tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-170862352024-03-07T04:57:46.934-05:00Journal of Random Tangents"I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world
merely accumulating
material for future nostalgias."
-Vikram SethLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.comBlogger914125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-27771353447368737802014-05-20T22:43:00.002-04:002014-05-20T22:43:54.870-04:00FYI...Just in case anyone stumbles upon this blog or happens to be looking for the new one, you can now find me <a href="http://www.journalofrt.blogspot.com/">HERE</a> -- new look, same old randomness! :)Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-41614300646851162582014-02-03T15:38:00.001-05:002014-02-03T15:38:31.630-05:00Random stuff!I was browsing through blogs the other day, and decided to check out one that used to be a favorite -- the author hadn't posted anything in more than a year, but every now and then, I'd click over to her blog anyway, on the off chance that she'd written something new. Well, this time, lo and behold, there were brand new entries. So I figured, if she could randomly show up again after more than a year's absence, then surely I can update my blog after being gone for a month. Right? Right. (Besides, every time I get lazy, Rick reminds me of how lonely my poor blog is...) So here's some random stuff:<br />
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I finally have an email address tied to my blog: <a href="mailto:journalofrandomtangents@gmail.com">journalofrandomtangents@gmail.com</a>. So if anyone feels like saying hi, or wants to ask me why I'm so weird, or whatever... feel free to email me!<br />
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My <a href="http://www.journalofrandomtangents.blogspot.com/2014/01/long-time-no-blog.html">tooth saga</a> turned out to be more complicated than I'd hoped, but it's almost over, fortunately. When I went to the dentist to get the wayward crown glued back down, I found out that it wasn't fitting properly. So he temporarily cemented the crown back on, and I had to go back last week so he could reshape the tooth and get it ready for a brand new, better-fitting crown. So I'm still eating with a temporary crown, but the permanent one will be here in couple weeks and then MAYBE I can stop thinking about my teeth so much. (I had another "teeth falling out" dream last night... I'm always so glad when I wake up from those and realize that all my teeth are still in place...)<br />
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So in less than three weeks, we're heading to Hawaii -- it's been far too long since I've had any good travel pictures on this blog, so hopefully I'll be able to share some good ones from Kauai. Winter is supposed to be whale season in Hawaii -- all the whales from the north swim south to warmer water -- so if we're lucky, maybe we'll see a few while we're there. Or maybe we'll just be lazy and lay on the beach and pay no attention to whatever is going on in the water... who knows. One thing I DO know -- I will, at some point, partake of Hula Pie...<br />
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Speaking of Hula Pie... my friend Julie asked me to join a P90X challenge group at the beginning of the year -- if you're not familiar with P90X, it's a workout that focuses more on various forms of strength training than on straight aerobic activity. There have been a lot of studies that suggest building muscle is more beneficial than 100 percent aerobic workouts -- running, walking, etc., is great for your heart and overall health, but building extra muscle protects against injury and accelerates weight loss. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so if you gain muscle, you'll burn more calories even when you're sitting around doing nothing. Which is great if, for example, you want to eat a lot of Hula Pie... So obviously I had to join the P90X challenge. I've never done so many push-ups in my life...<br />
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And that being said, I think it's about time for more push-ups, so I need to wrap up this post. Hope everyone had a great January -- can you believe it's February already?? Once again, time is moving by way too quickly... so you'll hardly even notice if I don't post again for another month, right? :)<br />
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<br />Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-65218741810016000502014-01-01T21:21:00.000-05:002014-01-01T21:21:33.799-05:00Long time no blog...Hey, it's 2014! Happy New Year, everyone! <br />
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Rick has been reprimanding me lately for neglecting my blog... and he definitely has a point -- I have been ignoring my poor little corner of cyberspace for far too long. Last night, he asked if I was planning a New Year's blog post, and I said that I wasn't sure what to write about.<br />
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"I feel like I've already said everything," I lamented.<br />
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"Okay, so write about THAT," he responded.<br />
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Hmmm... a post about how I've already written everything I can possibly write about? I suppose I could attempt to tackle that...<br />
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On the other hand, there's always SOMEthing to write about, isn't there?<br />
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Today, for instance, I have one thing on my mind: my teeth. (What, you're not thinking about YOUR teeth right now?? Weird... :)) I've always been a little too obsessed with my teeth -- I brush as often as I can and floss at LEAST once a day, if not two or three times a day. (And if I run out of floss, it's like a major crisis in my house... I've learned to stock emergency containers of dental floss to guard against such an event...) And the ONLY recurring theme in my nightmares is tooth loss -- I never have that "common" dream where you show up naked to a big event... but I dream about losing my teeth ALL the time. And it freaks me out -- I'll wake up, in a panic, and hurriedly run my tongue over my teeth to reassure myself that they're all still in place...<br />
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Several years ago, my dentist in Austin informed me that I was an apparent tooth grinder -- when I'm sleeping and having all of those horrible dreams about losing my teeth, I'm also GRINDING my teeth (or at least clenching my jaw much too tightly) -- and that is NOT a good thing. Over the years, all of that tooth grinding has resulted in cracked molars, and my cracked molars have required crowns... one after another...<br />
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I've never really had any issues with my crowns -- I've always eaten whatever I want, and I've tried not to think about how several of my teeth are covered with porcelain. As long as those awful teeth-falling-out nightmares don't come true, I'm fine.<br />
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So imagine me, sitting on a plane the day after Christmas, about a half hour from landing in Chicago, deciding to pull out some leftover holiday candy from my carry-on bag so Rick and I could finish it off. We each had two pieces -- the first was a lovely vanilla-cream-filled chocolate, which melted in my mouth in smooth chocolately-vanilla deliciousness. That left one more... one last piece of Christmas candy before returning to Chicago and attempting to get my diet back on track after a week of holiday over-indulgence. I took a generous bite of the chocolate-covered confection, which turned out to be caramel.<br />
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Now, I love caramel -- I've eaten many caramels in my life, and not only love the flavor, but the texture, as well. But THIS caramel was different... it was crazy sticky and chewy... the candy enveloped my teeth in a merciless tomb of semi-viscous sugar, trapping parts of my mouth like a saber-toothed tiger in the La Brea Tar Pits...<br />
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And then, as I slogged my way through the candy, I felt something that no tooth-obsessed person who has nightmares of losing teeth ever wants to feel -- I felt one of my teeth come loose...<br />
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Okay, not an ACTUAL tooth -- but one of my crowns was definitely NOT in the place it was supposed to be. I immediately bit down on the wayward tooth, setting it back into place... but the damage was done. I held back the instinct to completely freak out, since I was in a public place and didn't want to start screaming, "it's falling off!!" on a plane. (What's falling off? The wing?!?)<br />
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In fact, I managed to stay relatively calm for the rest of the evening, and the next morning got a dentist appointment made for January 2 (almost a week away, which seemed like an eternity). Since the crown hadn't seemed to move all night, I decided to take a chance and eat a little something for breakfast... but as soon as I started chewing, the crown popped right off and I had to bite down to keep it on again. Fortunately, drug stores sell temporary cement to hold on loose crowns, so Rick bought some and brought it home to me. I actually had to wait until I was eating and felt the crown come loose again to try to use it, because I couldn't bring myself to reach into my mouth and yank out a tooth (even though it isn't TECHNICALLY a tooth... but just the very IDEA freaks me out...).<br />
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For two days, the temporary stuff seemed to be working. And I was sticking to eating things like soup and pasta and scrambled eggs -- anything that was soft and didn't require a lot of chewing -- so as not to tax the fragile tooth. But my incessant need to floss finally got the best of me, and the night before New Year's Eve, the crown popped off as I was (carefully, I swear!) flossing. This resulted in a bit of a meltdown, which Rick can attest to -- I was crying and freaking out and feeling like all of my tooth-loss nightmares were coming to fruition... I put MORE temporary cement on the tooth and stuck it back on, but this only made it feel totally wrong and awkward in my mouth, since it now had two or three layers of bulky cement. The idea of waiting two ENTIRE days before my dental appointment was stressing me out...<br />
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So Rick, probably feeling helpless to comfort his crazy, weird wife, promised to call the dentist in the morning and see if they could squeeze me in. The only problem was, when he called on New Year's Eve morning, the dentist was closed. And so was just about every other dentist in the city. We finally found one that was available for emergencies, but they only promised to "temporarily" fix the crown. And their advice to me was actually to just wait for my appointment on Thursday... since I couldn't stand the idea of going to a dentist just for a "band-aid," I finally decided to tough it out and wait until my original appointment. But I also decided to stop eating any kind of solid food -- so for the last couple days, all I've eaten is brothy soups and smoothies... and I'm so, so hungry... (But on a positive note, I easily lost the few pounds I gained over the Christmas holiday -- this has been a great forced diet. :))<br />
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But it's now Wednesday evening, and in 12 hours, I'll be getting ready to walk over to the dentist's office and get my nightmare tooth fixed, and hopefully then I can eat with abandon once more. (But not TOO much abandon, because I don't want to gain back those holiday pounds...) And I'm definitely steering clear of super-sticky caramel from now on...<br />
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And hopefully I can make an effort to update my blog more often this year -- even if I'm writing about how I've already said everything I have to say... :)Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-26200174009754566962013-10-18T20:03:00.000-04:002013-10-19T12:15:35.979-04:00Yeah, yeah... he told me so...One of the first real "dates" Rick and I went on after we first met was a day trip from Austin to Dallas to visit Six Flags.<br />
