Torture by any other name...

Ya know, there has been a lot of talk about torture lately. Specifically, Waterboarding, I can't figure out why there was a debate: it is cruel & inhumane and definitely torture. But there is another form of torture out there that hasn't been discussed. No congressional hearings, no vocal debates, but I'm sure if it were happening to you, you would agree: TORTURE!
I'm talking about the practice of withholding Girl Scout Cookies.
You try to be a good person and do the right thing.
Back in January a friend sends an innocent enough email, "Hey, my adorable cherub-like daughter is selling some cookies. Would you like to order some from her?"
Of course I would. Who doesn't want to support these girls as they learn about the entrepreneurial spirit. They learn life skills like goal setting, money management, and teamwork. I want to support this American tradition, so I say count me in!
At the end of January, the email I'd hoped for came:

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES ARE IN!

Ok, when do I get mine? Are going to be at the workshop on February 10? I asked, knowing that that would be a day I would need cookies-thinking I was showing great restraint. But no, she had to go out of town. Well when ARE you going to be on this side of town?
"Oh" she says, "I'll just give them to you at our next meeting"
February 26????
I can't believe she is making me wait. She can't be bothered to come into town before that.
About 6 weeks after I ordered them, and almost a month after she said they would be in. So now I'm sitting, waiting. I had to buy some from the brownies in front of the grocery store a last week. I couldn't handle the wait. Sadly I only bought one box. I have a week to go, I only hope I can make it.

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It all started last Thursday

I woke up on Thursday with the worst sinus headache I've had in years. I was slightly nauseated, it hurt to blink and I thought the front of my head was going to explode. HP was sweet enough to offer to go out to get me some sort of a cure, but since it was also the day of a a job interview, I needed to go myself because I had to get the right size and color of pantyhose. I don't know what that is to tell him, I just have to find it. So at shortly after 7:00 am dressed in a style known as early-sick-house-wife-with-no-concept-of-what-she-had-put-on, I left the house to run to the drugstore a couple blocks away. Since this drugstore is not in the best of neighborhoods (certainly not the lily-white suburbs) they had steel gates down at 7:00 am. Ok, surely the one on the "Fifth Street Highway" would be open so people on their way to work could get their remedy. Nope. OK, the almighty K-Mart? Not until 8. While I considered pounding my head into the steering wheel, I did not think that was the solution. Since I have found that Advil Cold & Sinus is pretty much a sure-fire reliever I had to go somewhere with a pharmacy or at least a well stocked service desk to buy it, lest I stock up and start a meth lab in my basement. Next stop the low-self-esteem Giant. It's not a bad store, just doesn't quite take care of itself the way it should. (It's near a college & on the edge of town and they don't quite gear themselves towards higher end customers) I went to the service desk, but no one was around. So I went over to the pantyhose, looked at the 8 shades of black until my eyes crossed, grabbed a pair and hit the cold aisle in hopes that they would have the little card that said I needed the service desk so I could at least ask a cashier. Of course they didn't. I found a manager on the phone near the service desk. He had no idea what I was talking about in regards to cold medicines. He fetched the store accountant from behind the magic door and she was able to open the super secret cache of Pseudoephedrine filled drugs. No advil cold & sinus. (Why stock a large selection if no one can find it???) So I tried the Aleve cold & sinus (with the required Pseudoephedrine), showed my ID, signed a form, and promised not to start a meth lab. I also grabbed a new Tylenol product that doesn't have all the speed in it (it has Phenylephrine instead. I don't know what that is). So I grabbed my drugs & hose & got in the car to go home. By that time the CVS was open.
Please tell me why it is harder to buy this sinus relief than is is to buy cigarettes? Cigarettes are more addictive than Meth (or heroin or cocaine or alcohol or PCP or pot ) but any one can get a pack any time of day, but wake up with a sinus headache and you are in big trouble!
So now I'm suffering through a sinus thing. I don't know what it really is, but my ears are a little clogged and I've got the post-nasal drip. I'm trying the Tylenol medication, hoping it will do the trick, but right now my ears are clogged & I've got post nasal drip. I don't think I'll sell my pseudoephedrine on the black market just yet.

Oh and the job interview? Well general nerves of a job interview combined with the pseudoephedrine jitters got me a little wired, but I had a 2 hour drive to calm down (or get aggravated as I hit city traffic). I went in confident, I spoke the language, I knew the organization and some of the competition. HP was very sweet, he made me breakfast (an omelet with goat cheese) and gave me a back rub before I left and he made dinner that night(note to self: always interview on days that he is working from home). I felt pretty good about it, but now it's up to them...

