so.pretty.

For christmas, I wanted gift certificates to sephora so I could get all new makeup. I got some, and yesterday was the big day! I brought *ja* for support (plus she wanted to get some application tips) and got set up with ayana at the chestnut hill store. This girl was great! She sat me down and ran around the store grabbing things she thought would look good on me. Then the makeover began. I thought I knew how to apply eyeshadow and liner, but it turns out I was doing it all wrong. The same goes for foundation, and lip stuff. I was excited to end up with the spray foundation that carmindy used on "what not to wear." The coverage is great, and makes everything nice and even. In the end, I had an entire new stash of makeup and brushes, and even with the large sum of gift certificates, was still out $100. All I have to say is thank god (and all of you who got them for me) for gift certificates. There's no way I'd pay $324 for makeup if it was all out of my own pocket. Here's the finished product (many hours and glasses of wine later!)

old.friend

I'm excited about tonight. I'm meeting up with *ja* and one of our favorite high school friends *ba* whom we haven't seen in probably seven years. He lives in western massachusetts now, but is back in acton through new year's. I'm not quite sure how we fell out of touch, but at least we're working it out now. We all thought he'd be at the ten year reunion, but he couldn't make it, and that's when we started trying to catch up again. We'll see how it goes.

home.movie.

My dad made us one of the best christmas presents ever; he took two years worth of vhs video taped home movies, converted them to dvd, and edited them into a hilariously funny and wonderful movie. It starts on the day my sister came home from the hospital with my mom, and covers birthdays, piano "recitals", school visits, my littlest brother's arrival, funny faces/horse rides/eyebrows, and a walk through of our old house (something we all thought had been accidentally taped over long ago). Not only was it great to relive memories that had faded long ago, but it was wonderful to have video of my grandmother who died two years ago. She was the first person I knew who died, and it was much harder than I could have imagined. Being able to hear her voice and see her again was priceless.
I'll leave you with a picture of my 7 year old self making the scariest face I have ever seen. I literally took a picture of the television, thus the lines and grainy quality.

happy.birthday.j

Today's *j's* birthday. She's twenty-two. Happy birthday! We went bowling again. Two times in less than twenty-four hours. I think it's a record. I was hanging with the girls, with nothing to do, and I was still so excited about bowling last night that I suggested we go today. They were game, so we called my siblings, and they were up for it too. We played candlepin since the girls wouldn't be able to handle the heavy balls. For some reason, I'd always believed that candlepin was easier. Sure, the balls are tiny and pins narrow, and this combination makes it tricky to knock anything down, but you get three balls, and the knocked down pins stay in the cage area to be used as spinning helpers. Turns out I was wrong. Seriously wrong. We had the bumpers up in my lane since I bowled with the three girls, and while I bumped off of them several times, I still lost to the six year old. Embarrassing. I'm now a believer in the "big ball" bowling.

holy.s**t.

We had a great family night tonight. First we drove to a hole-in-the-wall pasta place in malden that was delicious. Then we went bowling at lanes and games in cambridge. I love bowling. Normally, we do some sort of family night as part of our christmas present, but it's always been dinner and a show in boston. That's great, but bowling is much more interactive. We decided on the big-ball bowling (10 pin), got two lanes next to each other, and split into a group of three, and a group of four. I was on a team with my dad and *j*. Everyone did much better than expected. We had a bunch of totals over 100. The big surprise was *b* in the last game. He got four strikes in a row, for a total of 162. Even he was surprised, and texted friends back in austin right away. I was impressed.

new.years

What's everyone doing for new year's? I think I want to go into boston this year. I hadn't been to fanueil hall in a long time, but went to a bar there for my reunion, and had a blast. I'm thinking north end for dinner/drinks, and then a bar afterwards? Not sure yet, but let me know if you're interested.

snip.snip.

I cut my sister's hair today. She started out doing it herself, but cut it shorter than she wanted. I was brought in to make it even all the way around, which I did a decent job at. Then she put layers in to spice things up a little. I walked into the bathroom while she was doing this, and it was pretty amusing. She wasn't pulling pieces out like I would have, but just moving the scissors back and forth around her head while snipping. She did it this way before when she got a bad haircut (no layers, just straight across at the shoulders) and she was happy. Quite frankly, I'm amazed that it turns out as well as it does. It almost makes me question the large sum of money I pay my guy. Almost. Not quite.

our.day.out

Here's a picture of the four of us (*b*, *j*, *k*, me) on the world's smallest suspension bridge in the public gardens. We took it yesterday with my camera and little tripod on our day in boston. We all like it, although *j* thinks her eyes are closed. I told her that they aren't closed, just narrow, and that's what they usually look like in pictures. I asked her if she even knew what she looked like. She said that people like themselves in the mirror better than in photos.

happy.happy.

Happy christmas everyone! Today was great in our house. Everyone got along, dinner went well, and we even squeezed in a few games of mad gab, a game I like a lot more with six or more people. Our youngest brother's girlfriend *js* came for the day. He's been dating her longer than any other girlfriend he's had so far (in his twenty years), and apparently is the only one our sister likes. (She's very protective of our baby brother.) Since *b* and I no longer live at home, nor visit regularly during the summer or college vacation weeks, we'd yet to meet her, although the pure fact that she had never been camping before, but asked to go, made me sure she'd be great (which she is). Along with *js*, our cousins *kk* and *ek* came, so we had a group of seven youngsters total. We played games in the family room while the grown-ups chatted in the living room.*b* also brought his wii which he picked up from target. Apparently he got there at 4:15am. Insane. It was pretty neat though- using the controls for bowling, boxing, baseball, tennis and golf was fun. We seem to be in a pattern of *b* exposing us to new video games every christmas. In 2004 it was karaoke revolution (karaoke rocks!!), in 2005 guitar hero, and this year is wii. We'll have to wait and see what happens next year.

lost.baggage

My brother flew in to boston from austin saturday. He didn't take a direct flight, but flew through dallas and as luck would have it, they lost his luggage along the way. Poor kid. The four of us spent the day together walking around newbury, and he was a little nippy since he only had a light "coat", and the wind was whipping through downtown. After lunch, he called the lost baggage number to see if anything had been found, and after speaking to a rep (since the automated system consistently tells you it hasn't been located) learned that it was on its way to acton. Good news! He'd be able to wear his nice clothes to church at 6. After some more poking, we headed home around 4, only to arrive to find that nothing had been delivered. After another call (and staying on hold for 40 mins) he was told that it had been picked up, but could be delivered anywhere between 3 and 9pm. Luckily, he had bought a button-down and a casual blazer on our shopping excursion, so he wore those with his jeans to church. Upon arriving home to no bag, he called the info line again, (and stayed on hold for another 40 mins or so) and was told that it had been picked up by the delivery company at 8pm. What? He asked for the delivery company's contact info, but they wouldn't give it out, so the woman called the company herself, and connected them 3-way. Apparently they were short drivers, so while they had the bag, it wasn't going to be delivered until tomorrow. *b* wasn't happy about this- especially since all his christmas gifts were in there waiting to be wrapped. He said as much, and the guy told him he had a driver coming in who could take it out, but that it wouldn't show up in acton until 12 or 1am. *b* ensured the guy this was fine, and the guy said the driver would call *b's* cell when he was on his way. We'll see what happens.

*Update (9:47am, 12/25/06)*: By 12:45am, no bag, no call, so *b* phoned the info line again (and stayed on hold for 25 mins) only to end up unable to contact the delivery company. After swearing to kill several people and their families, he cut his losses and went to bed. Hopefully it will show up today, but who knows at this rate. The ridiculous thing is that if they hadn't told him the bag had already been picked up when he called after lunch, (which it hadn't been) we could have swung by there on our way home. We were downtown already, and could have made it there in 15 mins or so. Hopefully he'll get some money for the stuff he had to buy in the meantime.

