It's just Thursday, MKF! 1/29/04

[Boschi]

Oh dear maudmac, I'm sorry about your cat.

Which does no good at all. I shall instruct my cats to have a wake for all of your departeds (I looked at their picture - handsome beasts) this evening, and pass out a healthy dose of catnip to get things going.

[Leaf]

maudmac, I'm so very sorry to hear about your cat too. Mountains of sympathies and condolences to you.

I did in fact make it through Thanksgiving mostly unscathed. People behaved relatively well. There was an elderly great dane to hang out with. Boschi's Thanksgiving eatin' leaves mine in the dust though. The menu excitement this year was that Aunt Liz rebelled and made the velveeta/ritz cracker casserole with fresh broccoli instead of frozen. There were, I kid you not, some whispered disgruntled rumblings about this outrageous change.

But the true (and not in a snarky or ironic way) delight of Thanksgiving with Mrs. Leaf's family though is her dad's pumpkin cheesecake. I look forward to that thing all year. Oh baby.

I've been having a nice week. It was my birthday on Tuesday, whereupon I turned a grand 33. I find 33 to be a very appealing number, and thus have high hopes for the coming year. I like birthdays. They always have that fresh start kind of feel, like New Years, but just for you.

Mrs. Leaf has come down with a nasty cold/sinus/fluey thing. It is bad news. And is it just me or do the bugs going around this year seem to last forever? I still have vestiges of a cough from when I got sick during the election.

I wish you all a lovely night, hearty immune systems, and dreams of cheesecake.
-Leaf

[maudmac]

Thanks, y'all. I appreciate it. It does help to know that other people understand.

lol, Boschi, you're talking about one of those wakes that turns into a big ol' party. My kitties would like that. About catnip, for one of my cats, catnip = heroin, and for the other, catnip = meth. It was fascinating to see how differently they responded to it and how very determined they always were to get MORE. I hope your kitties enjoyed it.

Leaf, what is a Velveeta/Ritz cracker casserole?!? If it's got broccoli...I'm just imagining a bunch of crackers at the bottom and then layers of broccoli and "cheese" with a sprinkle of more crackers on top.

Happy birthday to you!

And YES to the lingering bugs. I had a cold a couple weeks ago and there is still crap in my lungs. Everyone seems to be sick. I don't know what this shit is, but it's annoying.

I am cutting it pretty close, and Thursday is almost over, so I will wish everyone a good weekend and a good week next week.

[gorn]

I had a yummy Thanksgiving, MKF. I say this every year, but Mrs. Gorn makes a great turkey and every year it's a little different - and better - than the year before. I've said it before but I'll say it again, it's not an easy thing to cook another culture's traditional meal that you didn't grow up with. If her turkey's were average, I'd be happy. But they're great. Don't tell anyone else this, MKF, but she does better than my own mother, and that's saying something.

I kind of know what she did and how she did it, but I'm pretty sleepy tonight. I had a long, busy Thursday - good, but busy. Everyone knows how much I love my Thursday's, but it was an act of will to fire up the computer at this hour and write about it before falling asleep.

Alright, I confess ... I'm not going right to sleep. There's likely to be a little Thursday nookie here in about five minutes. If my appearance on a Thursday is brief, that's got to be a pretty decent excuse, though, don't you think?


My condolences to maudmac. I toasted this same feline at Thanksgiving, and I remain glad she had a long life. Good for her! It's tough on us left behind, though, so the sadness I feel is more for maudmac. Ain't easy for a Kitten to lose a cat ...

G'night, all.

[pagnmickie]

(All my babies that I posted in the Pet Photos thread here are gone.)

....infinity

I'm sorry to hear that :( *hugs* I know the feeling. I lost the best dog I've ever had last year in June and I still miss her more than I can say. It was a bad month, three pets within one month. :( But they had good lives with us and they were all rescues. Here are some pics

[skittles]

maudmac: hugs to you!!

keep as strong as you can, but remember to take time to grieve and remember the good times.

[Boschi]

The lingering bugs have mugged me. They crawled into my inner ear and are hanging out there, making me tremendously prone to motion sickness.... sometimes while I am holding still. Bleh.

So I've been hanging around the house this week, glowering out at the world.

