16th Anniversary Dinner

Last night was our 16th wedding anniversary. Burger had agreed to watch Zippy for us, so Mr. LT and I headed out to dinner. He was in the mood for sushi, so we headed over to Mio Sushi up at the Cascade Village shopping center. We'd heard the food was good, and had been meaning to try it for a while.


So at 7:00 PM on a Friday night, we walked in to Mio Sushi, and while it was crowded, it was not packed. There were a few seats left at the sushi bar, so we chose those.


We hadn't been there before, so we carefully looked over the menu to figure out what we wanted to try. We filled out our sushi card-thingy with a ton of options - probably $50 worth of sushi, at least. We were brought water almost immediately after we sat down, but we didn't get any other attention. At all. I finally flagged down the water girl and asked for our server, and I could see her trying to get someone to come over to us, but another five minutes passed and we still hadn't even had a drink order taken.


So we left. When we got back to the car, the time was 7:34. We'd pulled in and gotten out of the car at 6:56. So we waited no less than a half hour for service, and never got any. What a shame.


Mr. LT still had sushi on the brain, so we headed toward Kanpai over on Newport. We've been there numerous times in the past, and it's always been our go-to place for sushi here in Bend. Well, Kanpai was packed, and there were very obviously people still waiting for tables. We were really hungry, so we didn't stop to see how long the wait was. No knock on Kanpai, they're reliably busy for a reason.


Well, what else should we do? We could have gone to Deep, but we were dressed very casually and Deep is nicer than we were in the mood for (sorry, Deep. We love your food!), so we decided to change directions. Mr. LT hadn't tried Thai food until recently when we visited Typhoon (friggin' YUM), and he'd been really happy with the food at Typhoon. So I suggested Thai.


We talked about going to Typhoon, but were worried it would be packed, so I suggested we try Angel Thai Cuisine over on Division. It's very off the beaten path, so I hoped we'd be able to get served quickly. I'd heard good things about Angel Thai, and had been wanting to try it, so we headed on over. At 8 on a Friday night, Angel Thai was very quiet. A large party (of 8 or so) was leaving as we arrived, and only one other table was occupied.


We were seated quickly and brought water immediately. Our drink orders were taken quickly - Mr. LT had a Thai beer, and I had a glass of shiraz - and the shiraz was actually from Thailand. They had fried calamari as a special appetizer, and Mr. LT and I both love calamari, so we ordered that early. The calamari was very good, and the dipping sauce was excellent - almost like a spicy plum sauce. Or something.


I ordered the Phad Prik Catfish (#71 on this menu - the menu at the restaurant is a little different than the website). It was very good, with some nice crisp basil leaves, and enough spice that you feel it, but not so much that you need to douse the flames. Mr. LT ordered the Panang Curry with beef. I loved this dish, although I'd probably get chicken, were I to order it, as I prefer the lighter taste of chicken (or seafood) with curry. In any case, I loved this dish - the sauce was amazing, and I got a very strange look from Mr. LT when I told him I'd be happy to bathe in the sauce. There was plenty for two of us - more than enough, really. The dishes were served family style, with rice on separate plates, so it was easy for us to share.


While we were full, something sweet sounded great. Neither of us had ever tried sticky rice before, so we ordered the mango sticky rice for dessert. While it's definitely not an American dessert, it reminded both of us of oatmeal - and I mean that in the best way possible. It was delicious, and the cold mango was a nice contrast to the warm rice. We ended up taking some of our dessert home too, because we were really full and couldn't bear to leave it behind.


All in all, we ended up with a wonderful anniversary night. While the evening didn't go as we'd originally hoped, we ended up being thrilled with our dining experience - the folks at Angel Thai could't have been nicer, the service - always at risk when things are slow - was great, and the food was great. Angel Thai, thanks for a great evening. And Mio Sushi, you've still got some things to learn.


(And Mr. LT, I love you. Here's to another fantastic 16 years. Happy Anniversary, babe.)

