MMP - Bright & Early, Front & Center

And now for something completely different.

Here is my very first picture I took with my brand shiny new camera. I hope this works cause it is also the very first time I used one of those photo site places and tried to link to such.

I present my swweeet dog Hannah chewing on my last pair of wearable shoes.

Cute dog. She chews with her left paw? :: d&r ::

A joke. Jeez.

First day back to school was interesting. Winter break felt longer than summer break, and I really didn’t want to come back.

I have to cook Anagramless Guy dinner tonight. I want to make up a recipe. I’m thinking… manicotti with spinach and italian sausage? Sounds good to me.

Hey! I Said it was my first picture! So I’m a little slow. Jeesh!

donkeybear I know you were kidding. Also, a helpful hint. Don’t experiment with dinner too early in a relationship. Stuff like that sets off the weird alarm sometimes. Just sayin’.

Oh and Drae, one more word of advice, not related to painting, but still important. If you plan on doing any drywall, don’t invite welby for that either. :smiley:

Hannah looks awfully guilty.

swampy (and anyone else interested), here’s a link about the Zone Diet. We have a book; I haven’t looked at this site, but it appears to be the site of the doc who wrote the book. Hubby lost weight and kept it off on this diet, and he’s got a lot of the recipes memorized. So, I’m all for husbands cooking dinner.

anyrose for you my dear, starter of this week’s MMP …

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 at least 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 had to search old posts to get the recipe (because it’s on another computer) and just now I notice an option that I can display my post in searching all threads I’ve posted in. Until now, I scroll, scroll, scroll, until I find where I posted, then read from there. This is SO MUCH FASTER. Um, how long have I been I member here? 1999??? :smack:

For that matter, if it requires anything resembling competence and home repair, it’s best to live in another state than I do.

thank you **Ellen Cherry ** - it looks yummy

here, I was thinking it was some kind of BBQ omelet with a capsicum kick

I do know how long it takes to get from Toronto to Philly. It’ll be around 14 hours by bus. It’s $250 for two people roundtrip by bus, and about $600 for the plane. We are poor, and have time but little money. If we could find a $250 roundtrip plane trip for two, we’d go for it.

Canada has weird ariport taxes which make flying expensive.

Today, FCD was shot in the neck. By a doctor. With a needle full of drugs. To help him feel better. I took half the day off to go with him, which was probably a good thing, since he slept most of the way there and back.

And on the way back, we stopped at the LaZBoy warehouse and picked up our new love seat. So when we got home, we had to take the pink love seat out of the living room, put the brown and blue couch where the love seat was, and put the new love seat where the brown and blue couch used to be. The pink love seat is now in my van - I’m going to try to sell it at work, and it’ll help if it’s there when I post the ad. Plus there’s room in the van, so why not?

And speaking of knives, I hate the freebies I got. I tried to cut a cucumber in half, and the stoopit thing kept deflecting to one side, giving me uneven halves. FCD found the same thing when he was trying to carve the ham I got for dinner. :frowning: So it looks like I wasted my 6500 freebie points.

Mika - love the sarong! I also like the primative touch of the pillow… :wink:

Is it Friday yet?

Oh, suuuuuuure you’re putting the couch in the back of the van to sell it, FCM. :wink: What’s next painting the outside with some fabo art and installing fur on the front seats?

How’s FCD feeling now, FCM ? Is he feeling a little better?

Today sucked big ol’…, well, you get the idea. Tomorrow is shaping up to be more of the same.

You know, most of the time I don’t mind this job, in fact, I like it, but days like today really take it out of me.

FCD is hurting, and under strict orders not to have excess heat on his neck for 72 hours. He who loves long, hot showers is gonna be crabby the next coupla mornings. But the doc promises he’ll feel better by Sat. Here’s hoping!

Incidentally, did you see what I said to you in the cell phone thread in the pit??

Okay. I’m very excited at the moment. I figure I need to counter the depressing-ness of the last few posts, so here’s some good news. I met with my physics professor earlier today (side note: When I left for break he had a beard, which I assume he’s had for decades. Today, no beard. I was almost stunned. He looked like a different person. He’s growing it back because his wife doesn’t like his new shorn look. Women.) and he told me that the program in Amsterdam that I told y’all about a couple of weeks ago is absolutely first rate. A master’s from there will get me anywhere for my PhD. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :: dances ::

But wait, there’s more! The project I’m working on for him has changed its plans. I’m unfortunately not going to be going to the conference in San Francisco, but instead the paper is going to be published in an actual, honest-to-Og journal! Ima get published! Wooohoooo!

Lissla, it’s probably Niagara Falls, NY you’re thinking of. I spent a couple of nights in a youth hostel there about a million years ago, meeting up with some friends. We had fun, although we didn’t get to go over to the Canadian side of the falls because my non-U.S.-citizen friend had brought his passport, but not some vital piece of bureaucracy that would have let him back into the U.S. Buffalo is nearby and probably has more transportation opportunities to Philly… (Could you fly cheaply from Buffalo to Philly?)

