Maybe swampy could lend you soma his green hair gel. Do NOT do what I’ve seen happen every year since I was in high school…use green food dye. Seems like a good idea at the time but it’s hell washin’ it out. 
I am lucky that I wear my Irish green 24/7 what with I gots green eyes an all. Should I overdo it this year and wear the green knit top I bought this weekend???
When they go longer than a $30 bike (this one was $38- and it’s just RipClaw- but the first one was cheaper, so they average out to about 30 smackers each) from Target will last Trunk, then I’ll look at the bike shops. I think Soupo’s next bike will be his bike for a while, so he might get a good one in a couple years.
Last year Soupo had a coupla pounds on Katcha. This year? Half a pound. But Soupo is way taller. He’s built all long and skinny, while his little brother is more the fire plug. They have the same waist size, and now we know (because we measured for new helmets) the same size mellon. Katcha’s gonna just roll over his big brother.
Hey! Tomorrow (or the next day) is the Ides of March. Beware!
I’m not so much worried about the Ides of March cause I don’t know any Toga wearin’, dagger totin’ guys named Brutus. However, I will be flying tomorrow so maybe I should worry? Or maybe not. Even if the guy sittin’ next to me on the plane is wearing a toga and named Brutus he won’t have a dagger. They’ll take it away from him at security. Plus, if he’s burly I could just charm him. So, no I’m not worried.
Some friends are taking ACBG out for margarita night at the really good Mexican restaurant on Wednesday. He’s callin’ it his boys night out. Poor baby, a lonely bachelor the rest of the week. While I’m off slavin’ away out of town.
It just ain’t gonna work out for LifeOnWry and me to meet this week so it seems. I’m real disappointed but happy she’s gettin’ to remodel her house so that’s good. Plus, I get to meet my niece and her soon to be hubby for dinner Friday night! That’s real good.
-swampbear (speaking of togas, how come I don’t see Hare Krishnas so much at airports anymore?)
We don’t do much celebrating of SPD in the Striker household, just another day to me, but I’m sure Ms. Ministriker will be all keyed up to wear green, and that will be a hassle. Speaking of the YM, she is averaging at least 1 new bike every 2 years, but since she is of the female variety, they don’t have cool names like “Rippin Claw!” or “Major Damage”. I think the most recent is named either “Katie” or “Chelsea”, I really should pay more attention.
The missus and I (more the missus, less the I), changed out our kitchen faucet on Saturday. The new faucet was surprisingly easy to install, once we spent 2.5 hours removing the old one. The old one that “we think we’re handy, but we’re complete morons when it comes to home repair” former owners put on. This was not as much fun as it sounds.
Celebrated our second year of wedded bliss Sunday by taking the lovely and talented Mrs. Striker to her favorite Eyetalian place, then visited with a couple of friends before heading home. I surprised the Mrs. by picking up a chocolate cordial pie while she and the Minis were out Sunday afternoon. This pie is not normal pie, not by any stretch of the imagination. This pie is roughly 3 stories of incredible chocolate cordial mousse, formed into a thick conical shape, which is topped with 5-6 dark sweet cherries at it’s precipice, all piled on top of a very thin layer of candied walnuts.** FCM ** could not handle this much chocolate. Good times ensued.
I spent a good part of the morning shoveling my driveway, but when we got in the car and headed off to the store on such a fabulous sunny (but by no means warm) day, I had that giddy Spring is imminent feeling. It’s in the air!
People–do remember that Ireland’s colors are both green and orange, and in the spirit of a free and united nation, please put a bit of orange on, too. (Except in Boston–you don’t mess with Boston Irish {especially since most of them are not{).
I too went to Target this weekend, where my favorite Easter candy was on sale. I’m nicely stocked with candy now, but I still remember those early days of the Easter selling season when that other holiday (turn head and spit) took up precious retail space better used for Easter candy. I didn’t buy anything else at Target, although candy was not my sole reason for venturing into that money trap. I just didn’t find what I needed at Target, as impossible as that may sound.
Instead, I found it at Shopko, even though they tried to hide it from me. “It” in this case is a four tier folding bookcase, on sale no less. The little taggie thing that you normally take to purchase big items said that they were out of stock (and I was sad because this is the third time I’ve gone to Shopko for this bookcase and found it out of stock). But, lo and behold! right around the corner stood the exact bookcase I wanted, all boxed up and ready to go home with me. First we had to wait in the longest line I’ve ever waited in–I’ve been known to put back everything I was going to buy and come back later to get it again rather than wait in a long line–because Shopko was having a big, big sale, which I would have known if I’d looked at my mail, but I didn’t because I hate the junk mail and so never look at it, except to tear up credit card offers and take the address labels out of the appeals for money from charities that I won’t send money to because they waste it sending out unsolicited address labels that most people just throw away instead of spending it on starving children or whatnot. Not that whatnot and starving children are equally worthy of charity, starving children trump just about anything else, but if you want to fight starvation, start in you own backyard I always say and give to the local food bank because even if they are not technically starving, there are hungry children in your town as well as halfway around the world. Not that those children are any more entitled to a full tummy than the children halfway around the world, face it, nobody wants kids to starve, even the reddest red state and the blue-est blue state would agree on that (although how to feed them would be a major battle) but ya gotta pick your battles and sometimes the battleground and for me that happens to be in my backyard when it comes to hunger. Not that I have hungry people in my backyard–I’d feed them in the first place and they can’t get in because of my new fence in the second place–but that’s a convenient way of saying what I’m saying in a quick way, and you all know how much I value brevity.
