My armor

Without which I would feel unprotected.

My eight-hole black Docs that I got in '96 at the London store with my sister
The "30 points of light" white gold and diamond ring my parents gave me for my 30th birthday
Long-wearing lipstick, preferably brown
Daring, curiosity, bravery, charm, and a sense of self-worth
A good bra (nothing pointy)
A mirror (for reflection. A compact will do.)
My smile
Some kind of writing stick

In the adventure that is my life, these items increase my armor class, and they never lose their potency. I don't have any wands or amulets yet, but I'll let you know when I get one… (Yes, I have been playing NetHack. Why do you ask?)

5 things that annoy me

1. Constant phlegmy-sounding car-starter throat sounds from coworkers. If you're sick, go home! At the very least, excuse yourself, cough it up, spit it out, and get on with work.
2. Scuffling from people who can walk properly. You have legs. Use them!
3. Shoes that flip up mucky stuff onto the back of my calves. If I wanted polka-dot pants, I would buy them.
4. When someone pronounces the "p" in Comptroller, particularly when they emphasize the first syllable. As far as I'm concerned, it's wrong. And the OED agrees with me. So there.
5. Finding out that the chocolate chip cookies I bought are really chocolate-flavored chip cookies. If they're not chocolate chips, they may as well be raisins. I certainly won't spend my time eating fake chocolate...

Speed dating

So I was supposed to attend a speed dating "party" last night with a friend, but the weather was blustery and conditions were too poor for driving into Boston. We didn't go. I had emailed the company two days ahead, even called the bar yesterday to ask if it was still on despite the weather. But no response! No emails yet saying it's been rescheduled, either. Too bad, because I had been looking forward to it. Oh well. But as I told my friend, "It gives us another month to look even better..."

Stalking Cat

Remember "Red Light, Green Light, 1, 2, 3"? This cat is a master!

A place of my own

Which brings me to another tasty tidbit of that article. My own rental units will no longer be renting their rental unit! (real-estate-edly speaking.) I will be buying the adorable, convenient, decorated-almost-perfectly condo where I reside, at some point in the not-so-distant future. I haven't owned a home in over seven years, and this is an important step in my my self-sufficiency/growing-up/having-something-left-if-God-forbid-I-were-to-for-some-reason-kick-the-bucket-tomorrow process. I'm all done living like a kid! No way can this all happen before my birthday next month, but I'm finally on my way to being a property owner again. Ahh. (And yes, my nails are bitten to the quick, and I am sweating just a tiny tad as I write this...)

Parentals and breeders and 'rents, oh my!

Today I couldn't stop missing my sister (and her two kids, with whom I will be spending time in February, woo hoo! Her hubby will be away at a conference), so I popped over to babble.com (to avoid work and find something to giggle with her about later: The 33 Most Ridiculous Toys of All Time -- I like #s 17 and 11) where I also found an article by Mark Peters about how best to refer to people who have created other people (without using the pedestrian, stodgy, standalone, two-syllable "parent".) Hey, I'll be one eventually... why not start the learning process now?

So I got to thinking -- if the term "parental units" gave birth to "maternal unit" and "paternal unit", what would be the proper way to refer to two mommies? The way I figure it, "marentals" would be the way to go. (I figured this out after magically being unable to speak the word "maternal", after three tries. I guess it will take me some time to get out of the baby shower mentality.) However, I'm unable to think of a word to refer to two daddies. Can you? I thought of "darentals", but that just sounds, well, stupid...

Peekaboo!

Pet peeve #62: when ex-boyfriends or ex-dates continue checking you out online after it's clear you are no longer seeing each other. Yuck!

I just logged in to JDate to see what was doing, and went straight to the list of men who had viewed me, when I came across... WF! Or should I say, WTF!? He viewed me a week ago. Ew. I'll say this just once. After I go out with a man, and it's done, and we are no longer dating (no matter how casually), they do not have the right to look and re-look and look again at my profile. Sure, I'm beautiful (snort), but that's still no excuse. It's just plain icky. They're all up in my personal space!

