A post in which it is the bear pool party

Today was the day of the pool party.  I had been looking forward to it.  I had done my beans yesterday, so I just popped them in the oven when I got up this morning. 

Steve has a lovely place for a party, in the middle of town, but it feels secluded.  The pool is beautiful, as is the landscaping.  He's always making improvements.  This year, he added a bathroom onto the back of the house, specifically for the convenience of guests - super nice, and quite a step up from the port-o-potty of years past!

Gary and I were there pretty much on time, got in, and got settled.  The weather was overcast, but at least it wasn't raining.  At first. 

I met a new guy today named Sam.  He is young, good-looking, and quite flirty.  Apparently he was making defiant faces at Gary over my shoulder while we were in the pool.  While Gary was not impressed with that (understandably) I thought it was actually pretty funny.  Gary fit in pretty well, and while he wasn't the life of the party, he wasn't a recluse either.  We all lounged around in the water, visited, had a couple of drinks, and relaxed.  The boys showed up.  It was just a nice, laid back gathering.

Billy suggested today that Rhonda and I ride to Savannah with him and Russ.  Logan is going down early, so there is room in the car, and then I can just drive Logan's car back.  They always leave late and end up spending hours sitting in the post-holiday traffic on the way home, and I am not up for that.  When he threw this plan out in front of Logan, I could tell that it was the first Logan had heard of it.  Apparently I am not the only one being volunteered for things without his knowledge.  So I'll have to check in with Logan on that privately (and of course Rhonda), but I would really enjoy riding down with them and getting in some rare Russ and Billy time. 

When food was announced, I was quite gratified to find that my beans had NOT been ruined.  They were actually the best thing there that I tasted.  There were things there for me to eat this year, unlike last year when everyone brought fried chicken.  As we ate though, it started to rain.  Again.  Gary had to leave anyway to go home, so we made our goodbyes and headed out.  Steve singled Gary out to invite him to come back, which I thought was very nice of him, and which I know Gary appreciated. 

Of course, when I got home, it cleared up and decided not to rain, but I was really kind of ready to be home anyway.  It had been a nice party, but I have to work in the morning...

A post in which I spend more money

For someone who doesn't need to spend money, I sure dropped a lot of it today.  But then I had stuff to do.  I was out of TVP, so I had to go to Whole Foods.  Then I went to the regular grocery store as well.

I ran errands, and when I got home I got into the kitchen.  Gary was coming, so I made tea.  I had planned to make a pasta salad.  I wsa trying again to copy the one that Adam's Bistro makes - and I nailed it!!  The secret to infusing the pasta with so much flavor is cooking the orzo in broth.  Giada De Laurentiis clued me on how to do it on her website.  It turned out delicious, and I'm so glad it worked! 

I also worked on putting my beans together for the party tomorrow.  My beans are pretty intensive to make, which is why I don't make them too often, but by the end I was in the home stretch and singing away.  Then I went to put in the final ingredient, liquid smoke, and dumped in like half a bottle.  I had mistakenly gone from a shaker top to a nipple top, which I screwed off.  I was pretty upset.  But I decided just to bake them tomorrow.  If they aren't good, we don't have to eat them.  I was certainly not going to make a whole new batch.  There wasn't time anyway.

By the time I got cleaned up after all that, it was about time for Gary to come.  He is such a sweetheart.  He took me out for a lovely meal at P.F. Chang's.  I usually don't eat at chain restaurants, and their food is really fattening, but Gary had asked to go the last time he was here.  I think he was really surprised that I remembered.  I had never eaten at the one in Greenville - you usually can't get near the place.  But we had a cocktail and just waited for a table.  About the time I finished my drink we were seated.  I have to say, the food was good, and our service was great.  We had a cutie waiter who was also nice - and compitent, which is rare enough these days. 

It was a very nice evening. 

A post in which I spend da money

So today when I got off work I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I decided to go by the pawn shop to look at lawn mowers. It was pretty seedy, but then I rationalized that a) it wasn't any worse than the flea market, and b) I wasn't moving in, right?

They had two lawn mowers. One was about the same price as everywhere else (what is it with the $160-$170 used mowers?) and one for $80. The cheap one cranked, so I bought it. The woman that worked there was surprisingly nice, and gave me a plastic bag so that I had something to sit it on in the car. I wrestled it in, and headed out.

I messaged Jody, but he wanted to come Sunday again. I am really over this Sunday thing where I have to sit home with/for him. When I got home, I just changed and mowed. The yard was crazy-high, and who knows when I could get Jody there? When I got done, I had a message from him that he would have come during the week, but after all the money I spent in the last 60 days or so, I really didn't need to pay out any more anyway. I also wanted to give this mower a test-run before I turned him loose on it. This is the third one so far this summer. By the time I finished mowing after working all day, I was wiped out. I laid around for a while, but ended up going on to bed. Hopefully, this is now, at last, sorted.

A post in which my tires are fixed

So Rhonda dropped me off at work today, for a pretty average day.  Dennis is on vacation, so the write-offs won't be approved in California until next week.  That takes any pressure off me because the month will have already ended.

She was waiting for me when I came out.  Two new tires were on the front of Gracine, for a total of $308.  Sigh.  Everything costs so much.  But it had to be done, and it's good to have decent tires on the car.  It doesn't look like we'll be taking the car to Savannah, but I need good tires anyway. 

She had also done some research on where to buy re-furbished lawn mowers.  We ran by Lowes, just because it was on the way.  They had one.  It was $180.  We decided to go to Sears.  They had a LOT (and mostly the same model, which makes me wonder), but they started at $180 and went from there.  Seriously, they had used lawn mowers they were trying to sell for $300+.  So we're looking at them and a helpful and courteous Sears employee starts talking to us.  She tells us that she has new ones on the floor starting at $170-$200.  So for a couple more dollars I could just buy a new one.  Now that seemed like a better idea - she was a good salesperson, but she got called away to do a return, which took her about a year and a half to complete.  So while we're standing there, Rhonda decides to call Sabrina to ask her advice.  She says she would start at a pawn shop. 

I was just going to do it tonight - because of the monsoon rains, the grass grows several inches per day - it is never-ending just trying to keep up this year.  Because it wasn't mowed last weekend the yard is ridiculously overgrown already.  But if I'm going to buy a freakin new one anyway, it doesn't really matter when I do it.  I can do that any time, and probably get one cheaper than at Sears.  So we left.  I was frustrated, but decided to put this off until Saturday.  I can certainly understand why Sears isn't selling any re-furbished mowers, since they're the same freakin' price as the new ones.  Sigh. 

Rhonda wasn't hungry, and I didn't know what I wanted for supper, so we drove aimlessly around Greenville for a while.  The boys were having dinner out, but they never start until 7:30 (8pm in GST/gay standard time) so you're just there forever, and I was tired.  In the end, we just went back to Adam's Bistro.  I love their food, and while I rebel inside at the thought of paying $8 for a tuna sandwich, it is one of my favorites, and that's as cheap a meal as I can get anywhere out and be happy.  I also got another idea for re-creating their pasta salad tonight...

After supper I just dropped Rhonda at home.  I had been up late last night, and I was tired.  Plus I've gained enough weight that all my work pants cut off my circulation by the end of the day.  I wanted OUT of those.  I wanted to just go to bed.  But when I got in I realized I didn't have enough fruit for lunch tomorrow, so I had to go back out to the store.  Sigh.  At least I got to change into something comfortable first. 

So I got my fruit, did the chores I couldn't put off, and fell in the bed.  I was asleep almost immediately.

A post in which I go get the Rhondee*

It was a quiet day at work.  I need to finish up cleaning my desk, but I just can't seem to get around to it... which is sad because I am greatly pleased with the areas I have done.

The only thing of note that happened was that I was hoisted by my own petard.  I have been kind of fretting, and trying not to, about not revceiving any kind of acknowledgement from Cole for his graduation check.  I went to a lot of trouble for him:

- I took a vacation day from work
- I got up at work time to get ready to go - and wore work clothes
- I drove Dad and Eve to Columbia
- I coordinated meeting and talked Lisa down off a ledge
- I drove us all through the traffic mess to get there
- I sat through the boring graduation (it was a proud moment, but it was hours long, and not exactly scintillating if you know what I mean) 
- I went to the after graduation party where I knew no one, and waited for an hour for him to even get there
- I ate chicken wings in a barbeque place where my feet stuck to the floor
- I left him a check for $100
- I drove the long way home, with Dick and Eve, refereeing all the way

That made for a long freakin' day folks.  That check was a check I could write, but it wasn't exactly a pain-free check to write, OK?  The only way I knew that he got the check at all was that it cleared my account.  I have kind of stewed over this, off and on, for two and a half weeks now.  I debated asking Lisa about it, but he's 18 freakin' years old now, and she has enough on her plate.  He's an adult, and he should have been raised better than this.  He should know how to act without his mother telling him.  Now I know that you aren't required to send thank you notes to immediate family (and they apparently are a thing of the past), but a text?  A message?  An email?  Something?  Is that too much to ask?

