Ray's House of Love (Volume II)

mario_c · Jul 5, 2013

Nothing says Deep South like mint juleps.

Maryn, you need caller ID. Anyone who calls for money is immediately blocked. Granted, they change phone numbers pretty fast, because they're crooks and crooks do that, but it's a start.

Komnena · Jul 9, 2013

Hi everybody!

sassandgroove · Jul 10, 2013

HI!
how's everyone?

I've been using my bread machine again. yesterday I made whole wheat sandwich rolls. they came out great. And on July 4 I made home made cinnamon rolls for the first time ever. Oh yummy. I can't believe I let that thing collect dust. it's awesome.

Maryn · Jul 10, 2013

Way too long in the car today, but now comfortably ensconced at a Homewood Suites, which is an excellent choice for more than two adults.

Maryn, wiped out

sassandgroove · Jul 11, 2013

I love that Maryn puts that she's traveling in her usertitle.

IT's so quiet in the HOL these days.

Maryn · Jul 11, 2013

Home again, home again, jiggity-jog.

Except my brain is a lot like it is when I've had three or four hours of sleep the night before. I'm not fully functional, but at least tonight I'll have a pillow that suits me.

The Kid ended up renting the first place we looked at, when it was too early to commit to anything. Three bedrooms, one tiny, a decent kitchen, a dry basement, everything clean-clean-clean. Her landlord seems like a good guy, too--and his daughter is going to college in our city. Cue the "Small, Small World" music.

Maryn, miffed that she's probably expected to magically produce a meal this evening

Maryn · Jul 12, 2013

Good morning back atcha.

Boy, there's something about one's own pillow. I don't even like my pillow much, but it felt right nevertheless.

The place we helped The Kid find in Oshkosh is not her first by a long shot (she's 28, after all), and we are pleased to note that nothing in it smelled like a thousand Marine recruits. I'd say no more than a couple hundred, tops.

Know what I hate about travel? The food. I don't know about other people, but if I'm going to stay awake in the car, I apparently need to eat like a lumberjack. Eating every meal at restaurants is difficult, too, unless you're delighted to just have an endless string of salads. I ate plenty of those, but I don't want to go anywhere near the scale for a while.

Maryn, who will be good

Russ Mars · Jul 13, 2013

I'm sorry, Maryn. My post, especially the first part, sounded awfully rude to you and that wasn't my intention at all. So much for what seems funny to me when I drink. Yet another reason to not drink and write.

I've deleted it.

Maryn · Jul 13, 2013

Whoa, there. I took no offense. Didn't even think it was remotely rude. And, FWIW, I thought it was nicely written, with a certain wryness one gets only when looking backward from enough distance.

Feel free to repost, if you saved a copy. Or to put up something new. Mustn't waste space, after all.

I have been to one of the area's arts-and-crafts festivals, where Mr. Maryn and I bought each other small gifts which will be presented soon. "Just what I wanted!" completely fits, since we chose our own.

And I had, from the fine women of the Mount Olivet Baptist Church, a big piece of sweet potato pie. Damn, even the crust is good!

Maryn, hoping to make Russ smile

sassandgroove · Jul 13, 2013

Oh that sounds fun. Today I wrote until my butt hurt then I did some chores (to stretch my butt lol) then I played a video game with the hubby then I took a nap. I also put some chicken breast in the slow cooker with BBQ sauce which should be ready soon. Mmmm

Maryn · Jul 14, 2013

Today playtime is over and we have to paint. We're telling ourselves we'll start after lunch and stop at 4:00, done or not.

Maryn, wondering if her painting clothes got washed

sassandgroove · Jul 14, 2013

Well after I posted that we got a call that a friend of ours shot himself last night. We sat with the family at the hospital until 1 am when we brought his sister in law home. Hubby is there again today having given his brother a ride. I helped SIL run errands and now I'm home. They were hopeful last night but his prognosis is worsening. Family is a mess too, with blame being thrown around when they really need to be supporting each other. I feel helpless.

Maryn · Jul 14, 2013

Oh, no. How awful.

Do you know the family well enough to say something like, "There will be time to assign blame later, if that's what people want to do, but for now, I really hope I can support you in some way while you all support one another. Mrs. Smith, what do you need? Bob, how about you?"

Maryn, bolder and older

sassandgroove · Jul 14, 2013

I think hubby said something to his friend.
It hubby's best friend's brother. The family treats us like family, including the one in the hospital. He had a stroke several years ago and could barely move at first but when hubby's mother died he insisted on being a pallbearer. He's a great guy and I hate that he felt bad enough to do this.

