Nobody misses me or gives me chocolate. humph 
Are we all pooling our Doper resources to get Rue some jellybeans now?
Oncet, along about fifteen years ago I was driving with BarbeeDoll[sup]TM[/sup] who was very pregnant at the time. Suddenlike, she sat up and swore she had just seen a monkey sitting on a fence post beside the road. I, since I was keeping my eyes on the road like a good little driver, saw nothing, so chalked said sighting up to pregnancy water on the brain or possible flashback (we are children of the sixties afterall). She was apparently so shocked by whatever it was that she went into early labor later that night and delivered a healthy albeit tiny little girl, my lovely neice, CheerleaderDoll[sup]TM[/sup].
Come to find out, there actually ARE monkey’s in this neck of the woods. Back in the day, some left-coaster Hollywood types imported a troop to give an authentic backdrop to a Tarzan movie being filmed in our lovely Floriduh jungle, AKA Silver Springs. Courset, they didn’t give any thought about rounding up said monkeys when the filming was done and they have managed to flourish. Unfortunately, (as a side note) they somewhere along the line became carriers for a nasty bug that’s definitely unhealthy for humans when bitten or scratched by said monkeys. Since they are squatting in a relatively popular tourism area, the likelihood of mean biting monkeys isn’t an idle threat.
Oh, yeah, there is also a variety of squirrel (fox squirrel) that is quite large and vaguely monkey like that is the more likely object of Barbee’s vision. We’ll never know…
She sees bears alla time, too. :dubious:
Tupug
Hi Dangergene! I don’t think we’ve met yet–I’m one of the new kids! So I’m still on my best behavior. Until you all know me better, and then you’ll know that good behavior is just not normal for me. 
Kythereia, I’ll send you some chocolate if you send me some! I was supposed to be in the Great Canadian-American Candy Exchange, but I haven’t heard from my exchange-er yet, so I guess I’m not in it anymore. I have a whole bag of candy, and no one to send it to. (Or should that be to whom to send it to? My grammar is not very good sometimes).
Taters, your kids sound very cool! Anyone who does experiments with Peeps is okay with me.
I’m late to the MMP because I’ve been out of town. I had an exciting weekend! I went to visit my brother in Kentucky, so we spent the weekend on a farm on Stinking Creek. It’s much nicer than it sounds. We almost (but not quite) got to see the moonbow at Cumberland Falls. It was the right time of the month, but a bit too cloudy on Saturday night. Lots of babies at the farm–baby goats (too cute!), kittens, lambs, and a puppy. I want a dog. But I can’t have a dog, because I have two rabbits, and my house is just about full. No room to squeeze in a dog, even a small one.
So while I was in Kentucky, I went to the drugstore for some drugs (the legal kind, natch), and I saw something called “Nostrilla.” I guess it’s some kind of nasal spray or something, but to me, it sounds like a monster from a bad monster movie. MST3K material–“Nostrilla, the nose that ate Tokyo!” Well, I thought it was funny, even if no one else did.
It was raining yesterday, so we almost didn’t make it out of Kentucky. Evidently, Stinking Creek sometimes comes up over the road when it rains, and we made it out just in time! Remind me to tell you all about the bridge over the creek. It was a bit rustic.
I have to bake a chocolate cake this afternoon. I haven’t decided what kind yet. Maybe peanut butter-chocolate. Or a sour cream chocolate bundt cake. My mom was visiting this weekend, and we drove up to Kentucky together, but now she’s gone, and it’s a little bit lonely here. I’m not so happy that I had to go in to work on Thursday instead of doing fun things with my mom (that would have been a good pit thread, but I didn’t have time to do it, and now I’m all calm, so I can’t rant about it anymore). But I have a day off today, and it’s a beautiful day, so I’m going to do some shopping (at Target–is there really any other store?!) and go for a very long walk and bake a cake.
Magic Eyes walking and baking at the same time? I am impressed!
Lunch was good. I had a club sandwich (it’s a sandwich not a sammich cause it’s fancy), a dill pickle and some really good homemade potato chips. Oh, and iced tea. Unsweetened. I am considered to be somewhat of a heretic because I’m southern and prefer my iced tea unsweetened. I fully expect that one day I will be boiled to death in hot buttered grits for my heresy. :eek:
Oh, and we are experiencing minor flooding due to all the rain we had last week and weekend. See, all the stuff that fell north has to come south so the creeks are full. The Kinchafoonee and Muckalee Creeks are reaching flood stage here and the bridges over both creeks are expected to be closed by 4PM. That means my 6 mile ride home will turn into a 30 mile ride. Sigh
Well, if you had a digital camera…<Whap!> OW!
Actually Lissla is gonna reciprocate, and send me stuff in return, also.
