I garden! I'm a gardener!

(said in Bill Murray's voice from What about Bob-- I sail! I'm a sailor! Dr. Leo Marvin! I'm a sailor!)

Whew! I ache in places I didn't know I could ache, and it's a good kind of ache. Brad and I tore it up outside this weekend, literally and figuratively. In typical Kathleen fashion, if there's a way to take the fun out of things, generally by rushing, that's the mode I pick. It wasn't completely fun-less, but we had to get it done by tonight so I can take pictures and send them in to the newspaper for our open house ad. Gardening with a deadline somewhat hinders the fun, relaxing aspect. But we got it done, we had a really great time, and it looks good, if I do say so myself!

On Friday I came home from work and we jumped in the car to head up to the Plant Lady's place. We saw Pinky the sweet cat again and I just fought. so. hard. not to pick her up-- sweetest meowing thing ever. And we bought plants-- a five-foot foxtail palm, seven more ruellia bushes with purple flowers, fifteen more lantana plants (that's the name of the yellow flowered groundcover) and a red flowering bush that will attract butterflies. Which it does. We had to steal it away from the lovely monarch that wanted to hang out in it. We drove home with the palm tree standing up in the open trunk-- a true Sanford and Son moment. We emptied the car and then went out for dinner. Here you can see all the plants crammed into the entryway, as well as the foxtail palm bungee-corded to the post. It's wicked windy these days.


Saturday morning we woke up and got started on removing the grass outside the guest room. Here's the before:


Mom had helped me figure out the plan, sort of a kidney bean shape with curves so it looks more organic than straight lines. We got about 2/5 of the way done and couldn't do any more. It is such hard work, this sod!!! It is dang heavy and takes all of my weight to jump on the shovel to break it apart. Hardy, thankfully, in this Florida sun, but very hard to remove! I tried to keep our spirits up with creative fractions-- "We're one-tenth of the way done! Now we're about a quarter of the way done! Now we're nearly one half of the way done, about two-fifths!!!" But after those two fifths only a half hour had passed and we were ready to pass out. We went in to clean up and I headed off to a baby shower for a few hours while Brad napped. When I got home, I napped, and then we started up again once the heat of the day started to wear off. We got it all done around 7 p.m. and headed out for dinner again.


Brad was incredible, working with the strength of a very determined man. I knew he was a hard worker, but I was impressed all over again. If you look behind him in the picture you might be able to see the little lumps of sod in the vacant lot. I jumped on the shovel, breaking the sod up into squares, and Brad ripped it up and took it down to the lot. Over. And Over. And Over. Probably about 75 trips. So the burger at Chili's was well deserved.

This morning we went to early church and then to Lowe's to pick up 15 more bags of mulch, some bypass pruners which I had previously only known as clippers, and a tree strap. We got home and decided the 85 degrees was a bit much, so we rested all afternoon. It was much needed and glorious. I watched Mostly Martha while Brad napped, and then fell asleep as Brad watched a basketball game. By 5:30 we were ready to plant the stuff we bought on Friday, and it only took us an hour and a half to plant it all and mulch! Talk about determined! We're terribly proud, even though it looks sparse right now. The ruellia will grow like crazy and fill in quickly, and the lantana ground cover will spread in a while. The little foxtail palm (half the price of Lowe's, thank you) will grow slowly but that's ok. It all looks new and small, but it's ours and we're proud.


The one casualty-- Brad's skin. When he picked up the foxtail the first time, he found it was covered with ants. Two of the ants found their way onto his thumb and took a hefty bite out of it-- immediately! That was Friday night, and by Saturday morning there was a big painful blister at the site. We hate these ants.


Before:


After:


The triangle's "after" picture from last week:


The "after" picture from the far side of the garage. Pardon the fuzzy-- low battery + low light = bad pic. Squint a little.


Home Sweet Home:

Sorry for the "b" word, but it just came to me.

Here's a link to what our house looks like when it's on the local Real Estate tv channel. Click on the link that says Listen to Audio Description of Home. Hilarious. I wrote the copy, not knowing it was going to be read by a grandfatherly man with a voice you'd expect to say things like "presumptuous" and "ostentacious" and other three-dollar-words. I forgot I threw in "awesome lanai" on that copy and just had a hearty laugh hearing this fine gentleman say "awesome" almost like he'd never said it before... which made my mind wander. What else should I have put in there for a laugh? "This is one bitchin' house. Don't miss the fly location, phat lanai, sweet floorplan, and fo shizzle, get a load of the landscaping. Dude, you gotta check this one out..."

So I had a fantastic time at the gynecologist on Monday.

Not what you expected to hear I bet, and I promise not to share much.  Except to say that I really liked her and am so grateful to have found a really good doctor.  I told her about how I've been a bit blue lately and she gave me some samples of Lexapro-- anyone ever been on this?  You don't have to leave a comment if you'd rather remain anonymous to my other readers, but I'd love to hear your experience via email. I took the first one on Tuesday around 10 am and by noon I was woozy.  By 1 p.m. the office was riding a wave, and by 2 p.m. I was nearly losing my lunch.  But, weirdly, it felt like I was nauseous in my head instead of in my stomach.  It was NOT an improvement over depression and anxiety.  I had to leave work and go home to sleep it off!  Ugh.  I called my doc and she said to try half a pill.  I'm going to wait until Friday night.  That way if it's not so fun I'll be asleep for most of it. 

In happier news our neighborhood-wide open house is on for sure.  I have seven Realtors committed, and two of them have multiple houses in the neighborhood.  I'm really excited and hopeful about this.  I was fretting about it over the weekend as a few people dropped out, but God gently reminded me on Monday that this is His, and all I have to do is my best effort and offer it to him.  So that's my attitude. I bet one of you is praying for us.  Thank you.

WE HAVE LANDSCAPING!

Yes we do!!! We have landscaping, how 'bout YOOOOOOOU?

And I'm not going to show you a picture yet. Because we just finished. By the light of Brad's specially-rigged spotlight clamped to an upright rake. It's dark out, so the pics wouldn't turn out well. I'll try to do that this weekend.

We dug out the grass-- that's one heck of a chore down here, as the sod comes out with about two inches of wet sand attached to the bottom. A nine inch-by-nine inch piece weighs about ten pounds-- crazy. We dug that out, rather, Brad did most of the digging, on Monday afternoon. We ran up to the plant lady's house on Monday evening before finishing the digging. The plant lady is the owner of a native-plant-nursery about ten minutes north of our house. Native plants are preferred because they grow well, easily, and quickly, and her nursery is preferred because her prices are lowest. We got up there with ideas in mind, and she set us up nicely. When we arrived we were greeted by some lovely chickens, probably the biggest chickens I've ever seen. They even have feathers on their legs!


We chose our plants-- a pygmy date palm for the "triangle" near the front door,


some beautiful shrubs with dark green foliage and purple flowers, called ruellia, to fill in behind along the walls,


and some little yellow flowered ground cover that I can't find a picture of. We loaded everything into the trusty Nissan...