However! It is Thursday, I had a nice evening last night, and soon, so very soon, I can start looking forward to a few days spent at a little resorty place near here, where the gf and I can lounge in hot tubs, nap a lot and quite probably get some great massages. Not my usual cup of tea, but boy it sounds nice right now.

I was rereading the Thurskateers Thanksgiving feasts and drooling. I am such a food whore... even the velveeta/ritz cracker concoction sounded good. Don't even get me started on the turkey. I think I must be very hungry, so I am going to go get lunch now...

- Boschi

[Leaf]

Ok, ok, you know you want it. Here's Baba's Broccoli Casserole in purist form. Rebels may experiment with fresh broccoli and heaven knows what else.
1 bag frozen chopped broccoli
1/2 lb Velveeta cheese cubed
1/2 stick margarine
1/2 box crumbled ritz crackers
Preheat oven to 350. Cook broccoli and drain. Add the cubed velveeta and half of the margarine and heat with the broccoli in a saucepan until everything melts. Pour into a 1qt greased casserole dish. Melt the remaining margarine, mix into crumbled crackers, and sprinkle over the casserole. Bake 30 min.

Eating this thing is kind of like watching 4 or 5 hours of particularly mindless TV in a row. You feel a little ill afterward, but you sure enjoyed it even if you plan to lie about it later.

So sorry about your bugs, Boschi. That sounds like crap. Props for managing to crave velveeta and turkey in the midst of all that motion sickness though. Truly impressive.

Mrs. Leaf has been studying for finals this week and I have been the designated flashcard holder. So now my head is full of all sorts of modern and post-modern architecture and furniture entirely without context. Which is, I suppose, a bit post-modern in and of itself. My favorite is Frank Gehry's "Easy Edges Wiggle Side Chair" for the name alone. Say it out loud. It made you smile, didn't it?

Take care everybody!
-Leaf

[gorn]

If I sat in an "Easy Edges Wiggle Side Chair," MKF, I'd be happy every damn day of my life.

The bugs crawling into Boschi's ears conjured some unpleasant images, though, and the chair I'm sitting in now just doesn't make me quite happy enough to block them. I can't say all this talk of Broccoli does much for me, either.

You know what IS good today, though? Besides my man Pierre Thomas running all over the place in Chicago tonight? Mrs. Gorn made Tom Yam Kun pasta. I mean, it tasted like Tom Yam Kun soup, but it was pasta. Very spicy, too. I don't know where she got the idea from, but she only whipped up a small amount to see what it was like. If I'm lucky, that's the main course tomorrow night. Love, love, love Thai food!

Thursday was good to me today. I didn't have a lot of free time (besides when I was watching the game), but it was a good day. One of those days where you feel like you got a lot done.

I wish all Kittens well, especially the ones who aren't well.

MKF says I have to wish all those Kittens eating broccoli well, too.

[maudmac]

Thanks, pagnmickie. And I am sorry about yours. Sweet pictures! Three in one month? Oy. Mine were spread out over a year. As each one went, it was like....at least I have these...at least I have this one... It's difficult to imagine all of them going basically at once. I am really sorry.

Thanks, skittles. (Long time no see, woman!) It's been almost 2 weeks now, and finally I've stopped thinking I hear her. But the other day when I was leaving for work, as I pulled the door closed behind me, I opened my mouth to tell her bye and that I'd see her tonight. Bleh. These things take time, I know.

Boschi, sorry about your ear bugs, but hot tubs, naps, and massages sounds like a nice treatment. (I stayed in a hotel with a jacuzzi once - just once, I am po' - and I could have sat in that thing for the rest of my life, I think.)

Leaf, I am leary of trying to make Baba's Broccoli Casserole. Half a pound of cheese?!? Lord have mercy. (But I'd totally eat it if someone else made it! Same way I can't bring myself to make sweet tea the proper Southern way, because it is so disconcerting to actually see that much sugar go into something you're going to drink. But of course, if someone else makes it, I will happily drink it.)

And, yes, "Easy Edges Wiggle Side Chair" was good for not just a smile, but a laugh, too. What a delightful name.

*sneaking in ALMOST in time!*

Happy week/weekend, y'all.