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Side note #1: I was stupid and didn't wear sunscreen that day, and ended up with a rare sunburn. It takes a lot of sun exposure, but I DO eventually burn if I'm out in it long enough...<br />
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Side note #2: I actually <i>blacked out</i> on the Texas Giant roller coaster -- one of those "check out the crazy g-forces on this thing!" rides. That initial drop is CRAZY, and for about two seconds, everything went black. And then it all came back, and I was like, "Best. Ride. Ever."<br />
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The drive from Austin to Dallas is about three and a half hours, and at this time, Rick and I had only known each other for about a month -- most of our interaction had been through the mail (snail mail -- actual handwritten LETTERS -- can you imagine?? I'm old...) -- so I was still in the "super quiet around people I don't know very well" stage. Fortunately, Rick can be quite talkative when he has to be, and managed to command the conversation.<br />
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I don't remember much of what was said during that drive, but I do have one memory: Rick was talking about a book series written by Raymond Feist that he loved, and he meticulously recalled characters and plot points as we sped north on I-35. I was trying very hard to pay close attention and retain all the details, as people do when they're first dating and attempting to make a good impression, but at some point I got rather lost. But I knew it had something to do with magicians, and elves, and dwarfs, and a whole bunch of Lord of the Rings-type stuff...<br />
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Over the last twenty years, Rick has, occasionally, attempted to coerce me into reading this book series. Or at least reading the first book in the series -- aptly named <i>Magician</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBybAK3ilHoPCiK4uin39450MGElpmfEYfXlbCtwpjWxIMLgcXQQjxHQEYoI-ACImML-dQVq47dQ8fUnR-GCcU0yptdvxBMjGYtGFtEs8JiA45pkUgZ-MoatNsnc3hWPobYW0/s1600/magician6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBybAK3ilHoPCiK4uin39450MGElpmfEYfXlbCtwpjWxIMLgcXQQjxHQEYoI-ACImML-dQVq47dQ8fUnR-GCcU0yptdvxBMjGYtGFtEs8JiA45pkUgZ-MoatNsnc3hWPobYW0/s400/magician6.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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But I, being a fan mostly of the <i>realistic</i> fiction genre, was hesitant to delve into a weird fantasy world filled with make-believe countries and creatures. I mean, sure, I read the Lord of the Rings series when I was in sixth grade... and I remember liking them enough at the time. And I read each Harry Potter book in about a day and a half -- and those certainly set realism aside... <br />
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So about ten years ago, I actually DID start reading Magician, in some sort of "I'll read Magician, you read Harry Potter" type deal. Rick got through the first four Harry Potter books quite quickly (but, strangely, he never did finish the series). I only got through the first three <i>chapters</i> of Magician. It just didn't draw me in, so I stopped reading it...<br />
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But even after this attempt, Rick didn't give up. Every year or so, he would bring up "The Book" and try to convince me to give it another try. He even gave a copy to our friend Nick and convinced HIM to read it, and when Nick proclaimed it to be a good book, Rick reminded me that Nick and I have similar taste in literature. "When are you going to read my book?" became an ongoing question at our house.<br />
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So finally, a couple months ago, I decided I would make a second attempt to muddle my way through Magician. Or at least get to chapter four. Rick downloaded it to my Kindle, I sighed a big sigh, and I sat down to read the 500-plus pages of text.<br />
<br />
I'm now eighteen chapters into the book. And the verdict?<br />
<br />
It's good.<br />
<br />
It's <i>really</i> good.<br />
<br />
DARN IT.<br />
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Rick was right about this stupid book. And I'm a big enough person to come here to my blog and say it for all the world to see -- Rick was right. And seeing as there are about a million books in this series, I probably should've just started reading them way back on that day we went to Six Flags.<br />
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Because now I have a lot of catching up to do... <br />
Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-85800233139580228742013-09-24T14:07:00.000-04:002013-09-24T14:08:48.386-04:00The mother of all randomness...Eight years ago today -- September 24, 2005 -- I wrote my very first post for this blog. I think it started as an experiment, to be honest. Other people were dabbling in this thing called "blogging" (a word which, I still contend, sounds just like the sound my cats make before throwing up hairballs), and as a "writer" of sorts, I thought I might toss my hat into the ring.<br />
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At the time, Rick and I were living in Austin, with our dog and cat, Echo and Allegro. Mom and dad had just moved from New Jersey and into a house right down the street... Eric was in Chicago, but single, and living in a tiny condo in Lincoln Park with a beat-up, pieced-together computer (which was affectionately -- or perhaps not-so-affectionately -- known as Frankencomputer). George W. Bush was president (ah, those were the good ol' days... ;)), "Lost" was a huge hit on TV, and the last two Harry Potter books hadn't even been released yet.<br />
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Since that day eight years ago, we've moved (twice -- once to a bigger house in Austin, and then to Chicago). Our sweet Echo and Allegro are running around together in pet heaven -- but we've been joined by Piva and Riff (who not only make life more interesting, but make me smile every single day). Mom and dad still have a house in Austin, but they also have a condo in Chicago. And Eric? Well, once he ditched Frankencomputer and moved into a nicer place, he met and married a girl who makes him happy, bought a great house, and proceeded to have the two cutest kids on the planet. (Way to show us all up, Eric... :))<br />
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We've had a U.S. presidential change, "Lost" came to an end (I'm STILL trying to decide whether I was satisfied with the final episode), and not only did J.K. Rowling finish up the saga of Harry Potter, but we all got to watch Daniel Radcliffe grow up on the silver screen as each movie was released. <br />
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For Rick and I, the last eight years have brought new jobs, a couple scary layoffs, and new opportunities -- we've discovered that when one job doesn't work out, sometimes it means that something much better is on the way. We've traveled to Hawaii, the Caribbean, Europe, and all over the U.S. We've said goodbye to some loved ones, and welcomed some new lives. We've met new people, made some new friends, and reconnected with old acquaintances. I've learned to cook some new recipes, and have gotten really good at baking cupcakes (WHY do I have to be so GOOD at baking cupcakes?? :))... but I've also learned to embrace my pedometer, and working out is more a part of my life than it's ever been.<br />
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There have been constants, of course -- family, long-time friends, my love of chocolate, the Yankees. (Although even the Yankees moved from their old stadium into a new one.) But it's interesting to go back through my eight years of blog posts and think about where I was and what was going on in my life when I wrote each one. And even though I've been slow to update lately, it's good to know that my blog is always here when I feel like rambling aimlessly about nothing. :) <br />
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So, in honor of my blog birthday (and keeping true to my randomness), here is a hodgepodge of pictures from the last eight years... mostly in no particular order whatsoever:<br />
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I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait to see what the next eight years has in store... :) </div>
Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-90353083840687379032013-09-11T13:38:00.001-04:002013-09-11T13:38:42.538-04:00Joy and remembrance...Oh, hello there! I suppose you thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth... again. :)<br />
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But no, I'm still around. Just been crazy busy around here, and there's been a lot going on. In fact, this is the first day in months that I haven't had either immediate work to do, or something waiting in the wings. I already feel lazy...<br />
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But this does give me a chance to catch up on some of my neglected housework and to finally write a blog post. Maybe I can even write more than one this week -- how novel would THAT be??<br />
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Anyway... despite my absence from the blog, nothing too exciting has been happening here in the Windy City. With the major exception of this little bundle of sweetness:<br />
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My adorable niece Molly was born on August 30 -- she already looks like her brother!<br />
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When I met her for the first time, she was trying to sleep and could NOT believe that I was bothering her. :)<br />
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I wish I had a picture of her nursery -- Eric and Rachel did such a great job with it. Pretty green walls, and lots of purple accents. Which is good, because kids should be introduced to a love of purple as early as possible. (Purple happens to be my favorite color, in case that wasn't obvious... :))<br />
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So that was the highlight of my summer -- which went by much too quickly, by the way. Halloween candy is already out in stores, and I just saw an ad for Lowe's that promised you can have new countertops in your kitchen "in time for the holidays." We're talking about "the holidays" already?? Too soon, too soon...<br />
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The first few weeks in September are always a bit melancholy -- September 6 would've been Aimee's 44th birthday, and she died the first week of September in 2002... so every time the first week of September rolls around, I'm thinking about her...<br />
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And then of course there's today -- I will never forget waking up on that perfect, sunny, cloudless morning twelve years ago, and thinking to myself that it was such a beautiful day. And then I turned on the TV, and the whole world changed.<br />
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So in remembrance of September 11, 2001:<br />
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Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-43329859392640630172013-08-19T13:17:00.000-04:002013-08-19T13:19:08.265-04:00Too long...Oh, Blog -- why have you been so hard to keep up with lately?? Here you sit, sad, neglected, lonely... while I go about my day, shuffling through random tasks and accomplishing what needs to be accomplished... and yet, day after day, there's a nagging feeling hiding somewhere in my brain... a feeling that I'm forgetting something -- something I was supposed to do... what could it be??? Ah yes -- update YOU, Mr. Blog.<br />
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Well, today's your lucky day!<br />
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As usual, I shall resort to my fall-back format and present a series of random thoughts:<br />