*Update 2 (2:58pm, 12/26/06)*: He called the airlines again on christmas morning, and talked to a much less understanding lady. He explained the situation- how he had been told it would arrive by 1am, and it never came- and she snapped back at him, "What's done it done. The drivers are having their christmas dinner, and it will get there when it gets there." Obviously she wasn't happy to be working on christmas (who would be?) but seriously...the amount of crap that he had to put up with throughout the whole ordeal should have gained him some apologies, however insincere. The suitcase arrived around 4pm, with all the presents in tow. Part of my mom's present was broken, but some super glue took care of that.

it's.amazing.what.marketing.can.do

I ordered some stuff from this company called red lollipop the other day. Since it was for a christmas gift, I selected the 2-day shipping option which cost $20.77. I figured this was worth it, since the total for the items plus the $20.77 shipping fee was still about $15 less than if I were to go to a local store and pick up the same things. I placed the order on monday. I received the confirmation e-mail on tuesday. I didn't receive the items on wednesday, but I figured that they wouldn't have shipped the items until tuesday, so two days from that would make it thursday. They didn't come on thursday. Or friday. Every time the bell rang to notify us that there was a new batch of boxes sitting on our porch, my heart would skip, and I'd dig through the pile, hoping for one with my name on it. By 1:15, I was irritated, and worried that my brother wasn't going to get his gift. I called the toll free number, and after many rings, an answering machine picked up. I didn't leave a message. Next, I sent an e-mail to their contact address. I immediately got an auto-message back saying that they were opened monday-friday from 9-5 pacific time, and that the e-mail would be responded to quickly- sometimes within minutes of sending it- if it was sent during these times. 1:15 east coast time=10:15 pacific time, so I should have been good. I never got an e-mail back. When my brother called that night to ask a question about our other brother, I told him he might not be getting his gift on christmas. Since he's twenty six, and a new home owner (which automatically makes him a grown-up), he didn't complain, and said it wasn't a big deal. While I knew he wouldn't be upset, that wasn't the point. I paid extra for it to get here in two days. I wanted it here in time for christmas. What fun is it to say, " sorry, I got you a gift, but it isn't here yet. I'll mail it to you when it finally arrives." You don't get to see them open it, and guess if they like it or hate it. You look like a loser who waited until the last minute to shop for people, which automatically means that you probably didn't put too much effort into it- neither of which are true. I'd built up quite a bit of resentment towards red lollipop and their non-existent customer service (so opposite to that of elizabeth w (from a previous post)) and I wasn't sure what to do when I received the package today at 1:27. I was trying to decide between being relieved that it got here, or being annoyed that it took five days to arrive, when I opened the box. Along with my brother's gift and the shipping info (which did say 2-day shipping) was a perfect, round, old-fashioned style red lollipop. I was immediately impressed by this clever marketing strategy, and rationed that it wasn't really their fault. It was right before christmas, and surely things get busy around the holidays. After all, I did get it in time for monday (even if it was at the last possible minute) and I got a tasty treat as well.

surgery.

My dad called a few hours ago, and said that my sister found a way to get out of christmas shopping...she's having her gallbladder out. Jeez. The poor kid's only twenty-two, and she gets to have surgery not only a few days before christmas, but her birthday as well (which is on the 28th). My doctor friend says that it will probably be the new fancy kind where they poke three holes, and suck everything out through them instead of slicing her all up. This way she'll just end up with three band aids. It must be pretty serious though, since she just went to the hospital this morning, and they're operating at 2. Let's just hope that she already got my present.

better.tv.

I love tivo. Some people think that it encourages you to watch more tv. This is not true for me. In fact, not only do I watch much less tv, but I also watch better* tv. I used to watch whatever was on at night, and didn't realize how much fluff I was taking in. Now, I rarely watch something live, but see what I have on tivo instead. One of my new favorites is project runway. Since it's over this season, tivo gets it off of bravo, which runs marathons. I'm not sure how I missed out on this the past few years, but like the show lost, it's much better when you can watch everything at once instead of one episode each week. I also like the bbc version of what not to wear (as well as the american one). For some reason, my previous favorite- law and order (svu, criminal intent, etc)- is not interesting to me anymore. I never watch it. Maybe it's because I've already seen every episode.

*better= shows that are more enjoyable for me. Not necessarily "better" quality shows.

i.heart.jamaica.pond

Today was one of those typical new england days. Brilliantly sunny, yet cold. Thirty five to forty degrees. I was sitting in traffic on the riverway today. I was definitely annoyed, and wasn't happy that they had decided to do some sort of road work which closed off one of the lanes. As I was sitting there, I happened to look out the window towards jamaica pond, and saw this.

I love the contrast between the water, sky, trees, and lamp. I happened to have my camera, and since I had the luck to be stuck in traffic, I rolled down the window and snapped this picture. It made me happy.

magic.potion

I got some new moisturizer. Clinique dramatically different moisturizing lotion to be precise. I got a free sample of it about five years ago, and recently started using it (although I'm sure it's not nice and fresh anymore). I've never been a big believer in face lotion, but last winter I noticed my skin got pretty dry and tight- something it'd never done before- so I thought I should put a little effort into taking care of it. I really liked how the sample (staleness aside) made my skin feel, plus I always hear about how great it is, so I decided to pick it up. I actually decided this several months ago, but being my frugal self, wanted to wait for the next clinique bonus time to rake in some free stuff. Luckily for me, that was yesterday at lord and taylors. I hitched a ride downtown, and spent the afternoon walking around downtown crossing, the public gardens and copley, before picking up the magic stuff and hopping on the bus back home. I've used it four times so far, and already notice a difference. My skin's softer and smoother, plus, I can smile without my face cracking.

dinner.party

Last night was my dinner party. It was great. There were twelve people which made for a good crowd, but didn't overload the table. I kept the menu low-key since I'm no chef, and cooking for twelve people isn't my idea of a blast. For desert I made an icebox cake. My parents used to make this, but I hadn't had it in a while, so when I was trying to come up with an easy but nice looking dessert, this popped to mind. It consists of chocolate wafer cookies and whipped cream which you make into a log shaped sandwich. After sitting in the fridge for a while, the cookies absorb the moisture from the cream, so when you cut it at an angle, it's nice and soft. Delicious.

update.

Here's my bruise update. Nice huh? The dress I'm wearing tonight
is sleeveless, but since this sucker is on the inside of my arm, it's not as shockingly obvious as it could be.

momentary.lapse

Here's the background info. Every year since 2003 (and once in 1999), I have a christmas dinner party with an ornament exchange. Each couple has to make (yup-handmake) a predetermined number of identical ornaments. Then we each give one to everyone else, and go home with a brand-spanking-new set. As you may know from reading previous posts, I love ornaments, and look forward to coming up with, and making my set each year. Not everyone shares my excitement, and I know that it causes more stress and last minute rushing for many of them. In the end, I hope that most of them are glad to have done it. I've heard about people putting up their ornaments from previous years and being happy to have them, so that bodes well. Anyway, here's the e-mail I sent out that you needed the background info for.

From: ss
To: ja, nn, mk, ns, ac, tm, ki, km
Date: Dec 15, 2006 7:46PM
Subject: Re: rsvp?

This is funny. I was just writing down who was coming so I could figure it
out, and I came up with 10 girls. I freaked out a little because I'd previously
counted only 9, but I hadn't actually written anything down- just went over it
in my head. So then I freaked out again because that meant that I had to tell
everyone to make an extra ornament less than 24 hours before the party (and I'm
sure you've all finished yours several weeks ago). I briefly considered
giving up the ones I'd get, but since I'm probably the one most excited about
them, it would be too much of a sacrifice. So I figured I might as well
send an e-mail out asap so you could all get to work, and as I checked the
e-mail addresses against my list, I couldn't figure out who wasn't on the e-mail
list. Finally, (and I'm talking several times back and forth here) I realized
that I wrote one name down twice on my invite list. HA!

