i've always had a problem with the passive voice

marie antoinette is gorgeous but forgettable, much unlike coppola's last film, lost in translation [both gorgeous AND absolutely unforgettable; cult/obsessive-worthy]. c'est ça!

deep in the thick of watching all scary movies until halloween, we finished the shining last night and watched the original texas chainsaw massacre. admittedly, until the latter none of them frightened me much at all. but TCM, i wanted to turn it off the whole time. i think i'm scarred. and it certainly didn't help that terry assured me the whole time that it was in fact based on true events. !

in non-movie-ness stuff, the view outside my window is gorgeous this morning. we're nearly at peak of fall color, and it's finally sunny out today. the sky is perfect, perfect blue. we reorganized the middle room in the house, adding the china cabinet of my namesake, removing the leaf from the table, shuffling the plants around to give attention to those waning. i'll be filling up the china cabinet with my old barware collection, something that has never been on complete display. i had a dream last night where i acted like a mediocre jerk to terry and he wrote me a letter, which i recall being dotted with many words IN CAPITAL LETTERS, in which he also told me IN CAPITAL LETTERS, "YOU'RE FIRED!" laugh.

terry is dressing up as flava flav for halloween, and his costume is quite amazing, if i may say so myself. i went on a wild goose chase to track down the viking helmet [DEEP on the easssiiide!], but it was absolutely worth it. i plan to spray-paint the outside of the clock metallic gold before the big party we go to this weekend. for comfort [whining/bitching/melodramatics], i'm not wearing the dirndl this weekend and instead will be going back into the vaults to don the superman outfit from two years ago. i almost feel like i'm sticking my hand into a jar of something that's been lying, nearly dormant [only nearly], revisiting something that should not be revisited. jesus, it's a costume. wtf am i talking about.


just doesn't stop being funny

EDIT: how could i forget?!!! terry sold 1700$ worth of glasses to BOB SEGER yesterday!

please go easy on me

mehhhr, bleeerrrrr...busy, busy. splitting up the entire contents of a house [too-full] among three people with limited space. grrrrr. so much cleaning and reorganizing. new job starting soon. everyone's getting their shit in place lately, it's good. this is the first friday i haven't yet left the house by this time in years. and years, probably. and still, i won't have finished the entire to-do list. meh! i could not live without cleaning wipes. and baby wipes. and you shouldn't have to either.

here's my new favorite dinner to make. it's the easiest thing ever, really. and kind of home cookin' [read: trashy?]-ish. every minute terry eats this meal, he repeats over and over how delicious [deelishis?] it is. like a monk! it's amazing. i kinda want to come out with the hipster's home cookin' non-vegan, non-healthy, back-to-basics, highly-simplified, no-need-to-stop-at-the-yuppie-market, shmoo-who?, no-green-veggie/canned-veggies-only cookbook.

Chicken Breasts and Stuffing Bake

Ingredients:

1 pkg Stove Top Stuffing
1 can Campbell's cream of chicken soup [or cream of mushroom]
2 chicken breasts [or more]
1/3 cup sour cream
1/8 cup milk
Seasonings: Paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper
1 2/3 cups hot water
1/2 stick of butter or less if you want, room temperature
Cooking spray


1. Combine stuffing mix, butter and hot water in a large bowl until the butter is melted.

2. Lightly coat 13x9 Pyrex dish with cooking spray.

3. Season chicken on both sides and place in the center of the dish.

4. Mix soup, milk and sour cream in a bowl. Pour/spoon mixture evenly over chicken and around.

5. Spoon some of the stuffing over chicken. Spoon remaining stuffing around the rest of the dish.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Most of the stuffing should be yummy-gooey, and some on top should be crisy-goodie.

Serve with mashed potatoes [yep, carb overkill] and your favorite canned vegetable! No need for gravy!

in the depths of the maize maze

life lately is made up of all the things you only do in relationships. it's like a whole life that wouldn't exist if it weren't for this other person by your side [arms wrapped, legs intertwined, toes woven up]: watching scary movies every day until halloween [so far the exorcist, silent hill, half of {we fell asleep} the omen {original}], dinner on the coffee table every night, purchasing 30$ worth of meat at costco for the next two weeks, the need to buy a larger blanket, buying too many sweets at the grocery store [cupcakes and oreos in cart and buying ice cream, "but what will we eat in the nights when we want something sweet?"], removing the pillows off the couch to accommodate two, making up funny dances in the car, eating too many donuts at the cider mill.


i'm a little girl in this


kevin, so mad


the tigers, they're going to the world series, ya know?


big dildo


after two donuts, and some of mine




you don't REALLY pick your pumpkins


instead, terry danced among them




really, he was chasing after a grasshopper; i love him for things like that


but i love him less for spearing pumpkins with the BIG STICK he wielded around the patch


i tried to reenact the get up kids/weakerthans/flashpapr album covers, but terry just had to get all emo in the maize maze


so i gave him the tongue, bitch

does your love only come in a volvo?