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I didn't even mention my birthday, which was almost a month ago. (What? You mean I've been THIS age... uh, let's say 29... for an entire MONTH already??) Rick and I met Eric at Chicago Cut for dinner:<br />
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I think this was the first time since I've moved to Chicago that Eric has had some free time on my birthday -- he's a busy guy... very in demand. But if he has a chance to attack a decent steak, he's going to take it. :)<br />
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And Eric is about to get a lot MORE busy, because my niece is due to arrive pretty much any day now. SO excited!! :) Eric can tell Connor all about how awesome it is to have a sister. (Right Eric? I'm sure you've already told him that sisters make life better... right? Of course I'm right...) And this means that I'll have to start upping the number of Christmas cookies I make every year... oh, how terrible. It's not like I love baking or anything... :)<br />
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Speaking of Christmas -- I am really not ready for fall to arrive, but September is approaching rather rapidly. Chicago has been pretty cool most of the summer -- we've had weeks where the temperature barely broke 70 degrees for days on end. We've had nights dip into the 40s and 50s... I've actually considered pulling out a blanket to keep me warm when I'm watching TV on the couch at night. (I have resisted, however, because -- it's AUGUST.) So it's been hard to get into a "summer" state of mind. The next couple weeks look like they'll be more typical, as far as August weather goes, so I'm hoping to get sick of the warm weather... that way, I'll welcome the arrival of cooler weather, and be happy to shift from "t-shirt drawer" to "sweater drawer."<br />
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Faisal wasn't able to join us for my birthday, so we went out for Pakistani food the next week. And as is now my habit, I had to buy some burfi for dessert afterwards. Riff got a little curious about the plastic box on the counter... and I can hardly blame him, because it was a plastic box filled with deliciousness: <br />
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Nope. Sorry, Riff. I'll give you catnip and cat treats and even the occasional bite of chicken... but you can NOT have my burfi...<br />
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So I'm working on a new project for the next few weeks. This one is more writing-intensive -- I have to write a few chapters for a book -- with a little bit of editing thrown in. I spent the morning brainstorming ideas for my introductory chapter... too bad they don't want stories about a crazy cat, because I have lots of those...<br />
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Well, I'm off to find lunch and take care of other random, non-specific things... I hope everyone has a great week! Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-14279791812860232272013-08-02T12:25:00.001-04:002013-08-14T20:31:51.913-04:00This week's randomness...Would you guys believe that I have ANOTHER month-long freelance job that I'm working on? And not only that, but after working on it for about a week, I got an email from the place I used to work in Austin asking if I could proof a directory for them. So I have two different projects going on at the same time -- I've been in serious demand this year. Which I'm not complaining about. Apparently I'm just THAT awesome. (Or people are THAT desperate?? I think I'll go with the "awesome" theory for now... :)) <br />
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On Sunday we arrived back from another trip down to Austin, and now I think I'm finally back in Chicago for a little while. Which is good, because I was starting to feel really bad about asking Eric to watch my cats. Over the last couple months, I think he's spent more time with them than I have. :) <br />
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Rick texted me right after he left to walk to work a couple days ago and asked if I knew what was going on at the church across the street from us. The street was blocked off, there were lots of police officers (some in dress uniforms), and there was a whole fleet of limos parked on the street, so Rick was wondering if it was a funeral for a police officer. After a Google search, I figured it out: it was the funeral for Dennis Farina, the Law and Order actor. He was actually a Chicago cop for years before he went into acting, so it would make sense that attendees would include officers in dress uniform. I was wishing I'd had a better view of the church -- most of it is blocked by the apartments directly across the street from us, so I never really saw much that was interesting, except a whole bunch of guys running around with news cameras. (And on a side note: I think Eric should eventually go into acting, too... :)) <br />
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So you guys know that most of the time I love my condo. I really do. I love the open floor plan, the high ceilings with the exposed ducts, the brick walls... I even love the random giant cement column in the middle of my living room. But every now and then, I'm reminded that there are downsides to a condo versus a stand-alone house. Like the other day, when I walked into my bathroom and was greeted with the pungent smell of tea tree oil. I don't HAVE any tea tree oil in my house. But apparently someone who lives nearby spilled an entire apothecary's cabinet full of the stuff, because my bathroom smelled like tea tree oil for days. We've also, on occasion, sniffed something that smells suspiciously like marijuana... although thankfully, I haven't smelled that in a while. Which I'm hoping means that our pothead neighbors (if they actually existed and we weren't smelling something more innocent that just happened to <i>mimic</i> the smell of marijuana) moved away. Strange smells aside, I'm actually quite impressed with our condo's ability to provide an independent space -- I rarely hear noises from other occupants of the building, because our cement ceiling and floors provide great insulation...<br />
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Well, I need to get to work on my proofreading, otherwise I'll be working all weekend. :) Hope everyone had a great week! Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-76642807976176650112013-07-10T13:29:00.000-04:002013-07-10T13:29:31.727-04:00Returning to Random...You guys, thanks so much for all the sweet comments under my last post! It was so nice to hear from all of you, and I really appreciated everything you said.<br />
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Now that I'm back to a somewhat-normal routine, I figured I'd post one of my somewhat-normal random posts. So here we go:<br />
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1. For those of you in America -- did you enjoy your July 4th holiday? Rick and I met Faisal for dinner, and then went back to his place to watch fireworks. His condo has an awesome view -- remember the view I used to have at our rental condo in Lincoln Park? Here, let me refresh your memory:<br />
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I used to have a pretty clear view of the Navy Pier fireworks. Faisal's place is even better -- not only does he have a clear view of Navy Pier, but his balcony overlooks the entire skyline of Chicago, from downtown to the western suburbs. So when it started to get dark, the ENTIRE horizon was filled with fireworks -- it was like watching 50 different fireworks displays all at the same time. In fact, the actual Navy Pier fireworks show sort of paled in comparison to watching the constant pyrotechnics off in the distance. Seriously one of the coolest things I've ever seen...<br />
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2. So as I may or may not have mentioned (it really has been WAY too long since I was updating this blog regularly), we've been using Peapod for grocery delivery the last couple months. I was wary about trying them out at first, since I'm crazy picky about produce. I have, at times, given up attempting to find a "perfect" onion or apple in the piles at the grocery store, and just handed over the task to Rick in frustration. For some reason, I'll get to a point where NOTHING looks good to me (for whatever arbitrary reasons I have), but if Rick just picks one out, I'll be so happy to finally have an onion in my cart that I don't care anymore. And so far, allowing the Peapod people to pick out my produce (wow -- Peapod people picking produce... say that five times really fast... :)), has worked out just fine.<br />
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We did, however, discover a slight drawback to the grocery delivery system over the weekend -- you have to actually <i>remember</i> that you ordered the groceries and be HOME when they deliver them. We took a walk down to Michigan Avenue on Sunday, so Rick could buy a watch battery and look for sandals, and I could check out the summer clothes at H&M. And just as Rick was about to find (what I can only assume would have been) the perfect pair of sandals, his phone rang and our door person informed us that Peapod was at our condo with our grocery delivery. Oops. We literally RAN out to the street, hopped in a cab, and got home as quickly as we could. Fortunately, the Peapod guy had another delivery to make in the same area, so he did that first and then came back to our place. Which is good, because if you're not around for a delivery, you get charged for the groceries you ordered PLUS some kind of penalty fee. Lesson learned -- don't forget about your grocery delivery time...<br />
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3. I'm starting to think that this weird "zombie" obsession in our culture is bordering on ridiculous. I mean, sure, at first it was like, "Shaun of the Dead is such an awesome movie!" (And it really is... I mean, Simon Pegg is hilarious...) But lately it seems like zombies are everywhere -- I just found <a href="https://www.zombiesrungame.com/">this website</a>, where you can actually download a zombie app to motivate you to run more. Apparently the idea is that you're pretending to run away from zombies. I don't want to pretend to run away from zombies... if I want to run farther and faster, I'll pretend that I'm running TOWARD a truck full of Ghirardelli chocolate...<br />
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4. I need to go do stuff (you know, non-specific yet extremely important "stuff" stuff), so that's it for today. Hope everyone is having a good July so far... <br />
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<span id="goog_651095740"></span><span id="goog_651095741"></span>Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-13474264683851682232013-07-02T13:55:00.000-04:002013-07-02T13:55:35.472-04:00Well, THIS is awkward...I didn't MEAN to take so much time off from blogging... really, I didn't. But the last couple of months have been a bit all over the place. As I mentioned weeks and weeks ago, I was occupied with freelance work the entire month of May. I was working every day -- even weekends -- so I could meet my end-of-the-month deadline, and I suppose the last thing I wanted to do at the end of each day was stare at my computer screen for another hour.<br />
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Two days after I'd finished my freelance project, we headed to Austin for a week. Back at the end of April, Rick's dad fell and broke his leg in two places. He'd already been struggling for years with a loss of mobility due to vascular Parkinson's and complications from diabetes, and was also stricken with a form of dementia. Some days were good and some days were bad... sometimes he'd carry on a conversation and know everyone's names... and other days he'd be confused and he'd often accidentally call Rick "David," which is the name of Rick's uncle. Rick tried to take it in stride, and would laugh it off -- because sometimes your only choices are to laugh or cry...<br />
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The leg break required surgery, which of course required narcotics, which apparently can be very bad for dementia patients. After the surgery, Rick's dad became incapable of participating in the rehab that was necessary for recovery. Eventually, he was discharged from the hospital and sent to an assisted nursing facility.<br />
