So, Darrell is getting really into cooking lately so I got him a pasta machine and this weekend we used it for the first time.. OK I used it... and it was kinda fun! I am just happy that I managed to produce a substance that was unquestionably pasta. I thought I would mess up. Then I got an eggplant and fried some up and made some version of Eggplant Parmesan. This is the first time I've cooked in ages and it felt good. Eggplants are neat, if you manage to get them breaded and cooked right they seem kinda like meat. Which I'm sure I'd appreciate if I became a vegetarian for some reason. Of course I didn't exactly cook them all the right way, I let my bread crumbs get clumpy and then some of them were not properly coated or properly cooked and they taste very definitely like vegetables. But still edible at least. Also I went to Target to spend a gift card and I couldn't really decide on any expensive items we needed so I just wound up buying groceries. Target has really good deals on certain groceries. OK, that is boring though, when you have a gift card you are supposed to buy something nice, so I got some Frey chocolate, which was delicious. I got the cinnamon and blood orange white chocolate. Sounds weird perhaps, and a lot of people don't like white chocolate, but we loved it! It had such vibrant and delicious flavors. Kind of reminded me of when I was younger and our Swiss relatives always used to mail us a big yellow box full of Swiss chocolate for the holidays. Well, nothing in those boxes tasted of cinnamon or blood oranges but it reminded me all the same. I guess the fact that this stuff is available "exclusively at Target" makes it kind of irritatingly non-authentic but I was happy to find it and will surely try some more flavors.

Then I ended the weekend by messing up and now I feel like crap. No I can't talk about it to anyone , just felt like saying that just to be irritating.


Prayer for the Paranoid

Denise Sawicki posts whatever she feels able to post without serious consequences Read more »

Dog Tricks

Cross post from Facebook. Here are two new videos of our genius dog doing his amazing tricks. Mimicking Verbal Tricks Go »

Haircuts and dandelions

So I cut off all my hair this weekend, about 16 inches of it. Now it is above chin length. I like it better this way but can't be bothered to get it cut more than once a year (I think I went 2 years this time). Go »

Our dog is smart

Our sheltie, Philip, is really smart. Here is his latest Oscar-worthy film, where he shows off his ability to mimic Darrell doing the following actions: turn a circle, stretch, sneeze, lie down, roll over (partway), hop, and speak: link Philip also knows how to read a few words, kind of, though I think he gets bored with it :-). Currently he's in school for agility, which entails learning how to run around a course jumping hurdles and using tunnels and seesaws in a prescribed manner. Go »

It's been a while...

So, it is supposed to snow 9 inches today, and I didn't want to drive in that, so I did my grocery shopping yesterday. Then today (a Saturday) I decided to walk in to work with my cell phone to do some computer setup with 2-factor authentication that I wasn't able to do earlier because I never take my cell phone to work. See, I am this weird relic of the past who still wonders why people would have to get in touch with me at all hours, so I mainly treat my cell phone like it was a home phone. Go »

The Two Towers

So last week Darrell's friend Mike discovered on Wikipedia that Galesburg, North Dakota, a town near where Darrell and Darrin grew up and where they often hung out at the cafe, actually has the third tallest structure in the world. I find the photo on the wikipedia page rather amusing, by the way, due to its unusual dimensions. Upon discovering this, Mike, Darrell, and Darrin immediately drove out to pay the tower a visit. Go »

Ghost of an Unkissed Kiss

As though I don't look bad enough for sharing information on my lame celebrity crushes, here's a real-life one, albeit a really old one. I'd forgotten that his full name was in the movie we watched the other day and maybe hearing his name was what got me started on this nostalgic path. He's got a common name. Go »