... headed home. After we unpacked the car and changed into "grubbies" we dug, and dug, and dug. Since we don't have a wheelbarrow and are watching the budget, Brad rigged up a makeshift one with a piece of plywood and our furniture dolly. It was quite a process-- dig out about 10 squares of 9 by 9 sod, plop onto plywood, pull down the driveway, down the street to the vacant lot next door, then toss each square, one by one, into the lot. I think we made about 25 trips, and if we never do it again it will be too soon.

Here's what it looked like when I got home, before I started helping. Doesn't look like a big area, but it's about 10 feet wide by 15 feet deep, so it's plenty. Admire the "wheelbarrow."


By the time we got done digging the sun was setting. It was a perfect evening to be outside-- maybe 70 with a breeze and gorgeous skies-- really couldn't ask for better. We took the last few smidgens of energy to place the plants so we could have a vision for what it would look like:

Sorry for the poor quality-- it was dark and the camera battery was nearly shot. Oh, and the rock? It was down in the dirt, and Brad dug that beast out. It's about a foot by a foot by a foot and a half. It's pretty ugly, but we thought we'd throw it in the left corner near where the downspout is.

That was Monday. Tuesday Brad dug out the area on the other side of the garage in preparation for the extra three shrubs we found out we didn't need in the "triangle." I was no help as I had taken the first of my happy pills prescribed by my doc on Monday-- more on that in another post. Wednesday we got 15 bags of mulch - $1.67 a bag at Lowe's! - and put in the bushes by the garage. It looks soooo great. And tonight, Thursday, we put everything else in the ground. We're both so pleased. It makes the house look super. I'm a little uneasy about one bush making it-- when we took it out of the plastic container we found it was covered in ants, so Brad sprayed it down with ant-killer. We'll see if it's bush-killer as well. :)

And when they were up they were up, and when they were down they were down...

Talk about a roller coaster! This weekend, my gosh. Saturday we woke up and Mom and I had a just a perfect day on Sanibel. After a lazy breakfast at home we headed over the causeway with beach chairs but the weather was too cool to sit on the beach-- highs in the 60s. It was perfect for driving and shopping, so we scheduled a tram ride at Ding Darling nature center and had a quick snack at Gramma Dot's restaurant-- mom's last bite of seafood for the trip. We actually got there before they opened and didn't have to wait in line-- a first for us.

Mom had her regular-- coconut shrimp. After our early lunch we made our way over to Ding Darling, first stopping at the shell store, She Sells Seashells. SO FUN. I think I could have decorated a whole beach house with the shells they have. Just beautiful. We ran out of time and left our basket for a return trip after the tram ride.

We made our way down to Ding Darling and looked through the nature center before heading over to the tram.


The tram ride at Ding Darling was the best I think I've ever been on. The guide was clearly the right man for the job. He loves that land and knows every little detail; he told stories about the trees like they were people, and little narratives of the alligator behavior like they were his children. It lasted 2 hours and was the best $12 ever spent, I think. It didn't hurt that the breeze was glorious, the company was sublime, and the pace was wonderfully relaxing. Could not have been better. Unless that nasal woman from Manhattan who was in town for "the conference" would have been quieter, but that was nothing.

After the tram ride we drove out to the Bubble Room to buy some cake to go-- best cakes you ever did see. It was tough to choose-- the butterfinger ice cream cake with butter brickle drizzle looked good, as did the chocolate torte and so many others. We decided on red velvet with cream cheese pecan icing, and coconut white cake with whipped cream coconut icing. Unfortunately, the surly guy helping us didn't have any plastic forks. That was probably the hardest half hour of my life, with those huge slices of cake in the back seat, my grumbling tummy begging, and no forks in sight.

We went back to the shell shop and bought a few things, and then headed back. I bought three pretty white star fish to hang on the wall of the guest room. Two fifty apiece. So beautiful and peaceful.

We stopped at Jerry's Supermarket to snag a few plastic forks so we could enjoy the cakes. They were delish as always. We used to get cake from the Mermaid Kitchen, which is a lovely restaurant started by the woman who made cakes for the Bubble Room. The lady is named Katie Gardenia (isn't that delightful?) and I remember her always wearing a little wreath on her head with ribbons hanging down. I want to be carefree and whimsical like that someday. Anyway, the cakes brought back good memories, plus they quieted the bellies.

When we got back home, Aunt Ellen and Uncle Jay had stopped by to see the house and we got to say a quick hello. It was just a perfect day! Everything worked out perfectly, from the weather to the timing. Just glorious. And Mom's flight was delayed, so we got to plan out landscaping in the yard and even check out some options for plants at Lowe's before going to the airport. We finally took Mom to the airport in time for her flight, stopping to have dinner at the airport Chili's before she left. Just wonderful. A very "up" day.

And when they were down, they were down. Sunday wasn't an up day at all. We skipped church and slept in, storing up energy for our much-anticipated landscaping adventure. We made a plan on Saturday with Mom, and went to Lowe's to price things out and buy a rake-- we were really excited. At least I was. I called a friend who was going to take us to The Plant Lady. Shawn and her family came over around noon and we headed up to the Plant Lady's house, about 10 minutes north of us. Unfortunately, Plant Lady was feeling under the weather, so we couldn't buy plants. Bummer. We tried a few other nurseries around, but they were all closed. Big bummer. Rarely do I get drive and ambition like that, and when I have it, I want to use it. We came home and Brad took a nap, but I just sat on the couch and seethed for a while. Such a bummer.

After I calmed down I had a snack of strawberries and what did I find in the carton? A mutant 360 degree berry! That's all one berry!


After a while Brad woke up and we showered and got dressed up for a nice dinner out-- thought we'd try a steak place we've seen a few times. But first, Brad said, we were going on an adventure. We had a little extra time before our reservation, so we decided to look for the source of this, reminiscent of last spring in Lehigh: (picture taken from our driveway)

Turns out it was in a marshy area and no homes were in danger, thankfully. Was much closer than last year's fires, so I wasn't totally comfortable, but it all turned out ok.

Dinner turned out to be a bust. Steak was decent but poorly prepared, mashed potatoes tasted of Windex, and the service was mediocre at best. We left there dissatisfied with the whole dang day and returned the borrowed minivan to Ralph and Chris. They were encouraging and comforting in our hour of grumpiness. We also said goodbye to Ellen and Jay, who will return home on Tuesday. And then we turned in early to get Sunday done and over with.

Our trip to the Everglades.

When Mom was making plans to come down here she had one request: to see the Everglades. So, naturally, I went about my research, looking for the best Everglades tours and airboat rides. There are quite a few to choose from, originating in Fort Myers, Naples, all the way over to Miami. I chose one based upon glowing reviews at tripadvisor.com, who has now lost its credibility with me. But we had fun anyway.

