Vibrant.(Still) Unrepentant. Badass. Old. Queer

Good Evening, Kittens. Well, we are on Day 3 of my 4-day weekend (*w00t*), so I thought I would bring you up-to-date on all the excitement in my life. So, on Friday, I mostly ran errands.  I also ran a few miles.  I went to the Giant and bought some necessary supplies, like kitty litter and paper towels.  Then, I did a little grocery shopping at the Whole Foods.  And, I may (or may not) have had a slightly boozy lunch at Adega. Once home, I took a long nap.  Then, I cleaned the bathroom. Yay clean bathroom!  As I was doing all this housework, I was reminded that my iron had died.  I also remembered that I had a Target giftcard.  SO, I went to target.com and did a little shopping.  I bought a new iron (yay!), a new rug for the bathroom, a shoe rack, and some Halloween novelty lights. YAY! And I spent the rest of the evening watching Downton Abbey, Season 2.  LOVE! On Saturday, I journeyed out to Wheaton to talk to the p...

Good Morning, Kittens. I posted this link on the Facebooks over the weekend, but it is worth repeating here: It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers . My weekend has been superubercrazybusyfun. Friday night, Eric from Baltimore came down. Along with Tomokito, we headed into the DeeCee for a night of dancing fun. We ended up at Cobalt, which has an $8 cover ... BUT, from 11 to midnight, they have free vodka cocktails. Oh, yeah. We definitely drank our $8 worth. Boozy dance-y good times. We got home around 3AM. *yawnz* Saturday morning, I went for a three-point-five mile run. I did a little grocery shopping at the Whole Foodz. I made a delicious potato salad for dinner (as well as sauteed red kale and a quorn "chicken" cutlet with gruyere). Totes nomz. Then, Mike (Who Makes Cakes) picked me up and we went to a party in Hyattsville. It was fun(ish). No cute boys ... except for one Kenyan guy (who was -unfortunately- very straight). We made s'mores. And ...

Good Evening, Kittens. I have had a busy, busy day (the photo to the right should give you a partial hint), but I'm saving all that news for tomorrow's post. ooh. anticipation. I am such a tease. My weekend has been fabulous. Friday, after work, I met SCGB at the U St. Alero for pre-happy hour margaritas. Then, we walked down to Nellie's to meet CJ and AQ for super-cheap drinks and good times. CJ brought his new co-worker (and partner). And, AQ invited another friend ... who I happened to find UberSuperCute and we hit it off quite well. Tomokito also joined us. We had lots and lots of vodka. I may have been a little tipsy. Saturday? Very. Hung. Over. BUT, I rallied just in time to have a tomato soup and grilled cheese party with K-Factor and SCGB around 1:30. I made the soup. It was (if I do say so myself) delicious. Tomato soup from scratch is super easy. So you should never use canned. I used a slightly modified (of course) version of Mark Bittman's r...

Good morning, kittens! My weekend was chock full of fun and excitement. Friday night, I went to bed early. And Saturday, I didn't even leave the house. On Sunday, I left the house once (to go the grocery store). Mm. Hm. I am living the Crazy (sub)Urban Life! I did accomplish a few things during my convalescence though ... On Saturday, I made Garlicky Red Chili Sauce: Here's the recipe I used (adapted from the New York Times): 2 habenero chili peppers 1 red bell pepper, roasted and roughly chopped 4 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1. Wearing rubber/latex gloves, roughly chop the chilies. Combine all ingredients in a small pot over medium-high heat. Once mixture is simmering, reduce heat to low, cover and continue to simmer until peppers are tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Do not inhale vapors; they will sting. 2. Transfer mixture to a blender and puree. Pour into a medium jar and allow to cool uncovered. Cover tigh...

