Day 194

Holy Crap. I totally don’t remember at all. I read some comics from last week. Watched some TV. I guess that was it.

Day 193

Got up early, walked Theo and dropped by cat-sitting house to water plants and feed Smoky. Had breakfast at the diner with Paul and ran to get some new paint samples. Ran to Kieran’s to get new containers for my patio. Swung by Fred Meyer’s to pick up some soil and herb plants.

Stopped for a slurpy at 7-11 and got the annoying mating dance action from some dude. (Whose girlfriend was there.) (And rough looking.)

Planted:

Radishes

Cucumbers (one for pickling and one for tzatziki)

Peppers

Bell Peppers (Yes, I am an optimist.)

Basil

Sage

Rosemary

Slurpy was melted in the ricockulous heat before I had anything planted at all.

Had Chinese food at FSD.

Watered all the plants at Theo's and took a nice short walk as it was hot as hell.

Watched disc 1 of season 3 of Weeds. Read more Th1rte3n.

Had the vapors from the heat.

Day 192

Got up early and cleaned my cat sitting house. Ran back to my place and devoured toast and watched some Colbert Report. Paul came over and helped me move my footboard out to my grandma’s shed (it was just very big for such a small room).

Had lunch at Tona’s and ice cream at DQ and retired to Paul’s to examine paint colors. I am experiencing high levels of anxiety regarding these paint colors as the colors I have chosen coordinate with Paul’s art and furniture The colors others have suggested are nice too. The issue is that Paul has a lovely collection of comic book art which has a very bright primary pallet and I think that painting his house in smoky greens etc. would not present the art well.

Meh.

Ran to dog sitting house and walked Theo. Paul dropped me back at my place and I ran a few errands and then headed to poker night at The Stop. Josh joined the group and we split into three groups with one staying to play games, one going to see Wanted, and the group of Kim, Josh, and Paul and I going to Wall-E. SO FANTASTIC!

Chatted with Josh and returned to Theo’s to crash.

Day 191

Coworker who is leaving took a bunch of us out to lunch. Had some delicious pie.

Happy Hour with the coworkers at Las Brisas in Edmonds after work. Pretty warm outside.

Went to the cat sitting house and watched Bones with Smoky who was super cuddly.

I'm convinced my reflux is back. As I was supposed to attend a wine tasting party and instead stayed home murring on the couch with stomach pain.

Day 190

Took exploratory journey to Double D Meats in Mountlake Terrace with Brad to inspect their uhm… meat. Pretty awesome and great prices. I'm looking forward to exploring further in the future.

Had grilled steaks and started Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (but left in the middle as it was kind of … not boring, but just not very compelling and a little too clearly going to end badly).

Dropped Sean off at Shank’s. Refreshed my manicure and watched Bones. Fell asleep on the couch at 10ish. (Because I am old.)

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Steve.

Day 189

Brought cake to the stop and a bunch of folks including Hotness & Ferritnick were around to eat some Happy Wednesday Cake. It was good times.

Had dinner at a new Mexican place with Paul. Worked on picking paints to match Paul’s art and furnishings. Then watched SNL featuring Big Beef.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Steve and Grandma.

Today was a good day.

Day 188

Work was stressful, as I did not take the ridiculous over-precaution that I usually take and did not prevent an irritating problem. This year’s review was spectacular and in order to retain my star status, I need to pretend to have god-like omniscience. Oh well. Demi-god it is.

Had dinner with the cake girls and then had our final cake class. All of us were having a hard time with our roses and the final cake situation was not ideal, but we finished and are excited to move on to new cooking challenges.

And the margaritas that followed at Diane’s. Delicious.

Read some Th1rte3n.

Day 187

Completed bedroom reorganization-palooza. Watched some Bones. Frosted the cake that I complete Sunday.

Spoke with Burke and Steve.

Read more Th1rte3n. My god, I am taking forever to finish this book. Although I would finish it faster if I read more than 5 pages a night…..

Day 186

Went shopping all day with Addy for clothes to wear to her sister’s wedding. Experienced a repeat of Friday’s PIN debacle at Target. Grrrrrr. I guess I'll call the bank tomorrow.

Helped roll appetizer rolls for a coworker’s retirement party.

Had Indian Night at FSD. I made “starlight” yellow cake with chocolate frosting from the new Betty Crocker cookbook. Neither were good at all. I was not impressed in the slightest. But the family was simply happy to eat cake.

Watched The Savages, which was well made and somewhat compelling, but very lacking in the screen play department.

Watched an episode of Bones and read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Steve.

Day 185

Watched cartoons. Returned to my house and worked on culling my comic collection and separating unread items into piles by title and in order. My floor: covered in comic piles. But it has to get worse before it can get better… right?

Picked Rachel (so good to see her) up at the airport and went to the Thai-ger Room for an early dinner. Had dessert at Trophy Cupcakes. Walked Green Lake with Rachel, Scott, and Jackie. Met Maya, Jon, and Sarah for cocktails (2 over 2 hours) at the Green Lake Bar and Grill. Had a really good time.