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By the time we got down to Austin that first week in June, Rick's dad was not doing well at all. And I have to add -- do not ever allow your loved ones to reside in an Emeritus assisted living/nursing facility. Somehow, these places got high marks in a U.S. News and World Report list, but after the experience Rick's family had there, I would never recommend them. They had NO system for tracking the dispensing of medication, which resulted in NUMEROUS mix-ups -- they would forget to give Rick's dad his meds, then actually try to double up on them when they realized their mistake... or they WOULD give him the meds, a shift change would occur, and the next person on the shift would try to give him more meds. Even worse than this, I think, was the fact that he began to have difficulty swallowing and wasn't drinking enough. It took the staff DAYS to finally get him on IV fluids, at which point he was severely dehydrated.<br />
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One of the reasons we went to Austin at the beginning of June was to visit a couple long-term-care nursing homes, and to talk to a lawyer about financial issues. Rick's poor mom had pretty much been a 24/7 caretaker for months -- she only left the nursing home to sleep (or try to sleep) at night, at which point one of Rick's sisters would take over and spend the night with their dad. Insurance was only paying for Emeritus until mid-June, and we knew that there was no way Rick's dad could be cared for at home. Our assumption was that he'd be in a nursing home for a while, so we wanted to find a good one (definitely not Emeritus). By the end of the week, we thought we'd found a good one, and had a basic plan in place.<br />
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The day before we left Austin, after he'd finally gotten some IV fluids, Rick's dad was alert enough to see that we were there. Rick sat down in the chair next to his bed and said, "hey, do you know who I am?" And Rick's dad answered, "David?" Rick considered this to be as "normal" as things could get, considering he'd been mistakenly identified as David for years. When we left, Rick told his dad that we had to go, and his dad said, "okay, see you next week." He even smiled at Rick, and when Rick said goodbye, his dad said, "goodbye, son." At that moment, his dad DID know who he was...<br />
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The next day, the medical staff at Emeritus finally realized that a hospital would be a better location for Rick's dad. As we were heading to the airport to fly back to Chicago, he was on his way to a hospital, where they could better monitor him. We'd only been home a couple days when we learned that he'd taken a very bad turn for the worse. All of a sudden, the plans for long-term care were replaced with plans for hospice care. By Tuesday, the doctor was saying that he didn't think he'd make it through the weekend, and Rick and I started making plans to get back to Austin. We literally booked the earliest flight we could find Thursday morning -- 6 a.m.<br />
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Wednesday evening, I tried to get some sleep before our 4 a.m. wake-up call, but wasn't getting much rest. Rick decided to hop in the shower so he wouldn't need one in the morning, and at around 11:50, I heard his phone ring. And I KNEW that it wasn't good news. I couldn't sleep anyway, so I got up to go find his phone, and saw that his sister had sent a text, "Dad passed away at 11:45." My heart absolutely sank -- not just for the loss of my father-in-law, but because I knew that Rick wanted so badly to make it to Austin before he was gone. And we ended up being late by a mere 12 hours...<br />
<br />
We spent two and a half weeks in Austin, helping Rick's mom make arrangements, cleaning the house for the inevitable visitors, cleaning the fridge for all the food (so much food materializes when someone dies!), going through years and years of records that Rick's dad kept in his study (he would never let anyone throw anything away :)), and looking through hundreds of old pictures and memorabilia. Rick's brother-in-law Dean put together an awesome photo presentation for the visitation and memorial service, and Rick and all four of his sisters stood up and talked about their dad during the service.<br />
<br />
I, of course, am not a good public speaker... but if I had stood up to say something, I would've talked about how Rick's dad would always tease him about his great "pink" car (he never had a pink car, but Rick's dad would jokingly call his cars pink just to annoy Rick... I thought it was hilarious... :)). And he always made sure to give me a big hug before we left the house... if I got too far away, he'd say, "you're not trying to sneak away without a hug, are you?" :) With his diabetes, he had to be careful about how much sugar he ate... we'd go over to Rick's parents' house for dinner, and his mom would always have a couple different choices for dessert. So she'd ask Rick's dad, "would you like pie or cake for dessert?" And every time his answer was the same: "Yes!" He and Rick both loved a good argument -- or perhaps "debate"? :) -- and would often have lengthy discussions about politics. And he loved to reminisce about his time in the army when he was stationed in Hawaii -- we're so glad that we were actually able to go to Hawaii with him several times, including a visit to Oahu and Pearl Harbor.<br />
<br />
So that was the month of June -- not the best month, but I know that everyone finds comfort in knowing that Rick's dad is now enjoying eternity, probably hanging out with family members who went before him. He's finally free of the prison of Parkinson's and dementia, and no longer in any pain. And even though we were unable to get back to Austin to see him one last time, I think it's comforting for Rick to know that on that last day that were able to talk to him, his dad KNEW that we were there. He looked right at Rick, and he looked right at me. He smiled. And most importantly, his last words to Rick were "goodbye, son."<br />
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I love this picture of Rick's mom and dad... Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-26063415674364180992013-05-10T11:18:00.001-04:002013-05-10T11:18:19.550-04:00I'm still here!Wow... did May sneak up on anyone else?? I was just looking at my last post, and I can't believe I haven't written anything since April 12. It's been almost a month!! Not that it's all that unusual lately for me to have absolutely nothing interesting to write about... but it SEEMS like I just posted something a few days ago. This year is FLYING by... I'm not sure I like that. Could someone slow it down please? Thanks...<br />
<br />
I only have a few moments -- I've been crazy busy with some freelance work this week, and my "fun" writing has to take a backseat to my "actually pays me money" writing -- but I thought I should at least inform everyone that I have not fallen off the face of the earth. And in the spirit of my usual randomness, here are a few random tidbits:<br />
<br />
I just read <i>The Great Gatsby</i> for the first time ever -- my school did not force me to read it like so many other schools do, so it was never really on my "must-read" list. The title fell out of my thoughts completely, until I saw that the new Leonardo diCaprio movie was coming out. And then I found myself thinking, "I really ought to download that book to my Kindle and see what it's all about." (Of course, after I'd bought it for my Kindle, Rick pointed out that we should've just gone to a used book store and found a copy for $1.00 or so... yeah, yeah. I'll remember that next time I'm pondering a classic novel... :)) Anyway, it's a very good book -- quite an easy read, too -- although I wasn't expecting it to be quite as depressing as it turned out to be. I'm still interested to see the movie now, though...<br />
<br />
My hairdryer has started turning itself off at random times while I'm trying to use it. Rick said it was probably overheating, and there WAS an awful lot of dust stuck in the wire mesh part on the back. So I cleaned it as best I could, and then tried it out again -- nope. Still turning off for no reason. It's freaking me out. I want a new hairdryer.<br />
<br />
Next week we're finally going to try out a restaurant in the neighborhood called Gene and Georgetti, an Italian/steak place. It's literally a block away from our condo. We walk past it at least once or twice a week, and practically every time we do, we say, "we really ought to try that place." We've been saying "we really ought to try that place" since the day we moved into this condo. And like I said, it's ONE block away. I mean, it takes about 45 seconds to walk there. (Of course, perusing the menu full of steaks and pasta, I'm thinking I'll wish it took 45 MINUTES to walk there -- I'm going to need some exercise when I'm done with dinner.)<br />
<br />
Okay, I'm off to get some work done -- I hope everyone has a great Friday!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-1505401039526774452013-04-12T11:04:00.000-04:002013-04-15T12:25:10.484-04:00Random questions...I've seen these questions making the rounds on people's blogs lately, and since I've been at a decided loss for meaningful words the past couple weeks, I thought I'd give them a go: <br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>In baseball each player gets a āwalk up songā that plays on his way up to the plate. What song would you pick?</b></span><br />
<br />
Hmmm... this is tough, because I like so many different kinds of music. In fact, I'd probably be really weird and pick a different song for every at bat. Because how could I possibly settle on one??<br />
<br />
And speaking of music and baseball, I was browsing a site called What Pros Wear, which mainly talks about, obviously, what pro baseball players are wearing, and where you can buy similar items. But one blog entry about the music used at Yankee Stadium caught my eye, because the author wrote that one "gripe about Yankee Stadiumās musical tastes is their insistence that Kate Smithās <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7530NMPvkw" target="_blank">rendition</a>
of 'God Bless America' be the one played for every 7th inning stretch
since 2001 (unless we were lucky enough to have Ronan Tynan <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEThRlUcby4&feature=related" target="_blank">crush it</a>). Iām sure the woman had a great voice but she sounds like a foghorn in the version they use." I found this interesting because this is EXACTLY what I've been saying for years! I've heard that Kate Smith had a great voice, but the recording used by Yankee Stadium does her no justice -- it's like one part Ethel Merman, one part old-timey phonograph:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kate Smith singing God Bless America at Yankee Stadium</span></div>
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Every time I hear it, I half expect her to finish the song and immediately segue into a static-y sounding, belted rendition of "Everything's Coming Up Roses." Why couldn't Yankee Stadium just use a recording of Ronan Tynan? He has such a great voice... bring Ronan Tynan back, Yankees!!<br />
<br />
Okay, I kinda got off track... back to the questions:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>What's the best thing that happened to you last weekend?</b></span><br />
<br />
I did pretty much nothing interesting at all over the weekend, so that's hard to say. Oh, we did go to Peet's Coffee to pick up some coffee beans, and I tried their new Mayan chocolate mocha, which was awesome. Reminiscent of the spicy mocha that used to be available at Caribou Coffee... but it was then discontinued, and my mom has been searching in vain for it ever since. Also, Peapod delivered my groceries so I'm all stocked up to cook dinners this week. (Yeah, you know your life is exciting when the highlights of your weekend are coffee and groceries... :))<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>If you could have a starring role in any film already made, which movie would you pick?</b></span><br />
