Specific Thoughts

It's been a long time since you and I have really chatted, your trip out to Oregon, including the east coast snow mess and then your time out here, I feel like so much has happened!

So I am giving great thought to my goal of being back in my house by spring and given that the people renting my house are in their 80s and will likely have a heart attack when they find they have to move, I will give them at least two months notice, more if they need it or want it.  Fortunately, some of my furniture went to the home of my mom's friend and he lives alone so it should be in good shape.  And I shipped a lot of my pots/pans/silverware, since my mom had purchased nice things for me.  My mom bought T-Bone's bed and a desk when he left, overpaying for it I guess so that he would have some traveling money.  But my plan is to end up in this bed which is an amazing experience.  I plan to control more of my sleep environment, food environment, basically everything will be up to me and my cats.  Yes, I will be crazy cat lady but it will also include champagne so not so bad!  I could ebay all my gorgeous clothes that are laughably tiny, like ordering clothes for my soon to arrive niece.  I have a fabulous new computer and I could hit up hulu or watch Netflix or DVDs.  I could possibly make some peace with my religious experience, even attending a congregation that is suspiciously close to our favorite beer and fondue spot.  Even as the snow falls and the cold wind whips around, keeps me buoyed. 

Really all of this depends on 1) if I can find a job and/or 2) if unemployment continues on the federal level as it has been.  I could squeak by on unemployment, no more fun happy hours or trips across the country to drink with my dear friend but it would be summer and I could eat delicious fruits and take walks in my lovely neighborhood and maybe do some local pet sitting or whatever.

And as I think of this, I really would love to have you back here.  And I don't mean simply the west coast.  How cool would it be if you were here and we could start that pet sitting enterprise and/or organization business.  We are both good at those things, we're equally rather unmotivated and lazy so I kinda think we wouldn't bug each other.  Granted we probably wouldn't make a lot of money due to that but maybe more of my killer instinct would return if something in my life was succeeding.  Something to nosh on.  I think those businesses would work great, if you lived downtown or towards your parents and I stayed westside in my house, we could cover a great deal of this fair city, meeting for happy hours would be our corporate meetings, thus a write off!  We could travel for conventions on pet sitting or organizing, and count it off while we work!  I think it's fabulous.  Of course I want you to be ever so happy, whether in the east or in the sunny part of the US.  That's cool too because I could visit.  We seriously need to hit up the desert together. 

With my upcoming trip back east, my thoughts turn to T-Bone, my T-Bone not your T-Bone Two (hehehe).  I miss him, guess I couldn't help it.  He left, he came back kinda, he left again.  I do want to see him and then something inside of me throws up.  So I guess the right answer is to not see him while there.  He's not asking and I haven't told him I'll be back around.  I would love to know how he is, I would love to give him a big hug and leave him with the best impression of me ever.  Oh, now that I write that, maybe that is more the answer.  Meet him, be sparkling and amazing and fun, not wanting or hoping or anything, and leave him with that great impression, not those crazy email exchanges that left me feeling odd.  Does that sound mature and healthy or crazy and deluded?

Miss you much.  Hope your new job is filling in some of the sadness.  Remember you see me in 16 days!  I will have champagne!  We will eat brunch!  We will skate in the park!  We will be fun and flirty and fabulous!  And we will sleep in awesome beds like the one I posted above.  We might not be able to get up in the mornings.....good we'll stay up all night....call me when it strikes your fancy....

Champagne! Our official one!

There needs to be a proper balance of kittens and champagne here so I'm going to delve into my favorite champagne, actually California sparkling wine.  With you my friend, we have explored the world of champagne, staying mostly below about $50 so can't really say we've had them all, but we do intend to try.  We're even getting some experience with Prosecco and Cava and whatever other word this world uses to describe the nectar of the gods.

Wycliff Sparkling Wine.  Memorize that.  It is sweet and dry and full and overall simply easily drinkable.  And...I'm telling a secret....it's incredibly cheap.  This online wine store has them for $3.99 a bottle, the cheapest I've ever seen, with the cheapest shipping.  Of course it's in California and I'm on the west coast so that makes sense.  Side note champagne bottles are usually more expensive to ship, maybe they are heavier or oddly shaped, don't know.  However that wine store is out of this sparkling wine, not sure if it's because of the proximity to New Year's or if they just run out.  Next best is here.  Only 50 cents more and ships from Nevada.  Alas, they cannot ship to your state at all, or more importantly, they can only ship to a liquor store or a restaurant.  You'll have to find a favorite watering hole ;-).  And another store where it's only $4.34 and being in Michigan, shipping to east coast and midwest is less.  Obviously shipping prices greatly depend on where it's going to and from.

Only one bottle left in our fridge.  I'm thinking of getting some and hopefully I will be able to bring with me to NYC...so good and almost cheaper than buying juice!  That's how I'll justify!

Charley in a Tree...No K.I.S.S.I.N.G

Finally, I got a pic of our house with the tree that Charley found himself in a couple of Sundays ago.  All the way at the top with the little nub and to the left is where Charley was packing back and forth.  Since the top of the house is probably between 15 and 20 feet, I'm assuming the tree is close to 50 feet. 

He had gotten out the night before when my dad was making steak on the grill and since I was letting them out about an hour a day to get them use to outside, it didn't seem a big deal.  Except an hour later, when I called, nothing.  No stampede, no Charley in the beds in the garage.  And it was cold, not as bone chilling as it had been, but just above freezing.  As it got closer to 3 hours outside, close to midnight, I was getting frantic.  People started going to sleep, silencing the neighborhood and the air, and slowly I could hear a small meow when I called his name.  Eventually, with my heart dropping, I realized he was in the tree.  He's all black and was apparently all the way at the top, we couldn't find him.  I had to wake up my dad because the thought of my 2 pound lovely boy in the tree was just too much, plus it had started raining and I didn't know if Charley could find cover.  My lovely dad got his long ladder and went into the tree.  We didn't know where he was and the tree was wet so it was dangerous.  Being about 2 am, it seemed best to wait it out until the light.  Of course, I could not sleep and every 45 minutes to an hour I went out and called him, only once did I not get his little meow.  And I searched the internet for anything that would help bring him back.  Kittens don't know that their claws only go one direction; so to get down he would have to take himself down backwards, which also seems that it wouldn't be as frightening because then he wouldn't be looking at the ground.  But my little one didn't know this and his mommy just sat at the base of the tree.  It was a long night. 

