THE POLAR BEARS TAKE NATIONALS!

Congratulations to Nephew Lucas...he threw the disk to his teammate for the winning goal!



Oh Yeah!!!

Pretty Subdued Weekend So Far...

Well, except that Nephew Lucas and his Polar Bears made it to the FINALS!!! USA Ultimate will stream the game today on their website and Poppy can make the computer play on our big giant T.V. so we'll get to see him play...if we can make the streaming thing work.

Poppy is the best computer geek ever. Here's our boy...He's the one squinting and getting a third-degree sunburn.




The only house project I did yesterday was replace the filter in the HVAC system. That was some dusty fun!

Took Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer to the beach this morning. It's a very pretty day! I still can't believe we live just a few short blocks from this...





Speaking of the beach...While watching baseball and the 7th inning-stretch singing of Gawd Bless Merica has been interesting because I've really listened to the lyrics. Given that we live so close to the beach, the one line in the song "...to those oceans white with foam" has given me some trouble. I've noticed that our ocean isn't quite white with foam but yellow with foam...until today:



Guess that's all I've got for you...GO GIANTS!

This just in...

Poppy and I had an audience with Wile-E-Coyote this morning!!







Cool!

Wednesday's Dinner...

Oh who cares....THE GIANTS ARE AWESOME! Okay, I care...the family went to friend-Laurie's house to watch the game, play pool and eat pizza. The pizza was from a place called Goodfella's. Ranks right up there with a few of the best NOMMY pizza I've ever had!

Here's my Busta:



Here's Friend-Laurie's daughter, Meghan and hoosband, George:



Here's the best part of the evening...when we left our house to go to Friend-Laurie's, we had Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer with us cause she was going to meet up with her Dexter McLovin. Well, she was one excited little dog and was whining and crying the whole way down there. When she gets like that, it usually upsets her delicate little system and she'll want to barf at some point.

In fact, when we arrived at Friend-Laurie's I said "I hope she doesn't do anything." Friend-Laurie said "She can do whatever she wants." Well, wasn't she in for a treat...We're all sitting on the couch watching the game and I think it was Seester Kathy or Meghan that pointed and said "Jax threw up!" I look down by where Poppy is sitting and sure enough, there it was, a river of ralf. All over the couch, all over Poppy's pants and now it's heading in between the cushions of the couch that I'm now trying to catch with my bare hand. OMG, how mortifying is this? Friend-Laurie insisted it was okay and that she hated that couch...

And now for a special shout-out to coworker, Letty. She works in Seester Kathy's department and makes yummy treats for her staff meetings and has been nice enough to share them with me. Yesterday was pot stickers and they were the NOMMIEST pot stickers I've had to date!



Go Giants!

USA Ultimate 2010 Championships

Today's blog is about my one and only Nephew, Lucas. For those of you who haven't met him, he's the pale looking one in the blue shirt. He's been playing Ultimate for some years now. I think he started playing after he had to quit soccer having sustained one to many concussions. Anyway, he's made it to the USA Ultimate 2010 National Championships in Sarasota, Florida! Seester Kathy took him to the airport this morning at o'dark-thirty.

I couldn't be more proud of him! Heavy sigh...

GOOD LUCK LUCAS AND GO GIANTS!

The Giants...

It would appear that Fatass' loyalty to the Giants has come into question by a few folks. Fatass has heard the word "bandwagon" at least twice. Yes, one of those nice people is the Boss' daughter. As you can see from the picture above, Boss' daughter is a die-hard and also one of the folks that will be taking care of Fatass in her old age. Best be nice or Fatass is liable to get oatmeal three times a day!

Back to business...We know Fatass has low self-esteem and can be a wee defensive but truth be told, Fatass has been a Giants fan since she was a little dumpling. She took a brief vacation during the Scary-Barry years. I know some of you consider that a fair-weather fan, but Fatass had to take a stand. It's all about principles. Fatass is back so tread softly lil kittens!

So Boss' daughter, bless her heart, has also requested some vegetarian recipes. Again, since she'll be taking care of Fatass during the golden years, I'd best comply...

ORACH PASTA

You can use any greens for this recipe but I believe Orach is in season now.