I worked half a day Friday and then came home to meet Brad and Mom for a quick lunch. We headed down to Everglades City which is right on the edge of the water, southeast of Naples. It took a while to get there, across a bit of Alligator Alley, and then down 29 a fair bit. While on the drive we all agreed that this was the Boonies. We arrived at the trailer/office, paid our exorbitant fee (thanks, Mom!), ate our Paydays and then got on the boat. Captain Gary wordlessly ushered us onto the boat along with two other people. Wordless is Captain Gary's favorite thing, I guess. We were expecting narration, stories, etc., which did not happen. Gary took us out to Totch's Island, which is an old Indian island that the family who owns the airboat company owns. On the island is an old shack. Sooooo, that was nice. Then we went back up the little inlet and into a mangrove forest. This was the really cool part.


The mangrove trees create islands and tunnels through which Captain Gary drove the airboat to find alligators. We saw a handful of them, and Gary was not afraid to get close. I was afraid for my mother's feet as they were closest to the gator:


...but all went well. It was a gorgeous day to be outside and on the water and it was a very pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. I think next time we'll go to National Park headquarters or something and get a narrated tour.

After the tour we got a chance to hold a baby gator:


...only Brad was brave enough to do it. "It just feels like a big snake," said Captain Gary. Like that's supposed to entice me? Nuh uh.

Afterward we went for a quick bite at the Seafood Depot, again recommended by tripadvisor.com and again a not quite success. Then we headed up north by way of US 41 and took Mom through Naples-- that was really fun. It's a whole different feel from Sanibel, despite being only about an hour south. Where Sanibel is like a laid back, California style vacation, Naples is a Beverly Hills, high society place. We all agreed that we prefer the laid back style.

So that was our little excursion. I'm so glad we did it, and it was wonderful to be together out on the water. I even thought as we drove along, I could be a boater. I'm always relaxed on boat rides down here. It just lowers my blood pressure immediately. But I'm not about to make any investments right now.

Change.

So this morning Brad and Ralph had breakfast as they do most Friday mornings.  Brad asked Ralph if he should start looking for full time work.  Ralph said yes.  I'm not freaking out, but it stresses me out a bit.  Ralph has been paying Brad well, and it will be miraculous if Brad can find something else down here that pays that well.  Which is a stressor, considering that our mortgage payment went up $350 last month.  So if you think of us, please pray for provision.  And that we would sell this house and get the heck out of here.  But our Realtor just emailed us last night about how Lehigh is a super-rough market to sell right now, how lots of Realtors are leaving the field out of frustration, and that times are just tough.  Blech.  Not so encouraging.  We need your prayers, folks.  We're hanging on by a thread.

Read the labels, dummy.

Yeah, so I'm quite groggy right now as I type.  It's beeen a lovely Saturday, with a late breakfast, a trip to the groc, a visit to jeff and Shelley (just missed their garage sale), a nap, and dinner at Gramma Dot's onSanibel.  And, hooray, I've found  a drug that seems to work on my new allergies-- Tyelnol allergy.  Good stuf. They ahve a daytimg and a nighttime.  I took a daytime this morning-- worked great.  Took another dose after my nap, at 4 p.m.  Allergies subsided, congestion cleared.  After dinner I started feeling relly groggy, like I had taken a dramamine or somrthign.  On the 45 minute drive home my groggy head startd thinking about what could be wrong with me.  What if it's not allergies?  What if I have a brain tumor? What if it's cancer? Or something really bad like that? I could barely keep my eyes poen, and I've been longing hungrily for my pillow for 45 minutes.

I just got home and realized I took the nighttime pills instead of the daytime pills.  Dur.  The antihistamine in it is the same medicine in Brad's sleep-aid pills, same dosage and everything.  So it's probably not cancer or anything.  Just didn't read the labvels well. Sorry for the typos.  I'm off to bed.  Happy daylight savings time night.

Fried day and a full docket of relaxing ahead...

Woo hoo!  I've just finished contacting all 29 houses for sale in our neighborhood!  I drove around last night and wrote down addresses and phone numbers for each house for rent or for sale, and today I contacted them all to see if the listing agents or owners are interested in joining in our neighborhood-wide open house!  Twenty-nine properties, all in a circle less than a mile in diameter.  Pretty amazing.  Which tells you why I've been less than hopeful about our house selling.  Anyway, I just called a boatload of folks and got some email addresses and will be getting more info out to them.  The open house is scheduled for Sunday, April 1, from 1 - 4 p.m.  My realtor is paying for the quarter page ad in the Homeseeker special section of the newspaper that weekend, and I'll be collecting $$ to cover the cost of balloons, helium, and signs.  I just love planning things!  Oh, and smart husband of mine thought of buying a bunch of hot dogs from Costco and grilling out.  The ad will direct people to my house where they can pick up a map of the neighborhood and a free hot dog (and also buy my house.)  That was my Realtor's suggestion.  Oh, I am excited.

 

Mom arrives tonight and we plan to spend much time reading and vegging.  It always happens that we do a bunch of stuff and relax not as much as we'd like, but this time I think we really will relax well.  We all need it! 

 

Have a great weekend, all!

 

 

Unreal, times two.

Number 1 Unreal: Colleague seriously just turned up the temperature again. I'm sitting in my office baking, so I went back to check it and sure enough, she turned it up. Unreal.

Number 2 Unreal: We tried Bonefish Grill last night for dinner. Filet mignon with au gratin potatoes = unreal in a good way. Best steak I've had down here. Delish. And appropriate portion sizes so we still had room for strawberry shortcake with creme anglaise. Just divine. Nearly.

Here are a few pics from our adventures this past weekend. First one is of Dad, me, and Brad in front of Tommy Bahama's. The lady who was with the guy who took the picture said that Brad lookes more like Dad than I do. She also said she doesn't drink. Because of her first statement, I seriously doubt her second statement.


Here's me and Brad peeking through the greenery in front of Tommy Bahama's.

And here's me and Kena blowing bubbles. Dad picked up this bubble gun at the grocery for her to play with . She loved it and squealed with delight while trying to blow bubbles at people.

Dad leaves tonight to return to tundra land where many of you are, dear readers. I'm so sorry the winter has been so cold for so long. We have an open bed for you after March 17th! Mom comes in tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to a week of eating chicken fingers (the landlubber option at seafood restaurants), watching Mom happily chow down on grouper and shrimp. The woman eats like a head of lettuce per month for 11.75 months of the year. She's more than allowed to chow down on fish for a week.

In other news, my sister isn't doing so hot with this new drug Remicade she's been on. After a lovely time in the emergency room yesterday, with a few large doses of steroids, benadryl for the closing airway, and vicodin for the joint pain, she's in much better shape than before, but now she's got to try a new drug. This one she'll have to inject into herself every other week. The thought of her having to give herself shots makes me want to cry, but maybe this will work for her and it will all be better soon. Lord, come quickly so we can all have new bodies.

That's about it for now. Love and wishes of warmth to you all!

Seriously.

