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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SEAN!

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Wishing you wins for the Redskins this season and lots of good times this coming year. Cheers!

Fun Weekend

My fun weekend started with Happy Hour on Friday night with some co-workers (Mary, Kara, Christine and Barb). We met at Applebee's in Aberdeen and shared some half price apps and lots of laughs. I should have taken a picture, or have the waiter take a pic of us. Kara took some, but I'll have to wait for her to download them off her new digital camera.

After a round of shots (Lemon Drop for me, Tuaca for Kara and Mary), we headed home. About 20 minutes into my trip, I had to pee, but not so urgently -- I thought I could hold out. 20 minutes later, I was looking for options:

Stop at the I-895 salt/sand storage shed with the jiffy john?
Stop at the rest area near the Rt 32 exit?
Pee my pants?

If I were with John, I might have pulled over on the side of the road. I was still hoping to just hold out for home, which was another 20 minutes away. I got off a few exits before the one closest to the house, knowing there's a Burger King not far off the exit. I'm so glad I'm becoming familiar with what's where in the Columbia/Jessup/Laurel region!!!

Whew! It was almost 9:00 PM, so I called John to see if he was home yet. The crew was still at Famous Dave's celebrating Rita's birthday, and they all wanted me to stop by. Everyone had finished eating at this point and just hanging out, enjoying a glass of wine or beer. Again, no pics.

Saturday, John loaded up my old queen-size bed frame and we headed down to the beach cottage. Our new mattress set had been delivered a few weeks earlier when Mike, Diane and kids were there vacationing. We set up the bed and put the mattress on. Boy, is it TALL! It's probably 28 inches from the ground to the top of the mattress -- a big difference from the old set. And it's squishier than I remember at the mattress store. If they're making mattresses with so much padding on the top, when will the sheets industry catch up?

We headed "downtown" to the yarn store. Ellen at Crazy for Ewe has brought in so many luxurious yarns. I wish I had the time, money and project ideas to knit up some special stuff. She showed me some yarn from Alchemy, which I've only read about but never seen/touched. It's sooooo soft and silky. And $25.99 a skein. Oh well... in another lifetime.

There are a number of antique stores in the Leonardtown area and we hadn't been junk shopping in a while, so we stopped in at the Apple Basket to have a look. They've got a mix of old and new, but I'd say it was mostly new stuff. Lots of gifty things. I got a couple things for upcoming birthdays and X-mas stash. Then we went to Crabknockers to order some crabs. The last time we got crabs there, they weren't very good. I wrote the owner a letter and told him how disappointing the crabs were, considering they're normally fresh, perfectly cooked and very tasty. He said he'd been having some issues with his new staff and offered to credit me with half a bushel of crabs at no charge, no expiration. So, I decided to give them another try.

We saw some deer on the way back to the house. They were all bunched up together. Normally you don't see so many at once:





We had dinner at Happy Dragon, and John had the General Tso's chicken, his favorite. I need to find a recipe for that sauce! After dinner, we picked up our crab order and even though I already ate dinner, I tested 4 crabs when we got home... for quality control purposes, of course! They were yummy!

Sunday, we ate leftover Chinese food for breakfast and just hung around the house for a bit. We packed up the crabs in a cooler and stopped at the Bargain Barn (indoor flea market) on the way home. I dropped the crabs off at my parents' and took a dozen for myself. We did a little grocery shopping and John got himself an Italian Sausage sub for dinner.

It was a very nice weekend hanging out with lots of fun people on Friday night and having lots of quality time with my husband for the rest of it. hee hee! Husband. That still cracks me up.

Ah Dug Ub A Dabba

John's been fascinated with the "New Every Two" meter on Verizon's website (when you log on to check your account). He kept asking me about mine. All I knew was I renewed my contract in December of 2004. Apparently, you can replace your phone two months beforehand... so here's my meter:


Not much else has been going on in the world of Beans. Hence, the meter post.

