Even worse than last week's MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Which reminds me of the time…

My first apartment in Japan was in a place called Oosawa, which translated means “Giant Marsh.” (Of course, I image that for most people it’s just a place name and they particularly think of the significance.) And, my apartment was on the first floor.

Now Japanese appear to not be real big on the whole in-wall method of plumbing and wiring. Instead they’ll have a solid concrete wall, and if they want to run something through, they use some holes they have opened. Apparently, somewhere in the building the plumbing was set up like this, and they hadn’t properly closed the gaps. And I know this because…

Well, so there I am nekkid. I’m sitting in my bathtub, head leaned back against the wall, enjoying scalding bathing bliss–to glance over and see Teh Slug of Doom crawling up the wall about a foot in front of me on the side wall.

Oh…hello Mr. Slug.

Now, you see the problem with slugs, unlike something like say a spider or a mosquito–you can’t just grab a book and smash the sucker. And more importantly…just…there is little in the world to spot a foot away from your head when you’re butt-naked in the tub to ruin the experience than a wild slug charging you at 8 milimeters a minute. If nothing else, taking on a slug while naked just isn’t in the running. Which means that you can’t even deal with the sucker until you’ve hauled yourself out of the nice pleasant toasty water, dried off, and put your clothes back on.

Grrr…

So now you’re dressed, and you’ve got to figure out what to do with the sucker. I mean, in general my idea is that a spider who picks a corner and stays there is fine to have it, but roaming wildlife in the house are official insta-toast. But damn slugs just can’t be killed indoors. So you have to figure out how to transport him out.

  1. Spatula?
  2. Toilet Paper?
  3. Jar?

Well, I didn’t have a jar, and the thought of the tensile feeling that would be transmitted through toilet paper also marked that off. And I don’t want Liquid Slug touching anything I’m going to eat off of eventually (nor would I trust that I could get him onto a spatula without him falling between the tub and the wall as I tried to scrape him off.) So our winner was…disposable chopsticks!

And I’ll be damned if the only thing worse than having to get out of the tub to pick a slug off the wall is trying to get the sucker to detach from it with a pair of chopsticks. Bleh. Flinging them out there door is also a rather odd feeling.

I ended up having two or three more invasions, but the experience never improved. Bleh and bleh.

42

Apparently it’s one of our picker/packer’s birthday today, so the folks in the back bought him a birthday cake. Owing to his proclivity for doing so, the cake has written in frosting atop it, “Happy Birthday Mr. Save Half For Later.”

In a bit of bitter irony, he had called in sick today. We’re pretty sure he’s got a case of Superbowl Flu.

But at least he doesn’t have to eat Baskin Robins cheese. Or Vick’s. Or Baskin Robins cheese dipped in Vick’s. (Come to think of it, would the Vick’s improve the flavour any?)

43

I can offer you my Southwestern Pasta Salad recipe, or Texas Caviar, both of which I take to potlucks frequently (and shared here in the MMP) to rave reviews!

44

OOH! Texas Caviar, definitely. MMMMMM… What? I actually made Ellen’s TC and it was tres nummy!

Mindude dipping that cheese in Vick’s, well, it couldn’t possibly be worse. ::shudder::

45

Yum. Those sound good, Bob. I’ll have to try them.
“Charging you at eight milimetres a minute.” Hee. I think my least favourite bathtime experience is still the damn centipedes that skitter across the surface of the bath, while I levitate upwards, screaming.
Did I mention that our Best Friends are 98% sure they’re coming to be our godparents, at Easter? Best Friend has promised that at the party we’ll throw after Easter Vigil Mass, she’ll get drunker than she ever has before, in honour of us joining the church. That’s touching. I think. Now, if she and QD both get the drunkest they’ve ever been, we’ve got a good foundation for a Girls Gone Wild video type moneymaker. They’re both really cute.

I’m not sure about this whole walking eight blocks to work in the bitter, freezing cold thing.

46

MBG --you wimpy almost in Iowa folk don’t have school today?

We DO–all districts, all day.
Hmmmph. We’ll laugh at you, when we get out earlier in June…heh.

My husband is working from home today and driving me nuts. He likes to chat and show me things online. I need to get my work done (I’m half there) and do chores and relax. I don’t want to hear the newest weird song that he found!

Is this what working in an office is like? Constant interruptions? Gah.

I made chicken instead of pork chops-I had more chicken. I threw it into the crockpot (and made a three pointer!), with some pre-cooked sausage, cream of mushroom soup, garlic, onion and whatever else I could [del]scrounge[/del]find. I hope it’s good, later…

47

rigs if it has cream of mushroom soup, garlic and onions, it’s bound to turn out good. It’s just one of those crock pot rules.

Bobbio the egg rolls do sound good. I am quite proficient in rolling up egg rolls. I’m also good at wontons. They are but two of my many mad skilz!!!111

Can this day go by any slower? OOPS! I’m supposed to be watchin’ that internet thingy… maybe I’ll go take a peek.

48

Another voice for the Amen chorus here. I actually bought the stuff to make some TC for lunch this week, and I haven’t gotten to it yet. I did make the pickled sausage I wanted, though.