Stuffed Squash

Last night, I made stuffed squash for dinner, something my dad (and mom) used to occasionally make. Mr. LT asked what was for dinner and gave me one of those "ew, disgusting" faces when I told him. Sigh.



Well, in the end Mr. LT loved it. It got a little overcooked because I was running Burger and her friends all over town while the squash was in the oven, but we just scraped off the overly browned bits and ate the rest. Here's what I used:



2 acorn squash, cut in half with the seeds and ikky stuff scooped out


1 tbsp butter

1/2 onion, chopped

1 package sweet Italian sausage

2 cups bread crumbs

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ground thyme

2 eggs


I cooked the onion very slowly to carmelize it, then took the sausage out of the casings and cooked it with the onion until it was done. I then moved the onion/sausage mix into a bowl, added the (freshly made, a small miracle for me) bread crumbs, the thyme, brown sugar, and the eggs, which I'd beaten slightly.



While all that was happening, I should have had the squash in the oven, but I didn't. I was winging this recipe and forgot how long it can take squash to cook. After I'd finished the stuffing, I realized my error and stuck the squash in the oven, un-stuffed, with a little pat of butter in the cup of each half, for about 15 minutes. Next time, I'd leave the squash in for 30 minutes pre-stuffing, and cover them with foil. Lessons learned...



In any case, when I took the squash out of the oven, I then stuffed them with my mixture, making nice mounds on top of each individual squash. I stuck 'em back in the oven (at 350F) and let 'em cook while I ran Burger around town (she and her friends wanted to see the production of Bye Bye Birdie at Summit HS last night). Then I got home, noticed the burned bits, scraped them off, and fed Mr. LT, Zippy, and myself.



So next time, I'll remember to (mostly) pre-cook the squash, and I think that these would be even better if maple syrup were drizzled over the top of the stuffed squash after they were stuffed. Yum. I'll be making this again. Thanks to my parents for the inspiration!

September 11, 2001

I originally wrote this years ago, when the events of September 11, 2001 were fresh in my head. It's somewhat blurrier now, but every year I re-read what I wrote.



I hope it never happens again.



--------------------------



On September 11, 2001, I was working as a consultant to the US Senate.



That morning, like most other mornings, I took the MARC train (a commuter train, not the subway) into DC. As the train was pulling into Union Station, my cell phone rang. It was my husband, who was supposed to go into work late that day, telling me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. He didn't have a lot of details, but told me they thought it was a Cessna or some other small plane. (Mr. LT had been taking flying lessons - in the end, it turned out that one of the terrorists had tried - but never succeeded - to take lessons at the airport where Mr. LT had been taking lessons.) I mentioned it to the other people on the train, because I was so shocked, and one of the other people confirmed that they'd heard it on their walkman [ed: walkman! wow].



I got off the train and walked over to the government building where I was working at the time. I asked the security guards in the lobby if they'd heard anything, and they hadn't. Got on the elevator and went to the floor where the Senate's offices are, and when I reached the floor's lobby, I asked the Capitol Police officer who was resposnsible for security if she had heard anything. She told me that a second plane had just crashed into the other tower (I don't know if I've ever heard words that scared me more - one plane = fluke, two planes = attack), and that there was a television in the office around the corner that I could look at if I wanted to. So I walked into the little office and saw some of the footage of the smoke billowing out of the towers, and a replay of the second plane hitting the tower.



Of course, by now I'm very late for my morning meeting, but I really don't care a whit. I must have been as white as a ghost when I walked in, because there was almost a blanket "what's wrong?" look from everyone. I know I had a hard time telling everyone - the meeting had started at 8:30 [ed: one of my co-workers told me years later that he'd been upset at me for being late to the meeting at the time], and nobody had come and told the meeting participants about what had been happening while they were meeting. I stumbled over the words, trying not to cry. We all sat there in shock for several minutes, and talked about what this might mean. It was about 9:10 when I had walked into the room. We then half-heartedly finished the meeting, and several of us had a second meeting at 9:30 that we stayed in the room to conduct.