My birthday is 12 days away! I asked John to not play his Stars album during the month of September as a present. I like this album, but John's in a rut. It's on almost every day when I get home from work. He was on a Jack White kick for a while too. I think 3 CD's featuring Jack White were in the Mustang's 6-CD changer at one point-- the last White Stripes album, the Raconteurs and the one he produced for Loretta Lynn.

John's been into the Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs CD this summer. It's covers of a bunch of late 60's pop songs. He's also been listening to the Mark Knoffler/Emmylou Harris CD too. This features a song called "I Dug Up a Diamond", but when I heard it the first couple times, it sounded like "ah dug ub a dabba". When I finally learned what he was saying, I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face. And I can't hear this song without laughing. John doesn't think it's all that funny. I'm laughing just thinking about it!

Monday Sleepwalk

I got home about midnight last night after hanging out with these guys:


And this couple:


Along with Nate, MB & Eric for a lovely evening at Wolf Trap to see CHRIS ISAAK!


This was my second Chris Isaak show... the first being last year's Christmas show at the 9:30 Club. Wolf Trap is a really great venue. Where else can you buy cheapie lawn seats, bring your own food & booze AND enjoy an awesome concert? I took lots of pictures, but my aim wasn't very steady, so there was only one fairly focused.

The rest of the weekend was pretty fun too. Friday night after FND, we went to the Quarry House to have a couple drinks with Robert, Pokes and Freddy. Saturday, we were at the Sommerkamps' for their annual summer BBQ. It's really nice that John and his bro are still good friends with so many of their high school friends.

I have a feeling this day is going to drag on... I can't wait to get out of work, get back home and take a nap! Happy Monday!

Where Did the Summer Go?

The invasion of the vacationers began a day earlier than in previous weeks. Last night on my commute home from work, nothing but NY, NJ, PA and DE plates zooming by or slowing up traffic. This usually occurs on Fridays. A few random gripes/observations:

[1] Hello! It's freakin' rush hour! Although southbound traffic on I-95 generally moves pretty well (at least speed limit or better) through Baltimore, it's still rush hour! I don't know WHY you people. Yes, that's right. YOU. PEOPLE. You people insist on driving like you're playing a video game and you must pass everyone to get extra points. Stop it!

[2] You... Mr. Reading the Map While Whole Family Sleeps. Get out of the left lane if you're lost!!! Wake up the wife and give her the map. 'Cuz you know she's better navigator than you. And tell your kids to get their stinkin' feet off the windows. I'm tired of looking at their dirty soles. It's rude.

[3] Can't you people just go EAST from wherever you live instead of cutting through MY state during rush hour??? I know a bunch of us will be driving through VA to get to our NC destination in a few weeks, but we know where we're going and we don't drive like you jackasses!

[4] I know where all the speed traps are, so that's why I'm not driving 20 mph over the speed limit like you want me to. And besides, get in the freakin' left lane if you want to pass me! Oh, that's right... Mr. Map Reader is there. Snakes on a plane.

Enough vacationer traffic rant... weekend should be fun. Friday Night Dinner with the P's tonight, party tomorrow night and possible Chris Isaak concert on Sunday night, if William got tickets.

Speaking of William, he's evicting my stuff from his basement, so John and I are going to the estates Saturday morning to move it. It's only been two years... The futon has been given amnesty for the time being.

Happy Friday and hope everyone has a great weekend!

Party Fit for an Old Monkey

Does it look like Kevin had a good time at his 50th birthday celebration?


We ALL had a good time! Many thanks to Roger & Mariana for opening up their home to family and friends for this monumental event. Although Kevin received many amber-colored gifts, one of the best was the hat he's wearing. It all started a year or so ago when he and Baby G got into a "YOU da Monkey!" battle. So, whenever they see one another, they go back and forth this way.

"You da Monkey!"
"No, you da monkeeeey!"

Nate got this hat for Kevin and it says "U Da" with a picture of a monkey. I'm sure this will be placed right next to his Cuello Rojo hat.