You did have my correct address Lissla, but for some arcane reason the e-mail gods only delivered it to the computer at the shop. It didn’t show up on any of our other computers anywhere. 
Of course, iffen you’d been offerin’ to re-finance my house, or hook me up with desperate houswives in my area, I’da got it all over town, multiple times. Iffen there actually are desperate housewives in my area I’ll bet they look more like Ernest Borgnine than Teri Hatcher anyway. Sides, I already gots a wife.
As for buyin Rue jellybeans, I’ve got some of those Bernie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. I got 'em for the kids for Chrismas and forgot 'em in the back cupboard. I could put in some of them.
I haven’t seen any mean-eyed monkeys since I quit watchin the news outta Washington.
I do indeed have a digital camera. BUT I’M NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL! :: harrumph ::
Oh, are you suggesting that I am? :mad:
Or maybe Bumba just digs all those pictures of… uh… Driving Husband and Mr. Lissar killing each other.
I got a call yesterday, pretty much out of the blue, offering me a job. Well, not quite. Asking if I’d be interested in applying for a job. Still pretty cool to have the president of the company call me. But now I don’t know what to do! I mean I like what I do and the people I work with. But the pay here sucks and there’s really no room for advancement. But we do go to Vegas every year for the big corporate convention (pretty much an all-expenses-paid vacation), which is totally awesome and I’d hate to miss out on that!
OTOH, the new position is a VP-level position. OK, so the company has 7 full time employees so there’s not much power to go with the title (my current “director” title doesn’t mean much either). But it’d still be cool and would probably mean more money. It’s definitely in an area I’d like to work in. It’s closer to home so a shorter commute. More responsibility. More recognition. My brain’s frying trying to figure out whether I should go for it. I think I’m going to apply and then worry about whether to take the job if they offer it. My background isn’t exactly what they want so I might not get it. Aaaaah! Why do good things like this cause so much stress??
I have twelve 12 oz. bags of Hershey’s Candy-Coated Easter Eggs in my freezer (to keep me from eating them all at once) and I shudder to think how many packages I’ve consumed in the last 30 days. I did stop myself from going to Target to see if they had any leftovers. that’s got to count for something. (Okay, so I went by on Sunday with the express purpose of buying candy, but Target was *closed[i/]! What was that about? I don’t see it closing on Purim or Yom Kippur, it’s open on both solstices and May Day, the doors aren’t locked on ‘Eid ul-Adha, Mawlid al-Nabi, Mahashivaratri, Sri Krishna Jayanti, or Ganesha Chaturthi. Esther isn’t even a national holiday for Gods’ sake!)
taxi78cab, the new job sounds fantastic on so many levels. So ask yourself, “If I had to to this (your current job) for 30 more years, how would I feel?” Then ask, “if I did the new job for thirty years, how would I feel?” Of course, doing any job for thirty years in a bit daunting, but I think you’ll get my drift. Don’t be afraid to take a risk, (if that’s what you want), look at me–I moved 800 miles to a town where I knew no one, leaving behind a secure teaching position in order to go to law school. Now I’m in my dream job and I’m actually hopingto be able to do it for thirty more years!
Easter is not a national holiday. Esther’s got her own troubles.
Tough decision! But isn’t it nice to feel wanted? Closer to home, more responsibility–that all sounds good! And if you’re making more money, you can pay for your own vacation in Vegas!
Swampy, silly, I’m not walking and baking at the same time! I have to let the butter get soft, so I can go for a walk while the butter is softening, and then it’s ready to bake when I get back. I’m good at scheduling these things.
Could someone please explain to me why I have two pounds of butter? I’ll have to write myself a note next time I go to the grocery store to not buy butter, or I might buy more, and then I’d have three pounds, and then I’d have to do a lot of baking to use it all. Which is not really a bad thing. My friends would be happy about that.
Kallessa, I went to Target and they don’t have any good leftover candy. No Peppermint Patties, no dark chocolate Hershey’s easter eggs. It was mostly milk chocolate–yuck! And no more red peeps. Hard to believe, I know!
I’m a little concerned about Target. Since the last time I was there (a little over a week ago), they added several parking spaces right by the door for the police. I’m just wondering what’s going down at Target. It’s still safer than Walmart, anyway.
Right. I have lots of frozen veggies, a frozen beef roast, half a can of diced tomatoes, green peppers, tofu, zuchinni, celery, and ground almonds. Help me construct a nutritious dish that I can eat for several days, if I intersperse (is that spelled right?) it with the already-made minestrone.
The fridge has been cleaned, the dishes are done, the kitchen is sterile. So I have to ruin it.
Oh! I also have some veggie pasta sauce in the fridge. Forgot that.
While I wait for replies I shall eat some soup and chocolate.
Or maybe Bumba was just trying to be funny.
One never knows.