Well the futzy old man won out today.  I pasted a link to a website that instructs on how to write thank you notes on his FaceBook page.  I felt a little like a douche doing it, and I shouldn't have called him out in public, but hello.   This was the response I received:

 "I HAVE thank you notes. They will be sent shortly. Keep your pants on."

Really?  Really?  That is the response?  I told him that was pretty rude, and if that was the way he felt about it not to bother.  He apologized, but my feelings are hurt.  I guess this is at least partly my own fault.  You're never supposed to point out someone else's bad behavior, you do not expect to be thanked.  It should be a genuine expression, or should not be made.  I'll admit that doing it on his FaceBook page was wrong.  But wow.  Really?  I'm having a hard time with that response.  It will be a while before I go out of my way for Mr. Cole again.
***

I went to pick Rhonda up after work.  She's going for me tomorrow to get my tires fixed before we go to Savannah, despite the fact that it doesn't look as if we'll be taking my car.  But we had already set it up to be done, and it needed doing anyway.  I hate to spend the money, but sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done. 

When I got to the house she was waiting.  She had just sent me a text.  The are having problems with the air conditioning, and the repair guy was supposed to come today between 1pm and 5pm.  He still hadn't come.  It was 6pm.  She was settled in to wait, but I pointed out that he probably wasn't coming after 5pm.  So we left for supper.

Dinner tonight was at Tropical Chicken.  I hadn't eaten there, but Rhonda had, and wanted to go back.  I had looked at the menu online, and although they didn't have a lot of veggie stuff, they at least had an option.  We had veggie wraps, drinks, and one order of plantains.  That came to $17, which I thought was a bit steep to eat out of a cardboard boat, but the food was tasty - a cut above the general veggie offerings.  The problem was that the restaurant wasn't very clean.  I hadn't really paid attention before we ordered, but when I went to the men's room it was really nasty.  I mean crud oozing out from between the grout of the tiles on the walls, toilet flies, and a general look of being unkempt.  When I went back out into the restaurant, I noticed more.  The floors were none too clean, and the fronts of the garbage cans needed a good scrubbing.  When I pulled out my chair there was food in it.  Not being particularly squeamish, I moved the food and we ate anyway.  I reasoned that the cardboard boat didn't have to be washed.  As I say, it was tasty, but we probably won't go back.

Rhonda got squicked out and couldn't eat her dinner, so I took her up the hill to Blueberry Frog for frozen yogurt.  She would rather eat ice cream than food anyway.  I am pretty leery of all froyo after eating that swill at Yogurt Molehill, but this was good, tasted like real food, and the woman who worked there was very nice.

So after dessert we moseyed on home.  I had chores to do.  I folded laundry, washed clothes, and whipped up a batch of curried egg salad since I've been craving it.  Rhonda stayed right with me and chatted all the way.  We looked up the tire place online (Dad had them put on, so I haven't been there), and I got her tucked in.

Then I got a message from a buddy who was in town tonight only, so I left her in front of the telly and scampered over for a quick visit.  Afterwards, I was completely wiped, came home, and collapsed.  It was a good day, but a really long one.  Whew!

A post in which I get my hairs did

I felt better today.  I got to work, tucked in, and got my big write-offs done. 

Tonight was the night I went to see Russ.  It was overdue, to say the least.  I have embraced having Pentecostal hair, but it was at the point that I had to either get it cut or become a televangelist.  Of course since I had to leave work on the dot to make it to the shop on time, traffic was incredibly snarled.  Sigh.

I got to the shop sooner than I thought I would though.  I caught up with Russ while he gave me a fantastic new haircut.  The last time I was there I didn't know what I wanted.  This time I did. 

Russ has a new barber working in the shop with him named Josh.  Josh is cute as a bug and had GREAT hair.  Unfortunately he is covered in tattoos (I mean even too many for me), and has saggy Spam-thread ears from having those big ear-stretcher things.  I found out later that he really is a completely new barber, having just passed the exam.  He's super-nice, though, and seems to have a great attitude.  He tried to fix my hair like his after I complimented him, but it was too short, and I don't have as much hair as he does.  Still, it was a nice thing to do. 

Afterwards we adjourned to Adam's Bistro for another of their scrumptious tuna melts.  That is my favorite sandwich and theirs is one of the very best.  Of course I had some more of their incomparable (and thus far un-replicatable) orzo pasta salad.  Delicious! To make things that much better, our waiter was a guy we know named Brad, who is that rare combination in a gay guy (or indeed in any guy) - cute as a bug, smart, funny, and nice (plus unsubstantiated hot n' juicy gossip has it that he has no reason to be embarrassed in the locker room, if you know what I mean and I think you do).  His lover is one lucky hombre. 

Billy and Logan met Russ and I for dinner.  It's always good to see them, visit, and catch up.  I miss them.  But we have the pool party coming up this weekend, and then several days in Savannah together.  Russ revealed a plan for us to all ride to Savannah together, and it seems like it will work.

After supper we went to Bruster's for ice cream.  They have their own salted caramel/toffee flavor, which was quite good, but not as good as Cold Stone.  Russ, Logan, and I were all wearing our pink shorts, which another Bruster's patron pointed out.  It was funny, but both of their shorts are cooler than mine, which are too pink.  I'm thinking about bleaching them, but that could be complicated in the new fancy washer...

It was a really nice evening, I got a great haircut, saw my boys, caught up with a friend, and had ice cream.  How can you ask for more than that?

A post in which I am hurting

I woke up feeling like crap on a cracker this morning.  I used to blame that feeling on Epstein-Barr,  but these days I'm not sure.  It could be because I didn't use my allergy spray over the weekend.  I've notices that when I don't use it there's a backlash.  I guess it could be because of all the white flour and stuff I ate over the weekend.  I ate a bunch of indulgent food that I don't usually eat.  Whatever the reason, I woke up groggy and drug out.  I probably wouldn't have gone to work, but I had write-offs to do, and Joe was coming in from New York to take me to lunch today.  It would have been pretty shitty not to be in the office when he got there.

When I got to work I realized that I had put on a pair of khakis that had a big tear right beside the zipper.  Fortunately, Larney had a sewing kit in her desk, so I slipped into the locker room and whip-stitched them back together.  The tear was really too big to fix (the pants are a loss, and I'll have to get rid of them) but it was better than walking around with my schwanzstucker hangin' out. 

Joe came down from New York to see me this week.  We had planned the visit, but I can't help but wonder if they are a little nervous about my hiring a new agency.  There are no plans to replace them, but their work on the Canadian accounts has been a bit sub-par.  They also know that the new agency I'm hiring has several offices in Canada, and may be better equipped to work up there.  We went to Irashiai, and Joe was much more comfortable with it than Steve or Don were last week. We had a nice lunch and a good talk.  Things are going well for Joe, and I'm glad for him.  He's a nice guy.

By the end of the day I hurt all over, I had things I had to do before I could go home.  I went by Petsmart and picked up cat food, since I'm nearly out.  I also went by the grocery store.  When I got home I had to do a load of darks because I had work pants in there that had to be washed, and I'm low on socks.  I got the laundry going and made a salad for dinner.  But I was dragging.  I had to fold a load of laundry out of the dryer so I could get the clothes in there, but as soon as I finished eating I got ready for bed.  I put the clothes in the dryer and turned in.  I took a pain pill too.  I haven't felt this bad in a long time, and coming on top of the 'hot spots' that remain from my PET scan, it's scary. 

A post in which it is a fairly lazy Sunday

I was up early.  I had that yucky movie in my head and couldn't get back to sleep.  Around 5am or so, I just decided to get up so I wouldn't disturb Gary.  I went into the living room, got online, and read some reviews of 'This Is the End'.  In the end, I just had to conclude that this was a joke I wasn't going to get.  If I were more pessimistic, I would see the success of such a movie as a sign of the End of Times. 

I read some more of the Paula Deen transcript.  It seems evident that her brother is pretty much a ne'er do well, but that she loves him too much to want to admit it.  She's certainly landed in the soup over it.  When my mind got fuzzy (from the repeated question loops inherent in a deposition), I switched over to Youtube and watched some Golden Girls episodes.  I dozed for a bit during those, and woke up ravenous.  I finally decided it was time to start breakfast. 

I had planned a special breakfast this morning: biscuits with veggie sausage cream gravy and eggs.  I had saved juice for breakfast too.  I put the biscuits in to bake, cooked the sausage, and woke up Gary with the twenty minute warning.  Breakfast turned out good!  I love snausage gravy, but I hardly ever make it.  After a handsome breakfast, we hung out for a while watching telly, and then decided to lie down for a bit.  Kung Fu Panda was on, and neither of us had seen it.  We laid down to watch it, but we both ended up going to sleep.  When we woke up it was almost over. 

