Rappin' Down The Street

I should have been up at 7am on Thursday, but I was tired and procrastinating which is why I was so irritated to discover that our street is the shortcut a number of teenagers take from the Davis T over to their high school. At first, I thought it was neighborhood toddlers that were being vocal so I rolled out of bed to check things out. Instead of cute little kids, I saw packs of teenagers walking down the middle of our street, laughing and joking around. Just being normal teenagers, but they were being kinda loud especially since our windows were open. I flopped back into bed and tried to "rest" pulling my comforter over my head when I heard what sounded like someone rapping right in front of our house. I heard some "S" words and some "N" words and I don't mean shoot or nincompoop so I had to get up and see for myself. I saw one lone teenage boy with giant headphones shuffling down our street very slowly to the beat of his very loud rapping. He looked like a nice enough kid in his slacks and sweater vest, but at that moment...I wanted to tell him to "shhhh....be quiet." It was, after the fact, kind of an endearing sight and I don't think he was intending to be disruptive, but I sure hope he walk more briskly in the future so I don't have to wake up to his rapping... it's not my favorite.

Hippie Points

My friend Zlyssa was telling us the other day that Adam and I could claim "hippie points" for not having an air conditioner. Of course, part of the reason is I'm not big on air conditioning since I get cold easily and we're too lazy to install the window units that are in our basement. According to Zlyssa, sheer laziness does not void our "hippie points" We can also claim double points for not owning a car even though it's because we're a too lazy to care for one, we don't need one and because I feel a little cheap as well. I'm not really sure we deserve these points, but I've decided to defer to Zlyssa's judgement. After all, she legitimately deserves her hard earned points since she drives a hybrid, eats organic foods and composts and we could definitely use some of those "hippie points" to combat our yuppie tendencies.

We are ever true to Zrown...

We were hanging out with some friends last night for the last of a series of summer happy hour hangouts which was why it was called "Last of the Mojitos." It cracks me up to no end. We sat out in the yard, drank homemade Mojitos made from a Hemingway recipe and snacked on a variety of fun things like Adam's pesto/mozzarella cheese melty baguette concoction. We chatted about this and that as night fell when the conversation turned to college. "Would you send your child to your alma mater" basically. Now, I don't think of myself as the most rabid alum, but turns out, I was the most enthusiastic about my alma mater out of the entire crowd. I felt a little dopey and goofy being so rah rah about college since most people were kinda lukewarm or cold about it, but I really did love Zrown. When someone made a rather astute point, "Does it really matter where you went to college," I wanted to leap up and shout, "Yeah, I loved Zrown," but I restrained myself since they were probably right to some extent. Rather, I rattled off all the things I loved about Zrown which was probably a little annoying and then when I woke up this morning, I thought of a whole bunch of other reasons why I loved it. I decided not to rattle those new thoughts off to Adam since he was trying to sleep and I was being rather noisy. I was a little embarrassed to admit it last night, but I've even recently acquired a Zrown diploma frame seven years after the fact and I also purchased a decorative Wedgwood plate of the Zan Zickle gates that makes me so happy just to look at. I even considered one of those wooden chairs with the seal, but I didn't think Adam would go for totally Zrownifying our home since he's not as personally invested in Zrown. So yeah, if I knew my kids would enjoy Zrown as much as I did, I would totally encourage them to go.

First Love Springs Eternal

Last fall, when three year old Zess started her preschool, a cute little blond boy named Zvan instantly developed a major crush on her. He loved her pigtails and braids, her brown hair and eyes, everything about her. He wanted to sit next to her at lunch and at circle time. Zvan even told his grandpa on the phone about how much he loved Zess and how beautiful she was. After school, when the mommies pick up their kids, little Zvan would try to hug Zess and shout, "I love you!" Poor Zvan's mom was a bit embarassed at her three year old son's strong sentiments. He was quite young to be such a Casanova. Zess, however, was totally oblivious and hardly noticed Zvan's attentions or his presence all year.

