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I've gotten quite attached to this month's webpage. *Sigh*
 Londo |
This
seems to be the month for reunions and new hook-ups. Got a mysterious e-mail from Mr. Plastic Porkbone the other day - he's in Wisconsin (?!?) now and is still completely witty and funny and serious and artistic all in one phone call today. That's him to the left as we three geniuses worked at Southcenter Applebee's (1996-1998. An era). He and his wife will be here in November and the last time we saw them was new years - 99/00. At the countdown Irene was puking bad chinese food, and the rest of us were in our bedroom watching Dick Clark's New Year Countdown or whatever it is on TV, and it was a sad state of affairs. Literally. Mayor Paul Schell shut down the Space Needle festivities due to a bomb threat and the city was a dud. For the millennium. Met Heather last night (I even cleaned the cat puke for her!) and it was a great night - I may even join her book club which makes me all warm & fuzzy. She did a good job blogging about last night, so go read the link to her. Mike Whybark sees the people I've met, and blogs about it. I have a secret history with Mike from 1984, when I lived briefly in Bloomington, Indiana at the age of 14, which you can read about on my link to him. |
*Weird - I just told JenB about some of my Bloomington life yesterday.... a long drawn-out story that mentioned Mike Whybark, among many other things.
Also, yesterday I spoke on the phone to Michele Lebrasseur, who lives here and works for Microsoft, but used to live in Bloomington when my Mom did. I looked for Michele online and it took mere seconds to find her. I left her a voicemail telling her that my Mom is coming out to visit soon and she wanted to hook up with her while she was here. She returned my call yesterday.
It's a small world (wide web).
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Shout out to Scott-san for the CD he sent me. I'm proud you had Mansun on there - I gave that CD to a friend in 98 and haven't seen it since. It was a good CD.
Cool stuff coming up later this week, but I'm not blogging it until I have the pictures to prove it.
Dawn gets back from Rome/Italy tonight! She survived the blackout!
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P.S. to Dad: Leon Russell plays here Friday night.... I'll leave the porch light on for you just in case.
09-28-03
Two weddings this week, two wedding gifts:
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| Damn
this Penny
Vincenzi. Aunt Janet got me hooked on her in 1994. She has this
new trilogy out and I'm on book
two. I'd avoided book two as long as possible, knowing that I
wouldn't quit reading until it was finished. I do that with most books
- an expensive habit as I read too fast - but Penny Vincenzi writes
these 900 page epic scandals with one book per generation and I get
swept away. This was not the weekend I planned to start the book,
but I found myself in my car with nothing to read while waiting for
a carry-out order at a drive-in, and alas, four pages in, the food
arrived, and I almost stayed to finish the first chapter. After reading
almost all day, I am only about a third the way through. Bliss. And next visit to Vancouver, I will be ready for book three. (They are hard to get in the U.S. as she's a british author.) I got the coolest letter from my Grandma in the mail this weekend. In it, she mentioned her sympathy for the Horrible Cake (see 9-11-03 below), and |
 My siamese twin tomato |
The next goal for my Grandma is to see her leave a comment here. That would be cool.
Last night was Scott & Julie's wedding (now that I've pulled myself away from my book long enough to write this, I actually finished all the images and put them on one page. Not much story-telling; sorry.) It was a lovely time, and the weather couldn't have been better (Seattle is in a sort of heat wave at 80° all weekend).
Enough time at the computer - those images took a while.
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09-25-03
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I
found it neato that my cupcakes matched Joe's outfit. I'm a simple
gal. I was very happy with last night's West Wing. And leftover taco dip from the night before. Looks like we are having dinner & Settlers with Heather Monday night. Plus a visit to SJ's soon to meet Frenchie & the hens. And how can I forget the Queer Eye Potlucks with Meredith. I'm meeting bloggers in person all over the place - mainly inspired by the Styro & Darryl Hide Your Sons tour. So my thinking is this: I should have a White Elephant Blogger Christmas party. What do you think? Potluck food and drink, plus a terrible gift. I think my house can hold us, although I'm a bit up north from Seattle (Northgate/Greenwood). We all spend our lives together almost daily, only now we'd have to put on something other than pajamas, but there would be bourbon balls and eggnog, so it's not a bad trade-off. |
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P.S. I'll try to clean up the puke before then.
09-24-03
| Who's
Gonna Rock Paper Scissors with me for this? Every time I make tuna salad sandwiches, I drain the tuna juice out of the can and put it on a plate for the cats to lick. And every time, they puke it up. So now it's like a joke "Tuna juice?" "Yep." "How long till they puke?" Then just 40 seconds later we hear "huk huk huk" and we try to guess, just from the yakking sound, which cat it is. It was Jalen, in the hallway (with the candlestick?), which Sean guessed correctly. Imagine my surprise to find this when I went out to the patio many hours later this evening. So I did what every responsible adult would do in this situation. I took a picture and came back inside to blog it. |
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They were talking to SJ, not me.
