i had to say a tearful farewell to toots (and willy...again) today. it's a day i've been avoiding, ignoring, denying for six years. having known the reality that they'd stay in portland only a few years hasn't made this past weekend, and indeed today, any easier. i've been spoiled to have them in town and nearby for so many years. genuinely, it's been the best six years i can imagine.
in their honor, i offer: top five reasons why it sucks that that toots and willy moved away:
1. no one will appreciate -- or even know! -- rod yee, let alone his song, and i'll bet i'm back to justifying my love of stevie nicks. 2. now i have to pay for medical advice, massages, magnaleuvres, and don't get me started on the 243. 3. sunday dinners will be spent alone, watching "HELLOW JOHNSON FAMILY!!". 4. people will think we're odd when we order a mee-mosa at brunch. 5. neither mickey nor i ever learned how to score pinochle.
here's to you two. the happiest of birthdays to willy. a huge, heartfelt congratulations to the new doctor. a joyful hug to your growing family. a fond adieu to our best friends. we love you.
i've been holed up in my basement watching world cup on the weekends and working during the week, which basically means i've been a recluse. but, the best thing that's happened all week is that i got a free ticket on alaska airlines for volunteering off a flight to san diego for work. the story for getting bumped is a funny one, though, for professional reasons, not something i can mention here. email me and i'll tell you the story.
nevertheless, having a free pass on any flight i want is like being in a candy store with 20 dollars. so many options, where to go? mexico? very tempting. new york city? always top of my list. somewhere practical like back to visit parents or in-laws? not as glamorous, but it should be considered. such a dilemma. stay tuned for the verdict! and finally, a shout-out to toots for her last day of med school, her last clinic shift ever, and to anticipating the day -- monday -- when we'll officially call her doctor toots, medicine woman. the dedication and sacrifice, the weekends when studying had to come before anything else, when the wine, sugar and bread intake was limited in the name of health...they were worth it. you made it! as you embark on your exciting summer, remember, this could be us:
i found out tonight that a friend (who shall remain nameless, to protect her hard earned cool-factor) was a member of the biology club in college. biology club? really? this is a beautiful, smart, partying woman who i know was extremely cool in college. biology club? huh.
sunday night i couldn't sleep. i tossed and turned for a good hour or two before i decided to migrate to the spare room (newly painted that saturday, i might add, in anticipation of many visitors this summer). as i laid there at 1:30AM i remembered i'd forgotten to lock the back door. with my mind racing enough at that point, i was sure that if i left it unlocked, a stranger would come in, steal my stuff, eat my food, and other horrible things. so, i walked down the hall, down the stairs and turned the light on to check.
sadly, i was too late. an unexpected visitor had already found his way into our house.
i came face to face with...
a...
nasty, 2-inch, black slug, stuck to the inside of our back door.
how the heck did it get in the house?! to this day, i still can't figure it out. slugs don't have thumbs. they can't open doors. i hadn't left the door open long enough for one to waltz across the threshold. have you seen a slug move? they're slow.
why, you ask, am i still thinking about the slug? because i was too lazy (ok, scared out of my mind) to touch the damn thing on sunday night, so i left it there thinking i could make mickey take care of it in the morning. but, when i went back monday morning, the slug was gone. and i've not seen him since. which means, he's leaving nasty, 2-inch, black slug trails somewhere in my house. and that is SO not ok with me.
and speaking of slugs, did anyone see what ann coulter said on the "today" show today? apparently she's got a whole book on this insanity. was it a coincidence it was the devil's day today and she was out in full force? you decide....
last night over beers with a coworker friend we decided that "it" all comes down to being independently wealthy. for example, i really want to own a cheese and wine shop with my coworker locall, and apparently i don't have enough capital to make this work. i also desperately want to go to germany in a month for the world cup (not that i'm a soccer fan per se, but how freaking fun would it be there during the middle of that party?!). sadly, tickets to frankfurt are $1500, well outside my budget. i'd like to go to china and hong kong this year. not gonna happen.
if anyone has any great ideas for how i can become independently wealthy, let me know. or, alternatively, if you know where i can pick up a nice cabin in the mountains for under $80K, that'd be ok too.
sleeping in until 11:15 on monday morning rulz, 'specially 'cause i didn't have to be at work.
it was a good cooking weekend. making green curry from scratch isn't hard, with the help of hot, sour, salty, sweet. plus, pursuant to operation kitchen clean-out, i just HAD to make some peanut butter chocolate brownies. they were really bad. i might have three more tonight after dinner.
