My trip...

This is going to be mostly pictures, at least at first... with a bit of narration in between.

Friday I left Key West around 4:30pm. This was the plane I took to Fort Myers.

I got to sit next to the pilot.


The views were amazing.

After a quick connection in Houston, I arrived into Portland around 11pm and after being picked up, was immediately dropped off to join Chelsea's bachelorette party.

They had already completed three events and were now salsa dancing and doing karaoke.

I closed out the night with Billy Joel's Piano Man and Monica and I went back to her house and everyone crashed.

Saturday morning I was supposed to be at the dressmaker's house at 9am, and once Monica and I made a quick trip to Starbucks and wandered around the long way, we arrived. The dress fit fine, and she measured the hem.

Then we proceeded with the days' events - church, lunch, a wedding in Salem. Through the course of the day I managed to down about four times my usual caffeine quota and had no nap. This lead to my anxiety attack Sunday morning around 1:30am that lasted until around 6am... I finally got to sleep around 7:30am and slept until 10am, when I got up and had to go and fetch my bridesmaid dress.

The wedding on Sunday was at Bridal Veil Lakes, a beautiful location a bit outside of Portland up the Columbia Gorge. The wedding theme was 70's...and the guests were also requested to dress in theme.
It was quite a large turnout and the whole afternoon was a riot. I disintegrated into a walking heap of sleep around 6:30pm (the wedding started at 3pm) and Mom and Lou took me back home where I crawled into my bed on the couch and didn't get up until 10am on Monday.

Monday was Monica's birthday, so we started off the day with breakfast with another friend and one of Monica's sisters-in-law at Biscuits Cafe in Clackamas. We enjoyed fabulous omelettes that come with pancakes AND hashbrowns.
After a day of shopping, 30 of us gathered at Claim Jumper in Clackamas to celebrate her birthday, then I went back to Mom's, packed, tried to nap, and was dropped off at the airport at about 11:15pm. I checked in and my flight left just after midnight.

This trip was way too quick. I barely had time to breathe.

Hate It, Hate It, Hate It!

It is 4:09am PST, and I am up. Of course.

Throwing up and diarrhea.

Not enough sleep last night, no nap today, not enough fluids today, too much rich food, too much caffeine...

When will I learn? This body just isn't 23 anymore.

Prayers, please.

Insomnia Strikes Again...

...Although I gave it every opportunity.

Since my boss gave me today AND tomorrow off (I fly out tomorrow afternoon), I slept in today until about 4pm before getting up and running a few errands.

Steph and I had breakfast/dinner at Denny's after I spent about 45 minutes at my optometrist's office getting my one remaining pair of glasses fixed.

Once my hunger was satiated, I went too a Bealls Outlet store (we don't have these in the northwest - it's a bit like a Ross, which we also have here) to score some jewelry to wear for the wedding I am in on Sunday, which is themed The 70's.

Since I came home I've been mostly vegging on the couch while sometimes processing laundry and packing my suitcase.

I couldn't find the cord to hook my ipod up to my laptop, so I took a quick trip to Walgreens and then Albertsons (both in vain) to try and find one. I may have to take a trip to Radio Shack in the morning, but if they are more than about $10 I'm not interested in spending the money on something we have four of somewhere in the house.

The animals all seem to be confused as to why I'm up at this hour, two of the cats are alternately sleeping on my laptop case and the dog is staying close - he is already missing Scott (who left for his business trip this morning).

I'm watching Iron Chef which is VERY interesting, probably the most interesting episode (to me) so far. The secret ingredient is melons, and they have to have the majority of the offerings have a frozen component.

There are several very interesting bits of technology: and "anti-griddle" which is a super-cold freeze plate, a "blast freezer", and of course, several ice-cream machines.

I will probably go to bed soon, even though I still have a lot to do - my brain and it's habit of wanting to be asleep at this hour are starting to kick in.

Last Check-in of the Day...

We are watching The Godfather, which I have never seen before and Scott has been trying to get me to watch with him since we met.

The animals are all safe and fed, and we are planning to go back to work as scheduled tomorrow.

