Book today!

Well, book and bank. Those are my two top priorities. Bank, so that I can pay my mortgage and book, well, I just need to get something done on it. Yippee! Good thing it is a great day outside! For frogs!

I don't know how many of you know this, but I do have an affinity for frogs. Sometime in the past, I think maybe in college, when I was at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, I started to collect frogs. Not live ones, stuffed primarily. Though over the years I think I have accumulated frogs in various media. I am not doing it actively, it is a family/passive sort of thing. Like my mom and hippos.

Did you all know that we often get California's leftover weather? They had a week of wet and cold out there and now we are getting it. Joy and rapture. Did anyone else ever want to be a meteorologist? At one point I thought a meteorologist was someone who studied meteors and meteorites. Sigh.

Ok, picture time!


Some people might find this picture disgusting - I find it amusing - this is what I trimmed off of my face yesterday. I do like my beard to be trim.


The errand to renew my license was more enjoyable than it had any right to be. I think the woman who helped me, well, one of the women, was the same one who I got my license from years ago. There was barely any wait. The "test" was looking into a device and naming the street signs. Only the school crossing and RR signs gave me pause. And I did have to go to the bank and get cash as the DMV only accepts cash and personal checks! I hope by the time I need a new license they accept debit cards (or whatever we use for money at that point).


Look Jimmy! My dinner - homemade garlic toast and spaghetti sauce. Yummers!

Keep warm and dry my lovelies!

Spring is Back!

Hurrah! I can live again! No, wait, I never stopped living. Hurrah! Looks like most of the week is suboptimal, weather-wise. Assuming, of course, that optimal is sunny and warm. Oh well. We will survive.

I am hoping to get to the DMV today and get my driver's license renewed. Yippee! The written test is mandatory, I think. We shall see. I have been putting it off for months and months. Sigh.

Procrastination. Where would we be without it? Procrastination looks like a decent thing - I mean it starts with "pro" after all. How bad can it be? Right now I am putting off working on the book.

Ok, got to get cranking!


On the way to the library, I saw this dress. I just thought it was very bright! :)


This was the most people I have seen at juggling at Method road in quite a while.


A whole passel of kids, whatever a passel is...

One more less than warm day

One more less than warm day - and then it is supposed to get back to Spring here in beautiful, NC. Yippee!

Watched one more movie yesterday - it was the third in the series of the The Girl Who movies. This one was sort of the wrap-up of the first two. Not as action filled, but ultimately rewarding. Glad to have seen it!

Also, Jeanie made yummy brinner! (That is breakfast at dinner time.) Kim, her roommate, suggested that Jeanie open a restaurant with that name. Jeanie did not immediately choose to do so.

I got the latest draft of Diary of A Plate Addict last night. A cursory examination makes me feel that we still have a ways to go. I am thinking we might be about 70% done. Today I am going to make a bit of an effort to go through the whole thing at least once. Just a skim through, to see what I can see. Do I have any volunteers to take a look at the thing and see what they can see needs fixing, etc?

Heather also gave me a suggestion for a t-shirt design.

Oh, today is Bojangles/Saucer/Juggling night! Yippee! We will head out around 3 today, is my guess. A couple of other errands need to be accomplished, like Library and buying a ream of paper.


I think I have been to this Kroger only once before. And that was my first visit to a Kroger ever...


On the way back from the store, I saw this house again - one of my favorites!


I had gone to the store to help get ingredients for the yummy brinner that Jeanie created! Vegetarian sausage patties, cage free eggs and home made hash browns!


I really like this toilet paper server/magazine stand for the bathroom. Maybe one day I will get one for myself - if I can find its like.

Let me know if you are interested in having a look at this draft and I will be happy to let you take a peek. But I expect some feedback - no passive oglers encouraged!

What?

