with my husband. Marriages just can't sustain things like that. At least mine apparently can't. We both worked from home today to save a bit on gas... the theory being that since we usually carpool, with only one of us working from home, we werent' really saving anything. Makes sense.. So it all started out lovely, and actually it was all lovely until about an hour ago, when we had our daily spat. Do all couples fight this much? There is a lady at work who fights with her husband constantly and they legitimitely just can't seem to stand each other. I want to yell over the cubicle wall "get a divorce, lady! You'll be happier!" We don't have horrible fights, but I do feel like lately we fight a lot. Oh well... the nice thing about life is that it has a way of working itself out. Either it will get better, or it will get worse. Not much point dwelling on it.

Yes, tonight I discovered the wonders of non-alcoholic beer! Perhaps at one time in my life I scoffed at such things and wondered what the f-ing point was, but that's what getting older and wiser is all about I suppose. We went to a local Mexican restaurant/Irish bar (I know!) and I got tacos and an O'douls, and I have to say - it was lovely. aaah.... it was like having an old friend back. The comfort of a green glass bottle and a glass of amber beauty with a nice head on it. yum! Tasted just like bud or miller light, and with a 0.5% alcohol, I could pretend that I was getting a weeeeeeee bit of a buzz. Good stuff. Of course beer was never my drink of choice, so I've been thinking about looking for some non-alcoholic wine. I guess they would call that grape juice (unrefridgerated). : )

So what does that say about me... I need the illusion of having a drink in front of me more than the drink itself, which is true. At home, when I really feel like I need a drink, I just put ice cubes in my martini glass (the sound of home...clink clink clink in a cocktail glasss) and put some crangrape in their and just pretend there's vodka in it. I mean, I like getting drunk too, but more than anything, it's just a comfort to have something that I think will make me feel better. And it seems to work pretty well.

dealing with stress. I want a cocktail! No red wine! A goddamn cigarette!!!! ARGHH. I honestly can't tell if my life has recently gotten really bad or if I just can't deal with it without my vices. I've officially turned to food for comfort...having a smoothie right now. Today was really hard. BUT, the good news is that I now have PMS so I actually have an excuse to be a grumpy bitch.

And now i'll try to use logic to make me happier. I have a job that pays better than anything else I'll ever find in this godforsaken state. If I could learn to get along with my coworkers again (which could be a real challenge now that I know them for the bratty, self-centered egotistical twats that they are) and could just accept the fact that I"ll never get any respect or recognition, I'm sure I could learn to be happy there again. Are you convinced? Yeah, me neither, but what's the option?

Sherri, where's Sherri? Sherri (the other one) this is for you. And for Melinda. And anyone else with a garden. I planted some herbs yesterday.* I know, this is a far cry from squash and tomatoes. But I'm limited by space and sun. And the deer, oh dear. (It's in the 40s here this morning, I hope they don't wilt.) This is my garden.

I'd love to experience your gardens vicariously. So if you (or others) have food-growing photos you'd like to share, I'll post them.

bleak. I can't really think of any other time in my lifetime when the economy looked so bad and the future looked so scary. I don't know if it's because I used to live in a wealthy area and didn't drive far to work, and just didn't notice things... or it really is that bad. When I was visiting VA a few weeks ago, I was going on and on about conspiracy theories and how the middle class will be wiped out and my sister said to me "what do you care? you live a good life. enjoy it." All the news coverage lately just ... I don't know... it makes me think of a Hollywood movie of a futuristic world well it all effing sucks! I don't anticipate not being able to afford food. I have a decent paying job and with carpooling, etc. we'll get by, even with the price of gas these days...but this is the first time that economic factors like that really have changed my life. My driving habits have changed (65 mph baby!), I'm carpooling, I asked my boss about telecommuting. Our expendable income has gone down...I dunno.

*Important news bulletin*
Hillary wears pant suits! And sometimes they are yellow! Don't you know that yellow pant suits can seriously impede the successful running of a country! Oh, and she's a bitch too, with a shrill voice. (and she doesnt' have a penis). Oh, and she's not super model attractive either. And kind of old and wrinkly. Just thought you should know.