I had a couple of Chicago Cutlery (although I think they were bottom of the line) knives before I bought REAL KNIVES. Cut myself once with the Chicago ones - badly. Never with the real ones. Yet.

A friend of a friend used to sell Cutco knives and I bought some from him. EXPENSIVE, but they cut everything properly and easily. I’ve had them for about 4 years now and don’t ever plan to buy another set. The handles fit my hands nicely and they’re actually sharp, which is a good thing. Also, they stay sharp a long time. Saw a knife-rating article at some point and they compared well to all the frou-frou brands. I think knives are a matter of taste, though, not brand. (No, you should not try to taste your knives!) If they feel right in your hand, then they’re good… It drives me nuts when I go to long-distance best friend’s house because she has the crappiest knives ever. Short, dull, thin blades. There: I think those are all of my thoughts on the important subject of knives.

gotti, will you be in Ohio any time soon? Because I really want to tear up my carpet and put hardwood in. Thought I could maybe schedule you in to help. :smiley:

Today’s food section has a cover article on “superfoods” such as dark chocolate. Since they recommend it (although they recommend limiting intake to 1 oz. per day), I felt justified in eating 1/4 of a dark chocolate with hazelnuts bar (just less than 1 oz.). Also, nuts are good for you too.

Sorry work is frustrating, Taters. Amazing how people think they can snap their fingers and get the numbers they want, isn’t it?

Drae, have fun painting! I’d say start with the room you care least about so that you’ve got some practice and skills by the time you get to the rooms you think most people will notice. I’m about ready to start planning the next round of painting (we took down wallpaper and painted just about everywhere before we moved in) and general re-decorating/re-finishing. There’s lots of wood molding that really needs to be refinished (won’t that be fun!). We’ll see when I actually get to it.

Hope the shots are really helping FCD, FCM.

Cool news, rifty! I’m envious. Hope everything with Amsterdam works out. (I spent a year in Berlin when I was in grad school and it was wonderful.)

Hi to anyone else I missed… I’m ready for it to be Friday too!

GT

(((Hugs for Taters))) Go punch something or eat a lot of chocolate.

If we go, I wouldn’t want the inlaws to have to drive us farther than they have to. Buffalo is more than an hour and a half from Niagara-On-The-Lake. I don’t want them to have to make a very long trip on their day off.

Cash donations to the Send-The-Lissars-To-Visit-Their-Best-Friends fund are welcome! Plane tickets also accepted! :smiley:

Attacks Husband and I made two big chicken potpies from scratch. We ate some for dinner, but I’m hungry again. Maybe I’ll do some exercising, tidy the kitchen, and then eat more.

You guys, I just finished Shogun, by James Clavell. Any readers in here, I highly recommend it. I was hesitant, then got pulled in, and I just finished the last 250 pages tonight. I am stunned and awed at what a good book it was.

Not a light task, though, as my copy has 800 pages. But well worth it.

Hi, guys! I’m so dang busy at work I don’t seem to have any time to post.

So you get the semi-drunken version.

Floors: We have a new 8’ x 10’ rug to cover up the ugly carpet that we can’t afford to replace - yet.

Mika - gorgeous stuff! I can barely sew on a button.

FCM - I hope FCD is feeling better soon. And good luck selling the love seat! We are planning a garage sale -weather permitting- and intend to sell a sage (on topic!) couch and overstuffed chair. And a motorcycle, and a bed, coffee table, end tables, and assorted other junk.

Weather: It rained!!! It really rained! We even had a power outage. Woo-hoo!

Knives: We bought new knives a while back. I wish I knew how to sharpen knives. They are getting dull. I don’t know how to use the steel very well.

Indy - cute pic of Hannah!

Ok - that’s all for now. 'Cept I made some awesome chili for dinner!

Still hungry. I have, however, dug up an unfinished sort of fifties sundress, and am trying to change it and make it wearable. I think I started it four years ago, and I’ve gained… well, let’s say ten pounds. It’s a sleeveless wrap dress, and very very simple, with a circle skirt. If I do decide to finish it I’ll post pics.

Here’s hopin’ FCD feels better soon. That kind of stuff is never good. Matter of fact it’s a <snerk> pain in the neck! <snerk>

Taters want we should come out there as a group and tell them to just stop all this nonsense? We could make 'em stand in the corner if all of us got together. Hope work stuff gets better soon. Speaking of work stuff, I wonder how things went for rigs.

YAY Rifty! Good for you! WOOHOO!!!

I’m wearing a tie today! I don’t do that often for work but since I get to go talk about stuff and all today (I’m going to Lumpkin, Jawja, envy me!) I figured I’d spiff up a bit. My tie has a golden retriever on it. It’s cute.

elenorigby - what happened at that meeting with the brass yesterday?