The Esteemed Elder Sister...

invited the Things and I to visit her.
So we packed up on Thursday and headed to eastern WA and not just a little east, oh no. We are practically on the Idaho border.
We've been having a great time but on Monday we will be driving back.
It's a mere 6 hour drive.

I love to laugh

Lil Mary Poppins reference there in the title, didja catch that?
I do though, really. Tonight Mr. Logo and I watched a stand up act by Brian Regan.
He is very, very funny. Here is a lil clip, enjoy!

Stuff you never need to hear in stereo...

1. the sound of two Things barfing.

What I did this weekend

Well, I'm afraid I could restrain myself no longer. Sorry, Susie, I had to use the Gingher's on paper, but at least I used fancy paper, right?

Then I went and spent the night at the hospital for a sleep study. Lime wanted pic of me all wired up but after I took the photo it even scared ME, so instead I snapped this one.

That is how one looks after getting next to NO sleep because of being hooked up to a spaghetti platter of wires, carefully scrutinized via night vision digital video cameras, and being told to sleep lying flat. I CAN'T sleep that way, people! I have to curl up with Phil (my body pillow).

Anyway, after I left there, and probably due to the lack of sleep, I got this.

Yup, that's right, I got a tattoo. The little Japanese symbol there means Wicked. You can see the lovely rash left on my chest my the tape used to fasten EKG wires to me. Very, very sexy, I know. It's an airbrushed tat though, it will wash off over the next day or two.

I already have one permanent commitment, to Mr. Logo, I'm just not prepared for another one, it's just too much pressure!!

Flash Fiction Friday

55 word story

Guiltily she glanced around. It was just a small lapse, surely it wouldn’t really matter. After all, it was dark and who was going to see her? Of course she would know, but hey, everyone knows it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission, right? Besides, error was inevitable and isn’t that why confession was invented?

YAY!

The deer are back!

They are eating all our bird seed,
snacking on rhody clippings,
annoying the dog,and just being about as cute as possible.
Say it with me now, "Aaaaaaaw."

Ahhhhhh, I love the beach

In which we discuss Logo and sharp implements

This week I have been reprimanded by two people regarding my use of sharp objects.
First, M. Logo chastened me for overpruning this rhody.
It will be FINE!! In a year or two :p
THEN, I went and bought scissors and Susie yelled at me for daring to think I could use Ginghers on paper, ooooh, the humanity, or something. In fact she was so adamant on the topic,

she actually went and BOUGHT me these scissors so I won't misuse the others.

Alright already. And here is a cute pic for you to enjoy over the weekend while I am partying with Mr. Logo at the beach.

Ciao!

Today's Mission...

which I have chosen and therefore accept, is to procure some decent left handed scissors.
Susie scored me a 40% off coupon and now I shall finally have my precious, precious lefty cutters again, no more paper folding over and kinking up between the blades, no more craning my head every which way to make sure I'm actually cutting where I want to be.
YAY!
Now my breath will be mintier, my lipstick won't smudge off on glasses and maybe my eyelashes will quit bumping into my sunglasses.
I am the eternal optimist.
Oh damn it, I'm running late, my life is ruined.
Bye!

In keeping with the tone of yesterday

I decided to share one of my favorite movies today.
It is somewhat of a rarity among my favorites because no one dies, although there is a brief shooting scene.
In 1991 Steve Martin made a romantic comedy that I loved then and I'm still pretty fond of it today.

There are some fabulous lines, at one point the female lead character, after dripping some water on her clothes (an act with which I readily identify) says,
"I keep thinking I'm a grown up, but I'm not."

Now who hasn't felt like that?
Anyway, here are a few moments from the film.
Enjoy!

In Which We Learn...

Logo and Mr. Logo were married really darn young.

In closing days of the decade of the 80s I met the man who would be my husband, although I didn't know it. I was home from college recovering from mono (NO! I hadn't been kissing anyone) and was marriage was anywhere near the top of my To Do list.

That February he told me that he loved me (I puked) and in March of 1990 he asked me to marry him (I made him wait a week for my answer).

We negotiated a bit over the wedding date and then decided to move it up anyway. Thus it was, while still a teenager (19), I became a married woman despite my previous resolutions not to marry until:

1. I was at least 24

2. I had gone back to college

3. I had traveled abroad

Turns out doing those things after you get married works out nicely too.

On September 15th, 1990 we were married in my hometown with about 300 people present. It's amazing to me that I've been married to my husband almost as long as I was alive before I knew him.

Just in case I hadn't previously mentioned this;
I think Mr. Logo is the best thing that has happened to me in any of the last 17 years.

Salmon season

Mr. Logo and Thing One went fishing in a local river and caught a 22 inch salmon. They were quite proud of themselves. Mr. Logo is headed back to try his luck again this evening with a friend. He is very happy about this opportunity since he was thinking of going fishing last night but disc three of the third season of House arrived from Netflix. We've decided this is the way to watch TV. You get several episodes at a time and there are no commercials. It's fabulous!
This is almost enough to make me want a Tivo.

A recipe and a book review

Yes, that's right, I've decided to share some of my not really cooking tips with you all.

Here is what I made for dinner last night, with a tossed green salad.