Someone brought cheescake leftover from his Superbowl party to work for public consumption. I called him evil to his face, and told him I was allergic to it; cheesecake makes me swell (around the midsection)…

49

No - we had school, they just don’t have the Bus Guy there for it. Our superintendent comes from northern Wisconsin - he thinks this is a nice brisk day.

50

Texas Caviar

1 (15 oz) can blackeye peas, rinsed and drained
1 can black beans, well rinsed and drained
1 (15-1/2 oz) can white hominy, drained
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced (I use 4)
1 medium-size onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (8-oz) jar hot picante sauce (I use salsa)
2 tablespoons lime juice (optional)

Combine first 9 ingredients, and, if desired, lime juice. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. Serve with tortilla chips, or wrap in flour tortillas.

Yield: 4 cups.

I usually use less onion, and I don’t consider the lime juice optional. I think I usually just squeeze a whole lime. :cool:

It’s fabu with the Hint of Lime Tostitos

51

And, if I may add, it is one of the finest things evah to rest upon a tortilla chip. :smiley:

52

Great OP, bobbio. When I lived in Mayer, AZ, they had a homecoming tradition of burning the previous year’s tires on a hill. The pile usually burned all weekend.

Today’s lunch was canceled, maybe next month, although I should be working by then.

I need to go to the bank and the post office, and maybe laundry later. I think I’ll sign up for a sock class. That seems like a suitably small, take anywhere project.

**Roo **asked about Stitches last week. Stitches is a knitting convention held in the West, Midwest, and East, throughout the year. They offer tons of classes by well-known teachers, and lots and lots of yarn and fiber related goodness. I’m taking Fine Finishing with Nancy Wiseman and Short Rowed Bust Darts with Lily Chin. I think I must be insane, that’s 9 hours of classes! And I’ll be in class most of Friday, while people are snapping up the best yarn! :eek: :smiley:

I hereby volunteer for the MMP on February 26, since attending conventions always leads to good stories. At least you can be horrified/envy me about how much yarn I bought, or find out if I was overcome by madness and decided to take up spinning. I don’t *intend *to buy a lot, but, well, one tends to become overwhelmed by the pretty colors and textures, and buy more than intended. And I’ll be there for two days. Resistance will be futile. Luckily, it’s a short hop down the expressway for me, so I won’t actually be staying there.

53

I finished my homework (for today, that is). yay.

Off to do NOTHING. I’m good at that. Surely that laundry will fold itself…

54

Good on you bobbio for leaving the Stupid Bowel and putting our fires! Also for the interesting OP!

In 1984 in Everett Washington (where I lived at the time) a tire fire burned for three months involving four million tires. Toxic smoke and the runoff from firefighter water carried pollutants into the Snohomish River and the Puget Sound. It happened during the summer, I was very pregnant and couldn’t let my 2 1/2 year old daughter play outside. Merely breathing was a chore, it was summer and hot and horrible. And it smelled very bad.

Oh yeah, finally the snow and ice has melted, so of course the temperature has dropped to 29F and there is snow in the forecast for today and tomorrow. I guess that old broad Mother Nature wanted to begin again with a clean canvass. At the moment there is a heavy fog hanging over us, and the frost on the grass and streets is so heavy it looks like snow.

The kids are at school, skiffman is at the dentist, and his plans after are to go play with his skipper, they will be trolling for king salmon. I could get cheerful over a fresh piece of king salmon for dinner.

That cheese is just…well, I foresee nightmares about mint green cheese with nasty looking chocolate smears…ewwwwwwwwwwwww!

Well, my back is aching, so it’s back to bed with the heating pad and a movie, have a good day cool kids, I’ll see you all later!

55

I use chick peas instead of hominy, BTW, to slightly reduce the carbs. Tastes the same, but purists may be abhorred.

56

That sounds like an interesting dip. Unfortunately, black-eyed peas aren’t the easiest things to find, and hominy … well, there must not be much call for it north of the border because I don’t even know what it is, except that it’s often found in the company of grits, which are equally mysterious to me. About the only thing that comes to mind when someone says “hominy” is “Eddie Murphy’s Honeymooners skit.”

Homina, homina, homina.

57

I have about 5 things to do but all of them are taking time. So that means I’ve got 5 things started and somewhere between a quarter and half done and I’m bouncing between all of them, trying to remember where I was on each one. Which isn’t going so well. Why couldn’t at least one of them go quickly so I could only be juggling 4 things instead??

58

You know, of course, socks are greatly frowned upon around here. :wink:

So, we have [del]suckers[/del] gracious volunteers for both the week of the 12th and 26th. Jake!

Mindude do the local grocery stores have any “specialty” aisles where such southern delicacies as canned black eyed peas and hominy may be found? Why I hear that even grits can now be found north of Kaintuckee.

59

Swampster, you’re the complimentariest, today!

Mindfield, deah, whuhevah d’ y’all live? :smiley: Blackeye peas you can find in the grocery store! Look in the canned beans aisle! Ditto on the hominy. (Which is what grits are made from. [Grits is made from?]) Grits 'r good, anyway.

Bobbio, your chickpea variation sounds great! I love 'em.

60

Why you are just evah so kindly welcome!

Ya know, I’m thinking adding chickpeas along with the blackeyed peas and hominy would be nummy.