*sigh*
I would love to stay and chat, but West Wing is on soon and I have to frost my fresh batch of cupcakes....
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09-22-03
Julie's Bachelorette at the Marrakesh Moroccan Restaurant
 In Seattle: on Second between Battery & Bell. No windows. Scary. |
 Washing our hands - the server puts this bowl on the table then rinses our hands from a teapot |
 Our salad - you eat with your hands. This was lentils in the center and a sort of salsa on the edges. |
 Passing out bread (which most of us used instead of silverware) |
 This thing was bizarre - an appetizer made of phyllo puff pastry filled with ground up chicken, nuts, and cinnamon, covered with powdered sugar. |
| Some of the girls chose the five-course meal - which included an appetizer, salad, soup, five entrees, and dessert with hot tea. It was TONS of food. Most of the dishes were chicken - chicken with prunes, chicken with apricots, chicken with olives. I had beef kebobs which were served stuck in a halved eggplant, with a birthday candle (?) and they were tasty but really really coated in spices. Thankfully I had the giant white towel they pass out as napkins. |  |
 The entrees from the five-course meal |
 My gifty kebobs |
 Julie loves me |
 They were also getting loaded on Moroccan wine |
 Emily & Fernanda |
 All of us |
Besides chicken, they also serve rabbit and a whole sheep on a spit for large parties. Thankfully we avoided both.
After dinner they went traipsing along First Avenue, and I bowed out and went home.
Saturday was Matt & Fernanda's Housewarming Party.
 Some of the crowd |
 Our own Mirror Project |
 The Samba Band |
 Sarah sasses me |
While
Sean and I were downstairs enjoying lattes from Cafe Ladro, we saw
a double-decker bus zoom by full of transvestites in full garb (sequined
evening gowns, giant pink wigs), all howling siren sounds. It was
one of those "did that just happen?" moments. We went home early to finish our Settlers tournament with Joe. Five games. We are sick. |
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09-19-03
A couple things....
• I took a nap this afternoon and I had this totally great and vivid dream involving me putting a bouquet of flowers in my hair with a toilet paper roll so I could be at this Queens of the Stone Age show, and I leapt over my cousin Jason to hug him and the flowers got all messed up, then I went outside and talked to these hookers, because one of them thought I stole her VCR, then a hooker (who's name was Kim, and I don't know why I knew this, I just did) said to me "Girl, I know you didn't steal her VCR, you couldn't tow rope in a bubble bath." That phrase was so good, I immediately woke myself up so I could write it down.
• Also, I got a silly chain letter in the mail (from my friend Amy) - it's for a kitchen towel exchange. It only has two names on it, so the turnover is quick, and you just send one kitchen towel to the first name listed. It's pretty easy to send a kitchen towel so I'm actually doing it (we so need kitchen towels). So my point is, if you want to receive this letter from me to add your name to the list - lemme know and I'll get your address from you.
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09-18-03
 Just so you know.... you can't pre-fill cupcake papers and let them sit around until the pan is available - the dough spreads out the paper and soaks through the bottom |
 They still turned out okay, though |
 Dinner |
 Joe's swollen/sprained hand |
Sean
made a pie with Culver
Duck cajun sausage and some other stuff (including leftover Butter
Tarts crust). It turned out pretty good (so they say - I don't like
sausage). I made cupcakes even though we still have about three other things I've baked still laying around. Somebody please stop me. See Joe's hand? He had to go to the ER for a sprain. He was sledding down a set of stairs on a storage tub lid and crash landed at the base of the stairs. This is a guy who is paid by the government to guard our coasts. |
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09-17-03 (okay, it's actually late at night on the 16th, but whatever)
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Tuesday's
crazy times included a long trip to Lynnwood for Joe to return some
RAM for his laptop, and then a trip to Northgate Target to wander
aimlessly looking for things Joe may need. He doesn't really
remember what he needs until he sees it, and Target is a good place
for such moments to happen. I got Matt & Fernanda's Housewarming gift, and one of those cool new Chlorox bleach pens (the last one!), and Joe bought me a cake pan to encourage my baking (from which he benefits). Interesting story while we were in his truck. See that picture on the left? He's holding a baby pine cone. Turns out it's a special pine cone, which has been in every car/truck he's owned (five!) in the past five years. Every car - on the dashboard. And I gave it to him in 1997. And I didn't remember. |
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said we were in the parking lot of that horrid, horrid apartment in
Federal Way, and he was in his car, and I bent down and picked it
up from the ground and said "Look! A cute little baby pine cone!"