My nephew (ok, if you want me to be genealogically factual, he's my first cousin once removed) called us this evening from Walla Walla when he heard about the storm to make sure we are safe.

Very sweet of him.

I sent out a cursory email to friends and family to assure them that things are fine... we haven't even lost power.

Big Bunch of Nothing.

I took a nap this afternoon... and the worst of the storm seems to have done the same - at least here in the Lower Keys.

The Middle Keys received the worst... Our street didn't even flood.

Local Weather

For family and friends that want weather updates from people that do this weather thing for a living... here is our local news website.

Day 48: Hurricane Sneezin' 2008

It's really not bad...

Wind and rain, but nothing horrifying yet. It actually rained harder in October last year on the first night of Fantasy Fest.

We're ready, though. We closed the store at noon and I made a Taco Bell run before coming home.

I'll update as long as I have internet...

Don't Worry!

Yes, there is a Tropical Storm headed my way.

Right now the worst of it is 80% likely to hit The Keys and at the most become a Category 1 Hurricane.

We're not really afraid of Fay.


My bosses are being careful, we put up the metal storm shutters over all the windows and the front door of the store, although we are planning to be open in the morning tomorrow until we have a better idea of what time the storm will hit.

The news is on right now and of course the top story is the storm... right now even talking about the Keys and showing a map of Key West.

Local schools have decided to delay their first day of school until at least Wednesday.

Key West is supposed to get the worst of it (lovely). Right now the storm is turning northwest and is scheduled to become a Category 1 right over the Lower Keys. Supposedly we had wind gusts up to 41mph here in Key West today.

At home, we've stocked up on food, and Scott ran pitchers of tap water through our Brita and then dumped them into one of the vats we used for the East Coast Wedding Reception... we certainly won't be lacking for drinking water.

Last night I dyed my roots with a home kit because I can't afford to get my hair done at my salon of choice when I go home next week. I figured that since I'm going to be in a wedding I'll likely be in a few pictures and might as well do my best not to look like a hobo. Okay, most hobos' main concern is not the color of their roots, but I've been spoiled over the last few years.



Tonight once I got home from work I drained the turtle tank and brought it inside, then refilled it to a low level and rigged a lamp over the tank to give Zim a little heat since our AC keeps the house quite a bit cooler than he is used to.

I also wrestled with one of the awnings and managed to bring it down, tomorrow I need to find a bolt to bolt it to the side of the house. I'd like to fold down the other awning in the back, and the two in the front although Scott thinks it is overkill. In any case I'm going to convince him to haul the herbs and tomatoes and peppers into the shed (if we bring them in the house Minx will eat them) tomorrow morning.


After I made my few outside preparations, there was nothing to do but microwave some leftover chinese take-out,



snuggle on the couch,

start a new crochet project

and take cute pictures of our animals.

I'm expecting the power will go out for most of tomorrow afternoon and evening, possibly into Thursday, so we're gathering our candles and flashlights and books.

When You're Poor...

You eat everything in the house.

I have started to make my way through the freezer and cupboards to see how fabulous I can be with what we've got.

I'm going on a west-coast trip and Scott is going on a three-week business trip, so I'm not really wanting to stock up on groceries until after we are back.



I googled "Sour Cream and Blueberry muffins" and took a look at the options... I decided to go with the first one that came up, I transcribed in onto some nice paper (in case it is worthy of keeping).

I don't have fresh blueberries, so I just left the bag of frozen blueberries out on the counter for about an hour while I waited for the butter to soften and did some dishes.



I think this is my first time making muffins (at least since I was a child and made them with my Grandma) and I think they look pretty good!



I'll let you know how they taste in a minute.

Nom nom nom.

They're really good.

Food.

You may have figured out by now that I'm a bit of a foodie.

When Jenny and I go to restaurants we take pictures of our food. When we cook, we take pictures of our food.

I love eating, cooking, reading cookbooks, looking at pictures of food, watching The Food Network...

There are several amazing restaurants in and near Key West.

The best ON the island is The Rooftop Cafe, closely followed by The Cafe. On Cudjoe Key is the Square Grouper, and in Tavernier is Chad's Deli.

