They're Here!

The World's Cutest Grandchild has arrived, along with his loverly mother! They rolled in at about midnight.

So far we are planning to see a stage play of Charlotte's Web, visit the Franconia Sculpture Park, the Children's Museum, see Wall E, spend an afternoon at Barnes & Noble - which this 6 y.o. likes way better than any toy store - see a parade, etc. etc. So I may not be around much. I see thee guys only about once a year.

Right now they are still sleeping and I'm doing laundry, lol. But things should start happening soon. I hope. DD (his mom) is also going to paint the ceiling in the office (she loves to paint - even ceilings!) and help me come up with a better arrangement for the gazillion framed family photos I have hanging in the upstairs hallway. What started out as a pleasing, asymetrical arrangement has expanded into an amorphous mess. DD has a designers eye and used to put up museum exhibits so she should be able to really help me here.

Eventually I will take photos.

Half Measures

Why do bras only come in even sizes? What about us people who would be better served by an uneven size? (Okay that doesn't sound right. I'll try again...) Sizes jump too much! 38 to 40 to 42 etc. So if we are a 39 we are screwed. We have to decide if we want to hook up on the very last set of hooks, which sometimes doesn't leave quite enough fabric for comfort - or if we want to hook up on the first set of hooks and then deal with tucking in the almost 2 inches of unused strap. Everything else comes in a dazzling set of sizes and half sizes. Why not bras???

Also, I bought half a peach pie yesterday. It was so cute. It was in a little semi-circular disposable, clear-topped pie box. Mr Swami and I each had a slice after dinner so there is one slice still remaining, which we can split after dinner tonight. Half pies. A brilliant concept! Because I never would have bought a whole pie.

Stolen From Mom2bjm

Well, not really stolen but I like wedding stories and I found this on her blog.

1. WHAT DATE IS YOUR ANNIVERSARY? February 14th!

2. WHERE DID YOU GET MARRIED? The First Unitarian Society, Minneapolis MN.

3. WHO PROPOSED AND HOW? Mr. Swami performed the World's Most Unromantic Proposal Ever. "Well, I guess we should get married," he said while laying on my sofa. I don't know why he didn't make a Grand Gesture because mostly he's pretty good at that, but you take what you get I guess. And I was sofa king happy, lol.

4. HOW LONG WERE YOU ENGAGED? We went out for about a year and were engaged for 7 months after that.

5. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR WEDDING DAY? (AND IT CAN'T BE YOUR HUSBAND) . But that was my favorite part! Okay, my next favorite part was the reception. Only about 50 people - all good friends and just immediate family. We didn't invite less close relatives. I had the best time.

6. WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE IF YOU COULD? I would have hired a professional photographer. I totally mis-estimated how few photos the people attending would take, and how few of those they would even send to us. (I don't think anyone ever sent us a photo they snapped.) So I have almost no photos of the actual wedding or reception. I also had no idea how much I would want to have photos like that to keep forever and enjoy in future years!

8. REMEMBER ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT YOUR WEDDING CEREMONY? It was over too quickly, like in 5 minutes.

9. WHERE YOU CLEAN OR MESSY WHEN YOU CUT YOUR CAKE? Oh, clean. That whole 'shove your cake into your sweetheart's face' thing was pretty unheard of in the midwest of 1981.

10. WHERE DID YOU GO ON YOUR HONEYMOON? Originally we were going to go to Mexico but then we wound up buying a hugely expensive house 2 blocks from The Lake of the Isles and had to cut back. So we went to Duluth MN planning to cross country ski but MN had a February heat wave and all the snow melted. Instead of skiing we went antique hunting for stuff for our new house. Our house was a huge 3 story Victorian in one of Minneapolis' premiere neighborhoods. We lived 3 blocks from Walter Freaking Mondale!

