Observation in Miami

This week I was in Miami Beach for work.  Tough, I know.  ; )

I went out running one afternoon.  Ok, jogging.  Ok, ok! You caught me.  I was "brisk, bouncy walking" on the boardwalk.  First time I'd been running in a month.  maybe more.... (it's been cold here!!)

I'm digressing with excuses.  What I'm trying to say is that I was people watching as I was hoofing it up and down the wooden planks.  It's Miami Beach so there were lots of retirees, little 'ol Jewish men and women,  and beautiful people, and not-so-beautiful people.  But there were a disproportionate number of gay men. 

I don't mean overtly feminine gay men.  I'm talking beautiful, pretty men.  Gorgeous men!  Men I only suspected were gay because they were strolling along with another man in a could-be-construed-as-a-romantic kind of way. 

And that got me thinking.  I have a soft spot for pretty men.  Especially back in high school.  I went through a "pretty boy" phase.  And as I was running, taking in the "scenery", I wondered how many crushes I had or how many kisses had I stolen from boys that were still in the closet?  I'm guessing quite a few...

Now that I'm married it's irrelevant.  But if I were still a single gal I suppose my new nickname could be Mercedes....

Sensuous Cuisine and a Senile Canine

BACKGROUND:
I love the hubby dearly but the one constant "discussions" in our marriage over the past *almost* seven years has been his lack of participation in the kitchen.  As in - he doesn't cook.  Notice I didn't say he "can't" cook.  He just won't.  But when he does he's fabulous at it!  (which just gets me madder 'cuz it proves he's quite competent in the kitchen.  But I digress...)  In the course of our marriage he's cooked me dinner less than 10 times.  (this does not include ordering out or making pasta and throwing jarred sauce on it.)

STORY:
So for Valentine's Day, which we really had to celebrate this weekend since we were busy last weekend and Monday, the hubby said he was going to cook me dinner!!  To me, that's the BEST GIFT EVER!!!!  I don't need anything fancy.  Just him taking time to look up a recipe, getting the ingredients and making the effort meant so much to me.  He decided he wanted to try to make an Indian dish since he loved the chicken curry he had at the Indian restaurant we went to on my birthday.  I said "go for it"!!!  He looked up a recipe online, went through the kitchen to see if we had ingredients, the whole bit!!! 

As we were making the grocery list he showed me his recipe for his chicken curry.  I asked what else he was making with it.  Apparently he was sooo proud that he came up with that recipe he didn't think he had to make anything else!  So I flipped through an Indian cookbook I had and found a spinach and split pea side dish.  But since I only had froze spinach and lentils, not split peas (I wanted to use up what I already had) I volunteered to make this dish since it required major modification to the printed recipe.

Later that evening I cleaned up the kitchen as we all know it's best to work in a clean environment.  Plus we have a "one butt" kitchen and at some point we both were going to be around the stove and we needed all the room possible.  So to that end we had to give the dogs each a "special treat".  One of those chewies that would take them a looong time to eat to keep them out of our way.  They both sat on the floor in the dining room - on the edge of the kitchen - eating their treats.  That way they could see us, be close to us but out of the way.  Each time they might try to get up we'd give them the "stay" hand to keep them there.  They must have realized we were doing serious work in the kitchen because even though they finished their treats they stayed right there and behaved.  Well, for a while...

The hubby was well into making his chicken curry and the kitchen smelled WONDERFUL!!  We were, for the first time, probably ever, working so well together in the kitchen.  I was also in the middle of making my modified spinach and lentils. In other words - we both were actively cooking in the kitchen - when the hubby  looked at me at the sink and said " Uh oh!!!  Liam!!! Get Liam!!"

I looked around and Liam had gotten up from his spot on the floor and was walking through the kitchen to the back door, POOPING on the kitchen floor as he went!!

AGH!!!!!!!

I'd like to say I instantly reacted but I didn't.  I panicked.  I had to stop and figure out what was going on and what I had to do.  The hubby couldn't stop what he was doing but I could so I quickly went and washed my hands, and ran to the back door to let him out.  Then ran back to the kitchen, grabbed poop bags and started cleaning up his mess.  YUCK!! The wonderful Indian aromas were now overpowered by dog poo!  I admit, there were some unsavory words coming out of my mouth as I was cleaning up the mess.... 

I was P-I-S-T, pissed!  The hubby was trying to talk me down from my sudden burst of anger.  The dog is old, he can't help it, he doesn't realize what he's doing, etc...  But it really wasn't helping.  I finally get my hubby to make me dinner and the dog poops in the kitchen?!?!  REALLY?!?!

Finally I calmed down, finished cleaning the mess and let the dog back in.  Then eventually the hubby confessed a little while earlier that Liam tried to get up and he told him to stay.  Liam probably was trying to get up to go to the door because he had to go.  But being a Golden Retriever, and living to please their humans, he laid back down and stayed there like he was told.  Finally he probably couldn't hold it anymore and just got up and couldn't make it to the door....  Poor dog...

Needless to say we got things calmed back down after "the incident", finished cooking and had a fabulous dinner of chicken curry, spinach and lentils with basmati rice and naan.  Yumm!!!

Excuse me!

I think I know why I get so irritated with boss man. 

On a pretty regular basis he insults me in a backhanded way without even realizing it.  Or so I assume he doesn't realize it.  And it's not in a "I'm insulting you in a trying-to-be-funny way" either.  It's more of a "I don't think you're intelligent enough to understand" kind of way.  He's just completely clueless. 

I'm trying to shrug it off  - but really!!  How does this man have two adult daughters and a seemingly lovely wife?!?!  I don't get it!!  Arg!!

Why I don't hang out with Stacey and Clinton

It's not that I don't want to dress cute.  Every once in a while I really do try and only end up reminding myself why it's safest for all if I just stick with my Eddie Bauer khaki's and LL Bean sweaters.

