Musings
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House Flipping…
One reason I STILL haven’t finished Madame Bovary is that I’ve been ignoring poor Emma in favor of TLC. My latest addiction, after Take Home Chef and What Not to Wear, is Flip That House. I enjoy watching them tear a place apart and put it back together, and find out how much they’re going to make on it…which is always a lot of money considering the amount of time they put into the deal. Like maybe $80k in two months. Nice, huh? Yeah, I’m a big loser failure in that department, clearly. I do find myself wondering, however, if these deals ever go bad? At the beginning of the…
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Smells…
 The other day, after getting dressed, I sprayed a bit of perfume on, and then went in to wake Maya. She sleepily said, “It smells like mama in here”. Very cute. I love that she identifies the smell of my perfume (Eternity Purple Orchid) with me, and then I noticed that I’m almost out of said perfume, which sucks. Gonna have to get some more, I guess. She also has mentioned the sound of mama, which, when it’s not me yelling at her or saying, GET OUT OF BED, is the sound my bangle bracelets make when I walk. That felt cozy for some reason, too. But the perfume comment…
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Dear Me, 1981 – 1987 version
I tried this two weeks agp, and I liked the idea. So here I’m trying with a slightly younger, much more insecure version of me. Again, the original idea came from here. Dear Me, I hesitate to give you advice, to warn you of the pains and slights that you will suffer, for I wonder how much of who I am now comes from the lessons learned due to these slights, and the resulting pain. I like who I am now, I like that I am sympathetic, loving, and caring. And yet, somehow, I hope that I would still be these things without these hardships, that they are part of my…
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Stupid Allergies
I’m grumpy and allergic this morning.  Blech. Usually Py is the member of our household who suffers from allergies, but I started yesterday, and it’s yucky. I’ve taken everything I can take, got the windows sealed up, the air purifier on…as soon at it hits 70 degrees in here, I’m turning on the a/c. That usually helps, too. So I was griping (so much for a complaint free world, huh?) about allergies to the admin at Maya’s school this morning, and she gave me a tip that her husband tried this year, and seems to help him. It’s too late to try it for us, but next year, I’m giving…
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Are you who you want to be?
My friend Cherry likes the TLC show, Shalom in the Home, and has suggested that I might like it as well. So, I plopped myself down last week to watch it. The premise is that a family that is having problems writes to the Rabbi, and he goes and stays there for a week, trying to help them figure things out. Kind of like Supernanny or One Week to Save Your Marriage. This episode was one where it was a bit more than the Rabbi could handle. It was a family trying to help their teen daughter to cope with her anorexia. If only that were something you could heal…
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J & Curtis Sitting in a Tree…
Saturday, we hopped on BART and went to San Francisco to see Curtis Stone. (To see the coolio video Ted put together for me, click here) He was signing cookbooks at Williams Sonoma on Union Square, and Ted and Maya were willing to indulge me in seeing my boyfriend in real life. 🙂 He’s mighty tall, and he forgot to shave, and from what we could see, he seems like a very genuine and nice person. YAY! So then, of course, I told Maya that was her future step-father. She was happy about the money and fame, but not too thrilled about me and Ted not being married anymore…but then…
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Friday Five…Food Edition
1. Cute cake, huh? Laluna made one for Maya last year, with little tiny Oreos on it, which inspired me to put little cookies on the cake, rather than trying to make little flowers or leaves or something fancy. I almost bought a cake platter thingie to present it on, just so it would look nice for the blog. But I have no room in my tiny condo kitchen for a cake platter thingie, so even though the colors in our dish pattern totally don’t match the cake, just go with it, OK? 2. I made chocolate chip muffins (Betty Crocker, same as my cake…no recipe from me, follow the…
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Etiquette
I like to read Miss Manners’ column in my local newspaper. I like how she explains the rules of etiquette, and what they’re for. Etiquette can sometimes seem arbitrary and confusing, but mainly it’s a set of rules that helps us disparate humans to get along together, without offending each other or hurting each other’s feelings. For example, a gentle reader writes in, asking how they should best go about telling their neighbor that their new painting is crass and ugly, or perhaps that cousin Bertha’s new baby looks amazingly like a small chimpanzee, and really, isn’t it my DUTY to let them know how I feel? Isn’t honesty the…
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Dear Me…
The idea for this post comes from Miscellanous Mum, and I’m very sorry to say that I’m not positive where I first saw it. (Edited to add, I believe I first saw this on Ginger’s blog, Stuck On Survive. Thanks, Ginger!) It’s a nice idea, though…you write a letter to yourself, the you from the past, and post it for the world to see. I’ve been thinking about this for awhile, trying to decide which me needs my help the most. 😉 I’m going to go for 1987 me, I think. Dear 1987 J, Welcome to San Francisco, to the city you’ve always loved, the place you’ve always wanted to…
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What About Prom?*
Prom time is here…going to the bridal salon with Cherry, we saw many young girls trying on dresses, full of anticipation and hope of what this special night might mean. Hoping to dance and have fun with their boyfriend, see all of their friends, have a great time. For some it will mean drinking, or drugs, or sex, or all of the above. For others, it will mean just going and having a good time. For some, it will mean expectations set too high, a fantasy of a perfect night, dashed by the reality of a crappy dinner and sore feet from too-pointy prom shoes. But for me, seeing the…
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What if…
Ted’s girlfriends, the Dixie Chicks…. Started a reality show, where they went on tour with Ted, and Curtis Stone (The Take Home Chef) and Curtis and I cooked for Ted and the Chicks…and lots of wacky hijinks ensued… Would you watch? I would… Totally…
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Friday Foolishness
You Are Bold And Brave But daring? Not usually? You tend to like to make calculated risks. So while you may not be base jumping any time soon… You are up for whatever’s new and (a little) exciting! How Daring Are You?
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The Good China
Whilst out and about, watching a certain Bride to Be try on beautiful wedding dresses, I have recently had occasion to peruse the bridal magazines that they have sitting around at the salons. Anyone remember these? They’re full of pictures of dresses, of course, tips on how to get in shape before the wedding, ideas for fun honeymoons, ettiquette advice, and checklists galore. Things to be done, and when (6 months before the date, pick your venue and your dress…3 months before the date, order invitations, etc.). They also have suggestions for your bridal registry. Different people register for different types of things, some for the conventional china and silver,…
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Wordless Wednesday – Kookaburra’s home…
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3 Things…
1st, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, Happy Birthday to La Luna! Happy Happy Joy Joy, eat some bacon, and some cake, but please, don’t make it bacon cake! (unless that floats your boat, one never knows…) Â La Luna is a wonderful sister to me, (my sister-in-law if you want to get technical) always there, always ready with a helping hand or to walk our doggy or loan me vanilla extract…always with a kind word if I need it, ready to help out. Thank you La Luna, for being you, and keep it up! Happy Birthday. 🙂 2nd, excitingly, we’re getting our new STOVE this morning! I’ll admit, I’m going to miss our…