Amy said: Anyone else who is willing to share, consider yourself tagged...
But I am going to tag Puffy, Kim and Lightz. I'd tag Glowie but I "attended" her wedding on my computer :)

Tuesday Randoms

I haven't done a Randoms post lately, and I am feeling very random today...

1. We had grilled filet mignon for dinner last night, with baked potatoes and a medley of peas and carrots. A very traditional kind of meal for the un-traditional me - but dang that filet was meltingly tender and delish!

2. Which brings me to: cheap BBQ grills. We are on our 3rd or 4th gas BBQ grill. They just don't last! Oh, the outside box looks nice but the interior metals, down around where the flames come out, those just rot away. It makes me so annoyed. If you spend $150 or so on a grill the darn thing should last more than 4-5 years. Mr. Swami wants to get a more expensive grill on the theory that it will last longer, but I am more pessimistic.

3. My morning paper says that 16% of U.S. high school biology teachers are creationists and instruct their students that creationism is a valid alternative to the theory of evolution. That strikes me as a pretty high percentage of teachers who don't know they are proselytizing their chosen religion.

4. Countdown. One week until I get a visit from my DD who lives in NY, and the World's Cutest Grandson! They will be here for the 4th of July.

5. We can't find the software for my Adobe Photoshop Elements. I will order a new copy from Amazon today, then I will be back in the photo business and able to post pics again. Like - you haven't seen my new pet tortoises Boris & Natasha yet. And I may have a cute kid pic or two pretty soon also!

6. Sorry, I can't think of a 6.

7. I am going to have the splotchy, marshmallow ceiling in the office painted the same medium taupe color as I have on my kitchen walls. It will go well with the current wallpaper - which I really like. Which brings me to this question: what color are your ceilings? Traditional white? Or other?

8. I am cleaning closet corners today (and yesterday too.) I have the bad habit of doing a quick pick-up when I want the house to look good because someone is coming over - and sticking random stuff into a grocery bag which I then stick in the closet or some remote, unviewable corner. Where said bag just sits, sometimes for months. It's a bad habit, but so darn quick & convenient!

9. What should I have for dinner? I'm thinking salmon on the grill.

10. How do you cook catfish so it doesn't feel all greasy in your mouth? I bought some catfish 'chunks' (for lack of a better word.) (I think the backroom guy was learning to fillet and messing it up or something.) Anyway, I rubbed them with some spices and put them into a very hot oven thinking that would cook the greasiness out. But it didn't.

11. I bought a big rosemary plant but then I realized that I don't use rosemary much when I cook. I really love fresh basil but I don't get enough sun for it to grow well here. Maybe I will buy some lamb and just wrap it in rosemary for the grill. Lamb & rosemary is good.

12. Nipa got eliminated from the Next Food Network Star. She wanted to promote "Indian" cooking, but she was a one-note cook. She made Gujerati food, period. She refused to create any fusion dishes - which is what could make her Gujerati food more appealing - and she had no idea what to do with seafood.


Hmmm. A lot of those entries were about food. Can you tell I haven't had breakfast yet?

Missing: 25 Hand Trowels

More or less. It seems like every year when I need to use one, I have to buy a new hand trowel. Some years I have to buy more than one. Where the heck do they go?

When my kids were little I blamed them and no doubt there are a few hand trowels buried in the old sandbox. But the kids are in their 20s now so that can't be it anymore. (Well, except absent-minded daughter does help me in the garden every spring.)

It drives me freaking crazy! I have bought brightly colored ones - with yellow, orange or red handles so they are easy to spot if left laying in the yard somewhere. I have bought wood-handled ones that would be harder to spot from a distance and steal. Makes no difference - they all disappear.

Somewhere, somebody has my hand trowels AND I WANT THEM BACK!!!

Are You Locked Up Tight?

Mr. Swami & I are fanatics about keeping the house locked at all times. Even when I am home during the day I keep the house locked and carry keys with me. If I go out in the garden for a while I lock the house shut behind me.