A little after 9:40am, my cell phone rang. Mr. LT was calling me to tell me that a plane had hit the Pentagon. I relayed the information to the other people in the room, and Mr. LT asked me to please come home immediately - there were other planes that seemed to be out of their flight patterns, and nobody knew what was next. I decided that Mr. LT was right, that there was no point to me staying, and told my co-workers that I was leaving. I packed up my stuff, and went to check the Capitol Police's television again, and left.



I got outside the building at 9:50am, and stood there shaking for a while, checking the MARC train schedule to see when the next train back to my car was running. The next train wasn't scheduled to leave Union Station until 10:20am, and a half hour seemed like too much time to sit around and wait for a train. The DC Metro (the subway) also runs out of Union Station, with trains leaving every 7 minutes or so, so I decided to take the Metro out of DC and worry about getting to my car later. (I made the right decision - the 10:20 train never left Union Station that day.) (you know, I can feel the adrenaline while I'm writing this - I was more scared than I'd ever been before in my life.)



The Metro station wasn't very crowded at that point - a lot of people hadn't decided what to do yet. I remember thinking that Union Station was a landmark in DC, and feeling like a target while waiting for the subway train to arrive to take me out of the city. I hopped on the next train that took me in the direction of my house (the Metro line ends about 10 miles from where we lived), with a bunch of other strangers who instantly bonded. We were all so happy to be getting out of the city. We were underground in the subway tunnels for a while, and then the train went to an elevated track, and we could see the smoke from the Pentagon billowing everywhere. There were lots of conflicting stories - that another plane had crashed, that a bomb had gone off in the West Wing of the White House... We didn't know what to believe, but we were all relived to be moving away from the city. I had one of the few cell phones that could actually make calls (most of the cell carriers' systems were overloaded), and ended up passing my phone around the train so everyone could call their loved ones. When we were nearing the end of the line, where we'd all get off the train, I asked for my phone back, explaining that I needed to call Mr. LT to come pick me up and take me to my car.



Immediately, several people asked me where I lived (Crofton, MD, if it matters), and one of the women said that she lived in the next town south (Bowie, where the MARC train station where I'd left my car that morning is) and that she'd take me home. I asked her to take me to the MARC train station instead of home, and she said that'd be fine. So off I went with a stranger, to get a ride back to my car. I called Mr. LT to let him know he didn't need to leave the house. Strangely, I don't remember the woman's name, but she was a piece of work. She didn't want to turn on news radio, and made me listen to these Burt Bacharach recordings that were pirated - she's a big Burt fan, and was so proud to have them. We also had to stop by her house so she could check in, and prove to her mother (who is pretty old, and was living with my new friend) that she was actually alive, as apparently a voice on a phone doesn't prove that... :)



I finally got dropped off at my car, and thanked the nice woman for helping me. And immediately turned on WTOP, which is the DC area's all-news radio station. I wanted to know what was happening, although at that point it was all reaction, nothing really going on. Called Mr. LT again to let him know where I was, and he asked me to pick Burger up at school - he'd tried once, but the school didn't want release kids at that point, but he wanted her home NOW. So I drove over to the school, and the school was releasing kids left and right at this point.



I'd held it together until I saw Burger walking down the hall toward me. The tears just started running down my face, and I was so so so happy to see her, and know that she was safe. The school hadn't told her what had happened, so I gently explained what I knew, and hugged her tightly. Then we went home and Mr. LT and I watched it all (Burger was allowed to watch a little, but thankfully, she was more interested in playing with her friends), and talked about it all, and cried, and were (and are) so grateful that we were together, and safe, and then we cried some more for all of the families that weren't so lucky.



If you've read this far - I can't believe that just poured out of me. Cathartic. Hold the people you love, and hope that we never have to face a day like that again.

