Good stuff ...

We had just returned from spending a young fortune at BJ's and I didn't even get everything on the list. J was scanning the receipt and commenting about various things we had bought when he came upon the price of my industrial size moisturizer.

He blurted out, "For heaven's sake, don't lose that Olay."

I promise ...

Oh, the humanity ...

I had an appointment to get my hair cut yesterday. When I arrived and saw Maribel, she didn't look well. She had a migraine, she told me. Refusing to even sit in her chair, at first, I told her there was no way she could do anyone's hair. She had to put her sunglasses back on, which she had removed to talk to me. Exposure to light was so painful, it made her eyes water. She asked me to sit, anyway, and left to talk to the management.

When she came back, she told me she would visit her acupuncturist and that a treatment always worked. Would I come back tomorrow at three p.m.? She had already booked me so I said sure, and boogied.

I had forgotten that today is Saturday. I try to avoid going anywhere that could be crowded on a Saturday. Well, except for the library, maybe. That quiet oasis where I usually get my hair cut had morphed into an antbed of people. Maribel did look like a brand new person, though, which made me believe her acupuncturist is also a miracle worker.

I bought Whoppers on the way home. Life is whopping ...

Listening carefully ...

After the temperature outside had dropped abruptly a couple of days ago, I started outside with Big Ed. We both made quick u-turns to get more layers of clothing. J started laughing and asked if it was getting a little chilly outside. Or a little nippy outside? Combining both, he asked if it was getting a little chippy outside. Oh, yes it was.

Then there is rhite wice, which someone tall vehemently denied having said, later that day.

Do you have to laugh at 'em or is it must je ...

A Thank You to keep ...

This is the front of an acknowledgment that arrived in the mail this week. it is the prettiest and most intricate one we may have ever received. The surface of the cardstock is textured slightly and has a luxurious feel to the touch. (The textured surface also made it tricky to copy.)

The photo was taken on Miami Beach where both the wedding and reception were held. Note the Palms in the background. Where but in the semi-tropics could this be a winter wedding? The weather cooperated as if it had been ordered especially.

On the very back of the folded card is "Our New Address" which is a convenience for all who receive this impressive memento/thank you.

Isn't she lovely? Isn't the groom handsome?

And aren't we proud grandparents?

Use it or lose it ...

When Mew wants something specific from us, she sits at our feet and gives us "The Look." It is an intent look and it is obvious that if she could talk to her stupid peeps, she would. Sometimes, her whole body will rock forward and she will utter a sound that is not anything like a meow. More like an: mmpph?

This morning, I got up (reeaaally) early, did the crossword, finished the few pages I had left of a book, and got sleepy again. I crept back into bed and drifted off. When I woke again, J told me that the cat had sat by his feet and given him The Look. He told her, "I don't know what you want, little kitty."

She was waiting to be invited into his lap, evidently, because she jumped up and settled down. She stayed for a long time. He had forgotten to pat his knee and say, "Come on up."

She had to re-train him. She now knows that if you don't exercise their trained skills for a while, the peeps can lose them.

The fact that it was 51° when I got up this morning, and that laps are warm, had nothing to do with it.

It must have been love ...

Poinciana NOT in bloom ...

Last June, I took this picture of the Poinciana tree in bloom. The dreadul shot below is how it looks now: skeletal, ugly seed pods shedding all over.

Pitiful, just pitiful ...

Excellent news ...

Some excellent news arrived via email. o1 doc received the Employee of the Year award at the agency where she works. She was surprised during the awards banquet where she received public recognition for her being "the glue that holds the Department together." Was that not a clever way to say that she is indispensable? We are so proud of her.

She is modest and self-effacing. Among other things, the Department publicly recognized that she gets through a monster-amount of paperwork, can find the unfindable when necessary and yet, in her interaction with the public, she "takes the time to listen and then acts in a proactive manner." (The 'monster' and 'unfindable' are my paraphrases of much more elevated and revealing language.)

I wish we had been there to see her being honored.

A gift that keeps on giving ...

This is a new addition to our property. It sits on the boundary between ours and a neighbor's place. We were given this munificent gift yesterday. When I left for my afternoon appointment, it was lying face down on the edge of the road and the legend on the front was not visible. Today, it is a glorious vision of technology and forebodes the following changes. Repaving the nearest main avenue. Dust. Constricted traffic lanes. Happy little blinking arrows moving four lanes of traffic into two. Having to leave much earlier to get any where on time. Dust.

Little gifts are always appreciated. The front of the sign?


Aren't we lucky? I guess ...

Right in the eye ...

Tomorrow afternoon, I go to see the person who takes care of my ah-bawls. Our plane from Atlanta landed on the previously scheduled, appointed date. It takes about a month to get in, usually. A rescheduled appointment, is evidently easier to come by. It is possible that the office may call me on my way in and tell me they have had an emergency or that the doc is ill. I have had both things occur, in the past.

Big Ed took a medium length bike ride today, his first since he got sick. He is resting up from it, now. He and Zeta have an appointment tomorrow a.m. to cycle around Tropical. Park, not school.

Decompression time ...

Neat weeds ...

Big Ed must be feeling better. Mowing has been accomplished. An even level of grasstops and weedtops has been achieved. Edged also by J, neatness reigns until growth begins again. Something like the way of housework, no?

Thank you ...

Shamrock substitute ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is as close as we can come to a shamrock in our immediate area. It is green, at least for now, and also low enough to pick. Of course the 'nuts are supposed to fall when ready to eat, it's always somethin' ...

Sites, hmmm?

Zeta reminded us about woot.com in a post, today. I haven't visited the site for ages. You would think that someone who is a regular visitor to overstock.com would remember woot. EBay, too, come to think of it. I used to go to EBay on a regular basis, but somehow it lost my interest.

