Exceedingly Mundane

1. Do you do dishes by hand or do you use a dishwasher? Both. I use the dishwasher for plates, bowls, silverware and glasses. I usually handwash things like my cookware (pots, pans, casserole dishes, etc) and all of the prep items. The one exception is that if something has touched a raw meat, I definitely put it in the dishwasher.

2. How many people have your cell phone number? I have no idea, about 20 maybe? Maybe more, not sure

3. Do you shower in the morning or at night? Morning

4. Do you ever have a song ‘stuck’ in your head? Yes, a lot! I will hear snippets of songs on the radio, TV, while surfing, and even reading them. My sister Gail uses song titles for a lot of her blog posts at her blog, and that will usually get a song stuck in my head!

5. Do you pay your bills when they arrive, or do you wait until closer to the due date to pay them? Closer to the due date, although the majority of our bills are setup on a draft from our bank.

6. Are you obsessive about anything in particular? Well, Tim doesn’t call me “Monk” for nothing! Yes, I am about little things – that keys are hanging on the key holder, that stuff in the refrigerator is in the right spot, things like that. I’m sure I could come up with a lot more!

7. What one thing would you say you have a zero tolerance for? People hurting children or animals

Not only did I attend my first ever NFL preseason game on Saturday, but I also went to my first ever “Friends of the Library” book sale. I had seen them mentioned before in the paper, but had just never tried to go. Since Tim had gone early to play golf with Don, and Gail was running some errands, I went up to my local library to check out the book sale.

Let me just say, for a bookworm like myself, I was in heaven. I was surprised at how many books they had, how many of them were fairly new, and what good prices they had on them. I asked a lady at the desk, and she said they had them twice a year, but I honestly thought I saw them in the paper more often (maybe 4-5 times a year). Then again, maybe different branches have them at different times of the year (I have 2 branches fairly close to my house). All I can say is that I am definitely going to go again. It doesn’t bother me to read a used book if it’s in good shape. As much as I like buying new books, I like buying books for a very cheap price even better!

The hardbacks were $2, the large paperbacks and softbacks were $1 and the small paperbacks were 50 cents. I got 7 books for 7 dollars – one hardback, 4 large paperbacks and 2 small paperbacks. I went ahead and loaned one to Gail to read, since I have plenty to keep me busy for a while. In fact, after the sale, I wandered back out into the library to check out books, then berated myself for the number of books I have purchased, that are sitting at home waiting to be read. Plus, I had more in hand, so I decided to leave without checking out any regular library books. It was hard, believe me, really hard! 😆

Here’s what I got (I’m also going to add them to my sidebar):

Hardback of “King of Torts” by John Grisham (we only lack 2 in our collection)
Large Paperback of “Confessions of a Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella (loaned this one to Gail)
Large Paperback of “Sullivan’s Island” by Dorothea Benton Frank
Large Paperback of “The Sunday Philosophy Club” by Alexander McCall Smith
Large Paperback of “The Preacher’s Daughter” by Beverly Lewis
Small Paperback of “The Devil Wears Prada” by Lauren Weisberger (saw movie but never read book)
Small Paperback of “Ten Big Ones” by Janet Evanovich (bought hardback of “To the Nines” but it’s still waiting to be read)

Sigh – I loved it, and ended up taking Gail back up there with me again later. I do love the library and now there’s something new to love – library book sales!

Tim and I went to our first NFL preseason game last night, the Saints vs the Colts. I had wanted to leave a couple of hours before the game, but Tim had played golf with Don, and we all went to eat a late lunch/early supper after the guys finished. By the time we got home and changed, it was much later than I wanted to leave. Tim thought we would be fine, after all, it’s just 15 or 20 minutes to the stadium from our house. WRONG.

Our little city’s highways are apparently not equipped to handle the traffic for a game like that, nor was the stadium and personnel equipped to handle that many people converging on one small space in a short time frame. The traffic on the interstate was a nightmare. People were backed up for miles on the two main exits to the stadium. Luckily, the stadium is near where I went to college and I had Tim go to a further exit, then we backtracked through some back streets and a neighborhood near my alma mater. As we neared my old stomping grounds, I said “gee, they must be having a game or event too, look at all the people”. Tim smiled patiently at me and said “no, sweetheart, these people are going to the Saints game too”. “NO! I said, the stadium is a mile or two from here!”. Wrong I was. People were parking miles away and walking in. We did the same, and before we were a few blocks from the car, the rain started. We had brought some light ponchos, but got soaked nonetheless trying to get them on. Our clothes were soaked, and the stadium seats we had brought to sit on. I had left my camera behind, as well as our umbrellas, after I reviewed a list of “prohibited” items on a local website. Apparently, not everyone read this same list.