2 cups cleaned and lightly chopped orach leaves
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt & Pepper to taste
Olive oil to taste
Toasted pine nuts
Parmesan
2 cups hot cooked pasta, twirly shapes work best to get all caught in the pasta

Saute the onion and garlic in the moderately hot oil (about 1-2 Tablespoons) until soft, add the greens and the salt-n-peppa. Cook until the greens are wilted, about 2 minutes, depending on how hot your pan is. Add the pine nuts and serve.

BROCCOLI SLAW

Dressing

Mayonnaise
Sour cream
Caraway seed
Cayenne pepper
Vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Pepper

In a bowl add equal parts of mayo and sour cream and add the rest to taste. Easy on the sugar.

Slaw

1 bag broccoli slaw
Walnuts, chopped
Dried cranberries
Crisp apple, chopped

In a bowl add the slaw, chopped walnuts, dried cranberries and chopped apple. Gradually add the dressing to the slaw, stir and taste for season.

PEPPER SOUP

8 cups Veggie or chicken bullion
1/2 chayote squash, thinly sliced
½ leek, thinly sliced
1tsp ginger, thinly julienne
3-4 heads baby bok choy, evenly sliced
½ container extra firm tofu, julienne
1 tbsp. sesame oil
black pepper garni, freshly ground
bean thread noodles

To make the black pepper garni, take a tea-ball and fill with freshly ground pepper; at least 2 tablespoons. Swish it in the boiling broth for a few minutes and taste for spiciness. No spicy enough, keep swishing.

Put the bean thread noodles in a bowl and cover with water. Put in the microwave on high for about 3-5 minutes until aldente.

Slice all the veggies, meat and tofu evenly.

Throw the veggies, noodles and tofu as well as the sesame oil into the broth and cook for about 5 minutes. Serve.

Enjoy!

Gender Confused Plumbing...

Well, let's start with Friday night. This was our big chance to make it to the World Series...unfortunately, we didn't win but I am teaching myself to keep score...with the help of Poppy and Roger-The-Escape-Cat.





Even though we lost, there's no way we could lose faith...and wouldn't you know, WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!! Not only that, but with my second favorite team! I think Poppy and I are going to have to make a bet on this series. Heh heh heh!

Saturday, we had friends, Amy and Charley, Tom and Karen for dinner. They were all really helpful during our house search. In fact, we've all used the same agent, Lynnea. They all highly recommended her and we were very, very happy with her. Lucky for us, they were also into watching the game so that's what we did. Had some very NOM chili and all the fixins for the dinna. A good time was had by all...Did I mention we're going to the World Series? Oh yeah!





I'd give you my recipe, but I'm not sure I want to share it just yet....Oh alright!

KECKY’S ROOTIN TOOTIN TEXAS CHILI

Note: If you don't have real live New Mexican chili, just use the stuff you get at your local grocery.

5 LBS BONELESS BEEF CUT INTO ½ INCH CUBES (MAKE SURE THE MEAT HAS SOME FAT ON IT SO IT WON’T BURN OR DRY OUT)

MILD NEW MEXICO CHILI (TWO TEASPOONS)

2 LARGE YELLOW ONIONS, CHOPPED

10 MEDIUM GARLIC CLOVES, PEELED AND CHOPPED

OLIVE OIL

¾ TO 1 CUP MILD CHILI POWDER (NEW MEXICO CHILI IS THE BEST!!!)

2 HEAPING TABLESPOONS DRIED OREGANO

2 HEAPING TABLESPOONS GROUND CUMIN

5 CUPS BEEF STOCK (KITCHEN BASICS IS THE BEST)

3 TABLESPOONS CORNMEAL OR LESS, IF NEEDED, TO THICKEN

GRATED CHEESE, SLICED JALAPENOS, FRITOS™, CHOPPED CILANTRO, AND SOUR CREAM, FOR SERVING.

1. You’ll need a 4-5 quart pot. Add a little olive to the pot. Turn the heat to medium-low. Add the beef and 2 tbsp. mild chili. Cooked uncovered, stirring, for 15-20 minutes. You don’t want the meat to brown because this will seal in the juices. You just want the pink gone. When done, let it sit.

2. Cook the onions and garlic in olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes, until they are soft but not too browned. When done, add to the beef, along with the Ymmm-O mild New Mexican chili powder, oregano and cumin. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring for 5 minutes.

3. Add the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let the chili simmer, gently, uncovered for at least 1 ½-2 hours. Stir whenever you walk by so nothing sticks to the bottom.

