Some people...

just don't have a filter in their brains to regulate what potentially hurtful things they say to other people.  Whatever comes into their minds just comes right out of their mouths.  Actually, I know several people like that.  But tonight I was talking to Tim's aunt in Pennsylvania who, for some inexplicable reason, said to me, "Hey, did you hear that Tim's getting married?"  I replied, "Tim who?"  She hesitated a minute.  "You know, your Tim."  Notice her brain made her hesitate only after she had let the cat out the bag, so to speak.  Needless to say, I was taken aback because I am not sure how he can marry someone else when he is still legally married to me, but I am in uncharted waters here.  I've only been married once, so this whole divorce thing is new to me.  I haven't seen nor have I signed any papers.  When I had collected myself, I asked who he was marrying.  "Oh, someone in Erie," she told me.  I asked where she had gotten her information.  She said that her cousin had told her - the same cousin (and her husband) that Tim stayed with when he first went to work in Erie almost two years ago.  When she realized that I was shocked, she apologized and said that she thought I knew.  I mean, who would bother to tell me?  It's true - the wife is always the last to know.  I also thought I was all cried out and that nothing that happened would hurt me anymore, but I was wrong.  It isn't that I held out any hope of Tim wanting to come back, or that I even want him to, it's just that I thought he might have the decency to tell me to my face that he really does want a divorce and that he has found someone else.  Men just don't get it - we may not want to hear the truth if a pair of jeans really does make our butts look fat - but we actually do want to hear the truth about what's really going on in a relationship.

If you ever wondered...

how Oliver & Lisa Douglas supported themselves after they sold the farm on Green Acres, they took Lisa's recipe for hotcakes - the ones that absorbed everything you put on them just like their house absorbed paint - and sold it to the Aunt Jemima people for their frozen homestyle pancakes.

Okay, so they were buy one get one free at Publix, which made them really cheap, but these things are amazingly absorbent.  The butter and syrup I put on them disappeared - and they were still chewy and so dry I had to wash them down with Diet Coke.  Aggie even chewed and chewed, which should tell you something right there.  I half expected Eb to come ambling through the door and join us.

La ultima totopos de maiz...

Yep, here they are.  The best tortilla chips I have ever eaten.  How many bags of tortilla chips have you bought which turned out to be a colossal disappointment?  Okay, maybe colossal is a bit much, but I know that I've thrown out more commercial brands of chips than I've eaten.  Most of them are stale, thick and overly salted.  I'm spoiled by warm restaurant tortilla chips and the little hole-in-the-wall Mexican taquerias around here.  But I digress...  I found these amazing organic tortilla chips at Publix in the GreenWise section.  Sure, they're $3.99 a bag, but I guarantee you will eat them all.  They are thin and crispy and light as a feather.  Lightly salted, they are excellent with salsa or my own solution to pico de gallo that's too hot: mix it with sour cream to cool the heat and dip away!  I've been buying the lightly salted version, but they also have hot & spicy lime flavor and blue corn tortilla chips.  I told Ariela about them and when I said they were the ultimate corn tortilla chips, she laughed.  She explained that there is a funny expression in Nicaragua: la ultima coca-cola del desierto (literally the last coca-cola in the desert).  Loosely translated, it is essentially our American expression: all that and a bag of chips.

Well, this bag of chips is all that.

Oh, and I almost forgot...

I did accomplish something during this lazy Sunday.  I framed a little project I had made a while back.  I finished the stitching and put it away because I didn't know what to do with it.  This morning I was cleaning out the drawers in my bedroom desk to make room for my sewing supplies and I found this little frame with a calligraphy quote in it that said, "One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius."

So it would appear.

Just had a serious freak-out...