So since Boss isn't here, Colleague decides to open the front and back doors to "get some air."  (She wouldn't do that if he was here as he always tells her to close them.)  What that does is make the hallway cool where the thermostat is located, which means the air conditioning never kicks on and my windowless office becomes an oven.  We've been over this numerous times.  So I confronted her gently and asked if she was hot.  A hair bit, she said.  Ok, then let's turn on the air, I say.  Opening the doors has the opposite effect.  To which she scowled at me.

 

But logic is never universal, just as common sense isn't anywhere near common.  So after a snarky look and some rude remarks from her, I told her I was closing the doors and turning down the air. 

 

I realized in that exchange that she is simply unwilling to come to an agreement.  She would rather just have the same argument over and over instead of creating peace.  I forgot that people like that exist.  Makes me sad for her.  Didn't Einstein say that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?  Well, that gives credence to my theory that she is a bit off her rocker. 

"You are not very happy with this situation..." Duh.

Thanks to Jessica Jones, I just took this Colorgenics test. It takes about 30 seconds. Try it. It was pretty accurate for me. Jess is one of the many people at Evanston Vineyard who I wish I had had the opportunity to be friends with. Brad and I would always say to ourselves as we left each Sunday, "We are so rich. There isn't time enough to get to know all the amazing people here." And now that we're gone, I so wish I hadn't been teaching, that life circumstances had been different so that I could have made time to be friends with such people. Jess's blog is incredible and inspiring. You'll enjoy her quirky and fun sense of style and her fresh approach to decorating. Target curtains + fabric paint = one of a kind window dressings. Novel. Why didn't I think of that?

Anyway, here are my results from the "test":

"You are striving to make favourable impressions all of the time and you are going out of your way to make the impression that you are something special. You are constantly on the watch to see how your friends and neighbours are reacting to your various ploys. But this is so unnecessary because most of the time you are in control of the situation - and you are, in the nicest sense of the word, a 'manipulator' because you use various strategies very cleverly in order to influence and obtain the necessary recognition. (I like being called clever. And as much as I don't like being told I'm an attention seeker, sometimes I am. I like being different in a good way. But 'ploys'? Eh.)

Being a somewhat gentle, emotional and sensitive person, you are at this time experiencing a considerable amount of tension. What you really need is someone who can be close to you and to listen to what you have to say. (Um, ding ding ding. Thank you GOD, for my husband, mother, and sister who hear it all!)

In spite of all the opposition, you are insisting that your goals are realistic but circumstances are forcing you to compromise. You are not very happy with this situation but there is little that you can do about it. You have very strict standards which you try to apply to everyone who enters your sphere of influence. (Yep. I assume the best in people, and often demand the best of people, whether or not they care to give their best.)

The tension that you are experiencing at this time is perhaps due to physical and/or mental frustration. It would appear that you are not appreciated and as a consequence, the situation is most disagreeable. You seek personal recognition and the appreciation of others to compensate for the lack of like minded people with whom to ally yourself. You would like to surrender and merge with others but your inherent self-restraint makes it difficult for you to open up. This disturbs you as you regard such instincts as weaknesses to be overcome. You want to be liked, admired and appreciated for yourself. (SO true. I liked being a teacher, where my skills were used and recognized. Sitting in this boring closet doesn't scratch that itch. But at least I have time to take colorgenics tests.)

You need to be respected as an exceptional individual. This is the only way that you can hope to achieve the status that you wish to achieve. You set yourself very high standards - and come what may - you abide by them." (True. I tend to only do things that I know I will excel at. And then I excel. Not necessarily a good thing as it means I don't take lots of risks. Eh.)

Last night was another quiet, relaxing evening at home. Brad and I made Chef Boyardee pizza from a box and watched the award-winning epic tale, Dodgeball. Ben Stiller always plays a moron. I also talked to my sister who was on her way to try a new housegroup. Unfortunately, she was pushing herself too hard (why do we do that?) as she was experiencing side effects of her new medication. Her joints started to ache earlier in the day, and by the time she left for housegroup she couldn't unlock the door for herself. What that girl will do for community. I convinced her to turn around and go home to take care of herself. At 4 this morning she woke up and her tongue was swelling, a sure sign of an allergic reaction. So roommate-of-the-year Becca took her to the emergency room where they are right now. She's had an IV of Benadryl and steroids and hopefully will be feeling better soon. The sad thing is that she was to give a presentation at her school's inservice today which she worked really hard on... poor sister can't get a break. If you think of it, please pray for her today. She could use a boost in health and morale-- these steroids do a number on moodiness and it's really frustrating to her.

Tonight we'll try a new steak place with Dad to celebrate his passing of drivers' school last night. (Word to the wise: don't speed in Fort Lauderdale when driving back to Orlando from the Superbowl.) We're going to try Bonefish Grill, which is a chain but most things here are. Tomorrow we have a quiet night planned of Chili's for dinner and then watching Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell. I netflixed it this weekend so it will arrive today. Anyone seen it? I also netflixed Nowhere in Africa-- it won a bunch of awards and the reviews mention superb scenery and cinematography. Hopefully we can watch it with Mom and relive the Africa adventure a bit. Mom comes in Friday night for a week of seafood eating. And some visiting between seafood restaurants. :)

One more thing

I neglected to mention that I spoke with our Realtor this morning and got the go-ahead for my bright idea of a neighborhood-wide open house.  We're going to hold it on Sunday, April 1.  I'm excited-- this gives my organizational planning brain something to feed on for the next few weeks.  I have a call into the newspaper to find out how to go about getting a quarter-page ad.  Next step is to drive around and gather addresses and phone numbers and then call all the sellers/real estate agents to see if they will participate.  And then pray.  And Virginia, I won't forget the balloons. :)

Weekend Update

Dad has been in town since Tuesday and we spent the weekend together tooling around Naples.  Dad and I went out to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe and then went to Ceragem for back treatments (ahhh).  Then we picked up Brad and went down to Naples to a fun fruit stand where they have samples of everything, from watermelon to sweet corn, key lime pie, strawberries, fresh salsa, you name it.  We ended up returning after lunch to buy some sweet corn, strawberries, and salsa to take home.  But in between the two stops there we went for lunch at Tommy Bahamas.  It might be only an hour away, but it feels like you're on vacation.  The weather was warm and sunny, the live music was island-y, and the food was great.  One of the best lunches I've had in a while. In the evening we watched a movie - Coach Carter, I believe.  Pretty good.

 

Sunday we got up for church and then had a barbecue.  Dad was the grill master, grilling up burgers, chicken, and cheddar brats which were pretty much inhaled by the family who came.  I just love having the family over-- cooking for a crowd is a fun challenge and I just love it.  Ralph and Chris came and brought the visitors they had in town-- old family friends whom I'd never met.  Rico and Beth came and brought the little girls, which prompted Dad to mention that he'd like grandchildren.  By the end of the afternoon our bellies were full of chicken, burgers, brats, chips, veggies, banana-chocolate-chip-cake, and key lime pie.  Oh- I forgot to mention that we stopped by Bella Maria in Naples to pick up a key lime pie there.  Maria has been supplying key lime pies to my dad for many years now and you won't find better.  We still have a bit left which won't last the night.

