More Condolence

My dear friend Courtney, parent of Jasper and Kita, has lost her own mother. Please join me in keeping Courtney and her family in your thoughts.

Seething

I can no longer access my blog from work.

Yeah.

Oh, sure, I can see how this blog, and blogs like it, could be viewed as "harmful" to the security of this place. Uh huh. I just hope they restrict butterflies from the immediate area, too.

Oh, wait! They already have.

I need out of here. Maybe today is the day I'll get fired.


And my Canucks lost Game One of the first playoffs series.

GAH.

PLAYOFFS!!!!!!

Okay, I've held back on this topic. Mostly because I don't want to send you into a coma, dearest, but also because I know teasing will commence. Let's go over this one more time before we commence.

1. I am not a Canadian.


2. Despite the fact that Canada is a lovely, lovely country, I am not moving to Canada.


3. One does not have to be Canadian to appreciate the game of hockey.

All clear? Excellent. Let's move on. Ahem.

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS START TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I am excited. Thank you for asking. I looked at the schedule for the first round of the playoffs, though, and turned to Roommate. "I'm very, very sorry," I told her with utmost sincerity.

She nodded with grave resignation. "I can still watch tv on Mondays and Tuesdays," she replied wistfully. This is true, btw. I work long days at my hideous job on Mondays and Tuesdays and Roommate has the house all to herself until I drag myself in at nine-thirty or ten.

But tonight! Tonight!!! The Philadelphia Flyers will play the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yeah. It won't be pretty. Hopefully they'll be able to get the blood cleaned off the ice in time for Game Two.

Then! The Detroit Red Wings will play the Nashville Predators. This should be a very interesting series. I'm not sure whom I support in this one. Nashville is a good team, but Detroit...come on. They have to live in Detroit, fer chrissakes. Shouldn't they get to win for that alone?

And finally, the Vancouver Canucks will face the Los Angeles Kings. Oh, my darling Canucks. My nearest thing to a hometown team. Please win. Please win it all.

All of these games will be televised and televised on channels I actually have. I could go home early and watch them ALL. Given this information, do you really think I'm going to make it to the Weight Watchers meeting tonight?

I didn't think so, either.

NYC? Or...

Spicy Cuban Mo suggested that friend Betsy and I visit New York City for our July travel plans. Very tempting. Okay, perhaps not so tempting to Betsy, as she can pop up to NYC anytime---she lives outside of Philadelphia. But it would be lovely to see my spicy Cuban friend again.

It's been a very long time. I have missed her so. And her insanely cute shih tzu Lulu. Oh, and her hubby. Love him! He's not as cute as the shih tzu, but come on. Who/what is?

Then again, Chicago might be a reasonable midway point for us.

"I think that's how Chicago got started. Bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'"
--Richard Jeni

Chicago. I'd love to go to Chicago again. There's so much to do there, so much to see. And it's easy walking because of its flatness.

Chicago is, however, in the Midwest. And humidity in the Midwest in July is its own level of hell. Not that I don't enjoy sweating like a whore in church--oh, wait. I don't actually enjoy it. Gah.

How expensive could Italy be, really?

Trust

Roommate is in charge of many things in my house. She is. I don't even bother thinking about it anymore. One of those things is vitamins.

There are two vitamin organizing thingies in the kitchen; one is for me, one is for Roommate. Roommate has been known to bring out my mound of supplements to me if I haven't taken them by evening time, often in a teensy little cup. Just like in the picture. She hands me the cup and I, without a word exchanged between us, pop them into my mouth and wash them down with whatever she's brought me to drink.

Yeah.

It reminds me a bit of the time Debbie, my wee beastie's water therapist, stepped in front of me after said therapy and said to me, "Open." I opened my mouth and she tossed in what turned out to be a ginger-mint pastille. Quite good, actually.

Debbie stopped and studied me for a moment and said, "Wow, you're trusting."

Maybe I am. Or maybe I've spent too much time with dogs and will pretty much each anything. But the fact remains that I have no idea what Roommate is putting in my vitamin organizer. I have no idea what she puts in my tea. I could be taking belladonna, hemlock and arsenic.

