Adventures in City Living, Or, You dogs are useless

Two days ago I walked in the door and said, "Something smells funny." Colin has a cold, so he couldn't smell anything. He asked me what it smelled like. "Like trash or old vegetables or something." I checked the trash can. It was closed. I decided my brain was playing tricks on me and forgot about it.

The next day (yesterday) I walked in the door and again, something smelled weird. A little bit worse this time. I decided it must be the daisies that I bought two weeks ago and hadn't thrown out because the yellow ones were still yellow! As soon as I made that call, I forgot about it.

Today I came downstairs and something definitely smelled funny. Time to take the daisies out to the trash. When I came back in, it smelled even worse. Oh hell, I thought to myself. I leaned over and checked under the baking supply shelves. Sure enough, one dead mouse caught in a trap.

It's been 45 minutes since we took it out to the trash, and I still have the fan going. It smells fucking rank.

Dinner

Sometimes I like to record what I eat (especially when no one else is home) because I think it's funny. Dinner tonight:

• Popcorn
• Ginger beer
• 2 York peppermint patties
• QUINOA WITH VEGETABLES
• Half Baked ice cream

These are the things I think about

A list of animals I desperately want in my home (slash yard):

• a bunny
• a kitten
• goats
• all of the dogs
• a dwarf hamster

Observe the animals that desperately need a home (such as, for example, mine):

A list of possible combinations of animals that could comfortably fit in my house:

• two dogs
• one dog and one cat, but only if it was a dog that wouldn't kill the cat (rules out both of our dogs)
• one dog and one bunny, but only if it was a dog that wouldn't kill the bunny (rules out both of our dogs)
• one cat and one bunny
• one cat and two bunnies??
• two bunnies and one hamster, but only if I weren't allergic to hamsters (which I am)
• zero goats

+1,000,000

I went to El Salvador with Ruby to visit Patty (director of Co-Madres) because her cancer has metastasized all over her abdomen and she's out of treatment options. My trip overlaps with Colin's trip to MA and VT to visit his family. He left Friday, I got home Saturday night.

When I came home, the fridge was stocked with eggs, milk, juice, cereal, and HALF BAKED ICE CREAM. +1,000,000 boyfriend points!

Unopened!

This is how I do

Accomplishments of the today:

• Brought in clean laundry
• Finished camera bag insert

• Talked with mom and sister about wedding decorations, favors, and plans
• Ate lunch
• Picked up prescription
• Had spare key made for neighbors
• Bought nail polish to match dress for moms wedding

Things I have not accomplished yet today:

• My primary goal for the day: making significant progress on another chapter of the Co-Madres book

CSA!

Okay, so this should have been posted a few weeks ago... but I've been a bad blogger. My house joined a CSA! I got really excited at our bounty the first week and took a bunch of pictures. Colin and I are learning to eat things like kale and swiss chard. And radish greens make really yummy pesto. Who knew?

The Week 1 bounty (clockwise from left): radishes, green onions, russian kale (or red kale? can't remember), swiss chard, spinach, STRAWBERRIES, lettuce, and broccoli.

Beautiful, beautiful broccoli:

Don't be saddish. Have a radish!

Kale:

Swiss chard:

Strawberries, which quickly became strawberry shortcake:

Yay fresh produce!

Bleh

It's hot and I don't want to do anything.

Teaching

I just realized I haven't posted in almost 2 months. Work takes up a lot of my life right now.

It is early March

And since I live in DC, that means crocuses and daffodils, not another month of snow.

Hunger Games

This is what ate up the last two weeks of my life. It was like an addiction. When I wasn't reading it I just wanted to be reading it, and when I was reading it there was nothing else in the world. It was like I was 10 again, when books would suck me in and spit me out when they were good and ready.

Was anyone else irritated with the ending? For the whole Katniss-Peeta thing to be resolved in like two sentences after an entire book's worth of OH MY GOD ANGST AND HURT AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN? Dissatisfying.

News from home

• Colin made some shelves for our baking stuff, which I'll tell you all about over on Beautiful/Delicious.
• Kirby continues to be photogenic.

• I got a cake stand.

• Hazel now wears glasses. 

These are my people and I love them

Freshest bagels

Colin took it upon himself to learn how to make bagels.

I remember being disgusted with the state of the bagels in Minnesota when we moved there, but that was so long ago that I could hardly remember what a bagel was supposed to taste like. This has been a wonderful reminder.

1 year to the date (and four days late)

Four days ago was the day that Raleigh died. I was too busy to post on that day, but it has been sitting like a deadweight in the back of my mind for a week. It's been a whole year. And -- it's only been a year? It feels like forever ago I had that wonderful, stubborn, goofy beast in my life.

Muy elegante

Thanks Ella, for the super sweet water bottle thingy.