while miserably sad, the final hurrah for willy friday night got me good -n- inebriated. to ease the pain, of course.
i got some knitting done on my new zealand blanket, aka, the longest project in history.
toots and i had some good girlie time, complete with mimosas and craft projects. and, mickey had two hot dates to the davinci code on sunday. the only thing better than that to a guy, i assume, would be to have two hot dates who happened to be twins.
and now the weekend is over, and i'm back at work.
i just ordered a boatload of yarn for myself and a coworker/coknitter. included in my order is some fabulous debbie bliss cashmerino chunky in celery and baby blue, which i have been drooling over for many months. not that i have any specific projects in mind for it, or the five skeins of cascade 220 also in my order. that's a minor detail. at least i have a purpose for the lopi bulky ... more cutie felted bowls!
did i mention i just finished knitting my first one this weekend?
the pattern is out of "one skein," a pattern book by leigh radford, a local portland woman. i had difficulties getting the pattern to work as-is...undoubtedly my error. it called for a 24" long needle, size 15. i tried this three times using the correct gauge yarn, and couldn't get it to stretch long enough to work. i substituted #13, 16" needles, and added 20 stitches to the cast on row (the only way i could get the two ends to join). it's much bigger than the pattern calls for in finished form, but it worked.
no, i don't have a cocaine habit. that's just me sitting in my office with the worst allergies ever. will someone please get me oven mitts so i stop scratching?
weekend was good. going away party had just the right amount of silliness and mayhem (quarters coming out of people's noses, my new/old polaroid camera got a workout, rough bocce rivalries were formed). i finished knitting and felting my first bowl, which turned out very cute. and i won my last round of pinochle. all in all, no complaints!
i now know what happens when wine sits in a freezer for 24 hours. i still can't find the cork, but suffice to say that the freezer got a little bath in white wine. mmm, slushy. stay tuned for an update on where the cork ended up.
we met our new neighbors for the first time last night. mickey knows neighbor-lady's mom from work and has heard lots about them, so we felt we knew them already. it's kind of weird to think that in a town this size, we'd know something about the neighbors before they moved in. it turns out this coincidence was the tip of the iceberg.
whilst moving in wednesday, neighbor-guy was wearing a university of nebraska t-shirt. when we met them last night, mickey asked him what was up. turns out neighbor-guy is a alum just like mickey and me, (two years younger than me). he lived in the dorms near where mickey and i were RAs, so i'm sure we all crossed paths at one point or another. anyhoo, it's very funny to think we share a property line with a husker. he likes nebraska football a LOT, he says. we won't hold that against him.
in other news, we're gearing up for the last big hurrah (for now) with willy this weekend. he moves to wyo next weekend, so we're having a party at our house to send him on his way. today's his last day at work (WAHOO!). it's a big day too for toots, who's resolving a dental problem that's plagued her for years. she's going to be cracked out on vicodin this weekend, poor thing. but, i'm sure it will make for a kickin' party.
am i jealous of them because it's his last day or because she's on drugs? i will sort through these feelings today.
toots and willy brought over a bottle of wine last night to have with dinner (lettuce wraps, cheese platter and salmon pufflets which looked like a tuffet which is something else, but not as tastee as the pufflets). so, we didn't end up drinking the one i had been chilling. in the freezer. which is where it still is as of right now.
question: does wine freeze, and if so, will it thaw out without being ruined?
in other news, our new neighbors moved in last night. i'm excited that it gave me another opportunity to move inventory from my pantry (operation kitchen clean-out continues). as a "welcome to the neighborhood" kind of thing, we're giving them a bag of breakfast fixin's -- homemade chokecherry syrup and pancake mix.
the clean-out is going well. this weekend's going to be a key time for me to re-evaluate what we have left, and decide what i can make with the remaining items. these include: kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, white beans, condensed milk, oatmeal, cereal, hot dog buns, and a crapload of condiments. any ideas for recipes?
so, is it a sad thing that the highlight of my day has been the sandwich i made for myself at lunch? i mean, don't get me wrong, it was delicious -- sesame seed bread, turkey, ham, provolone, and a walnut pesto spread. but this is the only good thing that happened today. sigh.
it's been the busiest week already, and it's only wednesday. what to do?! last night we went to what was supposed to be a simon and garfunkel showdown between two bands. instead it turned into a hoedown, because one of the simons bailed. was quite a fun time despite his absence. i've not listened to s&g in awhile, and hearing the music again reminded me how cool paul simon's lyrics are. he's such a poet (and a one-man band, if you catch the reference).