 

Over the weekend I caught another bug, it seems.  I am so damn tired of being sick-- going on four months now.  I slept in on Monday and skipped the morning of work, which felt great.  When I got here my colleague reminded me that the pollen count is high, and maybe it's allergies and not a cold.  Who knows.  So last night Brad and I raided CVS in search of a treatment.  I'm trying Claritin for the next 5 days to see if that makes a difference.  I feel a little better today-- still stuffy and really tired, but not as sneezy. 

 

So that's it for now.  Dad is here until Thursday night and then Mom comes on Friday night.  It's a busy March, but how can I complain?  The weather this week is dreamy-- 74 and sunny, and the evenings are getting into the 40s! 

Lost every battle, but I think I won the war.

It has been 75 in here consistently for two and a half whole workdays.  It's a record.

 

In other news, she just burned her lunch in the microwave so the whole office smells horrid.  But she's taking a half day today, so things are looking up.

 

In still other news, Dad is in town for a much-needed vacation.  Today is his second faceoff against my father-in-law in golf.  Yesterday he got spanked a bit, but he's sure to bounce back today.  We're going to try to take in a baseball game this weekend and relax a bit.

 

I'm working on plans for when Mom comes down.  Since I knew way ahead of time when she was coming I was able to get some time off, so we're going to do an airboat ride in the Everglades and who knows what else.  Might see the Corkscrew Swamp-- have heard great things about it.  I also want to take her to the Six Mile Cypress Slough as I enjoyed that thoroughly with Sam and Erika.

 

And tonight is a new experimental dinner.  I often make a chicken breast dinner called "pizza chicken"-- it's a chicken breast shaken in a bag of italian spices, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese-- and eat it with a veggie and white rice.  I named it pizza chicken way back in the day because it smelled like pizza, even though there is no red sauce or mozzarella in sight.  So I'm going to make pizza chicken on the George Foreman, then cover it with red sauce and provolone and bake it until the cheese melts.  Am also going to make angelhair pasta and roasted broccoli.  Yum.  I can't wait.

 

We're having a cookout on Sunday and having the family over.  I think I'll make a banana-chocolate chip bundt cake to use up the ripe bananas on the counter.  I really love cooking.

I didn't shred my child. I mailed him away to my sister.

Remember that photo-booth picture I told you about? The one where it took a picture of me, then a picture of Brad, and then morphed our faces together to give us a picture of our hypothetical first-born son?  The one I thought I shredded along with our boarding passes to Indy?

 

He's alive!  Er, not really alive.  More like, unshredded.  But in a different state, geographically speaking.  I sent him to my sister by accident.  I mean, I mailed her a package on purpose and somehow he accidentally slipped into the package.  She called this morning and asked if I had meant to mail the pic to her.  Oops.  I didn't mean to send away our hypothetical child to Aunt Stephie, at least I didn't mean to do it as a conscious act.  The funny thing is, I've said over and over if we got a big surprise and found out we were pregnant I would probably either a) hire my sister to come live with us full time or b) send the kid away to Fun Aunt Stephie's for years 2-18, covering the terribly twos through most of puberty.  They get thankful once they hit 18, right?

 

This all makes me sound like a horrible person, but really, compared to my friends who are parents, I am a horrible person.  I am selfish with my time, my home, my things, my noise-level, and my sleep.  I'll grow out of it and will become less horrible, and truthfully, if we got that big surprise we would accept it gratefully as a gift from God after a few days of weeping. 

 

I just think it's terribly funny and ironic that I subconsciously sent our hypothetical child away to my sister. 

So far, so good. But it has only been 11 minutes...

I came in to work today and, being resigned to inflict open communication on everyone, announced that I was setting the temperature at 75 and could we please keep it there all day. Colleague of course objected, "You're turning the air on NOW?"

To which I replied, "Yes, it's hot and sticky in here."

"Then open the doors."

"Well, it's supposed to rain and it's quite humid. I'd like to leave them closed."

Then Boss jumped in, "Yes, turn on the air. It's hot in here." (!!!!!)

Colleague replied, "Fine, I'll just sit here and freeze all day."

To which I said, "If there's something that can be done to make you more comfortable, I'm all ears, Colleague."

To which she said, "No, I'm sure there isn't." And she shut her door.

Oh, for small victories of consistent temperatures. I don't really ask for much. I'll keep you posted.

Three random pictures

A few weeks back I was greeted by this odd-looking guy on the back step of our office. He's sort of a see-through little lizard. But he never moved. Not until it poured down rain and he got washed away. Ick.


A few days ago we had a lovely evening. Heck, most evenings have been lovely. February is a wonderful month in Florida, weatherly speaking. Here we are in our front yard, for no particular reason.


And here's another sunset shot. I just love them.

Another delightful weekend recap

We went down to Naples on Saturday morning to have the car folks buff a few things out of the Miata. We drove around quite a bit and got a fair amount of sun on our noses and shoulders. And we remembered how being out in the sun tires one out. So we napped in the afternoon before family night on Saturday night.

Family night was a hit, as usual. Chris and Ralph hosted and it was a really sweet time of being together and intentionally catching up. Chris made a roast and scalloped potatoes and I brought a vegetable. It was, as usual, an experiment. I say "as usual" because I feel like I'm ever building a repertoire of signature dishes, and I found one to add to that repertoire: roasted broccoli. YUM! Who knew vegetables could actually be enjoyable? I bought a big thing of broccoli florets at Costco with the intent to learn how to roast it. I found a great recipe online-- toss broc with olive oil, garlic, and a few squirts of lemon or lime juice, and spread on a cookie sheet. Roast at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes, then toss with some freshly grated parmesan and enjoy. It was a huge hit, at least to me. I also roasted some baby carrots-- 8 minutes in the micro to get them started, then toss with olive oil, garlic, and thyme, and then spread on cookie sheet at 450 for 10 minutes. They were quite tasty as well. I'll find the sources and give credit sometime soon.

And speaking of things I told you I'd do, I don't have that picture of Brad's and my hypothetical child which we took in a photobooth in Indy. I accidentally threw it away. How's that for a statement? I threw away our hypothetical child. I surely can't be trusted with a real one.

Below are some pics of the fun car after it was buffed. It remains a joy to us. We've put 500 miles on it in a week! Our after-dinner drives are simply divine with the sun setting and wind blowing our cares away.


We're thinking of naming it Terese, from tres, meaning three, from Maude III, because we name all great finds "Maude", ever since being blessed with our 88 Toyota a few years back, which was Maude One. Maude One was 16 years old when we got her, with a pristine interior and only 50,000 miles. Maude Two is our laser printer, which Brad bought from Moody for $5 and it had barely been used-- another great find. So this looks to be Maude Three, as she has only 14,000 miles on her despite being 7 years old. The name Maude is getting a little worn, so from Three we get tres, which is a little like Terese.

