What I am breathlessly awaiting is Sunday's outfit choice though.

I have to decide what I'm wearing on Sunday. The BIDs are too strong to go with my original choice.

will we get to see a picture? My imagination is not what it used to be.

Yes, there will be photos. If it's anything like last year's Steamcon, lots and lots of photos.

Penguin sweaters! [link]

Clearly I will never actually do this but I fully recommend that people wear gloves to chop chilies. Then you won't be blind when your eyes start getting itchy from allergies. No matter how well you wash them, there is always going to be burning.

Learn from my mistakes, people. Learn from my delicious, but ouchy, mistakes.

Learn from my mistakes, people. Learn from my delicious, but ouchy, mistakes.

Yeah, not gonna happen. That's the kind of thing you always remember half way through chopping.

Timelies all!

My folks are here on their annual migration south.

I don't even own gloves that aren't for hair color.

I look at the chili, look at the knife, look into the future and know it'll end in tears. Literally.

I keep disposable latex gloves in my kitchen for that very purpose. After a painful mistake with a jalepeno. (I swear I washed my hands 4 times before taking out my contacts! I swear, I did!)

I wish this were shocking:

The Roman Catholic bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Robert Finn, and the diocese he leads have been indicted by a county grand jury on a charge of failure to report suspected child abuse in the case of a priest who had been accused of taking lewd photographs of young girls.

But this part still is:

The indictment is the first ever of a Catholic bishop in the 25 years since the scandal over sexual abuse by priests first became public in the United States.

Man.

ETA link [link]

Just got off the phone with Mom. She's been talking all summer long about coming out here this fall, but had been waffling on the exact time. I told her time and time again to let me know so I could take some PTO from work. Since she's bringing her dog along, she's not going to be staying with me (which is a bit of a relief, because I didn't want to put my cat through the hassle of having a dog sharing my 1BR apartment with her), but with her siblings down in Joliet. I figured I'd go down there and visit often in her week or so stay.

Since she hadn't said anything in the past few weeks about exactly when she was coming out, I figured she had settled on Thanksgiving. Then, while we were talking just now, she said something about how Dad is going to be visiting my niece at college in Ohio next weekend, which will work out fine with her coming out here right afterward. I said "I thought you were coming out at Thanksgiving!" and she was all, "Didn't I tell you?" No, Mom, you didn't. Thanks for the heads up. Now I have to figure out my PTO and get someone cross trained a lot sooner than I thought.

And, if Dad is planning on going out to Ohio next weekend, he was originally talking about taking me with! I have to talk with him, too, and see exactly what his plans are and get that PTO planned as well.

Retirees have flexible schedules--we working kids don't!!

I have a three day weekend too! And it's been a hell of a week. Woohoo!