Shut the front door!

The problem with opening a window is that it lets the wind in. The wind swirls into spaces you don't pay attention to, and soon everything once carefully categorized and organized is now dancing with barely controlled violence. It's a fucking mosh pit.

The wind picks up strength, it feeds, it grows. And it blows the door open. Now what's out is in and what's in is out. It's going to take a long time to re-organize and re-categorize.

Shut the goddamned front door. And don't you dare open a fucking window.

Lessons from the Road

Make a plan, map it out, make reservations.  Be okay when none of it works out as expected.

You're gonna get lost.  It's okay.  You'll figure it out.

Take the scenic route every once in a while.

If you miss the exit, there's another one coming up.

Talk to people.  They may surprise you.  They will all enrich your life in one way or another.

Don't be afraid to go on an adventure by yourself.

Take your furry best friend with you everywhere.

Wear sweatpants when driving a long way; but still curl your hair and wear a little make up.

Fuck curling your hair and make up - just put it up, wipe it off, brush your teeth and go.

Stop in cities you've never been in before.  Look up something about them before you go.

Drive with the windows down.

Make sure to have the essentials handy:  water, tissue, toilet paper, cell, reading glasses, snacks and diet coke.

Enjoy the drive.  It may be a while until your next trip.

Seriously?! Is it worth it?!

3 credit hours of Plane Trigonometry twice a week for 1 hour and 15 minutes each - $231
Text book for said class - $140
Total for this insanity - $371
Amount of annual raise once I get 12 credit hours (yes, 12!) towards a masters - not even that much!

FUHUHUHUHUHUHK.

2010

Another decade...poof.  I really don't understand how time can possibly go by this fast.  11 short years ago the world braced itself for "the end" when all calendars, clocks, and computers clicked inexorably towards 2  0  0  0.  I guess now we'll be bracing ourselves for the next "the end" - 12/21/2012.  (Honestly, if that's really it, I hope I go like Woody Harrelson!)


So how many of us partied like it's 1999 last night?  Those times are over for me, and now I prefer to be in bed long before the new year hits this side of the world.  After a long, long, LONG day of travel back from the East coast, I decided to spend the evening with Sister and BIL.  First I took a nap - I love me my naps - then we had an incredible dinner of French onion soup, potatoes gratin, steak with blue cheese compound butter; and finally two desserts, cheddar and pear galette AND chocolate bread pudding.  Yes, all of it as orgasmic as it sounds.  We then watched "Up," the Disney/Pixar movie.  I really enjoy these movies - although I usually end up watching them at someone else's suggestion - and this one was no different.  However, it is sad in parts and quite deep and multi-layered in its messages...  And I prefer my NYEs to be a lot more...well...meaning-less.  I did manage to make it to bed before the ball dropped (thank goodness!) and slept almost 12 hours!  I feel just about human again.


So now I'm home, and after throwing out the old food from the fridge that I meant to throw out two weeks ago (eww!), dumping cleaning stuff in the pool and getting rid of the leaves, and murdering yet another (and innocent I might add) fire/smoke alarm, I have nothing left to do but procrastinate getting to the to do list.  First thing to ignore?  Actually creating the list.  It's going to be a long one, unfortunately.  And now I have to fix the hole in the ceiling that used to be an innocent alarm.  Sigh.


Only 5 days until school starts, only 3 until I need to go in and deal with the classroom, report cards, planning, yaddah yaddah yaddah.  I wonder if all teachers measure time as between this planning session and that report card due date?  I wonder how many people did believe 2000 was "the end?"  How many believe 12/21/2012 will be?  And I wonder how many believe, as I do, that it's practically 2011?  Seriously folks, don't blink.  It'll pass THAT fast... poof.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last year I started a new Thanksgiving tradition; blessed blessed silence and spending it sola.  I went to Boston Market, got the fixin's; and I went to Frys and got the roasted chicken.  I enjoyed every moment.  So I planned to do exactly the same this year.  This morning, after snuggling with Bonnie a while, I went to Starbucks and had my first non-fat, grande, one-pump peppermint, with whip, mocha of the holiday season; and I went to Frys and now have a perfecly roasted, savory herb chicken keeping warm in the oven.  Ahhhhh.

But I made a tactical error last night.  I went shopping at the last minute to get some stuff I can't get at Frys and discovered what can only be described as a holiday miracle.  Perfectly peeled and cubed, ready to go sweet potatoes?  Ready to go chopped mix of onion, shallot and garlic??  Ready to go mirepoix?!?!?  OMG

Somewhere a bell must be ringing because I have ready to go mirepoix.  For those who don't know, mirepoix is French for the holy trinity of onions, carrots and celery.  Ready to go mirepoix is French for "the you-don't-have-to-peel-cry-chop-accidentally-cut-your-now-oniony-garlicky-stinky-fingers-ever-again holy trinity."  It's like the French have a word for everything.

I love the food network.  I watch all the shows.  I have lusted over the idea of a sous chef for years.  And now I have one.  I call him TJ.  And I have ready to go mirepoix.

So today, Boston Market can keep their fixins.  I'm making my own smashed sweet potatoes and herb dressing (yay Pepperidge Farm!) with READY-TO-GO-MIREPOIX-FOR-GOD'S-SAKE and chicken stock in a resealable container.  So fuhuhuhuhuhking what if I didn't roast the bird, dry out the bread, and peel and chop and cry and cut my finger and have to use cut up lemon on the stinky and love love love cranberries in a can (it has GOT to have the ridges and shape of the can or it's just no good!) or dig innards out of a poultry's ass and brine and bake all of it myself?  It's homemade 'cause I'm making it at home and 'cause I said so.

Problem is, I don't feel like fuhuhuhuhuhking cooking now.  Sigh.

Since I've been gone...

Palo Verde - dead and gone
Variegated agave in the front - infested, then dead, then gone
Refrigerator - dead... but revived
Car - covered in bird poop
Classroom - smells like poop (frogs, crabs, milipedes... don't ask)
Bank account - drained
Job - stressful
Job - rewarding
Job - fun
Job - stressful
Dignity - gone due to a "wardrobe malfunction" while dancing the Macarena with the kids

Miss me?

The best things in life...

Chocolate in all its forms... especially dark though.
Apple cider... can't wait.
Food.
Naps. Short ones, long ones, in rainy or cold or hot weather, and right now with the wind blowing through the chimes...
Skinny dipping. I miss it.
DVRs - no commercials! - remote controls, and comfy couches.
Ceiling fans and AC.
Iced, venti, non-fat, extra whip mochas.
Texting.
Dogs.
Nieces and nephews.
Fall break. It's so nice to be kid-free right now.

If only I could be worry-free as well.