Venting Needed.

I try. Seriously, I try. I try to rise above, to not let the bastards grind me down, but sometimes I just can't take another minute. For one year, two months, and nine days I have worked here. For one year, two months, and nine days, less weekends and days off, I have had thermostat wars with my coworker. I have tried to have civilized, respectful, healthy-communication, adult conversations. I have tried to find every way possible to come to a solution that keeps her from freezing and me from roasting. (Tough to do since she's menopausal and has low iron.) We have had the HVAC guys out here at least a half-dozen times. FOR A YEAR. My boss even bought and had installed a digital thermostat to try to help the situation. (He's not so much a direct kind of communicator.) At least that kept her from shooting the temperature up to 85 when she felt a twinge of cool. Now she just bumps it up to 77. And I am roasting! I have brought in my own personal fan. I had my duct opened as far as possible so I get more air conditioning than her. I have tried to have conversations with her and it is impossible, as it is "not a good time right now" to talk about it (as she goes back to surfing the net). I thought it was all going to be ok when we had the HVAC guys move her vent last week so that it didn't blow cool air directly on her. I thought that would solve it. But today she subversively changed it from 75 to 77 TWICE. LIKE I WOULDN'T NOTICE. I tried to have a calm, respectful conversation about it so we could come to an agreement, but "now is not a good time, so just put it at whatever you want and I'll just sit here and freeze." Fine. So I put it at 75. And just now I was feeling toasty and went to check, and it's at 76.

AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

What else can I do?????? This is ridiculous!

And the most annoying thing is that she's cold because she sits motionless and surfs the net all day. Seriously, 6 of her 8 hours here she's shopping online or looking for single men in southwest Florida. I, on the other hand, am filing, shuffling papers, moving around, working hard enough to raise my body temperature a tad. Yet I should just be ok with whatever temperature she wants. This feels like an infantile argument! My gosh!

A Lovely Thursday Evening

I had just a nutty day running errands for work. I'm not complaining, though, because despite four, count 'em, four trips to office supply stores in search of a folding machine that works, I was in the office for a total of 2.75 hours. Wahoo!

I got home around 5:30 and decided to try a new recipe for dinner. Poor Brad. I didn't warn him. See, my mother had a delicious dish with a friend a while back, in which chicken breasts were breaded with crushed French-fried onions. Sounds tasty, right? I've been wanting to try it and actually saw a recipe for it (as if you need it-- chicken, egg dip, roll in onions, bake) in my Everyday Food magazine the other day. I also made some instant (shhh!) mashed potatoes with a little garlic and butter thrown in, and some frozen veggies in the micro. It was ok, but not as wonderful as I had hoped. We ended up taking the onions off the chicken and eating them with the mashed potatoes, which gave me a whole other idea... mashed potato casserole varieties! Take a layer, maybe 2 inches thick, of mashed potatoes, sprinkle on cooked bacon and cheese, or french fried onions, or who knows what else, then bake for 10 minutes or so until the toppings look tasty. Mmm. I see mashed potatoes in my future.

Anyway, here's a pic. I do believe the one in the magazine was a bit Photoshopped. Posers.


Yes, the portions are small. We usually split a chicken breast for dinner. And yes, I made one plain, just in case Brad didn't like the oniony ones. We ended up eating most of our portions, but I don't think I'll make it again.

After dinner we went for our nightly ride in our new machine. Here is its first picture-- it's a terrible picture and Brad would much prefer if I would wait until it gets buffed on Saturday back at the dealership, but I must share just one pic. It is just so much fun.


We used our nightly ride to get Italian ice at Rita's, a little shack in the parking lot of Burlington Coat Factory. Quite the destination. But the ice is pretty darn good, especially the lemon, with little bits of lemon zest in it. And at $1.35 a serving, including tax, it's not too large an indulgence.


In other news, I just finished helping my dad make a rental car reservation. I LOVE doing that kind of stuff. Perhaps I'll have a career in budget travel planning someday. I really enjoy bargain shopping like that. Nine days of rental for $203 in season in Florida? Deal! Dad arrives on Tuesday night and will be with us until Thursday evening. Mom arrives on Friday. I'm excited. Visitors = excuse to go out and explore!

Ok-- I'm going to use the remaining 41 minutes of battery on my computer to play a little catch up with pictures.

How'd they do that?

I keep reading these gorgeous food blogs and am stunned by the beautiful pictures... of tomatoes, or muffins, or some other everyday item. The pictures are taken at a special setting that I don't know about, and I'm dying to learn! Can anyone help me? The part I like best is that one part of the picture is in focus, while everything else is a little fuzzy or blurry. How do I do that? Do I need a special camera?

Windy in Indy

Ah, what a lovely weekend we had. It all started on Wednesday, actually, when we received the call that our realtor would be showing our house over the weekend. We used Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday morning to patch cracks, touch up paint, straighten, tidy, and clean. By the time we had packed and left the house on Friday, the house was perfect. Our flight was scheduled for 2:15 p.m. so we left around 12:30 so we could grab lunch at the airport Chili's. I called Gordon-the-Realtor on the way to let him know he could show the house all weekend long... at which point he told me that the interested lady was going to be out of town all weekend, so it wouldn't be until later. Blah. But at least we had a spotless house to come home to. I mean, so spotless and beautiful that even the grocery bags lining our bathroom garbage tcans had been removed, just to make it look more pretty.

When we arrived at the airport we learned that our flight had been delayed until 6:45 p.m. because Northwest couldn't get a plane out from Indy to come get us. So we skipped the airport Chili's and went to the regular one on the west side of Fort Myers. Over lunch we talked about our latest treasure hunt... for a Mazda Miata. As in, two seater, convertible, cute, small, car. See, Brad had wanted a Miata a while back when we got the VW Jetta. He deliberated between the two, and I felt strongly that since his bass guitar didn't fit in the happy-meal-sized trunk of the Miata, and most likely a crash between a Miata and anything would mean certain death, and I'm not ready to be a widow, perhaps the Jetta would be a better choice. So we bought the Jetta last year and all has been fine. But a week or two ago I happened to drive past the Mazda dealership and of course there were huge sales going on, which got me thinking. Why NOT a Miata? There are only two of us, Brad's not playing in a band now so the bass isn't an issue, and if ever there was a place to have a Miata, it's here in Florida. So why not get one while we're here? Who knows what changed in my mind. I'm still not ready to be a widow. But I called Brad and told him to check out the sales, just in case there was a divine deal to be had.

Of course that launched Brad into a full-fledged search. There was one green and tan one at the Mazda place. There was a white one at the Toyota dealership. There were a few options up in Tampa, over 2 hours away. I started to wonder if I had made a mistake in saying anything as each of these options started to turn sour and discouraging. So by Friday we no great leads, but four free hours. So we stopped at the Mazda dealership again and found a navy blue one with a black top. Looked like a bruise to me, but Brad liked it. We spent some time with the sales guys and they just couldn't come down to our number.