So it all worked out in the long run. Everyone will get a set, and now, they'll only have nine to make tomorrow instead of ten!

pol.iti.cal.ly.correct

Today was the christmas assembly at the girls school. The whole classes K-2 through 3 each read a poem and sang a song, and then the ensemble and choir (of kids classes 4-12) played carols. It was very festive. That's one nice thing about private schools- they can celebrate christmas if they want to. I understand the rational behind taking holiday celebrations out of public schools, but it makes me sad. I remember being in tenth grade and having to do some group writing project in english about winter solstice celebrations. Every group had to do something different, so our group picked christmas. We'd gotten a good deal through the paper when our teacher told us we had to switch to something else. It was right around the time the whole holiday political correctness came about. Luckily, since we'd completed a large portion of the paper, we were allowed to continue with it, as long as we stuck in some stuff about kwanzaa and chanukah.

loser.winner.(spoiler.alert)

Erik won the biggest loser tonight. Big surprise. There wasn't really a way for any of the other three to beat him since he started out a lot bigger than them. Granted, it's the biggest percentage of weight loss that counts, but if you start off having a lot more to lose, you have a much better shot at winning. He looked great. He started off at 407, and finished at 193 for a total loss of 214 lbs, or 52.58%. He lost more than half of himself. Kai was off her rocker tonight. Who knows what she ingested before coming out on stage, but it's not the best idea when you're on live television. Great way to embarrass yourself for sure....

big.bruise

I got a huge bruise on my arm today. It's not as exciting as it sounds- I went in to donate, and had a new girl who missed my draw line. *l*, who regularly pokes me, set up a new machine and tried for my inner vein. She'd only had to try this once before, and got it with no problem, so she thought she could get it again. Unfortunately, she nicked the vein, and with the pressure on the cuff all the way up, and with me squeezing the ball, blood bubbled up under the skin and made a huge bump. It looked like a golf ball- no kidding. She said that she never bruises people (which she doesn't- she's really good) and that this was the worst she'd seen in a while. She stuck half a squeezy ball on her arm under her shirt sleeve, and walked around showing everyone what my arm looked like. It was better to have it happen to me (since I really don't care) than a new donor who might not come back. The only bad news is that this likely means that I won't be able to meet the limit of 24 donations per year. Today would have been 23, but that didn't happen, and since I have to wait until this bruise goes down, I probably won't be back in before the end of the year. Bummer.


(So that's it up there. The beginnings of a nice, big bruise. You can't really tell, but there's a huge bump sticking out the side towards the camera. Pretty soon that will settle down, and all that blood will spread throughout my arm. It's exciting to think of what it will end up like. I'll put another picture up once it reaches its peak.)

tree's.up

I got my tree today. It's very exciting...really. It's perfect- a good shape, good size (it's not shrimpy, but will still fit through the window when I have to shove it out), and it smells good. You'd think that any real christmas tree would smell good, but I had one once that didn't smell at all. I think that half the point of having a tree is so you can come home and feel all warm and snuggly when you smell it, so you can imagine my disappointment. Anyway...I spent the last three and a half hours decorating it and then wrapping presents so I'd have something to put under it. I started to count how many ornaments I have (as I try to do every year) but forgot that I was counting after 36 or so. I'd guess that I have around 400. I love hanging ornaments- as my mom always says she does- because you get to remember where they came from. To clarify, I don't have one of those designer trees with coordinated ornaments, bows, etc., nor would I want one. My tree starts off with white lights, and is literally covered with ornaments I've accumulated over the past 28 years. I started my life off with many that were given to me (and often made) by grandparents, relatives, friends of my parents, etc. Then I moved onto the ones I made myself at happy hours (my nursury school) that consist of glittery pinecones, gold painted cardstock with pasta glued on, colored dough ornaments, and my favorite, oscar the grouch. There's the group from my parents, who give each of us an ornament every year that has to do with what we're interested in (so I have a couple pianos, a soccer player, a caggabe patch doll, a ballerina, etc), and there's the group from my christmas dinner parties where we do an ornament exchange. So it all adds up to quite a collection that I look forward to putting up every year. Here's me putting the lights on.

new.pillows

I got two new pillows today. A regular one (a firm support fiber filled) and a synthetic down one. I use the regular ones to sleep with, and the down/fake down on top for some fluff during the day. I haven't had a new pillow in years, and forgot how nice it is to have both soft yet firm support. This new guy is springy enough that I won't wake up suffocating from having my head sunk deep in the pillow. I may have to get two more for the other side of my bed.

bowling.cats

I just spent the last fifteen minutes playing this halloween bowling game that my mom sent me. My high score was 115, and I had to stop myself before I wasted several hours trying to beat it. It makes me want to go bowling for real. I love it, and yet do it so infrequently. I wonder why. Also notice the eyes- again. Why couldn't they just add in a black dot or something. It would make me so much happier.

*Update. My high score is now 139.

no.misspellings.found

What's up with spell check on blogger? It's not working. I rely on spellcheck to pick up on little mistakes that I miss as I zip through an entry, and am not happy it's on the fritz. I found a couple mistakes in past posts, and did some experimenting. Like this: kolfreungwralako. Wow- no misspellings found. What's the point of having it if it doesn't work.

zippy.

Wow. I made my favorite veggie chili again, and decided to put in a little extra chipotle pepper(in adobo sauce) since I couldn't really taste it last time. The recipe calls for 1 and 1/2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon finely chopped pepper, but I make only a half pot (since a whole pot's huge), so I only used one chili pepper. I'd guess it was about 2 teaspoons. This time I wanted to get more of the smoky flavor, (plus I had an open can in the fridge that was moving towards the trash- does anyone know how long they last once opened anyway?) so I used three peppers. About 6 teaspoons/2 tablespoons. Boy oh boy did I get some smoky flavor. I think the big difference was that I definitely got in more of the adobo sauce this time, while last time I had mostly pepper. My nose was running and my lips were stinging. The good news is that my tolerance for spice has been cranked up over the past few years, so while it might be too spicy for some people (cough..mom..cough), it's a-ok for me.

to.do.list

I made a big dent in my christmas shopping list today. I picked up gifts for eight people. This is good since there's less than three weeks left until the big day. I really only have five people left to get gifts for, and of those five, I only need an idea for two. I have one other group of little gifts to get together, but that's pretty straigtforward, so I'm not really counting them as items on my to do list. I'm sure I'll count them as gifts once I get them, but for now, I'm more focused on the "real" presents. graiongatninja

old.friend

So this is weird. Since my high school reunion, I've been spending more time on myspace since I can keep up with people I don't see often. (I thought it was kind of silly to have just people I actually see on it, so I never logged on.) I started doing name searches and just entering in names from my past, and I found a friend I've literally not seen in 18 years. We were best friends before my family moved, and then fell out of touch (espeically since she was 7, her sister was 8, and I was 9). The crazy thing is that she looks exactly the same, just grown up. Weird.

musical.chairs

I mean bottles. My mom forwarded me this clip. I thought it was cool enough to stick in here:)

*For some reason, I couldn't embed the video directly into this post. I think blogger's acting up again.

cookie.castles

Holy hell. I just spent two hours with the girls and one of their friends, and it felt like ten hours. We made gingerbread houses. *a* got some premade pieces that I put together and then let the kids go to town on. It sounds pretty straight forward, but was far from it. These are the steps involved:

1. Heat up sugar to make syrup.
2. Use the syrup to attach the pieces of gingerbread. Careful! Hot sugar will burn you!
3. Hold the pieces together until the sugar solidifies. Then pull all the stringy pieces off and put them back in the pot.
4. By now, forty-five minutes have passed and all four houses should be put together. Spend a few minutes running your burnt fingers under cold water.
5. Have kids open all the candy and dump into bowls while you melt butter and cream on the stove. Add some confectionery sugar and vanilla, beat with the mixer, and you have some darn good frosting.
6. Spread frosting over one roof section of each house. In thirty seconds, half the candy's gone, and they're all asking for more frosting.
7. Frost the other side of the roof and the chimney. *e* pushes too hard on the roof, and one of the short walls breaks. Fix it with frosting, and tell her to be gentle.
8. Make some more frosting so they can decorate the walls too. See *e* cramming candy in her mouth when she thinks you're not looking.
9. Add some frosting to *m's* roof to keep some gumdrops from falling off.
10. *e* crushes her entire house. It's reduced to a pile of gingerbread rubble. Surprisingly, she's not upset. Apparently the fact that she can still eat it outweighs any dissapointment at the disaster.
11. Put the finished creations on the counter and have the kids clean up the table and the leftover candy. (All two pieces of it.)
12. Send the kids off and start to clean up the disaster of a kitchen.

There you have it. You too can be the proud owner of some fancy schmancy gingerbread houses. It reminded me of when we used to make one for christmas every year. My dad would make the dough from scratch and cut out the pieces. He'd put it together, and my siblings and I would fancy that thing up with a necco wafer roof, m+m windows and a menage of trees, steps, etc. It was a beauty. People would nibble on the gingerbread, but mainly eat the candy off of it. We stopped making this several years ago, and it was sad. Very sad.

stinging.mouth

I have some freaky food allergies. I don't get super sick or have my throat close up or anything, I just get a strong stinging sensation on the roof of my mouth. I generally know what will set it off; walnuts, raw broccoli, cooked spinach, banana strings (I have to get every little stringy thing off before I eat them), cauliflower. The list goes on. Something I ate tonight drove my mouth crazy. It's stinging pretty badly even now, hours after dinner, after I brushed, flossed and rinsed with act. I can't figure out what it was. We had a bunch of random stuff; smoked pork, roasted potatoes, schnitzel, schpaetzel, sauteed green beans and some super special tres leche cake. (There was a ton of uncooked pork leftover from the party yesterday, so *p* cooked up some different meals. Plus, a guest brought the cake and we conveniently forgot to put it out.) It's perplexing. I've had everything before and don't remember having issues with anything. Maybe it's the combination that bothers me.

london.