4. When it’s done, give it a taste. Add more New Mexican. If it’s too thin, thicken it by stirring in some of the cornmeal. If it’s too thin, add a little more stock.

5. Let the chili sit for 15 minutes and stir again. Serve with all the fixins’. The sour cream will come in handy for those who think it’s too spicy.

All that said, it’s much better to make this the day before so it has time to sit and the flavors to meld together.

That brings us to Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Now we can't let a precious weekend go by without taking on some kind of home project. Today's project was installing our new kitchen faucet. Before I did that though, I had to remove the old one. If you recall, the reason we got to this point is that the sprayer on the old faucet doesn't work, and the previous owner had welded parts and pieces of this faucet together so it was impossible to replace the sprayer. Just as well since Poppy and I really didn't like the faucet, even though all the cabinet hardware matches it.

Once I got the hoses disconnected and all the other junk that was connected to it, it was time to get the actual faucet out of the sink. I'm not sure what this guy did, but I had to go and get all Brooklyn on it. Ended up getting the hacksaw out and sawing through the copper pipe to get the Goddam thing out of the sink.





Once that was done, on to the easy-squeezy part of installing the new faucet. All was going well until I came up about an inch short on the hoses. The extension hoses were incompatible with the new hoses. Well, not that they were incompatible...they were just two females so I needed a couple of male adaptors. That's right, my faucet hoses are gender confused. Why can't my faucet hoses just get over it and come out of the faucet closet?!

So I gather my gender confused faucet hoses and take them to the local True Value Hardware store. This is where I found out I have gender confused faucet hoses. The nice young man tried to help me find the right adaptor for my gender confused faucet hoses, but he wasn't having any luck and I was getting the feeling this was a homo-faucet-hose-phobic store. He said I should come back on Tuesday when his homo-faucet-hose-friendly uncle is working cause he knows everything about gender confused faucet hoses.

I went home all dejected cause I couldn't help my gender confused faucet hoses come to terms with it's faucet hose sexuality. Poppy said there was another hardware store up the street. So, out I go again. This was the Ace Hardware Store; and you know, "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man." I go in and tell the nice man that I need to join my gender confused faucet hoses together so they won't be confused anymore. He walks up the stairs and b-lines it right for this package...oh he was very, very homo-faucet-hose-friendly! Now my faucet hoses are very happy and well adjusted. They finally feel "normal" just like all the other faucets hoses; not to mention, they are very pretty!



That's all I got for you. Later!

It's like Christmas...only different!

Check out how that water is just beading up! It was just like Christmas when Poppy and I got up this morning...we rushed to the backdoor to look at the little beads of water. Poppy said "Loooook!" No better feeling (almost) than project success.

I'm a little nervous for the weekend though...Got a new kitchen faucet so we're going to try to DIY'it. Wait until you see it...

Another Christmas gift that Fatass wants is the Giants to win the game tomorrow!



Happy Friday!

The Deck and Stairs...

We've been dragging our feet a little on sealing up the deck and new stairs. Now the rainy season is here. We consulted with our "all things house" mentor, John. John said that if we had any open cuts exposing raw wood, she should have had those sealed up with in 30 days. So, Poppy hit Home Depot last night and we took today of to seal it all up. Not sure how much detail you can see, but here's the before:



And after:



Got this done just in the nick of time too. I'd say 2 hours after we finished it started sprinkling.

Big and I mean BIG night for the Giants!!

Who cares what's for dinner!

These games are SO exciting! Even Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer thinks so!

Yesterday was a day game and little did I know, I couldn't stream KNBR on my computer cause I have to pay $9.95 to MLB.com to listen to the game. What a rip! Boss Karen is the only one with a radio but she had meetings in her office. Then it dawned on me that Poppy and I have an emergency hand-crank radio in the truck. So I fetched it and spent 3 hours hand-cranking it...not really, it takes batteries!

Tonight is Survivor night at Seester Kathy's. Lucky for us, they've got 3 T.V.'s just in case the game goes long!

Bye bye!

Who Let The Dogs Out?...

Very big game today. I cough cough think cough cough I'm cough cough not cough cough feeling cough cough very cough cough well cough cough and cough cough should cough cough go home cough cough by cough cough 1:00pm!

Well since Sydney-The-Perfect-Speller corrected my spelling of Ignatius, I might as well come completely clean with the Catholics. Upon further review of EYE OF THE TIGER playing ad nauseam, it turns out it wasn't the Catholics, it was the Nike Women's Marathon. I guess every time someone crossed the finish line they played the chorus of the song. Torture! Thanks again for the correction, Sydney...really, I think.

