weekend wrap-up
Monday, Feb. 07, 2005,

I had an interesting milestone or two Saturday. When I got dressed in the morning, I pointed out to Spouse that I needed to retire my old Lee jeans--the ones I was so proud to fit into last fall. They were just too big to wear. He seemed unenthused about that, but I put it down to money worries. Now is really not the best time to be needing a new wardrobe.

But while he was at the Job Fair, I was doing the wash, and noticed more of my old jeans hanging downstairs by the dryer. So I went through them, and found a pair of 24s. I took off the ridiculously baggy 28s I was wearing, and pulled on the smaller pair. And zipped them. And buttoned them. Yeah. I was pretty friggin' thrilled!

Conversation when Spouse came home later:
Me: I solved the jeans problem.
He: Yeah? what'd you do?
Me: I went downstairs and put on the pair that was two sizes smaller.
He: Wow! Yeah...that's a good way to fix it.

LATER:
He: You know, you really are looking a lot thinner...you're looking pretty good in those jeans.
Me: Why yes...yes I am. Except for this...(grabs roll of belly fat)
He: (exasperated) Don't spoil it! Let me compliment you! (grabs my hips) You're down to one set of hips, anyway.
Me: (speechless at the silver-tongued charmer I married)_______!

Deciding we needed to be organized, we sat down and made a grocery list. Well , he sat down and wrote the list. I ran all over the house to see what we were out of or low on. List made, we then drove out by the Interstate to shop.

As we passed Texas Roadhouse, he did one of his little "oh, if only" whines: "If only we had the gift certificate with us, we could go have lunch..." GOT HIM! I just happened to have it in my wallet, waiting for the day when he uttered that very whine. So we stopped and had lunch before we went shopping. I had a bbq chicken breast sandwich, he had the itty bitty steak. My sandwich was delicious, but HUGE--a whole breast, not a split. I couldn't finish. We ate really well, and for only $20.00, which leaves another $30 on the card for a nice dinner some night. I shouldn't have eaten so much, as I was going out Saturday night, but at that place, anything you order is going to be a lot of food.

Spouse occupied himself with cleaning out his roll-away when we got home; I put away the shopping and finished the laundry, then relaxed till it was time to get ready to go out.

And then I hopped in the shower in the 'Rocket and went on a four-store, frenzied search for oven cleaner! Seriously. Shortly before it was time for me to get ready, he decides to start cleaning the oven. Being something of an idiot*, he way overused the can of oven cleaner we had, and ran out before he'd covered everything. Instead of leaving the racks in the oven, he wanted to do them in the driveway! (In the dark, I might add.) So just about the time I should have been brushing my teeth, I was searching the entire South side of town for fume-free oven cleaner. The kind that no one carries. Oh, everyone has the stinky stuff in the yellow can, but just try to find the blue one!

I actually went to the Pig (I'd bought the first can at the Northside Pig, so dummy me--I thought that I'd find it at my local Pig), Osco, Walgreen's and finally Super-Valu...who actually had it. But what should have taken about 10 minutes had ended up taking 45. And I ended up taking 10 minutes to get ready, instead of 45. No shower, no makeup...just a hasty sponge bath, lightning tooth brushing, and a change of clothes. Then I headed over to pick up W & T.

*I know he thinks he's being subtle, but Mr. Control Freak was just trying to fuck up my evening, because I'd had the audacity to plan one that didn't include him. Does he really think I don't see that after all these years? Especially after the way he ruined my last birthday?

I turned them on to Avenue Q in the car; "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist", and "The Internet is for Porn" had W sobbing with laughter. (I loaned them my CD so they could hear the whole show.) We were seated immediately when we got there, but they put us next to the piano, and good grief, it was loud!

The evening severely displeased me, actually. The piano, the very slow service, the incorrect cooking of steaks, the fact that they changed my favorite salad dressing to include a large measure of red pepper, and a ridiculously long wait to simply pay the check and get the heck out.

And yes, the red pepper did set off an allergy attack. I damn near choked to death, and had to take an antihistamine, which made me feel brain-damaged for the rest of the evening. So no, I wasn't best pleased at the whole thing, especially as this was my Christmas gift to my friends, I would have preferred a dinner with fewer flaws. The Cr�me Brulee was marvelous, though.

After dinner, we went back to their house and sat around chatting for the rest of the evening. I got home around midnight.

The oven looked fabulous.

about 26 minutes

around 1.4 miles

approx. 190 calories

Why the waffle? Frickm-frackm @&%*$# shitty gym equipment, which punked out halfway through my workout. I had to start over on another treadmill, and after I got done fighting with the first one, I couldn't keep the numbers straight anymore. This makes three out of six treadmills that aren't working right at the moment.

In other diet-related news, I've changed my lunch bar from Slimfast to Body for life, on the recommendation of Dr. B, the chiro who fixed me on Thursday. She thinks I need more protein, so I switched. SF has eight grams, BFL has almost double that, at 15. They are comparably priced and taste pretty good, so no hardship.

I didn't watch the Superbowl, because...I don't watch the Superbowl. Although I did tune in long enough to look at the crowd, and feel a little sorry for my brother-in-law being stuck in it. I hope he enjoyed it, but I can't imagine what people see in that. I was pleased to see the Eagles playing with number 92 on their helmets, to honor Reggie White, though.

But who needs the Superbowl? Especially when you have....THE PUPPY BOWL! Animal Planet ran hours of footage of an assortment of puppies playing in a stadium-shaped pen, piddling, sniffing butts, wrestling, and being absolutely beyond adorable. Every time I flipped it on, I fell in love with another little charmer. Even Spouse was beguiled by the precious little furballs. Apparently it was intended to encourage adoption.

Now, being almost finished with his book, my opinion is somewhat different.

I think he's a whiny, blame-my failures-on-everything-but-me, self-destructive turd. With a crappy sense of humor, a worse sense of timing, and horrible tastes in early-90s music.

I'm sorry he has panic disorder, and is an alcoholic. I'm glad he has a great wife and a great kid. But I'm not very fond of the guy. Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's the subject, but I don't find the book very entertaining, enlightening, or amusing, because he can't sell himself to me as a sympathetic character.

And while he was thrilled to accept the cachet and the cash from SNL, he was not prepared to do the work, or to play by rules that were long-established there. He was under-used because he was a pouty brat who felt picked on all the time, and he preferred to sulk, rather than look around, learn the rules, and play the game. Boo-fukkity-hoo-hoo-hoo.