Good Morning, Kittens. And, how was your weekend? Mine? Well, mine was a streak of dullness punctuated by a few bright, shining moments of cupcakery goodness ... I did post once or twice this weekend, so scroll down to have a look-see. There are some new birthday party photos uploaded to Flickr. Some of them are quite funny ... at least to me. So, Saturday, I did some minor cleaning and straightening of the apartment. Then, I went for a run. In the early evening, I ventured into DC for a Coffee Date with this guy I met online. He was nice enough, but I didn't feel like there was any romantic chemistry. After coffee, I stopped by Hello Cupcake to see if they had started making the Sex and the City -themed cupcakes yet. They hadn't. They go on sale today. I should buy some at some point for Tomokito's birthday (May 28th). I went ahead and bought 4 cupcakes anyway. 2 Raspberry Beret (chocolate cupcake with raspberry frosting) and 2 Cookies 'n' Cream (see ph...

Good Afternoon, Kittens! I was planning to post this morning; however someone (who shall remain nameless) *had* to have teh buttsecks ... twice ... before noon! I is a little tired. Oh, and I'm not at work (obviously). Today is my flex day. Tomorrow I am working. Wednesday through Friday I am off. I think I can handle a one day workweek. In my opinion, one should not have to work the week of their birth. Speaking of which, have I mentioned that my birthday is coming up (on Wednesday)? And that it's the big 4-0? and that if you want to send me a present, make a donation in my honor to Food and Friends ? I probably have mentioned that, but it certainly bears repeating. Anywayz ... This weekend was spent cleaning. As part of the Birthday Festivities, a couple of Very Special Friends will be lodging at Casa de Esteban. I wanted to make sure everything was clean and tidy for them. I cleaned the living room, reorganized the kitchen, and cleaned BOSSY's Guest Room. ...

Ok, kittens, how did it get to be afternoon already? I spent the morning emailing my StickSteven 2008 Year in Review. Did you get yours? If so, YAY! If not, it's probably because I don't have your email address. And I can't access Facebook for some reason, which is what I was going to use to find email addresses that I don't have already. Also, as I was moving down my blogroll, I noticed that it needs to be tidied up a bit. And updated. There are several blogs I read regularly that aren't on there. And, some blogs that have been abandoned (apparently). So, please do me a favor. If you read this blog and you aren't a recipient of LinkyLuv, let me know. Have a great weekend. *smooches*

And guess what I did last night? I spilled an entire container of peppercorns all over the kitchen. GAH. I still have loads to do to prepare for the Parental Visit. The living room is mostly organized, but I still need to dust, sweep, vacuum, and do a bit more general tidying. Kitchen? Disaster. Dining Nook? Disaster. Bathroom? Disaster. Bedroom? Major Disaster. Bossy's Guest Room ? Minor Disaster (but not a big deal, since I'll be sleeping either there or in the living room ... depending on which is cooler). I have a lot to do tonight. And tomorrow. As for activities ... I think we're going to take a field trip to Target! Hurrah. I can has gigantic buckets of kitty litter. We might go to the Afghanistan exhibit at the National Gallery of Art . And, on Sunday, there's a local farm tour/open house kind of thing. So, I'll make them drive me all over. Apparently, there is an alpaca farm somewhere in this county. Fun. *oog* More later, kittens. *smooches*

Good Saturday Morning, Kittens. The Straight Guy has posted about his date last night. Check it out. He has all the fun. I'm cleaning the cat box. *smooches*

It would seem that the last bisque firing is going to be on April 21st. This is not good. I still have BUTTLOADS of clay left. Plus, 4 mugs which need trimming and handles. Hopefully, I can get out of work early on Friday, run to the studio (it closes at 5) to trim and pull handles. Then, maybe on Sunday the mugs will be dry enough to put in the kiln on Monday. There will probably not be enough time to throw anything else. GAH. But, I don't want to abandon all my leftover clay, either. *sigh* Looks like I'll be signing up for a summer course ... [which, in and of itself, is not a bad thing ... unless I'm unemployed at that time. Then, it would totally suck and be money that I shouldn't have spent.] The last glaze firing is the 28th. My exciting plans for today after work include: vaccuuming! laundry! and sweeping! OMG! I haz all teh funz. ALL OF IT! I'm also going to eat cheese and olives . Because if I can't have alcohol, at least I can have good...