When daybreak occurred, I was outside, looking for that little screwball.  He was pacing back and forth and crying with emphasis.  No food for over 12 hours, likely not much sleeping, he wanted down.  I couldn't coax him anywhere so I waited for my dad to come back from his early morning appointment.  First thing, dad up the tree.  See, firemen will come if my dad is stuck in the tree, not so much for the kitten.  By this time, Charley had worked himself down a couple of branches, maybe about 20% of the way down.  My dad climbed as high as he could safely get before branches were unsteady.  Because of the rain, the branches were wet and he can't afford falling out of a tree, death or injury not okay.  With dad in sight, Charley could be coaxed to start to jump to the branches just below him and over half an hour, he got close to my dad.  The problem came in when my dad would reach up to get Charley, he was so scared, he would dig his nails into the branch.  And with my dad in sight, Charley did not want to climb anymore.  Eventually, my dad was able to pull his little body that Charley couldn't keep his claws into the branch.  Then Charley started clawing my dad.  Oh this little guy.  He got down, safely put inside, chowed on food, comforted himself with mommy and was okay.  He isn't allowed out of the house until he turns 18, and I mean that in human years not cat!

I love your idea of putting him in the smaller trees and coaxing him down.  I think once the weather gets warmer, that will be our outside project. 

Makes me realize what horror and uncertainty a human mother feels when her child is missing.  I knew where Charley was, I could see him and I knew we could get him back.  And I couldn't eat or sleep or think until I knew he was okay.  Plus he's a cat and only about 4 months old, not a cat I've had a long history with.  What a mother goes through when her child is missing, I don't know how I would live through such a thing.  It's sobering.

Cool baby/toddler stuff (human in case you wonder)

I've been searching for stuff for my new niece, percolating as we speak.  I found Flying Peas and really like it.  I even found coupons which is crazy cool. (coupon code: wts09 (10%) or RMN2009 ($5 off $50 or more)).  When I had a question that needed an answer, I got one, at 11 pm the same day, from the owner.  Great customer service!  And $10 flat fee shipping is way cool.  I'm impressed with this business model.

I ordered this poncho for my new niece and some other fun things.  I had to hold myself back, everything was so cute.  I don't think there are babies in your life right now but I'm thinking your sis isn't going to wait much longer.  She's already negotiating with her main squeeze!

Unsolved Mysteries

I'm such an Unsolved Mysteries whore.  I took an ambien tonight and I'm fighting sleep because a UM that I have never seen is on.  Oh, I'm all over this....yum....

One lucky kittie

This little one had quite a journey.

Because of 9/11

Hmm, poking around this site, I found this.  I was to have been on a train that went below the towers the next day, my friend was shopping in the mall beneath the towers the day before.  If but for a day either way, my life would have been affected personally.  And being the person I was then, I would have listened to what I was told, stood underneath those buildings, and been engulfed in the debris, as this woman was.  That compliant person doesn't exist anymore, glad it wasn't tested that day.

Like the shot heard around the world, the falling of those towers, it changed all of us.  It's become the reason for just about anything, "privacy concerns because of 9/11," a failed TSA because of 9/11, horrible travel experiences because of 9/11.  My father's conspiracy theories about 9/11.  On and on (needed a mood lift there for a moment). 

Some days I miss our innocence, such as it was, before that terrible day.

Days like yesterday are why Xanax is popular

Sigh, I do that more that I like to admit, yesterday I attempted to figure out the TomTom gps I bought for myself.  It seemed so simple but somehow it was evading me how to use.  The box did not contain a manual so I found one online and tinkered with the device.  I realized that I needed a fix that was on the website so I outfitted the device with the USB cable and plugged it in, which is good because I used the gps the other day and it couldn't find a McDonalds nearby, which was a problem because I needed a sausage mcmuffin bad .  No joke, this is about 5:30 pm, on a Saturday night, I won't even go into my in the hell I am at home on a Saturday night configuring my gps...but onward to the story.  Download the program that the device needs to interface with and update.  That seems to be okay.  Then to the map update.  I had read online that one needs to be remove whatever isn't needed on the device because it isn't big enough for the map update otherwise, so I took out the french and spanish voices and whatever else seems superfluous (big word of the day!).  The update starts, it takes 3 and 1/2 hours.  And at the end, not enough space on my computer, where it apparently is making a copy.  I had also read about making a backup, which somehow the program for the TomTom has a button for this but when I press the button it tells me "Your device does not support this function."  No problem, I make a copy of the device and leave it on my hard drive, after checking it for errors, this is all about 2 hours at this point, beyond the download time.  So I start deleting programs off my computer, I have a new computer on Monday so I'm only concerned about personal content and not any of these programs which I'll have to download again.  That still doesn't free up enough space, besides taking another hour to delete a bunch of programs.  I delete a really large program I have the CD for and that seems to work.  So again start the update, it seems to finish.  Turn on the gps.  It can't find the map.  Error messages all over the place.  I'm thinking maybe I'll just send it back now....TomTom support not available until Monday.  About 2 am I decide to just go to bed.  But it bugs me.  So I get up (meaning sit up in bed and turn on my computer) and try it again, after spending over an hour on the support website.  I'm at the point of reinitializing the device, which is a huge step, and see that now the backup button is supported on the TomTom program on my computer, so something changed.  Anyways, I figure out that the map is on the device but not "activated."  Apparently the map is downloaded on my computer and needs to be activated onto the device.  About 6 am I figure out how to do this.  And the gps now works, I think.  Is this even worth it?  Better be.  That's my Saturday night.  I needed some champagne desperately.