and I reached into his car and carefully set it on the dash. And he
left it there. Then he transferred it to every car he owned - including
the car he shared with his ex-wife. While I was still in the process of feeling bad for not remembering this special pine cone, he pointed to his rearview mirror and said "Do you at least remember that?" It was a bracelet, homemade, that says "Joey." He never goes by Joey. And I said "no" and he said "YOU MADE IT FOR ME." Yup, in 1992 I made Joe that bracelet back when we lived in Vegas and he's had it on his rearview mirror(s) and I just forgot. I'm a terrible friend. With a bad memory to boot. |
 He took this picture with his cell phone! |
P.S. Happy Birthday Morrie Mayfield!
09-16-03
The Way to a Man's Heart is Through his Stomach, or
How to Make a Canadian Purr
 Recipe written on an envelope from Aunt Ferne and Kozmo.com post-its |
BUTTER
TARTS For the crust, mix the following: 3 c. flour 1 1/2 t. salt 3 T. sugar Then cut in 1 cup of shortening until it looks like piece meal In another small bowl, whisk: 1 egg, 1 t. vinegar, and 4 T. water Slowly mix this into the flour mix with a fork. Work it with a fork until it's a solid mass, cover and refrigerate for ten minutes. Make the filling while it's in the fridge. |
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(The mix also included Snoop Dogg, but I don't know what that has to do with anything.)
| For the filling:
1/2 c. brown sugar 1/2 c. corn syrup 1/4 c. shortening (or part butter, part shortening) 1 egg 1 t. vanilla 1/4 t. salt Beat until smooth Set raisins into tart shells, spoon filling into tarts half-full. Bake 12-15 minutes, until they resemble toasted marshmallows. (We forgot the raisins and added them last - it didn't seem to make a difference) |
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My
job was to lean against the stove and eat dessert,
and give support and advice (this was Sean's first time making Butter
Tarts by himself). If you haven't had butter tarts, and you aren't Canadian, you probably won't have the same appreciation. They taste like cooked sugar and raisins. They sell these things all over Canada - like at convenience stores and grocery stores - like chocolate chip cookies here. They don't do anything for me. And you have to let them cool off - which Sean didn't do - or it's like eating hot dripping butter in a tart shell. Go figure. |
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If anyone is offended by this, then they just shouldn't read my comments. I swear like a junkie, but I told you guys to behave yourselves. Stupid.
The comments are now yours to, well, speak your mind.
(But don't knock the Butter Tarts or Sean will kick your ass)
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09-13-03
Weekend Update
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• David Letterman's girlfriend is pregnant and for some reason
I'm totally happy about that. (Thanks, Anna)
• Tara and Matt came over with TWO huge batches of her fabulous taco dip and I stuffed myself, then we played Settlers and Tara won. (P.S. Click Matt's link to see his domain name!) • I can't seem to have enough laundry and dishes to do, so I paced the house today. Yes, I've already made two batches of cookies. • Joe is back from his "test run" with the Coast Guard - no holes in the boat this time, so they are ready to ship out to Antarctica November 1. • Sean bought a new pan and some new knives, which has him doing his happy kitchen dance. He also picked up some more Method cleaning supplies, which helps, somewhat, with my house-pacing. • The U.S. is finally adding some color to their money, so Canadians have less to make fun of us about (that was a poorly structured sentence, I apologize). (Thanks, Gimmy) • link |
 Tara drinking & wearing hot chocolate! |
09-11-03
How to Make a Horrible Cake
 My Morning Greeting |
 Construction down the road |
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I
woke up in a pile of cats and thought it would be a nice day to make
a birthday cake for Dawn,
since she would be at Six Arms that night. So I surfed the web for
recipes and settled for a good, basic chocolate
cake. I thought that chocolate icing was a bit much, so I figured
I would make up the frosting (can't be too hard, right? RIGHT?) and
that was step one of many grave errors throughout the day. Went to Central Market for the ingredients, went to Fred Meyer for some other stuff (Dawn's birthday gift and card; Sean's boxer briefs) and came home ready to rock my kitchen. |
 Ready to rock |
 Make-believe frosting starter |
 Cake becomes Wafers |
 In Transport |
 Josh Eats it Anyway |
 Ugh. What a horrible mess |
The
cake recipe said to bake for 35 minutes, which I did. It looked pretty,
um, low, when I took them out of the oven, but I figured it's a layer
cake - maybe it's short layers. But then as they cooled, they continued
to sink. Sean came home and verified, "Um, yeah. Something's
not right." Fine, I think, I will make a most luscious frosting
to hide the damage. With no recipe. Because I'm cool like that. It
was an hour-long frosting process, and while it was tasty, I could
never possibly remember what went into it. A little bit of this (Kahlua,
sour cream, cream cheese) and a dash of that (egg white, whipping
cream) and just a pinch of about ten different things - for an hour.