I didn't take a lot of pics at the party... I was fending off mosquitoes and my camera was in need of some purging of old pics. But here are Shaun and Sean, enjoying the evening:


Marie and daughter, Sweet Talli:


Bianca and Aunt Lucy:


Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Happy Birthday, Khaaw Daaeng!

It's Kevin's BIG 50!!! So I hear. It's possible W & F lied to us, but as much as they love to celebrate 50th birthdays, I'm going to believe this one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEVIN!!!

Calla, a Dummy and an Anniversary

After the weekly Friday Night Dinner with my parents, I went home to finish up a knit tank I've been working on for a few months. It's really hard to photograph black yarn, but you can click here to see a picture of what Calla should really look like.



I screwed up a little last week when I joined a new ball of yarn and I tried to fix the big hole it created. I couldn't sleep as I was thinking about all the work I'd put in, only to have this hole in it. I got up after tossing and turning in bed and tried to figure it out. I gave up when the clock struck 1:00 AM but I had an idea of how to fix it.

Saturday morning, I started right on fixing Calla and after another hour or so of trying to recreate the stitches and ripping out, I finally got it. It's not perfect, but not bad either. Afterwards, I had John help me with another crafty project I've had in mind for a while. One of the things many knitters have is a body dummy or mannequin-type thing to help fit their garments. This is something used in sewing too. I hadn't priced what a body dummy would cost, but through reading some knit blogs, people have made their own using duct tape. So, I looked up some instructions and John did this:

Look at those CHUBS around my belly! I don't look so bad from the back side. You can actually see a waistline. If I could get the stomach to look as good... After the wrapping, John cut up the center back to let me out and taped it back up. We just need to find a way to close out the bottom, neck and armholes and stuff it with fiberfill. I think I'm just going to install and secure a hanger through the neckhole and hang it, but sometimes people will build a stand for theirs.

Saturday night, we were honored by an invite to join Matt & Alison in celebrating their 5 year anniversary. Freddy, the best man, didn't think it would last 5 weeks. Matt & Ali cooked up a wonderful dinner that included burgers, grilled chicken, pesto pasta salad, mixed greens salad with balsamic vinegrette, baked eggplant with tomato and sauteed zucchini and squash. For dessert, they picked up a really lovely strawberry cake with marzipan and some mini tartlets from Patisserie Poupon in Georgetown:


It was just a really simple, but elegant (and yummy!) meal with lots of vegetarian-type dishes that I don't tend to think of when preparing meals for parties. Not that M&A are vegetarians, but they definitely eat more healthy than John and I! Matt gave a little speech, and comments from the peanut gallery (namely Freddy?) had Alison in stitches:


The party was a small mix of friends in our normal group (Sean & Val, Nate & Linda, Freddy) and M&A's friends we've met before, including Glen & Faust, Jim & Mary and Lauren. Mangey & Shacky also came out for the party and took tons of pics with Mange's new digital camera. We also met William's friend, Tia, who came down for a visit from NJ:


Sunday, John was on call, so we didn't venture far from home. We had lunch at the tragic Laurel Mall, went to the library and then picked up a few groceries. It was actually nice to be able to just hang out at home and do a little laundry. I started a new sock too.


Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

When the Cat's Away...

... the cubicle gets cleaned!

Yesterday, when I was working from home, this is what happened to Kara's workspace:

She had been threatening to clean it forever, but work and stuff got in the way. Kara's cube is cleaner than mine now!!! Mary (and several volunteers) decided to welcome Kara back from her vacation by providing her with a workspace that didn't look like this:

Yea, there's a desk under there! Mountains of paper were sorted and boxed. I'm only sad I wasn't here to see it being cleaned.

Updated: Pat, our office cleaning guy, exclaimed, "Oh my god, there IS carpet in here" when he saw Kara's cube.

Reverse Vacay

My boss is on vacation for the rest of the week. And she absolutely needs it! She works way too hard, and up until two weeks ago, was also working the night shift (5 pm - 1 am) a few nights a week. If you happen to be in OC, MD this weekend, beware of crazy girl shopping for souvenirs.

