The biscuit, peeps, the biscuit.

See, unlike Sunny and Maggie Lukis, Rowdi will not sit still if you put stuff on her. Put a t-shirt on her, and she mopes so sullenly, will not look at you, acts like you’ve just killed her favorite squeaky toy, and doggone it, that squeaky toy was hers to kill. Put anything on her head? You’ve got about a half second to snap your picture before she knocks it off and walks away. Bad dog.

But I am not to be thwarted (for long). I want pictures of my dog with stuff on her, and I’m going to get them. So your genius muser did what any would-be dog torturer would do: I made her sit still with a biscuit on her nose.

We all know that Rowdi is awesome at the Wait for the Biscuit game (witness). So I realized that I could put the biscuit on her nose and have her undivided attention for however long it took to get a decent picture. I had put the egg on her head several times, and she had just tipped her head to the side or whacked the egg with her paw as many times. I put the biscuit on her nose and told her to wait for it… and then I was able to get a couple of pictures pretty fast. I love the look on her face so much it hurts. She feels such indignity, can you tell?

Exit question: How about that body frame? She has such a buff, muscular torso, but then you get to her legs, and they are so skinny! She has very narrow hips, no doubt the reason that at five years old, we already have to mix glucosamine and chondroitin with her food due to hip trouble. Poor egg-headed puppy.

37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’

38 “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, 39 whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42 Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:

‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness,
O house of Israel?
43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’”

You know who’s awesome? Lou Maull, that’s who’s awesome. He’s been a reader here for awhile (I hope he doesn’t mind my saying so), and a few days ago (okay, a couple of weeks — this one has been sitting in my drafts for a while), I got a most wonderful email from him. See, Lou runs a family barbecue-sauce-making business that’s been around for more than a century. Apparently all the peeps in St. Louis buy Maull’s barbecue sauce, because they know it’s tha bomb. I’ve meant for a while to try it but for some reason never got around to it (because I’m lazy). Well, the company gets a few emails a month from gluten-free sauce lovers asking if they can consume Maull’s barbecue sauce, and because of that, and because Lou has read about all of my gluten problems… he decided to find out. Even though there are others emailing him, I take full credit. ;-)

Lou went to his suppliers and asked each one if all of the ingredients he buys are gluten-free. (I’ll stop for a moment while you applaud.) And he didn’t stop there. He got the ELISA testing supplies (accurate to 10ppm) so he could be sure that his sauces are clean. He tested every flavor that they make, and only his beer-flavored BBQ sauce tested positive for gluten (and I conclude that since the others did not test positive for gluten, he runs a well-segregated shop).

I have been making my own barbecue sauce lately, because I hardly ever see prepacked bbq sauce marked gluten-free, and they all contain some language like natural flavors, spices, or flavorings… and when I’m running around the grocery store, I don’t usually have a laptop and wifi for checking out certain brands. I have found a couple of organic sauces marked gluten-free, but let’s be honest — they might as well be labeled “bland ketchup flavor.” And I do like my own bbq sauce (but I like most of my own cooking). But it is pretty inconvenient to have to make my own every time (and since I’m scared to try canning for fear of exploding glass, making it in advance and storing it is not an option), which means that we don’t have barbecue and barbecuey things very often. And we plan to get a grill soon, so I know there is a lot of smoking and grilling in our future.

So I’ve just ordered a lifetime supply (okay, twelve bottles) of Maull’s sauce. Every flavor except beer. I will report back later on how it tastes. It had better be good! ::shakes fist::

17 “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18 till another king arose who did not know Joseph. 19 This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. 20 At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. 21 But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.

30 “And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look.

33 “Then the LORD said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

So Friday the accounting department played hooky for most of the day so we could have a little team-building (read: time away from numbers).

We were all standing in line to ride the go carts at Boondocks (one of those golf-n-games kinds of places). I was standing next to Elle, Boss, and T (the Vietnamese intern — we have two now, one from Vietnam and one not from Vietnam), and we were watching all the kids and their bad driving (really, they don’t get the concept of turning around if your car goes backwards). At a break in the action, Boss (who is like Seacrest-sized so maybe five inches taller than me) said, “So, Sarah. Can you even reach the pedals in the go carts?” I looked at him. “Can you?”