Anyhoo, so I got a few things crossed off my garden list. 5 things to be precise. Here are some pictures.

There we go... basically I got all the clover out of this area, which was intermingled with all the periwinkle and then I mulched the hell out of it. I have no doubt the clover will come back, but what can I do? mulch, mulch, and mulch some more. There's my non-flowering flowering dogwood. Had it 3 years... 4 years? and the damn thing has never bloomed. Oh well. Would like to buy a buckeye.

day than a summer day today. It's cold and dreary, overcast and intermittently rainy. We were out late last night "gallactic bowling" with some friends. It was sort of fun, but I drank too much beer, ate too much bowling alley food, and well, I can't deny it... bowling kicked my ass. I started off strong with a spare, then as I got tireder and tireder (I know that's not a word) I got worse and worse and got many many gutter balls. But oh well, better than sitting home on my birthday. : )

Had sort of a crappy day at work. It wasn't so bad, but I got that feeling a few times...you know that high blood pressure feeling where you want to rip somebody's head off? Ever get that? But I took a deep breath, resorted to short sentences and turning my head, and then just blocked people out. I don't even have pms, which leads me to believe that people are just irritating. But what can you do? I'm in a bit of a spot because I've told people over and over again how NOT to irritate me but they don't seem to be paying attention, so that's it. I just can't let it bother me. Part of what bothers me is that I think maybe I'm not that good at my job. I know I'm good at parts of it, but I'm not great at everything (who is, right?) so that bothers me too. But all I can do is to do the best I can do and let the rest roll off my back.

So the Celtics had their first "real test" of the season last night, taking on the Detroit Pistons at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Item: Could maybe the City of Boston pony up a few hundred grand and turn the "Insert-Corporate-Name-Here" Garden back into the Boston Garden? Ever since they succumbed to the whole cheerleader thing (they give them the euphemism "dancers"), I guess all of the "These-could-be-your-father's-Celtics" bets are off. Regardless, I, Evil Ted, shall simply call it "The Garden" until such time.

Basketbawful wanted to write about this, but is unable, so I'll give a go. Bawful felt Paul Pierce overshot, and played like someone trying to be the hero of the game. The result? 11 points on 5-for-16 shooting, and 0-for-4 from 3-point range.

Lavender Blue shared these photos of her garden. (Click for larger.)

I used to own a movie (back when there were "videotapes" called Bodies, Rest, and Motion. It was one of those independent films where not much happens, but for some reason I liked the movie. It's about a couple who moves to Arizona and then once they get there, they break up and the guy starts dating someone else, who he now lives with. The guy and his girfriend are still friends iwth the ex. So that's just the background, nothing has actually happened yet. Ok.. now the boyfriend decides he wants to move to Butte, Montana. Girlfriend doesn't really want to go, but she's a nice, peaceable girl so she will follow him. They get all packed up, hire a painter, quit their jobs...at the last minute boyfriend tells her that he's going alone. And he leaves. She's stunned. The painter shows up and they start chatting, get high, and have sex. He goes on about love. She gets up in the morning and leaves, not waking the painter. The painter decides he will find her.

Driving home, I noticed that wonderful thing... that glorious sign of summer...that harbinger of all things sweet and juicy was out... the "Strawberries U-Pick" sign!! Painted in red on a white background in stenciled letters and an arrow pointing toward the river. Yay! Seems a little early and I was hoping they woudl be picking while my sister is here, but whatever. We'll probably get out there this Saturday adn sometime next week because I WON'T BE WORKING... bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ha. Anyhoo, I also picked the first lettuce from the garden tonight to have on a delicious black bean burger wrap with avocado and cheese. yum.

Call me a nerd, but I've wanted to do a labyrinth walk for years. I have no idea why.. it's just one of those things (like the nautilus) that I see and I like and then I become semi-obsessed with. I have dreams of building my own labyrinth in my side yard out of rocks and flowers. But tonight, I actually walked one! There's a church in Portland, probably 2-3 miles from where I work that has a labyrinth on a canvas and they open it up to the public once a month or so. Now, I'm not religious at all and I've probably stepped foot in a church a total of 10 times in my life (half of them at a daycare center when I was a nanny, once I went with a boyfriend on Christmas, a few times I went wtih friends when I was kid, and once to a wedding in a catholic church). Oh, and once I blew a tire on my car when I veered trying to avoid a squirrel and hit the curb... wanted to see if they had a phone but the door was locked - typical!