We hiked in, and then soon realized that people were massed in two large groups at the stadium, one on the east side and one on the west side. We found out later that only TWO gates were open to handle the 60,000 people. What a nightmare. We were in a massive throng of miserable people. There were lots of reports of Security patting people down, but we didn’t see any of that. What we did see were huge piles of bottles and cans near the entrance that the Security people made people throw down. The same with umbrellas. I probably saw 150-200 umbrellas in piles strewn all over the entrance. I didn’t see any cameras confiscated, but then again, I didn’t see them confiscating backpacks and other things that the paper had said was prohibited. Anyway, it took us a long time to get in. We were some of the lucky ones, we got in before the first quarter was half over. The rest of the unlucky ones were still streaming in all the way to half time.

We found our seats, and realized some nice guys had taken them. Once we covered that we had tickets for that section and those seats, they sort of moved down. Not two full spaces, but they moved a little. Not enough room for us to set up our stadium seats. We barely squeezed in and Tim was half hanging out over the steps (he was in seat 1 on our row, I was in seat 2). We spent the entire time shifting – if he leaned forward, I had to lean backwards. If he sat back, I had to lean forwards. There wasn’t enough room for us to sit shoulder to shoulder.

It didn’t rain again, and thankfully stayed overcast and it was actually almost pleasant. We were up high enough that we got a bit of a cool breeze and it was not that hot – especially not compared to the 98º heat we endured when we went to training camp. We didn’t have great seats and we didn’t see a lot of what was going on. We had a guy who kept jumping up in front of us and we missed a bunch of the plays.

All in all, Tim said he had fun, so that’s all that counts. Me, I think I’m much happier at home on the couch, in front of our new big screen. I don’t have people sitting in my seat, sloshing beer around and blocking my view. But that’s just me and I did have a good time. Mostly, we wanted to support the team. So we did. And I’m glad we went. I asked him if he would want to go in the future and he said probably; he wants to support them. After what we endured though, and the backlash I read in today’s paper, I seriously doubt if our little city will ever host another preseason game again. It was all poorly handled and I don’t imagine the NFL or the Saints would want to risk that happening again. Which is a shame, really.

I didn’t take my camera because it was on the prohibited list. I probably could have; I saw other people with them, and a lot of other things that they said were prohibited. But, it would have gotten in the deluge when we first arrived, and I’m really glad I didn’t take it and chance getting it wet. I tried to take a few pictures with Tim’s cameraphone, but with the lights and distance, they didn’t come out that great (as I expected). I’ll post them below though, just to show them 🙂

Today is going to be an action-packed kind of day for us 😆 Don and Gail are coming down so the guys can go play golf this morning. I think Gail and I will hang out and maybe go shopping or run errands. Then, this afternoon late, we’re headed to the stadium for the Saints-Colts preseason game. Hopefully, I will get a chance to blog some tomorrow – hope everyone has a great day!

UPDATE – I just looked at the list of prohibited items for the NFL preseason game tonight. It listed camera – darn it. Is that standard at all pro sporting events now? I know the last time we went to a game at the Superdome I took my camera, and I had intended to take it tonight to get pictures of Brees, McAllister, Bush and Manning. Dang, I’m pretty upset now. 👿

Friday, August 25, 2006
Feast One Hundred & Eight

Appetizer – If you could have a free subscription to any magazine, which one would you like to have? Hmmm, how about Cooking Light, Everyday Food or Real Simple Magazine. Or better yet “All of the Above” 😀

Soup – Describe your living room (furnishings, colors, etc.). Well, my living room recently changed into something I don’t like as much, since Tim bought his big screen TV a week ago. I still like the rest of the furniture, overstuffed couch, overstuffed chairs, one with ottoman (greens and browns, kinda earthy colors), cherry coffee table and end tables. I like my brick fireplace with mantle at one end, framed by windows. It’s the entertainment center that’s bugging me at the moment, but unfortunately, it’s a week old and we’ll probably keep it for a decade or so. Sigh 🙁

Salad – What does the shape of a circle make you think of? My wedding ring, which symbolizes God’s love for us, perfect and never-ending.