During a recent conversation with one of the walk-in clinic doctors, we were chuckling over our willingness to scarf down pretty much all food products, particularly when offered freely. After all, anyone could bring in anything in cake form and leave it on the counter, and I would pretty much eat it.

I have no idea what was in my little cup of pills this morning. I suppose I should care.

I don't.

Input, please.

My dear friend Betsy has informed me [and few other friends of hers] that she's unloading the hubster and spawn for a week and is ready to do a bit of traveling. I'm ridiculously excited about this. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to pay for it, but by golly, I'm going on a trip this July.

I just have no idea where.

Betsy, delightful creature that she is, is fairly open to many different locales. We only have a week, mind you, and we're trying to be somewhat realistic in our spending. Yes, it does go against the grain for me! Thank you for knowing this about me. And here I thought you hadn't really been paying attention.

Ahem.

Anyway.

Machu Picchu is probably out of the question, but it would be seriously cool. Incan ruins? Are you kidding me??? Peru, though. Not cheap.

And I would love--LOVE--to go back to Ireland. Betsy's open to it, and it is a little bit less expensive than London. But...a touch pricey still.
Amsterdam...ah, how tempting! It is a hub city, so we might be able to get a cheaper flight, but following the trail of Betty Neels' heroines [not heroin!!!] might put us in the red.

Noooo. Not the district, silly.

Prague! The Paris of eastern Europe! It would be cool, seriously cool. Would we find people who spoke English? I don't know that I am capable of learning Czech.
If we wanted to stay on this continent, we do have a lot of options. Miami. Savannah. New Orleans.

Of course, given my own insulation and the heat/humidity of the American south, this may actually kill me. Maybe up north a bit. Montreal?
Ooo! Prince Edward Island!! Who's read Anne of Green Gables? I loved that series!
But if I'm headed to a Canadian island, shouldn't it be my dream vacation of Newfoundland? I'm not saying I expect to run into Great Big Sea, but it would be incredible.

So, dearest. What do you think? Impart unto me your wisdom. Or...whatever you can manage.

Wisdom seems like a lot to ask, doesn't it?

Obsessed much?

I prefer not to think of myself [or Roommate] as coupon-obsessed. We're just organized. And it's utterly useless not to be organized if one is going to try to save money and donate foodstuffs via coupons. How do you know what you have? How do you know when they expire? How do you know the air velocity of a laden swallow?

Okay, that last one, the coupon organization doesn't answer. But the others? Tcha! Totally!

I have no idea why I'm channeling a fourteen year old girl just then. But she makes her point clear, doesn't she? I shall call her Kelsey.

Anyway. Here's the binder, some of the tabs exposed.
Nice, huh?

I think the snack section is my favorite. I don't care that most of the coupons are for nutritionally unsound and Weight Watchers overly pointed food products.
Kelsey shares my opinion. She's also been known to whine when Roommate will not allow Pop Tarts to come into the house. Pop Tarts coupons, in case you're interested, are in the cereal section of the binder.

Pasta and sauces coupons have their own section. And because they got all snobby about it, the rice and hot sauce coupons were added in to take them down a notch.

Nothing worse than a snobby coupon. Okay, one or two things are worse. But not many. It's enough to make Kelsey cry...and then she needs tissues. Fortunately, we have coupons for those. In the paper products section.

Kelsey, the annoying inner fourteen year old, doesn't always appreciate the need for lean protein [coupons found in the meats section]

...And has been known to demand pizza. Fortunately, we have frozen pizza coupons to the shut that whiny little cow up.

Sometimes, I just want to say to Kelsey, "Christ in a sidecar, kid, would you like some cheese with that whine?"

Yeah. In the dairy section.

Kelsey better start shaping up, or I'm grounding her and making her clean the entire house. Cleaning supplies...yup. Got coupons for those, too.

And she'll get a nice healthy bowl of canned soup for lunch. I won't even feel bad about it.
But inner fourteen year olds need cosseting, too. Not often. Otherwise they try and run the show, and then there you are, covered in glitter eyeshadow and drinking way too much soda pop.
Maybe I'll bake her some cookies. Or a pie.
Which may result in Kelsey's developing a weight problem. Or maybe it's just hormones. After all, she is at the age...

Oh lord. That stuff is in a whole different binder.

I really need to channel someone else.