It's Sunday and I was enjoying the silence.  But I reminded myself that I do have things to do and errands to run - and that working at home means actually staying at home and working during the weekdays.  So I finally motivated myself to load my trash bag into my old-lady cart and headed out the door for my weekly Publix bean run.  I turned around to lock the door behind me and when I grabbed the handle of my cart to drag it to the car, there was an orange tiger cat lying on the walk outside my door.  "Peter!" I said, rather loudly in a panicked tone.  "You can't come outside!"  And I abandoned my trash-filled cart and handbag to chase (that is a term used loosely here) the cat down the sidewalk and around the building.  He wouldn't stop for me and I kept trying to grab his tail - or something! - to corral this runaway feline.  I almost had him when I happened to get a good look at his butt.  That's when I realized that this orange tiger cat wasn't Peter at all.  I should know because I've been checking Pete's nether regions for a week to make sure he's healing properly from his big boy operation.  Not that I ususally make a habit of looking at cat butts, but after checking out this one, I was relieved to know that this rather well-endowed cat wasn't my sweet little Petey.

I am a sick woman...

I confess that I found Silence of the Lambs to be an extremely amusing movie.  And then in Hannibal, where Dr. Lecter is sauteeing Ray Liotta's brain and that smiling idiot chirps, "Smells great!" - well, I nearly fell out of my seat laughing.  After that, my husband was a little leery of any movie detailing the exploits of Hannibal Lecter.  In fact, we watched Red Dragon on DVD - but there weren't any really funny scenes anyway.  So there.  I also have to confess that I have never actually eaten a fava bean.  I wouldn't know one if it crawled up my leg and bit me.  I did, however, once buy a big bag of fresh cherries at WalMart, and when I got home I discovered that instead of having rung up my beautiful cherries at $2.99 per pound, the cashier had charged me for fava beans at $.98 per pound.  I admit (guiltily) that we really enjoyed those cheap, cherry-flavored fava beans.  As I recall, Tim went back to buy more but his cashier was able to distinguish a cherry from a bean.

Looking for a recipe...

for something that goes well with some fava beans

 and a nice chianti. We've invited Anthony Hopkins for dinner.

Just kidding.

Bean there...

Ate that.  Okay, so I've been known to get in a food rut, or two.  This week it's beans.  Last night I had garbanzo beans for dinner.  Just right out of the can.  I bought them with the idea of making garbanzo bean, tuna and onion salad but after I opened the beans, I realized that I didn't have any tuna.  Or onion, for that matter.  So today, in my mid-day search for lunch in the pantry cupboard, I found a can of red kidney beans which are, among other things, full of iron and fiber.  I had kidney beans for lunch.  Right out of the can.  Didn't even bother to look for tuna.  Or onion.  I will probably be sorry later, but they hit the spot.

Just in case you have tuna to go with your garbanzo beans, here's the recipe:

1 can tuna, drained

1 can garbanzo beans, drained

1 cup chopped sweet onion

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

lemon juice

For the dressing, combine 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons dijon mustard and 1 cup of plain yogurt with a little bit of lemon zest.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together and combine with the salad ingredients.  Season with salt and pepper.  The salad is best if you prepare it ahead of time and chill it - gives the flavors time to mingle!

The perfect spot...

for my Celestial Seasonings tea rack!  And to think I was going to give it away...  This rack used to hang in the kitchen in my old house and I am quite attached to it, but unfortunately I have zero wall space in this kitchen.  I had stashed it in the pantry and was well on my way to letting go of this treasure, when I suddenly realized that I didn't have to hang it up at all - there was the perfect spot for it on the kitchen counter right next to the teapot and the rest of the tea supplies.  Isn't it great how we sometimes look at something in a different way and find the solution we were looking for all along?  Now if I could only be as perceptive about other problems I need solutions to...

Shoulda made time...

to go and get the baby gate at Target.  Like I would ever really pass up a chance to go to Target and browse...  But, no - I was really trying to get the last of the stuff out of the old office today and I decided that I could get the gate tomorrow.  Coulda, shoulda, woulda - story of my life.  In my infinite wisdom, I had foolishly affixed the handle of Aggie's leash to the knob on the printer cabinet door on my lovely desk.  This temporary fix was working quite well to keep my overly-friendly little cairn from mauling my clients - until today.  Ariela and Marco were carrying boxes inside this afternoon and Aggie saw the open door and ripped the cabinet door open and would have pulled it off the hinges if I hadn't grabbed her by the collar and leash.  As it is, she demolished the door by pulling the hinge side off the center panel - and the desk is solid oak!  Not a pretty sight.  Fortunately, I have clients in the furniture repair business and I am confident that they can make my desk as good as new.  I am definitely going to Target first thing in the morning. 