[pagnmickie]

Thanks, pagnmickie. And I am sorry about yours. Sweet pictures! Three in one month? Oy. Mine were spread out over a year. As each one went, it was like....at least I have these...at least I have this one... It's difficult to imagine all of them going basically at once. I am really sorry.

It was very hard on me, but it's even harder on my remaining dog. He has severe separation anxiety as it is... but now that he's alone during the day he's a mess. Poor boy :( He's Griffen, the scared looking one in the pictures. He's so sweet though. It's hard to be mad at him when he has accidents. :

[Boschi]

Mmmmm... "Easy Edges Wiggle Side Chair" oh yeah, baby.

Don't even get me started on broccoli...broccoli raab, sprouting broccoli, leafy broccoli, not to mention the old reliable form we all know and love (except gorn and a few other folks with no taste in vegetables...)

But on to this week!

No, wait.... a moment more on vegetables... if you are bored go google "agretti"... it's a fun research rabbit hole if you enjoy quirky vegetables, history or plant biology. Wikipedia has some fun notes on it too. For italian kittens, it is "Barba Di Frate" - if you have any recipes or thoughts on it, please let me know.

So this week! Snow, and crappy cold! It went down to 4 F one night, and barely broke 10 F the next day. But I'm feeling better and with the exception of a brief jaunt out today, have spent the time padding around the house in my fuzzy slippers and drinking hot beverages. Paperworky is getting done, but I see no reason to get dressed or leave the house for it. Crudding cold nonsense. Humph.

My great accomplishment of the week is convincing a big national who-haw foundation to put on training for the educational program I work with. Tis a very minor coup that I am immensely pleased with. My arm grows weary from patting myself on the head, but I push through the pain and continue.

Have also been listening to ghost stories on CD as I we go to sleep - my favorite of late is The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce. It gives me a good chuckle and a very minor shiver of dread. It is also exceptionally short.

Which this posting is not.

So I shall sign off and return to seed catalog gazing. Am contemplating seeing if my customers at market would be willing to simply purchase pretty photos of vegetables. Seems remarkably easier than growing them.

- Boschi

[gorn]

I would rather have photos of vegetables than actual vegetables, MKF. Though there are very few I enjoy eating, they are colorfully beautiful to look at. Especially peppers, which I do, in fact, enjoy.

Peppers are vegetables, aren't they, MKF? They're in the vegetable section in the supermarket ...

Both Mrs. Gorn and myself are doing better today. The pain has subsided to the point where I probably don't need x-rays. I was actually doing pretty good in the morning, had that extra little Thursday spring in my step, but the constant hours of sitting on my ass gradually brought the pain back to my wounded tailbone. By mid-afternoon, it was excruciating to either get up or get down (which, I might add, pretty well disqualifies me from any Funk for the time being ...).

Speaking of Funk, I have been warned by concerned Kittens that Thursday nookie might be a no-no this week ... I'm thinking about giving it the old college try regardless. I'll close my eyes and think of England.


I don't know why I never mentioned this before, but Mrs. Gorn absolutely loves broccoli. Like most things, she eats it smothered in mayonaise. I do my best to look away and pretend it's not happening.

Guess what, MKF? Next Thursday is Christmas!! I ask you now, is that not the most wonderful thing you've heard all year? That's right - next time you come here to pet MKF and share your Thursday with your fellow Kittens, it will be Christmas.

In a way, today is the Christmas Eve of the "It's Just Thursday, MKF!" thread. You gotta be a grinch if that don't make you happy.

[WillowandTara]

it's Thursday, and there's no new Office on tonight. :( I feel empty

[Leaf]

Not only was it Thursday today, MKF, it was a Beard Papa's Thursday. How's that for wrapping the day up right? I think the bosses brought them in to boost morale during what has been a truly crazy and exhausting week. I would pat Boschi on the head for her who-haw coup, but I'm not sure I can lift my arms anymore. But due to the restorative magic of cream puffs, at least my spirits are sufficiently boosted.

I had a client today who looked so much like Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride that it was quite distracting. It was everything I could do not to call him Westley or tell him he'd been mostly dead all day.

We're due for our first snow tomorrow. I know Bosch and gorn have had about enough of this winter business, but we really haven't had any here yet and I'm excited. NY winters have been a little on the wimpy side since I moved here. Or maybe it all just pales compared to my last winter in Boston with that big 3 feet in 2 days extravaganza. That was fun.