I felt lazy.  I really didn't feel like doing anything, but it was Gary's first full weekend off for a while, and I didn't want to just waste it.  We got cleaned up and had some sandwiches for lunch.  I looked up the details of an art exhibit downtown to find out if they were open on Sunday or not.  There had been an exhibit of Russian art downtown, complete with a Faberge egg.  I had thought it was over, but the banner was still up when we went by yesterday.  Sadly, when we got there we found that the exhibit was indeed over.  My disappointment was muted because I had found online that there had been only one egg on display, and it was one of the more 'plain' ones because it had been presented during a time of wartime austerity.  Still, it was disappointing.

We found another museum (that I didn't even know was there) was open, though, and walked over to the Upcountry History Museum.  They were having a half-price day, and while there weren't that many exhibits on offer it was educational, and it was well worth $2.50 to walk around.  We stayed there until they closed at 5, and then went to get ice cream.  I called Rhonda on the way, but she wouldn't go with us.

Gary, looking adorable in a teeny tiny forest ranger hat

We went back to Cold Stone Creamery, where we both had lovely salted caramel ice cream.  We both love it, and the flavor is delicious!  We strolled around a bit, and went in a couple of stores over at The Shops at Greenridge, but it was getting late, and Gary needed to head for home. 

We went back to the house, and he headed out.  It had been a good weekend.

I ate the rest of the snausage gravy with biscuits and eggs for supper, and watched most of Food Network Star.  The challenge was interesting tonight, and they finally got rid of the vile Danushka tonight, which was gratifying.  I disliked her so much that I had kind of backed off watching the whole show. 

A post in which it is a nice day out n about with Gary

We slept in this morning, which was nice, but Gary likes my bed so much he doesn't want to get up!  Eventually, I told him we had to go for breakfast before I resorted to cannibalism.  We had decided to go to the flea market this morning.  He wanted to go, and I needed to look for lawn mowers (yet again).  After a quick run through White Horse flea market, I could see that the mower guy was not there - apparently he isn't coming any more.  Dammit.

But in the meantime, we headed for breakfast at Stax Omega.  The place was packed, so we decided to eat at the bar.  I haven't done that in years, but it was OK.  Unfortunately the service was pretty slow, and we might have done just as well to wait for a table.  I LOVE their omelets, but this morning I was hoping there would be a lox plate on offer.  There was, but then I saw they were offering a CRAB BENEDICT!  I love Eggs Benedict almost more than life itself, and a crab benedict is actually an improvement on that.  So I knew what I was having.  Gary ordered an omelet, and we munched contendedly while I watched (and heard) the restaurant drama go on around us (we were right at the server line) and Gary watched the news on the overhead monitor.  We talked a little bit about the George Zimmerman trial.  Gary doesn't think it is even possible for him to get a fair trial any longer.  He may be right.  I have read about the case off and on, and I'm not sure what to think at this point.  My key thing is why he followed Trayvon Martin Martin after the 911 dispatcher specifically told him not to do so.  I'm glad I'm not on the jury.

After breakfast, we headed for the Anderson Jockey Lot.  Gary hadn't been to a flea market in years, and that is the one to go to if that's the case because it's so huge.  Unfortunately we had left it a bit too late, and people had already started to leave.  It was heating up.  But we had a nice walk and a look around.  We didn't end up buying anything except some vegetables.  That was fine with me - I scored big last weekend.  I had just gotten all of that put away. 

By the time we left there, we were both hot and ready to relax for a bit.  We went back to the house, ate our leftovers from last night (the portions at Della Ventura are HUGE) for lunch, and laid down for a while.  We took a little nap, and when we got up decided to go to dinner and a movie tonight.

Dinner was at Pita House.  Gary had been craving hummus, and they have the best I have ever eaten.  They are not big on atmosphere there, but the food is great.  After a lovely meal of falafel, we ran by the store so I could pick up stuff for breakfast in the morning, and then it was off to the movie. 

After some discussion, we had decided to go see This Is the End tonight.  I confess that I had not read the reviews, but I knew they were good.  It had a fresh rating for over 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.  I had thought that it was a spoof of disaster movies.  It wasn't.  It was supposed to be a 'funny' apocalypse movie.  First of all, I don't get the conept of a comedy about the apocalypse.  There are plenty of ridiculous things to make fun of in our society, and even about religion.  But when you start with the apocalypse - very realistically depicted - you have a long way to go to make it funny.  They didn't get there.  What wasn't blasphemous was distrubing.  There were a few weak smiles scattered in there, but they were few and far between, and not nearly enough to leaven the leaden premise.  I kept thinking it would get better, but it actually got worse.  In the end, unsurprisingly, most of the protagonists made it to heaven.  That was a relief, but even the concept of heaven was weak, facile, and poorly conceived.  I left the theater disturbed and feeling as if I needed to offer a prayer of contrition. 

If this is what passes for humor these days, well you can count me out.  If something like the apocalypse is up for being satirized (poorly) than is anything sacred?  What's next?  A dead baby cookbook?  A cannibal musical?  While I agree with freedom of expression, and I don't believe that the arts should be censored, there should be a line of taste somewhere.  What distrubs me the most is that this movie has been roundly lauded by the press and the public. 

Needless to say, when we got home I wasn't exactly in the mood for amour.  I put in a movie to clean the yuck out of my mind, and we turned in.  

A post in which Gary comes*

It was a pretty good day at work today.  Mostly quiet.  I sailed through the twit meeting.  The decision on the new agency is pretty much made. 

After work I went home.  There were a few things I needed to do (straighten up, change sheets, etc) before Gary got there, and I did them.

***

I've been following the Paula Deen scandal.  24 hours ago, it hit the 'news' that he had used the n-word.  Really?  Is anyone shocked by this?  But the vilification began.  Today, the Food Network canned her.  Like a day later.  After the investment of thousands and thousands of dollars, and her working for them for ten years.  I was pretty surprised.  I read the news, and got various things from various articles, some of which were contradictions.

The GREAT sin seems to be that she admitted to using the n-word in her life.  Ever.  It is apparently not enough to not use it now, and recognize that it is wrong - you have to have NEVER used this word in your life!  I don't know anyone who can pass this test.

Since it was bothering me, I went to a website where I could read the transcripts of the deposition which has caused all of this brouhaha.  This arose out of a harassment suit against Uncle Bubba's restaurant in Savannah.  Her attorney, following the money, deposed Paula Deen.  The lawsuit arises from the actions of her brother Bubba Hiers.  Paula Deen (although half owner and substantial creditor) of the restaurant, has not been personally involved with the restaurant for some time.  Because of employee complaints, they hired a management consultant to come in and find out what was going on.  They also hired an HR person to work in the business.  From reading between the lines, they both told Paula Deen that Bubba was the problem.  He was acting horribly.  Paula chose not to believe it. 

So it seems pretty apparent that she is guilty of turning a blind eye to her brother's actions (which apparently included being intoxicated on the job, verbally and possibly physically assaulting employees, and showing pornography to staff).  As a partner in the restaurant, she is liable for damages found against the company (which she has loaned considerable sums of money - apparently the restaurants aren't doing so well, or are being managed so poorly that they are losing money).  To lay the groundwork for this finding, however, the attorney has sought to paint Paula Deen as a racist.  They asked her various questions about her family and personal life which are not really relevant to the matter at hand.  The deposing attorney asked her if she had EVER used the n-word.  He asked her if anyone in her family told off-color or racist jokes.  And on, and on.  Again, I know of no one who could pass this test.

Knowing attorneys, I suspect that he forced Paula Deen into a deposition to try to get them to throw some money at his client - it is not at all an unusual strategy, and in this case it would certainly have been better for Paula Deen.  But for whatever reason, she chose to show up for the deposition, and answer his questions honestly. 

A day after the transcripts of the deposition hit the media, she was summarily fired.

Now.  I am not a particular Paula Deen fan.  I've never cared for her show, her 'shrink-wrapped corn pone' image, or her recipes.  I think she reinforces stereotypes about Southerners. I don't watch her show.  But we have yet another instance of someone being drawn and quartered in the media for a personal offense, and certainly for behavior that should never have been made public.  I have real issues with the 'all or nothing' mentality the public exerts about someone famous.  Famous people are still people.  So if you don't want to watch her show, I understand that.  But does she have to be painted as a pariah for all time? 

Were Bubba's actions wrong?  Absolutely.  Should the restaurant be made to atone for those wrongs?  I definitely think so.   Was Paula Deen wrong for not firing her brother?  Yes.  Although they were equal partners in the business, the restaurant is thousands of dollars in debt to Paula Deen, and she could certainly have pulled the plug and closed the business, or forced him out.  That I understand why she didn't do this to her own brother is immaterial.  She had to know that at some point there would be a price to pay for this oversite.  She's certainly paying now.  I personally feel that the price she's paying is too high, and that Food Network acted precipitously and severely.