My very pretty Canon "digical", a.k.a. "Battery Eater", has a pic on it from my dinner the other night, which I wanted to post on my food blog but sadly, is being held hostage for the time being.

You: Jal, why don't you carry spare batteries with you?
Me: I normally do carry spares, but they're recharging in the charger at home.
You: How about keeping regular spares with you.
Me: I'm not that smart.

You'd think someone who feels the need to buy a 500-pack of AA or AAA batteries every time she goes to Giant Warehouse Store would keep spares everywhere (at the office, in her backpack, in every unused purse). I mean, you can barely open the kitchen drawer where the batteries are kept 'cuz I keep buying batteries. Yea... you all think I'm soooo prepared for everything with my bringing bug spray AND after bite to an outdoor crab feast. Not so much on the battery preparedness.

Check back for that foodie post. I'll be working from home tomorrow as I have an appointment in the afternoon and my boss insisted I work from home. Even though I don't have a work laptop. Just my home PC and some files. And lots of samples she printed out for me (Thanks, Kara!) for the project she wants me to edit.

Happy Wednesday!

One Gray Closer to 40

Maybe it's the new Loreal Restoratives conditioner I bought a few weeks ago. Instead of providing vitamins and minerals to thicken my hair, it's provided nourishment for GRAY hair to branch out like weeds! Oy!

In my late 20's and early 30's, I colored my hair for fun. Weird, unnatural wine colors or just a touch lighter than my natural color. Once I dyed it jet black. It looked... unnatural. My friend, Susan, introduced me to her hair stylist about 10 years ago or so and he put honey blonde highlights in my hair. I've been hooked on highlights ever since, but they cost so much -- even the partials. So, maybe every other year, I splurge for the works... haircut and highlights with Michael Jr. I love how they look in the sunlight. When I have highlights, I often check them out in my side mirrow while I'm driving. Yes, I'm a dork.

My mom has never colored her salt & pepper hair. OK, mostly salt now. She never wanted to be bothered by the constant touching up, and I imagine she didn't want to spend the money either. She's always been very thrifty like that. It wasn't important for her to hide her grays. My MIL has also let her natural grays flow freely. Women confident in themselves, letting nature do its thing.

I don't want to be held hostage by hair dye when my head gets grayer and grayer. I'm mostly hoping it's evenly gray and not splotchy like that girl in the Nightmare on Elm Street or the Talk Soup guy with the one clump. I guess I'll continue to play with color until my roots tell me it's time to give it up. Or until I actually need a wig 'cuz my hair is so thin. Snakes on a plane.

Serious Crab Eatin' Business

You know how I've been complaining about my own non-picture takin' self? Well, I did it again. I made some brownies, bojangled 'em with Grand Marnier and decorated 'em with powdered sugar so I could distingush them from the kid-safe regular fudge brownies and I forgot to take a picture. I also made some chicken curry for dinner last night and forgot to snap a shot of that too. Luckily, there's a whole bunch left and I can post the leftovers on my food blog. That is... if I don't eat it all and forget again.

So, to the crab feast:

Joey B and Chris ordered up some cooler weather for their party and crabs were everywhere. Sadly, so were the biting bugs, but we had lots of DEET on hand. There may be bugs on some of you mugs, but there ain't no bugs on me!

Yea, didn't take a pic of all the crabs in the big 4 foot tall pot. I suck. By the time John and I got there, Marie, Freddy and Mike had already created walls of crab shells around them. Bianca and Jay didn't waste any time on chit chat either (they're very serious about crab pickin'!!!)

I think Nic and Nate had 5 each before I got through my first one. I take my time too much, I think. And I'm busy setting up my eating area with sauce, a drink, ample paper towels and such while everyone else just dives in.

Little Talli was there, enjoying a lime. She's 3. And likes to eat limes like it's a slice of sweet navel orange. Only it's a LIME. I love lime juice and all, but not enough to just eat it like a normal piece of fruit. She also loves pickles. With all this lime and pickle eating, how does she turn all that tart stuff into such sweetness?


