I bought a refrigerator! Ended up being sensible and bought basically what I have: a smallish thing with a top freezer and no fancy water or ice dispensers. Except it's stainless steel and energy-star. And I got it slightly dinged at the Sears Outlet, so it was half price. Go me.

And now I'm thinking about doing that for my dishwasher, too.

I bought a smallish fridge as well, with a top freezer and nothing else. It's working out quite well.

We brought out the grill tonight! A new grill, in fact, that I got for Christmas. Weber kettle grill to replace my super crappy off brand one I had before.

We grilled skirt steak and chicken thighs and zucchini, eggplant, red onions, fennel, and baby sweet peppers. Yum. Also had sweet potatoes slow roasted in the oven (2 hours at 300 in a foil pouch) and salad. A lovely dinner with my parents.

I also made some crazy slow oven cooked tomato sauce recipe. 6 hours in the oven, reducing 6 large cans of tomatoes to about 3.5 quarts of sauce. It is yummy.

Shrift, lisah& Bob regularly stay at one place they really like...can't recall, begins with a k?

So I was right. It was the boyfriend. I don't know the details, because it would be unseemly to ask in my position, and no one volunteered. I know she had to go ID his body. And his family is very inclusive of her, treating her like a beloved family member.I'm gonna send a card to the shop for her, and also one to the shop itself. None of her appts was cancelled, owner came in, one of her former coworkers came down from NYC to help cover, she's being paid as if working and all her scheduled appts' tips are going to her. Really lovely. When I asked the owner how Allison was doing, we both teared up. She wants to come back this week, but owner is fully prepared to keep covering if it's too much.

Owner was going to cut my hair, but the NYC guy really wanted to do it (he's said that before, when he worked there. He cuts with a razor, loves to do layer and texture) so I let him. He did great, but showed how invaluable it is to have someone who knows your hair well from way back. I'm usually in and out in 45 minutes, from start of shampoo. This was 1.5 hrs! And I've seen him with his regulars, not the norm. He just really really " got to know my hair."

The Whitehall off of Michigan is where my parental type family usually stay.

I'm making real beef stroganoff, with chopped onions and mushrooms and everything. I've cheated with meat cut up for stir fry and jarred minced garlic, but anything that gets me actually cooking is a good thing.

Yum, beef stroganoff!

That's so sad, sara.

I've been extremely pissed off.

So, okay, Grace did a Special Games event (not S.O.... ) it was sponsored by panhellenic life at Loyola Marymount. I cannot for the life of me figure out who is supposed to be learning what from that situation. Like is this to make the special needs folks feel good or is it really about secretly making the frats and sorority girls feel better.

Well, I told my landlord that I'm leaving at the end of the school year, and I asked her if I could extend my lease until the end of June (it ends at the end of May) so that I'd have a bit more time to get organized and actually move stuff after classes end, but she said no. She also said she wants me to "create order" in the apartment as soon as possible, so that she can start showing it. (It is currently a mess, and I do need to get stuff organized and de-cluttered so that I can pack things and move.) I did get rid of three trash bags full of random papers and packaging and plastic junk that had been in my front room today, though, so that's a start.