<br />
The first thing that comes to mind is the Matrix... because I think it would be fun to play the part of a gravity-defying, acrobatic-karate-fighting, kick-all-the-bad-guy's-butts kinda role. (And for some reason, the second thing that comes to mind is Titanic... because it would also be fun to play the part of the damsel in distress who is rescued by Leonardo DiCaprio and gets to escape the sinking ship... go figure. :) Also, the historical aspect would've been really interesting.) <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>What actor/actress would you have play you in a movie of your life?</b></span><br />
<br />
Well, now I'm stuck on Titanic, so I'll go with Kate Winslet. I've always liked her anyway, because she comes across as more "real" than a lot of the actresses out there -- she doesn't starve herself or work out ten hours a day to achieve some unattainable "ideal," which seems to be rare in the acting world. She could even keep the British accent... I mean, everyone would wonder why the girl who was born in Buffalo, New York ended up with a British accent, but that would just make my story more intriguing, right?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>What internet website do you visit the most?</b></span><br />
<br />
Probably Facebook, sadly enough... although not nearly as much as I used to when I first joined the site. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>Which of Snow White's 7 dwarfs describes you the best and why?</b></span><br />
<br />
Well, duh -- anyone who knows me knows that it's obviously Bashful. (Although depending on the season, Sneezy sometimes fits, too.)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?</b></span><br />
<br />
I always find this question really strange. I mean, if I was on death row -- if I literally knew that I had one more day on earth -- I would not be the least bit hungry. Why would I want to eat? What would be the point?? Do people seriously request lavish final meals on death row? How are they able to choke anything down with their own mortality staring them directly in the face?? I get the basic IDEA behind this question, I just think it needs to be reworded into another question entirely... like, "if you were moving to a remote arctic location with limited access to a variety of food, what would you eat the day before you left?" See, in THAT case, I would probably want some pizza, some Indian food, and a whole lotta cupcakes. And then I'd pack as many cupcakes as possible into my luggage and haul them up to the arctic with me... frozen cupcakes are still cupcakes...<br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>What is the background of your computer? </b></span><br />
<br />
This picture of Piva, which I took a couple years ago when she was enthralled by a candle:<br />
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Cats are fun... :)Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-56875569043167457822013-04-02T18:16:00.000-04:002013-04-02T18:16:16.159-04:00April randomness...I would just like everyone to pause for a moment and take in the fact that an entire quarter of 2013 is already over...<br />
<br />
How did it go by so quickly??<br />
<br />
I'm really not a fan of April Fool's Day... as I was perusing Facebook yesterday morning, I saw a story in my newsfeed that caught my attention. It was an official-looking "statement" that said Derek Jeter was announcing his retirement from the Yankees, he would not be playing this year, and he would be having a press conference before yesterday's opening day game. For a split second, my jaw dropped and my heart began fluttering in abject terror... and then my brain kicked in and said, "quit with the histrionics, idiot -- it's April 1st." Oh yeah... April 1st... the day when people think it's hilarious to play "jokes" on other unsuspecting people. Soooooo funny. Actually, I do enjoy seeing whatever Google comes up with every April 1st -- they always have some kind of silly link on their page...<br />
<br />
So Chicago is in the news again for not-nice reasons... Eric texted me Saturday night to ask if we were safe and sound in our condo. This is not a question you want your police-officer brother to ask you, because it probably means something bad is happening out in the city... Last year, we had an issue with apparently really bored packs of teenagers from other areas of the city hopping on the train, coming downtown, and terrorizing random innocent strangers. And since the weather was warmer than usual this past weekend, all those bored (and might I say, extremely uncreative) teenagers connected with each other on Twitter -- they actually <i>organized</i> a mob -- and headed to Michigan Avenue downtown to cause trouble. Fortunately, we stayed in on Saturday, but it's not uncommon for us to be in that area, so it's really disconcerting when I hear about this sort of thing happening. What's even more annoying is that these kids don't even live around here -- they deliberately get on the train and come to neighborhoods that are generally considered "safe" and even "touristy." I really do love Chicago, but sometimes I wonder how long we'll stay before we move on to somewhere else...<br />
<br />
Speaking of Chicago -- Return to Me is on on one of my movie channels right now. A lot of the movie takes place in a restaurant, and the restaurant they filmed it in is a place called Twin Anchors here in Chicago. If you're ever in Chicago, you HAVE to go to Twin Anchors -- some of the best barbecue sauce I've ever had... and I used to live in Texas. :) (And then watch Return to Me, so you can say, "hey, I've been to that restaurant!" Which is what I do every time I see this movie...)<br />
<br />
Baseball has started again! And nevermind the fact that the Yankees lost their first game to the Red Sox... no matter... it was one game. Obviously the Yanks are trying to lull their opponents into a false sense of security. And, honestly, the Yankees ALWAYS seem to be slow to get started. I was somehow also sucked into another season of fantasy baseball, so we'll see how THAT goes... :)<br />
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Okay, I need to go figure out what I'm making for dinner -- happy April, everyone!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-27394157412377492572013-03-26T18:36:00.000-04:002013-03-26T18:36:57.694-04:00I prefer the boring, quiet weekends...So it's been an interesting week... last week at this time, I was fighting off some kind of weird malady -- my stomach was feeling sort of off, and then I got a fever and started feeling achy. I thought maybe I was getting the flu, but by Wednesday I was feeling fine again. So apparently I picked up some random 24-hour thing from somewhere. But no matter... everything was back to normal by mid-week...<br />
<br />
So I didn't think much of it when Rick complained about his elbow hurting Wednesday night. He thought perhaps he knocked it against a door or a table or something, and just couldn't remember. During the night, I became aware of much tossing and turning from Rick's side of the bed... at around 3 in the morning, he said his elbow felt like it was "on fire," and he couldn't sleep. So he took some Advil, which helped enough that he was able to sleep the rest of the night...<br />
<br />
In the morning, he showed me his elbow, which was swollen and red (like angry, seriously peeved red). At this point, he thought maybe it was some sort of bug bite -- but to be honest, I was really hoping it WASN'T a bug bite, because I didn't like the idea of a bug that could cause a bite like that hiding somewhere in my house. An exterminator would've been immediately necessary. But as I looked at his elbow, I couldn't see ANY place on his arm where the skin was broken -- in fact, other than the fact that it was obviously really annoyed about something, his elbow looked fine. No bruises, scrapes, cuts, anything...<br />
<br />
But as the day wore on, Rick decided that whatever was going on with his elbow was NOT normal, so he made a doctor's appointment for Thursday afternoon. It took very little time for the doctor to decide that an orthopedic surgeon should be consulted -- she thought it looked like bursitis, which affects the joint, and orthopedists have more specialized knowledge of the issue. But the doctor was unable to find an available orthopedist, so she sent Rick straight to the ER to have the fluid drained from his elbow (ouch).<br />
<br />
After four or five hours in the ER, Rick was finally given the okay to leave, with a prescription for pain pills and precautionary antibiotics. (They'd sent the drained elbow fluid to the lab to test for bacteria, and initially everything looked okay.) But as Rick was walking home, he got a phone call from the ER doctor saying that something WAS growing in the elbow petri dish, but it wasn't clear yet how serious it was, so he promised to call back on Friday...<br />
<br />
Friday afternoon, Rick called me as he walked home from work and said he needed an overnight bag because he was being admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics. Apparently whatever started growing in that petri dish was very bad (although not quite as bad as MRSA, which is the super-resistant bacteria that's so hard to get rid of), and once he got to the hospital, they hooked Rick up to an IV of Vancomycin. (We read on Wikipedia that this particular antibiotic used to be a "last resort" antibiotic. But now there's bacteria out there that can even survive the "last resorts" so NEW last resorts have been developed...)<br />
<br />
At first, I assumed Rick's hospital stay would just be an overnight thing... Faisal was nice enough to give me a ride home on Friday, and then I walked over to the hospital Saturday morning, thinking Rick and I could get a cab home together. But the orthopedic surgeon decided that one more day of antibiotics would be a good idea, so I walked home by myself Saturday evening. He then decided that one MORE day of antibiotics would also be good, so I embarked upon another walk to/from the hospital on Sunday. It's only about a mile walk to the hospital... and even though I'm quite used to walking/jogging three or four miles at a time on my treadmill, I was totally exhausted over the weekend. Each evening when I got home, I thought about making myself dinner, and then decided to just heat up a can of soup and watch stupid movies on the couch (seriously, I actually watched "Wrath of the Titans" one night... it was bad the first time I saw it in the theater, and it was STILL bad the second time...)<br />
<br />
But the hospital wasn't completely horrible, as far as hospitals go -- Rick's room was on the top floor of the hospital, which, we found out, used to be the "VIP" floor. And Rick ended up in the room that Michael Jordan used to request when he needed knee surgery... or whatever it is basketball players generally need. So the room was HUGE -- I could've done cartwheels in there. There's also a Starbucks in the lobby of the hospital, so I was able to sneak cappuccino directly into Rick's IV line...<br />
<br />
He came home yesterday afternoon, after being given the option of taking oral antibiotics and waiting to see if the infection completely clears up on it's own, or having immediate surgery and just taking care of it. Rick decided on the "wait and see" approach, hoping to avoid the surgery. He'll find out on Friday if that worked or not. <br />
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The view from Michael Jordan's hospital room...</div>
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It's hard to tell just how big it was from this picture... it did, however, need a much bigger television set...<br />
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Cappuccino has healing properties...<br />
<br />
And then this morning, I got the worst news of all -- the cupcake store across the street is CLOSED!! My cupcakes are gone!! No more glimpses of deliciousness through my living room window!! Noooooooooooooooooooooo...<br />
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Okay, maybe that's not the WORST news in the world... but you can bet I'll be perusing Google maps tonight to find the next closest cupcake store around here... <br />