After that discouraging conversation we headed back to the airport. Our flight was not delayed any further, so we got treated to a sunset out the plane windows.

We got into Indy about 9:30 p.m. where we were to meet up with three other couples from Brad's alma mater, Huntington College, now University. Rich and Stu picked us up and we all met for a late dinner at Jillians. Oh- one thing I forgot. In the airport there was a vending machine like none other I've seen before. It sold ipods and accessories!

Saturday we met for a late breakfast and went to Le Peep, home of huge, delicious granola pancakes. After a lovely breakfast and an education on Huntington's freshman weed-out class and its Inventories, we did some walking around and shopping at Circle Center Mall.

It was about 25 degrees and snowing big, gorgeous flakes all day, and it was gooooood for my soul. I was grinning pretty big most of the time as I took in the beauty of the season. How I miss seasons!

After shopping we went back to the hotel for naptime. Brad and I watched the first half of Drumline while waiting for our pizza snack to arrive... there was a Donato's about a half mile away. Happy Brad.

We met up for dinner around 6 and went to Jillians again, only this time to their hibachi grill section. Jillians is an all-in-one place, with an American-fare restaurant in one area, a hibachi grill in another, an arcade on the second floor, and a dance club and bowling alley on the third. We had a great dinner with terribly enjoyable conversation and then went up to see if we could bowl for a bit. The lanes were full so we killed some time at the arcade. We bought a $5 card with the intent to play skeeball, but there was a photo booth in the back that snagged my attention first. It was not your run-of-the-mill photo booth, either. It took a picture of me, then a picture of Brad, then morphed our faces together to show us what our offspring would look like. I have it at home and will scan it in foryou. Yikes.

After a while we got to bowl...

...and then went out for a late dessert. There's a chocolate place on the circle with excellent chocolate fondue for 4 for $15!

We sat in there and talked until the place closed at midnight. That was probably the highlight for me. I went to a small college after Purdue, much like Huntington, but didn't connect with a group of people like Brad's group. These people are incredible-- full of heart, with incredible marriages and kids, desiring growth and health in their lives, and remarkably open and honest. I feel terribly honored to be accepted into the group. The conversation around the fondue ranged from the profound to the mundane. I learned about the guy who carried a baseball bat around college, the girl with facial hair, the one that looked like a poodle, who Doris dated, why the rules have changed about weekend suspensions, and so much more. We also talked about men and church, or how men aren't being taught to be men in the church, but instead they're taught to be nice, to be mellow, and to be pansies. It made me want to gather us all up and start a gender-definition revolution. It was inspiring and touching and terrifically fun all at the same time.

Sunday we met for breakfast at the hotel, and then I had the good fortune to get a visit from my former roommate from Purdue, Gretchen! She lives in Indy now (again) and we've been in touch lately. We'd fallen out of touch for a while until I googled her last year and found her wedding pictures on a friend's blog. It has been so fun to reconnect and follow each other's ups and downs with jobs and moving,etc. She met me at my hotel and we got about an hour to chat.

Then we packed up and left. But not before discussing options for meeting up next President's Day weekend. We threw around all sorts of ideas--- Vegas, Tennessee, San Antonio... pretty much anything in the country was fair game. I'll let Chad and Jen break the news oncethings get closer.

Our travels home were uneventful except for a brief time searching for our car in the long-term parking. But that cleared itself up after about 15 minutes. We got home, had some dinner, and finished up theNetflix dvd we had. A lovely weekend in every respect.

We also talked on Sunday night about how to proceed with the Miata hunt. Brad was ready to buy the navy one if they would budge a bit more on the price, but I just didn't love it. I don't want to search in Tampa or Lauderdale where we have to drive for hours to see a car. I want it to just fall in our laps. We agreed to let it just happen instead of continuing to search high and low, and Brad pretty much resigned himself to the fact that it was never going to happen.

Then Monday came. I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment in the morning. I have been trying to see a doctor for a checkup since September. I scheduled an appointment with my sister-in-law's doc in October. They called to reschedule a few days before the appointment.
For December. When they called to reschedule again. For February. Which I eventually cancelled, because by January I was getting the idea that these folks might not have their ducks in a row. So I solicited names of doctors from colleagues. One of Brad's clients suggested another doc, so I made an appointment for February 19. And then they called to reschedule. I believe them when they say their doctors are snowed in at a conference in New York. It's just
frustrating because I've already had to grovel to my doctor at home TWICE to refill my no-baby-pills prescription, and last time she raked me over the coals and it was quite belittling. So now it's March 19th. I hope. I have just the worst luck with doctors in Florida.

So I stayed home and slept. I wasn't feeling terrible, but I was tired and not feeling great, and a personal day at home sounded divine to me. I got to try that pretzel recipe, I went partially through my stack of important-things-to-do, and I napped.

(Here is your free pretzel tutorial:

First, make the dough, let it rise an hour, then divide into pieces, roll into strips like Auntie Anne's does it, and make into pretzel shapes. Finish the dough, master the technique, and re-shape the first half. But only if you're a little obsessive like me.

Second, boil the pretzels in a bath of baking soda, sugar, and water so they will turn brown on the outside and have that soft-pretzel skin.

Third, bake for 15 minutes or so, until you just can't wait any longer.

Fourth, put on wire racks to cool.

Fifth, eat! Preferrably with a beverage, like orange juice. Now if only I had some fake cheese sauce...

End tutorial.)

And then I got a call at 5:30. Brad had been working in Naples and happened to drive past a used car lot after work. And The Car was there. British Racing Green, tan top, tan leather interior, year 2000, with 14,000 miles, no kidding. Would I be willing to drive down to see it?

So as of 9 p.m. on Monday, we're the proud owners of the green Miata. Brad was so giddy I thought he was going to sleep in it Monday night. It's beautiful and a lot of fun.

And it was a clear reminder that God has his own timing, and he'll work whether we're striving or waiting on him, usually when we stop striving and choose to wait. Which is a lesson I needed to be reminded of regarding the sale of our house. No one has seen it, no one is showing interest right now. But I am making the conscious decision to wait on God and not allow myself to worry. Little GreenCar is my reminder that he will work in his time.

Post Valentine's 50% Off Sale

Ya gotta love Walgreens and their post-holiday sales. First of all, you could probably shop Walgreens and nothing else for every one of your needs. Prescriptions? Check. Makeup? Check. Soaps of every kind? Check. Reading material? Check. T-shirts? Check. Gallon of milk? Check. A variety of frozen foods? Check. It's all there,including the dollar area which would satisfy anyone's stocking-stuffer needs. And to think I almost missed the bounty inside by waiting at the drive-through to pick up my prescription refill!

