I find the scent of deodorant tampons/pads repulsive (I don't know what it is trying to smell like)

me too!

So Franny is okay but her mouth is very sore now that the anesthetic has all worn off, and she has no Rx for anything stronger so she's taking OTC meds for it. So no school for her today. Cody and I are tag-teaming it. I'm at work now but will go home after my classes are over.

But I think a crystal bowl is lovely, and way better than, say, a crocheted toilet-plunger cozy that looks like a deranged Hummel figurine.

Right? I mean, I think so, anyway! And I do think right-minded people would agree, and I should assume my friends are right-minded people.

I am an anxious gift-giver.

Those are good assumptions.

I'm just trying to imagine something horrifying.

The worst thing we got was a ceramic mezuzah holder shaped like a bride and groom that was just not well made or pretty and particularly made the bride look terrified. I can't remember what we ended up doing with it, maybe just left it behind when we moved? Maybe I still have it in a box somewhere, I have a lot of boxes.

The same people who gave us that gave my sister-in-law something ceramic shaped like a house (I don't recall what purpose it was supposed to serve, perhaps a spice box?) that I believe her husband threw out a window.

So if you were considering giving crappy ceramics I would advise against it.

But glass bowls are fine.

I was tickled when friends gave us bedsheets off our registry...and comic books.

...which reminds me I've got a couple boxes of Mom's stuff in teh basement, which includes cut glass bowls that were her wedding gifts 60+ years ago.

we were spoiled for many years travelling back to Boston directly (and I feel like one of the NYC airports doesn't make you get rescreened?) so when we did our first trip from New Orleans and connected through Houston, we were shocked to find out about it and barely made our connecting flight.

I tried to keep that in mind for layover times when booking the return flight for the trip we're taking next week.

{{Franny}} Yeah, that's no fun.

Burrell, I think it was you that recommended TJ's Greens Beans & Grains? I'm trying it for lunch today - nom!

I always seemed to end up sitting around the Houston airport forever on layovers. Possibly because I was afraid of missing a connection, but I don't remember that part.

Just going to rant for a second here....

My work (ya know, the ones that have me on a PIP) have put me out there as an expert in my field, and I will be talking to a reporter from a national industry magazine next week. They have also told me to save the date for an off-site meeting 11/30-12/1. WOULD THEY MAKE UP THEIR GODDAMNED MINDS PLEASE?

-t, yes that is the dumb part, but what's also dumb is that one goes through customs at the port of first entry in the U.S., which necessitates shenanigans like this. In much of the rest of the world, it's the final destination.

I've been rescreened in both EWR and JFK. I don't think LGA has any international flights, so that's a moot point.

So they have great confidence in you, except when they have no confidence in you. Awesome.

Shrift and I got rescreened in Panama connecting back from Ecuador, when we literally went from arrival gate to the gate 50 feet away. Which was a giant PITA because of liquor bought at duty free in Quito that suddenly couldn't reboard with us.