My Flower is Ephemeral

My rose bushes have begun blooming again. Here is the latest flower to appear. This picture was taken on Wednesday.

Same bud on Wednesday.

Here's the rose today (far right). It looked pretty for a few hours this morning, but by this afternoon it was past its prime. I should probably pick the two new buds in the back tomorrow if I want to enjoy them in the house instead of in the flowerbed.

Game Room Kitty

Nigel likes to sleep in the game room next to an open window. I think he likes the love seat better without the paisley cover.

Comfortable?

Nigel might be the only one who is truly comfy on the futon that acts as my sofa. Here he's among the Newsweeks.

The Look

Nigel likes to glare at me over his shoulder. I see this face many times a day.

Secret Toy

Nigel has always liked playing with ponytail holders. I try to keep them out of his reach, but he can sniff them out. Once he's done playing with them, he puts them in his food bowl. I'm not sure why.

Burn Notice

I do a lot of baking so I'm careful around hot surfaces. I have potholders and oven mitts that I use regularly. Also, I'm quick to snap back if I accidentally brush something hot. I work around the oven's inherent risks. I don't get burned that often.

Today I got an unexpected burn on the tip of my right ring finger. But not from the oven. From my toaster.

All I was doing at the time I got burned was taking the toast out of the toaster while not looking. I guess my finger got too close to the metal that is stupidly on the top of the toaster. Maybe I should invest in some toaster tongs to prevent future injury.

iProblem

My poor radio tuner that enables me to listen to my iPod Touch in my car has been dying a slow death. I don't abuse it or manhandle it, but my general use has worn down the plastic and exposed and cut the wires contained in the housing.

First, the charger stopped working, which was really inconvenient if I wanted to listen to my music but forgot to charge my iPod. Now, the reception is starting to get bad. It sounds static-y most of the time. Sometimes if I twist the wire correctly it sounds fine. Sometimes it helps to hold the wires and sometimes it helps to let them go. It's a game I don't like playing, but I suffer through it because it's better than listening to the radio.

Cooking Mama

I've been doing a lot of home cooking lately. Not just casseroles and Hamburger Helper. And not just burgers and spaghetti. Or grilled cheese.

The most important ingredient in my cooking odyssey is onion. It's an integral part of a lot of recipes, but it's not exactly user-friendly. I still don't like chopping or cooking them, but I'm not afraid of onions anymore. After making quite a few dishes with onions, I can't deny their worth.

I'm trying to be a more patient cook since things tend to take longer than I think they should. I still prefer using the oven to the stove top, but I'm getting more comfortable everyday.

I might still have cereal for dinner on occasion, but it'll be the exception and not the norm.

Halfway to Done

I was looking around my house today and realized I have a lot of projects that have been started and abandoned. For instance, I moved the black bookshelf from my office to the spare room, but haven't moved the small bookshelf into my office from the spare room. I set up my printer but haven't decided where its permanent home should be so it's sitting in the living room. My dining room table is partially cleared off. The game room is 90% finished. The spare room needs pictures hung on the walls. My laundry is cleaned but not folded or put away. The list goes on.

Maybe that's the solution. I should make a to-do list and tackle one project everyday. Knowing me, I wouldn't even finish writing the list.

Movie Update

I'm way behind on my summer movies. I've seen Wolverine, Star Trek, Night at the Museum, Up, Year One and Food Inc. I should have seen 13 movies by this time! I'll be halfway there if I see Harry Potter on Saturday.

Actually, I just looked at the list of summer releases and the only one I really want to see in theaters still is Transformers 2.

Squashed

I got some squash at the farmers' market today. Clockwise from top left are pattypan squash, spaghetti squash, yellow squash, and green and yellow zucchinis. The green zucchini was from the local grocery store and was Ohio grown, so I'm counting it.