I have been so busy lately that I haven't really sat and watched the weather so this mornings downpour took me by surprise. Since it was early I am sure there was some old man out there snoring as well. I slept like a rock last night. I have found that if I start sleeping sitting up that I sleep best. I end up on my side sometime in the middle of the night. The new bed is really nice. All it needs now is some nice cushy pillows to go with it.

Book News:
With my increased appetite for food my appetite for books is slowly returning as well. Yesterday I finished Bel Canto and am now half way through The Color Purple.

Bel Canto Short Review:

Last Day in Austin

I can’t believe how quickly this has gone, yet I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of information that is in my head right now. I will summarize some of the stuff now, but need to process all the information for a few days to accurately write about it.

The Suxorz: The Worst Social Media Ad Campaign of 2007 The winner of this award at SXSW this year was HP Pay-Per-Post. This is how not to get your brand on the internet (click for more)

Got tagged by DM Osbon for this blog meme all the cool kids are into. Now that I am doing it, that almost certainly means it has ceased to be cool but I'll give it a shot anyway.

Four Jobs I have had in my life (not including current job):

1. Shopping Cart Pusher - I collected shopping carts in the lot part time one summer at a grocery store. I actually witnessed more rampant drug use at this particular job than any other place I worked, including waiting tables. Once I also saw a couple guys throwing boxes of cereal up into the ceiling fans in back. That was absolutely spectacular. Me, I just pushed carts for four hours straight with a fifteen minute break somewhere in the middle. Time has never, ever moved more slowly than it did that summer.

Author-illustrator Lynn Cherry, known for her notable celebration of rain forest ecology The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest, takes it down to a smaller, but equally beautiful piece of ecology, the homey vegetable garden in her

my head hurts from way too much exertion. I've almost memorized the whole Jessica's theme song. It's a tough one and I'm about 3 measures away. I still have to look at the music sometimes to peak, but I'm very very close. It feels good becuase it's been a real challenge and I'm almost there! I'm not even going to worry about the Enya song for now because that's easy by comparison and if I have to I could even drop that one. But I don't think I'll have to. I've got a long weekend and another 2 weeks after that so I think I'm golden.

My sister helped me come up with a great idea for a book. It needs a little fleshing out but it has the potential to be really funny. And hey, if I'm only spending a month on it, I can take the risk. No pressure, right? The plan is to start June 1 and obviously be done by June 30 with the first draft. I see it as something sort of Carl Hiaasen-ish. Funny, irreverent, a bit kitchy, but with a little bit of a message (yet to be determined).

on a Sunday afternoon. umm umm. Aged Cheddar, made in Maine. But I've been working hard so I deserve it. I feel like I'm finally hitting my summer stride.... being outside constantly, getting sun burned, covered in dirt all day, loving every minute of it. ahhh summer.

Yesterday was our kayaking course. I thought it was about advanced strokes but it was mostly about navigation. I learned some things (like, oh, how to use a compass). And got some damn good exercise paddling across casco bay. The instructors were good. One reminded us of our friend F. The other was cute and very earnest. Normally I dont' like really like that quality, but he was making it work for him. They have a rule that when you hear thunder you have to head back or hunker down. We heard thunder around 2;30 or so and headed back. Didn't get to do advanced rescue techniques (aka flipping your boat over and having someone rescue you) darn!! was SO looking forward to that. : ) And we learned some thigns about towing. I was the only woman in the class. The water was rough in some spots and the waves were pretty big. I didn't feel too bad about it though since the instructors were there. If it was just me & J, I would have been crying.

This past weekend I headed up to New Jersey for the sixth annual CraigCon.

Back in college, I made a few great, lasting friendships playing D&D on a regular basis in the old "Conshohocken House". I lived in this house with 4 other people, 2 of which were gamers like myself. We started a game that I ran for close to a year.