the mariachi band is back tonight. it's so very festive outside. not to mention that the weather is gorgeous. i've got the window open and the fresh breeze is blowing in. i'm wearing my camo pants. i'm drinking a lovely cab, or is it shiraz? no matter.... life is pretty good all in all.
this morning i finally set up my office at my house. it's in a small room off the main home office, which is currently used by mickey.
please note the mrs. butterworth's lamp on the table.
this morning i'm working in my space, he in his. and thus, the office jokes begin...
me: hey, can you please print this for me? mickey: sure, just email it to me. i haven't got the printer networked yet. me: (send the document via email, along with a lewd suggestion to start an intra-office affair.)
(a few minutes go by.)
mickey: um, yeah, you left this on the printer. (drops the document on my desk.)
(a few more minutes pass.)
me: (yelling into his office.) hey, did you read that article.... mickey: what did you say? me: we need to get office phones so we don't have to yell.
(a few more minutes pass. the house phone rings.)
me: please hold all my calls.
it's cracking me up. i can't wait to do a staff meeting. assuredly it will be more fun than the ones at the 8-5 job. i think i'm going to go ask mickey to run out and get me a cup of coffee and a scone, just to see what he says.
mickey, willy o'shea and rod cochrane are out today on their MAX bar crawl. they're taking the max from the dancin' bare in no-po, hopping off at each stop between there and goose hollow to have a cocktail at the nearest bar. for those of you who know what no-po is like, they are assuredly going to be shit-canned by the time they get downtown. (there are a whole lotta bars up here, folks.) the saving grace is that willy has to be in decent shape to compete at a ping-pong tournament tonight for the national college for naturopathic medicine. i'm placing bets on the chinese docs who are his opponent. nothing personal.
while they are out carousing and making general meyhem, here i am working on a lovely saturday (it's cloudy, but warm-ish, but who cares, it's SATURDAY for chrissake). it's not all bad, though. i'm enjoying the use of double-d's office today, which rules, i had a rockin' chai tea latte from foxfire, and just heard faith no more's 'epic' for the first time in probably five years. i guess there is a bright side to working.
we had a lovely dinner last night at willy's and toot's house. burritos and margs for cinco de mayo. so good. they do this thing where they combine spicy meat with sweet dates, and it tastes amazing. to top off the meal, toots made a black bean cake for dessert. sounds sorta weird but it was extremely tasty. must get recipe.
i'm the proud new owner of a pair of camouflage capri pants. i've wanted a pair for a couple years now and just yesterday i found the perfect pair. mickey likes to joke about them, of course. having been a military man, he doesn't understand the fashion potential of camo, as he only wears his air force issued pair for yard work. it's very sad, really.
i'm slowly getting my lappy configured with my personal settings, and also uploading all the software i need on it, including my camera software. hopefully this weekend i'll get it loaded, and then i'll post some photos of the camo pants and last weekend's trip to the deschutes. here's a teaser: the trip involved pole dancing, gymnastics, and drunken card games. stay tuned....
last night i heard that keith richards was in a hospital in auckland, new zealand following not one, but two accidents in neighboring fiji. while on holiday, keith allegedly was in a jet-ski accident. this was immediately after .... wait for it ... he fell out of a coconut tree.
so the fall from the tree didn't phase ol' keith. it takes TWO accidents to take him down. hard core.
rumor has it he has a concussion. doctors on the case cite symptoms of a concussion as tiredness, poor concentration, irritability, dizziness, clumsiness, eye problems and headaches. my question is: how could anyone tell whether this dino-rocker had a concussion or was just being his normal self? regardless, he's causing quite a stir in auckland. sounds like there might have even been a concert in the recovery wing, gauging from reports of several guitars being brought into the ward. kick-ass.
work hours, which have been non-stop meetings for two weeks, on top of all the other stuff that needs to be accomplished in a day;
my new lappy, which desperately needs configuring and cleaning of all the pre-loaded crap;
coming up with new meal ideas for white beans;
coordinating for my fabulous weekend get-away to the deschutes; and
a general hodge-podgery of exercise, doctor appts, house cleaning and whatnot
i am much too busy for my liking. must find way to set boundaries to work sanely at the office and the house and still feel i have time to watch the fisher family on six feet under and knit.