With Love

I finally setup the printer/scanner/fax that I got for Christmas so that it would work with my laptop. Here is the first photo I scanned. It's of my 10th birthday cake that I made for myself. I think my mom and sisters might have helped make the cake. My mom definitely turned on the oven because I never did that. The stove at our old house was the type where you first turned on the gas and then lit the pilot(?) with a match.

If I remember correctly, it was Special Birthday Cake with pudding frosting. The swirls were supposed to be lavender or purple, but the color came out grayish. The "top" of the cake (the elevated circle inside of the candles) was made in an easy bake oven pan.

It's a terrible photo of an ugly cake. I bake delicious cakes, but I'm still not much of a decorator.

Stranger

Metamorphosis

My feet have needed professional care since last fall. Not too long ago, I tried to give myself a pedicure with mixed results. My feet looked good and my toes looked okay, but overall it was not great. They looked good enough to wear sandals, which was all I cared about.

I don't have a regular pedicurist since my last one left the salon I frequented, and I didn't follow her to her new salon. I've tried a couple of other places but haven't made a commitment yet.

Yesterday, I decided to see if I could schedule an appointment for today and first called a spa near my house where I had a good experience last year. Luckily, I got an appointment this morning but it was for an "express pedicure" where they take care of your toes but not really the rest of your feet. I've been told that my feet aren't bad so I guess I can do without the filing and massaging and still look good.

Come Clean

I was talking to a friend of mine about my hair and I told her I think I wash it too frequently. I try to wash it every other day, but on the days where I don't wash my hair it usually looks like I didn't wash it. I've tried to partially wash it (roots only) but the shampoo works its way to the majority of my hair anyway.

My friend suggested that I try just rinsing it and then conditioning since that's what she does.

I tried it and my hair looks like I put too much product in it. It looks dull yet kinda dirty. It looks like I got caught in the rain.

I don't think I'll do that again.

Sweet Sixteen

This is the third day in a row where I've had to do a lot of writing. Not typing or composing, but physically putting a pen in my hand and writing. My hand is a little sore.

I filled pages and pages with my chicken scratch. Mostly, I wrote the date.

So Yesterday

Yesterday, I thought something was different at the work cafeteria and today I confirmed my suspicion. They raised the prices!

I don't know when the mark-ups started or why some foods got a small increase (soup from $2.00 to $2.10) and others got a big bump (muffin from $1.05 to $1.40). I do know it's still less expensive than most cafeterias and way cheaper than going to the Galleria. Plus it's pretty good. If only they were serving chicken tortilla soup this week.

Workin' It Out

I was supposed to get to work at 8:45 this morning so I planned on leaving my house at 8:00 AM. I ended up leaving at 8:10, but had an easy commute and parked my car at about 8:35. The walk from the parking lot should take ten minutes at the most, but to my horror, the elevator in the parking garage wasn't working. I had to walk up four flights of stairs!

I made it to the office at 8:46 AM on my clock, which is probably at least one minute fast. The elevator was working when I left, so I hope this was a one-shot problem.

Hit The Curb

That's 11 phone books on the curb for recycling. I found the string and tied them up. I still have four books that I'll rarely, if ever, use.

Timing Issues

Lately, I've been having problems with setting this blog to update. If I set it to post in the future, I have to go back in and publish the post again. If I set it to post in the past, it usually works.

Thistle Never Do

I have a few thistle plants that I never pulled when they were little. I guess I assumed the guy who tends my yard would chop them, but he never did. This one is the tallest. I probably should get rid of them before they do more damage.

Nearly Paperless

I finally gave up on thinking I could read the newspaper everyday so I cancelled all but Sundays. And Wednesdays since they're free.

The day after I changed my subscription, I got a call from one of the newspaper's telemarketers. He spoke very fast and said that I could get a discount on seven day a week delivery, and he just had to confirm my address.

