Email from My Heart's Desire

are you trying to kill me with these sandwiches? you didn't take the plastic off the cheese!

Very scary

When I was a teenager, I lived in ripped jeans and ratty t-shirts (some hand decorated when I painted my bedroom gray). Oh, and bandannas as headbands. I don't know why. Anyway, one Halloween I went to my siblings' elementary school for some reason and one of the kids asked me, "What are you dressed up as?" I had to say, "These are my clothes!"

Boo!

My Heart's Desire strung up lights (candy corn, black cat, pumpkin, and ghosts!) and made our house very festive. We also decorated with bats, rats, pumpkins, mummies and spiders. Last year we got lots of kids (and a few teenagers, which is fine as long as they wear a costume) and we have plenty of candy to give away tonight as well.
Happy Halloween!

GratiTuesday

Today I am grateful for how much My Heart's Desire loves me.

GratiTuesday

Today I am grateful for: beating traffic this morning, having a car, finding gas for $2.75, not making a bad situation worse, listening to books on CD in my car, being able to be flexible, watching True Blood on demand with My Heart's Desire, and going to bed before 9:30 (I got up at 5:45am).

Just got American Wife from the library. Will let you know.

Went to Sunday School this morning (I'm teaching the high school youths* again this year), talked to a friend in New York, had brunch with some new and old friends at Harry's Tap Room, bought used books from the Wheaton library, hung out with My Heart's Desire, watched episodes of Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives, tried on clothes I ordered from TravelSmith and LL Bean, made grilled cheese, soup and salad for dinner, and finally went through the big ol' mail basket.

*It is almost impossible for me to hear the word youths and not think of My Cousin Vinny -- "The two yutes, your honor."

Classy

Last night my writer's group took a class together. It's the first time we've done that since we were all in school. It was great to do something different and flex our creative muscles. Our instructor shushed our inner judge and just let us see where the prompts took us.

Exhibit A, circa 1984

My brother wrote this letter to me and stuck it under my door when we were kids. What kills me about this is that he asks me not to be crabby all the time. Like, sometimes crabby, okay. Just not all the time. Then he tries to cheer me up with a joke.

A Hitch in My Giddy-Up

I've been a little short-tempered and crankly lately.

GratiTuesday

Today I am greateful for: going for a medium walk this morning, learning I was making a big deal out of nothing (instead of ingoring a big deal), paying 0% on a transfer balance, seeing some of my favorite women, my mentor, being able to think before I act, the many strands of Halloween lights (pumpkins! candy corn! ghosts! black cats! other pumpkins!) My Heart's Desire put up at home, and Berger's cookies.

A pathetic sandwich

Three mornings a week I send My Heart's Desire to work with a lunch bag, sometimes leftovers, sometimes a Lean Cuisine, usually a sandwich, piece of fruit, and bag of chips. Most of the time I make lunches the night before, but today I made both our lunches in the morning.

I got two calls and an IM from My Heart's Desire around lunchtime where he complained that the sandwich I made him was pathetic. Between the slices of rye bread were just two measly pieces of cheese and a little ranch dressing. Evidently I took the meat out of the fridge and forgot to put it in the sandwich.

He wondered if I was mad at him or just being a jerk for some reason. Nope, just neglected the meat. I offered to send a pizza to his office but he declined. Then came home very grumpy and hungry. I put out wheat thins and cheese to take the edge off his grouchiness. It kind of worked.

CORRECTION: My Heart's Desire claims they were two "paper-thin" slices of cheese.

Very odd fall

The leaves are turning on the big trees in the backyard.
But it's so warm that I cut six hydrangeas from my garden and brought them to work to liven up my office. A few nights last week were downright chilly and tomorrow it's supposed to be 85*. I like wearing open-toed shoes every day, but am ready for the weather to change so My Heart's Desire can make fires and we can sip hot cocoa.

After a few days in the fridge-o

We revisited the pesto. My Heart's Desire and I were surprised that it was really, really good. The flavors came together and it was delicious, sharp, and a little nutty. We couldn't cook the pasta fast enough. With some broccoli (my idea) and Texas toast (his idea), it was a perfect dinner.

Amazon.com doesn't know me very well

Amazon.com recommended All We Ever Wanted Was Everything. Some parts of it were interesting, but altogether I found it disappointing. I didn't really care about the characters and found the plot was lacking.

I wanted to like it. Really, I did. Some women's fiction books are very enjoyable, including Baby Proof, Good Grief, and of course Rachel's Holiday, one of my faves. I no longer have a copy because I lent it to a friend who still hasn't read it.

I also subscribe to tons and tons of periodicals so that I can read them while I am at the gym. But lately the weather's been so nice that I've been walking in the mornings before work. The window of pleasant weather - not sweltering or freezing - is really small. I'm enjoying taking long walks around the neighborhood and being outside. So now I've got a humongous stack of magazines to devour. Off to read!

Came home too late-o to finish pesto

I think it will stay okay in the fridge. And we may throw some fresh basil in for good measure to give it more flavor. By looking at our basil plants, you wouldn't think we harvested last weekend. But we did.

Our pesto was just okay-o

My Heart's Desire and I harvested basil from our window garden and made pesto with a recipe from Rosie Daley. It turned out okay but not great. We put it in the fridge overnight and are hoping it will taste better tomorrow.

Got up early and am going for a walk before work - Tuesday's my day to be grateful, and I'm ready!

Is this, like, some kind of irony?

Fall is my favorite season and I think I'm allergic to it.

Hippie Girl Update

This hippie girl dries almost everything on a clothesline on the porch (also 'cuz I'm a thrifty girl). And I bring my sandwiches to work wrapped in cloth napkins; I got some really cute ones from Etsy.

I bought a share of a share of local community supported agriculture and will be having farm-fresh food starting next week.

Last night when I was cold, I put on a sweatshirt and dove beneath a blanket rather than turning up the heat (which was on a balmy 58*). Evidently there's quite a bit of crossover between hippie and thrifty.

I've also been shopping more at My Organic Market. The sampling there on weekends is quite a lovely situation. And I've been trying to encourage My Heart's Desire to like whole grain breads, though so far - hmm, not so much. I like my bread to be as heavy as a bowling ball.