Worries

My brother Eric blogs over on Inside Catholic (he is Catholic, I am not; we were not raised Catholic, but he has chosen this religion and feels very deeply connected to it - his faith is his, mine is mine, and we love each other and agree to disagree on this subject). He recently posted about the Palin pick (as did I, albeit much more crassly) and we had (not surprisingly) very different reactions. I commented on his post (using my real name, which means I'm no longer anonymous here. Kreepos who wish to send death threats should keep that idea to themselves.) Because I think this election matters so much, I'm going to copy my comment on his post here.


--------------------------------------


I too watched Palin's speech, but had completely different reactions. The one thing I thought was good was the shot of Piper holding Trig while "fixing" his hair.



What worries me is that she has no foreign policy experience (and no, the fact that Russia and Canada are close to Alaska does not make her an expert on foreign relations), while we have not one, but two wars being fought.



I also worry about her (seeming) tendency to constantly check the loyalty of those around her and quickly judge, evidenced by the firing of several public servants in Wasilla upon becoming mayor. Asking the librarian whether she'd be willing to remove books screams of the desire to censor thought.



I worry that she has not held a press conference, and that the McCain campaign does not have one on her schedule. A single interview with ABC is all that they're offering now. If she isn't prepared to answer hard questions today, why should we believe that she will be ready to do so after the election? I do not believe she is prepared to be the Vice President, much less the President. Let us not forget that McCain has had skin cancer (melanoma, the deadliest kind) more than once and would be the oldest person elected to the office of President. Is she ready to lead on Day 1?



I worry that she wants to drill ANWR and thinks that global warming is not man-made. I worry that she thinks that it is okay to shoot wolves and bears from airplanes. I worry that she wanted Polar Bears (your favorite animal!) removed from the endangered species list.



I worry that the Republicans, while "pro-life" while speaking, have done nothing to reduce the abortion rate in the past eight years. While I am pro-choice (a dirty word here, I know), I am all for reducing the number of abortions in the United States. I am for supporting those who are pregnant and scared. I am for encouraging adoption.



In short, Sarah Palin worries me. A lot.

Really Great Things

inspired by leonie

five (really) great things on a Wednesday:



1) My family. I adore them all.

2) Peaceful, sunny days like today in my new town

3) Friends, new and old, that I love and can count on (and who can count on me)

4) Summer fruit

5) Really loving my job



Those are my five today. What are yours?

Boredom

I was talking to my mom the other day about Zippy getting ready to start kindergarten, and she reminded me that, after a day or two of school, I'd taken to walking back home after walking to school, because school was boring. I don't remember much of it, but I do remember that I gave some of the money from my bank to one of the little girls next door - I don't remember if it was Angela or Danielle that I gave it to, but I do (vaguely) remember my generosity.



When my mom sorted out what I'd been doing, she was (rightfully, I guess) upset with me. Five year old should not be walking home from school alone, they should be in class, where they belong (and OUT of Mommy's hair!), instead of wandering around the neighborhood by themselves. My explanation for going home? Kindergarten was boring. Heck, I could already read, and I knew all the stuff they were saying, so I didn't see any purpose in attending class.


My mom made me go back to school, because we all (apparently) need to learn how to deal with boring situations and she didn't want me to miss any new information the teacher might be presenting. Bah. I'm still not good at being bored, and still hate sitting in (most) classes.



So much for teaching me how to tolerate such situations. I know you tried, Mom.

Here's hoping Zippy will have a better time in school.

Trip home from Baker City

Jen suggested a couple different routes we could take coming home from Baker City; one of these included traveling down the Columbia River Gorge, which sounded interesting to me. That route is an extra 110 miles, but we had Luigi (my 1986 Alfa Romeo Spider) and I thought it'd be fun to give him a nice run (Luigi came with his name, I didn't name him. I think that's important to note).



