Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Key to a vacation with sweet tea & thunderstorm

This is Nick, on his raft, the crowning achievement of his summer job at Virginia Tech this summer (I'm sure his job was great, too, but I think the raft is way coooool.)

I thought I'd put a picture of Nick, in honor of his upcoming graduation.

You might expect me to be packing or doing laundry buying le pens or something like that today. I expected that of myself--until I locked myself out of my apartment & my car. So here I am in a coffee shop (fortunately I had my computer & journal with me) waiting to hear back (fortunately I had my phone) from a friend who has a key to my apartment (fortunately). So I'm enjoying myself & some sweet tea (fortunately I had $ with me) while I wait. Oh, & did I mention we have a thunderstorm brewing?

I was (fortunately) iffy on whether I wanted to do the laundry today or tomorrow, so I'm not stressing out about not doing it today. If I was scattered enough to lock the door without checking to see if I had my keys, then clearly I just needed to chill for a while anyway.

Blog alternative:
130. Pretend you locked yourself out & take a mini-vacation. After you've sufficiently chilled, you can pretend to find your keys--Oh look! There they are, in my pocket!--& head for home.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Homophonophobic

pink petal drift

I stepped squarely into a dilemma after posting last time. Cathy tried to warn me (see her blog at Yaypigeons if you want more consistent grammar than you've found here) but by the time I'd checked my email my possessions had all paired up & I had twice as many to pare down. It was a veritable dominos effect--add that innocent "s" & suddenly your place is full of pizza boxes!

I do know the difference between pair & pare, as I'm sure most of you do as well. But the homophones are out to get us. Admit it--even you occasionally put it's in its place. I know I do. It's saddest when I'm using a pen, all those little scribbled out apostrophes...

We've got us a cool & windy day here in the North Carolina mountains. Makes me feel right at home, little wind-blown Nye-Montana-grown chick that I am. I've got to get out into it & let the wind style my hair for me. (I know you've been wondering how I get that "do." If it's not windy, you can open the driver's side window on the car &--as we used to say when we were kids--spin a wheel & gas it.)

So, mind your pares & pairs & give each it its due diligence & beware of contracting apostrophitis. It's time for this bit of it to get going. Hasta la deja vu, y'all.

Blog alternative:
129. Say "No" to someone who wants you to do something that you don't want to do. If it ain't good for you, it ain't good to do. (The added bonus for this is when you say "Yes" you'll know you really mean it.) (& yes I know there should be a few more commas in this paragraph but I didn't feel like putting them in.) (,,, Here are a few in case you'd like to insert them yourself.)

Friday, May 9, 2008

If you build a better tissue box...

Girl Goddess with Fig Leaf
(a symbol of growth, not shame)

One of my (many) fun & creative things to do is buy Target tissue--those beautiful blank sides just beg to be drawn on with permanent markers of some sort, Sharpies or their equivalents. Here's one of my latest ones. As you can see, it doesn't have to be perfect. Sincere or inspired will do. Grin.

New news:
The Vicki Genfan Mother's Day video is out, & the photo of my mom & I is prominently featured at the very very very end, after the music stops. (We're the backdrop for the credits.) Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMWfR_IAdtc

I have just finished laundry. Sat & meditated at the laundromat. I know, you might be thinking laundromat meditation goes together about as well as beer & ice cream (a la (mode) yesterday) but don't knock it until you try it. The sounds of dryers. Your clothes, or someone else's spinning hypnotically behind glass.

Some times there are loud conversations, but I'm pretty good at tuning things out. There was a little girl there today who was at times quite loud, saying da da da da da & then turning it into her own version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star--with some tuneful modifications & tons of personality. It was definitely her own arrangement.


She was definitely her own arrangement, which is delightful. She ran around & climbed on things in her little pink plastic shoes--the kind that are so popular right now, which I don't care for much myself, being reminded of brightly colored hippo heads. Hippo heads are cute on hippos, but I don't want them at the bottom of my legs. Still, in little girl size, they're not so bad.

Okay, on to the rest of my iced tea & the rest of my day. Gotta do a little straightening up at home & put this nice clean laundry away. Maybe I'll try to pair down my possessions a bit more in the expectation that there will be that much less to move when I do acquire real estate.

Blog alternative:
128. Build your own tissue box. I like permanent markers, but you can print out photos & glue them on or collage pictures from magazines. If you want to be more literary, you can write poetry or 4 really short stories on the sides. Or begin a novel. (Shari blew her nose, again. The honk reminded her of the lighthouse back home. Her eyes teared up. "Stop it," she commanded herself, a very sore-throat croaking command. No sense adding nostalgia to rhinovinus. Her red nose would never survive...Okay, so you can have this novel beginning if you want, as I can tell that I am not going to use it.) (I won't feel the slightest bit bad if you decline.)

Monday, May 5, 2008

Maple buttercream icing with smoked sea salt

Poets Ascending
Crag Cave, Ireland
September 2005

I started this a few days ago (went as far as choosing a picture) & got busy. Been looking at houses. Greenville is pretty cool, with MUCH lower prices. Of course, it may not be as cool as its more mountainous sister, Asheville, especially in the summer. So we'll see if I turn into a more southern southern girl. (Greenville is in SOUTH Carolina.) I did look at a church here in Asheville, for sale as residential, but it would take a LOT of dollars to convert it into livability. I looked at several houses today as well, some with mold/mildew, so I'm scheduled for a BATH as soon as I get home. (This blog post is being brought to you by CAPITAL letters.)

I'm at the chocolate lounge right now, so I will not linger at the keyboard. I have a piece of cake with maple buttercream icing waiting for me, dusted with smoked sea salt. Plus I just had a--it was delicious, so don't gross out--beer float.

With me being busy choosing not to blog, I am hoping that you are being busy doing whatever it is you're doing & are not too upset that I haven't blogged.

Okay, so I'm out of here.

Ummm, Blog alternative:
127. Combine 2 foods and/or beverages that don't seem to go together. (I recommend an interesting beer & vanilla ice cream.)