My london friend *ab* just called to say that they're coming back to the states for christmas and new years. This is exciting since he thought that he might not get the time off work to come back. I'm excited. I miss them a lot, so it will be good to catch up. I'm also excited to go back to london in march to see them. I told *ab* the dates I'd be there, and he pointed out that I'll arrive early on st. patrick's day. They're getting a babysitter so we can go out. It should be fun.

christmas.list

Santa was at our house today. He stopped by to see the 30+ kids who were waiting with bated breath. This one was a real professional as opposed to the friends who've filled in the past two years. The kids each got a present and told santa what they'd like for christmas. *e* told him she wanted tic tacs (the holiday ones with three packs; red, white and green) and marbles. I'm happy that she has a reasonable list. Sometimes they go overboard and end up with a multiple page list with ridiculously expensive items. Maybe at four, she's already realized that if you come up with a smaller and more realistic list, you're more likely to get what you ask for. Speaking of which- I have to get my list going.

december.one

Happy december! Only 24 days until christmas which means I better get my butt in gear. I'm actually doing pretty well. I have about half the gifts I need, and have ideas for most of the other people. This is a real step up from last year which is good. No last minute stress outs for me!

old.tv

I just watched family feud. I don't watch this on a regular basis, but I do enjoy it every so often. My brand spanking new tivo recorded an episode in the "recommended" category, so I thought I'd zip through it before survivor came on. This was no new episode of family feud. It was on the game show network, and was, I found out, from 1988. Not only were the people funny looking, but the questions were a riot. Who'd have thought that television could be so entertaining?

for.sale.

Brand new baby boy for seal. This is the headline I heard on the radio today. Actually, what I heard was, "brand new baby boy for sale." Hmmm....

elizabeth.w.

I love this company. A few years ago, *ab* got me some of their stuff for christmas, and it smells SO good. I finished the body wash, and the lotion's almost out, so I went online and searched for a retailer. I ended up at their website, and they had the same scent (magnolia) in eau de parfum. I was overjoyed. I ordered it, and got an e-mail from them saying thank you. Here it is:

Dear *ss*,
Thank you so much for your order. As a small perfumery, we greatly value your business.
The order can ship today. Please let me know if I can help you further.
Finally, may I ask how you discovered elizabethW?
With kind regards,
Reymundo

elizabethW, San
Francisco
800 781-6126
www.elizabethW.com

How nice! A real, personalized letter thanking me for my business! What a nice fellow this reymundo is. I wrote back:

Hi Reymundo-
I'm glad to help support your company. It's so nice to receive personalized messages in this day and age!
I received some of your products for Christmas last year (the pack of three
bath pouches, body wash and body cream in the magnolia scent) and loved them!
I'm not sure where my friend purchased them, but I found your site in a web
search. I was very excited to find that you sold the perfume in the magnolia
scent as well. It's my favorite!
Thank you, and happy holidays-
*ss*

His reply:

Dear *ss*,
Thank you so much for the information and the kind words. We really are a small workshop
perfumery and strive to design and handcraft original, quality products in
fabulous fragrances. I hope you continue to enjoy them.
Best wishes, and happy holidays to you as well.
Reymundo

elizabethW San
Francisco
1 800 781-6126
www.elizabethW.com

It just makes me want to order stuff from them again. This is what customer service should be! Maybe I should write back and see if reymundo's married;)

new.order

I re-ordered my blog link list. (I also added a new one- a friend who recently commented on a blog entry who I never even knew had a blog. So he's on there now.) At first I was going to order them from the most frequently updated to the least, but I decided to go with the most recently updated to the least. I'll change it every week or so, but that's how it's going for now. This way, if you want to check another blog, and only have a few minutes, you'll be able to go to the blog that's most likely to have been updated:)

oops.

*ja* took a shower, and had a bottle of nail polish in her overnight kit. Apparently it fell out of the kit, and smashed on the tile floor in the bathroom. We called the front desk to see if they had any nail polish remover to take care of our "nail polish incident" and oscar said not to worry; that it was housekeeping's problem. Bummer.

good.times.at.ab

Yesterday was a busy, busy day. I had the nutcracker performance from 1 to 3 downtown. (It was great- *m* did a very good job as a doll, and her parents picked up the $125 tab for my third row seat.) Then it was out to acton for my grandmother's memorial mass from 5-6. Then over to *ja's* parent's house, and back into boston for our 10 year high school reunion. They'd set up a block of rooms at the hilton down on broad street, so a group of us booked a room. The reunion had been put together at the last minute (everyone assumed the folks who had organized the 5 year reunion would put this one together, and it wasn't until two months before that it became apparent they weren't. Luckily, *mg* was good enough to get stuff together at the last minute) so it was at a bar in fanueil hall instead of in some fancy hotel with catering. The good news is that this worked out much better for most people. Some people didn't find out about it until a few hours before the thing started, and they were still able to just show up. We grabbed some indian food before heading over to the bar, and got there around 9. There were a lot of people there. Our class was about 325, and there were probably 120ish at the reunion. There were a bunch of people who were there who weren't at the 5 year, so that was great too. I like reunions, because everyone is pretty much over the whole social groupings of high school. Not completely I guess, but we all had gone through school together, so we had a bond to begin with. I'm really glad I went. After we left the bar, we stopped at a store 24 and got a couple pints of ben and jerry's. We all hung out in the room eating ice cream and chatting. The funny thing was that I had walked around the bar by myself catching up with people, and felt like I'd seen pretty much everyone there. (Although I didn't take nearly any pictures which I'm very mad about now.) Then when we were talking later, someone would mention seeing someone I hadn't seen. I guess there really were a lot of people there! Good times....good times.

black.friday

Sweet mary. My sister *j* and I tackled the mall today. It was a last minute decision, since she had recently been hinting that she wanted to sleep in today. She came back from thanksgiving dinner with me last night since I'd finally convinced someone to donate platelets with me. Go *j*!!! You're a star! When I set up the appointments, her main question was, "what time does that mean I have to get up?" We finally set them for 11am, thinking that would give us enough time to sleep a little late, but not waste the whole day watching movies from a reclining chair while our plasma was sucked out of our veins. Around 9pm on thursday, *j* decided that we should get up early to do some shopping. Not for other people mind you, but for ourselves. She had seen some adds, and some of the deals had interested her. The cambridge side galleria opened at 7am, and they have a best buy, sears, clothing stores, etc, so we decided to get up at 6am to make it there for opening. Then we checked out the website, and realized that some stores were opening at 5am. *j* decided that we needed to be there earlier, so we agreed to get up at 5am, and leave asap. After tossing in bed for a while, I finally fell asleep around 1am, only to be woken by my alarm, a very short four hours later. We got there a bit before six, and stopped by dunkin donuts for some bagels and coffee. We saw a line from best buy running the entire length of the mall. The metal screens were still down, so we assumed it wasn't yet open. (Later, we find out that it had opened at 5am, but there were so many people that they only let in some at a time. It was a riot.) We went to a few stores before tackling the best buy line, and by the time we get there, the line's only about a third the length of the mall. Once we're let in, we become part of the chaos. *j* wanted portable speakers for her iPod that were down to $40, so we headed straight for that section. After finding none left on the shelf, we lucked out and spotted a stash on a back shelf. She grabbed one of those, along with a $15 1 gig memory card, and we went upstairs to get in line. I made an impulse buy and grabbed a tivo. It was free (after rebate), and even though going with the comcast dvr makes more sense financially, this will be easier in the long run. The cable bill's not in my name, so I'd have to deal with paying *a* back instead of just paying the tivo subscription myself. After waiting in line for about an hour to pay, we went down to cvs to get some water. The apple store was right next door, and since *j's* nano was giving her problems, we stopped in to see if they could fix it. The guy ran some sort of test on it, and couldn't find a problem, but did see what she was talking about, so he gave her a new one. I tried to get him to give her one of the new colored ones, but he said no. Anyway...she was excited to get a brand new nano, so we were in good spirits despite our sleep deprivation. We hit several more stores (picking up a few presents for others too!) and then split a wrap from d'angelo's for "lunch" around 9:30. We got to children's a little early, but since *j* had never been there, she had to read through all the info first. I got hooked up first, and while they were working on her, my access pressure kept dropping (which just means the draw line couldn't get a strong enough blood flow) they messed around with the needle for a bit, without much luck- the alarm kept going off. Finally, one of the techs took all the tape off the needle to move it, and got great access pressure...for about a second. Since it wasn't taped down, once the pressure shot up, the needle shot out of my arm along with a bunch of blood. The blanket was all bloody, and there was a pool of blood on the hot pack. Nice. So I got to hang out with *j* while she donated. They were happy that I brought her, and even got a double product out of her since her platelet count is also high.
This blog entry is getting a little rambly I think, so I'll sum up the rest of our day. We got home, had a sandwich, went to target, *j* left, I went to best buy again, stopped by gap outlet and went home to set up my tivo. The fact that you have to hook the tivo up to either a wireless/wired internet connection or a phone jack kind of stunk, but I'm excited to be able to transfer tivod shows to my laptop and then burn them to dvd. Yippee!