So Mr. Swami gets furious when our DD is the last one in at night and completely forgets to lock the door behind her! Which she did yet again last night. So our house was open all night. Grrrr.

Quit Labelling Me, TYVM!

Why is it that so many well-known, national, nature preservation societies are willing to cut down trees to send me return address labels I don't want or need? Especially because my town has a long-ass name and they always abbreviate it funny?

I just counted 23 sheets of return addresses sent to me by the likes of:
The Sierra Club
The Nature Conservancy
The Audobon Society
The World Wildlife Fund
The Humane Society
The National Wildlife Federation
The National Parks Conservation Association
Wildlife Land Trust
St Joseph's Indian School (I buy from their catalog)
St Jude's Children's Research Hospital (I have never given to them!)
Rutgers University (Mr. Swami's alma mater - he 'supports' their crew program)

Granted, I have given some money at one time or another to all of the above conservancy groups - but by no means am I a significant or regular donor. You could feed some chickens with what my typical donation is. And yet? They keep sending me nice little reminders to donate again, and include a sheet (or three!) of nice peel & stick return address labels.

I can use them on bills because I don't care that my town's name is abbreviated stupidly on those envelopes, but I just don't have enough bills to use them all! And I don't throw them out because that offends my don't waste perfectly good stuff that trees died for instinct.

I swear, if The American Arbor Society starts sending these things out I will go ballistic!

How many "free" address return labels do you get? I can't be the only one so "blessed."

Sugar Rush!

Or, what I did with the rhubarb Grandma sent.
Or, WTF do you do with rhubarb?

Vaguely, I remembered a sort-of rhubarb betty I ate somewhere, sometime, so I Googled a bunch of recipes and discovered you made it like a dump cake - dump in a few cups of chopped rhubarb, dump in 1/2 to 1 cup sugar (recipes varied), dump in some red jello (I chose cranberry jello) dump on a box of one layer cake mix, add 1/2 a cup of water, drizzle with 1/3 cup of melted butter and bake.

It tasted good, but major! sugar! rush! Wow!!! I don't eat sugar every day so maybe it was just me, but Holy Cow. I didn't think I would be able to get to sleep at all, then I slept like a log once I did. Was that my sugar crash, lol?

So.
Do you grow rhubarb?
Do you eat rhubarb?
If Grandma gives you rhubarb, what do you do with it? (Because you know eventually you will have to report.)

In other news I really need to resurrect my photo program on this computer so I can post pics of Boris & Natasha, my new Russian Tortoises. I have a little more rhubarb to use up. I wonder if my tortoises will eat raw rhubarb? Mostly they like hearts of romaine, spring mix (that bagged stuff) and dandelions. Hmmm. There's only one way to find out. Hope I don't croak the little buggers...

Happy Friday the 13th!

May the Bluebird of Luckiness sit on your shoulder all day and deflect all badness from you.

I am home alone today. Mr Swami and the DS are up north and DD is at her BF's. So I am slowly going mad. So far all I have done is pay some bills and cook me some turkey bacon for breakfast.

Today I am going to the Post Office, dropping off some stuff my DD forgot at her BF's moms house and going to Trader Joe's. Maybe I will rent a DVD or something too. I have no idea what to rent but I'm sure I'll find something fun on the New Releases rack.

Long Live The Couscous!!!!

Now that Mr. Swami is launched on his 3-day boys-only trip with our DS it is time for the Swami to enjoy couscous!!! Mr. Swami HATES couscous. He has trouble breathing just knowing there are couscous in the house. So when he goes on vacay I break out the lovely little granules!

I like to dice up half an onion and a chicken breast and saute them in a little butter with a spice mix I have that is mostly red pepper, thyme, allspice and turmeric. I add a bunch of raisins on top and let them plump, then throw on a box of Near East Mediterranean Curry flavor couscous with their spice packet and boiling water. Let it sit covered for 6-8 minutes and voila! Delicious!