Poor gorn and his busted butt. I bruised my tailbone once falling down some icy stairs - thump thump thump thump THUMP. It hurt like the blazes and took forever to heal. That was not fun.

I'm looking forward to Christmas. A lot. We'll be out in Chicago with my family (all of whom are behaving enchantingly well, even the questionable sister.) And we've got couple of dates set up with old friends so we don't get too familied out. Good glory will it be nice not to work for 6 days in a row. Woo and hoo!

WillowandTara, I hope Thursday offers you some alternative solace since you are Officeless.

Good night all,
Leafy

[kisstheviolets]

thursday kittens!!!

i've missed you all so much! i don't have internet on my computer at work and i'm usually not home on thursday nights (over at the girl's) so i have been way absent. i worry that my membership may be revoked. but please know, i'm with you in this thread in spirit even when i'm not posting. i've made my housemate a thursday convert as well as a number of my co-workers. this movement is gonna take over the world!

i can't understand how gorn (or anyone) would hate on broccoli. i, like mrs. gorn, indulge in some mayonnaisey action when consuming the stuff at home, but i'm now secretly hoping i will one day find myself somewhere in the presence of a cheesy broccoli ritz concoction.

wish i could play more in the thread, but i need to get to bed. between work, bar prep and my girlfriend, i seem to have scarce little time for myself. grr. but i hope you're all well (and safely engaging in thursday nookie!) and hopefully i can spend a little more time annoying you all next thursday!

happy thursday x-mas eve!

[maudmac]

I know we traditionally refrain from posting in this thread except on Thursdays, but I am going to have to shake it up if I'm ever to post in this thread anymore. My work schedule now has me at work on Thursdays from early afternoon until midnight.

That means I'll be working Christmas Day and New Year's Day, which is fine because I am made almost entirely of bah humbug. I'll be getting paid more for working those days so finally, finally, for once in my life, a reward for not giving a fuck about the holidays. *frolics about in a pile o' cash*

Since I realize that most Kittens do care about the holidays, I hope you all have a super Merry Christmas! Ho ho ho!

[pagnmickie]

[quote="maudmac"]
That means I'll be working Christmas Day and New Year's Day, which is fine because I am made almost entirely of bah humbug. I'll be getting paid more for working those days so finally, finally, for once in my life, a reward for not giving a fuck about the holidays. *frolics about in a pile o' cash*
quote]

Congrats on the piles of cash then I used to enjoy the holidays more with my family, but since my mom is dying of this stupid uncurable rare disease and she was the FUN in the Holidays, wer'e all a little Bah Humbug ourselves.

But Happy Holidays to everyone!

-Mickie

[Boschi]

Happy Christmas MKF -

My favorite gift so far: a glass tree ornament made by a friend who only recently started working with glass.

It's a seahorse, which is a bit of a.... Harmony-esqe?... subject for her, but I suspect it is a fairly simple form so was doable.

She is exceptionally creative and quirky, so I am having trouble telling if it's sort of Dr. Suessian/Geigeresque appearance is intentional or merely the result of inexperience.

Best wishes everyone - maybe I'll swing by later with a little holiday food porn.... er, a description of dinner.

- Bosch

[LesbianJedi87]

merry christmas everyone! It's been amazing! I wasn't expecting anything really but to my surprise I got amazing things!

Got some Xbox 360 accessories to complete my nerdy experience!
The best thing though is getting an acoustic bass with a hardshell case <3 DEFINATLY wasn't expecting that in the slightest!

I hope everyone has an amazing day

[Leaf]

Happy New Year MKF!

2 festivity packed Thursdays in a row! Wowsers. Mrs. Leaf and I got back from Chicago late Monday night. We weren't gone all that long, and we did have a 98% lovely time there, but good golly am I appreciating being home. I missed my cats absurdly. And I missed actual privacy. And always eating food I like. And walking places even though it's cold. So nice to be home.

We had a very chill little New Year shindig here last night with a few friends, some leek and mushroom soup, homemade bread, chocolate fondue and some bubbly. We all got to vent and decompress and laugh about our wacky families and still be glad that we have them. It was kind of perfect.

Hope everybody has been having a splendid time.
-Leafy

[Boschi]

Happy New Year folks... and thanks for a good 2008.