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Kiki has a blog!

Hey look, I still have a blog.
I really do think about posting more, but I haven't been so good at sitting down to the the post machine.
I wanted to post about my trip to The Big Apple, but when I returned from there I was busy working wardrobe for Go Diego, Go! (live & on stage) Mostly I was being paid to do laundry & knit my husband a hat while waiting for the spin cycle to finish, but it was long days with an hour commute tagged on each end. (if I was on top of it I would add a picture of the hat, but I'm not sure where the camera is)

Some highlights of NYC-

• I got to run around & shop while my husband was working!
• I got a $20 fake Prada bag from a guy on the street. It's not even a good knock off, but I liked the bag.
• My M-I-L gave HP & I each $50 gift cards for Macy*s, so I headed for Herald Square & hit the biggest Macy*s there is (I think) during January clearance. Unfortunately, I was dressed for January cold instead of the inside of a HUGE department store filled with zillions of people, so I was hot & overwhelmed by the HUGENESS that is the Miracle on 34th Street. It was over-crowded & over-heated and I didn't buy myself a thing. I fared a little better for HP who got a new sweater, just like an old sweater he loves & a couple flannel shirts.
• I got to eat at Les Halles, a restaurant I loved before I had ever heard of Anthony Bourdain (whom I also love!)
• I went to a club & saw Regina Carter, was a unique (jazz violin? and an accordion???), but great show. I'm glad we went!
• I scooted downtown to Century 21 where I was one of the few Americans looking for bargains. Mostly it was foreign tourists, making the most of our weak dollar. If you aren't familiar with it, Century 21 is kind of like a Loehman's on steroids. I got just one skirt, but it is a skirt that I will wear until it falls apart (sometimes, ya just know!)
  
• I loved this store: Delphinium Home, I didn't buy a thing--too pricey for whims, but I had a lot of fun looking. I took pictures with my husband's phone of things that caught my fancy, but haven't figured out how to retrieve them onto my computer.

It was fun to get out of town & hit the big city, now I'm back to the cold gray January of Reading. It has been a good winter for stews though, last night I made a Moroccan tangine with Chicken & Eggplant. Quite flavory! Last week it was some unbelievable Chicken Paprika's and some black bean soup that warmed the belly. Next I think will be some lasagna!

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Kiki in 2008

Ok, it's been a new year for most of the week, but hey, I'm slow on the uptake.

First some "Super Spies" in their Christmas Jammies, because really, they are too cute to leave out!


Then, on to the new year.

I have spent many years of my life working on New Year's Eve. I have climbed into rafters to release the balloons that stuck in the ceiling for a midnight drop, I have drunk champagne with the Maestro.

One of the few benefits of being a dilettante that I can ring in the new year with those that I love. HP and I had a quiet evening at home after running all over the county in order to make the perfect meal for our final of 2007. We dined on scallops in Champagne sauce with wilted spinach and scalloped potatoes with goat cheese and caramelized onions. The sauce only used a cup of Champagne, so we had most of a bottle to enjoy with dinner. The candles were lit, and so were we. New Year's day was spent lazing about and declaring our resolutions for the new.

As you can tell, devoting more time to my blog was not one of my resolutions. I really do think about the blogosphere, and I think about posting more, but then I think my life is really to dull to write about, so I play another video game or abandon the computer for some clay. (And on the clay front, I am REALLY excited about the piece I'm working on now. It is awaiting its first firing, so I hope it turns out. Maybe I should take pictures in stages--I can fake the first stage, a ball of clay, but I'll have to bypass the stage where I decided to make a lid. That is done, and I can't go back & take pics. who am I kidding, I'm terrible at remember to put pics in anyway. I'll try to do better though really) That was a really unnecessary paragraph, but for now I'll just edit this way.

Kiki's 2008 Resolutions

• Get a Job, those bills aren't going to pay themselves
• Lose Weight. Cliché, but necessary.
• Learn Italian. I started last year, then missed a day or two and then got away from it. Time to return!
• Have more fun with my husband
• Drink more water. Sometimes I forget.
• Make nicer pottery, I'm working on that one!
• Elect a new president. Ok, I'll only do a small part of that and vote, but it sounds like a good resolution, the old one has put in his time, and now it's time for a fresh outlook!
  

I think that is enough for one year, don't you?

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