the world is your acorn

For lunch today I made a tea smoked duck in the grill. I was supposed to use black tea, but the closest we have in the house was oolong. Hopefully it will be fine. It’s the first time I’ve done it this way, but it’s way easier than the oven roasting methods I’ve tried. Even if it doesn’t taste very good, the color and crispiness is pretty amazing.

Tonight Tony Teal, and East Nashville artist, has an opening reception at the Parthenon from 6-8pm. His show is called A Nashville Neighborhood.

Dr. J is out of town for a few days, so her dog Inde is staying with us. Today is my first day home alone with her, since The Little Red Haired Girl is back to work. I have to take Inde and Oliver walking in a bit, but I don’t know if I should take them separately or together. Sometimes having two dogs is a lot to handle, especially if you don’t know one of them very well yet.

On a side note, I just gave them each a little rawhide to gnaw on. They both immediately dropped their own, walked across the room, took the other’s, then settled down to chew. Dogs are so weird.

I have had quite a nice past few days of doing not too much. With The Little Red Haired girl gone, I haven’t been the complete lump that I expected. I’ve run errands and done chores in addition to reading, watching movies, and playing Zelda on the wii. It’s been a pleasant week, but I’ll be glad to have my girl home.

Yesterday was my first full day at home with The Little Red Haired Girl on vacation. I had accidentally stayed up late drinking with The Superheroes and The Bachelor (who hasn’t been a bachelor for quite sometime now) the night before, so I was afraid I wouldn’t get up in time for my tennis date in the morning. Not to worry though, The Little Red Haired Girl forgot to turn off her alarm, and it woke me up at 6am. I dozed for another two hours after that, and got up to walk the dog. First-thing-in-the-morning dog-walking is The Little Red Haired Girl’s job, but it’s not like I never walk the dog. I know what to do. Well, apparently first-thing-in-the-morning makes it slightly different, because I got half way around the block before I realized I had forgotten the poop bags. Luckily Oliver hadn’t pooped yet, and I dragged him home practically running to grab some.

Anyway, I had a great tennis date, although we lasted about 45 minutes before we were too tired. It was my first time playing in a while, and I hope we play again. I got home and had a baked potato and cheese lunch, and read a little until Our New Little Buddies picked me up for soccer. I know, I’m so freakin’ sporty. We lost the game, but had some fun, then went to Bobbie’s Dairy Dip for some ice cream and fries. It was a perfect afternoon treat.

Somehow I felt motivated when I got home, and spent some time cutting down the crap in the back of the yard before mowing the lawn. The front lawn had not been mowed in weeks, and was so long that it was probably making the neighbors mad. I started with the back though, since it was still afternoon and it’s shadier in the back. Of course, by the time I’d dragged the mower to the front, I couldn’t get it started again. I like to think that our mower is temperamental, but it’s really just that my arms are weak. Yes, they are that weak. After playing tennis for 45 minutes in the morning and some yardwork I can not get the lawnmower started. Luckily Everything Guy came over and got it started for me. I ain’t ashamed.

That evening I went over to Everything Guy and The Thesbian’s house for salad and pizza and mojitos. The Bachelor (who isn’t) was there too, and it turned out to be a nice chill evening. I got home around 10 and read for a few hours. So all in all I think I survived the day pretty well. I can’t believe how busy I was and how little sitting around and zoning out happened. I hope for a day like that soon, but unfortunately it won’t be today.

I just saw this ad [Windows Media Player required, boo] on tv. It made me laugh.

The Little Red Haired Girl is away in San Francisco for a week. This means that I will have to find a way to motivate myself to do the basics, like get out of bed, shower, eat, etc. Luckily the dog will keep some sort of structure in my day. Other than that, I don’t know what will happen to me this week. Classes just finished so I have minimal commitments at school for the week, and I’m in the mood to zone out. I think it will be reading, gaming, and movies for the next six days. Let it begin!

How come when you talk to the Red Cross blood donation folks they always say “thanks for saving lives?” It always makes me feel so cheap or cheesy or something. I don’t like it.

Yesterday I handed in the last paper of the semester. It was quite a relief, although I was a little too tired to really celebrate. I think I will slowly celebrate over the course of days, little by little. Summer break is always such a weird time. Sometimes it’s a little too luxurious, what with the doing nothing all day more than once a week. Every year I think about the ways in which I will be productive and better myself over the summer, and every year September comes with me feeling sheepish but well rested. I think this year I will set small goals over the course of the summer rather than large goals for the whole three months, and see how that goes.