Main Course – Name 3 things in your life that you consider to be absolute necessities. Maybe my family, my home and food?

Dessert – What was the last really funny movie you watched? I am drawing a complete and total blank. I watched some of “The Princess Bride” last night, which I love, before the remote was taken away from me by you-know-who 🙂

I blogged a couple of days ago about the 2 coons (raccoons) that we have caught in our live animal trap (read about it here). We still load the trap every evening, thinking we might have more coons that are knocking over things and eating all the bird’s and squirrel’s food.

Last night, it was not a coon that got caught in the trap. It was a possum. What a hideous little creature (I’ll only post one picture here because the thing is so nasty and ugly; more on the extended page). The coons were rather cute in comparison and not nearly so disgusting. Ick.

I also failed to mention earlier that even though we’re glad to catch these things (and release them in woods several miles away), they are still doing their best to tear up my yard. Isn’t there something in Murphy’s law about “if it ain’t one thing, it’s another”?!!

They are digging up all the grass underneath the cage, trying to get out:

We learned after the first coon not to position the cage near the fence – they claw and scrap and chew on the fence boards, trying to get out:

If you can stand to look at the butt-ugly thing, there’s a couple more possum pictures on the extended page. It really grossed me out early this morning to see this thing and it was hissing at me too (oh, and in one picture, you can see the blood on the cage where the thing was gnawing, trying to get free)….
Read the rest of this entry »

Tim has a new love – his new big screen plasma TV. It still pales in comparison to his golf addiction – he is more than willing to leave his new TV sitting at home all alone and go play golf (he’s done that twice, and we’ve had the TV 5 days), but he does love his new TV. It’s definitely the object of his affection right now. 😆

Click on the extended entry for some pictures of the old and new …

Read the rest of this entry »

I finished a really good library book last night, called “Match Me If You Can” by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It is the story of a matchmaker in Chicago, who takes over the business from her grandmother, and is trying to jump-start her business by signing a high-profile sports agent as her client. She just has to find him the perfect wife, and believe me, he’s very discriminating. I really liked this book – good plot, predictable but good, great characters and a very good ending. I was thrilled with the ending and the way things were all wrapped up – always a big plus for me with a book.

For the record, that makes #51 so far this year, with a total of 18,029 pages read. Up next is the last book in the Tucker Mills trilogy by Lori Wick, called “Leave a Candle Burning”. I borrowed all 3 of these books from Tim’s mom and have really enjoyed the first two – they are light and sweet books. This should be a fairly quick read, and after I finish this borrowed book, I’ll probably head back to the library for more. 🙂 Then again, maybe I should try to tackle some of the ones I have bought, that are sitting on my bookcase shelf, all alone and unread. 🙄

I blogged over the weekend about our coon trap, and how we were trying to catch the little buggers.

See – the coons are tearing up our backyard. They climb up in the tree and break the branches, trying to get to the bird feeder. We find the bird feeder on the ground (along with broken branches), sometimes the feeder is broken and all the suet is gone. The other bird feeder that is on a shepherd’s hook will be pushed to the ground, and all the bird seed scattered all over the ground. And the big thing is that they LOVE the squirrel’s corn. The coons either eat the entire cob or simply take it with them. So, we bought a “HavAHeart” large animal cage at Lowe’s and put it out. Saturday morning, we got up and found this:

He was “playing possum” I guess 🙂 He turned around when I came up with the camera:

He was a pretty large little guy. Here he is up close:

I came inside and called the Animal Control number for our local police. I was politely informed that they only dealt with domesticated animals and he gave me the phone number for the Wildlife and Fisheries, or some state dept. I called that number and was told they don’t do that either, and he gave me another number to call. Basically, we played “pass the buck”. I called 4 or 5 places and never got any help, so we gave up on that. Tim, the consummate country boy, said “we’ll just take him up towards the Trace, in some woods, and drop him off”. Hence, we basically just catch and release them.