***

I was interrupted in reading the deposition transcripts by Gary's arrival. It was good to see him. Since we were starving, we left for supper.  Tonight I took him out to Della Ventura. The food was as delicious as always, and we enjoyed a good meal before heading home to bed. 

A post in which Rhondee is here

I love mornings when Rhonda is at the house.  It's lovely to have someone to chat with while I get ready for work.  I was ready early, filled up the car with gas on the way in, and set her loose.

I had a good day at work, and got the twit report done in record time.  I did all my calls, and followed up interviewing collection agencies, which I've been needing to do and putting off.  I was in a great mood when I left the office.

Rhonda was waiting.  I figured she would want Tortilla Maria tonight (she's been reading about it online), but she said she wasn't feeling good and just wanted to be dropped at home.  I hated that for her, but of course I dropped her off.

I went home to heat up Chinese noodles.   I had gotten a free lunch at work today so hadn't eaten mine.  I had some Gardein mandarin orange chicken in the freezer that needed to be used (and which I wanted), so I got it out and cooked it up first to go in my noodles and zucchini - delicious!

I wanted to wash my new shorts, so I threw them in with Rhonda's sheets.  That was the only really productive thing I did tonight.  I spent the evening fooling around online and half-watching TV.  I should have done my feet (Gary comes tomorrow, for the weekend) but I didn't feel like fooling with it.

I was lazy. 

The good, and completely unexpected news today, is that Exodus International has dis-banded.  I had read the apology issued by Alan Chambers earlier in the week with mixed reactions.  On the one hand, he did admit to the hurt Exodus has caused, and withdrew from the 'culture war'.  On the other hand there were a lot of wherefores and caveats in there.  So while I don't doubt his sincerity, and his apology was a good thing, I don't think it told many of those they had misled what they needed to hear.  Still I was quite surprised that the organization was shutting down, and basically admitting that what they did was pointless, and that the things they had told people were lies.  Not that that's the end of it, of course.  A group of those who still believe in that twisted message have formed another group oxymoronically named the 'Restored Hope Network', will continue to suck in (pun intended) and hurt the unwary and vulnerable.  But Exodus was the big gun, the centerpiece of the movement.  It's a big domino to fall. 

A post in which I go get Rhondee

So I was dreaming intently again last night.  I don't remember about what, but there has been a whole lotta dreamin' goin' on lately.

I got my little write-offs back at work today, and got them in for proecssing.  I'm actually ahead on my month this month, which is unusual.  I had enough time today that I decided to clean my desk up some.  My desk is a dusty, nasty, rat's nest, and it's gotten to the point that it's actually kind of embarrassing. It looks SO much better.  And it will be nice to be working in a place that doesn't look like a public health hazard.

The agency sent Steve to take me to lunch today.  Don also came down from the New York office.  Steve is kind of a challenge, as I have relayed previously.  It is nice to have someone else to help carry the conversation.  I made them go for Japanese today (we went to Irashiai).  I just got them both bento boxes, and they seemed happy enough.  Apparently Don is a confirmed meat n' potatoes man (so apparently they have those up North too), but he actually tried some broiled green-lipped mussels, and I guess he liked them because he ate two.  Steve was driving better than usual, so despite that we went further for lunch than we usually do, I didn't feel as much that I was risking life and limb to do so.  He ran over some median indicators, but I guess that's what they're there for, right?

After work I went to get Rhonda.  She has a hair appointment tomorrow, so she's taking the car for the day.  I had thought we would just go home, but I got a wild hair.  THE look for this season seems to be dusty pink/salmon-y colored shorts.  I first saw Logan rockin' a pair, and then saw Russ in them.  For some reason I just decided today that I HAD to have a pair.  I sent Gary a text, and they have them at Belk's, so when I picked up Rhondee it was off to the mall. 

After refreshing ourselves with a cup of pretzels and two drinks (for 12 freakin' dollars!!) we headed for Belk's.  They did indeed have the shorts I wanted, but they didn't have any in my size.  After making a real effort, I conceded defeat and headed for Dillard's.  They had four pairs in my size, and after a bit of a kerfuffle, we narrowed it down to two, and I bought a pair.  It took longer than I thought, but I emerged triumphant.

Rhonda had decreed that she would provide dinner tonight, and she did - one of my favorite meals:  Fresh Market pimento cheese with crostini and grape tomatoes.  Delicious!!  I did feel a little bad, because I know she used her birthday Fresh Market gift card to get the food, but she insisted, and the money had already been spent, so I settled in to enjoy.  I put in The Cat Returns tonight.  She hadn't seen it, and I thought she would enjoy it.  She seemed to. 

By the time the movie was over, it was time for bed.  It was a nice evening. 

A post in which the stitches come out

I woke up about 1:30am today, having been dreaming vividly about Grandma Shumate.  That is unusual, and since she's 92 now, I always wonder why when it happens.  The last time it did, I called Dad to check on her, and felt rather foolish explaining why.  Dad and Eve are in New England right now, but if something happened, I guess I would find out about it.  I decided to let it lie.

I had write-offs to to today, and got all the small ones done.  Thank goodness there weren't as many as last month!  Accounts, however, continue to flow into my area at a mildly alarming rate.  $270k last month, and $136k so far this month.  To put that in perspective, I got $3M in placements in all of last year.  So that's 13% of last year's volume in about 45 days.  Part of that is moving some of the decisons to Manila employees.  Job security for me, I suppose...

Today I went to the surgeon to have my stitches out.  That went without incident - I barely felt it.  So steri-strips for another week, and then I can go back to scrubbing my back.  It amazes me how deft nurses are.  Afterwards the surgeon came in.  He told me that what he took out was just a cyst, which I knew.  I told him that Dr. Go was still on the fence about whether or not to try to biopsy one of the small spots under my arms, or wait 90 days and then re-scan.  Dr. Mann said he would wait the 90 days.  The spots are so small that it would be difficult to even excise them, and he said he would "probably get the wrong one" anyway.  He also told me that three months one way or the other wouldn't affect my prognosis, or how it was treated if indeed the cancer had come back.  His opinion, though, was that it had not come back.  Fair enough.  I see Dr. Go on Friday, and I am pretty sure that I will just wait.  I have had my fill of doctors and procedures.

After work, I just went on home.  I was hungry.  I ate the green beans that I made last night, and made a redneck salad (really just an excuse to eat thousand island dressing and cheese with croutons).  I watched a Chopped marathon and messed around on the computer until bedtime. 

A post in which I am surprised at the depth of my brokeness

Should that be 'breadth'?  Not sure.

So I get to work early today, as I usually do on Monday (don't hate), and settled in to balance my checkbook and see where I was for the week. 

I was in the hole.

I mean, I knew I was in the hole, but that hole was a lot deeper than I was anticipating.  So although it certainly didn't SEEM like I had been throwing money around like a drunken sailor all weekend, my checkbook certainly seemed to think that I had. 

Shit adds up.

The big deal is that I'm going to have to buy yet another lawn mower (grrrrrrrrrr) and I took money out to do that on Sunday.  I didn't find a mower, but of course that money is already sucked out now, isn't it?  So I decided not to get a bunny basket this week.  I don't need more out-lay at the mo, and I am not convinced it is such a fantastic deal any more.  It's too much, too fast, and then I have to figure out how to eat it all before it spoils.  I mean it's good that I'm kind of under pressure not to go out to eat (particularly at the mo), but then again that's kind of tiresome too.

Case in point, I had some green beans left out of my last basket that I hadn't fixed that were a week and a half in the fridge (and who knows how long before?).   I washed them tonight and realized that I HAD to cook them because they were just almost gone.  So I cooked them. 

In other, better news, I was invited to a bear party at Steve's on the 30th.  That will be fun :)  He has such a great area for entertaining, and Gary will be here too.

I got the makings for salads tonight on the way home (since I have a head of Romaine in the fridge), and finished up the last of a quiche I had in the fridge for dinner.  So OK, it's prolly a good thing that I'm eating more salad. 

I folded laundry and did a load of towels.  I cleaned up the kitchen, cut fruit for tomorrow, and generally got things settled in the fridge.  I put away my beans. 

There was NOTHING on TV tonight.  Bleah.  Nada.  So I put in a DVD I had gotten from t

he library onThe Hermitage.  Pretty impressive stuff.  Of course, you have to remember that things like that can only be accomplished on the pain, forced labor, and misery of masses of people.  Not to mention the pillage and plundering of a number of countries and cultural heritages to boot.  Which is a shame, because it's really lovely. 

A post in which I make some finds*

Now the plan today was that I would take it easy(er) and do a few chores.  But I needed fruit.  Rather than go to the flea market near my house, I messaged Rhonda.  Since she was up, we went up to the Barnyard flea market in Greer. 