Buuuuuuuurrrrrrn! Can’t dish the short jokes when you’re short unless you’re ready to receive return fire, yo.

More on hooky day later.

Well, I had all day today to write my post about Carrie Underwood and Josh Turner. Alas, I had more pressing matters to attend. I did manage to resize most of the crappy cell phone pictures I took, but my normal blogging was severely hampered by my inability to quit watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

We did it all day Saturday, a little yesterday, and all day today. It’s been the best three-day weekend ever. In fact, if I didn’t have month-end close for the next two weeks, I’d totally call in sick for the next however many days it takes to watch the entire series plus the entire Angel series.

Ack! Sleestaks!

Here’s a preview: Elle and me sitting on the third row waiting for the opening act:

Exciting stuff, y’all.

When we walk into our house now, it smells funkay. I traced the smell to the laundry room. Yep, the baby birds are stinking up the house.

Saturday, I thought they may have left the nest for good, and that made me happy, because I’d really like to get rid of that smell. I could hear no squawking at any time during the day — and we were home all day watching the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (plus the premiere of season two), so we would have heard them.

But Sunday they were louder than ever, so I guess we’re stuck with them a little longer. I think we will definitely put a cover over the vent after it gets cleaned out, because while it is kinda cool to have baby birds growing in your house, the bebbies are stinkeh.

*We finally saw Iron Man last night. Great flick. Dumb action, great hero, great villains, explosions, sci-fi… what more could a geeky gun chick ask for in a movie?
*For the first time in a very long time (like maybe since we met), Frank and I both know of more than one movie we want to see in the theater this year. We usually just wait for Netflix for everything, but Iron Man, Narnia, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, X-Files 2, Hancock… we actually want to go to the movies. We’ll have to sell my car to afford the tickets (seriously, eighteen bucks for two tickets? Are you mad?), but maybe we’ll only have to sell Rowdi if we see matinees.
*I answered an email from a friend a few days ago whose mom has just been diagnosed with celiac. I get one or two emails about celiac each month, usually from people who read here and know someone who was just diagnosed or have been diagnosed themselves or see similar symptoms to those I have experienced (and still do experience). And I really want to make a better effort to be a good resource for celiacs and people like me who are gluten-intolerant. I don’t know if I’ll do a one-shot post or a series of posts about gluten-free living, but I know I want to do something.
*My Florida neurologist (Dr. Wonderful) went through a couple of years and several theories with me while we searched for the cause of my migraines, muscle pain, nerve pain, and so many other symptoms. As soon as we saw how the gluten-free diet improved my life, he kind of became an expert on celiac and gluten. And now he has suggested to someone else (I don’t know how many, but I know this person, so I do know it’s at least one) that he/she may have celiac or some other kind of food intolerance. I can’t tell you how much that warms my heart. Not that someone else may have food problems, but that my situation may have played a part in his suggestion to this person (who is currently being tested).
*Rowdi is really enjoying playing with the other dogs in “daycare.” We know she is, because she comes home every day and sleeps until it’s time to go to bed and then sleeps some more. I think the little dogs are wearing her out, because every day when we get there to pick her up, the little dogs are always jumping all over her and around her. I know she’ll start pacing herself next week, and it makes me kind of sad, because when she’s ultra-tired, she doesn’t have the energy to be bad.
*I’ve been really inflamed this week. Having headaches every day, muscle pain, nerve pain in my leg… I think I must have had some gluten or dairy, but I don’t know how. I’ve cooked all week, so it’s not like someone is slipping something into my food. I have been wondering for a while if I’m also starting to have a problem with corn (I’ve thought this for a year or so now, but I keep telling myself it’s not possible, because that’ll just cut out pretty much all the Mexican food I’m able to eat). I’m also starting to wonder if I have something else going on that causes flare-ups of inflammation all over the body. I had a colonoscopy last March before my endoscopy, so I don’t think it’s Crohn’s or colitis, and I’m hoping it’s not anything. I guess I need to get myself to a new neuro. Wah.
*Today I’m getting paid to play. The whole accounting department is leaving the office at 11 and going to lunch and then going to do stuff that I’m way too out of shape to do. Teambuilding and whatnot. I’ll report later, as I’m sure shenanigans will ensue.