target.eye

As I've mentioned before, weird eyes bother me. So...have any of you seen that target commercial with david blaine? The one where he's suspended in the air over nyc? At the beginning, it starts with a close-up on his eye, and instead of the normal iris, pupil, etc.- they have a target circle in there. Vomit.

four.days

Ahhhh....it's the end of the week already. I was thinking about holidays today, and realized that thanksgiving is the best. Along with thursday, almost everyone (unless you work retail in which case you're screwed) has the friday after turkey day off too. This beats out all other holidays- even christmas. Sometimes christmas is on a weekend, and then you're really out of luck, although I suppose there's a monday holiday to make up for it. This is interesting since I actually don't like thanksgiving. I mean, I like hanging out with family, but I don't really like turkey, and always feel ill after eating the bowl of mashed potatoes. At least I have three days to recuperate.

chirp.chirp

This little guy was hanging out on my windowsill this morning. He had pals on the other window, but this one was literally right next to my bed. I didn't want to move the shade because I knew it would scare him off. He was chirping and hopping back and forth across the sill. All I could think in my groggy state was, "haven't all the birds left for florida already?"

do.it.yourself

Last year for christmas, *ac* got me a subscription to "ready made," a really great magazine that tells you how to build cool stuff. I was looking at their site today, and found links to some other do-it-yourself sites, which is good, because when I tried to do a web search for "do-it-yourself," I got a bunch of stupid stuff- either kid projects or artsy-fartsy stuff. If you're looking to build something, and want an idea, look here or here or here.

fondue.mmm.

I ate lots of food tonight. I was at *lw's* house for a fondue dinner. She and her husband *tw* had tons of stuff- steak, chicken, shrimp for the meat eaters, and eggplant, yam, broccoli, zucchini and banana for fruit/veggies. It sounds healthy enough, but if you consider the fact that we were dipping it all in boiling oil- some in batter first- it pretty much counteracts any health benefits that might have been present to begin with. For dessert we had a chocolate one. Foods to dip? Pineapple, kiwi, clementine, pound cake and croissants. Let's just say that I'm glad I've eaten pretty healthy the rest of the week because this sunk the boat. It was delicious though, and the company couldn't be beat.

hey.yo

I heard the song "snow (hey yo)" by the chili peppers the other day and I'm addicted to it. I've liked some of their songs before, but never this much. Hopefully it won't be overplayed on the radio since it's the third song from the disc. That always ruins it for me.

bad.dreams.

I've been having weird dreams recently. I wake up, and I feel like I never slept. Most of them I don't really remember- I'll just get little glimpses during the day- but one I had a few nights ago is still pretty clear.

I was in a bedroom with two or three twin sized beds. I think it was a kids room, but I can't be sure. The room was very long and L shaped, and the beds were spread out a bit. There were several pillows on each bed. There was some sort of bad spirit or something that kept hassling me. It seemed like he was a person who died, and stayed in the room haunting whoever happened to be there. I tried to get rid of him, but he'd keep coming back. I finally found him wrapped in a white sheet in front of a pillow on one of the beds. It was a stuffed squirrel. I yelled at it, grabbed a pencil from the desk, and stabbed the bottom side of the squirrel. I ripped the fabric back and it was full of both stuffing and those little plastic beans. I made sure not to drop any beans since that would keep the bad spirit in the room. Then I opened a window and threw the whole thing outside. It amazes me how terrified I was of this thing. I woke up with a racing heartbeat and covered in sweat. Even though I knew it was a dream I was still scared to death. Weird.

new.soup.

Yesterday during my 90mins of cardio (for the turkey trot) I flipped through a cooking light magazine and found two recipes that looked good. One of them was a butternut squash and leek soup, which was perfect since I had a squash sitting on the counter at home just waiting for something to do. The other recipe was a three bean chili. I stopped by the grocery store on my way home from the gym today to pick up all the ingredients, and spent the afternoon cooking. The chili was my favorite. It has tons of veggies and other healthy stuff- zucchini, carrots, red pepper, onions, garlic, black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, crushed tomato, tomato puree, some spices and water- and it's super thick and delicious. The squash soup wasn't as yummy. It was a bit too garlicky. I think if I made it again, I'd cut down on the garlic and add some extra butternut squash. I think I may keep up with this new cooking thing. Even though I'm not usually excited about, every once in a while I find it extremely satisfying.

little.miss.sunshine

Last night, evil twin #1 (aka *mk*) and I went to see little miss sunshine. Since it opened on july 27th and everyone else has seen it, we made plans to go together. It was only playing in a few theaters (since again, it has been out for almost four months) so we made our way to the kendell theater in cambridge. The rumors were true. This movie was hilarious. There were so many amusing parts that I can't even pick my favorite. Today when I was driving somewhere, I turned the radio to npr, and they were interviewing greg kinnear. He talked about how they pushed the vw bus, but really had to give it some gas since it was way too heavy to push with just a few people. I thought it was a good sign that the interview came on the day after I saw the movie. A sign of what, I'm not sure, but a good sign none-the-less.

new.boots.

I just ordered new winter boots. I'm anti-uggs since everyone and their mother has them (plus I kind of think they're ugly) but I did want something snuggly and warm for the rough new england winters. The boots I'd been wearing for the past seven years were really my low ankle height hiking boots. It wasn't so much fun getting a boot full of snow everytime we got more then four inches. I ended up deciding on the merrell spirit tibet high, and after discussing it with my sister, choose the timber color. The best news is the price. They're listed at $142.95, but I got an e-mail coupon for 20% off boots and slippers from shoebuy (enter code "bootslipper06" in the promotional code area by nov 27th if you want to order something). I don't think it's supposed to work on merrells (I added another pair to my cart just to check the code, and it said that merrell's not participating in the promotion) but it worked out well for the ones I picked. So that knocked off $28.59, but it gets better. I got an extra 10% (or $11.44) off for registering my account, so the total (with free shipping) was $102.92 or $40. 03 off. Not that $102.92 is cheap for boots, but I wanted to make an investment in something good, and I'm a big fan of the merrell comfort. Excellent. Now I just have to wait for them to arrive. At least we're not expecting snow anytime soon!

bone.marrow

Last fall, I was contacted by the blood center at children's hospital and told that the antigens in my platelets had been matched to a child. Platelets aren't type specific (it doesn't matter if you have O-, AB, O+, etc) but when children are going through serious procedures, it can be helpful to have the antigens match in order to reduce their rejection rate. I went in every week during that six week period, and it really made a difference knowing that my platelets were helping this specific child. They weren't able to give me any info on him, but my platelet bag was labeled with his name, and after doing a web search, I learned that he had a rare disease called malignant infantile osteopetrosis (MIOP). It's a condition where the bones are overly dense which eventually causes bone marrow failure. Without a bone marrow transplant, babies with MIOP often die before they turn one. 70% of children with MIOP die by the age of six, and almost 100% die by the age of ten without curative therapy. I found a site that documents another baby's struggle with MIOP, and as I browsed through the updates, pictures and guest book, I couldn't imagine being in a similar situation. I put myself on the bone marrow donor list several years ago, and encourage you to do the same. The chances of being matched with someone are very remote, but the possibility of saving a life should be worth any inconvenience in getting yourself on that list. So go do it. Now.