GO GIANTS!!

Treegator!!!

Not only did we get our first rain in the New Kasa Kecky, but I installed my Treegator! So the tree, Olive, needs a substantial amount of water it's first few years of life. It was placed there a year ago November by the Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF). We had olive trees in our backyard when I was growing up, but all I knew about them was that they dropped their leaves...a lot and the fruit stained the concrete...and don't be walking in the house with that on your shoes either!

So I called FUF and asked them about the tree. They told me what it was and how much water it needed. They suggested getting a 5 gallon bucket and drilling some holes in it, then placing a heafty bag in the bucket and poking holes through the bag and that would make a little drip system. How attractive that would look out in front of the house. There is one house down the block with a kitty litter bucket next to their new tree. Anyway, up the street I saw they have Treegators around their trees. Now I have one! It will hold 20 gallons of water and will release over a period of about 10 hours. How cool is that?

Had pork chops for dinner last night that I brined in apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, salt and pepper corns for a few hours. Very tastey!!



See ya!

Post 40's...

Today is Seesters ___ Birthday; but really, she doesn't look a day over ___! Let's just say she's in her post 40's. Last night at her birthday dinner we were talking about that internet site, Real Age. This is where you answer all their stupid questions and then it tells you how old you really are. Fatass is 54! I even cheated and it only got me to 52!! Bro-In-Law-Darryll popped out with something like he's 24. Had I had a torch fireplace lighter on me, I would have lit his arm on fire...again.

Okay, I'll tell the story...I believe it was a Christmas over at Bro-In-Law-Darryll's brother and sister-in-law's house, Sandra and Dennis. Anyway, we were sitting around the table; Poppy and I were on one side, Seester, Bro-In-Law-Darryll and Nephew Lucas on the other. B-I-L-Darryll made some wise-acre remark to me and I happen to have one of those long fireplace lighters in my hand so I jokingly tried to light his arm on fire, but what I didn't know was it was one of those torch lighters so there is a few second delay before it turns into a flame-thrower and the next thing I know, I'm trying to tuck-n-roll him cause his hairy arm is a blaze. FLAME ON!! I thought Nephew Lucas was going to pee his pants he was laughing so hard. Nothing better after a big dinner than smelling burning arm hair!

Okay, back to last night...The family came over around 2:00 and we sat around the firepit for hours. It was a very relaxing day and then Poppy outdid herself on the ribeyes. The firepit is new so she decided to grill the steaks on it. What a treat. The wood we were burning in the pit was Pecan wood, I believe. What a difference in flavor! I made butter-parsley fingerling potatoes and green beans. My train-wreck trifle turned out really good too!

Didn't get a picture of the meal but here's the aftermath:



So as I'm sitting here writing this, I can hear that the Catholics are having a football game at St. Ignatius. They have quite a sound system. It would appear that the only song on their system is "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor...IT'S THE EYE OF THE TIGER...over and over again. I suppose if they win I'll get hear Queen's "We are the champions". By the way, isn't it funny that America's winning anthem is "We are the Champions"; written and sung by one of the most talented flamboyant Gay men in the whole world?

I will you with this...

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger

Risin' up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger

The eye of the tiger

Happy Sunday!

Seester's Birthday Eve...

Having the family over for dinner tonight to celebrate Seester's Birthday. Now, most of you know I'm no baker but I wanted to make a cake for the Seester. Her favorite cake is white cake with milk chocolate frosting. Not just any cake either, the kind that you get in a box and the frosting that comes in that container. Good for me too because...I'm no baker. Seems simple enough, right? Not when...uh huh...I'm no baker. A few years ago I made the same box cake and ended up with a train-wreck on a plate. Fortunately for me, Seester's birthday falls on Earthquake day so I threw the frosting on it, tossed some candles around, put some raspberry jam (fake blood) and called it an Earthquake Cake.

So here's my dilemma this year; I got some mini-loaf pans to make the cake in. Figured I'd stack the loafs into some geometric shape and frost. Again, sounds simple enough, right? Not if you're not a baker...and I ain't no baker.