At the end of the year, his passion unabated, Zvan managed to get Zess to agree to give him a kiss goodbye. Imagine this mommy's shock when Zess and Zvan fully embraced and smacked lips! This was followed by this mama in the car ride home explaining that Zess never had to kiss or touch anyone else unless she wanted to. In retort, Zess declared, "I wanted to kiss Zvan."

Cut to this fall, at the beginning of the four year old year at preschool. This mama was sure that Zvan would have forgotten his passion over the summer and moved on to other boyish things, say riding bikes and marble runs. But immediately at the circle time on the first day, Zvan tried to sit next to Zess by wedging himself between Zess and her best little girl friend, Zofia. Bad move. Zofia and Zvan had a bit of a scuffle over the coveted spot next to Zess, but Zofia won out. Zvan went and sat on his mommy's lap and cried.

We'll see how this unrequited crush plays out over the course of the year. . .

Not About Me

A friend of ours is temping as a receptionist. Part of the job is to answer the phones by saying either, "Yada Yada Office, may I help you, " or "Yada Yada Office, will you please hold." During a particularly crazy phone answering session last week, he mistakenly answered, "Yada Yada Office, may I hold you?" Understandably there was awkward silence on the other end.

Product Raves

I'm really loving the Trader Joe's 100% Desert Mesquite Honey. The honey is tasty, but boy oh boy let me tell you about the packaging. It's totally awesome. The spout features this rubber nubbin with a slit that only opens when you squeeze the bottle. This means, there's not honey drippage after the fact and thus no sticky cap issues either. I'm never going back to Shaw's generic honey in a bear shaped bottle or honey jars. 3X concentrated laundry detergent is another product that I'm becoming almost fanatical about. Short of 3X possibly being more expensive, I don't know what the point of buying or even making 2X detergent is. 3X is less packaging, a smaller bottle and so much lighter. Once again, I could care less what brand it is and I haven't noticed a difference in how well the detergent performs, but I do love the smaller more compact packaging.

The Longest Short Week

I'm not big on change and new situations so starting a new job is inherently exhausting for me. That's probably why I stayed five years in my first job. I didn't want to have to experience the longest two days of my life which was when I started working right out of college. Who would have thunk that a Thursday/Friday work week would leave me utterly drained. I'm not feeling so wussy since I worked four whole days this time around. That said, here are some of my highlights from my first week back in the labor force:

1. Sam LaGrassa bills itself as the "World's #1 Sandwich." I was famished on Thursday so I tried the pastrami since everyone else was getting it. I'm not a huge fan of pastrami since it's typically very salty, but Sam LaGrassa's Pastrami Sandwich is a keeper. The meat is tender, delicious, not really salty and the fresh baked french roll is awesome. It's only a block from my office which is a little dangerous, but I do have someplace great to go whenever those meat cravings hit.

2. Badge drama: I managed to lose my badge on Thursday. Yup, that would be two days in. Adam even walked over to Davis along my route to look for it and when he couldn't find it, I reported it missing and sheepishly begged the facilities guy for a new one. This morning, I get a surprise call on my office phone. Another person at my company that works on another floor also lives nearby and found my badge on the bike path near Davis. She thought it looked like her own and picked it up wondering if it was for someone at the same company. Lo and behold, now I theoretically have a commuting buddy in spirit. We've never met, but we've seen each other's photos thanks to the nifty online company directory.

The End

My nonstop fun during work hours has come to an end. I start my new job tomorrow. I did go to the North End on Friday, shop like crazy for work clothes on Saturday, check out the new Whole Foods at Alewife and play a super long game of Catan on Sunday and enjoyed a lovely day downtown today on Labor Day. As for what I'll wear on my first day, a rather boring, but appropriate combination of a black v-neck cashmere sweater, black pinstripe suit pants and some black flats. I've acquired many fun outfits that I'm excited about, but I've decided to dress with my badge photo in mind on my first day. Why do I think I photograph well in that black sweater, it's the sweater I'm wearing in all my IDs: Student and Driver's.