You

My fellow blogger (part time ;-)) and friend, times have been achangin for you and it's tough to be out of one's comfort zone.  I am so incredibly proud of you for making the leaps, in love, in career, in cities.  Even if this jaunt only lasts a couple of months, the courage to make those changes is fed by experience, hopefully good, and practice.  You are a capable, wise and beautiful young woman.  There is much to do, if you want to do, and much to see, if you want to see it.  And I hope to be around for all of it, the slip and fails/falls, the successes and love, the journey.  It's been fun so far and I wish you whatever you need to get to the next step.  Even the unreasonable things in our common life together have sprouted good, so although I don't believe that all things happen for a reason, I do think all things can teach us something that will be good in the end.  Point is, glad to be part of your life and I will look forward to the next chapters, whatever they bring.  Remember "the biggest gift will always be from me."  Love you!

Two Great Shows Together

It's fine when she's sober, but she's never sober

Can Love Last?

Don't know, these people seem to think they do.

Frustrations Venting All Over the Place!

I am so tired of dealing with the unemployment department.  I'm going to be very gracious and say they are simply doing a job but argh.  Seriously I put in my claim September 25th and have had nothing but problems since then.  Another rail against the machine is I'm having problems with the pharmacy I went to for the first time, Target.  I love Target, seriously, like get everything I can there.  I find them to be helpful and accommodating on returns (I'm the return queen).  Pharmacy not so much.  I had ongoing issues with a prescription, which I get a lot of medication, and I finally just requested the prescription number so I can take the prescription elsewhere, I'm tired of dealing with people who simply have excuses and won't get to a solution.  I never provided my phone number, I gave an email address, and today got a voice mail from the pharmacy manager.  How the hell did they get my phone number?  Whatever, just ridiculousness, seems to be par for the course with businesses anymore.  People are certainly not happy just to have a job.

And of all things, someone I knew in New York, not a friend exactly but a man I knew, he was let go from his long time job, has no close family and came out to distant family in the state you are from.  He moved to my city to make a new start, and killed himself in his car last week.  I overheard my dad talking about the incident with someone, being in a fairly small religious community means everyone knows everything.  I recognized the name and my dad explained what happened.  He was actually the minister for the wedding of my best friend in New York.  It's distressing, more because I'm sad that he didn't have anyone or anything to live for.  He was a special person, touched really, but lovable and a loss to this world.  Bible says death is our enemy, never feels more true than when someone chooses it over us in this world.

So first post on T-Bone, which I'm realizing what a good moniker that is since he is being boneheaded.  As you texted me over the weekend regarding two and his boneheadness, makes me realize that sometimes we just can't understand what guys are thinking.  Exactly why did T-Bone move all the way across the country?  Was it really to convince me to date him again?  If he felt like his actions from years ago weren't right, why didn't he do anything different this time?  Wasn't okay to let sleeping dogs lie?  He recommended Paper Heart to me, as well as a book I just finished reading.  On Friday, I texted him that I had finished both the book and the movie and great recommendations.  I didn't expect a response exactly, I didn't ask a question or anything but it still bugs me that there is no response in the big picture.  Why start something that can't be completed?  I'm sure you're feeling that as well in your situation.  I guess we don't always know what's going on and maybe if we had all the info, we would better understand.  At least that is what I'm sticking to.  At this point, I don't feel the need to contact him while I'm in New York in a month.  Any thoughts for or against that?

One more thing since I'm venting frustration, is that someone I know is having medical issues, sleep problems specifically that are either causing overdrinking or the overdrinking is causing sleep problems (not that I am a doctor, both issues are simultaneously occurring).  Once a friend, many things have occurred since then, we haven't seen each other in like 5 years, but he and his wife recently moved back here.  Seems this guy has fixated on me and I'm feeling pressure to go see him "to help."  I feel so petulant even writing this but I don't want to go!  Not that I have to because I'm a big ole adult.  I've been in bad straits and this guy, in particular since I specifically asked him and his wife, did not come when called.  And I'm not particularly kind with people who don't do anything to help themselves.  Life can suck sometimes, I've been handed much more pain and suffering than I ever imagined I would have, along with a body that just doesn't want to work properly.  My friend Erik told me you'll have to work twice as hard to get half as much and nothing truer has been spoken.  I would like to think I have compassion for tough situations.  I can sit and commiserate with anyone.  But at the end, we have to get up (even if we need our friend to lean against as we get up on the cobblestones of Philly ;-)) and keep walking.  Isn't that Johnnie Walker's slogan?

Kitten alert: They are very adorable.  I get woken up most mornings when they are hungry since all the other cats like kitten food, apparently it's fatty and tastes good, not that I would know that personally.  The kittens don't cry or anything like that.  They come and sit in front of me, touching their nose to my face and their whiskers wake me up.  Freaking adorable.  I should have discovered kittens years ago!

Bubbly

Ah yes, nectar of the gods.  Wish you had been there for delicious warm cheese and sparkling pears. Apparently three are too many....trust me....

Don't let him fool you. Pure evil.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Nothing more to say

Um Yeah

GPS

I actually ordered two GPS machines, one Garmin and one TomTom.  I'm split because the reviews on the Garmin are so much better, like a star and a half better than the TomTom.  I'm interested in how you like yours if you've had a chance to use it and why.  I'll probably take both out on outings and see which I like better.  The TomTom seems so much easier.  Sigh, hate to evaluate technology.  Maybe I'll just go with easiest and price.  I can't imagine I'll use it all the time although maybe I'll love it and be addicted!

Life is Weird ~Jack Kerouac

I see that we now have 12 hits to our blog, of course we are ridiculous about that.  It seems that people actually do put kittens and champagne into their google browser.  Who would have thought that besides us?