Returned to cat sitting house at midnight. Sober and fine. Read some more Th1rte3n. Went to bed at 12:30.

Woke up at 3:30 and ran to the bathroom and hurled for four hours straight. I am guessing it was food poisoning (or my reflux is back again?), as I had only two cocktails. I cannot speculate as to what caused this, but suffice it to say, it sucked a lot. Tired, confused, hurly Quiana was convinced it was Salmonella and that hideous illness was coming.

Wished for death. Brushed teeth furiously. Assigned blame.

Day 184

Left work early for margaritas at Sarah S.’s house with Angie.

Had my haircut.

Had dinner with Steve and Addy. Had weird PIN incident (reader rejected my pin- pretty certain that I didn’t misremember a number I’ve used for almost 6 years… just saying), just put it through as credit.

Loitered at 7-11, like old Cuban men. Tried giant chewy nerds (yucko).

Saw Harold and Kumar.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Mom.

Day 183

Ran to cat sitting house to meet with owners. Car failed to start on the first try. Started on the second try, but of course I was convinced that I would have to spend this weekend signing away another 4 years of debt on a new (to me) car. (End result: 6 total additional years of debt instead of 2. AND consumer debt/student loans after age of 30. NO THANKS.)

Bought neat portable hands-free speaker phone (Parrot brand) from Circuit City. It is really handy and I can use it in the car or while I’m cooking.

Worked on organizing my closet into a more effective space.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Watched Bones.

Spoke with Steve, Grandma, and Burke.

Day 182

Went (meaning: was stupidly tricked into going) to the end of the year celebration/annual turnover "going away" party at the boss's boss's house. Was there forever!

Came home and organized my pile of recipes. Got Chinese take-out and watched National Treasure 2 (which was very funny and while absolutely not believable at all ever in any way, I enjoyed to an embarrassing extent.)

Read some Th1rte3n and crashed.

Day 181

Stayed at work late and consumed a salad for dinner. I was extremely full.

Went to cake class and was let out early. Was ravenous and ate half a grapefruit and some chips.

Watched Venture Bros. and Robot Chicken with the roommate. Fell asleep watching a show called 30 Days (I think). Pretty good. It's not the show's fault, it is the roommate (I think).

Read a little NG and passed out.

Day 180

Had a dental appointment. Dealt with a huge project at work and went home to take pain killers and suffer. Ate half a brownie, 1 piece of chocolate, and an ice cream sundae cone. No idea why.

Watched Bones and organized my old papers.

Watched The Golden Compass with Jim. Meh.

Day 179

Watched some SNL with Jim over breakfast. Caught The Happening matinee, went home disgruntled and tidied.

Went to Brad & Cynthia’s for a Father’s Day BBQ and laundry fest. Watched Indiana Jones, then brought Mariah home. Packed up laundry and hauled it home.

Read more Nocturnals.

Day 178

Slept in and missed all of Skunk Fu and most of Viva Pinata. Made poached egg whites, coffee and English muffins, while watching Spectacular Spiderman.

Met with Grandma and Olivia at Country Village and did some shopping. Bought an apron. Then Mariah and Meagan met us at the tea house for lunch.

Met Steve at my house and ran to let Sammi and Riley out. Got Slurpies on the way to Lynn and Michael’s for Theo’s birthday party. Very entertaining.

Ran back to the house and picked up the cheesecake and left, but then returned to grab Jim’s cell phone. Went to George’s for Mary Ann’s birthday party. BBQ was consumed, presents were opened, and while the others played games, we loitered in George’s office talking about nothing at all.

Left quite late and returned home to continue reading Nocturnals.

Today was a very good day.

Day 177

Took a half day and went shopping for furniture with Jim in Everett. Jim thinks he may have found the table.

Dropped by the store then made tacos for dinner for Steve and Addy. Baked a cheesecake while watching TIVO'd Cartoon Network.

Read some more Nocturnals.

Day 176

Met a new neighbor, Peggy. Seems a little weird. Lucky me.

Got together the items needed for cheesecake.

Tidied and read some Nocturnals.

Day 175

Met a new neighbor, Krissy, when she asked us to help her put together her son's big wheel. Took a long time. She seemed nice (by which I mean she also despises the awful neighborhood brats).

Got take out teriyaki. Watched some TV.

Day 174

Work is CRAZY.

Had dinner with Angie and Barb. Attended cake class. Still not thrilled. Less cat pee odor = less learning?

Came home and chatted with Jim.

Spoke with Jason B. and Burke.

I'm super stressed about work right now, but I am keeping it together. Go team me!

Day 173

Had a TON of work to do.

Came home and prepared my cake (and frostings) for cake class. Watched Venture Brothers and Best Week Ever with Jim.