Althought I thought we had gotten there too late to find any glass, it was actually quite a good glass day for me.  I found some Dogwood luncheon plates that were too cheap to leave at $2 each, so I got them.

Dogwood 8" luncheon plate in pink, by Macbeth-Evans Glass, circa 1930-1934

We meandered on, having a good rummage.  It was pretty again, and there were tons of people around.  We got to the front row, which is always the busiest, and there, tucked among the stuff, was a Block Optic candy dish, complete with lid.  When I asked about it, the woman said "It's $20.  We're cleaining out Mom's house, and she's been asking $35 all day, but no one has paid it.  Just give me $20 and get it out of here."  Which I hastened to do, before Mama came out of the car.  I'm quite sure she will be quiet upset with her daughter for selling it for that.  The book value on it is $55, and although it has a small flea bite in the underside of the lid rim, it's still worth more than I paid for it.  That was quite a find!

Block Optic flat candy dish (there was also a footed one) in green by Anchor Hocking, circa 1929-1933



So, having found those treasures, I bought some little seedless watermelons for fruit (that was, after all the official reason for going in the first place), we skedaddled.  I was hungry, and I've spent so much money this weekend that lunch out seemed inadvisable.  So I dropped Rhonda at her place and headed for mine.

I heated up some quiche I had in the fridge, put my mattress pad in to wash, and contemplated lunches for this week.  I had four good-sized zucchini that needed to be used, and had decided to stir-fry them along with either some rice or noodles.  Now rice would have been easier.  But when I went to the cupboard I was almost out of rice.  I had some noodles that I had bought on yet another excursion to find lo mein noodles.  These still weren't right, but they were authentic Chinese noodles.  Now I have made them before, but they never came out right.  I just found out why recently.  These noodles are supposed to be soaked in cold water and then cooked quickly in boiling water (as you would with fresh pasta) before you stir-fry them.  So I put my noodles in to soak, and stir-fried the zucchini with onions, garlic, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, and a little rice wine. Then I cooked the noodles and stir-fried them as you would for lo mein.  They weren't lo mein noodles, but they turned out well, the texture was greatly improved by doing them properly (even though it was kind of a pain in the ass), and they were tasty.  So I was pleased.

As I was finishing up, I got a text from my friend Jay, who was up visiting from Atlanta.  He came by for a visit.  He's such a nice guy, and I don't get to see him very often, so that was nice.

After he left, I got cleaned up and headed off to take the recycling and to the store.  Since I've only been buying fill-in stuff as I needed it to use up bunny basket ingredients, I'm not at the grocery store as much as I was, and I'm running out of some of the staples.  I bought stuff but hadn't taken a list, so when I got home I had forgotten the sugar, which was the main reason I went.

I ate dibs and dabs for supper, having a nice little salad out of some lettuce Eve had given me and the butt of a bottle of dressing.   I ate some crackers and dip (Rhonda had recently off-loaded some unacceptable organic crackers on me that she didn't like) and a veggie burger, and then finished off the Rice Crispy Treats I had in the cabinet - not a bad supper. 

I put the bed back together, did another load of laundry, and folded up the sheets before I collapsed.  But lunches are ready for the week, and the house is pretty much in order.  It was a really nice weekend, if busier that I had planned...

A post in which things don't go quite as planned*

But it all worked out in the end.

I was up at 6am today.  Yergh.  I really wanted to sleep in, but after stirring around a bit, I just gave up on going back to sleep.  I got a text from Frank, and he ended up coming by for a while.  He is a nice guy.

After seeing him off, I made some breakfast and waited for Jody.  Now I know that everyone's idea of 'early' is not the same as mine.  I also know that the grass needed to dry before Jody could even mow it.  But 7:30 came, then 8:30.  Finally after 9, I messaged Jody.  The ladies were not yet stirring.  Oy.  But I had plenty to do.  I told him to come on when they got ready, and decided just to go on to Rhonda's.  In the meantime, I fooled around in the kitchen, washing the dishes and making beverages.  I got my tools together, and about half-way to Rhonda's I got the text that they were en route - great.

I got to Rhonda's and put up her knife rack.  That went very smoothly, and I did a beautiful job, if I am bragging on myself.  I cleaned it all up and we headed for the Swamp Rabbit.  I needed eggs, and Rhonda likes their fruit.  All the bike riders where there today because the weather was pretty, and they all looked askance at us for being older and out of shape, but that's pretty much par for the course there.  While we were there, I got a call from Jody.  The mower was smoking.  I told him just to push it on.  If it died, I would just have to get another one.  When we got to the house, the mower was silent, and Jody was tinkering with it.  It seems it had lost a bolt, and he was worried it was going to come apart.  Oy.  I told him just to please finish mowing if he could, and went in the house to get ready to go.  Eventually, after much tinkering and futzing around, he got the yard mowed, and we left.  Apparently that mower wasn't such a great deal.  Dammit.  So that's still not sorted.

We dropped Jody at his house, and headed to Easley.  We stopped at a thrift store on the way out of town, and Rhonda found a juicer she wanted, so she got that. 

We had to stop on Tuesday because I was worn out, but I really wanted to do the 93 corridor in Easley/Pickens.  There are some really cool stores out that way, and it's a nice place for a browse.  We had lunch at the Mama Mia Pizzeria, which has decent, if not fancy, food; and then it was on to Pelzer.  We stopped at the Stockade, which is an interesting place. Rhonda hadn't been before, and I wanted her to see it.  It's an old jail that has been turned into an antique place.  The proprietress is a quite interesting woman who puts off a vibe.  She's compelling to me.  While we were there I found two pieces of my pattern, Florentine, that I had never seen before.  They were marked as parfaits.  I suspected they were vases, but they were $25 each, which was a bit steep for me (especially right now).  But she marked them down for me, and I bought the pair for $40, which was a pretty good deal, since book value on them was about $30 each. 

Florentine or "Poppy" parfait/vase in green, but Hazel-Atlas, circa 1932-1935

Leaving there, we went on to ABC antique place.  Justin turned me on to it, and it's a favorite.  Rhonda was enthralled.  They have always had a LOT of stuff in there, but it has gotten so full now that in places it's hard to get through.  Rhonda found a couple of things that she wanted, but unusually I came out of there empty-handed.  By the time we got to downtown Pelzer, the other thrift store that was on my list was closed.  Perversely, they close early on Saturdays.  But we were both tired anyway, and I needed a nap.  So we headed back to my place.

We had a drink and relaxed for a bit.  I took a nap and woke up hungry.  We decided to go see Latrice for supper, and went to Lifeit Cafe.  She had some pizza left from Friday (which is pizza day), and Rhonda had been wanting to try the pizza, so that worked out well.  We both had pizza.  Sadly, Rhonda didn't like hers - it had bell pepper on it, and she hates bell pepper.  I also had a marinated spinach salad and Rhonda had the carrot and raisin salad (which had teeny tiny raisins in it, and interestingly was flavored with cinnamon).  It was tasty, and that was the cheapest I have gotten out of there yet.

We decided to go for dessert, and ended up going downtown to Marble Slab.  The weather was beautiful and there were tons of people downtown.  So we ate our ice cream and watched the people go by.  By the time we got finished, we were both pretty much all in.  It had been a lovely day, but we had been all over the place and we were both tired.

I dropped Rhonda at her place and headed home to bed. 

A post in which it is Friday

I

had a lot to do.

At home anyway.  I am pretty much caught up at work, and Alan was out of the office today, so I had a quiet afternoon feeling vaguely guilty about not doing account reconciliations.  I finally got motivated and did the ones for the big agency before I left.  The other agency, of course, didn't send their account lists, although they were due today.

Traffic, unfortunately, was snarled in every direction.  There had been a wreck on 85, and there is just no way off Pelham Road when that happens.  I made it to Woodruff Road after an hour or so. Oy.  Since I was already behind, I just decided to go on to the library.  I had some things I needed to turn in, and a fine to pay.  I looked through a very interesting book on pastries and desserts, specifically the chapters on meringues and meringue icings.  I'm thinking seriously about tackling Swiss or Italian buttercream in the near future.  Then I got caught up in a book called Southern Sides.  That one was interesting - some of it sounded great, and some of it sounded ridiculous.  Many of the recipes included ingredients I am quite sure most Southererners have never seen, much less eaten.  And when I got home I went to get gas for the mower. 

I had been involved in a complicated negotiation as to the logistics of getting Jody to the house to mow tomorrow.  He didn't want to come Sunday because it was Father's Day, which I understood, but that made for a very busy Saturday for yours truly.  Laura told me that they would be downtown early Saturday, and they would drop him off, which would save me time.  If everything went well, I should be able to get everything in.

But for tonight, I (finally) ate the bulgarian pepper and cheese delight out of the fridge for supper, and settled in with a Golden Girls marathon to fool around on the computer for way too long before turning in. 