Tonight I made home-made tacos. For some reason this is one of my favorite meals in any circumstance. I don't know if it's the fried shells (corn or flour), or the combination of fresh chopped white onion, sour cream and a little salt.

The mix of flavors and textures is just perfect.

I ate myself silly.

One of My Addictions:

I will admit it. I am a daily visitor to http://icanhascheezburger.com/. Usually I keep it to myself but some are just to cute to not share and further bung up the interwebs.



more cat pictures

All About Poop

As I sit on the couch on yet another sleepless night, you may well wonder what it is this time. Too many beings in my bed? Drugs? Not enough drugs?

Nope, I have to poop. Only I don't.

It's in there, patiently waiting, but not giving me the remotest suggestion that it is at all interested in coming OUT.

I've been eating salads for days and drinking massive amounts of water, tea, coffee, coke, and tonight took two Dulcolax and a hot shower.

Granted, if you are still reading, you have not been scared away...so continue at your own risk. It won't be too graphic, just a short history into my bowels.

During Christmas break of 1994, I was engaged (ridiculous! I was 18!) and my fiance and I drove from our college town to my hometown to his hometown and back to the college town. Since it was the holidays, we also ate a lot of garbage and did a lot of sitting around.

Soon, I realized that it had been about two weeks since I had, erm, emptied. True, most people grow up going once a day or so (at least), but I didn't ever have anyone pull me aside in kindergarten and say "One plus one is two, I poop daily, so should you!"

Two weeks was then three and I was obviously eating less, and getting a bit sluggish. I tried store-bought enemas (couldn't figure them out, frankly) and drank a heap of prune juice, and nothing helped.

Soon I was unable to stand up straight and in constant pain, finally my cousins drove me to the hospital for a "real" enema, which I only accepted because they called and got my mom on the phone, she being the only one that could convince me it was for the best.

For those of you fortunate enough to have never HAD a hospital-inflicted enema, IT IS HELL. I have managed to survive to adulthood despite being quite accident-prone, and despite all the hard objects I managed to meet with my skull, surviving a bunch of hot water up the bum surpasses them all.

And they tell you it's "warm water." They are LYING. It may be warm to them, but when it hits your 98.6 insides that water is enough to make you clench everything up even more. Furthermore they instruct you to "hold in" the ticking time bomb as long as possible.

As long as possible was about the time it took me to get from the gurney to the bathroom, and I was done.

They wanted to subject me to an encore and I politely declined. I was taken back home and put to bed and slept for about 14 hours.

Two days later I started to regain an appetite, which was good since I was down to about 105 lbs (at my height of 5'8"). I joined a friend at her grandparents house for lunch on a saturday afternoon and the only thing I recall that was on the menu was garbanzo beans. Oh, I know there were other things to eat, and I ate them, but the chickpeas are what burned into my memory.

That night I started feeling nauseous. And a bit, ah, "rumbly in the tumbly." I spent the next two hours on the toilet with my head in a trash can emptying out everything that was left in my poor body.

Back to the ER I went, a mere two days since my other issue, and was given a needle about 8 inches long into my buttock with drugs that were supposed to stop both problems.

By the end of that experience I was down to 98 lbs.

In the 14 years since, I have no pride when it comes to poop. I can and will poop anytime, anywhere. I try to not bring it up at dinner, or say, a wedding, but if I gotta go, I will excuse myself from the festivities and take care of business.

So yeah, a few paragraphs about poop.

I was inspired when I cleaned up after Stinkerbell this morning. If only my guts would be so inspired...

Dinner Plans 1, Husband 2, My Own Laziness 2

So here was the plan:
Tuesday - Veggie BLTs on rye, with Morningstar Farms fake bacon strips, swiss and avocado along with the "L" and "T".
Wednesday - Burritos (to use up the last of the home-made chili from the birthday party)
Thursday - Ravioli Lasagna based on a Rachael Ray recipe, but with what I have already in my cupboards, and a Romaine hearts salad with a vinaigrette based on another RR recipe.
Friday - Stuffed Bell Peppers. RR has a recipe for a stuffed pepper and I have one from a family friend, I'll probably combine them and twist it up a bit.
Saturday - Egg Noodles with Mushrooms (another RR recipe) and some sliced fresh fruit.