j.e.l.l.o

During my freshman year at bu, my roommate and I made sugar-free jello on a regular basis. We made double batches, and kept it in the little fridge we kept under my bed. I haven't had jello regularly since then, but after watching the biggest loser, my interest has been renewed. I picked up a bunch at the store today, and made up two batches. The way I look at it, I can eat an entire box of jello (2 cups) and it's only 40 calories. 40 calories!!!!! It's sweet, so it satisfies the sweet tooth. Plus, it's so jiggly, it fills your stomach up, so you're not hungry. I think that jello might just be the magic ingredient for healthy eating.

calcium.lime.rust

After seeing all those commercials for c.l.r., I decided to give it a try. I have an old sink, and it tends to get some rust stains around the drain. The part I was most excited about was the part where the guy dips the faucet head into a bowl filled with clr. It made the water come out strong and even. I first scrubbed the rust. It worked pretty well, but didn't completely remove the stain. Then I tried to dip the faucet, but that didn't work at all. In the commercial, he dips the shower head, which bends downwards. My sink faucet doesn't at all, so there was no way to submerge the head. The experiment was fairly successful, and now I'm energized to clean my whole bathroom really well. I'm washing my shower curtains tomorrow.

phone.

I finally broke down and bought a new phone on ebay. It should be coming any day now.

vivian.

My car went into the dealership yesterday for some help. It started making some not-so-great sounds last week, and I was getting nervous driving it for fear of getting caught in a car fire. In the past, I've had panic attacks when told the total cost for repairs, so this time I was prepared. I anticipated costs up to $2500. That way, when the total was less, I'd be relieved instead of anxious. It worked. The total was a mere $1268.22- of which $902.50 was labor. I find it hard to believe that it took them 9.5 hours to fix my car, but what can you do. They replaced the serpentine belt and tensioned dampner (which was interfering with something and caused the noise that was worrying me), replaced the hood latch (because the hood wouldn't open), and performed the 60,000 mile maintenance. So now my car's happy, which makes me happy. Although next time I'm due for a new one, I think I'll steer clear of vw's.

blood.bash

Last night was the annual blood donor recognition event at the seaport/world trade center. I'd gone to donate that morning, and k told me I could sit at their table with the blood techs since I didn't really know many of the other regular donors. It was great. They had several speakers- parents of kids who were sick, a 16yr old who'd had several heart surgeries, etc. It was nice to hear how appreciative they all were. We got a gift too- a whole auto emergency kit with all the fixings to save your butt. At 10, when they were kicking the last of us stragglers out, we all went to the bar in the hotel. That's l (one of the phlebotomists) over there with r, the bloodmobile driver. I think she looks like scarlett johansson. On the right is l again with c and j. They'd all taken advantage of the open bar at the dinner. It was fun to hang out with them outside of the blood center. It was a little disconcerting seeing them all dressed up though...especially when I'm used to seeing everyone in scrubs and lab coats. It was a great time. I took a trip to mcdonald's for a cheeseburger happy meal around 10:30 this morning!

trunk.monkey

My dad sent me a funny email with these video clips attached. I want one.
trunk monkey 1
trunk monkey 2
trunk monkey 3
trunk money 4
trunk monkey 5
trunk monkey 6
If you want to see more, go to this site.

cell.hell

I need to get a new cell phone. I cracked the screen of the one I have now, and the liquid indicator isn't looking too great either. I have another year left on my contract, so I can't even extend it to get a deal on a new one. I checked out ebay to see what was listed for verizon. (That's another thing- it's crappy that verizon phones are set differently than every other plan. There's definitely a better selection for all those other carriers.) Even used phones are expensive when you're used to getting them for free! I'm also not convinced that I'd get a good used one. Knowing my luck, I'd probably end up with a scratched screen and a battery that won't hold a charge. I may try to dig up my old phone and charger and just reactivate that for now. Unless any of you have a verizon phone you want to give me a good deal on....

i.liked.this.quote

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.

Thomas A. Edison

holidays.and.holy.days

Last year, I waited until december to pick up the new inserts for my planner. Actually, that's not quite true. I went to bloomingdale's and tried to get them, but for some reason, they had stopped carrying the kate spade refills. So by the time I made it down to the newbury street store, it was december, and they were sold out. I ordered them and they got to me sometime mid january. This year I was more prepared, and grabbed the pack last weekend. I had a few dates to write in it too.
Today I was looking through the new calendar, and spent some time on the two pages that make up the "holidays and holy days." They list tons of holidays, and note who celebrates them- canada(c), japan(j), mexico(m), united kingdom(uk) or united states(us). Most of the holidays were pretty standard (christmas, mothers day, presidents' day, etc), but there were a bunch that were creative, and they are all celebrated in japan. Here are some examples: nation's foundation day (feb 11th), greenery day (april 29th), constitutional memorial day (may 3), children's day (may 5), marine day (july 20th), respect for the aged day (sept 15th), health & sports day (oct 8th), and my personal favorite, coming of age day (jan 8th). I think I may start celebrating some of these- along with all our regular ones of course.

one.too.many

Before I go to bed, I turn on the tv and watch whatever happens to be on. Sometimes I turn it off, but usually I fall asleep and then wake up a half hour later to turn it off. It's a habit I need to break. Regardless. Last night I got stuck watching "one too many" on tlc. It's a show about people born with extra body parts- fingers, toes, heads...etc. Most of these people (I don't say kids since many of them were older teens) lived in third world countries, and they surmised that lack of prenatal care was largely responsible for the extra parts. There was a 16 yr old girl with 24 fingers and toes (one extra on each), an 18 yr old girl with an extra "leg" (it was more like a second torso complete with a belly button and hair and a y shaped end), and a baby girl with a second head. The head and the extra leg were caused by a twin who didn't survive and joined the other fetus. There was also a 10 yr old kid in India with 6 fingers on each hand, 6 toes on one foot and 7 toes on the other. The cool thing was that they all worked! So typing was as easy as pie for him! Generally, extra fingers and toes don't have any muscle control and just hang out. In most cases (except for the boy from India), they brought the kid to america or china, and performed surgery to remove the extra parts. They showed the surgery in detail, and although it was gruesome, I couldn't turn away...until I fell asleep.

girls.night.out

I had a fabulous night with the girls. Their parents had a dinner to go to, and since friday is the only non-homework day of the week, I decided to make it a fun one. It started off with a movie- flushed away was the choice for tonight. It was very entertaining for a kids movie. Then over to ac moore to pick up some embroidery floss for friendship bracelets, and 25 cent fuzzy bears which are crucial to the trading opportunities available in 1st and 3rd grade. When given the choice between a sit-down dinner somewhere or mcdonalds, they simultaneously choose the sit-down dinner. Surprising, yet good. We tried john harvards since it was next to ac moore, but the wait was 45-50 mins, and since it was already 6:30, we had to pick somewhere else. Chili's was the consensus. *e* got pizza, *m* got pasta, *l* got ribs, an I got a chicken fajita with a side of seasonal veggies to get in my five a day. Everyone was happy, cooperative and thankful the entire night, which made it much more enjoyable for me!

peeping.e

*e* got in trouble at school today. Last thursday she got in trouble for not listening (surprise, surprise), but she had shaped up since then. When I picked her up, her teacher told me that *e* had something to tell me. I couldn't tell if it was a "something she has to tell me because she got in trouble" or a "something she has to tell me because she did something good" type of something. Turns out it was the first. Apparently she and another 5 year old were caught spying in on a boy in the bathroom. She got read the riot act by all of us, but I'm not sure how much it will sink in. She's too independent to really let anyone get her down. I wouldn't be surprised if she grew up to be a big hollywood actress with tons of drama surrounding her. I told her when she's rich, to share some with me. She said okay. So I don't really feel bad for her. Who I do feel bad for is that poor kid. Only 5, and he already has two girls laughing at him with his pants down.

trot.trot.

Today was the first day of the "turkey trot", an annual competition at my gym. It's on for the whole month of november, and the goal is to do enough cardio to get from boston to plymouth rock during that time. For every 15 minutes, we get a turkey leg hung up next to our name on the bulletin board. Three turkey legs make one mile (despite the fact that running for 45 mins could get you a lot further) and 10 miles get you one huge turkey leg. They set 90 mins max per day so people don't try and work out for 5 hours a day and die. Last year I won, but this year there are already a lot more people signed up, many who had done 90 minutes by the time I got to the gym today. All that means is that I'll be doing an hour and a half every day for a month unless something physically prevents me. Bring it on turkey trot.

update.