Telemarketer: Are you still at ____ Road?
Me: Yes.
TM: Okay, thank you. Goodbye.
Me: Wait, why did you want to confirm my address? To give me a discount?
TM: Yes. $3.50 for daily delivery.
Me: I'm not interested in daily delivery, in fact, I just cancelled daily delivery. Maybe your records haven't been changed.
TM: My records show you have a Sundays and Wednesdays subscription.
Me: I just changed it yesterday from daily delivery. I don't want daily delivery so that's why I changed it. Yesterday.
TM: Okay, thank you. Goodbye.
Me: Wait, so you didn't change my subscription?
TM: That's correct.
Me: Good. Thank you.
*click*

Shelf It

My house has a lot of shelves. There are five in my living room, which does not include the mantel over the fireplace. There are eight in the dining room behind glass doors. There are around 10 in the game room. There are eight in my office.

These shelves were obviously meant to display things and lord knows I have a lot of crap to display but I have a hard time committing to something. For instance, I meant to rotate displays on my mantel yet the Actos buddies are still there.

I Mint To Do That

I was looking in my pantry for some tea because I was too lazy to grind my usual Kona beans for coffee, and I noticed that I have four kinds of mint tea. Two kinds of peppermint, one spearmint and peppermint and one just called mint.

The strange thing is that I don't particularly like mint tea. It's okay, but I prefer teas that blend mint with something else, like Tension Tamer. I think I've been drinking around the mint teas and that's why I have so many. I didn't buy half of them anyway.

Steel

I found out today that I can recycle steel cans on the curb on trash day. I wondered whether I could since other cities, like Lakewood and Lorain, allow their residents to do so.

I don't know how new this policy is since my city seems to change the rules every time I look them up. I might have missed it all the other times, but I doubt it. I'm pretty sure it used to say aluminum cans only.

String

A while ago, I was looking through a box of old stuff for a protractor. There was no protractor, but I did find some string. I thought it would come in handy for recycling paper so I took it out of its box, out of my office and downstairs.

Now, it's lost.

I was looking for it yesterday and today in order to bind at least half of the phone books I have to set on the curb. Maybe I'll find it by next week.

Big Thing

I don't mind talking about my baking experiments, but I hate when something fails. Usually, I know the reason something doesn't work, but the ones I expect to turn out that don't bother me.

I made some blonde brownies or blondies the other day that seemed to bake and rise, but then mysteriously started bubbling like a lasagna. I took them out of the oven and as they cooled they lost all of their puffiness. The middle looked right, but the edges were darker and gooier than they should have been. Two minutes before I took them out of the oven the edges looked right but the inside wasn't solid.

I kept them since they taste yummy, but I would never share them with others. I won't post a picture either.

The finished product is a little like pralines so maybe they over-baked?

Falling Down

While watching fireworks today, I got my first few mosquito bites of the season. I would have thought that the smoke from the neighborhood show would have kept them at bay, but it didn't. I brushed a few of them off but must have missed or shooed them after they bit me.

The most annoying one is on my right thumb at the bottom joint. Every time I bend my it it itches.

My Own Way

I literally have 15 phone books with more arriving every day. They just keep showing up on my doorstep. I don't understand why there are at least three different sources of yellow and white pages. I've used them maybe once or twice in the last year.

Who looks up numbers the old fashioned way? What a waste of paper.

Is There Something I Should Know?

I don't usually turn the TV on first thing in the morning, but today I did for some reason. As I was flipping, I discovered that Comedy Central is replaying episodes of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist at 8:00 AM EST (EDT?) I wish I would have known about this sooner since the episodes today were from Season 3.

I love Dr. Katz. Comedy Central's Dr. Katz page has some bonus content, if you want to watch some samples.

The Reflex

I went grocery shopping yesterday and spent the unheard of amount of $34. My first thought after hearing the total was that something must have been rung up wrong (wrongly?) so I checked the receipt. Everything was correct.

It's always a shock when I spend more than $20 at one time. But, this was my first real trip in a few weeks. Mostly, I just run in for a few things and spend about $10- 15. I left with 2 very full bags so I'm sure I got my money's worth.