What ACTUALLY happened...
Tuesday: Scott made chili dogs for friends that came over for a work pow-wow.

Wednesday: I came home and went straight to bed, getting up at 1:30am to check on something at the store and Scott and I went ahead and went to McDonald's and got fries and burgers (mine without any meat).

Thursday: I made the Ravioli lasagna... although with marinara I had in the fridge and sauteed mushrooms instead of spinach. I also made a variation on the vinaigrette, although with lime juice instead of lemon curd, and I added fresh basil in addition to the chives. It was quite tasty.

Friday: I stayed at work until 10:20pm (having gone in at 11:20am) and then went to Denny's by myself and had a large salad and a small grilled cheese sandwich.


Tonight: I haven't decided. I'm spending the evening catching up on my week of Y&R since Scott went downtown to watch the UFC fights with some friends. I'm considering being selfish and enjoying the last box of pierogies in the freezer...

Steroids

I finally went to the doctor today for the abomination on my face.

I told the doctor the long sordid story and all the details about when this started and what I've been using on it.

She thinks it is likely fungal (isn't that lovely) and prescribed me a cream that is anti-fungal and has a mild amount of steroid. She also prescribed Prednisone and okay'd my using the Burts Bees night eye cream.

If things haven't made significant progress within a week then we'll try something else and see a dermatologist.

Up All Night...Sleep All Day!

It's not my intention to be up and blogging at 3am on a regular basis. Not remotely.

Most nights I attempt to go to bed between 10:30pm and midnight, which you would think would give me plenty of time to go to sleep and get a good solid eight or nine hours before I get up and have time to do whatever before being at work at noon.

Not so. For some reason I can't fall fully asleep until Scott is in the bed. Of course, this means that once he is asleep, he is also snoring.

About twice a week the dog is allowed on the bed at night, and if we get him situated before any of us fall asleep it works out ok, otherwise he lays perpendicular to the humans, smack in the middle. It's even harder to sleep when a Boxer is sticking his feet into your ribs and farting, and your husband is snoring.

The cats like to sleep where my feet wish they could be, so I either have to kick the cats out of the way, or twist my limbs around them... not that comfy.

On top of these various complications is the fact that I have had trouble sleeping for at least the last ten years, possibly before.

I do recall in elementary school days that I always had a tough time going to bed at night and would often read until very late, then be most difficult to rouse and get to school anywhere near "on time." I don't remember what it was like to try and fall asleep that long ago, but in recent years it is often because I cannot get my brain to SHUT THE HECK UP.

A Psychologist I saw for awhile thinks that I am likely ADD, which can add to my anxiety issues if I'm not careful. My mind takes in too much stimulation at once (mostly because it CAN focus on multiple things, to an extent) and then overloads and my body says "get rid of it" and gets rid of the only thing it can - whatever I've eaten.

No, I'm not having an anxiety attack (aka puke/poopfest) tonight... just waiting for the Rozerem I took about a half hour ago to make me drowsy enough that my brain will slow down so I can fall asleep.

On a side note: as I was searching google for "sleep clip art", many of the images that it gave me had very little to do with sleep, and as I followed one picture to a website and then a link from that website, I came across a blog that has "hamster of the day" posts that are pretty cute. Also an apropos thing to run across while the only sound in the room besides my typing is Princess Tempura Buttfluff on her wheel...

Dinner Plans 0, Husband 1

Originally tonight was Veggie BLT night. I was going to put some leaves of fresh basil in them as I didn't go to the store on the way home.

However, one of our friends (that is Scott's coworker) had some stuff she wanted to run by "the guys", so Scott prepared stuff for hot-dogs, even grilling some onions and mushrooms.

I'm ok with the deviation from the plan because he didn't buy anything to put this together, AND even used up some leftovers.

De Plan, De Plan!