Who requested some more winter? I mean, wasn't it just well into Spring a couple of days ago? Eeep! Oh well, it gave me an excuse not to go on the Segway tour. Not that I needed an excuse. I stayed up a little too late watching movies - two of them in fact. More on those later. And when 9 am rolled around, I decided to rollover and not get out of bed. Yippee! Or off of futon, if you want to be precise. I like a bit of precision here and there. One can have too much of a good thing though.

So, we had pasta for dinner last night. And Texas toast. And some bits of broccoli. It was yummy.

The two movies were Stone and Please Give. I don't understand why the second one was named the way it was. The first was basically a three hander - Robert DiNero, Edward Norton and Mila Jahvavovich...ok, looking up her name now...Milla Jovovich. I thought all three did really well. Interesting, not scintillating movie. Mild recommendation. 6.5ish I think.

The second starred Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt and Amanda Peet. It was mostly a dramedy. I like Oliver Platt. Not a huge Catherine Keener fan but she did a good job. And Amanda Peet was good too. A new comer, to me, played one sister. I am not sure how to rate it - decent, for sure. Glad i watched it. Not overjoyed. Probably about a 6.5 as well.

Here are the pictures from Saturday:


Jonathan and Cate hard at work in the kitchen!


Dinner chez Jeanie - broccoli and pasta - yum!


The four movies.

Sunless Saturday

Weird and wacky weather is expected here in beautiful NC. We are having a relapse of late winter or really early Spring. Brr! And overcast, which is fairly odd, here. I am sure we will all survive.

Cate and Jonathan made brunch - pancakes and sausage. I hope to make pasta salad later today.

Turns out that Cate made the pasta salad as well! Go Cate!

Still working on the website! Yippee!

Pictures:


The bush to the left of my front door.


The new mandoline did a great job making thin potato slices for chips!


They turned out pretty well - just a bit overcooked. Lisa Maria suggested that I try blanching the potato slices first next time - and I just might do it!


Daniel did most of the work on the onion rings. I thought it interesting that the recipe called for bread crumbs!


The completed meal - grilled hotdogs with grilled buns, baked beans, slightly doctored, coleslaw, and onion rings. The potato chips worked as an appetizer.

Seventeen!

Welcome Jodi! How very brave you are! And of course all of my other followers!

I started working on the websites for my books yesterday. Not sure yet how I am going to proceed. I think I am going to start with a free website and then move from there. We shall see. Today I looked up my old domains and someone has purchased two of them - Sirius Diversions and Bar Dreams. What the hell is up with that? Sirius Theatre is available, though. Sigh. Not sure what I am going to do about that, but life goes on.

It was a weird and good day yesterday. Weird because it took unexpected turns. For instance, I had thought to be at home all night and do a little food preparation. But that didn't happen. Instead I went out with a friend and had a Friday Night on Thursday! Yippee!

I did, though, get one task accomplished - I worked on repairing my car's windshield. Good thing, since it is going to be colder and colder for the next week. What is up with that? Grrr. Or Brrr. :) Then read a lot. Sometimes I don't read a book for a month. Then I read 5 books in a week. I just finished two rather quickly, the first two books in the Alvin Maker series from Orson Scott Card. I had read them years ago, but didn't go any further because they were still coming out slowly. Apparently a seventh is on the way. I have the third here in the house, so I have that to look forward to. Joy and rapture! If anyone has book recommendations, I am always open to hearing them!

Ok, pictures.


My birthday is coming up and mom was going to buy this stuff for me. Unfortunately I put it on my debit card. Sigh. Anyway, I am excited. The Mandoline gets its first trial tonight - making potato chips. And the glove. The boxed set of CDs is the Second Book of The Wheel of Time Series on Audiobook. Yippee!


Each one of the bits of plastic represents a windshield owie. Eeek! Six of them, and I think I might have missed one or two with the pollen...


My first Daffodil. I am so excited. Soon I will have irises too. Yippee!


Various states of spring - the tree in the foreground has buds. The middle ground has little feathery leaves. And the one in the back looks like its leaves are getting full blown!