Gotta stop arranging...

and re-arranging all this stuff trying to get everything perfect.

I have work to do - paying work!

More serious cuteness...

My friend and client, Denise, who owns a consignment shop in Lakewood Ranch, made me this adorable beehive for the center of a patchwork pillow I'm making for my home office.  She's the one who did my work shirts with the beehive logo.  I just love this - it's different than the other logo, but I love the sunflower and the bigger bee!  I have some Mary Engelbreit bee fabric that I am going to incorporate into the pillow, but I haven't decided what other fabric to use just yet.  I am too excited for words!

So much for sleeping late on a Saturday...

I'd forgotten what it's like to have a dog and a cat in the house - particularly a pair that aren't used to each other's company yet!  No more sleeping late on Saturdays for me!  And, to add insult to injury, my head is seriously stuffed up.  Already!  I'd stopped taking the Zyrtec because I was only with Peter in the office during the weekdays - and that was a lot of space for me and a cat who hid in the inner office most of the day.  Now we're in much closer quarters - and my eyes are itching and well, you get the picture. 

Oh well - one of the hazards of pet ownership.

I found this really cute desktop background the other day when I went looking for Gooseberry Patch online to see what was new - only to find that they have ceased to exist as a gift catalog and now only publish and sell their cookbooks!  I loved that store!  It wasn't like I was going to buy anything, but still...  They had such neat stuff and great decorating ideas and I will admit I used to steal borrow craft ideas from them as well.  I loved their country style - and my house used to reflect that - but since I've moved on to my less is more philosophy, my style is more eclectic.  Speaking of - I am going to attempt to hang framed pictures on my living room wall today.  Have hammer, will attempt to drive nails...

Petey is home...

and has decided that the best place for him to sit is on the kitchen counter right next to the breakable coffee mugs.  Thank goodness Aggie can't jump up there, too!  Pete doesn't look very happy, does he?  I picked him up from the Humane Society after his "tutoring" and when we came home, he spent some time in the carrier until the anesthesia wore off.  I put his food and water bowls on the dining room table in an attempt to alleviate any territorial disputes, but Aggie just gave him a little sniff, jumped up on her quilt on the sofa and went to sleep.  What was I worried about?  Now Peter's walking around yelling and Aggie is laying by my feet ignoring the poor guy.  He's probably looking for his lost, um, parts.

Aggie is guarding her own food and water,

just to be on the safe side.

Animal wisdom...

I am sure these photos are in a million emails floating around out there, but these three were so cute I just had to share!

It's sort of like...

Eat...

Drink...

Regret it later.

Doesn't this just...

make you want to take a vacation?

Dependability...

is a virtue.  At least that's how I was raised.  I've gotten myself into a state over having paid someone to do some work for me who seems to be in no hurry to complete it.  We had a small disagreement last week over how much she had been paid (in advance!) and how much of the work had already been completed.  Even after that, she left early that day and didn't complete the whole job.  I mean, honestly, would you clean someone's house all except for the bathroom and then say that you really didn't feel like doing it and that you'd come back another day to finish?  How do I respond to that?  I really shouldn't let it bother me because I've only hired her to work for me in order to help her out - sort of like an offering in action.  But it makes me wonder if she is like this with all of her clients - and if she is, that explains why she is always looking for work and for new clients.  So now, six days later, I have cleaned my own bathroom while waiting for her to clear time on her busy schedule.   Grrrrr!  Richard says I have just got to stop trying to rescue people; my controlling nature just sets me into a tizzy when they don't get their act together and behave the way I think they should.  I know that makes me sound like an uptight bitch, but it is what it is. 

And I am what I am.  I'm just saying.