The kids all suited up for the hot tub. Cutie Bella loves to get her picture taken, but don't even think of snapping her pic without letting her see it on the screen before you walk away!


Jay and Marie take a break from the crabs:


There was a bit of horseshoes on the side of the house. Here's John's form:


Schwillie's form reminds me of Mikhail Baryshnikov:


Bystanders sitting pretty far away from the game, chatting it up and having a good time, had to be ready to move when Mike was up. His throws had a lot of height but not a lot of trajectory. Maybe he had memories of playing Lawn Darts as a kid and was trying to recreate those moments with horseshoes. We shouldn't have been sitting in a circle, looking like a Lawn Dart target.

Midway through the games, there was some settling up on wagers:


Big thanks to Joe and Chris for having us out for crabs, burgers, dogs and yummy sides. And a big CONGRATS to my favorite Big Head and her Mr. Big Head. They're expecting a Baby Big Head some time this winter (I'm calculating). I'd better get knittin'!

Jaywalkin' and Cupcakin'

At the end of June, I finally finished up Linda's (very belated) birthday socks made from Tess' Designer Yarns I got at MD Sheep & Wool 2006. The original Jaywalker design from Grumperina calls for a longer leg with a bit of 2x2 ribbing at the top, but I made an ankle sock with picot edging instead. I also used a short row heel and toe. This photo doesn't really show the true vibrancy of the yarn, but it's a blue, teal and purple mix.

I also knitted up some cupcakes from the One Skein book. I must be using the wrong type of yarn, as mine don't look as cute as the ones in the book, but they were fun to make! You're supposed to be able to use scraps you have layin' around, but I must have cheapie scraps. Here's the one I gave Kara last week:

Last night, we had dinner at Red Hot & Blue with Nate, Linda and Baby G. We really ought to do that kind of thing more often during the week instead of only getting together on weekends. We had a discussion comparing RH&B to Famous Dave's. I like them both. Linda doesn't like FD's, but she's only had carry out. We all agreed eating at the restaurant is better than when you do carry out. Although the ribs William got from FD's for Donkey Boy's party last September were quite deeeelish! And we've gotten RH&B carry out which was yummy... the only problem is FD's doesn't have hush puppies. What kind of BBQ place doesn't serve hush puppies??? FD's serves a yummy cornbread though!

Tomorrow, we'll be headed up to Frederick for Joey B's and Chris' crab feast. Chris' brother has a place in Upper Marlboro called Homeboys Bay Seafood and the crabs they got last year were awesome! I'm thinking of making a dessert like the one someone brought to Joe Basso's open house a while back. It's a layered thing called "Death by Chocolate" and made with brownies, Kahlua, whipped cream and other chocolatey goodness. Hopefully, I'll remember to take pics and post it on my food blog!

Hmmmm... this post is quite the schlink-fest today, isn't it?

I hear the weather is supposed to be really nice this weekend. Perfect for crab pickin'! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Bugs Love to Bite Me

When I was about 10 or so, we went on a family vacation to Assateague (or was it Chincoteague?). Regardless, it was Mosquito-teague. We got out of the car to walk to the beach area - just checkin' it all out, not to stay for very long or anything. Back then, we didn't know about DEET flavored bug spray. All we had was tiger balm to help relieve the itch after the feast. Anyway, by the time I got back in the car, my body was covered with bites. I think I counted over 70 of them. That's how bad it was. I was prompted to count how many mosquito bites I had! Never going back there again!!!

John will always be safe from mosquitoes and other biting bugs if I'm around. I can be at a party with lots of other people, sprayed down with OFF while others are spray-free, and I'm the blood buffet. So last night, I'm watching TV in bed and happen to look over my left shoulder to see a black thing on it. I say to John, "Is that a piece of lint or a bug?". Not knowing, he flicked it and it flew away. AAAAHHHHH! Whatever kind of bug it was, it had already bit my shoulder blade and clavicle. Thankfully, my loving husband doesn't mind smearing hydrocortisone cream on welted bug bites.

