Life Is But A Drink

1.  I’m still sporting Band-Aids on my fingers.  Healing from my bricklaying trauma (see here) is underway, but my fingertips are still all sorts of messed up.  And, now, I’m also wearing a couple of Band-Aids on my arm because I kinda got dragged across the driveway last night when I was out playing with the kids and, well, road rash.  Don’t ask.

2.  That dish I made for Easter that I thought would be killer (see here) was decidedly not killer.  It wasn’t awful, but it definitely didn’t live up to its (well, my self-imposed) hype.  Asparagus, goat cheese, sweet onions, figs… how could it not be awesome?  But it wasn’t.  I did make something really yummy in the slow cooker last night, so I’ll be sure to share that recipe in the coming days.

3.  Speaking of slow cookers, I think I want to invest in one that is programmable and will turn itself to WARM when it’s done cooking.  Since most slow cooker recipes are done before my husband or I get home from work, we don’t use the slow cooker very much and that – in my honest opinion – is an unfortunate travesty.  A travesty that I think can be overcome with one of those programmable ones.  Like this one from Crock Pot:

Do you have a programmable slow cooker?  Do you like it?  Does it do what it’s supposed to?

4.  Did anyone watch Veep on HBO the other night?  With Julia Louis-Dreyfus?  (Link here.)  I caught it online since I don’t have HBO at home.  And I really liked it.   It was funny and fast-paced and unique.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do about the rest of the season since I don’t imagine that they’ll put all of the episodes up on HBO for free and HBO has that weird thing about not making their content available digitally to non-subscribers.  Does anyone know if you can get HBO shows on iTunes after they air?!?!

5.  Why are pet medications so expensive?  Is it just a scam or what?  Our cat has discovered the outdoors and so we’ve been letting him out to romp regularly.  Which means that we’ve got to get him on some flea/tick/heartworm medication. I ordered some the other day online and nearly had to take out a second mortgage on the house to cover the cost.  I don’t understand.  Is it made from liquid gold or something?

6.  I finally finished reading The Art of Fielding a few weeks back (see here).  Up until the very end, I kept trying to convince myself that I liked it.  Now, don’t get me wrong – I didn’t hate it.  But I didn’t love it either.  I think I just expected too much out of it and so it disappointed me.  And, my goodness, it was LONG (over 500 pages).  I’m now reading 11/22/63.  I’m usually not a big Stephen King fan because I don’t generally like thrillers or mysteries or science fiction.  But this book has gotten such praise and was selected as one of the New York Times’ best books of 2011, so I decided to give it a try.  And, so far (about half way through it), I’m really liking it.  It’s also a LONG book – more than 800 pages!

7.  Have you ever had a secret crush on a radio personality?  I remember totally crushing on this DJ from the local radio station when I was a teenager and then, when I finally saw a photo of him, I was like WTF?  That can’t be right!  He was so far from the hunk of burning love I had pictured in my head.  Well, I’ve been secretly swooning over Kai Rysdal, the host of Market Place on NPR in the evenings, for the last few years.  I listen to him every night on my way home from work and, well, he’s smart and witty and * giggle giggle * so nice.  But I’ve been so scared to look him up online because, well, I didn’t want to dash my hopes and dreams.  But then I did and, well, it was OK (see here).  He’s definitely not Brad Pitt, but he’s also not 400 pounds with a handlebar mustache either.  My secret (or not really so secret anymore, I suppose) pining continues unabated.

8.  My daughter told me this morning in the car that she wanted me to paint our house pink and purple.  I wonder what the neighbors would think.

9.  We ordered a new mailbox post and it arrived yesterday.  I’m THRILLED to get rid of the warped, disintegrating mess that’s there now and replace it with something sturdy and pretty.  Never in a million years did I expect that a mailbox post would excite me so.  But it does.

10.  My husband headed out of town again this morning and will be gone the next two nights.  I’m so looking forward to some more bed hoggin’, although I sincerely hope that – this time – I can manage to stay upright (see here).