And She Was...

We had a bunch of people over last night for Rosh Hashanah. One of my friends has a 12 year old son, who accompanied her for dinner. Cayne and I are fond of him, and he often hangs out with us when we go out.

At one point during dinner the conversation strayed in a direction that led to the 12 year old reciting some poems by Shel Silverstein. I mentioned that he'd been a contributor to Playboy. Mom reacted with surprise. Child looked at us and said "What's Playboy?"

The conversation paused for a moment, and Mom asked Cayne if he had one around. When he said no, she suggested that the men at the table try to explain what it is. (I think there's a Penthouse letters and a Hustler or two in the house, but those aren't quite on the same level as Playboy.) So Cayne and our friend Scott are trying to explain what it is, and I looked at the kid and said "It's a magazine with pictures of naked women in it." Now I realize that's not all that's in Playboy, but that's pretty much what people think of when they think of it.

Poor kid looked really weirded out. He asked why people would want that and what was the point? He looked kind of terrified. We tried to explain what the rest of the magazine included-the articles and lifestyle stuff. We tried to explain what the phrase "bachelor pad" meant. The child was adamant that he'd never have Playboy in the house. I leaned over to Mom and suggested that the child's older brother (who is 21) should purchase one for him. It was just adorable. The 12 year old is an incredibly bright child who is much slower in the social development than academic. Scott joked about getting him a subscription for Christmas. He said "If you did, I'd burn them." Mom said "No you wouldn't. You would hide them under your mattress-that's what your father did, and what [brother] did."

In a few years, he'll look back on that night and think about what he missed. For now, the adults who were there will get a smile out of it.

I hope that all who are celebrating something at this time of year enjoy their celebrations and that your 2008 is filled with good and joyful things.

We had a really pleasant weekend. Saturday we spent the day with friends, and it culminated in a spontaneous barbecue, and great conversation about faith, feminism, religion, Florida, atheism, art and comics. Sunday we got stuff done at home.

Monday, zedrikcayne woke up with a nasty cough. In fact, I put my hand on his chest as we were waking up, and stuck my fingers in green mucous, which he apparently coughed up in his sleep. So, I told him to make a doctor's appointment for that afternoon, after the urologist appointment. The poor guy has walking pneumonia. He'll be okay, but he's feeling icky right now...I suppose a few days until he feels better.

Yeah, the urologist. That. The news was less than stellar. Not tragic, but not as good as we'd hoped-there are still issues. Dr W., upon hearing our story of being walked in on in the middle of giving the sample, gave us the horrified home alone face-you know the one with the jaw dropping and hands to cheeks in horror. He commented that it was in fact the "worst semen sample story ever." But yeah. The news could have been better. It could have been a lot worse. It is what it is, Dr W seems to think we can work with it, and I'll talk to Dr. P and see what he says when I see him on April 12. I'm not sure I want to talk more about it right now. I'm angry, sad, upset, frustrated, and more.

Instead, I'll talk about my Passover menu. I'll probably make another, separate post about Passover itself, and doing it on my own this year, but my menu...that's much cheerier than anything else. And that is in fact, what I need at the moment. Cheering.

( tentative non-vegeterian Pesach menu )

and it's a rather mild 61F/16 C. Quite pleasant. Holiday lights, however, still seem ridiculous to me, in this warm weather-two homes on our street are decked out. We haven't bothered with lights for the last two years because we travel at the end of the month. We might this year-don't know yet. A total blue and white Chanukah experince or something, since I have decorative Chanukah lights. And I still need to dress Jaques the Garden Moose for the holidays.

Still, it's that season, we've already gotten our first holiday card, and so, I put this out there for you. (Please please please, if you were on our card list last year, respond again-the list wasn't backed up anywhere, and zedrikcayne had to reformat his computer. This year, the list will end up on my computer and be backed up elsewhere.)

Alternative ways to get me the info

-comments to this entry are screened, so you can post it there (if you do post a comment that isn't your address, since that happens, let me know if it's okay to unscreen it.)
-send me an e-mail to geminigirl livejournal, etc, you know the drill

[Poll #881929]

We arrived home on Monday night, and were exhausted. We had a mostly pleasant visit with my family-my sister only spent one day with us, which made things even more pleasant. Though I like my siter well enough, she plays martyr far too often for my taste, when it comes to their house and the cats. (My sister is allergic to cats, but refuses to take allergy medication before she visits my parents, and so she whines about how miserable she feels and my mother caters to her because of it.)

Mom and Dad had to put one of the cats down over the weekend. It wasn't surprising, it was kind of anticipated-she was 20 years old, and had a long life, but she'd gone deaf, and was having dementia, and kidney failure, and it was time. Still sad though. Mom's cat Baker took to Cayne and I though, and was apparently rather upset for a day or two after we left.

The Thanksgiving meal was lovely. ( the menu, for those who want to know )

We played the TV version of "Scene It" after dinner, which was amusing. The random trivia we could pull out was interesting. (Who knew, for example, that the theme song from "Welcome Back, Kotter" was so recognizable, or that I remember the words to the theme song from "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", which I perhaps saw twice.)