One thing you have to understand was we played this game in the basement of that crowded house. The basement was such a mess by the end of that game that I was literally using a pile of old pizza boxes as a table to keep my books and dice. In retrospect it's amazing we didn't contract bubonic plague.

I just had to do this meme created by the ever-prolific Eva. I've seen brilliant answers from so many people, so had to think about it myself.

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

I think I'd say The Time Traveller's Wife; I want to read it! But I can't seem to bring myself to even open it -- it's as if I fear it won't be as good as every single review I'd read. I own it. I feel pleased looking at it, but it's as if there's a force field around it repulsing my hand.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

2007 in a nutshell
Originally uploaded by m.Lee I often have felt like I wasted a lot of 2007 due to my rather difficult pregnancy. First I was tired all the time, followed by some sort of flu that lingered for a solid three months. Then about two or three good weeks before the horribly puking up acid reflux got out of control. Then the pregnancy induced hypertension and finally going twelve days late.

Those of you who read my picnic posts last summer might remember my love for Wild Garden Hummus. It's my favorite hummus for camping, traveling, and picnics; the flavor is mild and not too garlicky for kids, it's oil-free, and best of all the jars are shelf-stable and don't need refrigeration. Yes, I've packed many a glass jar of Wild Garden for lunch on a long train or car trip.

November 2-4

So I'm back from New Orleans, after a fantastic trip. The main features of New Orleans are the seafood, the booze, and the jazz. And yet, despite being a vegetarian with no deep interest in alcohol or jazz, I had a stupendous time. It's such a beautiful and strange city, with all these amazing old houses side by side with buildings in complete disrepair, literally falling apart. At least in the more tourist-oriented parts of towns the direct signs of Katrina are mostly gone, but it's hard to do much of anything without feeling it to be a constant subtext.

I think I wouldn't be able to deal with the weather in the summer but in February, there was nothing finer than the chance to take a week-long break from the snow and slush and spend a a few bright, sun-dappled days wandering the Garden District without a care in the world.

Does urban container gardening get any better than this? Although I picked a few leaves yesterday to supplement a salad I made for an impromptu lunch with friends, this is the first salad entirely from lettuce grown in the pots on my deck! I added a few chopped red mini-peppers, and a slice of Spanish Drunken Goat Cheese (I have to wonder if the goats were drunk, or they added some liqueur in the making of the cheese!). I dressed it with a little balsamic vinegar and wow, I haven't tasted lettuce like this since my mother used to make salads from lettuce in her raised lettuce beds she induced my Dad to build under a section of our carport in Everett (WA). She then could practically raise it year round.

something new tonight. I've been thinking that instead of just rambling, I should have one of those...whachamacallit... a topic! I dont' have one yet, but I hope to have one by the time I finish.

Well, I was looking at my list and realized that to get them all done, I'd have to do 1 every 10 days. Sooo...since my car's inspection sticker expired a week ago, I thought maybe I'd the "take my car to a new place" one (which is a scary one for me...creature of habit that I am), but I thought better of it and just went to whole foods for lunch and bought the same sandwich I always get (grilled veggies with arugula and goat cheese). Then thought I could try a new food (also on the list)...uh...maybe tomorrow. Then, I thought..it's grocery night, I'll do the one about striking up a conversation with a cashier. A little background:

Am I the only one who doesn't get Radiohead? I mean, I keep listening to their new records because I love "Fake Plastic Trees" more than oxygen, but I never really got the big deal about OK Computer, and understand less and less with every new disc.

So they released the newest one without any fanfare, on the internet, for free (or whatever people wanted to give them). And all that is pretty cool. Except that the $0.00 I paid for it is a pretty close approximation to how much enjoyment I'm going to get out of it.

Well, I guess I like "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi�" enough that I'll probably listen to it 5-10 times in the next few months. So maybe I should chip in a quarter. Meh.

Don't get me wrong - I totally get that they are technically proficient and put together some very interesting stuff. It just surprises me how this somehow became the band that everyone could agree on.