Interesting thing about the Columbia River Gorge, at least the portion of it that we hit - there's VERY little foliage next to the river - mostly just the normal Oregon desert landscape. This surprised my east-coast sensibilities -- rivers are supposed to have TREES beside them. Trees that make the air cooler and provide shade. Let me reiterate - there are NO SUCH TREES by the section of the damn Columbia River that we drove. And the air was hot. Want to duplicate the effect? It's easy - get someone to point 18 or so blow dryers at you, all cranked up to their highest settings. For hours. I know, I know, it's a dry heat. WHATEVER. Hot is hot, and I was fucking hot. So hot that my sweat evaporated almost instantly. Hot sucks.



The good news is that we made it home safely. The bad news is that we left a little after 10 AM and didn't get home until 8 at night. Whichever online map Jen used said the trip would take 6 hours. Hah. Had I known how long it would REALLY take, and how fucking miserably hot it was going to be, I would have chosen the shortest route home. Really, it was so hot that Jen and I barely talked, because it was, for once in our lives, hard.



We did do an extended stop in Pendleton - we checked out the shop at the wool mill there and had a great lunch at the Rainbow Cafe, which has been in continuous operation in the same location since 1893. The Rainbow is really a cross between a diner and a bar; we ordered simple things - a club sandwich for Jen, a BLT for me, both with french fries. They hit the spot perfectly, and the service was great - just a good ol' diner. Warning - they do allow smoking inside, which doesn't bother me, but might bother some. The laws about smoking indoors in Oregon change in January 2009, though, so if smoke bothers you, you can just put off the visit until after the change occurs. The air conditioning worked great inside the cafe, thank heaven, as we'd been riding with the top down and were fairly baked (and no, Luigi does not have air conditioning).



Luigi had a great run. Kinda. I didn't warn him that we'd be spending the day in 100+ degree heat (hell, I'd have warned him had I known!). He was a pretty good sport about things - except when he briefly decided he didn't want to start again after we'd stopped in Biggs to grab cold drinks; even though he was off, he kept the radiator fan going for a good 45 minutes or so - I'm not sure how long it actually was, because we stayed inside in the air conditioning for the bulk of the time.



It turned out to be a Very Good Thing that Luigi had decided he didn't want to go right away - once he didn't happily start right up, Jen and I decided to wait a little while and give him a break -- and when we went back inside the building, Jen ran into a friend who had been coming north up 97 who mentioned to her that there was an accident several miles south of Biggs. We decided to wait a little longer to let it clear out, which turned out to be a good idea, as the accident had just cleared out and traffic was still under the control of a flagger - luckily, we didn't have to wait very long to get through the line, because I'm pretty sure Luigi would have HATED idling for that long.



Once we got going down 97 on our way south to Bend, an actual cloud or two appeared in the sky, and the air got cooler. not much cooler, but cool enough that I didn't want to kill myself. It must have gone down to 92 or so. Whee! You know it's hot when you're happy that half of the blow dryers are on medium instead of hot. Once we got into Madras, we stopped for gas (at the Safeway - I've been accruing gas credits shopping at the Safeway in Bend - for every $100 you spend, you can get 10 cents off a gallon of gas - I never get to take advantage of this, though, as it's just silly to drive 45 minutes to save a little on gas. I ended up getting $1.00 off each gallon, which was nice - and I'm guessing that $1/gallon off is a limit or something, as I know I've spent more than a grand at Safeway).



Because Madras is pretty green, and actual people live there, the air was cooler. I'd also like to thank every single farmer on our route who happened to be watering their crops as we drove by, as the air was cooler when the water was flowing. The trip from Madras to Redmond, where I dropped off Jen (her hubby was in Redmond after playing golf), and then down to Bend, was much better. Heck, I even got rained on a tiny bit just south of Redmond.


It was so good to make it home. I ate, took a COLD shower, and got comfy on the floor of the bonus room, snuggling with Zippy to watch the Olympics. Then I fell asleep, I think within about 15 minutes of lying down. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Sonic!

