Oh, for the Love of...

So, I'm sitting here at the Hartford Café drinking a decaf café au lait, surrounded by various implements needed to work on one of my extended-deadline papers. Notebook, laptop, pencil, coffee beverage....but no book. Argh!

Since I can't just pull quotes and references out of thin air (well, I could, but I think that would be looked down upon), I might as well work on something.

Last night, while Porkchop worked at the park, I entertained myself with grocery shopping. Our refrigerator and cupboards were so sad looking, and I had been waiting for a week to get paid so that I could purchase some quality groceries. There was no Shop n Save or Schnuck's for me last night, no way. It was Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. I picked up lots of useful things like chile spiced mango slices and raspberry vinaigrette. And fruit! Yay for fruit! Unfortunately, I realized that neither of those two stores carry the very mundane item of creamed corn. So, I have to go to SnS or Schnuck's anyway! Grrrr! Oh well, Porkchop needs Mountain Dew, so a trip to one of those stores is inevitable.

If you're curious, our menu for this week is:

• Edamame and corn chowder


• Cheese ravioli with butternut squash sauce


• Cranberry caramelized chicken and cranberry-almond pilaf


• Maybe pizza margherita

Order to be determined.

Oh, the other exciting event yesterday was the arrival of the tweed elephant from Little Birds. As cute in real life as in the photo.

The mortifying event yesterday was when the center's director stopped by my office and said, "Have I told you that you remind me of my daughter?" Okay, even though I always feel weird when someone says something like that, it was an innocent comment. It was followed by, "Yeah, she's kind of quiet, studious, capable..." Still okay. Then he closed by saying, "And she's a lesbian. And she has short blond hair." My smile froze at that moment, as I tried to fathom how to respond. I didn't want to be rude and say something snarky about how I don't identify as a lesbian because the director really meant well. But I also couldn't be like, "oh, how wonderful!" because that would have been weird. Luckily the director scurried out of my office, wishing me a good weekend.

Today
I purchased more nice things like mums and yarn. The mums are so happy looking - I bought 4 8" mums, 2 super-bright yellow and 2 scarlet-purple. Pretty. Almost as pretty as the yarn, but not quite. I'm starting to make a felted bag which will probably become a holiday gift for my sister. I bought 4 skeins of Cascade 220, 2 faded purplish and 2 mossy green. Maybe photos will be posted later.

Forgotten Things
Last week, I forgot to write about how, upon arriving home after work on Friday, I noticed that our neighbor (who we haven't formally met) had left his keys in his truck door. Knowing that the truck probably would have been taken for a ride (okay, stolen), I left the keys in an envelope and taped it in their entryway (after no one answered my repeated knockings). The next day, I found a little African violet and a thank you note on our steps. Here's the awkard part: the note was all like, oh you should come over for dinner some time, blah blah blah, maybe this was meant to happen so that we could get to know each other better, blah blah blah. I'm sure our neighbor and his wife are perfectly nice people, but I don't want to become that well acquainted with them. Nothing against them. It just feels weird.

Y'all, if I were a car thief, I'd be a lucky car thief. This is not the first time I've come across a vehicle with its keys in the door.

Also, I forgot to write about going to Chihuly Nights at the Botanical Gardens, and Porkchop yelled at me for not writing about it. So.... We went. There were lots of big glass things in various colors. J and I had a glass of wine. We stood in a long line. The end.

Well, I'm finished with my drink now. Might as well haul all of my crap back home (I'm on foot) and finally start working.

Have a great weekend!