I received an e-mail this morning from an actual person (or so it appears) at the boston channel, thanking me for my e-mail. He's forwarding it on to the station manager. Even if this is just an auto reply, they did a good enough job making it appear legit. I'm satisfied. Plus, my vcr worked out, and I just finished watching the bachelor episode aired at 1:35am. Oh, and happy halloween.

ba.loney

I brushed and flossed my teeth, rinsed with fluoride mouthwash, got all cozy in my pj's, grabbed my super warm and fluffy blanket, and settled in to watch a brand new episode of the bachelor. Tonight promised to be a good one- lorenzo was going home to meet the four remaining bachelorette's families, and I was especially looking forward to seeing how the meeting went with crazy lisa, who apparently displays wedding magazines and comes out in her wedding dress. I settled in, and turned on channel 5. On came monday night football- minnesota vs. new england. I panicked, but then reassured myself by checking the abc website. Sure enough, there was a new bachelor on at 9/8c, october 30th. Was abc really channel 5? I checked the guide, but couldn't find a listing on any other channel. Back to the web, which confirmed that it should have been on channel 5 at 9pm. Those jerks at the boston channel decided that people would rather watch a football game that's also on espn at the same time, than one of the final three episodes of the bachelor. Oh right...they didn't cancel it altogether, but moved it back to 1:35am with no apparent repeat time at a normal hour. I was so irate that I actually took the time to write an e-mail to wcvbnews@thebostonchannel.com to let them know how I felt. I wanted to yell via e-mail at them, but took a deep breath and wrote a more grown-up version that may actually be read (though probably not). Maybe if you all write a similar e-mail, they'll feel a little bad about what they've done. Now I have to figure out how to set up my vcr recording to tape a show in the middle of the night. BA...LONEY.

vcr.from.1983

Until saturday, my aunt n. did not have a dvd player. It was a sad state of affairs, and since I brought a netflix movie with me, she decided it was time to move into the twenty-first century. We went to best buy, and picked out a brand-spanking-new dvd/vcr combo since her vcr was on the fritz. It was no wonder. This thing must have been from 1983. It was larger than the new combo machine, and must have weighed at least ten pounds more. I hooked the new one up, gave her a brief tutorial on the remote functions, and popped in balzac and the little chinese seamstress. (Good movie.) I was proud to share that moment with her.

le.madeleine

I went to the big apple this weekend to visit my aunt n. and to see spamalot. We do this every year in september or october, although we don't always see spamalot. We pick a new one each year. It was hilarious- as I'd heard, and despite being caught in a flash flood, we had a great time. We went to le madeleine for dinner at 4:30pm. Yup- we ate like old folks, although we didn't get any early-bird specials. It was delicious. It turns out that the landlord is trying to kick them (and the 12 rent-controlled tenants) out so they can demolish the building. Anything to make more money, huh? They still have 4 more years on the lease with an option for 8 more, and are fighting the eviction notice in court. They have a petition they're trying to get folks to sign, so you should check it out, and sign it if you agree with them. I did.

pilates.

I just finished a pilates video. It was pretty hard. The video itself wasn't outdated or bad or anything, but they had a rasta band playing within camera view. I enjoyed watching the steel drum guys more than the pilates instructor.

tail.talk

So *ac*, *ec*, *nn* and I are all doing what's been dubbed the "fall of fitness." Basically, someone comes up with a challenge each week or two, and we keep track of how we do. This week and last week, our challenge was to do 3 hours each of cardio, weights, and stretching. The cardio was easy since I try to run or use the elliptical pretty regularly. The weights also weren't tough- I love this one hour class called women on weights, so that was doable. The stretching part was rough. I stretch after running or doing the weights class, but for less than 5 mins. I'm not a fan of yoga, but there weren't really any other options. The good news is that *nn* told me about the on-demand shows. I did one called "yoga for a better back" tonight. It was hilarious. I thought that it was from the 80's. The woman had a super short but puffy haircut, with.....a tail. Not just a normal middle of the neck straggly thing, but a side tail that was clearly curled with a curling iron. I did some research, and it turns out it's not from the 80's, but from 1998 which is not so long ago. Her tail reminded me of a story my brother told me when he was in junior high. Some kid in his english class had a tail, and kept playing with it. I guess it bothered the teacher, because eventually she went behind him, cut it off, and tacked it to the board. This was probably in 1992. I can't even start to imagine what sort of legal action would occur if this happened today. Crazy.

turkey.lurkey

I was going to one of the kids sports classes today, and as I drove up the hill, there were seven wild turkey's wandering around by the gate. I've seen them before. Sometimes there are even more. I told the girls I was thinking of catching one for thanksgiving dinner. *m* said completely seriously, "ss, those are wild turkey's. They have diseases." No one can take a joke anymore.

what's.this.widget.crap?

I was all excited about changing my blog layout. Like my room (which is painted a neutral color so I can switch the bedding and subsequently the feel of the room), I get tired of having something look the same all the time. I'd checked out different templates before, but apparently not since they set it up to be "easier" for some people. While some of the options for layout are easier, I now can't figure out to customize the content on the sidebar. I figured out enough html to be able to enter images and categories with the old layout, but now there's some weird widget business going on which is giving me a headache. If anyone knows how to help me out (ahem....my favorite 26 yr old brother....ahem) this is what I need to know:

How to stick in a heading like "books I'm reading" followed by a list of both images, and type. I have one that's kind of working, but I can't add another photo without putting in a whole new heading which I don't want to do.
I also want to add a photo and either make that photo a link to another site, or add a link to click on below it. I tried to enter the html that I know (like using a href="..." and /a to enter in a link) but keep getting an error message. Clearly I just don't know enough about widget to figure out what to do. It's unfortunate because they're obviously trying to make it easier for some people. I guess I just like to make things difficult.

how.i.spent.my.sunday

I spent the majority of my day in the darkroom. I had several projects that needed to be finished up, so as soon as I woke up, I put on my running clothes and went down to the basement. My plan was to develop for a few hours and then hop on the treadmill. I ended up printing for so long that by the time I stopped (which was only because the light bulb in my enlarger burnt out) it was four o-clock. I was cleaning up when my friend *ab* called from london, and after we chatted for a bit I had to run to cvs to pick up some new prescriptions. So I never ended up running, but I did have a very productive day.

you.wish.you'd.been.here

Last night was my first bi-monthly "(not your granny's) game night." I added the (not your granny's) in there because I think that too many people think of a subdued, yet sophisticated gathering of older women when they hear "game night." While that's perfect if you're an older woman interested in playing cards, it's not exactly the type of thing any self-respecting 28 year old should be doing on a friday night. I envisioned a lively group sitting around the table with a varied assortment of game options in front of them. What games? Exactly. I grew up playing games- board games, card games, interactive games...you name it. My family was perfect for game playing since there are six of us, and all of us were similarly interested in participating. Now that we've all moved away and are spread out across the country, there is little opportunity to catch up with a quick game of rummy, or a high stakes shot at cranium turbo. While my friends are definitely game for some game playing, they're not as passionate about it as I am. So. Once I decided to host the get together, I had to purchase some games. I owned one- "would you rather" that *tm* gave me for christmas (since she knew how I felt about games), but the night I had envisioned included more than just one option. I decided against straight-up board games, and opted instead for ones that encouraged lively verbal participation, preferably amusing. I did some research. "Apples to apples" kept showing up on the top ten lists. This game looked lame, yet all the customer reviews were superb. Some even said things like, "I never would have picked this game off the shelf, but I played it with friends, and it's the best!! I bought one for everyone I know, and they all love it!!!" How can you argue with such heartfelt critiques? I picked that up along with "imaginiff" and "mad gab." Next, I called my parents, and arranged to pick up four of our family favorites from my dad's office. (I also managed to show up in time for some free indian food-mmmm...mm.) These included "catch phrase", "balderdash", "cranium turbo" and "outburst." Now that I had eight game choices, I moved on to food and drink. Game night felt like pizza and chips. Doritos in particular. At our last sibling card game, we'd tried baked doritos, and they'd received a thumbs up. Along with those, I grabbed some pretzels and a bunch of veggies to munch on. The pizza and pita/butter/cheese/garlic salt/and oregano appetizers were ready at home, so I moved on to wine. Since I'm not a wine connoisseur, I decided to find the best looking labels (without drinking tar) and came up with those you see in the picture. We only opened two- the taxi and the arrogant frog. The frog was good, the taxi- not so good. After some brief missing-the-bus trouble, everyone arrived and we started with the apple game. As promised, it was a blast. We moved on to imaginiff. This was my favorite. You use a wipe-off marker and write everyone's name in a space and roll a die to determine who would be the subject of the question. Then everyone picks an answer, and the people who pick the answer with the most votes gets a point. The highlight of this game was when *ac* was up as the subject. This is the imaginiff card:

Imaginiff... (*ac*) accidentally backed over the neighbor's cat in the driveway. Which would he/she do?

