Mad Zoo House

So this year El Fyd's company turned 100. In September they held the company picnic at the Oregon Zoo. Free admission, animal gawking, hot dogs and burgers - all good! There was also supposed to be a concert by Pink Martini. Apparently the concert was canceled due to an illness. So, Pink Martini offered the company an apology concert, which was tonight. And we got free tickets even though we hadn't planned on staying at the picnic to see the concert. :O

I'm not ashamed to admit I wasn't all that jazzed about it. But when we got there, we learned there was a special guest. CAROL CHANNING. Yeah, for reals. Seriously, if you haven't seen an 86-year-old performer shimmying and half-gyrating on stage, and shooting out the occasional sexual innuendo (including one about how the long jump used to be called the broad jump HEY-O!) , you haven't lived. She could not have been funnier. And at one point her fourth (according to IMDb) husband joined her for a little dance. Two 80-something cutie patootie old folks. Hilarious.

Oh, and Pink Martini was good too. :)

The holiday decorations have been taken down. The house now looks dull and boring. boofreakinghoo. :P

1. Dropped off a car-full of stuff to Goodwill in time to get a receipt for write-off purposes before the end of the year.
2. Arranged (badly) flowers to bring to friend's for dinner tomorrow night. Would be so much easier if he just let me bring wine or make dessert.
   
3. Took recently-discovered-girl-kitty to the humane society to get stitches from her spaying out.
4. Made sure I have all the necessary ingredients for New Year's Day chili.
   

Things still on the to-do list:

1. Take down all holiday decorations. eep.
   

Ho-hum, I'm sure you're all saying. All two of you who read my blog. :P I obviously haven't been keeping up with my blog very well, and for that, I apologize. I am determined to do better, but be careful what you wish for, people. My life just isn't that interesting. I am either going to have to go out in public more often and start conversations with strangers, or make stuff up. HAHA! You'll never know.

Also I'm going to backtrack a bit and update on some stuff that I've done recently. So check out the archives, yo! Thank you for your support.

says the humane society employee. *blink blink*

I asked them to include the sex of the foster animals on the forms we foster parents get, so I don't have to keep violating my foster kittens to try and figure it out. And it's a good thing I did, too - I learned that Red Collar is actually a female. For three weeks I've thought she was a he. Poor little gender-confused kitten.

So, in June of 2002, The Mister and I were headed back to Portland from our honeymoon in Vancouver, BC. We stopped for the night in Seattle and met up with my parents and grandmother (Gram was flying back home out of Seattle so they had done some sight-seeing). We ended up at Ivar's for dinner. I was drawn to the pound of King crab legs. I had to have them. I ordered them. They would soon be mine.

It may be that I didn't look up from my plate of crab legs for the entire meal. When I finished, I mentally rejoined the rest of the table. My dear husband of one week looked a little shell-shocked. I guess he hadn't had the joy of experiencing the gluttony that is me + seafood. Oh well - he'd already bought the cow, so too late, sucker!

Fast forward to today. We took a little day trip to Seattle to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit but first hit Ivar's. There was a momentary panic when the pound of crab legs wasn't on the menu, but luckily we found it listed on the menu insert. Our server actually gave me a high-five when I ordered it. Victory! It was loverly.

Unfortunately the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit was sold out and we weren't able to wait around for the next available time slot. Oh well. A little disappointing. But seriously. A pound of crab legs.

p.s. an FYI for anyone visiting the Seattle Center - if you're not there on a weekend or during any other festival, be prepared to have difficulty finding an open bathroom. It seems the only public bathroom in the Center was closed "for vandalism." We traipsed around there for half an hour before finding a bathroom in the ice rink. So, if you're there and have to "go," go directly to the ice rink.

I just won a DVD of "It's a Wonderful Life" from a local TV station! WOOT! I love this movie. For the past few years I've missed it's once-a-year airing on TV. For years it's been on my Amazon wish list and no one has gotten it for me. But now I'm going to own it! Of course I'm sure this means that it's already under my tree, but oh well! Yay! :)

Smelly Potential Juror: "So when you say 'involved' in a motor vehicle accident, do you mean driving? or just involved?"

Chatty Lawyer Guy: "Uh, no you don't need to be the one driving."

SPJ: "Oh, then I've been in like 3 accidents when I was on my bike! It was back when I was drinking a lot."

*blink blink*
SPJ made at least 7 such comments. He and I and 28 other potential jurors sat through vois dire for two and a half hours. TWO AND A HALF HOURS. I wasn't picked. I'll give you one guess who was one of the ones who was picked. Yup.

Two things for those of you who show up for jury duty at the Multnomah County Courthouse downtown:

1. Dress warmly. I wore a t-shirt under my sweater and knee-high boots under my jeans and was still freezing, both in the jury room and in court.
2. Bring your laptop. The jury room has a free wireless connection.
   

What's that, you say? "Do Jump!"? Do Jump! is difficult to explain. It's part dance, part vaudeville, part acrobatics, part interpretive dance, part aerial majesty, part original music...yes, that's six parts. I may not know math, but I know what I like. And Do Jump! is gooood stuff. I've never seen Cirque de Soleil, but I imagine it's like that without the pretention. :O

Check them out if they're ever in your area!

I have made the following types of biscotti over the past two days:

• almond
• chocolate-dipped
  
• cranberry pistachio
• lemon poppy seed
• almond with orange zest

Now ask me how many of them I've eaten. No, wait. Don't. I will just say to those of you expecting holiday treats from me this year: You're welcome. :)

In my basement! sooooo cute. Right now they're like one big cat with three heads as this is how they spend 95% of their time since being here Tuesday:


They are very stuffed up with URIs. I gave them sponge baths today. That's a challenge. :P

Mark my words - cute as they are, none of these will be staying in the Zoo House! Mark them!

Jury duty. I recently got called to serve jury duty for the THIRD time in 5 years. Twice for the county, once for the Feds. And actually, my summons for the Feds from this past summer was postponed so I have that to look forward to next spring. Cheese and rice.

I know, I know - it's an honor. It's my civic duty. I should be proud to live in a country where this system is in place. yada yada yada. And I am proud and will go without dragging my feet. But again, I say cheese and rice. I can't imagine anyone standing trial - especially anyone innocent - wanting someone as apathetic as me serving on their jury.

And! In all the time I have known my husband he has NEVER been called for jury duty. How is that fair?

*glass half full*glass half full* At least I get paid. wooo!



cheese and rice.