He has long flowing locks desperately in need of Regina’s attention
B) He is wildly popular in upscale establishments in Zimbabwe.
C) He seems to have paid off the same people who made David Hasselhoff a celebrity sex symbol.
D) His music pretty much sucks no matter when, but especially at 5:15 in the morning in the acoustical paradise that is an airport subway tunnel.
And then all that was open to eat at was a Starbucks and a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog stand. Guess which one was popular? I opted for the many-hours-old and much-bashed-up apple in my purse. I’m going back to work on Tuesday. Huh. And I had an intense spiritual moment at weight watchers yesterday that has nothing to do with my weight. I will share it when I post pictures. BTW:
MWWW= -.75
TotalWWW= -5.5
Vegas Baby! Vegas!
Well folks, Wednesday finds me torturing a old man and typing in 72pt. or greater font. Grandpa has decided all he wants to do at one time is tape for five minutes or so. SO I've managed to get 29 minutes of yapping out of him. He's told me at least three hours worth of stuff he won't let me tape because he doesn't believe it's possible to edit it and is afraid it won't be professional enough.
I'm emailing my Aunts if he doesn't get on the ball tonight. god help him then!
Past that, had another great weekend in Cincinnati. We saw Clerks II which was every bit as funny as Clerks and had a bit that definately rivaled the first one for disturbing. If you've seen them you know what I'm talking about. If not, you're really better off.
Saturday we walked down to the hardware store and bought a blow torch to toast weeds. It worked ok, but I think we needed and attachement we didn't buy to be able to get the right angles.
Then we cleaned up and went to the awesomist event ever (One World Saturday at the Art Museum)but didn't get in until about one (we wandered off and did other things until then). Imagine an art museam with a DJ in the courtyard, Spanish food, drawings, giveaways and demos of cultural events and all the galleries were open. Very very cool.
We also went to Goetta Fest which was pretty unimpressive, but did have a goetta vending machine that limited the amount of meat product rools you could buy and carry around in the 90+ degree heat to four, and tried to find the World's Longest Yard Sale. I was kinda a bust too-- we only found one very overpriced one. But I did pick up (literally)a twin brass bed frame left over from it in the dark of night while we were waiting to get into the art museum.
Ok.
I'm not sure whether the weather is better or worse than yesterday, but I'm so glad not to be sticky/icky I suppose I won't hurt my brain on it.
Think I'm headed to Cincy today and Las Vegas Tuesday. Love my boyfriend. Love my grandpa. Happily, Amy will be home to make sure the small cat doesn't die of neglect and water the yard.
Best Rediscovery of the Week: Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches.
These have been a favorite for a couple of years, but I forget about them. 140 calories, 3g fiber, taste AWESOME (not at all like a "diet food"). I've had the vanilla and the chocolate, but they also come in mint and chocolate/peanut butter flavors. Find them in the ice cream novelties section with the other health concious treats. About $4.50 for six.
Hint: Do not be distracted or lured by the Weight Watchers ice cream-filled sugar cones. The cones are mushy and the ice cream is watery.
So that's that. Catch ya later.
MWWW: -1.75
TotalWWW: -4.75
No Heat In My Kitchen! (at least not from cookin'!)
It's hot out there folks. The above is one of the candles I left out after the garage sale just to see what would happen--it was an eight-inch high, round, blue pillar on Friday. Please note: it did not fall over.
In honor of the hot weather, I present for your dining pleasure,
NO STOVE SUMMER PASTA A LA Meg
What you need:
1 twelve-cup coffee maker (well washed)
1 microwave
Small microwavable bowl with lid
1/2 c. chopped onions (the sharper the better)
2 Tb. olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped (I like to add more)
2 comfortable handfuls bowtie or shell pasta
6oz. shrimp (buy these at Meijer when they do a 3-for-1 sale)
10 leaves (fresh)or 1 tsp. (dried) basil
3 Tb. crumbled feta
Squirt of lemon juice (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Fill the coffee maker with 10 cups of water.
-Set it to brew
-Let it cycle through four cups, then remove pot and add pasta
-Replace pot and allow the rest of the water to cycle in.
-Stir occasionally.
-Takes about 10-15 minutes.
*It is possible to turn the pasta to mush, so you may have to watch carefully until you know how long your coffe pot takes.
While the pasta is cooking:
-Place the chopped onions, garlic and oil in the small pot or bowl
-Cover the container
-Microwave one minute.
-Stir in basil and shrimp
-Return to microwave, microwave for one more minute.
Drain pasta (very simple, just pour off the water using your coffee pot's lid as the strainer)and dump it into a bowl, stir microwaved concoction and dump it one top of the pasta. If you want a bit more zing (I think it needs it),squirt a teaspoon or twoof lemon over the concoction now. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the pasta & sauce. Serve!
Yield: 2 servings, 7 WW points each.