Don’t you hate it when people just abandon their purchases in random places around the store?
Anybody else under the impression that Kalley was steadily munchin’ chocolate while posting? 
Speaking of chocolate, TS be forewarned. Ain’t no chocolate no match for FCM. She just might pelt you with bon bons when she reads what you said. Just sayin’ is all.
I haven’t bought any Easter candy yet. Maybe I should buy some for my trip. Chocolate and bidness go well together after all.
I had a very exciting weekend. I was supposed to go to Target, but I never got around to it, what with all the exciting stuff I had to do. I had a party on Friday, and even though I’m 28, and the average age of the people at the party was about 32 or so, one of the neighbors called the cops. I felt like I was in college again. Amusingly enough, the cops seemed more embarrassed about it than I did, 'cause we really weren’t making any noise. I said that I would start sending people home, and they said not to, as they didn’t want to interfere with our good time. It was kind of odd. I felt like I should offer them a beer of something, but it’s probably best that I didn’t. In our neighbor’s defense, it was around 2am when the cops showed up, but we were being pretty quiet.
I spent Saturday cleaning up and working on wedding stuff (which wasn’t really all that exciting) and then Sunday I fixed a leaky drain in the bathroom, which only required two trips to the hardware store and only a couple moments of swearing, which is pretty good by my plumbing standards.
So, I guess it was only Friday night that was exciting, unless plumbing excites you in some way. And I never got to Target, which means I’ll have to go after work today.
Oh, and I was planning a SPD party at my house, but I think I’m going to cancel it now. Don’t want to piss off the neighbors again.
I bought my grandfather a case of GUinness one year for his birthday. He’s from the Old Sod (making me 2nd generation Irish on my Dad’s side, 3rd gen on me mum’s side), and I figured he’d really like it, since he was always drinking that nasty Tech beer every time I went over to see him. Well, turns out he never drank the stuff when he lived in Ireland, because he never liked it. I had some serious doubts about my gransfather being Irish after that, I tell you. But the I realized that the Guinness advertising schlubs were the ones to blame.
Kallessa, that was a long trip to take to get the punchline there (about brevity), but I thank ye, 'cause it made me chuckle.
swampy have a nice plane ride. I don’t think you need to worry about anyone wearing a toga on an airplane anymore. I think they take them away from people so that they can’t twine them into ropes and escape through the window.
Teddy S Happy 2nd Anniversity!!! to you and the Mrs.
Togas, airplanes, and bikes.
I haven’t ridden a bike since college. Riding a bike in Ottawa is fine, but riding one in Toronto scares me. Our drivers are more frightening. Well, not our bus drivers. Ottawa bus drivers are flipping scary.
We don’t have Target here. There was a possibility that they’d be taking over Zellers, but it fell through. 
You know how last week or the week before I said that the Barenaked Ladies live in Toronto but I’ve never seen any of them? I think I did, on Saturday. This guy came in looking for a book for his wife, and he looked strangely familiar. I am fairly sure it was Ed Robertson. I had to go online and look at pics to figure out which one it was. I could be wrong, but he sort of seemed to expect me to recognise him.
So I may have had a brush with celebrity. And if he’d beaten up the litttle kids who were running back and forth screaming I would have been grateful. But he didn’t.
I have to go to Costco to get lots of ham. I will not buy anything stupid while I’m there. I will behave.
I’ve been in Chez Tarje’ maybe three or four times total. I never have a burning desire to go there. The last time I was in there was in January when I bought a baby shower type gifty thingy. The reason I went was because the soon to be (now brand new) mommy had a gift registery thingy there and I like playing with those gift registery thingies where you type in a name and up pops a list of stuff the registree wants and you can print it out if you want and all. Me, I just wrote down the number thingy and the aisle it was supposed to be on and went and bought it. Turns out I shoulda printed it out cause the cashier at the register told me that they usually take the print out and scan it in the register to show that gift on the wish list has been bought. I am uncouth when it comes to this stuff. But those little baby spoons were so kee-yooote! So, I know the registree was happy.
Maybe I just need to plan a trip to Target just to behold the apparent wonder of it all. Or maybe not. I once bought a computer mouse there. A computer mouse and kee-yooote baby spoons are the only things I remember buying at Chez Tarje’.
-swampbear (the surrealism of Wally World is much more attractive to me)
I can relate to this. My little brother just barely comes to the top of my breastbone, but there’s no way I’m tangling with that guy if I can avoid it.
