how do you live so happily while i am sad and broken down?

Day 27: This month, in great detail

December 28:
Slept in, had lunch with Mom & Dad. I went to Wal Mart while Dad went to the doctor's - he's come down with a bad sinus infection/bronchitis thing. :( I picked up all the things on their list, and bought the birthday/anniversary cards for tomorrow's dinner, as well as a pastry brush for my mom for her birthday because she mentioned this week that she'd had to throw her old one away but kept forgetting to get a new one. Never say stuff like that around me, it tends to get you that thing, no matter how silly it is. Also, I almost bought a jigsaw puzzle set because for some reason I've been really wanting to put one together over this vacation, but I talked myself out of it because I knew my sister wanted to play cards tonight. Maybe I will look for it on sale at my Walmart when I get home. Anyway, I was wandering around the store, killing time waiting for my dad to get done at the doctor, and I saw the craft aisle so I looked at the yarn for a minute. Then I saw that Electronics was nearby so I thought I'd see how much a small TV would cost as I want one for my office. Then this happened:

My Internal Voice: "Damn, this cart has a wonky wheel."
Part of My Brain That Actually Pays Attention to Life: "Um. Wouldn't it have been wonky the entire 45 minutes you've already been shopping? Why is it just now bad?"
I look down, see the yarn that is quickly winding its way around one of the wheels. "SHIT."
I pull into an aisle and start tugging uselessly at the yarn.
My Internal Voice: "Ugh, it won't come off. Ew, I'm touching wheel grease, this is gross."
Part of My Brain That Actually Pays Attention to Life: "Um. The craft aisle was about 8 aisles back. Have you been trailing yarn this entire time like a dumbass?"

For the record, I had not. I had only been trailing about 15 feet of yarn like a dumbass. I had to get TWO Walmart employees to help me, one of which I asked for assistance and the other who FOLLOWED THE TRAIL OF THE MOVING YARN TO SEE WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON. This is my life.

I managed to not have any more accidents and Dad came and got me, and we went to the pharmacy to get his medicine. We chatted with Emory Melton, one of the few people I recognize in town these days and I helped find batteries for his hearing aid because the pharmacy was packed! Then we came home and I got on the internet for a while, then I helped make soup, and then we played cards. My sister and I won three games in a row - we were unbeatable! So we stopped to buy lottery tickets on the way home in case our good luck continued. We then learned that you cannot buy lottery tickets after 10 PM in Cassville MO. We are not sure if that was a state law or a gas station rule. I kind of lean toward it being a "the lady in the back didn't want to teach the new girl how to do it" rule, but that's just me. So we bought 4 scratch off tickets instead. Then my sister had to teach me how to play because I had never bought one before (still haven't, as she paid for them) and didn't understand. 4 tickets at $2 each, and they were all a bust except one, where we won the $2 back. No free money for us! :(

December 29:
Met my best friend's mother in town for lunch and caught up with her - she seems much happier than she has been any time I've seen her post-divorce. Then I went to Springfield with my parents and went to Best Buy. I am going to get a new radio for my car, because I am tired of messing with FM transmitters. Oddly enough, replacing the radio is not that much more expensive. Okay, it's 2-3 times more expensive, but has less chance of me dying in a fiery crash because the damn thing went staticky. Coming soon: Free to good home, one FM transmitter. Works well if you do not live in a major metropolitan area. Ugh. Anyway, I selected the radio I wanted only to find out that they couldn't install it that day, so I will have to do it on Friday after I'm home so that I don't miss the sale price. Also, may have talked my dad into getting a wireless router by telling him it would make us all want to hang out at their house when we're home. True, and sad, I know. I miss wifi. I miss internet. But I love my family. Speaking of which, we then went to our annual Birthday/Anniversary Extravaganza at Jimm's (first time at this restaurant - I realize that made it sound like we do this annually at Jimm's but I'm too lazy to fix it.) I was not expecting Jimm's to have two M's. But the food was decent and it was good to see everyone one last time before I have to head home in the morning. I came back to my sister's after saying goodbye to my parents (sniff) and packed everything up. I am definitely leaving with more than I came with! My mom gave me a knife tonight because I commented on how sharp it was when I was slicing veggies at her house. So far, I've nearly stabbed myself in the foot with it; perhaps I should not have sharp things.

December 30:
Driving, driving, more driving. I let the cat out to stretch her legs in Conway and she peed on the car seat. :( It wasn't her fault though; she was trying to use the litter box but just missed. After 13 lovely hours, many of which were filled with yowling cat, we are both happy to be home. And in anticipation of my New Year's resolution (more coming soon!) I have unpacked and put away almost everything. Then I stayed up far too late embracing the marvel of wi-fi. Oh, how I have missed it!