In the hopes of saving money and becoming a bit less slovenly, I'm going to attempt weekly menu planning for our dinners (we usually do leftovers for lunch and neither of us really eat breakfast).

I'd like to do the shopping and some of the prep work for the week on Sundays, but since it's Monday I decided to plan today and shop/prep tomorrow after work.

Here's the plan for this week:

Tuesday - Veggie BLTs on rye, with Morningstar Farms fake bacon strips, swiss and avocado along with the "L" and "T".
Wednesday - Burritos (to use up the last of the home-made chili from the birthday party)
Thursday - Ravioli Lasagna based on a Rachael Ray recipe, but with what I have already in my cupboards, and a Romaine hearts salad with a vinaigrette based on another RR recipe.
Friday - Stuffed Bell Peppers. RR has a recipe for a stuffed pepper and I have one from a family friend, I'll probably combine them and twist it up a bit.
Saturday - Egg Noodles with Mushrooms (another RR recipe) and some sliced fresh fruit.

With the staples I have and what I bought today, I only need to pick up a few additional basics to cover all these meals (romaine, shallots, avocado, tortillas, egg noodles, and whatever I decide to stuff the peppers with).

Of course we're hoping that a by-product of this experiment is also healthier eating, but we'll see how it goes!

Never Big Enough

In theory, I should be sleeping right now.

It's 2:20am and I went to bed originally around 12:30am. I took half a benadryl (for my eyes and sinuses) and then finished reading Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals 2.

And I waited.

And shifted, and turned, waited some more, pet the cat, pet another cat, waited...

Grabbed my lavender-filled eye mask, re-arranged the pillows...

waited...

Gah.

Finally Stinkerbell made her appearance in the bedroom, looking for trouble, so I got up and captured her, put the baby gate up in the hallway and sat down with my laptop (and the skunk) on the couch.

We have a King-sized bed, but sometimes it might as well be a twin.




And yes, I could kick the animals out, but then I feel like a terrible mother.

Don't Be Afraid To Try Something Old.

As a kid, I did NOT like pancakes. Perhaps all the pancakes I tried at the time were a bit undercooked, but I always felt that pancakes were doughy and gross, and I much preferred waffles.

In the last year, I have been trying things that I have strongly disliked in the past, and even things that I never had the guts to try, ever.

This morning (okay, afternoon) I decided that I wanted to eat at IHOP. Once we arrived I decided that I was craving pancakes. How can I have a craving for something that I always disliked? Strange.

I ordered an omelet (which I always want to spell omelette) and for once didn't request hashbrowns instead of pancakes, in fact, I asked for both!

When served, my three buttermilk pancakes had a lovely dollop of whipped butter on top, which I spread evenly on all three layers. Then I tested three of the four syrups available (I skipped the strawberry) and found that the perfect combo is Butter Pecan and Old Fashioned.

Scott laughed at me marveling over the goodness that was my breakfast, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.


_______________________________________________________________
In firing employees news: An employee that was supposed to work today called the owner at 8am and said she was on her way to Miami because her grandfather was dying of a heart attack, complete with tears. Turns out she was LYING and has been at home laying on the couch after shopping at Radio Shack (where she ran into the other owner).

Instead of firing her, we are cutting her pay for a month.

What is wrong with these people?

The Fire Rages On...

I'm going to fire another employee this week.

It was not my decision nor did I have any say in hiring him, and when I told the boss my reasoning in wanting to get rid of him, she agreed with me.

This employee has only been here about a week and a half, and in the first TWO days he asked every other employee where he can get marijuana (he just moved to town). The SECOND day he asked an employee where he can get Coke... and not -a Cola.

To me this says that drugs are obviously more important to this individual than
A) what his new coworkers think of him, and
B) his job.

I'm not interested in having this employee anywhere in my work environment.

Ready, Aim,

This is my first time as the official Manager of anything. I've always been good at being bossy leadership and organization, but have never before been paid for these qualities.

Yesterday was one of the drawbacks to being in charge - I had to fire someone.

It went remarkably easier than I expected, although I suspect that she was thinking of quitting anyway.

I think I was fair and honest, without getting personal.

