Interesting Notes

1) There was a guy playing "Blowin' In the Wind" on HARMONICA on the bus today. It was awesome. I don't know if it beats the guy singing "Sunday Morning Coming Down," but it's definitely a close second. 2) You know how when you learn something new, it just keeps popping up over and over again? I learned the word obstreperous and then I read it in TWO books. I learned that Harry and David's was a fruit place (they make fruit baskets, I guess) and then I saw someone on the train with a Harry and David's paper bag. 3) I have given away one CD of This American Life. I will marry Ira Glass someday. Actually, I think Ira Glass in on the top of my list of people I will never meet who if I did meet I could have sex with. And I'm going to end that sentences in a preposition and the grammar Nazis can bite me. 4) Tonight the Bearded Boy and I are going to celebrate Christmas. There will be an exchanging of gifts, a trip to Jeune Lune to see The Little Prince, and then some ice cream for dessert. We will then separate and not see each other for the better part of a month. I am sad, but I'm attempting to come to terms with it. 5) I'm going to go away from the Internet for a while. I'm going somewhere for a few weeks where a high speed connection is not valued and while I plan on getting SOME work done, it will be work of a non-Internet variety. I may check in once in a while with some notes from elsewhere, but it won't be very regularly. One of my New Year's resolutions will be to update more often, but it just won't happen until I get back to town.

Snow Flakes and Kittens

I had no idea it could be this cold and still snow. From somewhere in my distant grade school history, when my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Roberts, made us do an unholy boring weather TERM, I have been under the impression that snow could only happen in some relatively warm range (now I live in Minnesota where I thought the mid-20s was unseasonably warm last week, so relatively warm is a BROAD category). I'm wrong. It was quite cold tonight. And snowing to beat the band, as my mom would say. And windy. I had to go to the grocery store because I am in charge of a dinner night tomorrow night. I'm cooking the infamous potato leek soup and a chicken casserole I have cooked for BB before. In addition, I have green beans and ice cream. As gluten-free as you can get. However, because I needed a special chicken broth for the soup, I had to go to not one, not two, but THREE grocery stores to get all the ingredients. I eventually had to go to the snooty store, but I guess they're snooty for a reason. I am a dedicated girlfriend. All of my Christmas shopping is completed. I spent WAY more than I should have and I can't eat between now and when I go home next week so I can afford gas money, BUT I'm excited about the gifts I was able to track down. For sister: A matching hat, scarf, and gloves set (pink and very cute), some crap from The Body Shop including those gloves that you use at night to moisturize like mad, a handmade pendant from an online indie retailer, and this crazy cross-stich thing that says, "Life sucks" For mom: A Snowbaby (she loves them), bath balls from Origins, personalized writing paper with a needle and thread on it For dad: Some Craftsmen bibs (he asked for it, I swear), a book on tape about a galactic gumshoe, and the song CD from the Car Talk guys on NPR For BB: Some stuff that may or may not have been over the set spending limit. I also ordered some CDs from This American Life because I am in love with Ira. I will give them away as presents for people who I haven't been considerate enough to actually buy their own personal gift for , but when they give me a gift I will run and grab the convienently wrapped TAL CD, write their name on it in two seconds, and seem like a WONDERFUL person who has just opened someone's eyes to the WONDER that is Ira Glass. Furthermore, if there are any left at the end of this holiday season, I can keep them for myself. Hee. I'm so selfish.

An Update

I haven't posted in a while. Mostly because there's nothing terribly interesting or new going on in my life. I did send an email to my bestest friend, however, so here it is. I went to a cookie-making party on Sunday. At this party we made 1) two kinds of gingerbread cookies 2) sugar cookies 3) cranberry coconut tassies 4) peanut butter balls 5) taffy 6) chocolate cookies with peanut butter cups in them, and something else I can't remember. It was a good time and my roommates have enjoyed eating all the cookies, although I stole all the peanut butter balls because they are fucking GOOD.

Ohio dates. I think I am going to be in Ohio from Jan 12-Jan.15. I can come on the 11th if anyone will be available to hang out with me that day, but that's definitely flexible. Likewise, I can either drive back to Minneapolis on the 15th or 16th, depending on when people are sick of me. Does that work for you? I will call others and see if they will be available on those dates.

I'm soooo happy you got out of your grad class a week early. That's fantastic. I like to get out of classes, too. As a matter of fact, I am seriously considering skipping class today. I hate it so much. However, I think the teahcer's going to pass out seminar evaluations today and I really want to say bad things about her in the evaluation, so I think I'm going to go just so that I can do that.

Tonight is date night. I will go on a date.

Next Wednesday, I will be done with classes (not done grading, but I won't have anything to grade until Thursday), so I am going to cook a gluten-free dinner for my boyfriend and my landlords. I think I'm going to make that potato-leek soup because it's accidentally gluten-free and quite tasty and a chicken casserole that has lots of stuff in it. Then I'll make a vegetable. Probably green beans because they are easy and I am lazy. And I'll make my landlords provide wine. So that they can drink it and Biker Boy and I can mock them. Those are my exciting dinner party plans.

I'm wearing a bright orange shirt that says "BOWLING GREEN" on it in big white letters, a long-sleeved white t-shirt underneath it, and a pair of jeans that has orange stitching (it was hard for me to make that last phrase have a correct subject/verb agreement - I'm a freak).

I'm quite hungry right now. I might go downstairs and get a bagel to eat. Bagels have lots of calories, so that should hold me until I get home and finish this damn spaghetti I made. Have I told you about the spaghetti sauce? See, the smallest package of ground sirloin you can get is ONE POUND. As a single person, I don't fucking need an entire pound of meat. However, I purchased the package and then mixed it with a jar of Paul Newman's (gluten-free!) sauce. But I cooked it LAST WEDNESDAY. I have had spaghetti for at least one meal every single day for a week. Tonight will be the last day. If I don't finish the sauce, I'm going to throw it out. I will say it was a smart buy because for the cost of the sauce (it was about $4), the meat (on sale -$4), and the box of spaghetti (79 cents), I have had seven meals, complete with protein, carbs, and vegetables. Not a bad deal. But boy am I sick of spaghetti.

I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow.

Love, NGS