Bomba No More

The following is a reconstructed conversation regarding the remains of our Bomba cake:

plasticann: Did you take the Bomba to work today?
Adam: No, I threw it out, but I had one last piece.
plasticann: Why did you eat something you were intending to throw out?
Adam: It was fine! But before I threw out the rest, I smashed my hands into the cake.
plasticann: [slightly perplexed] Smashed your hands in the cake? Why?
Adam: I smushed the cake in between my knuckles and then I smashed my hands full of cake together and then I molded it.
plasticann: [laughing] I guess you were throwing it out anyways, might as well play with it. Was it fun?
Adam: [nodding] Yes! It was fun, but the cake was cold. I was surprised how cold it was.
plasticann: I wonder what your mom would say if she saw you smushing the cake?
Adam: ...she'd probably laugh...
plasticann: You think so?
Adam:...and she'd probably roll her eyes.

More Nonstop Fun

Adam got me the High School Musical CD which was fun to listen too..."Bop bop bop bop to the top..." My week of fun continued today with a trip to Providence. I hopped on the bus and got in around 11 this morning. I went to the mall and did some shopping at Nordstroms (only my favorite department store). I had a perfect little snack at Popeye's when I got hungry, one fried chicken leg with one biscuit with some tap water. Total: $1.65. Sure hit the spot. I continued my fun Wednesday with a tour of Thayer Street and Brown's campus. I even stopped by my old fraternity and said hi, how very un-plasticann of me and I felt kinda old realizing that I was probably 8-10 years older than the kids there. I enjoyed a chicken pocket at East Side Pockets, shopped at Brown Bookstore where I bought a diploma frame for my seven year old diploma. I capped off my tour of Thayer Street with an awesome chocolate chunk cookie with some milk at Meeting Street Cafe. I was intending to catch the 4:15pm bus back, but realized that it didn't exist so I had an extra hour to kill before the 5:15pm. I walked down Waterman, turned right on Hope, admired all the gracious old houses, walked by my dorm senior year (Young O) and turned right on Wickendon Street where I found this really cool store called Curatorium. They had a ton of neat stuff, some of which might fall into the category of useless crap. Finally, I walked over to Benefit Street and South Main Street back downtown stopping by the RISD gift shop where I impulsively purchased a pin made of shellaced citris fruit. All in all, a pretty darned awesome day and I still have plenty of leftover cookie to enjoy tonight.

NOTE: I should mention that MGDub coined the phase and idea of nonstop fun her senior year at Brown coincidentally. She'd just handed in her thesis and had about a month until graduation. She often wore a cool Hawaian shirt and was determined to have nonstop fun until graduation.

And the Fun Continues

I'm heading back to work next week so I'm determined to have lots of nonstop fun this week. I kicked off my week of fun yesterday with lunch in the South End with a friend from school We went to Gaslight and enjoyed some very yummy sandwiches with frites. To top it off, I got a carrot cake cupcake from the South End Buttery. The cupcake was pretty good, but not my favorite cupcake. I did promise to bring Adam one so I got him a vanilla with vanilla buttercream. Unfortunately, I had to ditch it at Park Street since it was melting and it wasn't going to make it back to Cambridge. After dinner, we went and saw Nanny Diaries at the Somerville Theatre and we even got some ice cream to boot. Today, I rode my bike on the Minuteman bike path all the way to Lexington. I walked around, checked out the little shops, ate lunch, read magazines at the Border's and had a delicious cherry vanilla ice cream cone at Rancatore's. It was quite the adventure and I felt very brave and proud of myself for venturing so far on my own and making it back home intact. For my third day of fun, I'm thinking maybe Providence, but I haven't decided.