I can only hope the future of firing goes so well! (Not that I plan to make it a regular occurence).

School Daze

I didn't have an easy time in elementary school. My family was not wealthy, I was too gangly to be athletic, and I was smarter than most of my classmates. These factors made me quite unpopular with the cool kids and sadly, some of the teachers.

I didn't run in to much trouble with teachers or administration in general until I was in seventh grade. Beginning with seventh grade we had "homeroom" teachers and then two or three other teachers for different subjects, similar to high school.

My homeroom teacher was a tiny lady (she was about 4'10") who sat on a tall stool in front of the classroom in order to see all her students. More than once we undid the cover, removed the cushion and replaced with a cushion that goes by the name of "Whopee". She fortunately had a decent sense of humor.

The Science Teacher that year was Lenny Ringman (not his real name, duh...). Mr. Ringman was a fan of the popular kids. Maybe because he and his family had moved to our state from Hawaii, where they apparently surfed daily and were just generally cool, dude. He was blond and tan and wore cooler clothes than our other male teachers.

The "popular" kids at my school were the athletically gifted. Or even just moderately coordinated, which I was not. I grew much to quickly to get a handle on my arms and legs in any way that was useful to any sort of competitive sport (unless you count monopoly).

I had several difficult days in elementary school, frustrated at my lack of fitting in and bored with the lack of mental challenge in my schoolwork.

After one such day I entered the science classroom in a mood that was less than ideal for molecules and spirogyra. I was lamenting to my best friend about whatever had ruined my day thus far when Mr. Ringman said (loud enough for the entire class to hear) "Quit complaining and sit down!" Without missing a beat I whipped around and responded "Shut up Mr. Ringman, who asked you?!"

Needless to say I was sent immediately to the principal's office. The principal knew that Mr. Ringman was a little bit of an elitist and instead of giving me a lecture, he just let me sit in his office for a half hour and then told me to have a good day.

The other night I dreamed about the Ringman family (he has four children, three older than me) and one of the daughters apologized to me for how "supreme" they all acted.

"If the Eye Offends Thee..."

Right about now I would LOVE to pluck BOTH my eyes right out of my head.

Back in February when we moved from the condo to the house, I started experiencing some allergies. Considering that anyone can develop allergies to pretty much anything at anytime, I didn't think a whole lot about it. I assumed that I had developed run-of-the-mill "spring" allergies that were making my eyes itch and water, my throat itch, and my nose run.

Not having had THIS bad of a reaction before, I initially was rubbing my eyes (trying really hard not to, of course) and irritated the skin of the eyelid with my acrylic nails. I assumed I had given myself eczema, and tried to baby the skin as much as possible, and not wear any eye makeup.

When I went to Portland for the wedding, it got better, enough that I was able to withstand having my eyebrows waxed (which I clearly could use again) and wear makeup regularly (just in time for my wedding).

Once I returned to Key West, so the affliction returned to my face.

In the past three months since the wedding it has gotten worse and worse. I wake up in the morning with swollen, crusty eyes that are bright red.

I have developed bags and skin tags that are not seeming to go away.

I gently wash the area with alternately a cold washcloth, hot washcloth, and eye scrubs, then follow up with neosporin, hydrocortisone cream, Burt's Bees eye cream, or Temple Spa calming lotion.

I also hold a bag of frozen veggies on my eyes to try and get the swelling to go down to the point where I can see.

The itching has started to gain ground, now affecting my cheeks and chin.

Yes, I should stop whining and go to a dermatologist, but I don't know any in Key West and medical care of any sort down here is somewhat of a joke.

I am surviving on a cocktail of Claritin during the day and half a Benadryl to sleep at night.

Fuzzy Biscuit

This is Chou.

He is an eighteen-pound Ragdoll mix. Chou will be six on August 12th.

Chou has always been pliable, even as a tiny kitten we would stick him in a shirt pocket and he would just sit and watch the world go by.

Chou likes to sleep under the covers. You would think that a cat with so much insulation and fur wouldn't want to be any warmer, but nearly every night (or morning) he will come to the head of the bed and dig at the covers until we let him in. Then he makes his way to the area behind my knees and curls up.