Mr. Swami also hates tapioca. So tomorrow I am off the Trader Joe's to get some of their lovely, pre-made tapioca pudding. Also delish. And he'll never know! Mwahaha!!! (Well, unless he reads this...)

Sometimes, when you're older

Sometimes, when you're older, it's harder to get out of positions. Even really good positions that you have been hitting for years. It's all like Oo! Ah! Ow! and how do I get out of this?

Vay! Cay! Shun!

Mr. Swami has all next week off. I will not be around much from Sun through Wednesday because when we are not doing something together Mr. Swami is a big old computer hog.

Thursday through Saturday Mr Swami and the DS will do their annual, guys-only, North Shore get away. They hike, play pool, oogle girls in bathing suits, eat pizza in their underwear ,watch cartoon network - the usualy male bonding crap. So I'll be around then.

Graduation Envy

I have never worn a cap & gown and done the whole graduation thing. When June rolls around I always feel like I missed out.

I went to high school in Ontario Canada, where most college bound kids attended to Grade 13. Grade 13 was the cap & gown year. But I left after Grade 12 to attend University in the U.S.

I went to Cornell University - which I just loved! - and graduated from there, but because I took some time off when I was an idiot and got married too young I did not graduate with my class in June. Instead I graduated the next January, by which time I was living in MN and it didn't seem worth it to go back to NY for a cap & gown ceremony without my good college friends there. So I didn't go.

Now, at this late date in my life I suddenly want a cap & gown ceremony! Is that dumb or what? But I want it. I want a diploma handed to me by somebody in college robes. I want the party. I want the cap & gown photo. I want the tassel. I want the experience!

So tell me a story from your cap & gown. If you have a photo, post it in your blog or send it to me. Make me feel all graduate-y.

A Yum Yum List

1. Strawberry shortcake is a divine combination of fruit, ice cream & cake. Except I like to bake squares of puff pastry and use that instead of sponge cake. I am all about the flakey, I guess.

2. Guacamole and blue corn chips make an excellent, healthful breakfast. I have tested that theory twice this week.

3. Asparagus is perfecto right now. I like it steamed & grilled & in stir-fry. I like the thick ends peeled, quartered and eaten raw with a nice dip - way better than celery sticks & with a nice, delicate flavor.

4. Snickerdoodles and shortbreads and the best cookies that do not involve chocolate.

5. Dark chocolate is really good. Extra dark chocolate is also good. But anything more than 75% cacoa tastes like tree bark.

6. Basil is the best freash herb ever - and I don't have a single spot in my yard that is sunny enough to grow it well! It barely survives in a pot in the sunniest spot of my yard, which is the deck off the family room. Rosemary grows like a weed in the same place but I don't use much rosemary. What can I cook with lots of rosemary in it?

7. I can't wait for the local Farmer's Markets to get rolling. They are open now, and they have stuff available - but I know most of it is trucked in. I want the real, actual, locally-grown veggies tyvm.

8. Strawberry salad is divinely good.

9. Potao salad has become totally uninteresting to me lately. I never make it anymore.

10. I want to buy a little charcoal grill this year because the big gas grill just doesn't produce the same flavor kick in grilled foods.

News of the Day

...and a happy dance!

My middle DD has finally found a job! She will be working baggage security at MSP (Minneapolis / St Paul International airport, Lindberg terminal). This is a good job for her because she is not tied to a desk or an office - both things she hates - and she gets to move around and do a variety of stuff. She will have a level 4 security clearance which gives her access to all areas of the terminal.

First comes 2 weeks paid, in-class training, then a 90 day probationary internship where she is partnered with an existing employee while she learns the terminal building and the ins & outs of her job. Yesterday she got fingerprinted and peed in a cup and stuff to get her personal securiy background check started.

I sure hope this works out for her, because she has been looking for a job that matches her interests for a looong time. The job is four ten hour days, another plus!