We caught another one Sunday night and released him Monday morning in the same spot. If they are related, then hopefully they found each other and can go rob someone else’s yard of all their food. Click on the extended page for pictures of the second coon, he was a bit smaller.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check out OrgJunkie‘s website for the specifics… in the mean time, here’s the plan for this week (plan being the optimum word!):

Sunday – we had hamburgers
Monday – Grilled Chicken Salad, grilled zucchini, homemade bread
Tuesday – Italian Tortellini Stew, salad, homemade bread
Wednesday – Tomato soup, cheese toast (didn’t have this last week as planned)
Thursday – grilled chicken (Tim)/grilled salmon (Stacy), roasted sweet potatoes, homemade bread
Friday – tacos, refried beans, mexicorn
Saturday – eat out at NFL preseason game
Sunday – TBD

1. Would you shave your head for any amount of money? If yes, how much? Probably not, I would look just pitiful without hair. I’ve often thought if I got sick or had chemo and lost my hair, I’d probably be the type of person who would go get a wig. I’d try to wear a bandanna or hat, but I think I’d cave and get a wig. So no, I don’t think I’d voluntarily do it for money.

2. What “whacky” thing might you do for a large sum of money? Probably nothing, I’m not adventurous at all, don’t like dares and I have so many phobias (heights, snakes, etc) that I wouldn’t even consider most things that would be considered “whacky” 🙂

3. What do you think is a “large sum of money?” $100,000 or more

4. Do you watch “reality” tv shows? Yes, we watch Survivor and Amazing Race and love both of those. We’ve been watching Treasure Hunters this summer and have liked that one also. I plan on watching “Dancing with the Stars” again this fall, and Idol next January. We don’t watch any of the others though

5. If so, which do you watch and in what order do you prefer them? If not, are there any you may consider watching? No order of preference, for the specifics, see above!

6. Which reality show have you thought about participating in? Why?I would like to be able to do Race, but I know my limitations. I would crack under the pressure. I’m not a seasoned traveler by any means and I think I would have trouble with the pace of the thing, and the challenges.

7. Share one thing you would like to do in life but have not yet done….. think about why you haven’t done it and share if you wish. My lifelong dream is to go to England and Scotland. I’m going to get there one day!

Friday was a very busy day for us – we bought a new entertainment center and a big screen TV (plasma, high definition)!!! We’ve been busy trying to get all the old stuff moved out, and all the new stuff setup and working. It’s a lot of work and is going to take us a few days to get it all done. Our old entertainment center was very heavy and I think the new one is even worse! Poor Tim only has me as a helper and I cannot lift and move 200 lbs very easily 🙂

Last night, Tim reloaded the coon trap and caught our first coon. We have to figure out how to get rid of him now. We called Animal Control and they said they only deal with domesticated animals. HUH? They referred us to Wildlife & Fisheries, where we left a message on the answering machine and have yet to hear back.

Today, we’re headed over to Tim’s family for the day. We’re going to celebrate his mom’s birthday which is coming up next week. I’ll try to post some more news and hopefully pictures on either Sunday or Monday. Have a great day!

I finished another library book last night, “Track of the Cat” by local author Nevada Barr. This was my first Barr book and won’t be my last, even though I wasn’t particularly swept away by the book or the style of writing of the author. Don’t get me wrong, I did like it, but I didn’t just {gushingly} love it. It was a good book, good plot, and I am going to read at least another couple of the Anna Pidgeon books, specifically the ones set in my local area. This one took place in West Texas, in Guadalupe National Park, and revolved around some mysterious “accidents” and deaths in the park. Anna, one of the park rangers, gets curious and decides to investigate when things don’t add up. 🙂

For the record, that makes #50 on the list so far this year, with my total number of pages read at 17,646. Up next is the last library book I got on my last trip, one that my sister Gail had read and liked. It’s called “Match Me If You Can” by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, another new author for me. Hope it’s good!

Friday, August 18, 2006
Feast One Hundred & Seven

Appetizer
What color is your car? Burgundy red. Got it a little over a year ago, you can see a picture here 🙂

Soup
If you could wake up tomorrow with full training in another occupation and a job in that field, what would it be? Paralegal or Chef 🙄 Or maybe a food critic, I think I’d like that job!!

Salad
How many times in your life have you had the flu (or something similar)? Hmm, maybe 2 or 3?? I can remember at least 2, and one of them was terrible. I couldn’t really even get out of bed for days. Total bummer.

Main Course
What is something that has happened to you this week that you didn’t expect? To eat out twice on Thursday! Ack, it was really good and I enjoyed both times, but oh my, the extra calories are going to do me in 🙂

Dessert
How old were you when you had your first kiss? Apparently it wasn’t very memorable, because I don’t remember!