The Blog With No Name

Starbucks Locator. Various places in New York and London approach ** :: 200 :: ** Starbux within a five-mile radius. The mind boggles.

I have two, both across the river in a different state.

My 4-cup carafe broke today, and I was unable to find a replacement at Target. I was unable to find a replacement on Amazon. I must now contemplate whether my morning coffee urge is worth a trip to WalMart, a store I am really trying to avoid. In the meantime, out comes the rarely-used-anymore 10-cup coffeemaker with the thermos carafe, yum!

My daughter…let me preface this by saying that I was NEVER EVER in trouble in school. I was an angelic child. My daughter has been in trouble now twice in two weeks for disobeying people at school – last week THE PRINCIPAL HERSELF, and today the playground monitors. OH IT MAKES ME MAD!

I’ve bought two Palms on e-bay today. Cheap-o little m100s, one for me to use at my office (my Palm IIIxe is finally dying) and one for my aunt and mom to use for shopping (GO HANDYSHOPPER!!!)

I have also placed a bid (99 cents so far) for a 1-31 everyday file/fast sorter from Globe-Weis (hey! They’re $20 at office max!) to keep bills and things in.

I almost bid on a brand-new Rubbermaid wide-mouth tool bag, but I came to my senses before that could occur. Ye gods.

Well not really “remodeling,” just shifting things around. We took a few of my mom’s appliances, so now we have a dishwasher (yay!) although it’s not hooked up yet (sad face), and a second refrigerator in the basement (I’m going to buy TEN GALLONS OF MILK AT A TIME from now on! Yes!). So my husband’s mad scheme is to make the back porch into a sort of utility kitchen, with a small sink and the dishwasher back there, plus some space for my baking toys. This time, I’m TAKING PICTURES! Forgot to do that when we redid the bathroom, and now nobody believes how ghastly it was pre-remake. This time I’ll have PROOF.
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Do you know what this is?

It’s a brick. Complete with a brick cozy. Knitted by my brother’s mother-in-law.

Eight or so years ago, my mom had her kitchen (mostly) redone. The redoing included a new floor, to replace the hideous 70s avocado/yellow/brown gigantic flower print. The people who laid down the new floor did a generally good job, but there was this one area, about six inches long, where the glue just didn’t hold.

Did my mom call them up, say “hey, get back here, fix this” ?? NO. Instead, she searched high and low for a BRICK. Not just any brick, but a nice-looking paver. I think she found it at Menards. This brick was placed in a brown paper sack, and the sack was placed on the area where the seam was showing. Please keep in mind that this was eight years ago. At some point my sister-in-law must have surruptitiously measured the brick (when?), because my mother received this cozy from Elaine at Christmas.

I’m still trying to figure out where on the slightly-eccentric-to-stark-raving-mad continuum this falls.

Did I mention that the brick has been sitting on the floor, over the seam, for eight years? My mom moved yesterday and now the brick is on a shelf at the condo, because the vinyl flooring there seems to be in good shape.

My boss told me her theory about the ELCA’s sexuality study – it’s a smoke screen to divert people’s attention from the possible new hymnal. I mean, really – we’ve always known that there are gay pastors, but a NEW HYMNAL !!! ??? Now *that’s* controversial!

(Report and Recommendations of the task force for the ELCA Studies on Sexuality)

I found a website (www.aplusmath.com) that has a Bingo-style game called “Matho,” and have sicced the eight-year-old, who “hates math!” on this web site. She loves it. Go figure. Probably because her grandma in Iowa plays bingo. Whatever it takes….

… I must have been a gay man. “Wha…..?” I hear you say. Well let me tell you. I happened to be channel-surfing the other day (while folding laundry). Came across VH1′s “100 Worst #1 Songs” show. Didn’t see the whole thing of course, but for example, Cher’s “Believe” was on the list. I *like* that song! I don’t care if she’s had a zillion dollars in reconstructive surgery, or if her producers use funky computer effects.

There was a frighteningly large number of songs on this list that I liked.

I had the week off, as did my husband. I can’t say we were terribly productive, but we did manage to clean out the basement somewhat (in preparation for getting a bunch of new[er] appliances from my mom’s house), and re-arrange the office (he’s working from home now, eeeek). Plus, we slept in some days until (gasp) 8AM!!! Can you imagine.

We went to a grown-up party last night, in Davenport, hosted by a fellow card-club person (Iaccarino was there, possibly you’ve seen his somewhat-scary photo in the local paper?), then came home and had champagne. Got up and had Hopping John with my mom and aunt (must eat it before noon!).

I am weighed down with the mass of possessions in our house. We have things in our basement that we haven’t looked at, used, or thought about for ten years, yet we can’t get rid of them (glasses from someone’s great grandmother – wooden bowls from Central America – books in Russian that we will NEVER EVER read!) I readily admit that much of this clutter is mine, but my husband, who claims to be a tosser-out extraordinaire, has his weaknesses – the aforementioned wooden bowls, his grandmother’s cheesy 50′s drinking glasses (etched flower petals, gag).
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