The universe is being weird to me right now.  On Monday I found two wayward socks, you know those socks that somehow never get out of the washer/dryer and you hope that you will someday find them?  Well, I did, after about 2 years.  Two, in one day.  It's weird.  And I don't have the most unusual or the most common name but on Monday (again with Monday), I got called three variations of my name.  That never happens to me.  I think the universe is telling me to give up my quest to not drink for a month.  Or is that just you in my ear? heheheh

Tonight I went to my favorite bar and again the older gentlemen who started the conversation I texted you about the other night was there, sans his wife.  He's in his 60s or so, had a successful ad agency in Silicon Valley for 25 years and his wife (who he actually married twice!) is in Singapore.  So he came to have some scotch and soda and I was there to have a bit of food, only two glasses of wine, so proud of me!  It was a lovely conversation, he was interesting and forthright, maybe thinking he wouldn't see me again.  He even covered the tab, which was very sweet.  He wanted to know my life circumstances, which I explained and he was genuinely caring, not offering platitudes or false promises with the sucky hand life has supplied me.  That's really awesome for me to find, of course makes me angry when the people I've known my whole life can't be accommodating of me but c'est la vie.  A conversation got started about the bartender having recently turned 30 and I said "when I was thirty, etc." and this man was like "WHEN you were thirty?"  He thought I was his daughter's age, 21, which seems a bit crazy but I'll have to live with it I guess.  He complimented my skin and the fact that I laugh a lot, which doesn't lend to my age.  That was really nice.  Combats the strange week I had last week. 

So it seems that not drinking at all will be difficult.  My plan had been to only drink if offered but it seems that is happening more than I would have anticipated, my dad even offering to open TWO bottles of wine.  And since you will be here in 3 weeks, well so it goes.  But I think I can work on the mental stuff, not relying on alcohol to calm myself down or to be jovial.  Life can suck and it can be weird (thank you Jack Kerouac) but as this man, Bill, said his life's motto is something along the lines of life can be difficult but there are those moments that make it all worthwhile and beautiful and the quest for those moments fills the bland and boring moments.  Simply for me, writing this to you, listening to my kittens stampeding down the hallway, lovely red wine, knowledge that somewhere someone is happy to have known me, those are great moments and the rest is forgotten, for now ;-).

My Ode to You

Don't know when you'll read this, before or after, but when you do I want you to know a few things.  First of all, you have been a true and loyal friend.  I so appreciate that.  And even though I do not participate in the typical gift giving occasions, I never use that as an excuse to not show my appreciation, particularly when I know of a gift that will make you happy.  And lastly, do not allow this to put pressure on you to reciprocate in anything other than being the lovely and amazing person you have always been.  Because I don't participate in holidays and such, it leaves me with the option to give gifts when I am moved to do so and I expect that of all of my friends as well.  Keep warm and well fed and may you always be able to navigate around the ghetto areas.  My love across this great country.  Wish I was there or you were here....

Californication

I was thinking of names for my exes because I know there will be need to speak of them.  Have settled on Mr. Californication and T-Bone.  Pretty sure you can figure those out, my thinly veiled references : ).  So got a 3 am phone call from Mr. Californication early Thursday morning.  As long as I've known him he wakes up at that hour (chinese medicine says this is when the liver is cleansing itself so what to think?) and he called.  Our last phone call involved a fantasy scenario of me in school girl's outfit, talking "jew" meaning all things Jewish.  Oh yeah.  So this time I told him about my taking a tour through a local Holocaust monument and the old Jewish men who were involved. This leads to a "so what was he wearing?" conversation, about these old Jewish men.  Hmmm, not sure what to make of that.

Kitty Vicodin

Update on my lovelies, they got spayed/neutered on Wednesday.  When I picked them up, I was told they would be lethargic and to watch them, don't let them jump up or tear their stitches.  I paid for them to have a shot of painkiller that would last 5 days and since the little ones are about 2 pounds each, I figured that would put them down for the count.  Oh, I was so wrong.  They got home and their mommy, also spayed finally, raced off into the black night.  Kittens got inside and started their campaign of terror, they stampeded around the house, jumped on their perch, on my bed, into the wood box.  Pretty much didn't seem to be lethargic at all.  My dad attempted to sleep in the front room with the fire and he finally went to bed because he said he couldn't sleep with all of the running around.  About 2 am they finally bedded down, after a bit of tuna, and haven't stopped since.  Thinking they must like the kitty vicodin.

My big announcement!

As if I couldn't be embarrassed enough this week, here's another story. I told my dad I would help him with cleaning up the leaves and fall in the backyard. I went outside to ask him where to start and a neighbor was with my dad in the garage. My parents have lived in the same house for 32 years and most of the neighbors are older people. One of these neighbors was with my dad and asked me "when is it coming?" I was confused but said something like when it does. He rephrased and it wasn't until I had asked my dad the question and left the conversation, the neighbor thought I was pregnant. Oh yeah, weight issue has reared its ugly head. I knew such a thing would happen at some point but hadn't as of yet. Guess the religious community would never assume that were true and I didn't even really understand the nature of what the neighbor was saying until I walked away. Don't know if it's good that I basically hold all my weight in my middle so look pregnant as opposed to big all over, although with recent pics I know I look big all over.

So the point of this besides embarrassing myself in cyberspace, is that I did check out the information my doctor gave about the possibility being considered that quick weight gain that can't be lost may be the result of a virus, much like in the 90s when ulcers were discovered to be a bacteria that responded to a certain kind of antibiotics and ulcer all gone! I've searched the internet and found some information. Apparently there are some studies that show that people who have a certain virus are like 67% overweight and can't lose. Info here.  Kicker is that there is presently no antibiotic or treatment so spending the $450 to get tested pretty much just tells you if you have the virus or not.  Not sure if I'll get that test but my big announcement is....I'm going to stop drinking until I see you in New York.  And by stop drinking I mean I'll only drink when my dad opens wine (like once every couple weeks) or when we go to mexican food (one beer).  I'm interested to see if taking that away will lead to weight loss, as alcohol is the only indulgence I have.  I have issues with dairy, don't drink soda, don't eat chocolate, really just like savory things.  So the only thing I haven't cut away is alcohol.  I'm also going to check out the gym down the street and see if for a month of no alcohol and regular exercise if I get anywhere with weight loss.  I tried this over the summer although I just cut back on alcohol, so now I'm going to really give it a try.  One month.  I'll make up for it in New York with you ;-).  My concern is that cutting away alcohol may not reduce the amount of calories I have because often having a glass or two of wine would quell hunger so now with more hunger, will I eat more food so therefore not cutting back on calories?  I've downloaded some menus for calorie control.  I'll have to wait and see if that does anything.  If it doesn't, well guess I'll end up getting tested for the virus and wait for an antibiotic or treatment for this virus, if I have it.  So frustrating after having been 113 pounds for 30 years.  And most frustrating is that doctors don't believe that I am actually eating what I keep in a food diary (a food diary, what?) or that I'm actually going for the walks I note on a calendar (really a calendar of walking?).  I'll be honest when I screw up and I want credit when I'm being honest.  I can not eat for several days when I have the flu and not lose any weight, so there has to be another explanation other than my supposed lack of eating control.  Sucks.