The house is CLEAN! I mean, not just regular clean, but you can eat out of the bathtub clean. And given how many people are going to be in my house this weekend, someone may have to eat out of the bathtub. I vote for Only Me . Hyphenated Non-IDentity arrives this afternoon, with the rest of the kittens getting in this evening or tonight. *whew* I have borrowed enough (hopefully) bedding from the Most Rockingest Neighbors EVER! So everyone will have many comfortable sleeps in my abode. I still feel like I have lots to do, but I'm not really sure what those things are ... Other than PANIC, because (get this) ... (are you ready?) ... Y's Mother *may* be coming to the Vodka and Dessert Birthday Extravaganza on Saturday! She arrives around noon today. Y was saying that she didn't really have anything to do on Saturday night, so he might just drop her off at a friend's house or something. Being the crazy idiot wonderful person I am, I said he should bring her to the...

I am beginning to realize that the only way Martha Stewart can keep her house looking spotless is with her staff of thousands. I, on the other hand, have a staff of one [two, if you count the Psychokitty, but usually she is more of a cleaning hinderance than cleaning help]. Project Cleanliness is Next to VUBOQliness is bordering on dismal failure. It worked for awhile. But, then, life, as it tends to do, got in the way. Pottery class started, which means that my Monday cleaning doesn't usually happen. And not getting to bed until late on Monday night means I am too tired to clean on Tuesday. And, on Wednesday, the neighbors all gather around the Magic Glowing Box to watch Project Runway , which doesn't end until late, meaning I am too tired to clean on Thursday. Suddenly, it's the weekend and nothing has been done. *sigh* Today, even though I am tired to the point of my fingers hurting slightly as I type, as Gawd as mah Witness, I'm going to pull myself up by my...

The End of Scrabulous ?!?!?!? I may have to take the next few days off work to play as much as I can! Although I am not fully recovered from my deathly illness, thank you so much for your concern about my well-being. All the thousands Both of the comments wishing me a speedy recovery certainly helped! I spent most of yesterday in bed, eating, drinking fluids, and playing Scrabulous (with people who took way too long to move. It's like they were actually working or something. What up with that?). Then, I somehow managed to crawl upstairs to watch Project Runway at Tomoko's. Fun times were had by all. And, I actually agreed with the judging for once. How odd. No big plans for tonight other than catching up on my cleaning. We're not even out of the first month of the year and I'm already slacking on my 30-minute cleaning regimen. Can I blame the sickness? Can I? Please? I figure this weekend, I can catch up and become reinvigorated! Yay! Update : Yikes! I forgot the so...

Last night, I didn't make a variation on Mel's chickpea soup. Instead, I ate takeout Chinese leftover from lunch. Yum. Once I got home, I did my 30 minutes of cleaning (swept and vaccuumed the living/dining area, tidied up some papers, and dusted/polished the TV cabinet). Then, my friend, Christal called. We haven't talked since Xmas, so it was good to catch up. I played a kick-ass word in my Scrabulous game with SCGB and surged into the lead. Yay! Tomoko stopped by on her way home from work to drop off her proxy form. Our stakeholders annual meeting is tonight, and she (probably) won't make it in time to vote. We'll be voting on our new budget (which *may* become contentious) and electing a new Board of Directors. I am expecting to be elected to the Board ... we'll see ... There are two slots becoming available this year, so I'm hoping that DUN will also be elected to the Board. Later, SCGB and DUN came down for a chat und drink. That was fun. I a...

