As had been planned last week, Becky, Jim, Jerry, and I met Matt for lunch at Padow's, a local deli. As always seems to happen when we eat there, we sat around talking after we'd eaten until nearly two. Some snippets of conversation:
"I'm going to start a new section in my journal: Jerry's Opinion of the Day!"
"Ooh, yeah, and you could have a little animated graphic with a pair of glasses and the mustache!"
"Hey, I could've turned into a demon and been tracking him down for real!"
"So lemme get this straight: You had your seventeen-year-old cousin at your apartment for a gathering at which there was alcohol, and then you called a military man after midnight to come over and sleep with her?"
"Well... yeah."
"Here! You can have your cancerous chicken back!"
Yep, we're just a bundle of laughs.
Around five - just as the sun was going down, we had a brief, violent rainstorm. I was surprised - we don't usually get those kinds of fifteen-minute storms until we're well into summer. The sun came back out just as the storm was fading into drizzle. I didn't notice, much - I'd been watching a Babylon 5 tape while Matt was upstairs checking his e-mail. Suddenly, he yelled down the stairs: "There's a rainbow out back!"
I hit the pause button, grabbed my camera, and opened the back door. There it was - a full half-circle from horizon to horizon, a little faint, but beautiful nonetheless. I snapped a picture.
Then it occured to me to wonder if it would be visible from the front of the house. I took my camera and ran out into the street. Sure enough, if I got about halfway out into the cul-de-sac, it looked like the rainbow was encircling our house. Gorgeous! I took several more pictures, then went back inside, flush with the excitement.
Then, just as I was getting back into the video, the doorbell rang.
Direct USA is a company that sells meat wholesale and in quantity to individual households. Apparently, they'd over-ordered, or a customer had cancelled an order, because they were going door-to-door looking for someone to buy their meat at cost.
Before I knew what was happening, they'd spread more beef (in shrink-wrapped packages) than Matt and I eat in a year on my living room floor. I have to admit, it looked wonderful. I was salivating. But, as I said, it was more than we could eat in a year. I asked the woman if she had chicken.
Her partner dashed back out to the truck, and suddenly there was chicken all over our floor as well as beef. She showed us her own work order, which listed the prices she paid for each case, and her brochure, which listed the customer's prices. She told us that we could have the beef at her cost and $100 off the chicken. When I asked, she said she'd be willing to sell us just the chicken, at her cost. I looked at the gorgeous sirloins, then at the chicken, and dragged Matt into the kitchen for a conference.
We don't eat enough beef to have made buying the beef pack worthwhile. But we do eat a fair amount of chicken. We bought the chicken, and regretfully turned down the beef. Half an hour later, we had the packets of chicken labelled and stuffed in the freezer - and now there's a lot less room in the freezer! And we won't have to buy chicken at the grocery store for at least three or four months.
I made pita-bread pizzas for dinner last night. They turned out very well, though I left them in the oven for just a hair too long. Unfortunately, after warning Matt that they'd be very hot, I neglected to take my own advice. Hot cheese pulled off the pizza and stuck to my chin at the same time that still-scalding sauce glopped onto my finger. By the time I'd cleared the cheese, I had an actual blister forming on my finger.
Could've happened to anyone, I suppose, but I feel like a dork: "What, this? Oh, I injured myself eating pizza."
For the third night in a row, Braz and I had a MeadeHall session. This time, Karen joined us so we could continue the discussion that was obviously about to happen just as the 'Hall had closed Monday. Marten finally revealed the identity of the mysterious brotherhood that he escaped. It's bad, but not as bad as I was afraid it might be. I think we can handle it.
Lisl, damn her impatient matchmaking soul, forced the issue between Marten and Zoya. Braz and I had agreed that it would be more fun to drag things out between them - and the gods know they've got enough reason to be somewhat hesitant. But Lisl wasn't having any of it. She told Marten off for stalling, completely ignoring Zoya's glares and hints, and then sat around congratulating herself until Marten politely kicked her out.
So Braz and I are going to have to re-evaluate that relationship and figure out all over again just what's going on. I'm not too upset about it, though. Just to drive Lisl crazy, I suspect Marten and Zoya are going to decide that just because they've brought their feelings out into the open is no reason to rush things.
That's three nights in a row I've had less than six hours of sleep. Maybe I'll get used to it.
YAAAAAAAWN Or maybe not.
Word of the Day: auspicious - promising success; favorable
The omens - if I were to admit to being superstitious - have been good this year. Almost all of the things I've planted have lived. (Trust me; that takes divine intervention.) A bluebird spent half an hour sitting on our mailbox and looking over our house. The rainbow yesterday was a nice touch.
Yes, indeed. A very auspicious beginning for the year.
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