We could go do something cowgirly!!!! and then go have drinks with DJ and her fun friends!

I want to do this! I could even buy boots!

Party time in Dallas/Fort Worth!

I don't know why, but tonight's chili is particularly good.

For better or worse, I had Matilda adding spices in little dibs and dabs and somehow it all came together. Though it might not be reproducible.

Still, it's one of those chilis where you really can't wait to get the next bite in your mouth.

I now have heirloom tomato caprese salad. Perhaps later I will roast some asparagus.

How did it go?

Better than I expected. It definitely could have been worse. Funerals as an adult are much different than when you're a kid, you know? I mostly tried to deal with all the background stuff, like washing the dishes and looking after the two-year-old and filling out paperwork for food assistance for a family member. It's all a blur. A blur with casseroles.

School has already been cancelled for tomorrow. And I just finished Downton Abbey, and I already want more.

SO JUICY. I love it.

msbelle, I might try for a grant after I know whether or not I'll be asked back for next year. The principal told me today that he likes what I'm doing in the classes, the kids really like me and the only things he asked me to be more proactive about is banning drinks and food, and keeping kids from sitting on desks. So I feel cautiously optimistic at this point, but I will keep working my ass off.

msbelle's stomach! Stop bleeding! You are not Jim's Tubercular Lungs!

I'm sorry, amyth. And for everyone still mourning a pet. It's hard.

Living the life of meara this week: staying in a hotel for business in OC. Fun!

I've heard they put vegetables in Chinese food, or on pizza.

I got groceries right before I left, so I have a refrigerator full of healthy food that I need to eat. To counteract all the potato chips and cake.

We had new people at work today, and they asked how we all avoid gaining 20lbs. Ha ha. YOU DON'T.

t sigh

I really hope the storm tonight's not too bad. I have no food in the house, and I have to work tomorrow.

I should probably be writing right now. Catching up on y'all is more fun, though.

My good news for the week: they added a third lap lane for rush hours. Remove it at 6:30 M/W for aqua aerobics, but major win. I told the lifeguard J that now we'd have the NYResolution fail and it wouldn't be crazy like it has the past few weeks.

One of my cousins just posted a fairly graphic photo of animal abuse on facebook, as part of a thing to spread the photo around to see if anyone could identify the people in it. I so did not need to see that.

Uhg. Me, otoh, am getting increasingly frantic IMs from my friend because our friend's (and neighbor's) cat refuses to leave her house and her roommate's cat kinda hates him. He likes to "go visiting" and has stayed with them and another neighbor when S is out of town. And he stays with former roommate and sometimes her parents when S is on extended leaves.

This is the cat who tried to climb into my car and had to be dissuaded from entering my house. He basically thinks he lives everywhere.

We had a cat like that in the neighborhood at our old apartment! I met him when he came in our window and started eating our cats' food. He was *very* friendly. His owners told us he just really likes people.