Wah wah wah waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah ... So. My weekend. Hm. Where to begin? I guess with Friday evening? I was feeling a bit under the weather, so, rather than go out on the town, I ended up in my apartment having drinks and watching DVDs with Tomoko. Then, Y called and wanted to come over. Although I wasn't exactly feeling it, he needed to hang out with friendly faces. See ... what happened was this: He had a meeting with his advisors, and they told him (and I'm paraphrasing here) that there was no chance in hell that they were ever going to award him a PhD. This came as a bit of a shock since, in May, they admitted him to candidacy and he had been getting improved results with his experiments. Apparently, they had been giving him (nearly) impossible tasks with (nearly) impossible deadlines in the hopes that he would give up/fail. He didn't. Thus, the advisors had to come straight out and tell him. They've offered to award him a Master's degree (gee, thanks). And Y see...

Step One : Empty contents of the Linen Closet of My Discontent onto my bed and dresser [dresser not pictured]: GAH! DISASTER! Step Two : Convince Psychokitty Isabella to not set up residence in the newly emptied Linen Closet of My Discontent. "But it's so comfortable," she protested. Step Three : Neatly arrange cleaning products and personal care products on bottom shelf. Neatly fold towels on second shelf and sheet sets on third shelf. Randomly shove comforter and mattress pads on top shelf (not pictured). Voila! It is done!

from the results of Project Runway last night... Beware, le spoilers (highlight to read): I mean, gah!, Victorya (hate her) winning? Sweet P was robbed ! Robbed, I tell you. Kevin auf'ed? NO! So very very sad. I shall miss his fanciful metrosexual sculpted facial hair and his constant affirmations of straightness. Although, hello?, did you see his high school prom picture? Anyway, I must move on. On the bright side, watching PR4 with my wonderful neighbors, Tomokito, DUN, SCGB, and Neighbor Who Lives Across the Hall from DUN was a blast. We had cheese! and crackers! and white bean dip! and chips! and wine! Fun times! And I went home to dream about felted belts which need buckles. Perhaps that will be one of my weekend projects (besides organizing 3 closets and straightening the spare room and putting all the Xmas stuff back into storage). I think this 30 minute daily cleaning routine (with time off on Fridays for good behavior) is really going to work. Keep your well-...

Actually, it's brown, but whatever ... When I got home last night, I began Day Two of Operation Cleanliness is Next to Vuboqliness . Day two is the kitchen. I *hates* my kitchen. It is gross. Even when it's clean, it still looks dirty. I basically top-cleaned everything, swept, mopped up some small spots, scrubbed the sink, and took out the recycling and compost bins. Then, I had a glass of wine. Yay wine! Today will be laundry and bedroom. Fun times. After relaxing for a bit checking email, playing Scrabulous, and chatting with friends, I made a simple tomato sauce using the ground quorn. I took a picture, but forgot to upload it. Sorry. I made the sauce a little too quorny. It was more like a very quorn chili on top of pasta. The taste was fine (did it even have a taste?). The texture was good too. The final verdict will be passed (*heh* "passed") later on today. Sometimes, with other meat-substitutes (like Boca Crumbles), I experience unpleasant side effects the fo...

The product of overzealous furniture polishing: See... what happened was, like, this weekend, I was, like, polishing my dresser, and like, wow, like, I totally jammed my thumb on one of the dresser drawer corners. Teh ow. Totally.

That's the last time I stay up until after midnight drinking wine, playing Scrabulous, and chatting with people on a school night. *oog* There was big excitement in little Sligo Creek Park last night. Around 11PM (or so) the Montgomery County Police pulled a minivan over right in front of our building. Apparently, it was a slow crime night in Silver Spring, because, at one point, there were 5 police cars involved. The three people in the van were ordered out of the van and made to sit on the curb while one police officer searched it. Eventually, the officers let two of the "suspects" leave in the minivan. The third young man was driven away in the police car. Very exciting. I had to go up to a neighbor's apartment for a better view. We were in our pjs peering through her blinds with my binoculars. Too funny, I'm sure. In other thrilling news, because the weather was so nice yesterday (low 60s?), I went for a run of about 20 minutes. My best guesstimate ...