Later, dudes.

Sorry about that. My whole rhythm has been thrown off. Every day this week I’ve said to Frank (for one reason or other), “You know… it’s very inconvenient to have you working.” I’m mostly joking, but it was really nice to have him cook the sushi rice ahead of time and take care of the dishes, and especially nice to call him with shopping lists.

On Sunday we went and bought all the food for the entire week (which we used to do, but which I haven’t done consistently since I started back to work). Monday morning we got up early and walked the dog together. We hope to get back to that someday.

Rowdi’s been going to doggie daycare everyday, and she’s so sleepy.

I’m so sleepy.

Frank and I have been carpooling, because we work within two blocks of each other. It’s nice that our gas bill won’t be going up!

But now that Idol is over, I can get back to my regularly scheduled blogging. I have a lot to talk about, but I don’t want to say what, because then I won’t do it.

I’ll catch up with you peeps at lunch.

wRitErsbLock emailed and asked me what’s up with Palm Bay lately — Palm Bay being where we lived in Florida. What’s up with all the crime? she asked. She was prompted by this story about a waste of DNA who tried to kidnap a girl while she walked to school. That and the fact that all those wildfires were started by an arsonist.

Well, the answer is simple, WB: The people with the most guns moved to Idaho. There are still lots of guns in Palm Bay, but our move seriously depleted the town’s shiny count.

I walked into the laundry room earlier this week, and it sounded like there were birds chirping right outside the window. I figured there must be a nest around the side of the house. Later that day, Frank told me that he’d been on the side of the house with Rowdi, who was doing her business, and suddenly a mama bird appeared from a hole in the side of the house and started squawking at Rowdi. Like “Get away from my bebbies!”

So it turns out that the nest is in the laundry room’s vent (not the vent for the dryer, it’s the vent for the fan in the laundry room, and no, I don’t really know why there’s a fan in there). So they’re kinda inside the house, really.

And now every time we come near the laundry room or make a noise in the kitchen or walk into the garage, the bebbies start squawking and chirping. “Too loud! Get away from our house!” they say.

I want to get a picture of them, but that would mean dragging a ladder outside and hoping the mama bird doesn’t peck my eyes out for getting too close to the bebbies.

I guess after they fly the coop, we’ll have the management company come clean out the nest. But not before they’re ready.

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

Psalm 27:14

I’ve always known Thursday to be the best day of the week. It’s the day before Friday, the day when we look forward to the weekend, the day we know that after five tomorrow… there will be rest.

Last Thursday we closed on the house. Yesterday Frank got a job!

Interviewed in the morning, job offer by afternoon. Because he’s awesome. The email from the company said that all of the coal miners were VERY impressed with him. He’s an impressive kind of guy. He starts Monday. His new job is so close to where I work that we’ll be able to carpool. We can drop the dog off at daycare (shut UP!) and both be at work within five minutes.

One drawback: I’m going to have to start getting up earlier. He won’t be walking Rowdi during the day anymore, and we don’t want to lose control of the dog (the little we have), so we’ll have to walk her early, before we leave for work. Which means… carry the one… get up at 5, ply Frank with coffee, walk the dog at 5:30, shower by 6:30, etc. So… bedtime by 9, 9:30? I’m excited about the carpooling, even if it sounds like I’m not.

Second drawback: Planning. It’s been nice calling him during the day and saying, oh, can you run to the store and pick this up for dinner? And can you precook the chicken for me? It seems I’ll have to go back to the proper way of doing things, which is make a menu and do all the grocery shopping and precook the chicken on the weekends. And I’m going to have to get Fly Lady involved so we keep everything clean. I should make a couple of loaves of bread this weekend.