This working at home...

may just be a good thing.  Not that I spent all day on a raft in the pool - but it's like I don't realize that I'm at work.  I looked up from my computer last night and it was 8:30 pm!  There were times that I'd be sitting at my desk in the office counting the minutes until I could lock the door at five and dash home.  I've also made more progress on putting stuff away - two more bags for Goodwill and three more bags of trash.  I also re-purposed an old metal frame for a new print and worked out a wall arrangement for the living room.  Now I just need to recruit a tall person to assist me with the actual picture hanging...

Busy as a bee...

I have had a really productive day today.  I realized that I haven't done any meaningful work since June 1 when I started packing up the office to move.  Not a good thing - the pile of work didn't get any smaller.  I've been working, working, working since about 6:30 this morning on one thing or another.  I unearthed my little project card holder and updated my to-do list.  Isn't it a cute thing?  I had a new client no-show, but it gave me a chance to do invoices and receivable for another client.  I put away more stuff from the office and filled up two more bags for Goodwill.  And two bags of trash!  I am hoping to finish up tomorrow and be back to my efficient and cheerful self.  Hee hee!

Yesterday, Ariela and Marco came to put the shelves in the lanai storage closet.  Maria and Spikey came, too.  Well, Marco mostly put the shelves up; we visited and laughed at Spikey playing with Aggie and ate chips and dip.  When Marco was finished and Ariela inspected his work, we made turkey & swiss panini sandwiches for lunch.  Then we had birthday cake and ice cream to celebrate Ariela's birthday of last week and watched Shutter Island.  We were all full as ticks and it's a wonder we didn't all fall asleep watching the movie.  It was good, but you really have to pay attention or you miss something crucial.  I think I'll have to watch it again when Aggie isn't being mauled by a three-year-old.  Maria originally wanted to go up to the pool and swim, but after walking up to the clubhouse to check it out, she decided it was too busy and too dang hot out anyway.  Maria was just fourteen in May and she wants to volunteer somewhere this summer, but every place I've checked with says she's too young.  We've decided that she's going to come over one day a week and I'm going to teach her to sew.  She's taking a sewing class at school this coming fall and she wants to be ahead of the game.  She'll probably have a fit when I make her practice sewing straight lines on notebook paper!  I found an easy pattern for pajama pants that I thought would make a good first project.  I know I have some lightweight flannel with coffee cups on it that will be really cute.  Ariela says that will be perfect because Maria loves to lounge and drink coffee.

A new career...