1. Bury it and say nothing.
2. Confess.
3. Buy a replacement and pretend nothing happened.
4. Place it on the road and say nothing.
5. Blame the neighbor for inadequate cat control.
6. Run over it again to make sure it was dead.

*ac* choose number 2, and everyone else picked number 5. It was one of the few times we all (except *ac* ) answered the same, which shows how right on we were. *ac* was offended, but it was so funny- especially because I could clearly picture the situation, with her reaction as #5 dead on. I laughed so hard I cried. We finished with "mad gab" which was just too rough for me. You're shown a card with a nonsense phrase on it. You then have to repeat it and figure out what it's supposed to mean. Like- "amen ask hurt" translates to "a mini-skirt." It sounds easy, but it's really rough when you're under the timer. It's good I just saw my dr and have great blood pressure and pulse. Otherwise I'd worry about my ability to play that game again!

dinner.party

Last night was dinner party night at *nn* and *br*'s place. They made delicious fettuccine with asparagus, and tasty marinated chicken. Plus *d?* made a key lime pie that I finished even though I was about to be ill, I was so full. It was a nice grown-up thing to do, which is important since we are all grown up now. Even their dog barney was well behaved. That's him down there with *gl* and *ac*.

earl.

Earl is a cool cat. Pretty much everyone who knows him agrees, even if they (like me) don't like cats on a regular basis. He lives next door, but is an outside cat who ventures over to our yard on a daily basis. He's tough. He won't back down from a fight with "wanabe," another cat we nicknamed due to his clear admiration for earl. We don't know where wanabe lives, but he tries to hang out nearby until earl kicks him out. It's not unusual to hear hissing catcalls and see wanabe streaking away like a bat-out-of-hell. Earl doesn't act like a normal cat. He has an almost doglike personality, and will greet most people with a nice rub against the legs. Once, we were coloring with chalk on the sidewalk, and earl rolled over on a pink and blue striped shirt we'd drawn. He got up, and had pink and blue stripes on his back. He ran away this past summer, and was gone for several days. We were all a wreck. His owners eventually found him several blocks away. He'd made friends with some people who were feeding him. So today, I was outside talking with one of our painters, and he (the painter, not the cat) said, "the cat just went inside." Sneaky guy- he'd walked right past me without my knowing. I kicked him out, but not before I got a few leg rubs.

back.to.the.stone.age

The ceiling in our study looks like cottage cheese. Tomorrow (wednesday) it's coming down, and we have to disconnect our internet and take everything out of that room. If you're trying to reach me, you'll have to call! I'm a little nervous about the no e-mail, blog check-ups, and internet access in general. I'm not sure how I managed in high school.

clean.clothes

We got a new washer today! Our old one broke for the fourth time in less than seven years, and instead of paying another $125 service fee (plus the price of the part) and waiting for two weeks (during which we'd have to pay to use a laundromat) the old one is out, and the new one in. There's a class action suit against maytag (our old washer- the maytag neptune) for the exact same problems as we had- the door latch breaking so the door wouldn't lock and run through cycles (it's a front loader- I guess they didn't want the door to open and have water pouring out everywhere), circuit board failure which caused the machine not to enter the spin cycle, and finally, mold growing on the rubber seal between the door and the tub. And yet maytag says they did nothing wrong. Funny. Even funnier is the fact that my parents had the same washing machine for around 20 years with no problems. When they got it, it was avocado green, and my mom even painted it white since it worked fine and she couldn't justify getting a new one just because the old one was ugly. Our new one is the lg tromm steam washer. It's pretty darn fancy. I sat down there on one of our many piles of dirty laundry and watched the wash cycle do its thing. For a while I didn't believe that it was actually working. It kept making pfft sounds and the clothes spun a bit, but there was no water rushing into the drum. Then I read the instructions (yes- after I'd loaded and started the wash. These things are pretty self explanatory) and learned that even though there's not a lot of water in the drum, there are very strong jets of steam shooting in, doing a very good job of cleaning the clothes, all while using lots less water. Sure enough, after ten minutes, I saw the clothes were looking pretty wet. I can't wait for them to finish.

fancy.event

A lot of my mail still gets sent to my parent's house. Mainly because I'm too lazy to switch my license address and actually contact everyone who sends mail to acton, so I just pick it up when I'm visiting. It sounds like I just moved a few months ago, but really, I haven't lived at home since I was in college. To the point. So I was out there a week or so ago celebrating some birthdays, and threw the interesting looking mail into my bag. Yesterday I found it, and opened some of it. I was very excited to find an invitation to the "annual blood donor recognition event" on november 9th at the seaport hotel. I wasn't invited last year and felt a little slighted. I'd donated 16 of a possible 24, so thought that I just didn't make the base number. Apparently there were a lot of people who weren't invited who should have been. The blood techs said they were going to be in charge this year! So I was excited about the invite. I always assumed it was a little shin-dig in the hospital, but it's apparently much fancier than that. They used to have it in the park plaza castle, and now moved it over to the seaport hotel. It's a nice dinner, and there are about 300 people there, so even though I'm going by myself and don't really know anyone other than the blood techs and a few regular donors, I'm sure I'll find lots of people to chat with!

leaf.peepers

Today was such a nice day. 58 degrees, sunny, perfect for the hike we'd planned a couple weeks ago. I picked *ac* up and we met *nn* at houghton pond in the blue hills and hiked the same trail as *nn* and I tackled a month or two ago. Apparently everyone else had the same idea because there were tons of people along the trails and at the observation tower. We asked this cute little old guy to take our picture once, and the two other times we saw him, he said, "Hi! It's the camera guy!" like we forgot him already. When I was a kid, I remember people talking about how beautiful the fall foliage was in new england. I didn't appreciate it. Sure they were fun to rake together and jump into, or make leaf rubbings of, but I definitely didn't gaze out the window on highway drives and think how nice the sun looked reflecting off the warm reds and yellows. So it's a good thing that I still live in the area and am able to appreciate the leaves. The warmth that's reflected kind of counteracts the shortened days. We got a bunch of great views, apparently just in time since peak leaf season is over in our area. I think we'll still head out on a few more hikes as it gets colder, just more bundled up.

curse.bank.of.america

Today was an exciting day for me. I paid off my bad credit card. This card's been with me since college, when I apparently signed up for it. At that point I wasn't really savvy on the whole interest rate thing, and this guy had what I now know to be a bad one. It stuck with me for years, and I would pay it down, then build it up again. The past couple years I've been paying a little each month, and finally bit the bullet and paid the balance. I'm really excited about canceling it since it's an mbna which recently merged with bank of america. I hate bank of america, and will do whatever I can to avoid dealing with them.* I can't wait until the credit card folks ask me why I'm canceling. I'll tell them two reasons- one, the interest rate sucks- two, I hate bank of america and don't want to do business with them or anyone affiliated with them. I'm giddy with excitement!


*A year ago, I used one of their atm's, and my card got stuck. Not eaten, just stuck. I asked one of the greeters to help get it back for me, and she said they couldn't give it back. What? She asked if I knew why it had been retained, and I explained again that it got stuck when it was being returned. She smiled and apologized and basically said I was out of luck. I went to my bank, and they implied that the b.o.a. folks were crazy. As long as I had a picture id and my card hadn't been reported as stolen, I should have been able to get it back. Because of the stupid bank of america atm and the supremely unhelpful banker, I had to order a new debit card which could have taken 7 days to receive (but the very understanding citizens bank guy put a rush on it and it only took 2 days). I used this card as my main credit/debit card, and had many automatic payments linked to it. So I got to go through all my accounts and change the billing info, and then had to memorize a different card number for logging into my account. All just three days before going to california. Horrible. I hate them. Hate them.