we might be eating

In an attempt to both motivate myself to actually cook and to save money by doing so, I have crafted a dinner menu plan for this week. It's been ages since I've done so and I've threatened multiple times since to once again commit meal ideas to paper. I think I'm up to once this year. Maybe twice. We'll see how this goes.

Here's what it's supposed to look like at our dinner table this week:

Mon: baked ziti and broccoli (now, if only I knew how to make baked ziti...anyone? anyone?)

Tue: cauliflower fritters, cannellini, broccoli (why yes, we do have a vast amount of broccoli)

Wed: chicken taquitos (to be made by Cardo)

Thu: zuke-a-ganoush, brussels sprouts (maybe some broccoli)

Fri: Mélange of Kale, Potatoes, and Tomatoes with Parmesan (I'll probably have enough kale left to make kale chips)

Sat: pizza (most likely of the from-the-freezer variety)

So, here's hoping that I actually stick with this. I'll post pictures as I make the dishes, as usual.

walking away the mean reds

So, yes, I finally did get out for a walk today. (I sound like I'm a dog.) Pic was whisked away to the excitement of a birthday party complete with piñata and goodie bags, so Cardo and I were left to our own devices. I was going to watch Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, but the disk is broken. Instead, I ended up watching an episode-and-a-half of Gilmore Girls. Then, I started reading The Other Boleyn Girl as I soaked in the tub. Cardo was rotating the tires on his car. When he got back, I talked him into a walk with me.

We didn't do our usual walk, we stayed pretty close to home. We walked a path we haven't walked together for almost five years. The last time we ambled this way was October of 2004. It was freezing. My ears were so cold, they felt afire. It was dusk then too. I was about five months along with Pic.

So, tonight. I've been feeling in and out of a funk lately, and it's as if my soul needs to be out. My soul needs to be walked. Really, it does. Unless you don't believe in souls. Then something deep and indescribable inside of me needs to be out of the apartment. Cardo and I walked for an hour and it was truly restorative.*

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* I just looked up 'restorative' and the example sentence fragment was, 'The restorative power of long walks.' I'm so wonderfully cliché.

rainy day

It's actually raining here. Again. I love, love, love the rain. This has been a trippy summer, for many reasons.

I want to get out and walk so badly, but I'm also cold and not feeling so hot (ha!), so I'm going back and forth on this walking thing. I'd also like to take a trip to the mall (gasp!) so I can see if there's anything fabulous on sale at Papyrus.

Pic's at a birthday party, with a friend of ours. I'm not sure when she's due home.

I'm off to settle on a book and soak in the bathtub.

I can't find a book I really want to read and I think it's because by this point in September, I'm always heavy into school reading. Not right now, though, and it just doesn't feel right. I'm restless as far as reading goes. Last night, I could not, could not, go to bed because I couldn't find something I wanted to read. Yes, I own hundreds of books, but, no, I could not find a single one that felt right for reading last night. What did I finally pick before I fell, utterly exhausted, into bed? My Italian textbook.

Salve! Mi chiamo v. Sono pazza. Io lo so.

personal growth...stunted

I'm STILL slowly sifting through the decades' worth of crap that is bogging down our office. I just came across a quasi-autobiographical piece, dated 27 February 1997, from which I've extracted the first sentence:

Okay, so I'm almost done with my sophomore year in high school and I still don't know in which direction I want to lead my life.

The rest is weird and then I realize I was writing some story that was basically about my life but with names changed to protect the innocent, or something. I've taken a lot of years off of writing weird crap (which is what it always seems like to me), but I might be slowly getting back to it.

Wait, where was I going with this? Oh, yes, por supuesto. My real-life self, twelve years later, still finds that above statement to ring entirely too true.

Ah, well.

blog sprint

Yesterday's One Minute Writer: If you were to design a personal coat of arms, what symbols representing you would it include?

-- a bookshelf full of books
-- a duck
-- a path by the river
-- a pen
-- a computer screen
-- ice cream

Okay, time's up. I might change that if I gave it more thought. I'd add in some kind of flags, no doubt. A dragonfly, perhaps. Hmm, now if only I could draw...

wanting: one tooth faerie

Cardo and I went to have our teeth cleaned today. Cardo had one tiny cavity. *I* the lucky ducky, however, am in need of one crown (to match the one on the other side), three extractons (goodbye 'wisdom' teeth) and an unspecified number of fillings. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to brush and use the waterflosser.

In related nonnews, Cardo slathered his toothbrush in triple antibiotic ointment this morning. Lucky for him, he realized this just before he started to brush.

checking in

Am posting from cellular telephone device STOP Not ideal STOP Just saw Julie & Julia STOP Love Meryl Streep STOP Want to read Child's memoir STOP Am annoyed that edition sold at Costco only has photos of Streep on cover, want to read it anyhow STOP G'night STOP