I think I am going to start a therapy practice, or at the very least an advice coulmn for love-worn, I mean lovelorn women.  I have a friend (I tend to adopt stray people) who needs to learn that a woman can be complete without a man.  I knew that before I married my husband and I still know it fifteen years later now that he's taken leave of his senses and called it quits.  On second thought, maybe I'm not one to dole out relationship advice...  Anyhow, my friend is a recovering alcoholic.  She's in her mid-forties and has been sober for ten years.  I think that's a wonderful accomplishment and I'm proud of her.  She hasn't, however, learned to make good choices about men.  Number one, she's not willing to date men her own age or older.  Number two, she thinks the only place to meet men is AA.  I've tried to make suggestions about other acceptable places to meet appropriate men, but so far she's not listening.  About three months ago, she started gushing about this guy she'd met (at AA - where else?) and how she wanted me to see him.  "See him?" I said.  "It's not like you want my opinion on a puppy you want to adopt."  She's very superficial when it comes to men - number one on her list of requirements for a man is "hot and sexy."  Therein lies her problem, which I have told her on many occasions.  I mean, when the initial attraction is gone, doesn't she want to have a conversation?  Apparently not.  So for the past several months, all I've heard is about how hot this guy is, how attracted she is to him, he has tattoos and how she just knows that he is the one for her.  By the way, she's 46 and he's 28.  "You're old enough to be that boy's mama," I said to her.  They've been dating: coffee at Starbucks, sunset walks on the beach, a drive-in movie.  But until the other night, she hadn't introduced him to anyone outside AA.  I asked her why she didn't introduce him to her cousin (she lives with him) and she quickly said, "No!  Jack would freak out."  I should have known right then that in her heart that she knew that this guy was wrong for her.  Her cousin is a nice, normal guy about my age and I thought, uh-oh, if Jack wouldn't like this guy...  So what does she do?  She wants me to meet Mr. Wonderful.  I wasn't too enthused, but she's my friend and well, I will have to say that I was curious about just what kind of guy she is terminally attracted to.  So I suggested that we meet at my client Cari's little restaurant.  Safety in the familiar, right?  After all the hype, I'm expecting Brad Pitt or at the very least a Woody Harrelson type (sorry, Woody - you're just not my kind of guy) but I was completely unprepared for the guy who walked through the door and sat down at our table.  Okay, I am sort of a judgmental person and I admit it, but I am not superficial.  I don't care what anyone looks like as long as they are decent, nice, kind, smart or funny.  But this guy - how can I describe him?  Think Aryan Nation white supremacist meets Deliverance.  Black, rotten teeth and all.  Yes,that about sums it up.  And not smart.  At all.  A walk through the ocean of his soul would scarcely get your feet wet.  But was I speechless?  No.  When I am completely freaked out, my mouth runs a mile a minute.  I looked at Cari and got a What the hell? look and a seriously raised eyebrow.  Dinner was interminably long and I couldn't wait to get out of there.  The worst part was when three of Cari's regulars came in to place a take-out order.  You could feel the tension as this guy crossed his arms and glared at these black gentlemen. I was mortified - and even my friend now seemed uncomfortable.  I got Cari's attention and asked for our checks.  Not only did this guy not thank my friend for dinner, he basically just walked out without saying anything at all.  Which was fine by me - I was all talked out by then anyway.  I waited a few minutes, hoping to avoid witnessing a PDA outside the restaurant and then headed for my car.  Before I could unlock the door, my phone rang.  It was my friend.  Yikes!  The moment of truth had arrived.  "What did you think?" she asked.  Does a true friend answer truthfully?  I hesitated and then said, "You do know that those are prison tats, right?"  She was quiet for a minute and then said, "How did you know?"  I guess she really didn't know the difference between artistic ink and a prison tattoo.  I mean, this guy even had a small spade tattooed under his right eye like a teardrop!  If that alone didn't say prison...  She admitted that she could sense everyone in the room staring at this guy; she hadn't really been out in public with him until that evening.  Not that good people don't sometimes end up in prison for stupid mistakes - or that people who've been incarcerated don't turn their lives around - but this guy had attitude and a scary demeanor.  And that whole freaky white supremacist thing.  Scared the crap out of me, that's for sure.

Isn't it strange...

how satisfying being able to cram a whole bunch of rubber stamping supplies into one small cupboard can be?  This spot is originally where the color laser printer was going until I had an epiphany and passed it along to Richard.  This would have been wasted space - but thanks to these lovely (and cheap inexpensive!) storage boxes of various sizes from Wal-Mart, I have stored patterned paper, card-making supplies, ribbon, envelopes, Cricut cartridges (out with those bulky boxes!) and the stamps I use most in about nine cubic feet.  Now the top of the craft desk, which I will photograph tomorrow, won't be an eyesore right behind my work desk!  I love organizing - too bad I don't really like organizing other people's junk.  I have two more bags of stuff for Goodwill, a box of school supplies and stuff for Ariela's kids and two big bags of trash.  And - I am proud of myself - the boxes Al & Tom brought over from the office yesterday are all empty save one.  I haven't quite figured out where to put my flatbed scanner yet.  It's fairly compact - it stands up - and I like it for scanning photos.  That's another project I am going to undertake this summer: scanning two big boxes of photos so I don't have to keep everything.  I know, I know - I will keep the oldest ones, but Christmas tree pictures and stuff like that I am going to scan and store digitally for posterity.  Not like I have anyone who will care, but still.  Less is more, less is more...

Finally found it...