I want to say thanks to you readers who prayed for us and those of you who either helped or tried to help. And yes, a blog reader (one of his) got him the interview and wins the free t-shirt. I know you all want it, but only one can win. ;-)

And here’s where I go all religiony and such: I knew Frank was going to get this job. I’m doing a Bible study with the ladies from church, and this week’s study really had me thinking and praying. And praying. Monday we had made a decision about what Frank was going to do for work (it would have meant a lot of travel), but the decision didn’t feel right. Probably because I would miss him. I prayed hard about it (no one ever says they pray softly, do they?). Wednesday he got called for yesterday’s interview, and I knew this was the one. I told him yesterday morning, you’re going to get the job. You’re going to go interview, and they’re going to call you this afternoon with a job offer (I was wrong, they emailed). The work sounded really interesting to him, and he thought it went really well. When he called to tell me that he’d gotten the job and told me the salary, I told him, that’s exactly what I knew they were going to offer you. I had even done up a new budget the night before using that exact salary. Now I’m not gonna sit here and say that the Holy Spirit told me the salary or that God told me in a vision that Frank would get this job — I don’t believe things work that way. But I am going to tell you that I believe in the power of prayer. Not that we hadn’t been praying all along, but before this week, I wasn’t focused on Psalm 27:14 when I prayed.

So let’s just say my in-laws are totally awesome. Not just because of this (they were always awesome), but I think their awesome level has exponentially multiplied.
(more…)

I have so much to write about. I’ve written out a list of everything I want to blog, and one of those things is just so awesome that I can’t wait to play show and tell.

However, anything that requires actual thought or process (such as the thought of getting off the couch or the process of resizing photos)? Can’t do it right now, raging migraine and all.

I skipped Bible study, and Frank had to make dinner when he got home from there.

I managed to blog Idol, but that’s about all I have in me tonight (Idol blogging takes no thought — I’m just naturally hilarious).

I hope I’ll get to write about the really cool stuff going on (and the complete inanity that happened at work today) tomorrow morning before I head to work.

Ooh! Stars won. Boo-yah.

Night, musees.

Man. When I said boo-bye to Florida, I didn’t mean for it to go up in flames.

We closed on the house Thursday, and I have to say, I feel a little bit guilty about it. Because the people who bought the house have surely had to evacuate by now and could even lose their new house.

No really.

Interstate 95 was closed near the Malabar Road exit Monday afternoon. The highway was closed Sunday due to the fires but reopened early Monday, only to close again in the afternoon as the fires again sent columns of thick black smoke over the area, obscuring visibility.

Malabar Road was our exit. wb, you’re right: we would have been crashing at your place tonight. And bringing our whole neighborhood.

Two Palm Bay schools, Bayside High and Westside Elementary, were evacuated Monday afternoon as a helicopter fought the blaze amid reports that a home near Bayside High was aflame.

View Larger Map

Less than two miles from our old house. For reference, Bayside High School is at the corner of Degroodt and Bayside Lakes Blvd, and our house was at the northwest corner of the Majors Golf Course (second street south of the Bayside and Eldron intersection). Some people we went to church with live right across the street from Bayside High, and there are several families from church in the same area. We’ll call and check on our church family tomorrow.

I feel really bad for the people who bought our house four days ago. And our neighbors there. We’ll need to check on them tomorrow too. This is so horrible.

My massage therapist lives in Malabar, and from the location of some of the fires, I fear that she will lose her house. You can see one of the main roads on fire from her house, and she is surrounded by forest on one side and a retention pond on the other. It’s the forest side that worries me.

Our preacher’s family is up in Cocoa, which has been on and off fire for a couple of days. Sidenote on that:

Kel-Tec, a weapons manufacturing business at 1475 Cox Road, sustained roof damage.

That’s where Frank’s carry gun is from, and we’ve been to the facility there on Cox Road when Frank had to get his bang-bang fixed.

One more:

More than 100 area residents are spending the night at the shelter at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.

That’s about three miles from our old house; it’s the church Frank went to in Florida when he was Catholic. My heart breaks over this:

Paquette, who also lost some pet cats in the fire, said she spent the day crying.

I can’t imagine. People have also lost dogs and other animals. I’ve seen a lot of pictures of horses being walked down the streets (a lot of rural land has been burning).