I almost always have plenty of real butter on hand. I have a habit of picking up a box almost every time I go to the grocery store. However, every once in awhile, I think, “Oh, I have plenty butter”, and then I don’t purchase any. Invariably, I am cooking and go to the freezer, and nope, no butter. Never fails…
My fridge needs cleaning too. I opened it last night and a funny odor came wafting out. I think I have some veggies that have turned to mush. I guess I’ll do it Friday. I don’t really have the time tonight. I need to pack the boy up for camp. Thursday I have something going on too.
Well, time to put out another report. Reports, reports, reports…I’m sick of 'em.
Lissla sounds like beef stew in the crock pot time to me. Or a roast with veggies in the crock pot. You’re on your own to figure out the tofu. I like tofu I just have a hard time figuring out stuff to do with it, so I don’t buy it.
I got home using my usual route. Water is up over the parking lot at the Moose Club. What? Moose gotta have a place to party too! I’m expecting the bridge to be closed sometime this evening, so looks like I’ll have a 30 mile ride to work tomorrow.
Magic Eyes I drink and cook at the same time, so why not walk and cook at the same time. I’m going to make some cheese straws for a reception thingy I’m going to on Sunday. It’s a couple’s 52nd wedding anniversary. I figure that deserves a batch of cheese straws. Plus, they ask me if I’d make em. I make good cheese straws. They are a cheesy, spicy, crunchy southern delicacy.
I am ginger Altoid-less! I spilled the remains of my tin of ginger altoids on the floor of the shop. I did pick them up (gingerly), but they did not fall on a clean spot.
Oh the horror!
Okay, not really, but it sounds more interesting that way. So, it’s a gorgeous day (there’s no place nicer than North Carolina in the spring!), and I was going for a walk (not walking and baking at the same time, because the portable oven hasn’t been invented yet, so I have to wait until I get home to do my baking).
I was walking down the path to the Little Creek (there’s a Big Creek, too, but this is the Little Creek before you get to the Big Creek). But before I got there, I saw a raccoon walking across the Little Creek. I stood very, very still, and it started walking up the path towards me. When it was about 7 or 8 feet away, it stopped, started hissing at me, turned around (not very gracefully–I thought raccoons were more graceful than that), and went back to the creek. When it turned around, I saw a big cut around its tail. First I thought “Poor raccoon!” Then I thought, maybe this thing has rabies. I’m going to be attacked by a rabid raccoon! But it didn’t attack me, it just very unhappily sat in the creek while I went by. So I didn’t get bitten by a rabid raccoon and have to go to the emergency room and get rabies shots. So it was a good day. Except for one thing–the bridge over the Big Creek was out because it rained a lot yesterday and the water is high, so I had to walk on the other side, which is not as nice and doesn’t have as many paths, and there was a really good-looking guy walking (well, really jogging) his dog on the other side, where I would have been walking if the bridge hadn’t been out, so I didn’t get to say “Hi.” But it was a nice walk, anyway.
Mmmmmm, cheese straws. I love cheese straws! Harris Teeter has good cheese straws, so I don’t have to make cheese straws.
Bumbazine, you have my deepest sympathy. No decent person should have to go through the pain of losing a perfectly good tin of ginger Altoids. Cut down in their prime, those poor Altoids never had a chance. To be eaten.
I have half a tin of ginger Altoids, if you want some.
Why yes, you are clearly quite agile and dapper and stuff. Also, the monkey story was quite amusing.
I myself am not a great fan of hiking, with or without monkeys. I’m hoping to be able to go visit Far-Away Best Friend and her family in August. They’ll be hiking during the first part of August and she generously invited me to join in the fun. Well, let me tell you, the “fun” involves two weeks of hiking all day, every day while carrying a backpack containing all your worldly possessions.
Not really my idea of a vacation, so I’m hoping to join them during the last two weeks of August (or so) while they’re still on vacation, but not in full hiking mode. (I don’t mind shorter, non-treacherous hikes and even really long walks, but ALL DAY, my whole vacation??? Really not my style.)
Gotta go to the library to return books and DVDs. Back later, I imagine.
GT
Oh, no! Ginger Altoids are precious. I’m very sorry.
Yeah, I think you’re right, swampy. I’m just trying to fit the idea of cabbage and broccoli into my personal conception of beef stew. I could do a separate broccoli-and-tofu stirfry thing, but I’m not sure I’d eat it, and I’m the only person around to eat at home until next Monday.
Maybe I’ll do tofu fried rice tomorrow. I dunno.
In a few minutes, I will spring into action and reorganize my baking storage shelves. In about half an hour, I will be sitting on the floor, wondering what on earth I thought I would do with half a pound of gelatin and a can of young coconut.
Young coconut? Please define. Also, is there such a thing as old coconut?
GT