I have a new site that I learned about while looking up the results of the Bloggie awards. The site that won for best writing is Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
You might want to check it out. I found it fascinating. She also has a blog about cooking, runs contests to caption photos, and is a great photographer who likes to share tips.

I haven't put a link in the sidebar, yet, but I will.

Freezer absolution ...

Not being sure what woke me at 5 this morning, I assumed it was guilt. I had been meaning to use the two thin chuck roasts (bone in) that I knew were in the freezer. I had not packaged them with the vacuum sealer because I meant to cook them right away. Good intentions. Roads paved with them. Associated guilt.

I used slow cooker magic: fingerling carrots, tiny potatoes, fresh onions, onion powder, Bayou seasoning, one hour on high then 6 and a half hours on low, with no additional liquid. The veggies cooked in the essence that escaped from the beef.

Believe me, the guilt is gone ...

Curiosity cut off ...

The coconuts are getting larger on the tree in our side yard. I wonder if the green ones taste any more coconut-y than the dark ones do. It doesn't sound logical to speculate whether a coconut tastes like itself. But, an unripe mango is not tasty in a good way. An unripe persimmon doesn't bear thinking about.

If I had a machete. No, let me rephrase that: if I thought I would not hit my thumb using a machete on the end of a green coconut, I might try to see.

Guess I'll just wait for ripeness to occur and wield the screwdriver with hammer to open 'em ...

Settle down with a good ...

The diet soda worked well to keep sleep at bay, last night. I drove over and picked Big Ed up at 2 a.m. I did not even begin to get sleepy until 4 a.m. I have currently discovered, in a belated fashion, Steven Saylor who writes about ancient Rome. Currently, my having just begun "Arms of Nemesis" meant that there was something interesting to continue while the house was quiet and the caffeine abated slowly.

Earlier, Big Ed had called Mew from the other end of the house and she went flying to join him. All is forgiven for his having left her in the peeps' care. He had picked her up and touched noses when he first came in. She eventually melted like warm caramel.

The peeps are relegated to brushing and feeding duties with occasional play times as a treat, if we're good.

The magic sandbox is still in effect, too ...

Home, sweet ...

Big Ed is due back late tonight. I have to pick him up at a friend's house when they call. I am stayin' awake, stayin' awake! Drinking diet coke w/caffeine to do that. Should do the job, I'm thinking.

Mew will be so relieved. She has actually seemed depressed. We will see if she greets him or goes into a snit about being abandoned with just the peeps for company. When he began to pack, she suspected something was afoot.

Her (human operated) magic sandbox still works ... something like a magic hamper for human clothes.

Celebrity what?

I have been watching the Donald, the man with the world's worst hairstyle. Watching Celebrity Apprentice weekly. Why?

I'm hooked, I admit, but I really wanted to see Omarosa fired. That happened with the current episode. It was such a one sided contest that she was actually pitiable.

She was still an unsympathetic character though ...

Mew, the watchcat ...

This is an older picture of the watchcat. She is a little (okay, a lot) heavier now but just as alert to miscreants. Especially those who might creep into Big Ed's room while he is away. We have permission to raid his sodas. His sugar free Tastykake Sensables are another matter, entirely.

Mew knows this ...

It was calling ... calling ...

The Easter candy is on the shelves. I did succumb to a Russell Stover strawberry cream egg. Small. Really small. Really, really. That's what they get for sending me to the pharmacy and my having to walk to the back of the place. Of course, it wasn't absolutely necessary for me to use the candy aisle to get there.

I think we'll have shrimp tonight as an antidote to the sugar ... should work.

Eureka ...

Costco is too far away, in miles per gallon terms, and Sam's Club is even farther away. The more conveniently located BJ's Wholesale Club is where we go to big box shop and that's also where Big Ed and I found a replacement clock for J's bedside table. Among other bells and whistles, it has a battery back-up (duh). It also has a smaller footprint than the one we returned to Best Buy.

I guess we will discover if the new clock can withstand power surges. J and I really liked the clock he used to have. It was a gift from Zeta and M. However, when lightning struck in our neighborhood, the clock succumbed to the surge. Unfortunately, it was not plugged into a power strip.

This one will be ...

Time and tide ...

For his birthday, J received, among other things, an alarm-clock/cd-player/radio, by Sony. The readout was an adjustable soft green. The clock and dual alarms were intuitive to set. The cd player sounded pretty well. It was a replacement for one that was zapped by a power surge. it's always somethin.'

However, it lacked a battery backup which I had not realized when selecting it. After resetting it four times in less than a month, I returned it, today. We will seek further for a better bedside device.

Or maybe, I'll just put mine on his bedside table ... with the ocean-sounds cd ready to play. 'Course, the readout on mine is so dim, you can't read it in the dark. It's always somethin ...'

Friday Feast, on Saturday ...

Friday FEAST!

Appetizer
Who was the last person you hugged?

Our cat, who considers herself a superior sort of fur person. She puts up with the hugging, but sheds all over us in retaliation.

Soup
Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.

Make an appointment with Maribel at Peter of London. Thanks for the tip, Zeta.

Salad
What does the color yellow make you think of?

We used to raise several varieties of roses. The "Peace" hybrid teas were gorgeous, huge, yellow flowers that perfumed the room they were placed in when we cut them. Sadly, there is a concrete pad for a garden shed where they used to grow.

Main Course
If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?

I would probably starve. I do have tons of digital shots of our cat ...

Dessert
What was the longest book you ever read?

The Bible, or maybe War and Peace which was assigned to a high school class. But the books in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon come close.

Now, it’s your turn for the feast. If you participate, post a link in the comments.

This was "lifted" from A California Girl in Kansas