A post in which it is Rhonda's birthday*

So I sent Miss Rhondee birthday greetings today, and told her whatever she wanted to do, we would do.  There was quite a list! LOL  Of course it will be fun.  I had kinda planned this weekend as downtime since Gary isn't coming and since I was so all over the place last weekend, but it's good that I'll have stuff to do.  Apparently Rhonda really enjoyed the antiquing we did Tuesday, because she wants to go and do some more of it.  That was nice, and I'm glad she enjoyed it, because I truly did.  It's not much fun to go by myself, so if she turns into an antiquing buddy that will be ideal. 

I got in touch with Jody about coming this weekend, and he's coming, but he doesn't know what day.  Sunday is Father's Day.  He wants to see his dad, which I understand, but if he comes Saturday, that kind of mooshes everything up together on the same day.  He's a very sweet boy, but between the transportation thing, and his not really being old enough to be there by himself, it's almost more trouble than it's worth.  When he comes to work on a weekend, it eats half the weekend being there to see to him.  Of course if I weren't so bone-idle I could get off my ass and do a lot of it myself.

Sunday will be more laid back.  I have cooking to do.  I have some zucchini left from my basket last week, and I'm going to do a stir-fry/fried rice with it for next week's lunches.  I also have green beans that need to be cooked.  I won't be seeing my dad, since he and Eve are on their three-week tour of New England, but I gave him his card before he left. 

When I got off work today I had to go by the store for a couple of things.  Of course since I was looking for something particular, Aldi didn't have it.  After that it kind of became a thing that I wouldn't pay retail.  I bought a small refill of hand soap at the dollar store, and then went on to Big Lots since it stopped raining (yes, it was raining yet again). 

I really should have eaten the lunch that I thawed out for last Friday for dinner tonight (I'm eating yucky carrot soup this week for lunch), but I really didn't want that.  I had some sandwich stuff that needed to be eaten, so I made a tofurkey club instead, and ate some of the chips I bought last week.  I usually don't keep chips in the house, but these are so salty I can't eat but a few at a time.  So they have now lasted through two meals, with some left!  Since I used some of the lettuce Eve gave me out of their fridge before they left, it was kind of like killing two birds.  Amazingly, I have used almost everything she gave me.

I had laundry that needed doing, so I folded a load and did two more.  I was tired, but I stayed up until the second load could go in the dryer before I turned in.  I watched Chopped and played Angry Birds while I waited... 

A post in which I get excellent news

So today I was catching up at work - again.  That's the way it goes.  But I did get a bunch of stuff caught up, although there is at least one major thing I keep putting off.  It'll get done.  Canada continues to ignore my emails about some of the numbers, so I'm still not done with them. 

Just before I left work, I got the call from Dr. Go (himself).  The pathology reports are back, and the cyst was just that - a cyst.  No malignancy.  I was amazed that the results were back so quickly, but the doc says that there was no question or need to further examine the samples.  So that is great news.  I let Dad and Eve know immediatetly.  Then I went to pick up Rhonda and told her.  She was about as happy as I was. 

The next step is what to do about the two 'hot' lymph nodes in my armpits.  Dr. Go said that they were very small, and could be a result of drainage from the cyst.  That is what I'm inclined to think.  The choice now is whether or not we try to excise and biopsy one (they are small enough they would be hard to locate, and I don't have a great deal of faith in needle biopsies after the last time) or wait for three months and do another PET scan.  I'm inclined to wait.  Rhonda said if it was her that's what she would do.  I don't think I'll be any worse off in three months than I am now, even if it is cancer, which I doubt.  I'm just ready to be done with this for a while.  But I have time to make the decision.  I go back to have my stitches out on the 18th, and then I see Dr. Go on the 20th.  Plenty of time to decide. 

Rhonda and I headed back to my house for a shower.  They wouldn't let me shower this morning, and although I had gotten in and (carefully) washed all my naughty bumpy bits, I wanted to wash before going to supper.  Afterwards, Rhonda looked at my incision, and re-banadaged it.  It's pretty small (about an inch) so no biggie, and it looked fine.

Dinner tonight was at Lifeit Cafe.  Logan had brow-beaten the boys into going, and as I had completely expected, they were converts after the first bite.  The menu is small, but everything she makes is delicious.  Tonight I had the Lifeit Tree Sandwich with corn salad. There was another tea tonight, which was also delicious. Latrice and everyone there was just as nice as I remembered.  Rhonda had a smoothie since her tummy was off a bit.  The feature in the deli case tonight was something she called 'mac n cheese', and I also had some of that.  It was thinly sliced cabbage in a cashew 'cheese' sauce.  Although it tasted almost completely unlike macaroni and cheese, it was very good (much better than it sounds), and I enjoyed it.  The one real draw-back of the Lifeit menu is it's a bit pricey - Rhonda's smoothie was $7, and the boys meal was about $60 for the three of them.  That's pretty steep for sandiwiches.  But the food is delicious, really good for you, and made with love, so it all balances out. 

The boys gave Rhonda her birthday card tonight - I had completely forgotten her birthday!  I knew it was around this time of year, because we have celebrated it at SELF, but then it totally slipped my mind.  I'll have to do something.  Fortunately I haven't missed it.  It's tomorrow.

We closed the place down, and the boys took Rhonda home.  It was a really nice dinner, and I was in a superterrific mood because of the great news I had gotten.  I feel like a great weight has fallen off of me. 

A post in which I finally have this thing seen to

Today was the day I had been dreading, and at the same time was looking forward to putting behind me.  I was having this cyst out of my back.  It had showed up on my PET scan, and Dr. Go is worried about it.  Because he was so worried about it, I was too.  But I was ready to have this over with.

I was up hours before Rhonda.  I gave up trying to sleep, and just got up at 5am or so.  I started getting ready, and when Rhonda woke up I got in the kitchen to get some things done in there since I had the time, and couldn't stand sitting around while she got ready (not that it takes her long).

I made Kool Ade (at the same time kinda wondering if I should be using it up - I mean what if I had to go back into treatment?), and coffee (I have switched over to iced coffee for the summer).  I put together another cucumber and tomato salad, since I had both left and we finished up the other one last night.  I made myself some breakfast.  And almost before I knew it, it was time to go.

We were there on time, but of course Dr. Mann made us wait the obligatory hour and a half before he appeared to do anything.  To kill the time, I caught up on text messages and we talked about the upcoming July 4th trip to Savannah.  Jo Ann asked if I would make a dessert, and of course it would be my pleasure. 

And then the doc was there.  Once he came in, it went pretty quickly.  He was brusque and easy-going, and immediately told me he thought that this was just a sebaceous cyst and no more.  That was what I figured, but of course my fear was that he would cut me open and go "Oh my God." and just close me back up.  But he didn't.  He excised the cyst pretty quickly, keeping up a string of chatter to keep me distracted.  I didn't feel much, but there were twinges that it's easier to ignore if you have something else to focus on.  And then bob's-your-uncle I was sewn up and he was done.  He told me he's sure that it's just a cyst, and nothing to worry about, although we're sending it off for biopsy as Dr. Go asked.  It was quite a change from the way he was the last time I talked to him.  His easy confidence made me confident.  I left feeling MUCH better.

Rhonda and I went through Red Ribbon Resale, just because we were over that way anyway, and they are only open during the week.  But as usual I didn't find anything I wanted.  But I got the fever for a good rummage.  I just felt too good to go home.  I wasn't hurting, I was greatly relieved, and I had the day off.  The weather was beautiful.  We headed for Easley. 

We had lunch at The Starving Artist Cafe, which I was happily right about thinking that Rhonda would enjoy, and we nosed around a couple of antique stores in the area.  While we were doing that, we heard from the boys.  We were supposed to go to Lifeit Cafe tonight for supper, but there had been a mix-up and they had made other plans.  I frankly thought that they were just trying to get out of going.  I was pretty disappointed.  This was the first rummage I can think of in a long time when I came away without buying anything.  I found one Little Jewel bowl, but it was sick, and a lovely Petalware monax piece that was all chipped up.  But I was worn out and wanted to go home.  I have tried not to worry, but I know I have lost sleep over this, and I had been up very early this morning.  I took up Rhonda by to pick up her prescriptions, and then we went home for a little nap.

I woke up ravenous.  So I got up and put a quiche together.  It was too wet, and I dropped it coming out of the oven (thankfully it wasn't too damaged), but it tasted OK.  So we had busted quiche, cucumber salad, and fried potatoes for dinner.  It was pretty good.  And to top it all off, the boys got in touch and made plans to go eat at Lifeit tomorrow night.  All was good and right.

After supper, I took Rhonda home, and returned to my house to turn in.  I was glad to get to bed.  It had been a really good day. 

A post in which it is back to work

I went back to the usual backup that accumulates on my desk when I have the temerity to take a day off.  I set about clearing things out and actually had a very productive day.  I'm hung up on Canada this month.  They were mid-merger at month end, and I can't seem to get their numbers finished up.  But I'm close.