Of course, you know I was all skeezed out the rest of the night thinking there were bugs on me or crawling on my legs under the covers...

Note to loving husband: If you see a bug on me, smack it dead and explain later.

Just a Heads Up...

In five weeks, I will be turning the big "four-oh my buddha I'm old". This is evidenced by the increasing number of silver hairs I keep finding (and plucking) on my head.

Good news: I'll be at the OBX on vacation on my birthday! Woot!

Bad news: There won't be some big blowout party where people from all over the country fly in to celebrate (like William's 40th). OK... actually I don't think I personally know enough people to have a big bash like that. I'd have to invite lots of extended acquaintances for it to be considered a big bash.

I've never had a giNORmous party where it was centered all around mememe. I'm probably not an epic-proportions party person anyway. Although the idea of it sounds fantastic. Almost as good as a surprise party!

I've heard about and have been to some great 40th parties (Mike's, William's, Nate's, Eric's, J. Burdett's). Side note: Except for William's, the WIVES of these men threw their husbands the biggest, bestest 40th parties! Ahem. Maybe I'll have to wait for my 50th. Or 45th.

So, mark your calendars, folks... in 10 years, be prepared to celebrate my 50th! BIG! Not some little dinky party either. Catered. With a moon bounce and pony rides. I'd better start saving up for this, huh?

August Already?

Where has the summer gone? Pretty soon, those darn school busses will get in my way during the morning commute. But until then, there's Floppy Hat Night at Camden Yards. John and I picked up MIL Becky and met up with William, Freddy, Mike and Joey B for free hats and a ball game.

Freddy LOVES his beer!

View from our seats:

The O's should have won. They led the game 4-2 and then in the 9th, all they needed were 3 outs to win. But the pitcher decided to walk a couple guys. And while it was exciting to see a home run from the White Sox come towards our direction, the bases were loaded. Doh! Did I mention how hot it was? And humid? Every O's game I attend always seems to fall on the most humid night of the year. Maybe it's just me?

The next day, being one of the couple weekends we have where John isn't on call, we went down to the beach cottage. We lunched with a Maryland Horticulture group (via Al D.), who hosted a BBQ and crab feast. At the cottage, we found John's bro and family chillin' on their family vacation. I was so tired from the heat (and lunch). I napped. John put up some curtains in our bedroom. We went to dinner at Arizona Pizza, which was OK. Not as good as it was the first time we went and shared a BBQ Chicken Pizza. I had some kind of chicken artichoke pasta in a garlic butter sauce. "Eh" is all I can say about it. The chicken was juicy though. After dinner, I headed back up to bed and knitted a little. The heat just wiped me out that day!

Sunday, John helped his brother put the boat in the water:

Boy, was it HOT!!! It was probably 95 degrees by 10:30 that morning. Afterwards, John and I headed out in search of a new mattress set. The bed in our room is probably 30 some years old and a double. I love being close to my hubby, but the sinking towards the middle of the bed... not so much. The guy at the mattress place tried to get us to buy a $1,400.00 set. Comfy, but we're only at the beach cottage maybe one weekend a month. So, we went for something that was still expensive ($600) but better than what we've got now. Next time we head down, we'll take my old bed frame and set up our new QUEEN size bed! In the move from DE, in storage and then moved again to our house, a couple big gashes in the black paint cropped up on the frame and need to be fixed. I probably should have wrapped it in cardboard/plastic when I moved from DE (I LOVE this bed frame!). Hopefully, the gashes will smooth out with a little sanding and once painted, it will just look "distressed".

Before heading home, I got some crabs for my parents and we dropped them off. I took a couple for dinner:

John's on call again tonight (nuts!) but we're looking forward to dinner Thursday at Red Hot & Blue with Nate & Linda and then another crab feast at Joey B's on Saturday. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Stay cool (it's supposed to be over 100 today and tomorrow!).