If you don’t want to hear about feminine hygiene don’t read this

Posted on February 3, 2004 by Frog

This morning I woke up and the CRAMP was upon me. I’ll tell you this much, I’m counting the years until I’m through with this whole reproductive part of my life. How ironic that I waited and waited and waited afraid that I wouldn’t get my period and I’d be laughed out of 8th grade only to now hate it and wish it gone.

I got on the treadmill this morning and walked for 30 minutes at not a particularly fast pace since I felt like crap but I got 30 minutes in and the whole time I was walking I was thinking exercise is supposed to help with the CRAMP. Yeah, blow me conventional wisdom. I think it is something the medical field tells women so that they’ll exercise. I exercised on top of a Motrin and as soon as I was done I took 2 more. For those of you at home that’s 3 Motrin in an hour. I’m planning on taking as many as the bottle says I can in a 24 hour period (no pun intended).

Posted in General Spleen Venting | 1 Comment

Crab Chowder

Posted on February 2, 2004 by Frog

Sunday evening we made Crab Chowder and it was awesome. In case you’re hankering for some crab chowder here’s what we did…in a large stockpot cooked 2 slices of bacon that had been chopped. Scooped the bacon out and let rest on a paper towel. Chopped an onion and a stalk of celery and 2 cloves of garlic and then added those items to the bacon fat. Then we drizzled in some sherry. Cooked for a few minutes and then added 2 yukon gold potatoes that were in 1/4 – 1/2 inch dice. To that we added chicken broth about a ½ cup. Then we cooked for about 15minutes with the lid on to get the potatoes soft. After the potatoes were soft, we added 3 cups of milk (1/2 half and half and 1/2 2% milk). Then we added some celery seed, old bay, cayenne, cilantro and white pepper. We used at least 1/4 teaspoon of each with a little more on the white pepper-the can was almost done with so I just shook it all in there. Meanwhile I went over the crab meat (lump crab) and made sure all the shells were long gone. The crab was then coated with old bay. Then we added the crab and a little more sherry to the pot and for the next hour we cooked for 15 minutes and then let rest for 15 and then cooked for 15 and then let rest for 15. And, (I know we’re done with the hour) we cooked for a little longer until we were sure we were at the chowder consistency. Then we topped with bacon and parsley. Very, very good.

Posted in Eating | Comments Off

I think I just saw

Posted on February 1, 2004 by Frog

We’re not watching the Super Bowl, but I just turned on the tee-vee to find out the score and I think I just saw J*stin “score” on J*net J*ckson. Did I just see her nipple on CBS?

Posted in Watching | Comments Off

Creepy

Posted on January 30, 2004 by Frog

I’ve been selling things on eBay for some months now and have really gotten into the whole commerce thing. In fact, I’m really a big freak because when something sells and someone actually pays for the item, I yell COMMERCE and get busy with mailing the thing out. The other night a CD I had out there for the 3rd time finally sold for a mega-huge amount ($1.00). I was so excited that I lifted my arms over my head to give high-fives but, alas, I was alone. (see above: big freak)

After I package an item up, I email the buyer and let them know that the item is in the mail. I figure it is a nice thing to do and it makes the whole process a little bit friendly. Sometimes the buyer writes back and says thanks for letting me know, but generally I don’t get a response. I’m not expecting a response. With all that said, the following is an email exchange with a very creepy guy, the kind you don’t take home to momma.

My comments in italic.

—Original Message—–
From: Frog
Sent: Jan 28, 2004 7:29 PM
To: Creep
Subject: Ebay Purchase: 2590712203-Boy George

Thanks for purchasing the Boy George CD. I’ll put it in the mail on
Thursday morning.

Regards,
Frog

—Original Message—–
From: Creep
To: Frog
Subject: Thank you
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 22:24:36 -0800 (GMT-08:00)

Hi Frug uh, you spelled my name wrong, thank you for the positive feedback !!
Where about in the US are you?

Creep

—–Original Message—–
From: Frog
Sent: Jan 29, 2004 5:26 AM
To: Creep
Subject: RE: Thank you

I’m in Virginia. I sent the CD first class so you should have it at
the beginning of next week. I hope you enjoy.

Regards,
Frog

—Original Message—–
From: Creep
To: Frog
Subject: RE: Thank you
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 08:20:49 -0800 (GMT-08:00)

Thank you for your prompt response, Frog. got my name right that time
I wish there were more people in this world like you!

Creep

I wasn’t sure how to reply to that and, perhaps, I should have stopped there.

—–Original Message—–
From: Frog
Sent: Jan 29, 2004 8:56 AM
To: Creep
Subject: RE: Thank you

You know–the same can be said for you. Thanks again.