Housewarming

Our house was very warm during our housewarming party this past Saturday. The weather had been downright cool the week before, but decided to kick it up to the upper ninties just in time for our party. So, everyone stayed indoors and sweltered a little since it was even hotter outside. We had fun though. Our friend Dave got to pick out all the beer which he enjoyed. We defrosted and served our two year old wedding cake. We got the Bomba cake from Modern Pastry as a backup for those who didn't want to risk eating an old cake. Wings and breaded mushrooms were ordered from Wingworks and I slaved away in the kitchen making ranch dip (sour cream+powdered seasonings) and cutting up some veggies. A housewarming party was a good excuse to get our place in order. We tried our best and we did pretty well. However, at the last minute, boxes were put in the closet and moved to the basement to eliminate some of the clutter.

Where's Weed?

Two weeks ago, our weed situation was getting noticably bad so I ended up weeding our entire side yard. I hadn't really noticed the weeds until I started weeding, then I noticed them everywhere. In the brick side yard, in the gravel, in with the plants, on the sidewalk. I did a thorough weeding and it took me about 3 hours to fill one giant trashbag.

Since then, I've been mildly obsessed with obliterating weeds from our yard. Unfortunately, they have complicated winding root systems so it's a fruitless battle. Every few days when I come home, I survey the land and try to spot any new weeds that have cropped up. My problem is weeding begats more weeding. At first it was all obvious weeds, then it was the weeds hiding behind other weeds, then weeds that looked like plants at first glance, so on and so forth. I haven't mastered the art of deciding between weed and plant. I know I'm in trouble once I pull up bushes and the yard is completely bare.

Teleporting Nightstands

For all the complaints folks may have about Pottery Barn and the entire Williams-Sonoma home goods empire, you can't beat the convenience and instant gratification. We were motivated by our upcoming housewarming party and my impending return to the workforce to buy some furniture for our bedroom and living room. Since we are relatively immobile without a car and somewhat lazy, we bought everything online. While everything's arriving within a week, our nightstands practically teleported to us. I placed an order on Sunday night, they left the warehouse on Monday and they arrived today (Tuesday) before noon, that's barely 40 hours. It helps that the warehouse is in New Jersey so they didn't have to travel far, but still...I'm impressed.

King of Queens

Ever since Adam Tivo-ed this episode of King of Queens, I can't stop laughing spontaneously whenever I think about it. Arthur wants to order pizza from a neighborhood joint..."Doh-mee-nohs." Here's the YouTube link Adam found.

Locked Out

We were showing our place to our friends Zeff and Zara (not my sis-in-law) when a big gust of wind shut and locked the 2nd floor balcony door while we were all outside.

Adam: The door closed, I'll just use my key.
plasticann: We don't have a key, we're locked out.
Adam: I thought it was the same as the front door.
plasticann: No, we never got a key for this door, we're locked out.
Adam: I thought there was a spare key out here for emergencies.
plasticann: That's what they said, but I never found it.
Adam: Why don't we have a key?
plasticann: We never got one, there's no key...we're locked out.
Adam: We're locked out! We need to get this fixed.

Meanwhile Zeff and Zara are laughing hysterically at the absurdity of the situation. I started to call our friend who has a set of our keys when we noticed some neighbors moving out across the street. We started hollering and waving to get her attention. We explained that the "wind" had locked us out accidentally by blowing the door closed so we dropped down a set of keys for her to come in and get us. Fortunately, she was honest enough to not rob us while we were locked outside and helpless.

Let's Party

We have these two little girl neighbors ages 2 and soon to be 7. The soon to be 7 year old is having a party this weekend and the two year old is already gearing up for the big day. She kept waving at me when I came home just now saying emphatically "Let's Party!" and "Happy Birthday" to no one in particular.

Toy Recall

The following is a reconstructed conversation with plasticmom:

plasticmom: So, have Zess and Zames had any of their toys recalled? It's been in the news.
plasticann: I'm not sure. They do have those Thomas the Train toys. I'm sure Zara is on top of it.
plasticmom: Maybe their grandpa will have to start making them homemade toys.
plasticann: I guess if he did, they'd definitely be organic
plasticmom: Ha ha, organic toys.