Trevor Bruhn · Jul 15, 2013

Sass, I remember a time when someone I knew took his own life. I had moved far away but wrote to mutual friends with the opening lines of Dante's Inferno: translating from the lovely Italian "I found myself in a dark forest, where the direct path was obscured." An inexplicable suicide--or attmept--is such a situation, where there were ways out of the predicament but the person can't see them.
Give them strength.
Trevor

Russ Mars · Jul 16, 2013

Maryn said:
Whoa, there. I took no offense. Didn't even think it was remotely rude. And, FWIW, I thought it was nicely written, with a certain wryness one gets only when looking backward from enough distance.

Feel free to repost, if you saved a copy. Or to put up something new. Mustn't waste space, after all.

I have been to one of the area's arts-and-crafts festivals, where Mr. Maryn and I bought each other small gifts which will be presented soon. "Just what I wanted!" completely fits, since we chose our own.

And I had, from the fine women of the Mount Olivet Baptist Church, a big piece of sweet potato pie. Damn, even the crust is good!

Maryn, hoping to make Russ smile

Yes, you made me smile, but I'll remain the final arbiter of what crap I expose to the rest of the world. It was drunken dreck.

I love sweet potato pie! Why wouldn't I—it's food, right?

Russ Mars · Jul 16, 2013

sassandgroove said:
Oh that sounds fun. Today I wrote until my butt hurt then I did some chores (to stretch my butt lol) then I played a video game with the hubby then I took a nap. I also put some chicken breast in the slow cooker with BBQ sauce which should be ready soon. Mmmm

Sassy, great minds think alike. I'm opting for chicken today, too, though I'm going with thighs, one of my favorite chicken parts. Really, I think the wings are the tastiest, but they're so damn small. Anyway, I'm making chicken tikka masala. Very spicy!

sassandgroove · Jul 16, 2013

Trevor Bruhn said:
Sass, I remember a time when someone I knew took his own life. I had moved far away but wrote to mutual friends with the opening lines of Dante's Inferno: translating from the lovely Italian "I found myself in a dark forest, where the direct path was obscured." An inexplicable suicide--or attmept--is such a situation, where there were ways out of the predicament but the person can't see them.
Give them strength.
Trevor

Thanks Trevor. Unfortunately he took a turn yesterday and they decided to pull life support today and don't expect him to last long. I feel so helpless.

Russ Mars · Jul 16, 2013

Sassy, I'm very sorry to hear of this. Healing vibes out to you and all close to him touched by this.

mario_c · Jul 16, 2013

My condolences to your friend and his family, Sass.

Trevor Bruhn · Jul 16, 2013

Have you ever found it took longer to write about something you did than to do it? Last week I drove down to Bend, Oregon, home of something like 16 breweries in a town of 80,000, to travel the Bend Ale Trail. Popped into the 11 qualifying brewpubs in 8 hours, mostly on a bicycle, and wrote up my mostly legible notes for my brewpub blog. That took about ten hours!
Trevor, actually not hungover at all

Maryn · Jul 17, 2013

Oh, Sassy, I'm so sorry to hear. Thank goodness we live in a place and time where we can make such decisions intelligently rather than prolonging suffering for the person and those who love him.

This has evened out my poor-me whine, which I'd been about to launch. It's nothing.

Maryn, with a Sassyhug

Maryn · Jul 17, 2013

Trevor, this happens to me all the time. For instance, logging the portions and calories of what I'm eating nearly always takes longer than the eating. You'd think that would discourage a person...

Maryn, with a Yoplait in her hand

Maryn · Jul 17, 2013

Any news yet, Sassy? It must be so hard, waiting for the end. We're here if you need us.

Maryn, whose hugs now feature drinks, too

sassandgroove · Jul 17, 2013

The waiting is the hardest part. The doctor said that whatever makes him Mike is gone already.

Ray's House of Love (Volume II)

Your thoughts are not real...

In Honor of Peter Tomich,USS Utah

Sassy haircut

At Sea

Sassy haircut

At Sea

At Sea

Interesting little planet you've got here.

At Sea

Sassy haircut

At Sea

Sassy haircut

At Sea

Sassy haircut

Interesting little planet you've got here.

Interesting little planet you've got here.

Sassy haircut

Interesting little planet you've got here.

Your thoughts are not real...

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

Sassy haircut