One thing we learned to love during our year in Arkansas was Sonic Drive-In. The food is fine fast food, but Burger and I formed a serious relationship with the drinks at Sonic. And the ice. Sonic has these little tiny ice cubes that are PERFECT for crunching. (Burger says they're more like tiny cylinders than cubes, and she's right.)

Yesterday, Bend's first Sonic opened, and of course we had to head up there to get our fix. I had my much-missed diet cherry limeade, Burger had a vanilla root beer, and Zippy got a cherry slush (while the slushies don't use the ice cylinders, they rock too. Burger loves the Blue Coconut one). Mr. LT had a boring ol' diet coke, but even that comes with good ice.

YAY for Sonic!

I'm so easily excited.

How I Met My Husband

Jumping on the bandwagon, following Jen and Shannon's leads...

1. Where/how did you meet?

I'd gone to Hawaii to visit a friend living there who was moving back home. She'd known Mr. LT for a while when she'd lived in Honolulu (she'd subsequently moved to Maui). The day I flew into Hawaii, Mr. LT happened to call her, because the Coast Guard boat he was stationed on was doing exercises off the coast of Maui, he had the night off, and he thought she might want to come hang out with him and his friends in Lahaina. She told him I was coming to town, and that we'd see them at Moose McGuillicuddy's later that night. So I met him the first night I was in Hawaii.

2. How long have you known each other?

Fifteen years, 7 months, 16 days.

3. How long after you met did you start dating?

Pretty much immediately.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged?

3 months. Kind of. By this time, we'd already started making wedding plans for a January, 1993 wedding, but the rest of the world thought we were crazy, and we had decided to postpone the January wedding and wait a while. But then, well, honestly, I got knocked up with Burger, and we hated being apart, and it just seemed right to get married after all. So we'll say three months.

5. How long was your engagement?

6 weeks.

6. How long have you been married?

15 years, 2 months, and something like 24 days.

7. What is your anniversary?

November 21, 1992

8. How many people came to your wedding reception?

About 40.

9. What kind of cake did you serve?

White cake with cream cheese and raspberry filling.

10. Where was your wedding?

We were married in the house where I grew up.

11. What did you serve for the meal?

We had all sorts of finger foods - a cocktail reception. I just remember fabulous beef tenderlion slices and stuffed endives. The rest is a blur, although I know my mom and I spent a considerable amount of time and energy figuring out what we wanted the caterer to do.

12. How many people were in your bridal party?

None, formally. My friends Bernadette, Lisa, and Erin were there and I felt like they were my bridal party.

13. Are you still friends with them all?

Bernadette and Lisa are still amazingly precious to me. Erin I talk to once or twice a year, and she's very special to me too. I do thank her for introducing me to Mr. LT (she was the friend in Hawaii).

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?

Mr. LT does not cry. There might have been a small tear at the corner of his eye, but I am sure he would say there'd been something caught in his eye.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day?

Just walking to where Mr. LT was standing waiting for me. My mom walked me down the "aisle", and I just remember it all feeling magical.

16. Any funny moments?

um.... I forgot about shoes and Berna and I lied to a guy in a shoe store (I think this was actually the day before the wedding, but it's fuzzy) and told him that my dog ate my shoes (which was actually entirely possible, because my dog at the time, as wonderful as she was, ate way too much of my stuff) and he took pity on me and had a pair dyed super quickly. Also, when Berna and I went to get my wedding cake, they'd put these crazy column pedestals between the levels when I'd specifically wanted the tiers resting on one another. They'd also "touched up" the ivory basket weave frosting with white frosting for some unknown reason. I freaked out and made them fix it. I guess those aren't really funny, but that's all I've got.

17. Any big disasters?

Big? No. We were supposed to use my parents' wedding rings for our rings, but one of the rings couldn't be found, so Mr. LT ended up spending our wedding day (or was it the day before? Sigh) searching for rings. Good thing we had an evening ceremony.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon?

We drove from coast to coast - I'm from the east coast, we moved to the west coast (Alameda, California). We never had a "real" honeymoon.