Leaf, you are remarkably non-irritating for such a positive person. Glad to hear your holidays are going well. Feel free to send some leek and mushroom my way.

Oop! must away. More later...

[kisstheviolets]

happy new year!

i'm still recovering from my nye festivities at this late hour on new year's day. my girlfriend and her housemates had an awesome party and i imbibed a bit too much (i think i'm just too old to drink the way i once did). we went to a very late brunch and i thought a bit of the hair of the dog would help, but alas, it did not.

i thought of some of you foodie thursdayians last night because e* bought these berries that make your taste bud's totally trip and sour or bitter things taste really sweet. here's an article about them in the new york times. it was totally bizarre. i ate lemon slices and it tasted like candy. bitter baking chocolate was totally sweet. it was so weird and fun. definitely have a tasting party sometime.

i'm hoping to be on the board a bit more often. i start bar prep tomorrow (uuugghhhh!) and the girl starts the legislative session soon so our time together will be cut back drastically. while that sucks for thursday nookie, it does mean more thursday posting!

hope everyone has an awesome '09!

[gorn]

I missed a few Thursdays there, didn't I, MKF? Alas, but it was not a very merry holiday season for me. Mrs. Gorn wasn't well and spent Christmas and the next few days in the hospital. Very bad time to be in the hospital. She's OK now, but while in the hospital her blood work uncovered a rather serious condition with her thyroid. Between follow-up visits and future appointments now down in Nashville with an endocrinologist, we're both pretty tired. Lucky for me I went back to work this week!

Ah, but I don't mean to complain on a Thursday, MKF! I'm just tired ... And I wanted to stop by, let folks know what was going on.

A good Thursday to all! I'm looking forward to my first weekend of the year.

[Leaf]

gorn, so very sorry to hear about your craptastic holidays. That is no kind of fun. The Mrs. and I send Mrs. Gorn all our best and hope she's in some very kind and highly skilled medical hands.

ktv, I am beyond jealous that you got to try the crazy taste bud twisting berries! I have a group of friends who have been wanting to have a crazy berry party since that damn Times article came out and they are nowhere to be found here. Not for love or money. Sigh. Hope you had fun with 'em.

I am tired tonight, MKF. Actually tired is a little understatementy. Spent, whupped, and beat all come a little closer. It was a looong day at work. Things have been so busy at ye olde spa (it's not really called that) that it makes a girl consider reducing her hours, but then that seems like a dicey thing to do. What if come March there are no more clients? Ever again? Ahhh! Better bust my butt now just in case, huh?

But hey, get this - my last client today was one of the vampires in the Twilight movie. How Thursday is that?

Night all!
-Leafy

[kisstheviolets]

hey all! happy thursday!

gorn: as i said yesterday, i hope you and the mrs keep on trucking and getting better. i'm totally sending good vibes to the both of you.

leaf: omg, you must PM and tell me which one! i read all the books and saw the craptastic movie. my inner 12-year-old girl is squealing with delight right now. also, the berries were not hard to get. i'll get the number of the place she ordered them from and send it your way. they also have a freeze-dried berry tablet available that works the same way. very cool stuff.

i am tired and in need of a good massage (barter leaf?). my special lady friend spent the night last night and since it's been about 9 months since we started dating, sleeping through the night is something that happens more often than not. except last night. so while it was fun, i have been near catatonic all day. i'm heading over to her place in a bit (not because we can't stay away from each other but because my roommate spends everything thursday night at his girlfriends house in my girlfriends neighborhood and since he's my ride to work, i stay at e* so he can pick me up) and am looking forward to nothing but cuddles and snores (cute girly snores, not log sawing).

i sit at a computer reviewing documents all day and my neck and shoulder tension has gotten so bad that sometimes if i just tilt my head a certain way or move my arm i get all cramped up. so not fun.

where's farmer bosch? or fooy? where is everyone? this is like the dream i've had since i was a kid where i wake up to find the rapture's happened and i can't find anyone that i know. damn those pentecostal roots of mine.

hope you all are having a delightful thursday!

[Boschi]

Never fear ktv, if the Rapture has occurred then the divine elevator that was supposed to pick me up was out of service....