I just liked the look of these two highchairs at Mecca.

Happy today to one and all!

Sweet! 16!

Welcome aboard, sweet Ethie! Wow, 25 followers is a real possibility. Maybe. Anything is possible.

Long day away from the house yesterday. Got up and got out at a reasonable time. Ran a couple of errands - one was to the library. I picked up a book and let them know that a book that I returned was showing up as not returned. Eeek! It was a good book, but I don't want to buy it. - Quick update - turns out all three of the books I returned that day didn't get checked in. Sigh. I will call them later today and see if that can get cleared up.

Then to Raleigh for the Al Fresco lunch group. Leadership has changed again, apparently. Or is changing. I am not sure what has happened to Gretchen, but it seems that Nancy Thomas and a couple of other women (Liz and Jamie?) are going to be helping out going forward. Sigh. Anyway, the lunch was pleasant. Two old schoolers made appearances - Jennifer and Kevin. Yippee! I had a hamburger that was good, not great. So many people rave about the food at Raleigh Times. I like the food there, I just don't think it is great. I don't know why, it just seems to miss the mark a tiny bit every time.

Then to the Segway store to make an appointment for a tour. Sadly, it will be on Sunday at 9:30 in the morning! Eeek! Maybe in the rain. Ew! And it is supposed to be a cool day - in the 50s. Argh! Still, it ought to be fun. Has anyone out there ridden a Segway?

Next stop, Flying Saucer. Sat and puttered on my computer, chatted with sundry people and read a little. Mostly filling some time before heading off to Durham. Traffic in that direction isn't too bad at rush hour, which is fortuitous since I was driving right around 5:30. Got to Durham and checked out Fullsteam Brewery and another place - the Music Company or something like that - I have a picture of their sign. My thought was to have one more beer before going to watch the play. Instead, I napped in my car for 45 minutes. Saved money and was rested for the show.

The show was "Now you see me" presented at Man Bites Dog Theatre. Pretty good show, all things considered. I am glad that I made the effort to get to it.

Then home. Wow. Today - I am trying to figure out what to eat for dinner. Any thoughts?

And here are the pictures:


I bought a new-to-me (ntm?) windshield repair kit and plan on trying it out today at some point.


Raleigh Al Fresco Lunch picture. Sadly, Jennifer Hess had just gone to put money in her meter... :(


Man Bites Dog Theatre - one of my favorites in the area.



Ah, a fierce looking sky! I hope everyone enjoyed the thunder and such as much as I did last night!

Have a happy today and a happier tomorrow!

Lookie lookie, who has a cookie?

I do! Actually, no cookie, but I have already achieved my goal in terms of followers for 2011! Go me! Yup, we have hit fifteen. Summer Hill, welcome aboard! I am so excited! If I knew who you were, I would figure out some sort of gift and email it to you. Oh well. Life is like that sometimes. Hey, does anyone think that 25 is a reasonable goal for the end of 2011?

Yesterday I spent much of the day putting together a business card. After getting some feedback on Facebook about it, I asked Vistaprint to print it. Little side rant: The cards were advertised at pennies per card (.02). Then they add charges until it becomes quite a bit more. Still relatively inexpensive (.06), but still...

I mostly just wanted something to hand to people. We shall see how it looks and go from there. Maybe Heather will design one for me. Maybe she won't. She has her hands full right now with the book! I am thinking that I will need to build the Diary of a Plate Addict website. Since I have Paypal, I can put that on there. I can't remember if they have a shopping cart feature. Hmm.

What else was yesterday? Oh, right, bridge night! I got there a smidge after seven partially due to leaving late and partially due to a really, really slow driver on 42 West. Poop on slow drivers! Well, one day, I may be a slow driver. No! I plan to have a chauffeur when I get too old to drive with conviction. Hey, it could happen. Anyway, bridge night - I came in second, so in the money. Three dollars doesn't go as far as it once did, but it is better than no dollars!