I can tell when it's time to trim his claws because his nightly snuggles leave me with small holes in my leg from his loving caress.

Chou loves to lay on his back and invite anyone and everyone to rub his belly. People that do not like cats have decided "if all cats were like Chou, I would like cats." He is quiet and laid back, only meowing when in the vicinity of his food dish, or during his morning ritual: When Scott gets out of the shower Chou is waiting in the bathroom with his two front paws on the scale. He looks up at Scott and gives one plaintive "mew" and then wanders off towards the dining room.

His favorite foods are ice cream, chips, and anything left on your plate. He will deign to eat cat food, and tries to convince anyone remotely within petting distance that he hasn't eaten yet.

Because of his love affair with food, we feed the cats about five times a day, about 1/3 of a cup split between all three kitties. Some people think this is ridiculous, but if we give them any more than that, Chou will scarf it all down and then give it right back all over the floor.

His fur is as soft as it looks. I love to lay my head on his belly and listen to his meaty purr.

When I'm having an anxiety attack, it's very soothing to have him on my lap and stroke his back.

Chou may be my middle child, but he is my favorite. (Shhh, don't tell the others!)

Mama's First Grill-Out

I've never grilled something myself before.

True, I didn't start the grill (I don't know how, truthfully). But I did all the prep and the hands-ON grilling.

I sliced and salted some eggplant and then tossed it in olive oil. I marinated baby portobello mushrooms in balsamic vinegar and some tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, green and yellow patty-pan squash in olive-oil and balsamic.




I boiled some small red potatoes for about 20 minutes and then tossed them in olive oil and salt, threw in a handful of whole garlic cloves.

I wrapped some baby asparagus in tinfoil and drizzled them with olive oil, cut some fresh rosemary and oregano and steamed it on top of the kebabs.



I made a salad with Boston lettuce, baby carrots, and fresh tomatoes from our back yard, tossed with the balsamic and oil from under the other vegetables. I added a little red wine vinegar and lime juice, a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash and tossed it.











Everything turned out pretty darn good I have to say.













Scott liked it too - despite the fact that he added cheese and a microwaved veggie-hot-dog.

Author, Party of One!??

Due to the recent circumstances that lead to the "Dear Husbands" post, I have decided to write a book about the particular husband, his brother (whom I dated for about 6 years) and their father from the perspective of the wives and girlfriends whose lives they have impacted through their sex-addled brains.

I started it in the height of my anger and frustration last week and worked on it for two nights straight and then stopped. I will continue, probably this week, but I needed to take a little break.

Remembering the days of that relationship gave me dreams at night that I do not enjoy. It also brought back memories that I do not like to dwell on and some of the feelings the old relationship brought on a regular basis.

I am so thankful to be married to my husband. He is my best friend, we can tell each other anything and everything, but we retain a level of privacy and respect because we trust each other. We can have fun doing anything or nothing.

When we got married the pastor asked us to write down ahead of time "our story". How we met, how we got together, what we like about each other, etc. During the ceremony they read parts of our stories aloud and it was a really great part of the experience. It made the whole thing very personal, very "us."

While I am choosing to remember things from a past life for the ultimate betterment of those who may someday be in a similar situation, here's to my Now-Life. Here's to my husband.

Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July!

As the wife of a former United States Marine, this is an important day at our house.

It is also Maui's 5th Birthday, but Buster got to eat an entire hot dog and have a few laps of Corona.

Here we are in all our festivity-ness!

Dear Husbands,

Wives do not enjoy doing dishes. If your wife is doing dishes and you say "Oh, honey, I can take care of those" she is thinking "then why didn't you do them already?"

Wives also do not enjoy having husbands that are total jackasses. (Don't worry, this does not apply to my husband, I'm just worked up over a friend's husband's idiocy)

If you are too much of a coward to admit in the first place that you CANNOT or WILL NOT choose to be faithful to your future wife, DO NOT get married.