Turkey (Pot Pie) Day 2009

Picture this: Thanksgiving Day, 6:30pm, and me, standing in the frozen dinner aisle at Walmart. In my basket - one turkey pot pie (for obvious reasons), one frozen dinner of swedish meatballs in pasta (I need dinner for tonight after all), one can of jellied cranberry sauce (this is my attempt to make my turkey pot pie a thanksgiving dinner for one), and a variety pack including fruit roll-ups, fruit by the foot, and gushers (this because I'm feeling sorry for myself being alone on Thanksgiving).

How did this happen?

Rewind the clock 24 hours. As you know, I went out the night before for the standard Thanksgiving Eve binge drinking. I, in fact, did a full bar crawl through Lexington, hitting both Maca-don'ts, and the Palms...yes, I hit all two bars. And although I stumbled (or my car stumbled...yes, think Gustav's.) in around 1:30am, I figured I would be able to rise before my 1:00pm Thanksgiving Dinner Reservations at the Natural Sink Hole. Yes, I did actually have plans other than sitting alone with my dog eating a Marie Calendar's frozen pot pie. When I finally came to, I lazed about a bit thinking it must be, 11:00, 11:30 at the latest. I finally rolled out of bed and went into the kitchen to discover to my shock and dismay it was 1:30pm. I had officially slept a full 12 hours and missed my Thanksgiving dinner (this reminds me of the time I slept through one of my first college finals - a 3:00pm final...and I had to tell the professor I slept in....another tale for another day!). I panicked and grabbed my phone, which of course had several calls and texts from the party I was supposed to dine with. When I frantically texted back, she simply said "No worries, we're finishing up here." This was at 1:30pm, the reservation was at 1:00pm. At this time, I'd like to point out two things - #1: Who the hell eats thanksgiving dinner at 1:00? I understand some people eat early..okay, 3:00, 4:00, but 1:00? That's called brunch. And #2: How does one possibly enjoy the glory of a thanksgiving buffet in 30 minutes?! I am still baffled by this thought. More on that in the coming Seafood Buffet post.

Needless to say, it was over, I had missed Thanksgiving. No point in rushing. So, as you can imagine, and I'm sure as you'd do, I got back into bed and proceeded to sleep until 6:00 when I decided to roll out and attempt to find myself some dinner. I figured at least grocery stores were open on Thanksgiving right? Wrong. I got to the store around the corner, and it had closed at 6:00pm...every fast food restaurant was closed, the whole town was dead...until I remembered the beacon of hope that is Walmart. Surely, Walmart cannot be closed. And indeed, its warm blaring blue sign was lit up as always, and there I found myself, in the frozen dinner aisle at Walmart on Thanksgiving.

And on that note, I never really though about this as I haven't known many people that don't celebrate the holidays, and usually, I am with family on holidays doing the usual ordeal and have no need to go out and about to Wendy's or Kroger's. But, doesn't it get really annoying that on, for all intensive purposes for you, random days of the year everything shuts down? As I found myself having somewhat of a "normal" day, I was kind of offended that everything was shut down and was driving around like "Are you kidding me?! What about the rest of us?" Rest of us being those that don't celebrate, but mainly in my mind, me, angry and bitter that I had drunkenly slept through my plans and found myself alone and hungry on this Thanksgiving Evening.

Here's to 2010.

Exactly how dense am I?

I go to see my chiropractor the other day (totally awesome doctor, born again Christian) and I wore our brewfest shirt underneath my sweater, which sweater I took off when I had a massage in the office and then went across the hall to his exam rooms. My fellow blogger, ever looked at the back of this shirt, it's priceless please check it out. As he starts to make adjustments, he asks me what the 21st Amendment is. I'm a little confused, but I figure he knows I'm a paralegal and might be able to answer. I'm fumbling in my head for what it is and he says "Brewfest Celebrating the 21st Amendment" and it strikes me that the 21st Amendment is the end of Prohibition. I tell him that and he says oh, and something about the Brewfest. Now I'm really confused because Brewfest is over the summer and I'm pretty sure that this doctor doesn't drink alcohol. I start to wonder if there is a commercial in the music for brewfest but it's Christian music playing so I figured it can't be that. So I ask him what made him think of Brewfest. "Your shirt, it has a couple of huge mugs of beer on the back and says "Celebrating the 21st Amendment." By this time, I'm sitting on the table he uses and he sees "Server" on the front of my shirt and asks me if I served, which of course I did. I start fumbling and turning red and I tell him my friend and I served rootbeer to the kids, as if to make up for this. I also ask him if his religion precludes drinking, which he says no, it's his personal choice because he got involved with youth ministries when he was younger and he didn't want to stumble anyone. As you know, I am also religious, although have no religious prohibition against drinking alcohol and I also don't want to stumble myself onto the ground, but that's pretty much just me. The really cool part is that this doctor is a marathoner, he regularly competes in the country's major marathons and/or Iron Man competitions. Apparently there is something called hash runs, where people get together to run and drink beer. They run a mile, have a beer, run a mile, have a beer and whomever can run the furthest is who wins. That sounds like the perfect exercise for us. The club's tagline: "A drinking club with a running problem."

