crucible of ennui

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Originally uploaded by Glenn Calvin

“My daddy pulled it out of my face!”

How funny is this? Now that I’m not working, I’m busier than ever.

This week is the last I have before Cat gets out for Christmas vacation.

The plan? Cookies. Lots and lots of cookies.

It’s the end of Sunday dinner. Glenn is trying to convince Catherine to eat the gravy skin for $20. Should I put a stop to such shenanigans?

Or should I put down another $20?

Two words. Roller Disco.

Tonight I visited Skateland for the first time in 26 years. It hadn’t changed a bit… I remembered the all girl skate, the backward skate, the lights-off skate, the hook-your-pinkie-finger-into-the-back-loop-of-your-junior-high-school-boyfriend’s-jeans skate and, of course, the hokey pokey.

Magic happened as Joan Jett started to sing about her love for rock and roll… 9 disco balls were hit with lights and the fog machines started to fog… 1982. Kinda like Xanadu, but without Gene Kelly.

I guess the walk away on this post - I still heart Xanadu and Roller Disco.

Saturday night Cat and I were eating dinner.

Cat: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could eat our dinner and have someone rub our feet at the same time?

Me: Like table midgets?

Cat: Exactly. All the best restaurants would have them, then we could eat our enchiladas and have foot rubs!!

Love her.

Ya know… now that I’m actually trying to be a little conscious of what I’m making and feeding us, I realized that a lot of my cooking hasn’t really been high on health consciousness… like chicken pot pie and BACON!!! and my fondness for butter.

So this week I made stuffed peppers!! Not like those icky green pepper ones… yummy sweet red ones!! But I made it as healthy as I could. I figured if it totally sucked, we could go get enchiladas at Mission Burrito.

This makes 4 servings - each one 293 calories. So if you’re super hungry, no harm no foul in having 2 for dinner.

You need:
2 nice red bell peppers - get the ones that have four sections instead of three. You know what I mean… look at the bottom of the pepper. Do you see three or four bumps? Four? Good. Get two.
1 lb ground turkey.
1 bag of steamed brown rice.
1 small can Hunt’s tomato sauce with garlic/oregano (whatevs).
Some shredded Mozzarella cheese.

Slice the peppers from top to bottom. You want little boats that are stable when you put them on their side. Clean them and put the 4 halves to the side.
Brown the turkey. Steam the rice and mix the turkey/rice and tomato sauce together. Add anything like spices or whatever you want at this point. Spoon into the pepper halves. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Done. Easy. Tasty. Filling. And Healthy.

Yay!

The cat is totally fucking with me/us this morning. He’s sitting in the hallway, staring into an alcove. I know there’s NOTHING THERE and yet I still will stop and look in to check each 3rd or 4th time I pass by him… sitting there, intent.

He’s such a loving guy. He’s imprinted on all of us in unique ways. Catherine rescued him from the pound, carried him around as a fluff-ball. He put up with so much. And Cat can dish out a lot. Glenn is his buddy. Total buddy.

On the other hand, we have an odd relationship. Somehow I think he thinks I’m his mother. He’s taken to sleeping on my pillow right above my head. Or draped on my hip/back/face. The minute I flop down somewhere, he’s there within seconds to flop down on top of me. But the funniest thing he does is climb onto my shoulder and start to groom/lick my hair. I have to stop him because, frankly… that’s totally disgusting. And the noise it makes is worse than fingernails on chalkboard. Sometimes he gets carried away and starts to bite my scalp. Freaky. I’m like a cat-lady pirate.

Yup. I admit it. I’ve been totally two-timing.

I have another website. And we’ve been spending a lot of time together.

I can see this other website in my long-term future as well as my present.

The other website is a 2 year weight-loss project. I considered having it as a part of jeannen.com, but didn’t really feel comfortable discussing weight here. I’ll talk about anything. Literally, anything. But why bring such a bummer topic to my happy place?!? Right??

So in my happy place, I’m at my high school weight, frosting and french fries are filled with nutrients, my boobs never sagged and I make insane amounts of money living on the fruits of my wit and charm.

On the other site, I’m working pretty hard. The goal itself is the reward, but let’s be real… THERE’S A HUGE REWARD AT THE END TOO!!! It’s a 2 year project. In 2 years I’ll be 40 and that’s plenty reason to party and celebrate. (hahahahaha! 40! That’s funny. I still feel like I’m 18 and at any moment the responsibility police will realize I’m a pretend grown-up).

Booo! It’s already August! And that means I have one more month to cram all the summer I can into the next few weeks. I want to go to the beach 2 more times, the Getty one more time, Laurie’s for more poolside fun, and one trip to Hurricane Harbor. Doesn’t leave much time for much of anything else unfortunately.

School starts in September. Cat and I have been planning her 1st day of school outfit. She’s sooooo excited. Can’t wait to get started!

Last night I released her into the neighborhood for the first time. Granted I was hanging in the front yard reading. Our block is so freakin’ excellent cool. All kinds of kids in a close age range, all riding bikes scooters and skateboards up and down the sidewalks, just like when I was a kid. Within a few minutes of being out, she rode by in a motorized kid car with one boy driving her around and another on the hood of the car trying to get her attention.

Summer rocks.

Summer is grand. And tonight is going to be a highpoint. HP fans… you know what I’m talking about. We’re going to the 12:15 am show tonight/tomorrow am. Peg and I have our tickets and will be at the theater where we see all the HP midnight releases. Yay!!!

Yesterday it was was the beach all day. I gotta tell ya - Mondays at the beach rock. It’s quiet and peaceful. We get there so early and then leave after lunch/before rush hour and cruise back home.

There were even dolphins!!!! A whole bunch of dolphins! And a sea otter playing in the waves for a bit.

All in all a lovely day at the sea shore.