I just got some boxes of kids' valentines for a dollar apiece and a fun strand of valentine heart lights for $2.50! What a steal! (I buy the kids' valentines because I like to plaster them all over the outside of shoeboxes and then clear-contact-paper over them for cute and fun storage boxes.) Bounty indeed. By the way, this is how I spent our $5, Grandparents. Thank you for the cute card, too!

I also found Adora, which is similar to Viactive, which my sister turned me on to this past weekend. They're basically vitamins disguised as chocolate, but the Viactive ones are corn-syrupy whereas the Adora are made from good dark chocolate. Eight dollars for 30 of them is a little steep, but at least I'm getting some calcium these days. Yum.

In other news, I got a call from our Realtor yesterday-- he has someone who is interested in seeing our house. He's going to try to show it this weekend and we'll see what happens. This news, of course, prompted a terrifically productive two hours of house touch-ups last night-- we patched all the cracks in the drywall and touch-up painted those areas, as well as painting the baseboards in the master bathroom which have bugged me since we moved in. I think they were just primed but never actually painted. I dare you to find a flaw in the house now! Later we made our traditional Valentine's Day stir fry and rice and then watched four episodes of Arrested Development, Season 2 Disc 2, until I just about fell asleep. Great way to spend V-day, I tell you.


Oh-- I neglected to tell you about the surprise last week! Sorry to leave you in suspense so long! A few weeks ago the News-Press, the local Fort Myers paper, had a notice on their website that one could submit notes and/or pictures and at no cost be published in their annual Book of Love, a special section of the newspaper that comes out February 7. Not one to pass up a chance to proclaim my affection for my handsome love, and also not one to embarrass him willingly, I submitted a cute picture of our feet on the beach and a note that said something like, "Right next to you is the best place on earth." (Awww.) I had also put Brad and Kath in there somewhere, but that got left out. Thankfully, Brad recognized the picture and believed me when I told him that it was actually for him. I'll scan it sometime so you can see.

That's all for now. It's about 65 and rainy here, so not such a happy-looking day. But I can't complain or my mother will call me with her current outdoor temperature and chastise me with sarcasm. :) Rightfully so.

Happy Valentines Day, I guess

Yeah, so we're killjoys. Valentine's day doesn't really have a whole lot of meaning to us. We do exchange cards-- we made them the first year we were married and we write something new every year. We also make stirfry together and watch movies. But no huge bouquets or boxes of chocolate or anything. Sorry, Hallmark. We do celebrate meaningful holidays, like our birthdays, anniversary, Christmas, Easter. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite, actually, as there are no presents to buy and all the preparation involves cooking. :) But I equate Valentine's Day with Flag Day, which is special I suppose to some.

We spent last evening watching disc 1 of season 2 of Arrested Development. The poor Bluth family and their hijinx keep us entertained and, glory be-- no commercials! Thank you God, for inspiring someone to invent Netflix.

I'm feeling better after another bout with this damn cold. I've been sick since November and I can't say I like it. Sick two or three weeks, well a few days, sick two or three weeks... par for the course, I guess. Brad's family was sick a lot when they first moved down here. The mold and junk in the air never gets killed off like it does up north, and the bacteria is all different. I got some antibioticsfrom Mom on Saturday and I think I'm winning for good this time.

Speaking of Mom, I had a lovely weekend in frosty Chicago...

...with Mom and Steph. Can't say we did a heck of a lot, but it was nice. Friday I arrived at the tundra and we went out for dinner at Cheesecake Factory - yum. Hadn't been in ages. And, funny thing, I didn't really want dessert! That is really weird for me and my insatiable sweet tooth. Lately I've been craving salty snacks, namely soft pretzels and "cheese" from Rita's Italian Ice. Which is weird compounded as I don't normally favor fake cheese products. Whatever.

So after Cheesecake we vegged at Mom's place and just relaxed. Saturday I got a manicure in the morning--

--so fun as no one in the world compares to Linda the Nail Tech. She puts every other
manicurist to shame. That was really nice and pampering. Then Steph had a massage. When we all got back to Mom's we were treated to homemade chicken soup-- delish. Mom puts brown rice in it and lets it sit a while, and the rice cooks and turns inside out so it looks a little like rice popcorn and tastes fantastic. Excellent low broth to other-stuff ratio. Saturday afternoon we took naps, and then Mom had show and tell with some fun old dolls she found while unpacking. My old Mandy dolls with assorted outfits and even patterns to make your
own doll clothes! My Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Steph's My Little Ponies, and much more. It was nice to look through them and reminisce.

By Saturday night the cold I had started on Thursday was in full swing and I felt horrid. Mom found a Z-pack she had brought to Africa just in case her cold turned into worse and let me take it, saving me $80 to see the doc and pay the prescription co-pay. THANK YOU! And to
all you kids out there, don't try this at home. I just happen to know how my body responds to z-packs. And the answer is: favorably. That night we rented a movie and stopped by Max and Erma's for a take out of their pretzel stick and "cheese". Those haven't been on the menu
for a blue moon, and I'm thrilled they're back. We watched a movie-- Relative Strangers-- and we all gave it two thumbs sideways. Great cast, lame plot. But it was fun. Oh, and we had a lovely dinner of mom's pot roast, using a recipe I learned Grandmother made up. I am
just loving these hand-me-down recipes and the sense of heritage I feel when I make them in my own kitchen. Yum.

Sunday we slept in a bit, had breakfast, painted Steph's toenails

and I rescheduled my flight for an earlier one. Mom left to teach sunday school and Steph took me to the airport, where I got on an earlier flight. Unfortunately, when one flies standby one usually gets a middle seat... next to a very large man. And not being of the petite persuasion myself, this makes for a sardine-like situation, and I tend to get a bit claustrophobic and nervous. So after a few attempts to sleep and some yoga deep breathing, I got home in one piece and crashed. It was a great weekend, very relaxing, though I think next time I'll take my sister up on her suggestions to play games. I think I would have preferred to connect a bit more instead of watching a movie. Steph and I are notoriously bad at picking out movies anyhow.

And the cold weather was wonderful! It was painful, of course, but it was so nice to have a change from hot, hot, hot! Granted, February and March are the best months of the year here, so I can't complain about my 75 degree sunny weather. But I miss the seasons, and it was
refreshing to see my breath and snow and even salt.

That's all for now, I think. I owe you pictures and am so terribly sorry for being tardy with those. What time I don't spend packing onThursday night will go to blogging.

Brad's Saturday Encounter

Scene: Brad waits in line to purchase an item at a Borders Bookstore
in Naples, an upscale town in southwest Florida. Beside the line is a
table of discounted books.

Overheard: (reading the title of one of the books on the table)
Accomplishments of African Americans? That's a six-pager.

Brad: (chuckles like anyone would do when a stranger attempts a funny)

-pause-

Brad: (realizing the shocking degree of offensiveness, turns around to
address the speaker) Did you just make that comment about the book?

Man in line: Yeah.

Brad: That was offensive!

Man: (interrupting to try to improve his funny) Blah blah...

Brad: That was really offensive!

Man: Ha ha

End of scene.