So I leave this appointment and go to the front desk and I'm actually embarrassed, which is hard to get out of me. I explain what happen to the front desk girls and they are so sympathetic, of course it's not a huge problem but honestly what kind of person wears a brewfest shirt with huge mugs of beer on the back to visit their Christian music listening, born again, non drinking doctor? Particularly me with my religious background. Seriously I do this to myself.

Two

Blog Like an Egyptian: Tuesday Morning Video

So last night I was in the middle of a threesome

Threesomes always sound like more fun than they end up being. By the end of the night, I had scratches and not just on my back, my face was a bit dry from all the saliva, I had someone laying on my right arm and another sleeping on the pillow next to me. And one of the hardest things was how to keep them both satisfied at the same time because of course both of them wanted my sole attention. It wasn't as bad as I'm making it sound, at least the sounds of contentedness from my partners was nice. I guess I'll give it a try again tonight, maybe it will go better.

I love my kittens. :-)

Going Back to Philly....I Don't Think So....Unless you promise not to roofie me again

What can really be said about Philadelphia? My only advice, do not wear heels on the cobblestones while going to bars on Market Street or you too will be that random girl who falls down, cannot get back up, tears a horrible wound into the knee, has a nurse run over with gauze sans tape and then removes your shoes to be able to walk and then cannot get into the second bar of the evening since the bouncer was watching this entire thing.  And my second piece of advice, don't buy those elmer glue-on bra things.  They do attack and will not let go.  We saw the museum steps that Rocky and Fresh Prince ran up, checked out the Schuykill River and those houses that are lit in the opening bit of Sunny.  We ate delicious cheesesteak at Geno's (right or was it the other one????).  Do you remember the guy and his son in front of us that schooled us in how to order - wit and not wit, right? - and then offered some cash since we were pulling lint out of our pockets?  That guy was really nice and randomly kind.  Or the busboy that caught us with our food and ushered us to a table?  Did we look hot with our bloodshot eyes?  My favorite memory (since so little of that weekend is actually in my memory) is when we went to see the Liberty Bell and you couldn't bring in your coffee but the gallon of water we had was nary a glance made.  Apparently terrorists might use coffee to hurt people but would never think to put clear liquids into gallon Poland Spring water containers.  Am I oversimplfying the terrorist mentality?  Is there not a clear liquid that could be handled in a plastic water container that could seriously hurt a great deal of people?  I love that their town hall looks like the one in Pasadena, which made me sad to be in LA.  And the Betsy Ross House which we only sat outside and pretty much tried to keep our stomachs from turning over, although I think yours did.  At least we're classy enough to not actually puke at a national monument....or at least not actually in front of it...oh it seems that you need to write a post about how to properly drink at national monuments, since you have much more experience at that.  Then our evening drinking champagne (!) by the river in that little town, with sushi and oysters - alas a cilantro oil included - and then I had to drive a boys truck back to Philly to get cars to then return him to his home.  Champagne lightweight...I'm sure you have sufficiently schooled him. 

Yah, I'd go back to Philly.

Check out this post, I really like it

fridaville: Not My Corporate Head Shot

Warning!

Be careful my fellow lonely hearts clubber....men are stalking you and not the light internet stalking we do....

Can it be overemphasized how adorable kittens are?

Today is a somber one. The only kitten that isn't staying with me leaves and the only saving grace is she is going to a home with kids in it who are so excited. She is the black and white one above, actually most white and she has a black mask going on, the softest fur and the sweet docile personality. As opposed to Roi, our feisty jumper. Roi literally curled up in the crook of my arm last night and laid there all night. Any time I moved and she awoke, she started purring. Man, god did make them cute so we would put up with the unfun bits. Last night the kittens also got in trouble when they were playing on the table and my dad grabbed them by the scruff of the neck and put them down with a "NO!" Charley's feelings were hurt and my dad had to make nice, dad calls him fairy cat because he's so sensitive.  I think they are all adorable and am very lax, apparently I would not make a good mother, at least in discipline...I spent 20 minutes this morning doing the cat ritual, some time with the 22 year old girl, feeding medicine to the 19 year old male with bad teeth, keeping our 8 year old from clawing the faces of the kittens.  She fails to remember that she was once a stray that we let inside and have taken care of for over 2 years.  Actually she first showed up right about the time I started working at the "office that is not nearly as reasonable as the one in Office Space."  I would come home during lunches to check on her, since she was so skittish and would be easily scared away from her food by light wind.  She is now jealous over the little ones and makes sure to growl at them every chance she can.  Some have wondered if she was responsible for missing Mingo, hopefully he is happily licking his chops somewhere in a warm house. 

I invited our mutual friend to be a follower on our blog so that will be cool.  When you can, log into the blog from your work desktop and I can see the ip address and have that address disregarded in the statcounter.  Hope your workday was at least somewhat interesting and you got free food.  Because at the end of the day, that's the most important part.

Speaking of brunch

Ok, it was me speaking about brunch but since I was doing a post on how to get the most champagne out of a brunch, it totally reminded me of our brunch at Bondi Road and how we need to return there when we're in New York in a few weeks.  Unlimited drinks - mimosa, bloody mary, greyhounds and couple others we didn't try - for like $18 with food?  Oh, why didn't I know about you when I lived there?  Even my brother was interested in the whole unlimited drinks thing when I told him about it later.  Awesome aussie waitresses, not abusive and always have a pitcher of something delish in their hands.  That sweet waitress who was so interested in the wide ruled paper with hello kitty and champagne bottle stickers all over it because two had left it out.  And remember the guy who was randomly bringing around those little cups with shots of whatever in them?  Or the bartender, once we had stayed so long the dinner crowd was arriving so we had to be moved to the bar, who let us in on the secret ingredient in the mimosas, you so think it's watered down, it's not.  I disavow this as the reason why I fell down on that sidewalk and those Yankee fans stopped to be sure I was okay.  See, I remember all of that so I was not drunk.  Yet. ;-)

Do we need a reason to watch Sunny?