After work it was off to pick up Rhonda.  She's staying the night with me so she can do to the doctor with me tomorrow.  I'm finally having that cyst out of my back.  I could probably do without her, but she told me if I wanted her there she would go, and I want her there.  Besides, it's always fun when she stays over. 

We went by the grocery store for me to pick up things to finish dishes I have in my head for produce.  Tonight it was 'Billy mushroom' open-faced sandwiches on sourdough bread, topped with swiss cheese melted under the broiler.  I guess that's more of a winter-time meal, but they were delicious.  Eve had passed me a few mushrooms in her stuff, so I put them with the others I bought and used those up.  I had the excellent sourdough bread in the freezer.  Rhonda really enjoyed that.  She had been reading about Billy mushrooms (a recipe my friend Billy made for me once that I fell in love with:  mushrooms sauteed with thyme and fresh garlic, with the pan de-glazed three times - with tamari, lemon juice, and white wine - they are gorgeously delicious) on the blog, and wanted some.  We had some of the cucumber tomato salad to go with, and it was a nice meal.

I was quite surprised to find that it was almost 9pm by the time I made dinner, we ate, and I got the kitchen cleaned up.  I had planned to take Rhonda out for dessert or something, but she was fine.  We visited for a bit longer, and then I turned in. 

A post in which Gary comes*

I woke up this morning to sun, quite surprisingly.  It has been raining all this summer, and yesterday was to be the sole dry day in a week of rain.  It has rained so much that it's always a bit of a shock to see the sun. 

Since I had the sun, I decided to make hay.  There were things I needed to do.

I went to White Horse Road flea market to buy a lawn mower.  If I could get the mower here, I could either mow the grass myself or have it done at some point, but I had to have something to mow with.  Unfortunately the guy who has been selling nice re-conditioned lawn mowers over there since year one was NOT there today.  Of course.  After some searching around I found a pair of jeans I could use to make cut-offs, and a pair of shoes I wanted.  Eventually, I found a guy selling lawn mowers, but they were pretty busted looking.  He wanted $80 one he had that looked decent, and he had a hard time starting it.  After looking at the other mowers he had on offer, which had parts hanging off of them and stuff, I decided I wasn't going to buy from him.  The mowers he had had clearly been used by a landscape company or something - used hard, and pretty much used up. 

I was discombobulated.  I needed to get this done today.  But Gary was on the way.  After a brief debate with myself, I headed for Anderson to the Jockey Lot, calling him as I did so.  I haven't really ever looked for lawn mowers there.  Ordinarily I would just have enjoyed the trip, but I was on time constraints today.  After finding lawn mowers for $120 and then for $150 (a Snapper, but still), I was pretty discouraged, but eventually I found the good ole' boy down there with four on offer.  After some debate, I bought one for $75, loaded it up, and headed home.  It's smaller than the one I had (which was a nicer mower too) but it's lighter; and of course the fact that it runs is pretty invaluable. 

I ran by White Horse, bought my shoes (I had waited to make sure I had enough to get my mower first), and got everything home and unloaded.  I was just about to get in the shower when Gary came in.  Fortunately, he was fine with waiting while I got ready.  I ran through the shower in record time, and we went to lunch at Corona's.  We had meant to go to Gourmet Pizza, but I was so distracted I pulled into the wrong place, and we just decided to stay.  Lunch was good, and I settled down and we started visiting.

After lunch we headed back to my place for a long and relaxing afternoon.  It rained, but that was fine - I didn't have to be out in it.  I had thought about going over to Kimbley and Laura's today (I had been invited, and I really wanted to taste that cheesecake), but when I sent a text they didn't respond.  That was OK.  Gary and I lolled on the couch, watched TV, and just hung out.  It was great to spend the time with him, and I really needed the relax time.  It was a nice afternoon.

But he was working tomorrow, so eventually he had to leave.  After he left, I fried up some potatoes (which turned out lovely - reminding me that it's hard to beat simple things done well), and made a tomato and cucumber salad out of some of my produce.  I also finished up the carrot soup today.  That didn't turn out so great.  I put way too much ginger in it, and too early in the cooking cycle.  As a result, it tasted funny.  Because I had left it all in the crock pot so long (the carrots were tough) it tasted kind of scorched.  But it wasn't burned.  It is edible, it just doesn't taste so great.  I figure I'll take it for lunches this week and then throw the rest away. It's not worth freezing.  But if one thing was going to come out good this weekend, I'm glad it was the cheesecake. 

I ate taters and salad while I watched Food Network Star, cleaned up the kitchen, and went on to bed. 

A post in which graduation festivities continue*

I woke up this morning feeling like I had plenty of time.  That is usually a sure sign that I'm going to be rushing later.

I played around online and eventually had a buddy come by.  That was fun.  But by the time he left, I had to get going.  Gary was supposed to come tonight, the house was a wreck, and I had a graduation barbeque to go to.  But first, I was going to cook.

I had found out that Cody's favorite dessert was cheesecake.  Since I figured that Kimbley and Laura had the food well covered for the party today, I decided to make him a cheesecake.  To further tip the balace, Eve had given me several lemons and a container of ricotta cheese last night.  That was more than a nudge from serendipitious fate. 

But I haven't made a cheesecake in probably twenty years.  And to complicate things, Cody likes his cheesecake plain.  Now to the uninitiated that would seem easier. It isn't.  You can make up for defects in texture, etc, with a flavored cake.  Plus if you crack the top (and mine always crack on top), no one will ever know if you cover the top of the cake with a delicious (and opaque) glaze.  But today, my goal was plain.  I went to the internet.  Between me, Giada de Laurentiis, Alton Brown, and the excellent Food Network website, after about four hours, a trip to the store, and lots of cussing, I had a cheesecake.  It was the prettiest one I have ever made. 

The problem was that it was two hours until I had to leave for the party, and this cake required a minimum six hour chill time.  I had a load of towels in the washer, and decided to do everything else, let the towels cycle through, and put them in the dryer before I left.  I did all that (despite my washer acting like it was broken, which gave me a small heart attack - thankfully I re-set it and it seems to have straightened out on it's own), and then checked the cake.  I had already taken the ring off, and it held up through that, but did I dare un-mold it??  I decided that I did, and very, very carefully, I ran my filet knife around the bottom, then used a large spatula to transfer it to a serving plate.  It held together.  I had gotten a small thumb-print in the top (which I was going to have to pass off as a 'bubble' that popped), and I had gotten a small crack in the side taking the ring of the springform pan off, but overall it was a lovely cheesecake, and I was quite proud of it.

I set off for the party, terrified that I would get there with a puddle, having only three hours in on the madatory chill time, but it held together.  I walked in, showed it to Cody, and stuck it in the fridge with great relief.

The party was nice.  There were a bunch of people.  I found Nicole (there with her escort Sam) and talked to them for a bit.  I spoke to a lot of folks.  There were a bunch of people I knew.  We were all hungry.  The party had started at 3pm.  I hadn't gotten there until 4:30, and there was still no food on offer.  But eventually they served.  The meat.  You could tell it was a barbeque.  I know I live in the south.  And I know it was a barbeque.  But everything there had meat in it.  There was bacon in the beans and the potato salad.  There were no deviiiiiled eggs on offer.  There was salami in the pasta salad.  And I had just eaten wings yesterday.  I did get a little of the pasta salad.  I had some Watergate salad that was thankfully un-enhanced.  People had already eaten all the bacon off the top of the baked beans, so I just pretended it hadn't been there.  There was an excellent artichoke heart dip there, and I had some of that.  Donnie and Mark came in once we started eating, with two enormous pans of macaroni and cheese.  It wasn't the greatest, but it was meat-free.  I made out.

There was seating on the deck, but not enough for everyone.  There were tables dotted hither and yon across the yard, and groups gathered around them.  I talked to Donnie and Mark for a while.  I spent some time with Karen and Billy.  But Kimbley and Laura had the entire party to look after, and I was worn out from the last two days.  I stayed for a while and visited with everyone.  I watched the big cake be cut.  I wished Cody congratulations.  I am genuinely happy for him, and I do wish him the very best.  But by 8pm or so, I was pretty much all in.  I left.

I got home and took a good shower.  I was all sweaty from being outside.  I had changed the sheets this morning, so I had nice clean sheets.  I'd had a text from Gary that he wasn't coming tonight.  He'd had a rough day, and was going to wait to come in the morning.  At this point, that was fine.

I just lay in the bed, watched TV, and revelled in being cool, comfortable, and blessedly, blessedly alone for a little bit.  I love people, and there are times when I am lonely, but the last two days have frazzled me half to death.  I was glad for some down time.

I was greatly gratified to receive a text from Jody, telling me the cheesecake turned out well (they didn't cut it before I left) before I went to sleep. 

