The Worst

Well, our family is compromised.  We're both sick as dogs.  It doesn't look good for me because M's been sick with this (sore throat, cough) for over a week.  Ugh.  I just got it yesterday, like a truck.

The bad news is we're both quite unpleasant when we're ill so there's a lot of bickering going on.  Also a lot of disagreeing about the best course of action to beat a cold.  For me it's soup, juice, and a constant stream of passive tv watching.  Preferably a marathon of some kind: Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones 1 & 2, Sex and the City - whatever.  He sort of got into the spirit, but really WAY off with the suggestion, of Star Wars 1-6. 

Oh, dear.

Four Eyes

My friend G told me about this website, Zenni Optical, where you can buy prescription glasses for really cheap.  I just asked my eye doctor for my prescription and I ordered 4 pairs for less than $100!  Can you believe it?   You can make any of the glasses sunglasses and choose the shade color and everything.

So, there they all are - the top pair are green with pink sides - they're my favorite.  M really likes the black sunglasses because generally I like wearing absolutely HUGE sunglasses and these are just "normal" size. The third green pair are my least favorite because I think they're just a tiny bit small for my face.  I don't really care because they were so cheap - I guess I'll try to find one of those places were you can donate them. And the last pair of sunglasses I really like - they're lavender with amber-tinted lenses. 

I think it's really cool because, even though I really like the glasses I got at my regular eye doctor, they were kind of expense and designer-y, and sometimes I just want something to bum around in.  Also, I lose sunglasses like crazy so it was great to get a couple of pairs I could lose without getting mad at myself. 

Anywho, I thought I'd share because it's a pretty cool website.  Also, I was really pleased with the prescriptions too - I compared them to the glasses I got through the eye doctor (and spent a small fortune on) and I think they're just the same. 

The only problem is now I want to order like 75 more pairs of sunglasses. 

Oh, btw, while I'm talking about My Favorite Things, this picture was taken with the Photobooth App on my android, it's almost as fun as a real photo booth.

Goodbye, Tomatos!

So sad!  Tomato season is pretty much over.  We might get one or two more ripe ones off our vines, but the bountiful harvest, alas, is passed*.

M grew I think 8 different kinds of tomatoes this year:  Lemon Boy, Cherokee Purple, Sweet Million, Betty's Orange, Speckled German, Brandywine, Black Prince, Green Zebra.  Many a night we enjoyed tri- or even quatra-colored bruscetta.  My faves were probably Green Zebra and the Black Prince, and Betty's orange.  M's was the Cherokee Purples, followed by the Brandywine.  The Speckled Germans, we agree, were all-around excellent.

I'm quite fond of Betty's Orange because it has a nice provenance.  It's an heirloom tomato who's seeds were passed on to us from M's Granny from her neighbor, Betty.  And it's orange.

I've become an incredible tomato snob and I basically won't even EAT a tomato unless it came out of my own backyard.  Which means that I really don't eat tomatoes about 10 months out the year.  However, this summer I did discover a few recipes for baked/roasted tomatoes that I can probably use with inferior, store-bought, tomatoes and not be too unhappy.

Until next summer, I must remind you of two of my favorite things to do with green tomatoes - Green tomato bread, which is amazing**, and my green tomato Italian Farmhouse Pickles, of which I just made many many jars.  If you are very lucky, I will give you one and you can experience for yourself the feeling of pure adrenaline that results.  It's kind of like getting slapped in the face.  Maybe I'll give them to my enemies as well, just so I can see the look on their rotten mugs. 



*Note: this word caused me and M much consternation.  Is passed?  Is past?  I hope I got it right, but I'm too lazy to look in the Chicago Manual of Style.


** Except she puts 1 cup of Spenda in which I think is DISGUSTING!  Why would you ever ruin perfectly good food you grew in Your Own Yard but dumping a bunch of POISON in it, I ask you?  Anyway, just leave out the Splenda, 1c sugar is plenty. 

13 Years

13 Years Ago Today

w00t Pawn: Deus Ex

M's playing this new video game called Deus Ex that he really likes.  To tell the truth, it's pretty hard to follow and I haven't even been able to get M to tell me what the point is.  As far as I can tell, there's this guy, who's kind of like Robo-cop?  And he semi-against-his-will got some cyber implants or something?  And he's partly machine, I guess.  And, anywho, he has to go around and solve mysteries.

It's mostly one of those sneaking games, and questioning games, where your character walks around and then they meet someone (usually a prostitute, isn't that odd?) and then your guy has the option of having a conversation and you choose what "style" of conversation you're going to have.  The options are usually like, "flirty", "aggressive", "uptight", and "sexually aggressive".   Speaking of, I heard there were some video games out there with good writing, but M sure ain't playin' 'em.  Also, the character is required to "hack" a lot, which means that you take your guy into a room or something, and walk around and "pick up clues" and then you see a safe, and it's like, "Hack that safe" and then you say, Oh, I think the clue's in my memory or something, and then it's like, oh, the safe combo is 8945 or whatever and then you're like, ta da! I hacked it!  But, I mean, seriously.   I think you should have to remember 8945 or whatever.  With your own brain.

Personally, I think these "movie-style" video games are kind of boring.  It's LIKE it's a choose-your-own adventure, but when it comes down to it, it seems like there is only one outcome, and regardless of what you might do, the game is going to make you play it their way until you manage to activate all the little scenes leading up to it's one, inevitable ending.  I think it would be interesting if there really were multiple ending possibilities, like, in one, your cyber-guy might work with one of these prostitutes to enact social change, or, I don't know, ends up volunteering at a dog shelter or something. 

It's Just a Little Unbareable.

redecorating

I want to do a little redecorating and I found out you can get like, door wallpaper? Only, they all kind of suck. Except, I found this really cool one of a Haussman-era French door that's a photo-decal.
Then I spent forever trying to find out where I could buy it and it turns out it costs 341... EUROS! Gah.

Then I found this one. OMG, isn't that HILARIOUS? Can you IMAGINE??????

Outside of buying brand-new doors, does anyone know a way to make super-crappy doors look kind of nice?

weekend recap

M & I are sitting around with the Sunday Night Blues trying to remind ourselves that we did have fun this weekend, even though right now we're just tired and grouchy...

Friday night I started feeling kinda sick and then woke up Sat. morning feeling pretty terrible. After ransacking our pharmaceuticals I managed to pull myself out the fog. We attended a birthday party for a young 1 year old friend. I've never seen so many little people at a party. How embarrassing that we didn't have one! C'est la vie...

We saw The Guard on Sat. night. It was a great movie. Had the actor that played Mad Eye Moody (for realsies he has two eyes) and the great Don Cheadle.

So, everyone obsessed with Kate Middleton, right? I just spent two weeks looking for shoes just like hers - I hope they fit well. *drool* Those are gorgeous shoes. Also I've been listening to a lot of Ellie Goulding, but not just because she sang at her reception. Her CD is really good.

Our vacation

Here's a little video of our vacation!