And tonight I am going to a play. Yippee! I haven't seen any theatre in a while.

Ok, picture time:


Curry Chicken Salad - yum! I "tossed" this together without a recipe. Go me! The little cooking I have done lately has given me more confidence in the kitchen and in life. Good things!


I did a load of laundry yesterday. Why do I enjoy folding laundry? That is just plain weird, isn't it?


This is the next door neighbor's backyard. Not my next door neighbor, but Alice and Don's (the bridge hosts last night's). It smelled like Spring last night. It really is sad how out of touch with nature I am. :(


A veritable smorgasbord of yummy - I especially liked the crock-potted chicken wings!


The new bridge subs - Cheri and Jerry (or Gerry).

14!

How did that happen?How did I garner another follower! Maybe my scintillating wit. In any case, welcome new follower. I will do my best to not be totally boring!

It is bridge night again tonight. After coming in first two weeks ago, I can be more relaxed. I like to win once every few weeks. Though, like most card games, it really does depend on the cards to a large extent. It is hard to win if you or your partner(s) don't get good cards!

Not a lot of plans for the day. I might do a load of laundry. I will work on Diary of a Plate Addict. There are lots of ancillary things I ought to be doing. Setting up a webpage. Making business cards and flyer like things. I probably out to get Heather to do those, but I am paying her so little, or at least have so far, that I don't want to put anything else in her mind or on her plate. Maybe I will design something and then ask her for her feedback. My main goal today, do decent versions of the collages. I think I have finished with the Raleigh Servers and the Not Raleigh Servers. And the Managers and Bartenders. I have to redo the glasses and then I think I will be done with collages.

I posted a picture on Facebook, and sadly, no one has come forward to identify a woman in one of the pictures. Maybe I will try showing it around the Saucer one day. Probably won't, but it is possible.

Still unlucky in love - perhaps that is why I won at Bridge the other night. I signed up for Plenty of Fish and so far, the typical thing has happened. Most all of the people I initiate correspondence with fail to even respond. Of those that do, none have gotten beyond two letters. Meanwhile, random people write me and I write them all back. I doubt they are people that I might end up in a relationship with, but one never knows. Meanwhile, I am still trying to distract my attentions from their focus to anyone else. And it works for a while here and there. Yippee!

So, there you are. And here are the pictures from yesterday.


Besides our normal three stops, Bojangles, Saucer and juggling, Daniel and I also went to the library, Walmart and this place - Play N' Trade. Neither of us saw anything that we had to have. Though I might be going back...


We actually had a female at juggling. Well, two for a little while. Both are still in the early stages...


And Sean sported his new earrings. He is selling them, cheap, for anyone interested.

Marvelous Monday

Yippee for Mondays! Bojangles/Saucer/Juggling Day. I can hardly wait till Daniel gets back from school so that we can head out. Until then, I will just have to putter around the house. And do my daily blogging. Yippee. Oh, and I ought to catch up on the picture a day album on Facebook. Hmm, that could happen. (Happened already) Speaking of which, I did end up putting up the rest of the pictures from the fashion show up on Facebook. And one of the models tagged herself and a friend. Be still my heart. :)

Sunday was funday. It started off in a leisurely manner and continued in that vein all day. Jeanie came down to hang out with us. Somehow I managed to not take her picture all day. That is weird. Anyway, we made a brunch which left us all sort of lethargic from too much food. Most of the day was spent sitting around chatting. Then, late at night, Cate made some chicken for dinner. Yummy. And leftover cake for dessert. Yippee!

And here is some photographic evidence.


Cate's eldest is visiting for Spring Break - waving at the camera! Hi Jonathan!


Brunch! Cate made biscuits, Jonathan cooked the bacon, I made the hash browns and omelets. Yum!


Daniel found this extreme strawberry and called it a Japanese strawberry. Looks like a fan to me.


Food round two! Teriyaki chicken, stir-fried veggies and pasta that is good for you. And later dessert. Wow, I am still full!

