what I'm reading

I've had my fill of chick lit these days, and am currently reading all of Carl Hiaasen's books. What I love about Hiaasen is that even though all his novels have similarities, e.g. loner man who has been burned on love, woman who thought she was happy in the relationship that she was in before she met said loner man, environmental extremism ... they're all just so dissimilar beyond that.

Carl Hiassen has been with the Miami Herald since 1976 and doing investigative journalism since 1979. His novels are considered "environmental thrillers". What are environmental thrillers? Quite simply, very unique.

I started with Skinny Dip, Striptease (which I didn't realize the 1996 movie with Demi Moore was based on and will now have to see, boobs and all), Sick Puppy, Stormy Weather, and now I'm reading Native Tongue. I also read Hoot, his first children's book, years ago and didn't even realize it was a kid's book until I was done. It was that good.

sums up last night

little fry and the potatoes

We don't often keep potatoes in the house. Nothing against them, but in the carb world, I'd much rather have my bread and my pasta then potatoes. We mash turnips, or parsnips, or cauliflower instead.

I bought a bag of potatoes this week to make ... aww, heck. I don't even remember what I was making ***update! I remember! I made steak kabobs with this fantastic cilantro dipping sauce! I have to remember to post about that later! -- I digress, and will now continue ... But Spencer's not used to me having potatoes in the bottom bin in my kitchen. He thinks they are his personal toys. I keep finding them in random places:

and he's enjoying rolling them across my kitchen floor:

Well, potatoes are certainly cheaper than all those other toys I've got him. I guess I'll have to pick up a bag of potatoes once a month or so to keep him entertained!

just breathe

I've been having anxiety attacks since I was in high school. I used to be convinced that there was something seriously wrong with me. My mom took me to the hospital once because I couldn't breathe and my lips were turning blue. My doctor prescribed me Xanax -- yeah, I can tell you that did nothing. I know people that swear by it, but it was like sugar pills for me.

Anyhow, I have no idea what brings them on. My ex used to watch me as I fell asleep because he was always worried I had an apnea problem (and I thought I had an apnea problem; still not entirely convinced all my problems are anxiety-related). All of a sudden it will just be hard to take a full breath. It feels like I can't fill my lungs. I've been tested, and I am getting 100% fill, but it just doesn't feel like it. I'm not satisfied. This will go for several days and then I'll just be fine again. In the meantime, I just think about my breathing all the time, and concentrate on getting the air in.

Today it started on my way out of work. I'm not particularly stressed at work lately; I haven't had any need to go out of town since the end of May, I'm caught up (shh, don't tell anyone). Home is good too -- Spencer is being particularly adorable and seems to be keeping the tantrums to a minimum. He's learning new things every day - so fun! And the only thing that's not great is that I seem to be getting sick constantly over the last couple weeks. However, I felt better today than I have in awhile.

So I've been like this for 7 hours or so. We went for an 11.5 mile bike ride and I still had problems (otherwise we probably would have kept riding). I hate this, bah!

Nair wears short shorts

Has anyone tried Nair? I have never tried it, until tonight. I bought some of this Nair for sensitive skin a few weeks ago and finally got around to trying it. Jury's still out. I followed the direction, and now my legs are kind of itchy, and a little blotchy and bumpy. I put some lotion on them and it's no help. I'm hoping it's just a little irritated and will go away. My legs are nicely smooth, except for a couple random hairs that it neglected. I might just shave the suckers off.

Does anyone know why my legs are itchy and blotchy? And what might get that to go away? And if Nair for the shower might be any better?

wash 'em or wipe 'em?

What did you think I was talking about?

I've always heard that you shouldn't wash mushrooms; you should wipe the dirt off. This seems smart, except sometimes it seems that there's a bit of dirt stuck up there in the gills that doesn't want to come out that way. I usually take the easy way out of this decision -- I buy them pre-sliced. Hey, they're the same price, and I use so many that they don't usually go bad (well, this happens in spells -- sometimes they seem to be going bad as fast as I buy them, and sometimes I'm running out). This time the whole mushrooms were on sale, so I bought some and sliced them up to put on a pizza with sage sausage, tomatoes and a bunch of cheese. Yum! I'm not a big pizza fan, but I love to make it!

Spencer gives Scotty a run for his money

My husband has this cousin who could hold his own in any eating competition. If he couldn't eat as much as anyone, he certainly can eat it faster than anyone. His favorite meal is ribs -- for his birthday every year, we can be sure to be hitting a local barbeque place so he can have a rack of ribs. He'll then gladly inhale them before anyone else gets their food, and then sit contented, sipping his Coke and listening to his iPod.

Spencer had his first ribs tonight at Courtside Grill. He loved them. Loved them. Inhaled them. He ate three of five, and then ate all the mac & cheese that came with it (he loves his fork and will even eat broccoli if he can stab it with the fork). I think when Spencer gets a little older he'll challenge Scotty to a duel of the ribs. To the death!