Your big head is not welcome...

Ok Big Head. It is not necessary for you to facebook update "us" ...(and by us I mean him, but considering I check his page more than he presumably does, I'm gonna roll with the creepy factor here and actually associate myself as literally a part of his facebook)... every time you go out drinking. "We" don't care. "We" don't care that you finished your beer by yourself and didn't share with anyone ("lol you're so funny") and "we" don't care that you missed him out drinking last night! And furthermore you're allegedly engaged....so why don't you take your vested facebook interest and trot on over to your fiance's page, where you may be welcome. Back off Big Head.

Sunday Night

So on the agenda tonight: cleaning a kitchen that has been used and abused for the past week (or who are we kidding, two....two, haha) with no tender loving after (i.e. dish washing, or even, food disposing). No champagne to be had....perhaps I should polish off my leftover 12 pack before starting the task?

We shouldn't, but we're nerds

You know it was ridiculous how excited we were to get our first comment to this blog or how excited I was when I saw we had 33 visitors, until I realized that was all me and my fiendish blogging.  Reset those stats and sent you info on how to take out your ip address at home and work so we aren't inflating those numbers.  Kinda fun that people are actually looking at this right?

And I love the comment, who doesn't love kittens and champagne?  Exactly.  That's the point.

I'm calming down on the posts, have a few saved for the perfect moment.  This is too much fun and so glad I'm blogging with you.  It's just like when we go out, we're there for the first happy hour, we finish all the champagne bottles on site, and are there for the second happy hour.  Except it's online. Fantastic, can't wait to see what you write, considering how slow work is.

Note the changes to this blog, love it!

"Kittens beat everything"

This from a slate story about the balloon boy fiasco a month ago:

Now, had a 98-year-old grandfather reportedly climbed into the same basket and soared into the same skies, the fright would not have been as large. Oh, CNN would have broken from its regularly scheduled programming to cover it and so would have local reporters. But few care about 98-year-old victims. In fact, in the hierarchy of victimhood, young beats old, female beats male, domestic beats foreign, fur beats scales, defenseless beats well-armed, pregnant beats nonpregnant, and kittens beat everything.

Oh yeah, kittens beat everything.

Too much Sunny? Never may that happen

Of course we have a mutual love of Sunny which is why I thought you would like to view them talking about the show.  It has a pic of Mac and Dee, who as we know is from a town both of us know well (and know well meaning have been to and try to not go to as much as possible), and it's interesting to hear them speak.  They actually film in Philadelphia, which I'm sure will be a blog posting for us at some point, and I love the part at the end where they say if you're talented, don't wait for others to do it, just do it yourself.  That's pretty much why we blog, right? heheheheh

What do sunday morning, brunch and champagne need to be more fantastic?

Us.

Okay, we always said that we should share our knowledge of how to do a brunch properly.  I will do so today as I wish we were sitting at our fav place on the river, with that awesome waitress who brought us champagne long after the brunch was closed. 

Do not actually eat brunch before noon.  It's not appropriate since you're likely not feeling good after Saturday night. 

Do not waste precious stomach space on salads or pastas, unless it's the most amazing looking thing ever. 

Best to start out with a couple glasses of champagne, coats the stomach nicely.  And for those waitresses who only bring champagne for as long as you are eating, you throw them off by drinking a couple of glasses first.

Then be sure and get a plate of crab legs, raw oysters, lobster, shrimp, whatever fresh seafood is being offered.  This doesn't add a lot of bulk to your stomach but it's freakin' delicious. 

Keep drinking champagne and stop for champagne breaks between "courses." 

Eventually go back for whatever hot foods are must haves....eggs benedict....belgian waffles....bacon.  In this case a little of those goes a long way. 

I generally love carving station meats but have to say, once it's sat under that little heat lamp (sunbeds for beef) for the whole morning, it's not looking so good.  Probably best to avoid. 

At this point, if you have this amazing waitress, you have had a bit of champagne and are pretty happy.  If you are still hungry, more plates of seafood.

While you were getting your plates of seafood, check out the dessert area and see if there is anything that will go with champagne - chocolate, strawberry tart, lemon cake.  Anything else, don't bother with.

Once seafood is safely in your stomach, with champagne chasers, ok to go for dessert.  Maybe an assortment of yummy things that are to be shared with your friend and probably mostly left behind.

It's possible that you have stayed so long that the waitress has gone home, hopefully having left the remains of whatever bottles were to be thrown out.  If she hasn't, then move to the bar and order more champagne!

Because if it's between food or champagne, well, man can't live on bread alone.

I leave the proper way to eat seafood buffet at a national monument to my fellow blogger.

Food porn

Oh we can never do a food journal, this one is pretty great. 

Charley

I've decided that Charley Bear is pretty much like a perfect man.  He fell asleep on my chest last night, he comes while I call and I'm having him neutered on Wednesday.

If only I wanted a perfect man.

Another one

So we are not the only ones who love kittens and champagne!

More Kittens and Champagne

Check out this Blog.  We need that photo and look farther down for fun in a champagne glass that we have never imagined....Might have to follow this blogger, she's got it right.

Important Sunny Update

Oh this is awesome, the D.E.N.N.I.S. system was being tried out on the actor's real life wife.....

Um. Yeah

I went on amazon.com tonight to look into getting a gps like we talked about. I researched editor's picks and decided on a garmin, hopefully it's a good one. Anyways, I was looking at amazon's recommendations for me and most of the stuff there reflected what I have been searching for....except...there are all these picks for posture bras or posture corrective braces, which I have never shopped for.  Is amazon.com telling me to stand up straight, did my mom put them up to this, what is going on? Do I need posture correction???? Is amazon.com judging my posture???

