Cool as a Cucumber

Coolest. plant. ever. These sticky "tendrils" grow out from the vine and find the nearest thing to grab onto. As you can see from the second picture, the tendrils wrap themselves around tightly and then literally corkscrew themselves (like a telephone cord) to pull the vine in close to the lattice. Is that awesome or what?!

B stands for the BEST!

So, today was my first day of summer school... and guess what B did? He brought home Sims 3 to me as a "happy first day of summer school!" surprise. I love him :)

PS: You may notice a slight decline in my blogging after this. Blame Sims.

Rock Hall of Fame

So B and I spent Sunday-Tuesday driving out to Cleveland just to see the Bruce Springsteen exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We had a great time and an extended weekend, so no complaints there! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip (sorry--not many from inside the museum because cameras weren't allowed).

Summer Break: Day 1

6.30: Wide awake. I'm gonna have to work on the whole "sleeping in" thing.

7.00: Out the door. Found a few yardsales. Bought $4.75 worth of stuff.

8.00: Home, checking my emails. Realize I have a book due today.

8.15: Head out to my balcony to read.

10.30: Done reading Water for Elephants. Good story!

11.30: Catch up on all my blogging.

12.00: Ready to run errands with hubby. Too bad the weather's yucky.

Done!

It may have been 4pm by the time I finished today, but I finished. Let the summer fun begin! :D

Clap your hands!

I just thought I'd finish the song that S started because, yes, I'm happy (finally). Afterall, there are only 2 days of school left! What's left to be cranky about?!

So what have I planned for the summer, you ask? Well, I'll...
...teach summer school
...meet friends for lunch after summer school*
...host my in-laws in July
...READ
...lounge in my jungle
...hit up the thrift store with mom*
...see John Mellancamp
...COOK
...lounge by the pool
...pal around with M and S*
...go bike riding with hubby
...see Green Day
...see U2
...catch up on Seasons 2 & 3 of Big Love
...hang out with L*
...see Bruuuce (again)
...celebrate our 2 year anniversary
...RECOUP!

*Please note additions to my list :-p

A Food Equation

if Food = Good, and Family = Fun, then...

Food + Family = Good Fun!

Last night was E and M's turn to cook for sibling dinner night. They came over to our place. This is E's disapproving look at the sorry state of my kitchen--she has no room to cook!
Yet somehow she managed to make it happen. PS: I helped -- a lot. The boys ended up just drinking beer and shootin' the breeze while E and I made dinner. Figures!

Here's my brother. Isn't he cute?

So last night was M's debut, and he came out in style! Check out his HOMEMADE cake. Yes, that is fondant. Yes, the fondant is in 3 different colors. Yes, there is a layer of strawberry filling inside that cake! Yes, he did that all from scratch -- he even dyed the fondant himself. Call up Ace of Cakes!

PS: I made banana nut bread. And it was good :)

Food for Thought

"We weren’t always a nation of big debts and low savings: in the 1970s Americans saved almost 10 percent of their income, slightly more than in the 1960s. It was only after the Reagan deregulation that thrift gradually disappeared from the American way of life, culminating in the near-zero savings rate that prevailed on the eve of the great crisis. Household debt was only 60 percent of income when Reagan took office, about the same as it was during the Kennedy administration. By 2007 it was up to 119 percent.

All this, we were assured, was a good thing: sure, Americans were piling up debt, and they weren’t putting aside any of their income, but their finances looked fine once you took into account the rising values of their houses and their stock portfolios. Oops."

This is exactly the logic upon which I was raised. Refinance! Take out a loan! Don't worry, the value is in your house, and that is something that will never go down. -- I feel a shift in culture coming on, don't you?


from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/opinion/01krugman.html?_r=2

Check out these clouds

The thunder just made my house shake... awesome! Reminds me of summer nights gone-by when I would stand in the garage with my dad, at the edge of the cement, just barely inside, with the doors wide open. We'd watch the storms pass while having the most random conversations.

PS: The roof seems to have been repaired... no leaks (yet)!

Twitter, twitter cocoa pop; Twitter, twitter POW!

So all I've been hearing about lately is Twitter. It's not that I hadn't heard about it before, but it's suddenly gained some serious media popularity. Did you know that Time's cover story this week is all about Twitter? Apparently you're not properly locked into the "ambient environment" if you're not Twittering. I'm not sure I care.

But I will say this. I was irked at the way Time magazine made the co-founders of Twitter out to be a pair of geniuses. They wrote about them as if they were the first ones to realize that people wanted to share 140-character "updates" about themselves. Umm... hello AIM? Wasn't that what we were all doing in college everytime we left an away message? And what about Facebook? People have been finishing that "Beeps is ___" prompt for years now. I realize that Twitter is the first one to coerce everyone into paying for unlimited text message plans in order to be "plugged in", but I think that Time should have given credit where it's due.

Well that's neat.

You know what's neat? Rain. Look at all the awesome things it does:

1) It makes my car all clean and new-looking again!

2) It makes my flowers grow like crazy!3) and it makes my house BULGE!

...yeah, apparently there's a leak in the roof. This is a side-view of my wall. As you probably know, it's supposed to be flat, not sagging. Rain is neat.

Sims 3!

It's out... and I can't WAIT to get me a copy :-D

...and now she's all grown up!

Little E got a blog of her own. These things are contagious, aren't they? Thank God they're not blocked at work, or I don't know what I'd do! :)

Radio Schmadio

So lately B and I have been complaining about this particular radio morning show. We've just been feeling like the DJs seem to live in a parallel universe that has been unaffected by any sort of recession. They're always spewing snobby opinions about things. One time Erica Hillary suggested that anyone who didn't get dancing lessons before their wedding wasn't classy. This morning, B turned the radio on just in time to catch that same DJ talking about buying some new jewelry to "adorn" herself with to go along with the designer dress that she bought for the party she was going to. Apparently she excused her purchases by saying that "it's important to feel good" when going out. Ugh.

There's Hope!

Today has been full of signs that are all pointing (decidedly so) towards hope and optimism. Days like today are good ones.

My most recent sign? How about this... my dead-looking maple tree (and by "tree" I mean sapling) has FINALLY (though way behind schedule) sprouted leaves for the season. I had all but given up on it. Look closely or you might miss them!

(Photo #1 - Ignore the dead, brown, dangling leaf. That little thing is left-over from last year. Look past that one. Just above it. What's the matter, need a close-up?)

(Photo #2 - Man am I proud of this picture. It looks all professional! Plus, I guess now you can see what I'm all excited about: little red leaves!)

I know this tree looks pathetic and all, but it's kinda important to me, so I'm glad it's making a comeback. It's a seedling from my parents' tree, which has been in our front yard nearly my entire life. L has one of his older brothers planted in her front yard, and let me tell you -- these guys are fighters! Hers got weed-whacked and chewed by the neighbor's dog, but it's still hanging in there!!