Day 28: This year, in great detail
Day 29: Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30: Whatever tickles your fancy

Mostly because tonight, for the first time ever, as far as I can recollect, I made soup from scratch. And it was edible! It was a recipe typhoo put up last year, for sweet potato and lentil soup. It's actually good, even though I didn't entirely follow the recipe because tomatoes are yucky. Next time I think I might try substituting something in their place, like red pepper or snow peas.

Also, I finished the basic layout of my France sabbatical photo album, meaning all the paper is glued down and the photos are attached. Tomorrow I will work on captions for the photos, labels, that sort of thing, and then finish it up with the embellishments. Then all that remains is putting the pages in the actual album! This one went pretty fast. I think I started it somewhere in mid February, and really have done most of it in the last few days.

And I ordered prints of the photos for January and February stuff for this year, so that should get here right around the time I finish up! Yay!

Also, in accordance with one of my goals for the year, I am going back through old journal entries and updating my tags. I am finished with 2003, and working on 2004. I had forgotten how long I'd had this thing!

Off to crawl into bed...

Day 21: A recipe

Sangria
Yield 6 servings
Ingredients

1 orange
1 lemon
1 lime
1 medium all purpose apples, pared, cored and sliced
1 cup pitted cherries
1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
3/4 cup brandy
1 (750 milliliter) bottle dry red wine
1 (12 ounce) can lemon-lime soda to taste
1 cup orange juice to taste
Directions

Slice the orange, lemon, and lime into thin rounds. Place the citrus in a pitcher with the apples, cherries, and pineapple. Pour in the brandy and refrigerate for 2 hours of more. Chill the bottle of red wine, lemon-lime soda, and orange juice at the same time.

Gently crush the fruits with a spoon, then stir in the red wine, lemon-lime soda, and orange juice. Add additional brandy or orange juice to taste.


WHAT? I don't cook! :) Here is the source, where they will very awesomely let you adjust the number of servings you need and re-figure the ingredient list for you.

( Future Days )

*heaving sigh* Cooking is hard, y'all. I just spent two hours making a recipe that said it would take 30 minutes.

So I'm feeling better, although I still get tired out easily. Yesterday, I got so much done, or at least it felt like it to me. I unpacked, did half my laundry, swept and mopped my hardwood floors, finished the reorganization of my kitchen that I started ages ago, and went grocery shopping. It's honestly the most productive I've been at home in months. I think going away every once in a while is good for me.

I didn't do much Easter-like today, but it was a good day. I had a tennis match, which was less fun than I was hoping. Our opponents were not very nice. They insisted we have the scorecard available at the beginning of the first match (our captain was playing late, and was going to bring it at 2 instead of 1, really not a big deal) and threatened us with a forfeit when one of our lines was ten minutes late showing up. It's a holiday, peeps, lighten up! We lost, which was no big shock (this team is currently winning our league), but my partner and I almost pushed our game to a third set and I was having a pretty good game, so I'm happy. Gotta work on my backhand.

And then I came home, and people were Wrong on the Internet, which has taken up most of my time this evening. :(

So my big goals this week are:
*Get my car looked at. It's making a bad noise.
*Get all my work stuff taken care of so I can enjoy my weekend with typhoo and craigger guilt-free.
*Practice my drums at least once.
*Eat better - I gained weight in Canada. *hums 'Blame Canada' to self*

[Poll #1356945]

no really. I meant to be in bed by 11, maybe I'll make it by midnight. That will still be the earliest I've gotten to bed all week. Adjusting to being back from vacation is hard, y'all. Especially since my motivation seems to strike around 10 pm.

New things: I have pictures on my wall! It only took 2 years. Also, I'm still working on my college sweatshirt blanket. I am taking pics, will share when it's done. I am baking cookies for my tennis match on Saturday; chances it will be rained out will go up by every dozen I make.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, am I the only person in the world who never knew that the plot to "Clueless" is actually the plot to "Emma" by Jane Austen? The shit you learn when you read, fr srs, y'all.

Dinner: Naan bread, hummus, cranberry and cinnamon goat cheese, olives, a little Cabernet. NOM NOM NOM.

I actually cooked tonight, go me!

I had spinach and feta quesadillas, with a corn salad. It was good, except the salad needed more corn and less red pepper. But then I don't really like red pepper that much. I'm trying to branch out.

Are few :)

Basically, my big adventure today was getting a library card. I had planned to get the card and check out a book, but was sadly disappointed in the selection at the local branch. It's been literally years since I've gone to the library - since I lived in Vegas, in fact - because with the traveling it was always more of a pain, trying to get the books back on time. This branch is new, and in a fairly poor section of town, and I thought the selection was fairly shameful. There were literally empty shelves. And it's not that big of a building.

So since they didn't have what I wanted, and I couldn't find anything interesting instead, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a couple of books to entertain me.

Also, I will be cooking tonight for tomorrow's lunch, so if you hear sirens in the metro Atlanta area, you'll know it all went horribly awry.

Can refrigerated margarine go bad, and if so, how long would that take?