My Saturday Night

Kitten knocked over my q-tips...note to all, anything that will take more than 10 seconds to clean up should have a kitten proof cover to it...

collected kitty poo for parasite test...

faxed emails from the unemployment office to the unemployment office to prove that I had contact with the unemployment office as of October 1...

semi-watching Law and Order which is thankfully new although does it really matter? i would watch it anyway...

just about to have a salad and several glasses of wine...

giggling over Mock Trial sweatsuit "porn" you sent me (that should be your next internet blog and possible new job)...

still have to watch UP, let you know how that is...

contemplating watching The McLaughlin Group which has just moved to Saturday nights at 7:30...

Hope your night was much better and you can let me know if the prior post on honey for a hangover actually works.

How to Prevent or Cure a Hangover with Honey | eHow.com

How to Prevent or Cure a Hangover with Honey | eHow.com

Have a great time tonight!

so have a good time tonight, i'm going to take a shower, watch movie, get food, love on kittens, you know, saturday night ;-)

Cloves

I'm on my last pack of cloves. I voted for you Mr. President, I mean Oxy pride and all....but come on man!!

Beer & Cell Phone Camera

After consuming a healthy serving of beer, I decided to don my high school mock trial sweatsuit and take a picture of myself in said sweatsuit using my cellphone camera (motive...need not be mentioned). This has turned into a photographic series of various stages of undress of the sweatsuit from pant-less version to topless version to....

I'm becoming an amateur self portrait photographer...beginnings of a career in porn?

Conversation with your sister in IM

"love your dog, we had a cocker for many years and she was the best dog, got hit by a car. so sad. we buried her in the back yard and our next dog dug up her body. not a pretty story, sorry too lazy to delete"

If anyone else ever reads this

Really cool thing is that if we are as hilarious as we think we are (such a huge if) possible to monetize the blog to get this, what our blog is about....do you think that the words kitten and champagne would bring up x rated ads?

Applying for jobs

So I go online to the website you had me be a reference for you on, they have sent me some notification that they want me to apply for this job. But hey can't find a way to upload my resume. Seriously, see the box that explains how to do it, no upload or browse button. And find a job I want to apply for, can't do it, no resume. Sent an email to ask about it, yeah they will get back to me within 3 business days, so wednesday of next week? Hmmm....

Discovery of the Day

Frozen chicken nuggets are much better cooked in the oven versus the microwave...yes, it saves time, but they're soggy and gross.

Sibilance, Sibilance, Check, Check, Getting this?

Checking to see if we get verification of new posts! Let me know if you do, still haven't seen anything come through.....

The hell of being unemployed and where exactly are the unemployment customer service offices located?

I've officially been unemployed since the end of September. Tried to make a claim and found that since I was disabled for most of last year, I have to fill out more paperwork and have my doctor verify that I was disabled. Took two weeks and several emails to get the forms, completed them, doctor took a couple of weeks to complete his portion because he was crazy busy (best chiropractor ever and I never share his name because he's already so hard to get to see). Beginning of November I hear from the unemployment department that I need to call immediately or claim will be denied. Course I call and go through a series of questions about why I was unemployed. Apparently I need to give the medical terms and explanations which confuses me since why did the doctor have to fill out his part of the form? I told the technician my arms were "tingly" which isn't medical enough. He can't read the doctor's handwriting or even mine for that matter. And in order to be considered disabled with the unemployment office, I have to actually be unable to do anything. Swear to god this is how the conversation goes....Tech: "So could you do another job in an office, like receptionist, you know picking up phones?"...Me: "No, I couldn't even hold my cell phone for more than a couple of minutes. BTW, the job of receptionist wasn't available at my office."...Tech: "Well, you could have gotten a job at another office."...Me: "Another office? When all I could do is possibly pick up a phone? And when I was previously making $25 an hour? What job would pay me to just pick up a phone, much less for $25 an hour?" Yeah, so my claim gets approved but I need to call the department in order to claim prior weeks. First day I try to call is Veteran's Day, office closed, which I don't learn until I go all the way through the automated system. Call again for the next 6 business days and the line rings fast busy. Finally send a fax and last Saturday morning at 8 am, get a message from the unemployment department that I need to call the number during the week, the same number I cannot get through on. Again spend all week trying to call, can't get through. Today talk to a human and get the claim reestablished but snafu! can't get benefits for the first 5 weeks because I "didn't make the claim." Oooookkkkkk....this is getting comical. Speak to supervisor and he can see all the times I've logged on to see if I can claim but this is not conclusive that I was trying to claim these weeks. Anyways, I have emails that I had with the unemployment department to get the disabled forms going and I'll fax those over. Not to mention that everything I receive from them has the wrong dates, which I correct every time. And the kicker, the first two people I spoke with on this claim had the strongest spanish accents and were unable to read my handwriting as well as the doctor's....which I had no problem reading. So now I'm wondering, is my state's unemployment department being outsourced to Mexico?????

Speaking of Kittens....

So kittens got their vaccinations today, first set. I was told that they would be lethargic for the rest of the day. They were being pretty quiet in their box that they had previously been rocking so I decided to pop over to Starbucks for a chai latte and breakfast sandwich, alas no champagne at Starbucks. When I return to my car, the first indication of something amiss were the blinking hazard lights. As soon as I opened the door, freaked out kittens scattered and got themselves lodged under the seats. Upon closer inspection, the two girls had apparently gotten out of the carrier box so quickly, they had pinned the top flap against their brother still in the box and all I saw was (hey those words are anagrams!) his little paw sticking out of the hole for the handle. The ride home is pretty much what you see in the picture, all three kittens on my lap, on top of each other, trying to not get hit when the steering wheel comes around for a turn. One leaves on Monday, sad.

And you didn't think they would actually talk about kittens...and champagne....did you?

Breakfast of Champions

Champagne Kittens!

So I put "champagne" and "kittens" into google and this was the tamest pic that came out of that search. These kittens of the champagne color are available at some website. Too lazy to post it I guess. Super cute.

"Kittens Mittons, You'll Be Smitten!"

Hey H whaddya think?

Pretty cool little setup huh for our lonely hearts club. Maybe I'll post pics of kittens and you can provide pics of champagne...given recent life events...