Life is Good

Perfect Dry Martinis, Every Time

Martini drinkers are a funny lot - we tend to be very specific about how we want our cocktail prepared. I don't know anyone who orders "a martini" and takes whatever they get. We have instructions.

My instructions go like this: Ketel One, extra dry with a twist.  Read more »

Okay, what's the most suburban event you can imagine going to? For me, it would be a supermarket grand opening celebration. Yeah, that's pretty much it -- and, that's pretty much what I did today!

I have been dead tired since my surgery and I haven't felt like going anywhere. But, we needed groceries and my sense of humor was spiked when Kathy told me that our newly remodeled Safeway was having a grand opening. (This is suburbia, so we have a Safeway within 3 miles of every direction -- this one is perhaps the friendliest one, though not the fanciest.) She said they were randomly giving away 200 iPod Shuffles during the day. We made our shopping list for the week.  Read more »

I have a fantasy of what the winter holidays are like. It's not very detailed; it's more like a video montage that features: beautiful, yummy food food, cold days and warm blankets, the gleam of shiny decorations in metallic turquoise, raspberry, and lime, and kitties snuggled contentedly on the hearth. Somewhere in there are the perfect, handmade presents-creatively hand-wrapped in a way that might make you weep-that I give with a gentle hug to everyone I love.  Read more »

Kathy and I ran errands today and I was driving the car. On the way back, while starting to turn onto a street, my head jerked to one side and I said, "Hey, that's money! Looks like a large bill!"

I pulled over (this was on a residential street) and asked Kathy if she could hop out to see. She said, "It's probably play money," but she humored me anyway.

The bills were blowing down the street, toward open space, when she grabbed them. She got back into the car and showed me: three bills totalling THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Oh my!  Read more »

Today's mail contained a surprise for me. I was busily opening envelopes when a series of photographs fell out of one. I picked them up and looked at them curiously. They were the kind of images I buy on eBay - women arm-in-arm, friendly expressions with a bit of a secret shared on the edges - but I didn't remember buying them. I rushed to my computer to check my recent eBay wins - was I that forgetful from chemo? No, these were some from something else.  Read more »

This morning, I had enough energy to have some breakfast in the kitchen and chat over coffee with Kathy about our day. That's a big deal when you've barely sat upright all week.

I was telling her that I wished I had a larger selection of vintage ephemera to use in my art. You know, little bits and pieces of things like old report cards, calling cards, or deeds of trust. Buying them on eBay is expensive because, when you're talking about little pieces, the shipping can cost more than the item.

Kathy said, "We should go out to garage sales and estate sales and find them ourselves."  Read more »

Today is Kathy's birthday; she took the day off. I had made great plans for gifts that I would make for her, but what with surgery and all that, nothing actually came to fruition. Still, I wanted it to be special because ever since I've been diagnosed, everything has been all about my health issues. She needs some attention, too.  Read more »