Another JDate guy I went out with years ago did that too. We went on one semi-awful date, he asked me out again, and I said ok to confirm it really was that bad. A few days later he emailed me to break the date, after waxing poetic about how he had a good time. I was actually kind of amazed that he had broken a date with me... that rarely happens. So good, all done; neither of us enjoyed ourselves; we matched! But then he kept viewing my profile, over and over and over, like some freakazoid. The creepiest part was that he had set up more than one profile and was looking at me with all of them. And his spelling and grammar were so poor that it was clear they were all of the same person. Plus, in those profiles he basically complained about how he's always being taken advantage of and how much dating in general sucks. I don't know about you, but doesn't he sound irresistible? Not.

Anyway, I'm sure many women feel the same way as I do about this. Men, please don't be that guy...

That's what little girls are made of

Sorry for the delay in posting. Last week was really busy, in part because of baby shower prep, in part due to life in general.

But! The shower was on Saturday, and it was a success. The baby is a girl, the theme was sugar and spice, and the colors were pink and white. This is a picture of the diaper cake I made. I used 168 diapers. What was I thinking!? A word of advice: if you make one of these, it's perfectly acceptable to stop at three layers. This could not fit on a cake plate, or a large deli tray. I had to use large foam board from the craft store and strap it into the back seat because it wouldn't fit in the hatchback.

A mutual friend provided the venue, which was perfect since this house is bee-yoo-tee-ful. The counters alone make me salivate. (Jealous much? Who, me? Sigh... ) The games went as well as baby shower games with a bunch of strangers can be expected to go. The food was yums, thanks to another friend. All in all, a good time was had. MB was also there since he is of course part of the crowd, but that was ok too. Not fun, but not horrible. We are adults, after all. Setup did take longer than I expected, but cleanup wasn't too bad. It was definitely worth the work. Mazel tov, you two!

Goldenberg's Peanut Chews

Yet another thing I miss.


For years after I left New York, I couldn't find my old favorite-favorite, Goldenberg's Peanut Chews. Then I stumbled upon the small boxes and individual packs in a dollar store here in Massachusetts, and rejoiced. But the chews went the way of the dodo. I was so unhappy…

…until I found "Chew-Ets" Original Dark Peanut Chews. But they're not the same, and certainly not an improvement. Why?

1. The chocolate tastes different and is thinner, especially around the corners, number one.
   
2. Number two, they are MUCH softer out of the package. I liked that "difficult to chew" aspect of the old candies. You have to leave these out for a while to get the old chew factor back.
   
3. Third up, the cheap-looking and poorly designed logo, and the colors chosen. Red and orange in a font that looks like it belongs in the 70's? Not so cute. The old-fashioned packaging was charming.
   
4. Fourth, who names candies "Chew-ets?" It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
   
5. Five is the statement on the back: "Continuing the Goldenberg's tradition. A favorite for over 87 years." If it's such a favorite, leave it the hell alone. Or give yourself no ties to it whatsoever.
   
6. Finally and sixthly, I can still only find them at the dollar store! If you want me to buy the candy, make it easy for me!

Look, I really like the Just Born candies…. Mike and Ikes, Lemonheads, Teenie Beanies, even Peeps, when I'm in the mood. But this… this is a mockery of all things peanutilly chewy. I'm going on strike against Chew-ets! To Goldenberg's!

Obamacakes

Obama inaugural cupcakes, looking as nice as Hillary does in blue. A coworker made these, and apparently no one wanted to eat them because they were too pretty.

Ok, that's long enough. I'm ready for change now! He better follow through...

Yum buns

Hey! I used to live here!

Ahh, downtown Flushing. Kind of a United Nations, food-wise, and just a quick straight ride down Kissena on the Q17 (or a longer, meandering walk). Part of me actually misses it! There is (was?) one particular place under the bridge where you could get the best steamed buns (red bean paste style). It was right by a filthy alley, but the buns were just so good! Next door, you could also pick up those Chinese slippers I posted about a while back. Now, I would have to travel to Chinatown in Boston on the silly baby electric trains they have here. Definitely not the same as grabbing something sweet on the way home from work. Or while shopping. Or any time at all...

http://www.afullbelly.com/2009/01/a-day-of-eating-in-flushing-queens.html

*Posted with the author of afullbelly.com's consent* It's abeautiful blog.