Oh, and it tasted lovely, but had the texture of a sauce - meaning
it didn't cover the sad, sad excuse for a cake. Turns out the cake tasted just like a wet, uncooked chocolate cake. Josh called it a torte. I *heart* Josh. |
I love my Six Arms friends. You can bring a most horrible cake and they'll eat it and make you feel loved.
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09-10-03
| All
Over the Board Tonight: • Very interesting concept for a photo shoot. Great images. (Link via Caterina.net) • Today I laughed my head off reading this blog, surfed for more recipes to quell my baking addiction, and enjoyed Seattle in the rain. It even smells good. • This is for Ephus, who wanted more pictures of my bottle of water. • And this was a couple days ago, but it still bothers me: "Since 1985, Harvey Milk High School has served students who are gay or believed to be gay, but its recent expansion to 100 students sparked criticism from conservative groups...... About 10 protesters, led by stridently anti-gay Kansas minister Fred Phelps, demonstrated across the street from the school and screamed at supporters to repent for their "sodomite behavior." |
 (Fun with Photoshop) |
The world is unjust.
• And on a lighter note, because I need one, I just remembered the best thing I overheard at the taping of the Hot Hot Heat video:
Extra #1: "Paul McCartney is the cutest Beatle"
Extra #2: "Paul McCartney is the cutest Beatle?!?"
Extra #1: "Well, now he is."
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(Sorry the site was down all day. I hate when that happens....)
09-09-03
Today's linky love:
Happy 30th Birthday Dawn!
(You may recognize the guy all over her site - that's because it's Jon's little brother)
Please send warm fuzzy thoughts to Julie, who's having a scary week.
Alexandra's Mom, Gelda, is visiting from Hamburg, so we are having them over for dinner. Cheese ravioli with asparagus and peas in a brown butter sauce (making this up - I hope it turns out), plus bread and salad. Any suggestions are welcomed (spices? additions?).
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09-08-03
Sean is watching football at Lee's tonight so I had time to play on my site (like I can't do that when he's here??) and present my Sunday stint. I chose to go ahead with it - and I'm so pleased with that decision. I made it home alive - and I even got five hours of sleep!
I actually had a pretty good day today, considering I planned on being grumpy all day.
Ever get something and forget that you got it? Then, days later, you open the cupboard and go "Hoo hooo! I bought stuff last week to make green bean casserole and I forgot!" and you're happy as a clam? Today I got the afternoon bored-at-work munchies and knew that I needed a sugar kick to save me. I figured I would just have to settle on this old bag of lifesavers I keep in my desk for the whole office. So I swing the drawer open and AHOY! Look at me! I'm a big ole box of Peanut Butter Ritz Bits! I shed a tear and ate two handfuls.
I bought them last Friday and I had completely forgotten.
It was as gifty as a crumbled, dried five dollar bill in the dryer.
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09-07-03
 I took this picture because everything was so unbelievably huge, but it's hard to tell in this shot. |
 I love these dried peppers - and they match our kitchen colors! |
I spent quite a bit of time just walking around and enjoying the market on such a nice day, plus I was avoiding going home to my sick fish.
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Across
the street from the market I found a shop that had Bananas Foster
cheesecake and realized I needed a bottle of water as well. Do you
see the water? It looks like a hairspray bottle. It felt strange drinking
out of it, like I had a Vidal Sasson drinking problem. The cheesecake
was so good it made me hum. I'm getting way too much done this weekend - including another overhaul to my links page. There's still about 15 blogs missing that I try to visit often. Some things I found while link surfing: A most exceptional wedding pictures page An amazing designer and all-around cool woman And another thing I stumbled upon.... have you ever gone to a blog where the author of the blog has died? This has happened to me about three times now and it's so sad. |
Until Monday....
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09-06-03
DO NOT EVER FLUSH A FISH DOWN THE TOILET.
Ever.
Even if you think it's dead, it may not be (they float, they sink, they float upside-down, all while still alive and sick).
When you take a fish out of the only world he or she has known for years, after scaring the poor thing by netting him or her out of the tank, this is not something that helps, because they are dying. Instead, you will be giving them them most horrific experience of their lives for the last few minutes they are alive.