If you’re a praying person, I know the people in Florida, particularly in Brevard and Volusia Counties, need your prayers.

Also known as pure bliss.

Today was Mother’s Day, and my MIL loves pasta more than pretty much everything else. So I decided to make pasta, garlic broccoli, appetizers, and a dessert. I went on allrecipes.com, one of my favorite recipe-inspiration sites, and looked for anything Italian. I came across this recipe for dulcia domestica, and it sounded pretty non-blase and yummy.

Holy smokes, kids.

If you ever come to our house, you can fully expect to have dulcia domestica for dessert. It will be a staple around here for sure. I was a little worried when I was cooking it, because it wasn’t very aromatic. And then I poured the dates into a serving dish, and all the scents fused together at once right in front of my nostrils. From the smell, I knew we were in for a treat.

I was right.

It’s such a simple recipe. Dates stuffed with pine nuts, sprinkled in black pepper and then sauteed in red wine and honey (I, of course, also used coconut oil so the dates wouldn’t stick to the pan, as I’d read in the reviews that they do).

I try to do recipes as written the first time I make them, and thereafter, they are open to interpretation and tricking up. I’m already thinking of new things I can do to this one. For example:

Served over softened cream cheese (after I can actually consume dairy products).
Over goat cheese. Cottage cheese. Ricotta cheese.
Add balsamic vinegar to the red wine and honey, or drizzle the finished product in a teensy bit of balsamic.
Cooked with red chili.
Rolled in batter and deep fried (after the honey and red wine have soaked in).

And so on.

Anyway, try it, peeps. You won’t regret it.

We’re going to have to start locking Rogue in a padded cell at night.

9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. 16 And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

(with apologies to Tee Tee)

We closed on the house today! Yay! No more mortgage payments, no more extra electric bills, no more extra water bills, no more extra sewer bills, no more HOA payments, no more exploding water heaters, no more gardener to pull the weeds for us… No more ties.

Awesome.

To celebrate, Frank bought champagne, and to say goodbye to Florida, he bought Florida orange juice. We mixed them together and had mimosas. Yummy, never had those before.

We’re looking forward to visiting Florida (didn’t like living there, but I can’t wait to vacation there). I’m trying to get Frank to go in 2009 after The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens at Universal (I’m thinking November, when it’s slightly less suffocatingly hot than in October). Spend a whole week at Disney, hang out with our bloggy friends. Go back to the KSC (I miss it). Drive down US-1 along the Indian River, take A1A to Jupiter Beach…

I truly don’t miss living there. I just miss a couple of things about Florida. No seller’s remorse here, yo.

Anyway, if I didn’t say it already, Florida… boo-bye.

1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

2 And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, “Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. 5 And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. 6 But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years. 7 “And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, “and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’ 8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

Someone stole my lunch food! I brought it in Monday, because I forgot I was going to lunch that day with Boss and a couple of other people. Yesterday, Frank and I were running all over town at lunch trying to get something notarized for our house closing (finally at our fourth stop, we were able to get that done), so I ate a can of fruit cocktail for lunch when I got back. So I still had my leftover chicken mix from the tostadas I made last week.

Just now I went in to get my food out of the fridge. Half of it is gone! And the thing is, I work with adults.

I’m hoping that they spooned it out onto a plate when they snaked my food, because I’m hungry and therefore eating what the rogue left me.

Next time I bring in food, I’m going to mark the container. “This is Sarah’s food. That means it is not yours. If you’d like some, please ask.” Or something equally snotty. Y’all know me.

8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. 10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. 13 They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” 15 And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

Rogue has come to be known in this house as “The Terrorist.” Minerva is sweet and cuddly — the worst she does when we’re trying to sleep is burrow down between my knees so she can be more comfortable, and if we try to sleep in on a Saturday, she comes up and starts gently clawing our chests or faces so we’ll know that it is time for her pets. Sydney just knocks everything off the counters and rips up my fake plants.