A post in which it is the eterna-day*

Today was graduation.  I was excited but trepidatious at the same time.  Oy.  I knew today was going to be rough.  It was.

I started the day pleasantly enough, by getting in touch with Frank.  He came over for a bit, and if things didn't go as well as usual, it's always good to see him. When he left, I started getting ready in earnest.  Eve had contacted me yesterday to tell me that Lisa wanted to meet earlier for lunch than we had planned.  I was immediately uneasy, since Lisa (who is always, always late) wanting to be anywhere early is one of the signs of the apocalypse, but I was at Dad and Eve's more or less on time to leave.

The weather was overcast, drizzly yuck.  We were about halfway there when I dug my phone out.  Lisa was calling in full melt-down.  Their power had gone out.  Cole hadn't had a shower yet.  Ava was running through the house screaming.  Lisa's hair was still wet (presumably the outage occurred during the Memorial Towel Hour, which is observed daily).  I calmed her down as best I could, relayed the info, and we continued driving.  By the time we got to the restaurant for lunch (Lisa wouldn't be joining us, being in the midst of moving the entire operation to Mom's house), we got the message that Cole had arrived at mother's, and was getting ready.

We had lunch.  Now I had intended not to go into all the PET scan stuff.  I thought if Dad and Eve would just leave for vacation, then in three weeks I would have the results for them one way or another.  There was no point in putting everyone through the ringer over what is quite possibly nothing.  But Eve asked about the PET scan over lunch, and pretty much grilled me like a POW until she had every detail.  She tried to extract a promise that I would call them on their vacation with any news, which I refused to do.  So she pouted and was unhappy about that.  I ended the subject by instructing her not to say anything about this to anyone else today.  Today was COLE'S day, and I wasn't having some stupid kerfuffle or upset disrupt it. 

We checked in with Lisa & Co, none of whom were ready to do anything.  Because we had arrived so early, we had time to reconnoiter the Carolina Coliseum.  It looked like something from the End of Days.  There were seemingly millions of people milling about.  Of course the year that Cole graduates is the year that all of Columbia (and specifically the sections and all roads around the coliseum) is torn to pieces with construction.  It was a nightmare.

We went back to the restauarant to meet Lisa, Mom, and Ava.  We were going to take one car to the coliseum.  Ava was screaming because she hadn't been fed.  None of them had eaten anything.  So we went through the drive-through and got some food.  There was no problem with them having time to eat (except for Ava, who, like her mother, eats in super-slow motion) as we crept back into the trickle of traffic around the coliseum.  There were no entrances marked very well, and after cirumventing the place once, we pulled in to the wrong parking lot on purpose to get someone to tell us where to go.  The attendant started out "handicapped parking is two blocks away..."  Really?  Really?  Because that is almost completely un-helpful.  But once we actually found where to go, they had set up a golf cart relay to get people up the hill.  Once you got into the thick of it, it was fairly well organized, and we got up the hill before the doors even opened. 

When we got in at 2:45pm on the dot, we went immediately to the handicapped seating to secure our place.  There were then 45 minutes to wait until anything started.  But Ava was fairly well behaved, everyone had made it, and we had the best seats we could get, so it was worth it all, I guess. 

I had thought that I would be really upset.  I was carrying two hankies.  But the speakers were so boring (with the exception of the student body president, whose strange speech was delivered in such an unvarying sing-song rhythm that it almost lulled you to sleep), and the band was so bad that it pretty much pulled me out of myself.  The virgo/critic couldn't let go long enough to get all weepy, which I guess was just as well.

 Cole with Lisa

Cole with Mom

Eventually, it was over, and we reversed the process to get back to the cars.  We had all been invited to a post-graduation party hosted by Zack's parents.  Zack is Cole's best friend, and his family are apparently swimming in it, to be blunt.  Zack's graduation present was a 2006 Corvette.  (Yeah. The little check I had written {with some sacrifice} to put in Cole's card suddenly seemed ridiculous.)   So I had been expecting something, well, a bit posh.  I had been careful to dress in something that could go up or down.  The party venue, when we arrived, was a wangs place.  Not a wings place.  A wangs place.  Now I am not a food snob. If the food is good, I'll eat at a flea market (and have).  But my feet (and my chair) stuck to the carpet.  Truly.  But it was Cole's day, and they were very nice to invite us.  They have been very good to Cole.  I was going to be pleasant no matter what.

As if to tempt my resolution, the karaoke machine came on about that time. 

Now I understand that karaoke is the language of heterosexuals.  I have sang on one myself.  But the heteros have a passion for these only rivaled by their endless delight in a 'live band', another 'attraction' that leaves me cold.  As per usual, the person most in love with the karaoke machine was the person least equipped to entertain.  The moment the switch was thrown, he was up there yowling.  The only thing I could think was 'cat birth control' - I have no idea why.

About the same time, Zack came in.  He, being the polite and super young man he is, came over to greet my Dad and Eve.  He and Dad started talking about Corvettes - and Dad took our guest of honor back out to the parking lot to see the car.  After the briefest of hestiations, I followed.  In my naivete, I figured at least the 'entertainment' would have changed by the time I got back.  So we went and looked at the car.  And after a discreet interval, I reminded Dad that he had absconded with the guest of honor - at his own party - just as he walked in.  Dad got the hint and we headed back inside, but on the way, Zack saw some other people coming in, and stayed to talk in the parking lot with them for another ten minutes or so.  I had done what I could.

I arrived back inside to hear the last of the karaoke enthusiast's second number end triumphantly, to a bewildering show of support from the assembled.  Cole hadn't arrived, having gotten lost en route, so Lisa went outside to talk him in on the cell phone.  Mother and I took Ava to get food.  I was starving, and chicken wings are my very favorite.  It was a special occasion, and having been issued a special invitation from the graduate himself, I could hardly continue to resist temptation.  Of course just as we got back to the table with our food, Ava had to go to the bathroom.  This is an extended process.  Mom took her.  So I sat at the table.  With Zack's grandfather.  We'll call him grandpa letch.  He is purportedly quite the lady's man (appearances to the contrary, if you get my drift - the man is short, built like a capital 'D', and had false teeth, although there was an undeniable twinkle in his tiny blue eyes), and had immediatly glommed onto Mom.  But when she left the table, he and I had little to say to each other.  I finally just started eating to break the uncomfortable silence. 

Eventually Mom came back, Lisa came in, and Cole finally got there.  We were settling in to eat when in walked Saucy Rosita.  She was obviously a young girl, but she looked like she had come loaded for bear.  Micro short skin-tight shorts, carmine lips, after-five eye makeup, complete with a silk flower stuck into a mass of cascading curly hair.  I couldn't keep my eyes off of her.  She minced in and sat down right next to Cole.  Cole, my nephew, who thinks that no girls like him.  Or at least that's what he says.  If he's too stupid to pick on those kinds of messages, well, maybe he might not be smart enough to go to college after all.  I'm just sayin'.  Hello!  On the other hand, he could just be keeping his light under a bushel.

By this time, I was ready to go.  The wings, though excellent, had been consumed.  There was obviously not going to be any structured present opening thing.  We didn't know anyone there.  Zack's family were celebrating together, and Cole and Zack were sitting with their friends.  It was their party.  I felt increasingly out of place.  We decided to head on. 

We left the restaurant, which was out on the BFE side of Columbia.  I had no idea where I was or how to get back.  That shouldn't have been an issue with three GPS's in the car, but Eve was doing the navigation.  Every time she would give me one direction, she would turn off the GPS to do something else on her phone.  Consequently I missed turns.  By the time we got back on track, we were way out of our way, and ended up going home the long way around, going around the south side of a lake to get back to the freeway. 

Now Dad and Eve had done pretty well about getting along and all today, but they had been cooped up for about ten hours or so at this point and tempers were starting to fray.  I kind of refereed (and drove) back to Greenville.  Eve cleaned out their fridge into mine, so I had a lot of food to haul home and put away.  When I walked into my house, I could have kissed the floorboards I was so glad to be home. 

It had been a 11.5 hour day, door-to-door, but I had a busy weekend ahead, and decided to put the food away, and get the carrots (along with another pound Eve had given me) into the crock pot before I went to bed.  My latest idea to use them was to make them into soup.  But I had text messages coming in.  I was trying to answer those, get soup started, and get ready for bed all at the same time.  When the phone rang, I just let it go to voice mail.  It was after 11pm for heaven's sake.  But it was Adam, and he was impatient.

I got the soup in the pot, and was almoooooost in the bed when the phone rang again.  My overwrought patience was just at the limit.  I picked up the phone and begged "Adam PLEASE!  I know you're twenty-five and you can go all night, but I CAN'T!  It's almost midnight, I'm exhausted, and I NEED TO GO TO BED!!!"  There was a little silence, and then he told me that he had hit the wrong button on his phone.  He rang off.

I went to bed.  I felt bad about what I had said, but not bad enough to call back.  I had just had all I could take today.