Friday, despite my absolute desire not to shop on Black Friday, we went to Marburn Curtain Warehouse to try and find tablecloths and curtains for the bedroom and kitchen. I found something that might work in the master bedroom-need to put it up against the walls and stuff to see how it looks. We'll see. It just needs something. We also visited a pet store, were they have a giant pleco who likes to be petted on the nose. Someone was pricing the large fish in the pond where the pleco lives, and I overheard him being told that he wasn't for sale, but a fish like him would cost several thousand dollars.

While up there, I also went to see the new Christopher Guest movie "For Your Consideration" with Diane. It was okay as movies go, but disappointing as Christopher Guest movies go, if that makes sense.

Sunday, we headed for New Jersey to ring with our former handbell choir, and visit a friend. I needed that visit. I needed to remember what it felt like to really be part of a community, and connected that way to people. I miss that. And it was good to see Chips again, and catch up.

I ran around on Monday trying to get chocolate making supplies, but that didn't happen-the place that I liked had a fire earlier this year, and we never did manage to find their new location. I don't want to pay for shipping, but if I have to I will. What I really wanted though, was to check out their molds. I need to replace some molds that are kind of warped, and I wanted new holiday molds.

I am, however, very glad to be home. I may not love Florida, but I do love that I have my own home.


I need to head to the grocery store shortly, and pick up some things. I need to decide if I feel inspired enough to write 1500 words for an anthology, or if what I'm considering as a topic just sucks. Two photos from Thanksgiving coming in a separate post. And now, I can write about World AIDS Day tomorrow without feeling like I should have written about Thanksgiving.

First off, since I neglected to make an entry in my LJ yesterday, let me being by belatedly thanking the veterans on my f'list. I know of three, but there quite possibly may be more.

For those of you who don't read the comic strip For Better or For Worse, a bit of background. Lynn Johnston, who has drawn this strip for almost thirty years, honors veterans regularly in her strip. One of the major characters served with the RCAF in World War II. I found this year's strip particularly touching. You can see it here.

In addition to remembering what veand filled our saturday veterans have done for us, I did have a busy but satisfying weekend. We had a quiet Friday evening, and spent Saturday doing many many errands. We began with a quick trip to Linens and Things for a pizza stone, so that I can prepare a fruit pizza for our card game this week. Then a stop at Build a Bear so that I could get a stuffed Mumble to add to my collection of stuffed penguins. It was a madhouse there, and took quite a bit longer than expected, but we got the penguin built, and the promo-giveaway that made me want to go this weekend in the first place. Then a stop at Bath and Bodyworks for a few items, including part of my sister in laws's Christmas gift. An in and out stop at Ulta for something that I haven't been able to find anywhere else, and onto the next project. I wanted a loaf of sourdough bread to go with supper, so we headed to Panera for a loaf of bread, and of course some lunch! I had a tasty salad, zedrikcayne had a sandwich, and we each had a cookie. Onto Target for two items, which of course is never really two items. In addition to a dishpan and slippers (our intended targets of course) we also came home with a runner for the dining room table, a bucket of cat litter, a refill for the catnip scratcher box, my sister's birthday gift, some new playing cards and a mini-slinky, intended for our nephew's stocking. Next stop was the grocery store, for a few things, but my own confusion about our schedule for next week meant that I neglected to buy the ingredients I needed for Tuesday night's dessert. Ooops. So I'll make a trip to the store on Tuesday for really fresh fruit for the pizza. One more stop at the pharmacy on the way home, and we were home for the evening. Put things away, and then do some housework and start supper. I had a soup base for corn chowder that we'd picked up at Omaha Steaks during the half price sale at the local store a few weeks ago, so I added a few basic chopped veggies (carrot, onions and celery-a basic mirepoix) and some crab, for a rather tasty crab and corn chowder, served with sourdough bread. (There are plenty of leftovers, if anyone is hungry.) While that was cooking, a little housecleaning. In the evening, some email, a phone call with my Mom, and not much else.

Today, laundry laundry laundry, which somehow seemed to get neglected over the last few weeks. I think we did four loads today, which is quite a bit. And more housecleaning-my bathrooms are sparkling. (We have a rather nice agreement...I'll clean the toilet and sink in Cayne's bathroom if he does the vacuuming. I hate vacuuming. He cleans the shower in that bathroom, because it's just easier to do that while you're in it.) And the lawn has been mowed, too. I finished the book I was reading and now I'm puttering around, flipping between Livejournal, IRC and my French Homework. The last load of laundry is in the dryer and will get folded later, though it probably won't get put away until tomorrow.

Back to the homework though.

Wayne and Garth's Top 5 Worst Treats for Trick or Treaters

5. Pennies
4 Pop Rocks
3. Taffy Apples
2. Hurl
1. Mung

In other news, we had a pleasant housewarming, and a nice visit with my in laws. My mother in law did drive me nuts, a bit, but not in an intolerable way. She wouldn't sit still, and insisted on doing things like vaccuming and folding laundry. I felt like my house was being invaded. I tried out a new recipe, and it was just a generally pleasant visit.

And, it's nearly 4 PM and we've had no Trick or Treaters.

L'shanah tovah. May the new year, 5766 be filled with sweetness and joy.