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Because cupcakes ALSO have healing properties... :)<br />
<br />Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-38000077919895292172013-03-14T13:58:00.000-04:002013-03-14T13:58:30.822-04:00This week's randomness...So Rick recently bought a couple Fitbit trackers for us to use -- have you guys heard of these? They not only track steps that you've taken, but they also track flights of stairs climbed, calories burned, and how many miles all those steps add up to. And, you can wear it in a band around your wrist while you sleep at night, and in the morning it tells you how much time you spent sleeping vs. how much time you were awake. (Last night, for instance, I really didn't feel like I was sleeping well... and according to my Fitbit, I woke up 20 times. Which sounds about right...) I have my tracker set with a goal of 15,000 steps a day -- every time I reach it, Fitbit sends me a nice little congratulatory message. So far, I'm really finding it to be a motivating tool -- I actually WANT to walk more, so Fitbit will tell me what a good job I'm doing. Which is sort of weird, but I guess motivation -- even when it comes from an inanimate object -- is always good.<br />
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I've been loving the extra light in the afternoons this week. With the disappointing winter we've had, I think I'm just ready to move on to spring now. Of course, this doesn't mean that we couldn't have a surprise April snowstorm. (Which, incidentally, is exactly what happened the first year we moved to New Jersey.) Besides, with spring comes BASEBALL -- I always so look forward to baseball season... even if the Yankees aren't looking so good this year... :)<br />
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I've heard from three separate, random sources this week how great cardamom is in coffee. Is this a new thing? I've never heard the virtues of cardamom-infused coffee lauded so passionately as I have this week. It's like all the coffee-loving people in the world had a secret meeting and decided that cardamom is the new "it" spice. Naturally, I had to try it in my own coffee this morning... so I added some ground cardamom to my coffee grounds before brewing. And it IS pretty good... I sometimes add cinnamon to my coffee, but I really do need to experiment with more spice variety. Maybe I'll try cinnamon AND cardamom... yeah, I'm crazy like that...<br />
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And back to the spring topic -- how are we already halfway through March?? Sunday is St. Patrick's Day, which means the Chicago river will be dyed green and crazy green-bedecked people from far and wide will converge on the city to wander up and down the streets, patronizing every bar in sight. Seriously -- I've never seen a city get so intense about St. Patrick's Day. They REALLY love that holiday here... I prefer to stay in my condo and avoid the drunk people...<br />
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I now have more than 5000 steps completed for the day, but since I need 10,000 more before my Fitbit congratulates me, I suppose I should get moving instead of sitting on the couch typing a blog post. :) Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-65214364235964997812013-03-01T15:30:00.000-05:002013-03-01T15:30:16.929-05:00Recent randomness...I have been at a loss for decent blog topics lately, which has resulted in much silence. So to the two or three of you who actually read my blog, sorry about being so boring. :)<br />
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I didn't watch any of the Oscars last Sunday... I just don't care about those awards shows all that much. I did, however, spend the evening watching a movie that WON a few Oscars: Jaws... which I'd never actually watched from start to finish. I'd seen a minute or two here and there -- but never the whole movie in its entirety. ("Is that <i>Richard Dreyfuss</i>??" I exclaimed, when his 28-year-old self appeared on-screen.) And let me just say -- that movie is SCARY. That shark was huge! And yeah, it was a fake movie shark... but still -- that fake movie shark was HUGE!! I've always found it extremely unsettling to swim in lakes and oceans -- I don't like large, dark bodies of water filled with unknown contents... and now, well, I'm just not sure I can ever go near the ocean again. :) (By the way -- John Williams is a movie soundtrack GENIUS. That guy can musically capture the mood of a film better than any composer out there...)<br />
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I think our snow chances for Chicago this year are officially a bust. We got a couple inches the other night, and it's actually been snowing off and on for the last three days or so... but it's been too warm for the flakes to actually accumulate. So while it's been pretty to watch it fall, it hasn't really amounted to much. Such a disappointing winter... well, for those of us who love snow. :)<br />
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It's been exceedingly cloudy the last few weeks, which has been rather depressing. I always find that I have more energy when the sun shines -- apparently I run on solar-powered batteries. Needless to say, I've found myself dragging most days, trying to decide between working out (which usually helps to give me a bit more energy) and drinking copious amounts of coffee (which temporarily gives me a slight energy boost, but only until my coffee is gone...). But we did have one clear day last week, which happened to coincide with a full (or almost full) moon:<br />
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But today is yet another cloudy day... so in lieu of drinking copious amounts of coffee, I'm off to work out. Hope everyone had a good week! Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-85167882391271052822013-02-16T00:48:00.000-05:002013-02-16T00:48:02.759-05:00The unbearable lightness of my bedroom...I love my condo. I really do. I love the loft feel of it -- the high ceilings, the exposed duct work, the brick walls... even the random concrete-entombed nails, rebar and dowels, which, I'm sure could all tell stories about this building's history as a food factory nearly a hundred years ago.<br />
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It's not perfect, of course -- the kitchen could use an update. So could the master bathroom... for some reason, the previous owner of this unit completely renovated the guest bathroom, but left the master bathroom as is. The bland circa-1999 (I'm guessing) decor is pretty boring and dated... but it's roomy, it's functional, it's a bathroom -- I can't really complain.<br />
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But the one thing that HAS bothered me since we moved in is the bedroom light in the ceiling. I actually rarely use this light, since we have a couple of lamps on bedside tables that usually suffice. But I do use the ceiling fan -- I am, apparently, part polar bear or emperor penguin, because I like it cold when I sleep, and the fan helps to lower the temperature in the room. So every night, I turn the fan on, but keep the light off. And most nights, this works out just fine...<br />
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Every now and then, however, for absolutely no discernible reason, that light in the ceiling decides to turn itself on. It is quite disconcerting to fall asleep in a dark room, only to awake in the middle of the night to a brightly burning light bulb. Especially when no one has actually turned it on. And it's even more alarming if I'm not quite asleep yet, and the dark veil provided by my eyelids is suddenly pierced with glowing incandescence. It's like my mom has stepped into my room to wake me for school after I've overslept... Except, like I said, NO ONE IS THERE.<br />
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This tends to startle me so much that when Rick is traveling, I either sleep without the fan on (so the switch on the wall is off altogether), or I wear a sleeping mask to entirely cover my eyes, so I can't see if the light suddenly turns itself on.<br />
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The logical part of me knows that the phantom light is probably just a wiring issue of some sort, and my condo is NOT haunted by a ghost who really wants to read a few chapters of a good book or work on knitting a scarf. But recently I've noticed that when I use my white noise machine, every now and then (just like the light), it switches itself OFF in the middle of the night. So now I have a randomly illuminating overhead light AND a randomly silenced white noise machine. I've used the white noise machine a lot over the last few years, so it could just be that I need a new one... but still -- now my ghost-that-doesn't-really-exist wants silence, too (presumably to concentrate more thoroughly on the book and/or knitting).<br />
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And then last night, I woke up at around 2 in the morning and heard a strange whirring noise. It took me a minute to realize what it was, but I finally figured it out -- my dishwasher was running. This one actually DOES have a logical explanation (I think) -- Riff has a habit of jumping onto the kitchen counter right above the dishwasher... and sometimes, his back feet don't quite clear the counter, and he ends up hitting a button on the dishwasher. So if the dishwasher is closed and locked (as it was last night, because I'd just run it earlier in the evening), he's apt to turn it on. I'm really hoping this is what happened last night, because by the time I actually woke up and heard the dishwasher running, Riff was curled up at the end of the bed sleeping peacefully.<br />
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So yes, I honestly do love my condo. But sometimes it really freaks me out... :) Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-2744663974047415142013-02-11T13:21:00.003-05:002013-02-11T13:21:47.266-05:00I was told there would be snow...You know, I really need to take a cue from other bloggers and write a few posts in advance... then perhaps I wouldn't appear to be such a blog slacker. :)<br />
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I've been far too busy pondering the question of why Chicago has had no snow this year. This is CHICAGO -- snow is supposed to be a guarantee. Meanwhile, the northeast was buried under feet of frosty frozen flakes (not to be confused with Frosted Flakes... although snowstorms ARE ggrrrrrreat!). What does a northern city on a Great Lake have to do to get some snow, huh?? Darn you and your global warming, Al Gore!!<br />
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This is about the best we've gotten so far:<br />
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Ehh... at least the sidewalks were covered, temporarily. (This, by the way, is my favorite place to sit when it actually DOES snow -- I love sitting at my balcony and watching the city view while snow falls...)<br />
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Mostly, we've just had cloudy day after cloudy day, with some rain now and then (yeah, RAIN... that's just not right) and an occasional sunny day for good measure. Riff takes full advantage of the sunny days:<br />
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Cats love their sunbeams... <br />
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Hope you all have a good week, whether or not you're digging out from under piles of snow... :)Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-69683844162350468652013-01-30T13:28:00.000-05:002013-01-30T13:28:30.665-05:00Today's randomness...I'm sitting at my table overlooking my balcony and the street down below, waiting for snow to start. It's in the forecast today, but I'm still skeptical, considering the decided lack of winter weather we've experienced this year. So far, the temperature is hovering around 39, which means that all we're getting is really cold rain... I MUCH prefer snow to cold rain -- for some reason, 40 degrees and rainy feels about a hundred times more cold and miserable than 30 degrees and snowy.<br />
