a tossed salad of thoughts and happenings

On Saturday I visited my BFF and his family in Fredericksburg, which was exciting because I haven't seen them since June. I saw the Rappahannock River and it was mostly frozen. That was also exciting because I don't think I've seen a frozen river before.

The contestants on the show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" make me sad for America.

My mom thought she had a pistachio sighting, but I had to ix-nay it because it was in my dad's car. That means he probably left it there himself, and even if it was an accident and happened a long time ago that doesn't cut it. Finding your own pistachio shells doesn't count. And I make the rules in this game.

Sunday Alex and I worked for about two hours on the New York Time's crossword puzzle. We only had to cheat on the internet a tiny bit, and then we finished it! Other family members helped out, too.

I make a mean pizza. It has a homemade crust that makes eleven-year-olds say "this pizza has a crust I will actually eat!"

I took a three hour nap yesterday, which was glorious.

The Anne of Green Gables series melts my heart. I asked for the three-movie collection for Christmas and finished the third one last night. I also watched all the bonus material. I want to marry Gilbert Blythe.

Today they set up a screen at work so we could watch the inauguration live, which was awesome. Unfortunately the CBS newscasters wouldn't shut up or turn off their mics.

dreamin'

When I was a kid I would sometimes daydream about the task of having to pick out new parents. It was like those daydreams when you think: What if everyone in the world had to line up and they would tie your legs together and make you jump over a tub of hot lava, and if you couldn't make it, you died. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Anyway, this particular daydream usually started with the fact that I could no longer keep my mom and dad. I don't think they died, I think they were just taken away from me and I had to choose new parents. So all of the eligible parents I knew would line up. Teachers from school, neighbors, babysitters, couples from church. They would all be standing there in a line looking at me and waiting for my decision. I would go down the line, dismissing some of them easily but thinking hard about others. "Hmm...if I pick that couple I know I'll get to watch PG-13 movies. Or if I pick them I might get to go to Disneyland more often." But in the end I could never choose. None of them could stand up to what I already had. And since what I already had wasn't really a choice in this daydreaming game, I would often get really sad and think about crying, but then realize the whole thing was ridiculous and snap back into real life. My parents never knew it, but those little exercises helped remind how lucky I already was.

snicker

Today I had a mini Snickers bar for my I-can't-believe-it's-only-been-forty-five-minutes-since-lunch-ended-when-will-this-day-end? afternoon snack. It reminded me about how delicious ice cream Snickers bars are, which I haven't had in several years. I could use one of those.

Mosaic No. 5

Hey look, I made another mosaic! I guess technically it's two mosaics, but they go together to make one piece. It's a ukulele, which I gave to Josh for Christmas.

Only four dollars more!

Waiter at the Mexican restaurant: What would you like to drink?

Me: Umm...hmm...well...

Waiter: How about a margarita! We have an excellent margarita with [fill in the blank with excellent stuff because I don't know and I wasn't paying attention]. It's only four dollars more but if you're going to buy a margarita, you might as well buy a good one!

Me: Wait, only four dollars more than the $5.99 house margarita? Are you kidding me? That's a meal.

Waiter: Ah, well, haha...uh...

Me: I'll take the house margarita. Frozen with salt.

Books and movies for free? Who knew?

I don't know about you folks, but I, for one, am being affected by this economic calamity we are experiencing. So I'm working on pinching my pennies. Even more than I used to, which was sort of a lot.

My old penny-pinching mentality? Print off a 30 per cent coupon for Borders, go over there and browse for a book or CD, get too stressed out about spending ten bucks on something I might not love, and very often leave empty handed.

My new plan? Go to the library! I went on Saturday. I checked out a David Sedaris book and, drum roll please, the second season of Deadwood. (I watched the first season with Ryan during my August visit to Santa Fe, and ever since then I've been itching to see the second, but he hasn't bought it yet and I didn't even want to pay to check it out from a video store!) One of the wonderful things about the library is that I don't have to fret over whether or not I will actually like the book (or movie), because if I don't I can always return it and not regret spending money! Because it's free!

Now don't shake your head at me and call me crazy. Yes, I've known about libraries all along, and I've been to them before. Yes, I've talked about becoming a librarian myself. Blah blah blah. The point is, I'm excited that I finally revisited a very obvious way to read books and watch movies. For free.

"on the floor in the nursery at work"

We're on a roll over here. Look what Janelle found at the hospital where she works! C'mon guys, you have to admit it's crazy how ubiquitous these pistachio shells are.