Fortunately for Zess and Zames, they have two grandpas who are both into woodworking so homemade organic toys are a real possibility.

Restaurant Week: Icarus

It's Restaurant [Two] Weeks, so we checked out Icarus in the South End last night for dinner. The dining room was really crowded and Adam seemed to be too tall for his chair or maybe it was the table, but the food was pretty good. For appetizers, Adam got the grilled steak salad and I had the crisp polenta with veal. We both enjoyed the pork loin with corn pudding and watermelon salad for dinner. I got the chocolate cake for dessert and Adam had the toasted pound cake with vanilla ice cream and peach compote. I liked the appetizers the best. Our pork loin was tasty, but there were these whole peanuts in the watermelon salad which seemed odd to me. My chocolate cake was rich and decadent, but not super exciting. Adam's pound cake was the real winner. The sangria was delicious and all the wine pairings for Adam's meal were awesome. My verdict, it's a very nice place, but there are other restaurants I would rather go to for a full priced meal.

Chautauqua

We flew up to Buffalo on Friday and drove to the Chautauqua Institute to see Zess, Zames, Zara, Zryce and Zryce's parents. What is the Chautauqua Institute you might ask? It's best described as a cultural Disneyland or an Utopian cultural village. You pay a gate entrance fee to get in, people own homes inside the institute and during the summer, there is cultural programming of all sorts. They have operas, orchestras, ballets, art galleries...basically lots of cultural activities in this little village where you can walk everywhere and where people don't lock their doors.

We had a really fun time hanging out and taking in the whole experience. Zames is a very active almost two year old who's obsessed with planes, trains and automobiles. He's gotten into watching "choo choo" video clips on You Tube. The other night, Zames was out past sunset which was clearly a new experience. I guess he's never outside when it's dark. He kept pointing at the sky muttering "dark dark dark dark." He tried to convince Zryce that they should lie down on the park bench because it was dark and time to go to sleep. He was genuinely befuddled by dark and super adorable.

Zess is into the idea of being fast, she has her "fast shoes," which are her pink athletic style Mary Janes. She likes to tell me she's faster than me which I seriously doubted, but I didn't debate her on that. I mean, I'm slow, but heck, I'm faster than any three year old at least for short distances. I'll be faster and taller than Zess for at least another year, maybe two. I timed her riding her tricycle up and down the driveway...took her around 10 seconds. She kept peddling faster and faster and [sorry Zara] almost ran into a wall because she wasn't looking. Good thing I reached out and caught her before she hit something. Shortly after that near miss, we tried timing her riding really slow...40 seconds. I also got her to help me put away the toys really fast. Then there was timing her putting on an outfit...30 seconds. Would have been 15 seconds had she not gotton stuck putting on her skort. Now that we know how fast she can get herself dressed, she has no excuses getting ready in the morning.

Not On The Same Wavelength...At All

Adam's friend from college, Adam, was passing through town on the way back from a big cheese making convention in Vermont. Let's call him "Foodieadam" since he's a gourmet food venture capitalist. He had about 40 pounds of cheese that he bought in coolers and he was kind enough to share his loot with us. The following is a reconstructed conversation that occured while we were enjoying a delicious spread of cheese:

Adam: We would love to come visit you guys this fall, come see the baby, see you place.
Foodieadam: Yeah, that would be great. You know what, you should come on the weekend my neighbor has this big cassoulet party in his backyard.
Adam: [a little unsure] OK, that sounds like fun.
Foodieadam: Last year they had a big tent and everyone brings their cassoulet for a contest.
Adam: Um...what exactly is this castle...???
Foodieadam: Oh, it's this French dish where you stew beans, sausage, duck, etc.
Adam: I had no idea what you were talking about. I thought you had said something about "castles."
plasticann: I totally thought he said "castles" and I was thinking bouncy castles in a backyard so I was confused.
[chuckles all around]
Foodieadam: [continuing on] Well, every year it gets better and better. I met this woman who owns a game company and she's going to be one of the judges for the contest. They make this great blah blah blah, yada yada yada and duck...
plasticann: Oh, you meant like game as in meat...
Adam: I thought you meant board games at first...
plasticann: ...and I was thinking, "gosh, I've never heard of these games."
Foodieadam: People, the theme here is food...you've got to think food.