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I just watched a woman with a stroller standing on the corner waiting for the light to change so she could cross the street. She had the stroller halfway off the sidewalk and hanging in the intersection. Hmmm... seems like that's putting an awful lot of faith in the strangers driving their two-ton vehicles around your baby. Maybe I'm just super cautious and totally distrustful, but I don't think I'd let a stroller get anywhere near a street until I was certain everything around me had stopped moving... then again, I AM pretty paranoid...<br />
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Rick is returning from a ten-day trip to San Francisco today, where he attended a "boot camp" for his new job. I was trying to think of the last time I'd spent ten days alone, and honestly, I'm not sure I've EVER spent ten days alone. But I definitely don't have a problem with it... I could probably move to Nepal and take up residence in a monastery, where I would take a vow a silence and solitude and hang out with lots of cats. Which is pretty much what I've been doing for the last ten days... minus the Nepal part, of course.<br />
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When I turned my TV on this morning, I accidentally hit the channel button, which switched the channel over to Spanish-language Telemundo. A normal person would've immediately looked for something else, but I actually KEPT it on Telemundo for a good half hour and watched some kind of weird, dramatic soap opera. And I don't speak Spanish. But I DO find foreign languages fascinating to listen to, so I'll actually sit and listen with rapt attention to languages I don't understand, completely convinced that if I listen long enough, something will start to make sense. (This is a fact that drives Rick insane, especially if we're in a hotel and I find the Japanese game show channels. I watch as long as I can, until Rick, usually sitting at his computer, begins pleading, "change it, change it, CHANGE IT." It's sort of hilarious... :))<br />
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For the first time since we moved to Chicago, I actually have all THREE of my living room lamps arranged, plugged in, and ready to light the room. When we first moved up here, we could only find two of the lamps -- our movers really strangely configured our stuff when they packed it all up, so although two of the lamps were logically found in "living room" boxes, one of them was nowhere to be found. We eventually found it over at our storage facility, when we were rummaging through random boxes -- I can't remember where we finally found it, but I think it was in a "garage" or "workout room" box. And then when we moved into this place, I couldn't find a good place for all three lamps, so one of them has just been sitting idle on my desk. But now that we've had the <a href="http://www.journalofrandomtangents.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-tale-of-two-televisions-and-troll.html">adventure of acquiring our new TV</a> and set it up in a new space in the living room, some area has been freed up for lamps. And it makes me weirdly happy to see all three of them burning brightly at the same time...<br />
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And now I'm off to find something for lunch and to wait for snow... I shall remain skeptical until I see it... <br />
Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-10721940669681771142013-01-21T22:07:00.000-05:002013-01-21T22:07:24.591-05:00Photo randomness...Every now and then I find myself flipping through the pictures I have in my phone, trying to decide whether or not to keep them or delete them. I also wonder: how did I get SO many pictures on my phone?? And do you suppose that someday, cameras will be obsolete? Will we all just document our lives with the cameras on our phones, instead of good-quality CAMERA cameras? (Or will phone cameras eventually reach the level of quality found in real cameras? I mean, it makes sense, right? Computers used to be the size of entire rooms... and now we fit them into the palms of our hands...)<br />
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That whole paragraph of curiosity was for the sole purpose of introducing these -- a bunch of pictures I recently took with my camera:<br />
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Oh Christmas cookies, how I miss you...<br />
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Piva checking out the twenty snowflakes that have fallen this year...<br />
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My new favorite purple mug from Caribou Coffee. Faisal bought the same mug (actually, he bought like four of them because they were a really good deal -- they were marked down from ten or twelve dollars to only three or four...), and made the observation that because the mouth of the mug is so wide, hot beverages cool down quickly. Which is true... but I tend to reheat my beverages in the microwave about fifteen times before I manage to drink an entire cup. Sometimes I'll take a sip, and then forget about it for a half hour... and then suddenly I'll realize, "hey, I still have an entire cup of coffee!" So the quickly cooling properties don't bother me much... and anyway, coffee tastes better in a purple mug. Don't question me, it just does.<br />
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Can someone tell me what's going on here? Seriously, this is the second time I've noticed a long line of people standing on the street across from my condo building -- and I have yet to figure out what they were all waiting for. There are no movie theaters, no sports arenas, no museums... the building they're standing in front of houses an eye doctor, a hairstylist, and a custom suit shop... and I just don't think all of these people are in desperate need of new suits. Next time I see something like this, I'm going down to stand in line, too... just so I can see where I end up. <br />
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I have a LOT of Riff pictures on my phone... he's just always doing things that make me laugh. Like searching for a lost treat under the fridge...<br />
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Or hiding behind the coffeemaker...<br />
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Or taking his place as Kitty Overlord on top of the fridge and gazing down upon his human underlings...<br />
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Okay, I'm off to make some tea and huddle under a blanket to counteract the effects of tonight's 7-degree weather... hope everyone is having a good week! <br />
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<br />Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-60243002067625568732013-01-15T16:25:00.002-05:002013-01-15T16:25:43.619-05:00Yum...Every year, it's the same -- I feel really sad right after Christmas when I'm packing away all my decorations, but then I'll look at the calendar one day, and all of a sudden we're already halfway through January. And I realize: the year is once again moving waaaaay too quickly. (I really need to stop feeling down after Christmas -- I don't want the next one to arrive before I have a chance to enjoy the rest of the year...) All of that was to say -- it's January 15th already??<br />
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Anyway, moving on from my "time moves too quickly" incredulity... So last week, after years (literally YEARS) of arm-twisting, I finally agreed that Rick and I should have dinner with Faisal at a Pakistani restaurant on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Avenue_%28Chicago%29">Devon Ave.</a>, which is the location of Chicago's "Little India" neighborhood. (Okay, perhaps *I* wasn't the one who needed a good arm-twist... the reluctant holdout shall remain nameless... RICKRICKRICK. What? I felt like typing Rick's name in obvious capital letters just for the fun of it... :)) There was some discussion as to what the difference is between Indian food and Pakistani food -- I think the conclusion was "not much," although the Pakistani place did have brain on the menu. (No, I didn't try it... and no, I never will... although if I WERE inclined to eat brain, I think it would definitely be best surrounded by delicious spicy sauce...)<br />
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Faisal was a bit apprehensive about finally taking us to this place, since he'd repeatedly extolled the delicious virtues of not only this particular restaurant, but others on Devon Ave., many times when asking us to join him... so in my mind, at least, it was understood to be this completely awesome dining experience. I was seriously excited to try it. Like jumping-up-and-down-in-my-bathroom-while-I-was-getting-ready excited to try it. And lucky for Faisal, it WAS awesome. Any place that knows how to cook chicken until it's absolutely-perfect-fall-apart-tender -- and dark meat chicken, at that, which I normally don't even eat -- is on my "must visit again" list. As Faisal said -- his peeps really know what they're doing. :)<br />
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And by the way, Faisal -- THANK YOU for continually asking us to join you, even though it took SOMEONE in this house five thousand years to agree. I won't say who... RICKRICKRICK... What??? Really, I just like typing Rick's name... :) (Rick is probably now plotting my demise... or at least plotting a way to keep me far away from all Indian and/or Pakistani food for the rest of my life...)<br />
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Anyway, as I was saying -- the food at this place was awesome, and I want to go back, like, yesterday. We were all completely stuffed after dinner, but Faisal wanted to stop at a place to pick up some desserts to take home. And since I'm never one to pass up an opportunity to try a new dessert, I went into the shop and tried a sweet, sticky, square-shaped thing (which is what I kept calling it until I did some Google research to come up with the proper name -- burfi). After my huge dinner, the burfi was "good," but I could barely fit it into my quite-satisfied stomach -- nevertheless, I decided to take some home with me. The next day, with an empty stomach and a craving for something sweet, I sliced off a little piece of it and took a bite. Suddenly, I heard the singing of a thousand angels and a bright heavenly light shone from above down upon the sweet square of delightful ambrosia before me. Okay, maybe that's a SLIGHT exaggeration -- but holy sugar rush... if marzipan and fudge met up with cardamom (maybe?) and sweetened condensed milk (maybe??), this is the crazy delicious baby they would have. Seriously, I don't even know what's in this stuff (except sugar... I'm fairly certain there was sugar), but it will haunt my dreams...<br />
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This whole experience made me start thinking about foods from my own ethnic background, and how many of them I like (or hate). As an American mutt, my various ancestors are mostly from Sweden, England, France and Germany. Swedish food is out -- I'm sorry Sweden... I love you for my last name and my affinity for cold weather (although I can't say I'm always happy with my arctic-circle-chic skin tone... but whatever), but your food leaves something to be desired. I know some people love Swedish meatballs and pickled herring, but I just... can't. Although I admit to knowing very little about Swedish desserts... I should look into that...<br />
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I'm also not all that well-acquainted with English food, although I've really grown to love the fish and chips place we frequent just about every week. Not for the fish and chips, of course... but the rest of their food is good, too. Whether or not it's quintessentially English food, however, I'm not really sure. But my mom and I used to have lunch at an English tea room back in New Jersey that served the BEST scones with clotted cream -- I'm glad it was a bit of a drive from our house, because I could've eaten those things every day...<br />
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French food? Well, I do love a good chicken fricassee... and French croissants, I'm fairly certain, win the award for "best use of obscene amounts of butter in a pastry." Which means they taste amazing, of course. (You never heard Julia Child say, "you know what this dish needs? Less butter...")<br />