Puttered.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Day 172

Had hashbrowns and watched part of Transformers. (Big Beef!)

Said my depressing goodbyes to mom.

Was late to pick Kim up as I am lame. Went to the big Asian mall in Richmond. Had cream puffs, bought stuff, coveted other stuff.

Arrived at border and endlessly sat. Ate some sushi. Car boogied.

Eventually shot south at a great rate of speed. Dropped Kim off. Went to Ye Olde Family Homestead. Junior Squad ran to Target (where I bought a bright green shirt which reminded me of Speed Racer) and then Best Buy (where I bought the cable adapter that I had gone to Target for in the first place.)

Had homemade potato soup. Made and devoured a box cake.

Came home, called Mom & Grandma. Puttered and passed out.

Day 171

Had buckwheat pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Left early for MetroTown Centre to buy some new work clothes and a handbag for mom. Did really well at shopping for her. Didn't like anything for me, which is fine as I am totally broke.

Had lunch at a place called Nando's. Really good.

Watched Southland Tales.

Had a fight with mom.

Had leftovers.

Watched National Treasure- which I strangely hated less this time. In fact, I kind of liked it. (Burning with shame.)

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Addy.

Day 170

Took the day off. Had a bagel and watched music videos with Jim. Puttered around.

Picked up Kim, raced Northward. Good drive. Somewhat lengthy wait at the border. Not sure why.

Dropped Kim at her friend's. Picked up mom. Met up with Darren and went to the good Greek place in Port Coquitlam. Stopped by Blockbuster.

Watched Stardust. Still awesome.

Today was a good day.

Spoke with Terry and Grammy.

Day 169

Ran some errands, including a brief and not terribly fruitful trip to Value Village.

Tutoring student canceled again, which bodes poorly. Took the opportunity to pick up some presents for mom's birthday and come home in time to watch a documentary on the T-Rex and some The Old House.

Steve came by and we had dinner at former Hongs and chased it with ice cream from Dairy Queen. Then he kept me company while I worked on organizing my room.

Jim returned and we had a long convo, during the course of which my brain was in a near constant state of misfire- no doubt due to lack of sleep.

I seem to be coping better with all the change now, although I can't seem to sleep past 5 am, which is super irritating.

Spoke with Czarina.

Day 168

Sarah scored our New Kids tickets and I am as giddy as a school girl (literally).

Worked late and went straight to Meagan & Jay's for Grandpa's birthday party. We all got him candy. I think everyone had a good time discussing this summer's major excursion: the international rock hunt.

Came home and had a nice chat with the roomy.

Read some blogs.

Spoke with Steve and Jeannine.

Day 167

Got new door panel fasteners (very exciting) and met with Angie to do some gift shopping for my family.

Had L&L with Angie and Barb then met Sheena at Jo-Ann’s for out first Wilton Cake Decorating Class (1), AKA the weirdest cake decorating class in the history of leavened bread.

As soon as I walked into the classroom I smelled cat pee and thought, “Oh there have been cats in here.” Then I thought, “Oh, it is probably not bring your cat to work day here at the craft store.” And then I realized that someone here smelled like cat pee. Knowing that none of my friends smell like cat pee, and guessing that the coach bag toting soccer mom and her adorable daughter probably don’t smell like cat pee, I guessed that the hefty toothless lady with the hairy chin was the source of the odor. Imagine my surprise when I learned that this former professional barrel rider/goateed/cat pee perfumed lady was our instructor.

She did not seem to know what was going on at all and at one point in the class actually pulled a hair out of her frosted cake. Also her frosting rose was bullshit.

It was AWESOME.

After class I rushed home to tell the roomy about the toothless cat pee lady only to find he was not home. So I called my mom and she essentially told me that I was a judger and that not everyone can be expected to meet my hypercritical standards and that I need to learn to just allow others to “just be”. (At which point I can only assume that she rolled a doobie and did a little yoga.)

Caught up on some blogs and crashed.

Spoke with Steve, Grandma, and Grandpa.

Day 166

Had dinner with Jim at Voula's Good Eats. Very good.

Cruised down to DBS for drinks with a very large group and had a nice time.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Bonnie.

Day 165

Got up early to feed and walk the dog. One cat would not come out from under the bed to have breakfast (nor dinner, actually). This is because cats are hug jerks.

Picked up Sean and met Paul for the Speed Racer matinée (now 6$). It was fantastic.

Continued my campaign to reorganize the house until Family Sunday Dinner time. Pot Roast Night! I did something like 6 loads of laundry. Brad and I watched Dead Alive (Kiwi Zombie flick) and Bright Future (another in an endless series of incredibly slow and weird and confusing Japanese/ultimately pointless movies we continue to watch for no discernable reason). Mel and Jess did not make it.

Ran home and finished up a few things around the house. Chatted with Jim.

Spoke with Addy.

Read a bit more of Th1rte3n. Still no cohesive anything, each chapter still excellent and then a let down.