And then there’s Rogue. When we got her she was eight pounds. Within two weeks of unlimited supply of cat food, she weighed ten. The vet told us to put the food up where she couldn’t reach it but the others could (she can’t jump, so if she can’t climb or claw her way up onto something, she can’t get there — it’s her most awesome feature) and ration her food. We did that for a while, and then we moved here. Everything was just too hectic to bother with that. Until we took her to the vet a few weeks ago. She is now a twelve-pound beast.

So now Minerva and Syndey eat on the kitchen bar (the only place in the house Rogue can’t get to), and Rogue’s food is on the guest bathroom floor. And she gets rationings. The recommended food for a cat trying to lose weight is something like 3/4 cup per day. We give her about 1/2 cup twice a day. So she’s getting plenty of food. The only reason we do 1/2 cup twice a day is because occasionally, Minerva eats from Rogue’s food, so we can’t really be sure that Rogue’s getting her full 3/4 if we only give her that much.

Well. Around six o’clock every morning, Rogue starts climbing around on my night table. She knocks off anything that will make a noise. Then she walks across us and over to Frank’s night table and throws off books, keys, wallet, anything else she can find. Then she stands up with her front paws on the wall and starts playing the kitteh version of tetherball with the cord to the blinds. Just bangs the wooden knob around, making as much noise as possible.

Clearly this cat has been trained in kitteh-getz-fed tactics.

Not to mention (wait, this means I *am* mentioning) that any time one of us has food on our plate left over after a meal, she gets up on the couch, pretending to want to snuggle, grabs something off of a plate, and throws it onto the floor. Like “There! You’re done eating! So get me some food!”

She also headbutts us if we ignore her when she wants us to pet her. She’s really not a nice kitteh.

Wot? Fesh gotz ta swam, kittehz gotz ta eet.

1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. 2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.

7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

FOUR. Four overtimes. FOUR. And I couldn’t watch it.

And btw, _Jon, my Stars are totally gonna kick your Wings’ pinkytoes in the WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS! I’m so excited my Stars are in the conference finals, whether I can watch or not.

As to the not watching, dudes, I can’t take it. 61 saves out of Marty. 61. In a quadruple overtime win. Any critics who hadn’t already changed their minds about Marty’s playoff stamina because there hadn’t been a five-plus-hour overtime win may now shut up.

Modano and Morrow are killing this season, and especially this playoff season, it’s like old Modano, and I just may die from the sheer pain of having to miss it all.

Someone should tape these games and send them to me. Yes, I would even watch on a VCR.

Maybe it’ll be an ESPN instant classic.

I’m dying, y’all.

Go Stars!

33 When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them. 34 Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. 37 After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. 38 And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; 39 but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it–lest you even be found to fight against God.”

40 And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

SARAHK: I like working at home, because I can call people idiots, and they can’t hear me.
FRANK: That sounds like something you’d like.

Did you catch the cameo on CSI Thursday night?

So. cool.

So yesterday was pretty crappy. We had a staff meeting first thing in the morning, and it lasted until 10:30. [Aside about that: Boss brought in bagels for everyone, and I wasn’t expecting there to be anything I could eat, and then he pulled a cup of fruit out of the bag. I exclaimed, “Is that for me?!” Yes, as long as I can eat corn syrup, and I can. That was pretty cool of Boss, I thought.] Then I had my biweekly meeting with Boss. Then I started finishing the previous day’s work, which I obviously didn’t finish on the previous day. Then it was lunchtime, and I was taking one of our recent hires out for lunch. We went to Carino’s. The waiter brought me a celiac menu and was very helpful in determining what I should eat to avoid the dairy. It turned out well, and so far, I haven’t been sick.

But eating at Carino’s was soooooo slow. And then on the way back we got stuck in traffic. Forever. So that ended up being a two hour lunch.

I got back to work and started to finish yesterday’s work. There are certain entries that I have to post either on the last day of the month or the first day of the next month. Yesterday, being May 1st (carry the one), was the first day of the following month. So I absolutely had to finish my last day entries yesterday. Because there are other departments waiting on me to finish, and if I don’t finish on time, that means they are delayed in closing their entities.