Now what? I can't make another Earthquake Cake. So I email Friend and Family-Member, Laurie, the picture. She suggests I make a Trifle out of it. Sounds like a good idea only will that chemical-laden frosting melt cause I'm not going to be able to spread it in layers cause all the little cake bits will stick to it. Oh, it's just hell being me!

So I give it a go to try to melt the frosting; much to my surprise it actually melts. So here's the finished product:



So, what have we learned here? That's right, I ain't no baker and I never will be. I think I'll go make a batch of gravy. I'm good at that!

VIVA LOS GIGANTES and have a swell day!

Wordless Friday...

Earthquake Weather...

This is what it looks like:



You should have seen it just as the sun was rising...FIRE IN THE SKY! Earthquake weather is when the clouds are so spectacular and it's humid. Wouldn't you know we're just a few days away from the anniversary of the 89 Loma Prieta quake...also happens to be Seester's birthday!

So this is day 3 of my support of the Giants. As I said to Boss Karen, I'm surprised at how much orange and black I have in my closet. She said she knew that deep down inside I was always a Giant's fan.



Have a swell day!

Slugorelli...The Bike Of Lead!

Fatass has this road bike. It's a Bianchi Vigorelli. It's a higher-end bike and just a bit out of Fattass' league. Reason Fatass has it is that the bike Fatass originally wanted, an entry-level Bianchi Eros was sold out from under her. The guy at the dealership felt really bad and wanted to make it right so he gave her a $2,000 Vigorelli bike for $1,200 which was the price for the Eros. Now this Vigorelli is a total race bike. When Fatass rides her beater bike around town the Roadies pass her by usually spitting or blowing a snot rocket, but when she's riding the Vigorelli, they pass her by and say "Hey, how's it going?" Trying her best not to huff and puff she says "Excellent cough, cough.."

Here's the thing, the ravages of time have taken their toll on Fatass; oh alright, maybe it's all the good food and drink that Fatass over-serves herself. Whatever; the bottom line is Fatass doesn't ride very fast on her high-end bike. So Fatass (with the help of her Poppy) gave her Vigorelli a new name and persona to go with:



SLUGORELI, THE BIKE OF LEAD!

Faster than an unfired bullet
Barely able to dodge car doors in a single bound,
Look! At the bottom of the hill!
It’s a nerd!
It’s a shame!
It’s … Slugorelli!

See Ya!

Monday's Dinner

So after my day of have only one useful hand, I made that Mac-N-Cheese. Pretty NOMMY, only I left it in the oven a little too long and it was kind of dry. But the ingredients were excellent...Tillamook extra sharp cheddar, gruyere and some other cheese I won't mention, but there is a cup of milk in every slice! Oh and some pancheta!

When it was time to serve, Poppy asked if we had some truffle oil. Well sure we do; black or white? Reminds me of a story...some months ago, Boss Karen had been spending lots of time alone since Hoosband, George was traveling tons for his job. I asked Boss Karen over for the dinna. In doing so, I asked her to give me her favorite ingredient and I would make something with it. Well, what do you think her favorite ingredient is? Yeah, truffle oil! She puts it on everything...including popcorn!

Having never worked with truffle oil, I was very much looking forward to the challenge. Here's what I made:

Spaghetti with Truffle Oil, Garlic and Rosemary Recipe

Ingredients:

1 medium yellow onion- chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
3 table spoons olive oil
1 stalk fresh rosemary- chopped
1 teaspoon truffle oil-- white or black
1/4 grated fresh good quality Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Saute onion-garlic and rosemary in olive oil.
Make sure onion is golden-and garlic is not burnt.
Boil spaghetti, in 3 quarts salted water with a touch of milk in the water, as well as a tablespoon of oil.
When al dente, drain pasta, toss with onion, garlic, rosemary.
Add Parmesan.
Toss again and drizzle the truffle oil on top of each individual serving.
Garnish with fresh chopped Rosemary--just a pinch.

And this:

Spinach and Mushrooms with Truffle Oil

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
10 ounces button mushrooms or crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced
1 large shallot, chopped
1 1/2 9-ounce bags fresh spinach leaves
1 to 2 teaspoons truffle oil

Preparation

Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; sauté until brown and liquid evaporates, about 8 minutes. Add shallot; sauté 2 minutes.
Add spinach, 1/3 at a time, to skillet with mushrooms and toss over medium-high heat, allowing each batch to wilt slightly before adding next, about 2 minutes per batch. Sauté just until all spinach is wilted and heated through. Stir in 1 teaspoon truffle oil. Season with salt, pepper, and more truffle oil, if desired. Transfer to bowl and serve.