19. How long were you gone?

Once we left, we stayed gone.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change?

The saddest thing about my wedding day is that Mr. LT didn't have anyone there for him - his parents and friends couldn't make it east. If I could do it again, I'd have found a way to get them there for the wedding. We did have a second reception at his parents' house in California once we made it west, but it would have been better had he had someone at the actual wedding itself.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?

The right side. But we do switch off every couple years.

22. What size is your bed?

King size. We're both big spread-out sleepers and would kill one another in anything smaller.

23. Greatest strength as a couple?

We are in this together, and forever. We both want to be here.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple?

Jen says that she and Mr. liw(asai) are the most stubborn people, but we might have them beat. We're both stubborn, pig-headed, and quick to anger. Sigh.

25. Who literally pays the bills?

I do.

26. What is your song?

"Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton

27. What did you dance your first dance to?

"Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton

28. Describe your wedding dress.

Ivory. Long sleeves. Cocktail length.

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding?

I have no idea. I know there were roses. I forgot about flowers (hey, I had six weeks to plan this thing. I know I forgot stuff.), so my mom ended up going out on our wedding day to Behnke's Nursery and getting a couple lovely arrangements and a gorgeous bouquet. I love Behnke's and wish they were nation-wide.

30. Are your wedding bands engraved?

No.

Thanksgiving

This was our first Thanksgiving ever without extended family around. It was weird that we didn't have anyone else's time table to adjust to - we just did what we wanted when we wanted. We missed all of the family, but had a nice day nonetheless.

I spent the day cooking - prep work on the turkey at 8, had it in the oven by 9. Zippy spent her day watching and helping me cook - she loves to be in the kitchen, and had a lot of fun helping me measure, pour, and stir the various side dishes we made. She's a whiz kid in the kitchen, and it amazes me how much she really does help.

We made our traditional side dishes -- hominy casserole, dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes. I'd made a chocolate pecan pie the night before, and should have made the pumpkin pie at the same time, but didn't, and then the oven was full and busy all day yesterday, and at the wrong temperature for baking a pie... The crust was ready, but by the time I could have put it together, Zippy had eaten a fair amount of the crust I'd pre-baked. So no pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving this year - I'll make one soon, though.

After dinner, Burger kindly kept Zippy at home and Mr. LT and I went to a friend's house to mingle for a few hours.

All in all, we had quite a satisfactory Thanksgiving, and were most thankful for getting to spend the day together. I hope all of you also had a wonderful holiday.

Happy 15th

Mr. LT and I have been married for 15 years today. There's so much I could say, but really, I just smile thinking about these past 15 years, and really don't feel the need to elaborate. Thanks for growing up with me, honey; I'm looking forward to continuing the journey and growing old with you.

Infinity squared. Always.

Now comes the packing

The sale of our house here in SoCal has closed, been recorded, and is done. We're now living in someone else's house until we can move our things. The moving truck will be here on Friday, and we'll spend our weekend stuffing it full of our memories (and some other, more practical things). We've been about 60% packed since mid-August (constantly heard around here, "that's in a box") but there's still a lot of work to be done. We should be extremely proficient at packing by now (we're pretty darn good), seeing as how we've spent the past few years moving from state to state. I'm hoping that we'll be able to get everything in the truck this weekend and can get on the road on Monday morning.

If we can be out of here Monday morning, we'll be in Bend late Monday - it's only a 13 hour drive, but we'll have the four of us and four dogs (two puppies - we're bringing an additional puppy as a gift to our realtor in Oregon, as she's amazing) which means that we'll have to stop on a regular basis to let the dogs out of the car. Not to mention Zippy.

Burger alternates between being excited about moving and complaining that we're ruining her life. I think both of her reactions are reasonable points of view for a 14 year old. I hope the kids at her new school will be welcoming, because it's so hard to come in to a new school part way through the year. 14 sucks as an age, and I feel for her.