Aaaaand, of course, when I got into posting the last few entries that absolutely *had* to be posted, I realized I’d screwed up some of the entries I made on Wednesday. And I transferred the wrong amount of money, which meant that not only did I have to correct my entry, I had to correct the transfer, and blah blah blah. Finally around 4 or 5, I was able to start working on the entity I had scheduled to finish yesterday.

Roughly an hour later, Boss came in and, not realizing that I’d spent most of my day on other things and hadn’t worked on my scheduled Beast Entity at all, decided that he needed to go through what was open on my Beast Entity… line by line. I’ll save you from the ghastly long story, but the short story is this: he thought I’d been mired in the muck of Beast Entity all day and that I wasn’t doing the bare minimum like I was supposed to do (as we had determined the previous evening). He thought I was getting distracted by the details when I needed to be worried about the big picture and only do whatever was necessary to move on. So going line by line, account by account, through my Beast Entity… kind of disconcerted me and had me seriously biting my tongue. I just wanted to get my bearings, remember what I was doing (I close about 10 entities each month, some very complicated, and the last day of the month I am completely blocked off for two of my entities and their time-sensitive entries), post my entries, and take care of my bank recs (Beast Entity’s bank recs are nightmares). And I felt like Boss was micromanaging me. I bit my tongue for as long as I could, and the worst part was that Boss was doing this in front of my coworkers. I don’t mind him doing whatever he was doing in front of Elle, because she’s in the office with me all day and knows that I know what I’m doing. But our intern was there, too, and I was very embarrassed. To me, if you’re micromanaging someone, that comes across as you not having faith that your report can do their job. It disconcerted me, and every question he asked made me bristle. Eventually, I had to turn and make sure I wasn’t looking at him, because I had giant tears in my eyes. I just wanted to excuse myself to the bathroom so I could cry without further embarrassing myself. I didn’t want him to see me cry, and I didn’t want my coworkers to see it either. Again, notsomuch Elle, but I was thoroughly humiliated in front of our intern.

Of course, I finally got to the point where I was either going to sob in front of Boss (I so did not want to do that) or explode all over him. So when he asked me the next question (the intern had just left), I said, “Maybe we should discuss this tomorrow.” It was the best I could do. He said, “Why don’t you come to my office?” So it turned out I was going to cry in front of him after all. Awesome.

I went into his office, and the first thing I said to him was, “It feels really [crappy] to be micromanaged.” That started a big hour-long discussion about how he was just trying to get me on track because I had been working on Beast Entity all day and hadn’t posted the entries I had intended to post. “I haven’t been working on it all day. I only picked it up an hour ago.” Then I got the look that tacitly said, What? Have you been slacking off all day? His words, though, were, “Well, what have you been doing all day?” I was so offended by this that I could barely stumble through telling him every single thing I’d done all day.

To make matters worse, I had only the tissue I’d brought with me into his office, and he didn’t have any. As we discussed things, I finally blurted out, “You work with a bunch of women and you don’t have tissues in your office?” Mine was in shreds.

Anyway, we worked it out, I told him why I had just gotten started on the Beast and why I was so humiliated to be treated like someone who hadn’t audited companies for seven years and someone who didn’t know her stuff. He apologized for the humiliations galore, I apologized for being so defensive. He also apologized for jumping to the conclusion that I had been too into the details without first asking me how things were coming. I half-heartedly apologized for not telling him that I hadn’t even started the Beast until very late in the day, the half-heartedness being because I had told him certain things would be done by the end of the day, and that was still my intention.

We left things on a good note of sarcasm (I’m definitely the smart aleck of the office, and we all know I’m happy if I’m being wise) and I went back to my office and cried for the next two hours. That makes for some productive work, lemme tell ya. Lately when I cry, it takes me a long time to get the tears to stop flowing. Elle waited until he left and then checked to make sure I was okay. I told her all about what happened. She told me that when the whole thing had started, she didn’t think I wasn’t doing my job well (because she knows I’m awesome) — she was just wondering why he was doing what he was doing. She also told me she was so proud of me for standing up for myself like I do. That really meant a lot.