I came to the conclusion that a little truffle oil goes a long, long way.

I was talking to Friend, Jeannie about it last night and she asked what it tastes like. Hard to describe. Somewhere between cooked artichokes and a petroleum product.

Have a great day!

Columbus Day Holiday...

It's good to be a government worker! Well, accept I had a doctor's appointment today. Not sure where I left off, but I pulled that Worker's Comp Claim for the Carpal Tunnel. I figure it will take years for me to get any relief given all the red tape and hoops I have to jump through...and I thought our federal agency was bureaucratic!

I emailed my doctor last Thursday and told her I didn't want to go the Occupational Medicine route. Within an hour, I had an appointment with an injury/sports med doc for this morning. So I take Poppy (aka Patient Advocate) to the appointment with me. We go in and Dr. Dummel reads the computer and sees that I've got the Carpal Tunnel and that I've been to the Occupational doctor. He asks why it isn't working so I tell him. He says there is a certain protocol that needs to be followed with Carpal Tunnel and that starts with physical therapy. I don't see the point of that since it'll be the same stretching that I do. He says "I sense your hesitation on the PT and I tend to agree." We start talking about the cortisone injections and he's telling all the bad things that can go wrong. But we decide to do it in one wrist to see how it goes.

He starts playing with my wrist, which happens to have a gigantic bruise on it (I slipped on the stairs a few days ago. You should see my butt). He asks how I got the bruise. I replied and pointed at Poppy "She pushed me down the stairs." I crack me up. I think he thought it was funny. We'll find out if the domestic police show up later. He's just about to go fetch all the injection stuff and I ask him if he's feeling confident he can hit the target given our conversation a few minutes prior. He starts laughing and say he thinks she can. Said he's done this at least 10,000 times.

Right away I think of the head and neck doctor that did surgery on Poppy's ear. This was the guy with coke-bottle bottom glasses who said "I can count on my fingers how many times I've done this surgery." While he's olding up his hands, I only count 9 fingers. Poppy didn't notice, but I did and wondered how the heck he lost that finger and I sure hope it wasn't during surgery!

As a side note for those of you that I work with, Dr. Dummel looks just like Jeff Deis. AND his friends with Darin Delagnes. Small world.

Also reminds me of another story...years ago, I went to see my Dyno-Gyno, Dr. Jordy. This was after I had started working at the Trust. Anyway, there I am, splayed out for the whole world to see and Dr. Jordy says "So you work for the Presidio Trust now?" I say "Yes." He peeks his head above the sheet, looks at me and says "Well then, you know Toby Rosenblatt and Mary Murphy?" Well this is just a little too weird. I say that I do and that they're our board members. He says they're both very good friends of his. I'm so grossed out now cause he's fiddling with my lady-bits and all I can see are Toby and Mary's faces. I couldn't get out of their fast enough!

Okay, so Dr. Deis comes back into the room with two very large syringes. He says one is a local and one is the cortisone that also contains a local. I tell him about how I tend to like to faint when I get my blood taken. He kind of giggles but thanks me for telling him. He started with the local and hit some medial nerve thing and I go "OW OW OW OW!" He say's "Yep, that's it." That's all it took...now I'm sweating and seeing stars. I tell him that I should get up on the table thing and lay down. So I do. Poppy says "Wow, you're pale." "You're white as a sheet." Really? I ask for some water and a compress. Dr. Deis finishes up his work and then starts fanning me with a magazine. He was very sweet.



After about 10 minutes, I was feeling better and it was time to go grocery shopping!

VIVA LOS GIGANTES!

Project Sucess...It's the little things!

So yesterday, Poppy, Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer and I set for the hardware store in search of a new flapper thingy for the toilet. Poppy just wasn't sure if I was nailing the problem with the toilet, even though I'd spent the last month playing with the toilet and watched a video on the computer with the "This Old House" guy who demonstrated how to fix the toilet if it's running.

Anyhow, here's the before pic (yes, that's Poppy praying to the porcelain Gods):



And the after pic:



I still disagree that we needed a bobber on the flapper thingy since that's what ends up causing the toilet to run, but there you go!

Still not sure what to do about the faucet sprayer thing. I think I'll just get a whole new faucet! Stupid faucet!!