It Almost Tastes Like I Care Quick and Easy Chicken Salad


12-14 oz chicken breast, diced or shredded (or use canned, whatever)
2 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons mayo
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
Kosher salt and pepper
1/2 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
4 oz Garganzola cheese, in small crumbles


Throw it all in a bowl and mix it together then slap onto some yummy rolls or something. I used croissants and put some lettuce and tomato on there too. It was lovely.
~ ~ ~ ~

Now the book review...

Antisocial Commentary:
from the secret files of the Mattress Police
So, there is this guy, Diesel who has a blog. I bumped into him almost a year ago and the bruises and swelling are almost completely gone. He is an interesting guy and occasionally I missend emails to him which he handles with bemused good humor. Well, anyway, he decided to turn some of his material into a book. I received a copy of this book in the mail and I was laughing heartily, not just giggles, actual chortles and gaffaws. It is a very funny book. I teased Diesel originally, saying I would wait till I could borrow a copy from the library but through a happy little coincidence I won a free copy AND its even an autographed one!! w00t!
Now, a while back, as part of Diesel's carefully orchestrated "Please love me and buy my book" movement I posted a tepid blurb about the book.
But NOW, having squealed like a hyena while while holding it in my hot little hands, and having forced Mr. Logo to listen to me attempt to read passages between giggles I have to tell you, really, you should considering buying this book. It's worth it, I promise. In fact, just to show you how convinced I am that you should buy this book...
I am not even going to take advantage of Diesel's offer to make money off all of you when you buy one of his books. So, here is where you can get your own copy. Don't wait too long, its very a very timely and topic book. After the year 2020 some of the humor is just NOT going to work.

** SEPTEMBER 6TH UPDATE**

We are going to the Burke today.

Please watch the internet for me while I'm gone and make sure you remember to use ointment on that rash every time you change it. Thanks!

Shopping and gathering and hunting, oh my!

Once there lived a beautiful moderately attractive cute princess who married a handsome, charming, talented man who loved to cook and shop. She counted herself lucky on those last two things because she really only cooked to keep people alive and thought the only reason shopping was not suitable punishment for especially heinous crimes was because it was cruel and unusual. OK, so in case you hadn't guessed, I'm talking about Mr. Logo and I.
For much of our married life Mr. Logo has looked up new and interesting recipes, made a menu for two weeks at a time, done the shopping, and then prepared nutritious meals that are both interesting and delicious. He is an artiste. He loves to figure out which dishes and what dessert will compliment each other to perfection. At this point in time, due to his work hours and commute, it is not practical for him to do the cooking. He often doesn't get home till 6:30 and while 7:00PM is considered a reasonable hour for eating around our house its not the best time to start preparing dinner. In practical terms this means that we are eating a lot more take out, frozen dinners, and cancer cuisine (convenience foods), ie. I am feeding the family.
After calling me in the afternoon to ask what we were going to be eating for dinner and getting, "Uuuuh, I think, um, well, can you stop and pick something up?" repeatedly he decided perhaps he should continue to help a bit with planning the menu and do the shopping from time to time, especially if he wanted to stay within budget. The cooking, especially during the week, unfortunately, was still not something he could really do. There are two parts of cooking I personally don't really care for, the thinking about it (planning) and the doing it. I am getting better about remembering to start dinner at some point prior to when we would like to actually eat and occasionally I remember to defrost things we need for dinner even without it being written down for me.
Anyway,
Today we were just about out of food so I grabbed my MP3 player and headed out to do the shopping for the next two weeks.
(Just as a completely unnecessary aside, I have to tell you that I was TRYING to accommodate Mr. Logo's OCD. I printed out a calendar and wrote down meals for two weeks, then I printed out his master shopping list and went through the whole thing making check marks to the right of what we needed. Last time I did the shopping list I made Xs in the box which are printed on the left which caused him some trouble as that is not to be used until the item has been obtained and placed in the cart at the grocery store. I had not realized that grocery list making required such precision but rather than confusing his Xing I used check marks to indicate what we needed. That was not the correct method either, as it turns out. He printed out a whole new list so he could properly indicate, with numerals beside the boxes, what was required on the list. I then took the appropriately marked list to the store where I completely failed to properly use the list because I did NOT mark Xs in the boxes by the numbers after acquiring the items. Somehow I managed to get the shopping done anyway, although I was over budget...again. Poor man, I'm probably very bad for his blood pressure.)
I don't know why the store was so crowded but I'm telling you some people should be required to play Rushhour, or Frogger, before being set loose with a shopping cart in a store. After an hour at the store I was finally done. On the way home I had a sudden realization that somewhat weakened my will to live. I'm 36 years old. Every two weeks (with small trips in between as well) for the rest of my life there will be an hour spent at the grocery store.
I could feel despair overtaking me and then I thought, hang on a second...
For the majority of humans who've ever lived, and for many who are living today, including some in my own zip code, if the biggest challenges to procuring food for their families was to decide whether to go with the national brand or a generic product, checking the salt content, and whether partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is a major ingredient they would consider themselves quite fortunate. It's a good thing my hunting/gathering is done in a supermarket. Spending hours on a daily basis attending to theses matters would have completely eroded my will to survive and the question of my fitness would have been answered definitively.
Thus internally chastened I found something else to be piqued about, like how slow my DSL downloads some pages and how my cell phone gets spotty reception sometimes.
Man, I lead a hard life.
I think I'm going to go for a motorcycle ride to get my mind off of it.

Labor Day

"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor.
"All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

Here is Green Day singing Working Class Hero if that spins your wheels.
Hope you have the day off and have a great day.