The elusive camera cable!  Al & Tom picked up my desk chair at the office today, along with several crates of files and other essentials for me.  I spent three hours yesterday morning sitting in a hard oak chair while I gave a QuickBooks lesson - not a good thing.  Anyhow, I've been unpacking and organizing (between phone calls, clients and a quick trip to the office) and there it was - in a box with some other cables that I have not a clue what to do with - the cable for my Canon PowerShot.  Yippee!  I had arranged my collection of Longaberger May baskets on my baker's rack and moved it to the wall beside the entry.  As you can see, I need to chant less is more, less is more just a little bit more.  I actually got sort of used to the spareness of my first apartment; it was very Zen with not much stuff.  Why, it was practically Japanese by my usual clutter standards!  But I digress...  I'm not sure about the lamp; I have to live with it for a few days.  It's the cutest little Mary Engelbreit lamp - an eBay find - but the shade is wrong.  Yes, the cats ate the original shade - story of my life!  I really want to put my candle warmer where the lamp is so that it smells nice when people walk in the front door.  Guess I'll be arranging and re-arranging this weekend! 

Sometimes it's a good thing just to mess with your stuff.

An Occurrence at...

Shanghai Express...  Bet you thought I was going to say Owl Creek Bridge.  Alas, no - I'm sure that movie can be rented somewhere (the story is much better!), but tonight after a dinner of take-out sesame chicken, Aggie and I are going to watch Gregory Peck in Old Gringo, the fictional tale of writer Ambrose Bierce's last days in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.  It has Jimmy Smits (as General Arroyo) and Jane Fonda (as spinster Harriet Winslow).  Pancho Villa is only a minor character, apparently.  They don't make actors like Gregory Peck anymore, I'll say that.  Now we just have movie stars and publicity hounds for the most part.  Oh, for the days of Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda and John Wayne.  I even miss Steve McQueen.  I wonder if Paul Newman has staged any plays on the great soundstage in the sky...  I know, I know, I can get the DVDs.  After all, a classic is a classic and worthy of watching over and over again.

And...  I just finished indexing the posts on my blog. 

An OCD dream!

If I could find that cable...

I would upload photos of the absolute disaster area that is my new home office at this moment.  However, it would appear that my camera cable is still at the old office in the same box as my LabelWriter and computer speakers.  In an attempt to cram ten pounds of crap into a five pound bag, I mean downsize my 1200-square foot office into this 200-square foot dining room, I am once again reduing the number of things with which I find it absolutely necessary to survive.  I am recycling stuff to other people who will use it more than I will.  My friend Richard got custody of my color laser printer by agreeing to print color stuff for me when I need it - which is very seldom.  He's been using the printer for his real estate flyers anyway.  My living room is just too small for two big chairs and a loveseat, so my client Jonathan inherited the big green chair for his living room.  Now his wife won't have to spend any money on new furniture - they also took the leather sofa from the office off my hands.  Jonathan is really thrilled about the saving money part.  And I have yet another box of stuff piling up for the Salvation Army.  Aggie says she would recycle but she only has four toys.  She does have a wardrobe of collars (right now she's wearing her pink Princess number) but she feels that they are all essential for her to be a well-dressed cairn.  Whatever.

Breaking up is hard to do...

even if it is with just an office space.  Wasn't it pretty?  This was taken shortly after we moved in three years ago - and I made a few changes after that - but I loved it.  Unfortunately, life throws us curve balls and it's time to keep going in the same direction, but with less overhead.  My internet and phone have been transferred to my apartment, so the only thing left in the office is the stuff to go into my storage closet and some of my files.  I am so thankful for my friends who have helped me pack and hauled my junk and really made this move easy for me.  Oh - and we had a great indoor yard sale on Saturday - we sold most of the stuff left in the office and made a decent amount of money - thanks to Ariela's hard work.

I am counting my many blessings!

Friends are like bras...

Close to your heart and all about support.

Why I do not have children...