Regards,
Frog

—Original Message—–
From: Creep
Reply-To: Creep
To: Frog
Subject: RE: Thank you
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 18:16:52 -0800 (GMT-08:00)

Awww… thank you, that’s very sweet of you. You seem like such a nice person, I want to know more about you, but don’t want you to think that I’m some kind of wierdo! It’s just soooo refreshing to meet someone “normal”.

Creep

ok, if you can’t spell weirdo and you’ve continued this conversation for this long you probably are a weirdo

Posted in Reading | Comments Off

When I Get Old

Posted on January 29, 2004 by Frog

When I get old this is how I want it to be:
Having lunch with my old lady friends in the cool bar-side of a neighborhood place (not the family oriented side)
Telling our friends what a bargain our totally pink outfit is (not that I’ll be the one buying the pink outfit)
Shouting to each other that we should check the obituaries to see if we know anyone who has gone on
Checking the obituaries and finding at least 2 people we sort-of knew and exclaiming “I think I should drive to Tappahannock to go to the funeral”
Happily declare that you’ll have steak and eggs for lunch
Ordering a round of Rose for lunch

Posted in Eating | Comments Off

The Reasons are Varied

Posted on January 29, 2004 by Frog

Last weekend we went to an auto parts store to get supplies for the generator and I finally picked up an item I’ve been thinking about buying for some time now. I decided that I needed to “trick-out” my Honda. You know because all the cool kids were doing it.

Today I saw one on a Ford mini-van (one of those early square boxy things) and I thought go on sista! I’m not sure why she got one but maybe if I drove one of the boxiest vehicles on the planet I’d want something to spice it up too.

I bought mine because I thought it was funny when I saw it on another car and I thought it would be even funnier on my car. I’m a graying old fart staring down my 36th birthday for crying out loud. I am also prepared to defend my “trick” by saying that I’m prickly and my car should be as well.

So, what do you think?

Posted in Watching | Comments Off

Ctrl+Alt+Del saved me

Posted on January 29, 2004 by Frog

Oh so many years ago I worked for a bank and I was my department’s computer guru. Please keep the snickering to yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I asked co-workers if they had done Ctrl+Alt+Del before getting me into their offices or cubes. Unfortunately not many could answer in the affirmative.

The better-half received the following blurb in an Info Week newsletter he gets. When I read it, I felt compelled to post it.

”I didn’t know it was going to be a cultural icon. I did a lot of other things than CtrlAltDelete, but I’m famous for that one.” – David Bradley, who came up with the computer world’s most famous three-key combination. Bradley is retiring from IBM on Friday after 28-1/2 years with the company.

Thanks Mr. Bradley and enjoy your retirement.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | Comments Off

An Original Thought

Posted on January 28, 2004 by Frog

There are 3 commercials that immediately come to my mind that I think are the suckiest suck commercials ever and that’s saying something. The first one is easy: Ditech loans (any of their commercials). The next one is the Crest Whitestrips where we seem to have fallen into a knock-off of Sex and the City. The third one is brought to us by Geico and it involves a knock-off of This Old House. Actually I suppose I should give Geico some credit for not including that lizard.

Posted in Watching | Comments Off

Memory Lane

Posted on January 28, 2004 by Frog

Yesterday afternoon I was going through a box of cookbooks we ended up with from the MIL’s house on Christmas Day. I’m not sure what you do on Christmas Day but cleaning out a cupboard shelf is part of what we did. In addition to finding some books that I’m sure will sell on eBay, I found some little pieces of history. Are you ready for a trip down memory lane?

There are 2 things I like about this one. The first thing is the groovy graphic and the second thing I circled in red.

I’m sure reading this pamphlet inspired countless women to take up the trade.

And, this last item is really only going to appeal to a very small audience. It is a hometown memory. When this place and its big rival Miller & Rhoads closed, the area wept.

Posted in Watching | Comments Off

Disjointed, but it is my blog

Posted on January 27, 2004 by Frog

I finally finished reading Wintering and let me tell you that if Kate Moses was channeling Sylvia Plath when she wrote it, then the book is brilliant. If Moses was just layering imagery on top of imagery on top of imagery because that’s the way she writes, then it wasn’t so brilliant. This I know from all my experience as a NY Times Best Seller writer.

Something else that I know–if I had ever met or hung out with Sylvia she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to turn on the stove, I would have throttled her.

I made a snow angel today.

This morning when I took the flannel sheets off the bed, I put the fitted sheet over my head and my entire face showed through the huge hole in the sheet. Said sheet is now in the rag pile. You know it is bad when you wake up at 2am and your foot is stuck in the hole.

Posted in Reading | Comments Off