Poor Kitty

Adam sent me this article about Thai police officers who are forced to wear Hello Kitty armbands as a mark of shame when they commit minor offenses like littering. Poor misaligned kitty, but I guess if she can play her part in eliminating corruption and evilness we should call her Super Kitty.

Pillow Inserts

Frustrated by the sad lumpy matted down state of our poly-filled pillow inserts, I marched myself down to Crate & Barrel Furniture for some new down/feather filled pillow inserts to revive my sofa pillows. Well, more like I dragged myself down there since it was over 90 degrees yesterday, but I pressed on in the heat down Mass Ave. I did collapse on the couch upon arriving home later that afternoon leaving my large number of bulky bags (broom and plunger included) in the middle of the doorway. I had to watch an episode of My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding to regain my energy. Two million for a pink fantasy wedding. Our wedding was pink and fabulous and a whole lot less that two million. Maybe it was because we didn't have adorable Hello Kitty cakes at the bridal brunch. Back to the topic at hand, However, the newly revived pillows were worth the trek...they now fluff up very nicely. All very exciting for this [temporary] housewife.

PS It's so hot right now, my eyeglasses are fogging up.

Giant Ice Cream Cones

So the other day, we were walking by the Somerville Theatre when I saw a guy with the biggest cup of ice cream I've ever seen. Well, it was the impressively big not out to break any records big, but it literally took my breath away. I swear, the ice cream towered six inches above the rim of the paper cup. Indeed, this was the very generous serving of a Richardson's large ice cream. Makes sense, Adam and I shared a "Kiddie" the other night which was plenty and there's a "Small" between "Kiddie" and "Large." Needless to say, I've been a little obsessed about the prospect of buying a large ice cream to experience the grandness in person. Unfortunately, I shouldn't eat a pint of ice cream in one sitting so I have no opportunity to buy this cone which retails for merely $3.75. I even desperately suggested that we give the cashier 4 bucks, ask her to supersize the next ice cream cone on us while we observed from behind some bushes. The idea was vetoed as was my other idea which was to buy it, eat some and throw the rest away. Saner and less gluttonous minds prevailed in the end. (Yes, that would Adam.) Oh, but one day...I will have my large ice cream.

Makeshift Chemex

I broke my Chemex coffee maker...again. This is the third one that's shattered, all from not super traumatic accidents. The first tipped over and bonked itself on the metal part of the stove. The second one I think I set down in the sink a little harder than usual and it shattered. The latest one shattered while it was sitting on the counter when I dropped a plastic box of seaweed that weighed all of 2 ounces on the rim. I think they're just fragile and while I love the Chemex, I'm not excited about investing in a fourth one. I think the key to the Chemex system is the triple bonded filters so I've been experimenting with makeshift systems. Yesterday, I used a plastic funnel for the filter and set it over my Brown Betty Teapot. Worked reasonably well, but took a wicked long time since the funnel hole was quite small. So, I bought a silicone funnel and cut part of the bottom off to create a larger hole. This morning, I used it over a tall Pyrex container so I could tell how much coffee I was making. (800 CC) Small problem, the tall Pyrex had no handle so it was too hot to handle. I had to put on my mitts...both hands. Tomorrow, I'm going to try using a Nalgene water bottle as my coffee container. The mouth might be too small, but it won't shatter and it'll tell me how much I'm making.