The water in a toilet bowl is much, much cooler than a 75° tank. Once the fish is dropped in there, it's freezing cold and afraid. Once you flush, it's zoomed along at a harrowing speed which they cannot control, flipping in all directions. Then, their eyes start burning, and their skin starts burning, because the pH in the toilet water is just tap water, which causes chemical burns on fish. Meanwhile the rush of water is rushing them along into a cesspool of raw sewage which is like us jumping into a pool of battery acid until we die from our flesh being burned off in chunks. It is the most cruel of cruel deaths.
It may be sad to watch a fish die in a fish tank, especially when it looks so horrible when they are upside-down and gasping, but please, PLEASE, do NOT think you are "helping" a fish by scooping him or her out and putting him or her through the above. Let them die in the only home they've ever known, with their only family they've ever known.
If you really do think that a fish needs assistance in death, PLEASE - chop their head off just at the point behind their head. It is quick, but sad and extremely difficult and it will struggle and flop around after you get him or her out of the tank. If you can't handle it - let them die in their "natural" setting that you were responsible enough to provide for them.
But really. Pass it on. NEVER flush a fish down the toilet.
Or I will cry.
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(Take a pee break and come back - this entry is four days long)
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It
seems like Uncle Tim and Aunt Julie went to Central Market about four
times while they were here. And that's because they did. We went there
every day, on top of their meeting with the store for Culver
Duck (the family business). Central Market also had Chris' band, Coriander, play Friday night, and Jim was doing karaoke Saturday night, so I paid some social visits while I was there getting groceries. I love that store. |
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 Crab Cakes |
 Halibut |
 Steak |
 Tenderloin |
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Sean
& Tim cooked duck and duck sausage (of course) and I got to use
my new bowls and we had lots of vegetables and pasta and bread and
everyone was happy. (and it was the first time Jean had duck!) While Julie and Jean cleaned all the dishes, I made a batch of Peanut Butter Hugs cookies and we settled (get it?) down to teach Tim & Julie how to play Settlers. Tim & I were partners and we lost horribly. I can't tell you how many times I said "Okay, normally it's not this bad." They still thought they'd like to get the game for their boys. |
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The
next morning, Tim & Julie took me on the Seattle Underground Tour,
which I highly recommend to anyone living in or visiting Seattle. It would take a really long time to explain, but Seattle's First Avenue used to be one-story lower than it is now. The city pulled a bunch of dirt down from the cliff to even things out along the waterfront, and this was after a giant fire burned down 35 blocks, and all this other history was involved as well.... anyway, this new sloping of the waterfront left all the the first stories on First Avenue buried, with underground sidewalks one story underneath the new sidewalks. Some of the stuff was just left there, and the Seattle Underground Tour takes you through these basements describing the history and early settlers of Seattle. The stories are told with a great sense of humor and sarcasm. To the left is our guide, Terrilyn. She would say things like "This spot where you are standing, right here? It's a sidewalk." then she would just start walking away. |
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Old
bathroom |
Old
store front |
Old
bank teller window |
| Sunday
Tim & Julie left, and that night I went with Jon, Marc, and Dawn
to see Radiohead perform at the White River Amphitheater - a new facility
near Mt. Rainier. They have a lot of glitches with the parking and
the layout, but thankfully the performance was not compromised whatsoever. Radiohead played for two hours and I was surprised that they didn't perform about five songs that I expected. It was still fabulous. The stage featured a beautiful light show, and there were skinny film screens running along the sides of the stage with cameras pointed at different places throughout the show. |
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Tuesday
night was Jean's last night here, so she made dinner for us, and she
and Joe went hog wild getting desserts - I have no idea why. We have
so much food in our kitchen it's ridiculous! And there's still beer left from last month's party! |
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<--
examples of the gluttony. Later that night we were treated to an expansion pack for Settlers from Jean (she is wise) and we played Mega-Settlers while downing Kahlua Hot Chocolates with extra marshmallows. I miss her already. Joe will make one more trip up to Alaska to see Jean before he ships off to Antarctica for five months this winter/spring. She will be here when his boat docks in April. I think they are one of the coolest romantic stories out there, and I want the rights to pen the novel. And she makes a mean beef stroganoff. |
Maybe we just need to find a commune to live in - where everyone cooked and baked cookies and played Settlers while listening to a bizarre mix of indie and 70's funk. I should just start one.
Or maybe I just need to get my ass in gear and have two or three kids and make sure they're loud and obnoxious and I can play with them, and Sean could clean them up once in a while.
Hmmm.
I will write about today tomorrow, because I'm late for Six Arms now....