We're moving

Quick update:

We sold our house, to close late next month (August).

We had our offer on a new house accepted. We'll close on that a few days after the other.

We're moving. OMG. Again.

Suckage. Mine, that is.

Last night, after dropping Burger off at gymnastics practice, Zippy and I made a grocery store run because we had ZERO food in the house. Condiments galore, but nothing to actually eat (well, you could fill up on olives, but oddly, the rest of the family won't. I would if it meant I could avoid shopping for another day). No meat. No veggies (I lie. There were jalepeno, habenero, and solano peppers. Hubby makes salsa, and it rocks, but salsa, alas, is also not something the family is willing to eat for dinner. They're so selfish.)

The hardest part of grocery shopping with the Zipster is getting her into the little seat in the shopping cart. She does not like it, and wants to be sure that I understand this. Her preferred method of letting me know this is to make her body go limp like a dead fish, which makes her extremely hard to pick up, much less contort her body into the little seat. This wasn't a problem for her until recently, and I'm peeved that I have to deal with it.

The problem is that Grandma is nice. Grandma rocks. Grandma could walk on water. Really. Because Grandma lets Zippy push the cart. Grandma does not make Zip suffer the indignity of riding in the cart like a baby. Oh no, Grandma is great. Mommy sucks.

The good news is that I'm still bigger than Zip, and that she actually listened when I told her that Grandmas and Mommies have different rules. We'll see how long that lasts.

No more shopping with Grandma. At least not until the next time the Zipster is driving me up a wall. ;)

School is out

Burger is THRILLED that the school year is over. She's been having the busy social life that any 14 year old would envy - going to the beach, to friends' houses, having sleepovers... We should all have such activities on our plates!

Zippy, on the other hand, is BUMMED that school is over - while she didn't go to a regular school, she did have speech therapy three times a week (for an hour and forty-five minutes a shot) during the school year, and she LURVED it with all of her little heart. She misses Miss JoAnn (who she called "Miss Jo-Man" oh-so-endearingly), Mr. Brian (Miss Jo-Man's assistant) and all of the other kids in her class. She asks DAILY if today is the day she goes back to school. She's just so sad.

To brighten Zippy's days, we've been trying to go on excursions and do more with her - more trips to the park and the beach, more bike rides, more more more. And it's so much fun.

The Zipster's speech, btw, is coming along nicely. She keeps us in stitches, and has a wicked sense of humor. Her biggest fault is that she repeats whatever it is she wants until it's done - she doesn't wait well. Yesterday, I was trying to fix something, all the while with her in the background repeating "I NEED JELLY BEANS, MOM" in her loud little voice. It's hard to whine about this habit of hers, though, as a year ago we were thrilled when she occasionally strung three words together.

I love my little Zippy (and my big Burger too).

Home for the Week

This week I'm working from home, and it's a nice change. I really love the company I'm working with right now, I just wish they weren't clear on the other side of the country. Burger, Zippy, and hubby seem happy to have me at home, and it's so good to just get to be here.

My parents are in town this week, and they don't know that I'll be here, so it should be a fun surprise for them to get to see me unexpectedly - my mother's birthday is this week, and I really wanted to be here to see her, and I'm so pleased I was able to make it work.

Being Away

For the second week in a row, I am away from my family and in New York City. I love New York, I really do. But more than I love NYC, I love my family. The phone is not enough for me. And I have two more weeks of travel coming - the entire month of June. I have a pretty sweet deal by many standards - I fly east on the red-eye Sunday nights, and home Fridays on the 6:45 am flight, which gets me home by 10 am. But three days at home isn't enough.

Zippy's been sick this week, and that makes things even harder. I feel badly that I'm not there for her, for Burger, for hubby. I feel badly because I'm alone in a small hotel room and have no desire to do anything but go home. I also got sick, and the only thing worse than being away is being sick and being away.

So there's my pity party. Poor me. I see you making tiny violins with your fingers, and I don't much appreciate it.