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But I think of all the countries of my vague origin, I am most familiar with German food -- this, no doubt, is because of my years of studying German in high school and all of our various field trips to restaurants, cultural centers, etc. Not to mention the fact that family members who knew I loved my German classes gave me German cookbooks for Christmas and birthdays. And while the Germans are a bit too in love with their wurst (which violates my "no ground up meat" rule), I do love a nicely prepared Sauerbraten, and I could pretty much eat my weight in SpƤtzle. Black Forest cake is one of my favorite desserts (I love chocolate and cherries), and Sacher Torte and spritz cookies are quite good, as well. And Germans are no strangers to good chocolate, either. <br />
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And now that I've written this entire post, I'm starving... sooooo... anyone for Italian? :) Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-30319830022879244942013-01-08T17:02:00.001-05:002013-01-08T17:02:46.482-05:00Happy 2013 randomness...1. Happy New Year! (Okay, I'm a little late with my new year wishes, but at least it's still January...)<br />
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2. I was super wild and crazy and did absolutely nothing on New Year's Eve. Just watched some TV, read a couple chapters of a book, and then stood at my window until I saw the reflections of the Navy Pier fireworks on a building down the block -- that's how I knew it was officially 2013, and therefore, I could immediately retire to bed. I always worry about noise on New Year's Eve, because even when we lived in the quiet Austin suburbs, people were always setting off fireworks for hours after midnight. But when midnight hit here in downtown Chicago, I was surprised by how quiet it was. I fell asleep right away, happy that none of our neighbors were hosting noisy parties. And then, around 2:00 in the morning, I woke up and gradually became aware of murmurings and engine noise and an occasional siren outside... so I got up and walked to the balcony windows to see what was going on. Apparently, 2 a.m. is about the time New Year's Eve parties start to break up, and EVERYONE heads home at the same time. The streets were crowded with people attempting to hail cabs (thank you for not driving, drunk people), which proved to be quite the feat, because every cab that passed was already in use. I've also never seen so many limos driving around at the same time -- I guess renting limos is also a New Year's Eve thing?? And because of all the traffic on the streets, emergency vehicles (which usually silently traverse the neighborhood at night, because the streets are pretty empty) were forced to use their sirens. So my nice quiet new year temporarily became a cacophony of party-goers...<br />
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3. I have, over the last few weeks, managed to smack my legs right into the corner of my bed on BOTH sides... so I now have matching bruises on both of my shins. Seriously, WHY did my parents not bestow upon me the middle name of "Grace"? Because clearly I am full of a lilting elegance, the likes of which is rarely found outside the realm of ballet dancing or Cirque du Soleil...<br />
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4. I'm losing hope that Chicago will get any decent snow this year. We've had a few random snow showers, where flakes will swirl around in the air for a couple hours but absolutely nothing accumulates. And seeing as temperatures are supposed to be in the 50s (and maybe even 60s???) this weekend, I'm guessing snow won't be in the forecast again for a while...<br />
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5. I never make new year's resolutions (with the exception of resolving to NOT write the wrong year when I write the date... you get so used to writing the previous year that it becomes habit. So I resolve to only write "2013" this year. I'm so ambitious.), but I suppose I should have some kind of goals for the new year. Like maybe getting the condo into better shape -- I've been meaning to buy some artwork for the walls since we moved in... I really ought to do that eventually. Perhaps I should even resolve to write more blog posts... :)<br />
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Hope everyone has had a great first week of 2013! Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-68030277294591681412012-12-28T16:26:00.000-05:002012-12-28T16:26:20.823-05:00Friday randomness...The after-Christmas slump has begun... it always feels a bit depressing when the holiday season ends. All of the shopping, wrapping, baking and socializing seems to come to such an abrupt conclusion. Of course, in the case of baking, this is probably a very good thing. Even though I love baking, I once again feel as if I've been eating nothing but cookies and chocolate for the last four weeks. Salad and vegetables are actually sounding surprisingly good at the moment. Rick bought me some new workout clothes for Christmas (don't worry, I asked for them -- he wasn't trying to hint at anything... I don't think...), so I'll be making use of those. Immediately.<br />
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We had a nice, low-key Christmas at mom and dad's place with Eric, Rachel, Connor and Faisal. Faisal took a few nice family pictures for us: <br />
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Although as Eric said, "Faisal is really a part of the family... maybe Lisa should take the picture..." Oh, my brother is sooooooo funny... :) (I do agree with the first part of that statement, however -- perhaps a tripod and camera with a timer would be a better option? Eric would probably find a reason why that wouldn't work... :))<br />
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One of the things Connor loves to do at mom and dad's place is run up and down the hallway of the condo building... it's good exercise... :) (We should've ALL been running up and down the hallways -- that would've justified our cookie consumption...)<br />
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But one of his absolute FAVORITE things to do is to play with phones and iPads -- if you want to get Connor's attention, just pull out an iPad:<br />
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So far, he hasn't figured out the code to unlock it, but one of these days, he's going to randomly hit the correct keys and delete everything on Faisal's iPad...<br />
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Chicago has FINALLY had some snow (although not nearly enough, in my opinion). It snowed for a few hours yesterday morning, and although most of it melted as soon as it hit the ground, we did end up with a slight "dusting" -- which is more than we've had all year. (Isn't that crazy?? This is Chicago! We're supposed to be buried under snow by now!)<br />
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Riff was quite fascinated by the falling flakes -- he was actually trying to capture them through the glass as they fell...<br />
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Okay, I'm off to try out some of my new workout clothes... hope everyone has a good last weekend of 2012! Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-53245303687813267912012-12-24T23:02:00.000-05:002012-12-24T23:02:11.248-05:00I heard the bells on Christmas Day...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #666655; font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;">I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day<br />
Their old familiar carols play,<br />
And wild and sweet the words repeat<br />
Of peace on earth, good will to men.<br />
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I thought how, as the day had come,<br />
The belfries of all Christendom<br />
Had rolled along the unbroken song<br />
Of peace on earth, good will to men.<br />
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And in despair I bowed my head:<br />
"There is no peace on earth," I said,<br />
"For hate is strong and mocks the song<br />
Of peace on earth, good will to men."<br />
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Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;<br />
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,<br />
With peace on earth, good will to men."</b></span><br />
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Till, ringing singing, on its way,<br />
The world revolved from night to day,<br />
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,<br />
Of peace on earth, good will to men</span>
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Merry Christmas!</span></span></span></span><br />
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<br />Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17086235.post-80612196936518868442012-12-20T12:16:00.000-05:002012-12-20T12:16:16.947-05:00Be good for goodness' sake...<br />
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A friend of mine posted this on Facebook -- an old German Christmas card, I believe. The translation would be "greetings from Krampus and Nicholas" -- Nicholas, of course, referring to St. Nicholas, who, in this country, has morphed into Santa Claus. But Krampus is a bit of a lesser-known figure from German/Alpine folklore -- whereas St. Nick travels from house to house bestowing gifts upon good children, Krampus finds the bad children and punishes them. He's always depicted as some kind of creepy, demonic entity, who rattles chains or smacks kids with branches from his basket of switches. He's like St. Nick's terrifying sidekick... <br />
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Growing up in the U.S., the idea of a kindly, rotund, jolly man who somehow broke into my house every Christmas Eve and left me presents was extremely disconcerting to me... if I'd grown up in Germany, I think I would've needed anti-anxiety medication to get through the Christmas season. I mean, sure, we have the whole, "he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake" thing, but apparently Germany takes their naughty-children-during-the-holidays concept <i>seriously</i>.<br />
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In Northern Europe, St. Nicholas Day is celebrated on December 6. I think in some places, this is even considered the "big" day for gift-giving, as opposed to Christmas Day. On St. Nicholas Eve, kids put their shoes outside their doors or by the fireplace, and in the morning they're filled with candy or small toys. This is a tradition my high school German teacher tried to show her pupils by asking us to take our shoes off before class one December 5. (Side note: my German "classroom" was actually a little room off the library that was obviously meant to be a storage room or somebody's office... My freshman year of high school, there were only seven of us in the class... by the time I was a senior, there were three of us...) We, being the belligerent teenagers we were, vociferously opposed this order... okay, everyone else vociferously opposed, I silently brooded. But eventually our teacher somehow convinced us to (grudgingly) leave our shoes outside in the library, and while we took a pop quiz or worked on vocabulary lists, she "snuck" outside (in our tiny room this really did not go unnoticed) and filled all of our shoes with candy.<br />
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After that, I felt bad that we'd all been protesting the shoe-removal, because obviously our teacher just wanted to surprise us with a fun tradition, and we'd taken a bit of the "fun" out of it by suspiciously demanding to know why our shoes were being confiscated. We probably all should've been hit with Krampus switches, but fortunately, that really IS just a silly story made up to scare children into being extra good...<br />
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It IS just a story, right? Right? RIGHT???<br />
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Sigh... the Christmas season is SO stressful... :) Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484146648171803628noreply@blogger.com2