In retrospect, if I hadn’t stayed up so late last night, I wouldn’t be so grumpy today. Mr. Lissar is switching himself over to night-shift mode, and I have trouble sleeping when I know that he’s eventually coming to bed. If he’s staying up until 8 or so I can sleep, but if he’s going to be at 3 or 4 I find myself subconciously waiting and staying awake.
I ought to have gotten up and had two shots of rum or something. I’ll do that next time.
What do I want to eat this week? We have a lot of lentil-veggie-ham soup, but it’ll pall after the fourth day. The Costco all-croissant diet will not help me in losing weight. I find cooking for one dispiriting- we need eight or nine kids, and I’ll happily bake and cook all day. This may be why Quasi-Daughter and my friend Alicia, who’s presently in Thailand or Malaysia or something, tend to arrive, flatten themselves on the floor, and cheep like baby birds. Both of them need to bed fed every two hours.
I am a compulsive motherly-cooking sort, with a husband who doesn’t eat muffins, cornbread, bread pudding, or granola. Or cookies, really.
Lissla, that boy ain’t right!
(NO MUFFINS???)
Thanks for the well wishes Sean, it was a solid second year.
Swampy, I’ll stand by my claim that the pie is too much for FCM to handle, so much rich chocolatey fluffiness it’s intolerable. Maybe Rue or **Shibb ** could back me up on this if they have seen the chocolate temptress that is Chocolate Cordial Mousse from the Grand Finale.
I was thinking about the whole OP again, ya’know, instead of working and all, and it seems like most new bikes are bought at exactly the wrong time. I always received my new bikes at XMas, and always proceeded to take it out for that first spin in the blistering cold Ohio December. This lasted approxiamately 5 minutes before my frozen behind was parked back inside.
It is still cold out, even thought the sun is beaming. It gives me a false optimism. I see the sun outside and think, “hey, it’ll probably be warmer now that there’s some sunshine!”. But alas, I am fooled again, and it is still cold when I hit the air outside, and I am disappointed. I am starting to despise you warm Dopers.
Walmart is the demon’s seed that has sprung to life, with the smiley faced siren calling in every form of degenerate shopper to mingle with the stench of must, dirty diapers, and bad perfume that leaves vapor trails behind the slow moving bluehairs that cannot move quicker than the average garden slug on muscle relaxers. At Target all I have to worry about is the soccer moms and their uncontrolled spawn. My mini-rant has ceased, and you can all go back to your normal activites.
For the rest of you though who do, you probably shouldn’t be spending any idle time in Target stores tomorrow.
Here in Palm Springs, land of Bentleys and ageless people, we see many senior citizens riding bikes around town. They are dressed in shiny outfits with fringe and matching helmets. I don’t think any of them ride a Rippin’ Claw.
Target is my second home. I’m thinking of having my mail sent there, it would be more convenient to pick it up and not have to stop at the Post Office.
Yesterday (and continuing today) we had a wind/dust storm. I drove expertly about town for my home health job, dodging with ease the small poodles and Subaru-sized tumbleweeds that were flying through the air.
Tomorrow I start teaching math to 30 LVN students. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I know how to DO it, but do I know how to teach it???
I’m guessing I’ll be post #39 today. 
Sounds Adkins-ish.
The Trollop just got fired. And I think she may think I had something to do with it. Of course, I am [sarcastics] totally [/sarcastics] responsible for her coming in late several times a week, talking all afternoon on the phone with her soon-to-be-ex, sister, bank, landlord, et al, and complete inability to complete all but the most basic tasks assigned.
Too bad she’s gone, because I liked watching her walk around in the see-through blouse (not-really) covering her knockers. (Oh, and for the record, I really didn’t have anything to do with her being fired. I’m thinking the trouble started when everyone in the company had to sign a statement saying that they weren’t going to date anyone else in the company.)
Vunderbob (or anyone who knows someone within driving distance of Chesapeake, VA) if you know anyone that’s looking for an office job, Technical Thingies suddenly has an opening.
If it wasn’t for the fact that you were in Ohio, have 2 kids instead of 3, and aren’t Belgian (as far as I know - although you might be hiding that from us), I would ask if you were my brother-in-law. My oldest nephew is tall, skinny, and very sensitive - but sweet. His younger brother is solid - and much more aggressive - and still sweet. Have no idea what child #3 will be like - she is still too little to have much of a personality beyond happy - but she is solid like child #2.
Susan
You obviously don’t know me very well. There is *no such thing * as too much chocolate. Trust me.
I’ve been trying to remember how many bike I’ve owned - I think it’s around 6. One was stolen, one kinda rusted away, and I gave the others away at various duty stations. Except for the tricycle - I think that went to my sister when I outgrew it. I don’t own a bike now, tho my sweetie has a motorcycle that I ride on when he guilts me into it.
I made ginger snaps this weekend from a recipe that I found on line. They weren’t snappy - they were chewy. But they were gingery and good. And when we went to the grocery, I got some cocoa, so I can whip up some brownies. Yum.
Still not spring here. I am not pleased.