Elle left, and I cried off and on for the next two hours, finishing what I was supposed to finish. I took a couple of breaks to write blog posts, because I was seriously in bad shape and really needed to write about something.

I left work around 9:30, miserable. Frank, the awesomest husband evah had made bread (his first time), and I was just looking forward to a roast beef sandwich and a bottle glass of wine. And some anti-inflammatories. I’ve been inflamed for a couple of weeks now, all over my body. Which makes me think I’m developing yet another food intolerance. I hope not.

So I drove home. On the way home, I passed an electrical box, and something caught my eye. There was a heart painted on the electrical box. It’s the first time I ever liked graffiti. It made me smile.

A little closer to home… I stopped at a red light. As I pulled away from the light and was within twenty feet of turning into our neighborhood, I noticed that a cop was behind me. No biggie, the speed limit was 35, and I was still picking up speed and riding along at 30. Then when I increased my speed to 35… the cop turned on his lights.

You have got to be kidding me. I had tears in my eyes again.

I pulled over, made sure the pocket of my purse that contained my gun was zipped closed (I usually leave it open when I’m driving), and started looking for my license. I don’t have my Idaho license yet, my car tags are still Florida, and I couldn’t find my insurance card, so I just knew this would be bad. The policeman came up to my car and knocked on the window. I was really trying not to cry, but that wasn’t working. I hate crying in front of law enforcement. I don’t want anyone to go easy on me because I’m crying, and even more I don’t want anyone to *think* I’m putting on the waterworks so they’ll go easy. I told the officer I couldn’t roll down my window and would need to open my door, so he stepped back to let me open the door. He was smiling and saying howdy in that Idaho-friendly way (Idaho-friendly is even more friendly than Texas-friendly). He told me that the reason he pulled me over was because he noticed that my tags expired in 2007. I nodded and smiled. I said, “I’m really sorry, we’ve just moved from Florida,” and as I said that, I thought, wait, it’s been five months since we got here, and I totally would have volunteered that info if he’d asked. “I’m really sorry, we’ve just moved from Florida, and we’ve been so busy at work, and I really have been meaning to do it.” He was still smiling and nodding understandingly. “Well, I imagine, big move from Florida, you have bigger things on your mind than getting your license plates.” “Actually, it’s one of the top things on my list, but I just haven’t done it. I haven’t even gotten my license.” Volunteering more info than necessary cleansed my conscience of the “just moved” thing. “Well, when we see something like this, we just like to stop people and let them know that it is something they need to do, getting the Idaho plates.” I was getting a little hopeful. “But you’re all set, nothing to worry about, I just wanted to let you know.” He started to walk away, and now I was in full-on cry mode again. I said, “Thank you so much. I’ve had such a bad day, and you’ve just made it so much better.” He said, “Well, I’m sorry about your bad day, and I really hope you have a better day tomorrow.”

Highlight of my day.

P.S. Don’t be mean to Boss in the comments. He has to work with a bunch of chicks.

We were supposed to close on our house tomorrow, but as you know, the closing was pushed until next week. Apparently the people buying the house live up north and couldn’t make it to Florida in time for the closing.

I don’t remember if I told y’all about what came up in the house inspection. In case I didn’t, here’s a recap: There were several plumbing issues, and the realtor’s husband fixed those. We let them take the leftover mulch and garden soil from the garage in payment, and no, I didn’t think that was enough, but it is what they asked for. The carpet in the master bedroom closet was damp (the plumbers said it was from the water heater explosion), and the wall in that closet needed repair. We still had money left over from the insurance claim, so the insurance company paid for that. Thankfully, we didn’t need additional carpet cleaning. Other than that, they didn’t ask for additional repairs. The inspector noted carbon monoxide concerns because of the cat door leading to the garage, but the buyers didn’t ask for that to be replaced (and I would have said no — but Frank might have said yes).

We’re set to close next week, and I’m crossing my fingers it goes through. If not, we’ll have to send one more mortgage payment after all, and I was so happy when I got to delete that one and the HOA payment from the list.

Today has been teh total stink. I’ll probably work another hour and then give it up. In the comments, y’all tell me how awesome I am. I kind of need to hear it.

Kthx.