i scooped up that boy from the airport [new shoes! and all], and now all is right and good and happy again. i'm still a little sick, somehow. it's too many days. soon it will be so, so cold out. boar's head londonport roast beef is perhaps the best thing i've ever eaten. okay, at least it's my new favorite. tonight i'm making what should be a great dinner. i kind of want to start incorporating food/recipes into this blog. we will see! this weekend we're going to the cider mill! so many things to do, so many things to make oneself happy, so many things to be happy about. right? let's all stay positive and hopeful, everyone and friends, okay? i sense some of you faltering a bit. do you need "hope" tattooed on your wrist too, or have i taken care of it for all of us?

i miss diagramming sentences in high school. i really, really loved it. perhaps i should get a job doing it. i bet that pays well!

when's the last time you cleaned the sink with a toothbrush?

terry comes home today. exactly six months and one day after he pulled me into a closet with him, pulled me so close and inserted me into his life. but really, it's more romantic than that. lots of little tasks today and barely any work. meh. i cleaned out the refrigerator of gross shit and forgotten leftovers. it was absolutely disgusting. i wanted to just toss the tupperware containers straight into the trash without even opening them up, but i was good, and cleaned every last one of them. i didn't even gag! laugh, jesus. i broke the second and last of the "detroit tigers '88" glasses today, boo! i hope that's not a bad sign! my finger did receive a small gash, but i can't imagine cutting my hand to the point of needing medical attention and not having health insurance. i'd be looking for the best seamstress in town to give me stitches.

i'm here to take you now

it's friday, and i don't feel the usual glee i do on fridays. i've been sick all week with rigid concentration upon finishing my work and then doing nothing. it's been all kleenex, couch, pills, bread, nutella, tossing-and-turning, half-sleep, waking-up-by-terry's-texts, sleeping and barely sleeping. the weather's changing, and terry's missing some of the real days of fall, days that are invariably so, so scant. i'm missing them too. everything in the house is untouched since jeanne left. my overnight bag and dirty clothes strewn on the floor of my room, half-unpacked. i think i dreamt of her every night since she left. yeah, it's like that. the blankets jeanne used still lie, stacked upon the rarely-sat-on recliner. the folds of the blankets look like the pancakes from cloudy with a chance of meatballs. for some reason, i can never forget the iconography from that book. like the picture of the children, their faces blue-tinged with cold, forcing down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the nth day. i almost feel nauseous just thinking of that drawing. and terry's vacation-cast-off items dot the house, almost as if he had never flown to north carolina. like i just asked him to put away the dirty socks, and i'm waiting. technology nowadays brings everyone closer, and through the swiftness of text messaging it sometimes feels like he's just on the other couch, texting me so i don't have to turn around to converse. but maybe only once have we sat on separate couches here, so i know that many miles really do lie between us. i'm driving to wyandotte, to ann arbor, to home today, and i'm so gracious the sky's thick, thick blue without even one cloud over ferndale, michigan.

cat got yr tongue?

no time for words. just work and sleep.


hotel boredom, ya know


that "pond" i was talking about; gag me


oh but ducks? real ducks?!


cutie


cutie


clean that lettuce!!

kiss me on the bus

it feels like so much happened this week, but i'm not sure if it actually did. it's as if we all caught a strong wind underneath our shoes. nearly everyone close to me is traveling around or in the process of change, including myself.

spending this week with jeanne was so great it's inexplicable via the written word, spoken word, hand symbols, musical notes, &tc. i hadn't entirely realized the full spectrum of what i was missing from/about her until this week. she makes me strong, and that's absolutely invaluable. one day we will live in the same city, it just has to happen. she's doing so well in life, and i'm so proud of her i can't fully express that either.

downers grove, illinois is one of the most boring places i've ever been. it's like troy, michigan but worse. downers grove and the surrounding area [oak brook, especially] is so so absolutely boring and saturated with chain stores and big-box stores and outdoor malls [we're lucky to not have one, i think, and retain still our actual "downtown areas {starbucks or no starbucks}]. it's boring. it's the same thing, over and over again. nothing interesting. i sat by a man-made pond with ducks for about an hour, and it was so absolutely totally totally boring. the streets are far too wide around there, and the lights are entirely too long. the only good thing about downers grove is that it has the brazilian restaurant, sal and carvão churrascaria*, where i had the best dining experience of my entire life. it's an all-you-can-eat MEAT restaurant. it's so amazing and worth every penny of its extravagance. the cookies** at the doubletree hotel are amazing, and just before we left i was offered a job***. looks like i won't have to go back to retail. not just yet at least.

my sister moved to manhattan yesterday! she begins working at jean-georges tomorrow. i'm so absolutely proud and excited for her, and i don't have enough words or hand symbols or grunts for that either.

terry left for north carolina yesterday, and it was mehhhhh sleeping without him. it's far too cold for long vacations! my feet, in socks and slippers, are still little ice cubes, and i'm getting sick with pharyngitis again. and i'm whining now. back to work!



*there is also one in downtown chicago, so go to that one
**though kristin's oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies are rivaling doubletree's
***the job is not at the doubletree