See this?  Crying, shrieking baby - completely out of control with a mother who is either unable or unwilling to stop the tantrum.  Somewhere outside my office - at least fifty feet away - there is a shrieking child whom I cannot see, but can hear loudly and clearly.  This has been going on for at least fifteen minutes.  I suspect it's someone outside the local gambling establishment (yet another story) sitting with the kids while the friend or significant other is inside gambling away the milk and diaper money.  Probably the same people I see in the grocery store with carts full of beer and junk food who smack their crying children and say, "If you don't shut up, I'll give you something to cry about."  Like that ever works.  My mother used to say that to us.

I'm so cynical today.  Which is probably another reason why God never allowed me to have children - well, that and the fact the I didn't get married until I was 37.  An interesting, and yet somehow confusing, correlation which I have explained to many people, believe me.

It goes like this:

"Do you have children?"

"No - I didn't get married until I was 37."

"Yes, but did you have children before that?"

At which point I want to say, "No, you dumbass - don't you know that marriage comes before children?"

But instead, I just smile and change the subject.  And, of course, now I am thankful that I don't have a teenager with too much make-up and multiple piercings making me nuts during the throes of menopause at the advanced age of 51.  Because I'd have to be a lot nicer and stop using dumbass at the end of every sentence. 

They say wireless is better...

but I am old and not terribly techno-proficient and well, there are just days when I hate the danged internet and everything it attempts to make possible.  My business phone is voice-over IP with my business internet set-up.  I've discovered I can't keep my business phone number if I move my set-up home and get residential service (which is half the price, by the way).  So, I'm moving the business service home, and if I drop my fax line, with the new contract it's $60 cheaper than I'm currently paying, so I guess that's something to be thankful for.  Well, as if in response to my being cheap, getting rid of a seldom-used phone line and scheduling the service move for next week, my VOIP modem died.  Dead. RIP dead.  Graveyard dead.  The service guy had to come out and replace it.  I have also discovered that part of my recent internet difficulties have been my wireless network - the brainchild of my engineer husband.  So, I've bid farewell to wireless once and for all - I've disconnected the router from everything and run one long ethernet cable from my cable modem to my PC.  Voila!  No more difficulties - well, except for the dead VOIP phone thing, but that was a fluke of some kind.  So for the next few days - and when I am finally settled into my home office - we are hard-wired!  No more wireless for me!

A luncheon out...

I had a productive morning, thanks to the help of some wonderful friends.  Ariela helped me move more stuff out of the office and Allen & Tom disassembled my desk and moved it to my new home office.  It took us awhile to decide on the optimum configuration for the desks in my dining room - but it's there and now all I have to do is put everything away!  I'm hoping to get my internet and phone moved on Monday, but that remains to be seen, so my computer is still at the office.  Ariela is gearing up for the indoor yard sale on Saturday - and I am proud of myself for cleaning another eight bags of stuff out of my closet and apartment to sell.  Less is more, less is more...  We went to the Thai Lotus around the corner from my house for lunch.  I've not been a big fan of Thai food, but the guys seem to like it, so we went.  I had Pad Thai with chicken and Ariela had something called Lotus Chicken.  She liked it.  Al had some sort of curry and Tom stuck with his favorite Lotus rice dish.  It was actually quite good - different for a change.  I am so thankful for good friends who are willing to help me out with moving all this stuff.  Tom and Ariela both love to cook, so I foresee a Nicaraguan feast in our near future.  Ariela's husband makes a mean carne asada and she makes this classic Nicaraguan dish called gallo pinto that is really good.  Tom & Al are both from Wisconsin, and while Al is a meat and potatoes guy, Tom is willing to try other things.  Ariela is a food adventurer, too - Marco is stuck on Mexican food.  And well, I will eat just about anything.  As long as it doesn't look like the animal it once was. 

Dancing in space...

Okay, I might sign up for a Mission to Mars if I could dance in space with Tim Robbins.  Gary Sinise is one of my favorite actors but the best part of this whole movie is when you start to hear strains of Van Halen's Dance the Night Away and Connie Nielsen dances her way toward her man.  Earlier in the movie she describes Tim Robbins' dance style as "shuffling his feet and grabbing my butt."  Zero Gs may have improved his overall gracefulness score, but Tim Robbins can shuffle his feet and grab my butt anytime.