Fun stuff

Despite being the focus of a friend's anger, I managed to have a good, fun, out and about sort of day yesterday. Yippee!

Started with heading out to meet up with Andrea, who I met at the Durham version of the Beer Festival. We have been talking about getting a beer together since then and just managed to do it yesterday. I hope it isn't that long until the next time! :)

Then it was The Machine at Lincoln Theater. I decided to stand at the front of the stage. That way I didn't have to worry about not being able to see. Sorry, I know I am tall, but I do hope that people managed to see around me. It was a great show. And even more fun due to my location. I think I will have to do that again.


I came home on Friday night and was greeted by Caspar sitting in my pants drawer. I think he was saying - "Hey, look, an open drawer. I think I will put my cat hair here. I hope you mind! And, so what are you going to do about? Feed me!" Or something along those lines.


No, that is not me sitting outside at the Flying Saucer. It is a photo of me...Ok, Andrea made me do it!!


The sign is pretty self-explanatory.


My two front of stage friends - Danielle with the dark hair and Barbara with the dreads. Very nice people, most recently from Virginia!


Concert photos - not my strong point, but I did take a few. And a few movies. I don't know what to do with them all. Maybe I will make a Facebook Album of them. Maybe I won't.

Anyway, have a great day doing whatever it is you do with your days!

Clubbing

I am not really sure why clubs aren't my thing. Maybe it is because I am not a shimmy-er. Or perhaps it is because many of the people at clubs are in their early 20s. Or because there are too many "beautiful" people in one place. Anyway, clubs are not my thing. Oh, it could be the inability to carry on a decent conversation. That is also a downside. Stilllife is a nice enough place I guess. Just not my kind of place.

Anyway, I spent the evening/night at a club last yesterday, shining lights on pretty women. Ok, mostly standing around making inane small talk with my fellow spotlight operators until it was time to shine our lights. The fashion show was enjoyable, though, all things considered.


At first I didn't see the place - then found it, obviously.


This photo shows that the servers at the Saucer really have nothing to complain about in terms of their outfits.


The post show "everyone on the catwalk" thing.

All in all, I am glad I went. I think I am going to enjoy The Machine tonight a tad more...

Oh, and more pictures are up on Facebook. Thank you and goodnight.

I have more plans!

Can you believe it? I do have some things to do before I do my plans. Like take a shower. And find black clothes.

Yup, I am heading out of my house tonight at 8 pm. I can hardly wait. Oh, wait, yes I can. I am actually a teeny bit anxious about it. James needs spotlight holders and I volunteered. I am sure it will be fine, but I am still a tad stressed about it.

Had a pleasant evening last night. Not very Irish, but still pleasant.


I found this inside my red pepper the other night! A baby red pepper!!


And this was my pleasant evening - a store bought chicken, a sampler twelve pack of Saranac beers and a bunch of asparagus (which I over cooked).

Late Start

And feeling a bit disgruntled. Or dismayed might be a better word. How can I be unemployed for the whole calendar/tax year and owe taxes? Weird. Oh well. This too shall pass. I am sure part of my feelings are just that I haven't done my yoga yet or eaten anything. Both of those usually help.

Well, that is good. I just got a message from my housemate that I don't need to take her son to Raleigh to get his haircut! That means I get to stay home on this crazy day. I wonder if anyone will join me or if I will have the house to myself. Either way, I will be happy. Should I at least go to the store and get some supplies? Hmm.

I just got off the phone with James G and am going to hold a spotlight for a fashion show Friday night. That ought to be fun!

Anyway, I cooked again last night. Yippee for me! Here are the pictures.


First, I shelled a lot of peanuts for some Thai peanut sauce. The sauce turned out pretty well. I think I can add more "stuff" to it - spice-wise I mean. Now I just have to figure out what to put it on...


The chicken being cooked before the coconut milk and other stuff went in.


The finished stuff. Yummy, but needed a lot more curry.