It is true, women love weddings. We want to tie a guy down. We want commitment. When we say we don't, it's because it's what you want to hear and we think that by saying we want "an open relationship" you will think we are the COOLEST THING EVER and stay with us and ultimately WANT to be exclusive with us.

If you have doubts that you are going to be able to follow the bonds of holy matrimony, PLEASE chicken out. Do it. Go right on and bawk bawk bawk right out of the church.

Chickening out of your marriage after three years and two MORE kids is NOT ok. Deciding that the "easy" way out is too announce you have "issues" and "addictions" and think that those things will excuse your actions is NOT ok.

Your actions are inexcusable. When you are legally married and telling your wife that there is a chance for reconciliation, it is not ok to be spending meaningful time with another woman in any way - texting, emailing, phone calls, and above all, sleeping with them.

You have acted out of cowardice. You have acted like your existing family does not matter. You have betrayed your five children by behaving as if their mothers do not matter in your world.

Your children are very intelligent and are going to grow up with the knowledge that their father cannot be expected to follow the rules. They will believe it is ok to bend them for themselves as well. Your daughter that is now a teenager is going to decide very soon that it is ok to behave in a way that is not respectful to her mother by your example. She is also going to decide very soon that it is ok for her to have sex in a meaningless environment, and with someone that does not care about her well being.

I am sad. I am heartbroken. You were a brother to me for many years and I am so disappointed that I am physically sick.

I will continue to pray for you. Not because I have been perfect, I have absolutely NOT been perfect. But I do expect those I love to keep me accountable and I expect those who love you to do the same.

And on the 23rd Day, It Rained.

This Burger King must serve all eleventy-billion at this location alone. That's a lot of french-fries.

Maybe there is a conference room in the middle with a giant shake and twelve-thousand straws coming out.

I don't know. I just thought it was amusing.

ANYWAY...

Monday morning Mom woke me up and I drove her to the Miami airport in my pajamas. Her flight was scheduled to leave at 10:05am so she decided to be there by about 8:50am. I deposited her at the terminal with plenty of time to spare and went back to the motel and crawled back into bed.

At 10:15am she called to tell me that she was (obviously) not on the plane. Her flight was delayed three hours and would not be departing until 1pm. We all wished we had thought to check her flight when the alarm clock first went off, as she could have gotten more sleep and not been bored in the airport.

Jenny and I finally got up around 11am and checked out around noon. We went in search of the "Dolphin Mall" but found the Miami International Mall instead. I succeeded in purchasing three much-needed pairs of shorts and then we made our way to the food court.

After perusing the options we decided on a Mediterranean counter. For "Fast" Mediterranean, it was pretty good!

Jenny had a combo plate with Greek salad, falafel and hummus.

I had cucumber salad, roasted potatoes, hummus, two stuffed grape leaves, and we each finished with a piece of baklava.

Jenny had to be at work at 6pm, so around 2pm we hit the road.

Back in Key West I took a nap and then got up for a couple of hours to eat dinner and put away my purchases before going back to bed.

About an hour before I retired again for the night, it started raining VERY hard and there was strong wind.

Day Twenty-Two, Hurricane Season 2008

Sunday morning we all slept in for awhile, the animals convinced Mom to get up and feed them, and then she packed up her stuff while we were trying to rouse ourselves out of bed.

Once up, we met Travis and Jenny at Pepe's restaurant for lunch and then walked up Greene to the antique shop and Peppers of Key West. Then over to Front street and we took a tour of the Pirate Soul Museum. The museum is very educational and entertaining, the least of which is the stocks out front. It was a sweltering day or we would have pulled the pins out and made it look a little more realistic. As it was I told all the subjects to "look mournful" which they did.

We trudged back to the car in the heat and cranked up the AC as soon as the car was open. Back at home we napped a little and then Jenny came over and we got ready to make the trek back to Miami.

Scott was letting Buster out into the back yard and exclaimed "Holy Crap! You've got to see this thing!"



We all rushed out and admired a large iguana perched on part of our wall.

Jenny and I managed to get close enough to take several flattering portraits of him before we were too hot, and then Scott took turns watering him, the lawn, and the dog.