Oh, and after all that look what I found on the dining table? Not to worry, I will thoroughly clean the table should any of you end up over here for the dinna. Normally, we don't keep pillows on the dining table, but we've (okay, Poppy) hasn't gotten around to putting the bedding away from when The Aunts were here.



Okay then...VIVA LOS GIGANTES!!

Lazy Saturday...almost.

Started with coffee on the deck.



Roger came out to sun her cat-self.



Then time for breakfast.



Here's where the fun stopped...time for house projects. On the list for today is fixing the kitchen faucet sprayer and the intermittently running toilet. So, over the weeks of research, I'm pretty sure the faucet has a clogged or broken diverter. Only what I think is the diverter on this faucet doesn't look like any of the diverters in my research. I take everything out from under the sink and get myself all set up with wrenches and a light. I start to take a look and soon realize I don't have a clue what I'm doing. Since this diverter, if that's what it really is, doesn't look like anything I've pulled up on the Internet, I'm afraid to touch it, not to mention it looks like it's welded onto another part. I wonder if like a normal sink, the diverter is in the faucet housing. I can't tell you cause I don't have the right tool to take it apart.

So I tell Poppy that I just don't want to mess with something when I don't know what I'm doing. She suggests we call the home warranty people. I do. Nope, faucet isn't covered under the "standard" warranty. Damn it! Project failure. Now Poppy wants to look at it to see if she can do anything about it. Ouch...pouring salt in my open project failure wound. At least I think I can fix the toilet. I've been playing with that thing for a month. I'll let you know.

Off to the hardware store...Grrr.

What do you do with Applewood Smoked Bacon?

That's right, you make Applewood Smoked Bacon BLT's! INFINITY NOM!!!

So last night the Giant's playoff game was on. Mind you, I'm not exactly a fan. I want to be and I should be given it's a prerequisite to working in my office. In fact, I'm surprised it wasn't a question on the original application I filled out when I came to work with Boss Karen some 22 years ago.



Yeah, she reminds me of my Grandma Pearl. Grandma was a huge Giant's fan but that was back in the days when Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds and Willie McCovey played; oh, and who could forget Tito Fuentes? Not me, or when I was a kid, the lady sitting behind us at the game yelling "TITO, TITO, TITO!"

Now because I'm not a big Giants fan (well, not on the outside anyway), when my coworker sent me this picture of Boss Karen, I thought Boss Karen had a dog sitting on her head. You know, "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT." Unfortunately, I said that in front of the diehards in the office. Do you remember that scene in Jaws where Robert Shaw ran his nails down the chalkboard and the room went silent? It was just like that only after the silence they said things like "Oh, that was sooo 3 years ago." "Duh, it's a Panda!" Boy did I feel stupid.

In my quest to be a true Giant's fan, my long time friend, Jeannie is going to mentor me and I will mentor her with food-stuffs. A win, win situation. I had to ask her what all the "K"s being displayed were. At first I was taken aback when I saw a fan holding up a card with "KKKK" on it. I thought it was some awful racial thing but I couldn't imagine that. So she told me it's the letter that is used when it's a strike out. That's when she offered to mentor me.

Okay, so getting back to the game last night...One of the many electroinicals we have in the house is this fancy remote control that'll do just about everything but the windows. I call it THE ORACLE.



It's like a little computer that is set up through our bigger computer and somehow talks to all the components. I don't really understand it...I just call it magic. Anyway, THE ORACLE has gotten a little temperamental and isn't reading the keypad to change the channel. You punch in 747 and you get channel 77. Go figure.

Anyway, Poppy started trying to troubleshoot THE ORACLE about mid-game last night. I think you know where I'm going with this...Yeah, 8th inning with a score of Giant's 1; Braves 0 and the next thing I know I'm watching Grays Anatomy. I start stuttering "Gggggaaaammmme...ggggammmme...onnnn...8th innnnning. Poppy says "Sorry, but I'm trying to fix it." ACK! She finally gets it back to the game. A minute later, I'm watching Dr. McDreamy, again. I email Long-Time-Friend, Jeannie that Poppy is making me watch Gray's Anatomy and she says I should go in the other room and watch the game uninterrupted. I say I would, if I had another T.V. Ba-dump-bump!

By the time I went to bed, Poppy was reinstalling the software for THE ORACLE program.

Game two tonight and the remote still isn't fixed.

Have a great weekend!