I have this cute simple dress that I picked up last year.  It's classy for the office but it has no sleeves.  No problem!  Cardigan!!  Even when I bought it I was thinking "Perfect!  I can wear it in the office with a cute cardigan now and throw some tights on with it when it gets cold!"  See - even I can think ahead!

But as I'm sure you've heard on the news - it's been a bit nippy here this year - even for us.  So I haven't pulled out the dress and tights yet.  But this morning it warmed up and with it being Valentine's Day I thought it would be a perfect occasion to break out a dress!

This dress is a three color block dress.  So for a little added visual oomph I decided to wear black tights with a cable knit pattern instead of just plain old black. 

In retrospect I should have left a pattern tight to a seasoned fashionista.

I spent TEN MINUTES trying to get the stripes of the cable knit pattern straight on my legs!!!  TEN MINUTES!!!

Finally I said screw it and just opted for the plain black.  Otherwise I never would have made it to work.  (I wasn't going to make it on time anyway...  this was taking so long I was bound to use up all morning on the stupid things...) 

I just wanted all of you to know that I actually have it in me to try to dress well.  But I apparently sabotage myself.... 

101 Practical Uses for Panty Liners

Other than their original, intended purpose of course.

I've decided this would be the best book EVER.  Think about it!!  Think of all the women that have panty liners in their bathrooms. 

All pre-menopausal women have them because, well, because of their intended purpose.  And I'm guessing almost all post-menopausal women use them as pee pee catchers 'cuz it's less embarrassing buying panty liners than Depends....  Trust me - I've seen some ladies buying them that I'm positive are waaay past baby-carrying age.  Just sayin'.

And let's be real.  Don't you just love it when you find a new use for something you already have?  I especially love it when this happens in the kitchen and I don't have to buy a new gadget.  (Don't worry - I think I'll still prefer using a kitchen towel or Bounty to sop up a spill versus a panty liner. Although if in a pinch....)

So help me out.  I have three to get us started.

1.  My good friend, Ms. Lib, uses them as an anti-chaffing mechanism in some of her shoes.  When we were getting ready to walk all day at Disney I caught her wrapping the ball of her foot in a panty liner before putting on her sneakers.  She explained her sneakers tend to rub a blister on her foot and the liner stays on way better than a band aid.  Band aids, and other things like it, tend to roll up and off and cause even more problems.  The liner stays put.  Ingenious!

2.  If I haven't mentioned it, I sweat.  A lot.  When it's hot, cold, I'm nervous, calm.  Doesn't matter.  This is definitely a problem when I have to wear a suit and wear a spaghetti-strap cami under the jacket.  You see where I'm going with this....

Yes, that's right.  I pinned panty liners with wings into the pits of my suit jacket.  Worked like a charm!

3.  I seem to remember a friend using them as shoe insoles to help with sweaty feet in shoes where you don't wear socks.  Adhesive to help stay in place, quick absorption of sweaty feet and odor control!  Plus they're easy and cheap enough to pull out, through away and replace with a new pair.

Any other fabulous ideas???

Bummer dude

I had an excruciatingly frustrating and disappointing Monday and Tuesday.  I don't want to hear about it or deal with it anymore.  I'll just leave it at that. 

Oh -  and I'm really getting sick of snow and "freeze the nose off yer face" temperatures.

Now I'm done.

Thank you.

Dam ice!!!!

I mean, ice dam!!!  We have stupid ice dams on our roof!!  This winter has been crazy, snow, warm up, snow, re-freeze, repeat.  Thus this cycle has caused us to have ice dams.  In the almost 7 years we've lived in our house we've never experienced it this badly until this year.  And then we get this:



spot above my head in our bedroom....

  Which means we have a BAD ice dam.  We called up a company to come get on the roof and break up the ice.  Which they did.  For a few hundred dollars.  Of course I asked how they did it.  (because there were more ice dams forming on the roof and darned if I was going to be shelling out more dough if I could get up there and take of it myself!!)

Ice picks!

Duh!

So I went out and got me a roof rake and some ice picks! 

Where was the hubby during all of this?  Out of town. 

So after work this week I've been going home, changing into my "winter attire": smartwool tights, ski pants, ski parka, "baklava" the hubby got me for Christmas (or as most people call it, a balaclava...), smartwool socks, ski gloves, hat and most importantly, a head lamp!!!  'Cuz by the time I get home it's getting dark out there folks!!!  I then bring out the extend-able ladder, and get up on the roof and start chiseling away.  I need that headlamp because otherwise I wouldn't be able to see what in the world I was doing!!

Go ahead.  Make a mental image of me in this get-up.  And I wonder why our neighbors think I'm weird.  I think I'm finally beginning to understand...  Add the boob-flashing incident and I'm clearly the neighborhood crazy!!  (and I was SO sure it was the lady in the house with the yard full of flowers and plants and NO grass... humph....)

Never fear!  I have informed my next door neighbor of my antics important homeowner work so he can come outside every 30 minutes and laugh at me check on me to make sure I'm ok. 

By myself it is slow going.  I have a few more tricks up my sleeve but I will need to wait until the weekend.  I was trying to get a lot of snow chunks off before the "HUGE winter storm" hit last night.  Luckily it petered out when it got here.  We got about 4 " (so far) and for us that's nuthin'.

Apparently I'm not the only one in town with this idea.  The single prong style ice picks are all sold out in town so I had to settle for the multi-prong style, as seen here:

 I purchased 2 for less than $4 each.  However they each now look something like this:

Dont' get me wrong!  They still get the job done!  But I think I'd probably have better luck with the single prong style, since these ones are apparently aspiring to that style.  I guess that's what all the "cool" kids want to be...