Good grief, it's cold here. The sun has been up for about an hour now and I think we've made it above zero, but not by much. The high for today is nine, and the chances of me leaving the house today are slim to none. Yes, I'd rather work on taxes than go outside.

Actually, I fib a little. I will leave the house this evening to go pick up a rug that we ordered for the newly redone room off the kitchen. This house was in need of heavy, heavy rehab when our landlords first purchased it and they've been slowly fixing things up. By the time I moved in almost everything was done except this one weird little room. It's sort of in the middle of the house, with one window that is actually in a closet. It now has walls (woohoo!), a ceiling (double woohoo!) and an abundance of correctly wired outlets. We put up some nice bookshelves, moved in a comfy love seat and bright lamps, painted it a warm sort of purply-red and are now calling it the woom room. What the hell - it amuses us.

At anyrate, the point is we splurged on a nice rug (the wood floor is so damaged it isn't repairable) and it arrived yesterday. So today we can pick it up, roll it out and I can stop getting splinters in my feet when I walk through the room barefoot.

gorn - best wishes as always to you and the Mrs. Because of your current stress levels I will forgive your merciless reinforcement of that evil song, Desperado, in the 'In the Jungle" thread. You and dline are both dorks.

My musical curse today is "Centerfold" ... or "Angel is a Centerfold"... or whatever the hell it's called. I've been bopping/lurching around the house this morning humming it in a strangled voice. If there were witnesses I would be hospitalized.

Stay warm everybody!

- Baaaaawsch

[gorn]

Woom room, MKF? I'm not sure "disturbing" is the right word for this ... As odd an image as this conjures, though, we're going to let it slide, if only for the appreciated J. Geils Band reference later in the Boschter's post. My memory has just been sold!

A little of Thursday's Joy is slowly creeping back into my heart. Mrs. Gorn is doing much better, so that helps. I met the Mrs. for lunch yesterday in an effort to help get her out of the house a bit more, and we both suddenly realized we didn't know exactly what day of the week it was. She thought it was Tuesday ... and I was so caught up in stuff at work I found I couldn't quite say for certain. Surely it was Wednesday by now ... ? And yet there were still Tuesday Things occupying my mind. I was at a loss.

A friendly waitress put us straight - it was, indeed, Wednesday, and I felt my heart leap with joy. The first thought that came unbidden to my mind ... "Tomorrow is Thursday, MKF!"

And then I knew everything was going to be OK this year.


Stay warm out there, Kittens. It's a cold one today.

[kisstheviolets]

just here for a minute, kids, but here is the link to the magic berry place.

i just did my taxes and am getting a much smaller refund than i expected. anyone want to pretend to be my dependent for 2008? hah!

happy thursday peeps. i'm off for some grey's and thursday nooke!

[gorn]

Is it really Thursday already, MKF? I didn't get MLK's Birthday off this year ... or, any year since I've been back ... so I somehow thought this week would go by slower. And yet, here you are, Thursday!

My day has oddly been equal parts Crappy and Happy. I'm particularly glad it's Thursday today so I don't have to post about this in two different threads. I've always felt it was somewhat schizophrenic to post both in the Crappy Feelings Thread and the All Purpose Happy Feelings Thread within minutes of each other, but to do it all at once in the It's Just Thursday, MKF! thread somehow doesn't seem so crazy. Here we go ...

Got my bonus today, or to be more accurate, I was informed today of how much my bonus would be come payday (next week). I work in the automotive industry, so I was actually not expecting a bonus of any kind at all (it would not have surprised me if they'd asked ME to pay THEM instead). Turned out to be a rather modest amount, but even then it was far higher than I could've expected. I found myself filled with an All Purpose Happy Feeling.

Less than an hour later, Mrs. Gorn calls me. The water heater sprung a leak, spraying water all over the garage. Long story short - I was forced BY STATE LAW to hire a licensed plumber who told me it was beyond repair, and since I have propane instead of natural gas it was going to be even more expensive to replace. Just how expensive, you ask, MKF? The final bill was exactly $35 higher than my bonus.

Nice, huh?

Mrs. Gorn is usually not so optimistic, but she said, "Think of it this way - your company paid for us to get a free, brand-new water heater!" A charming way to look at things, granted, maybe took the sting off it a bit ... but this was without a doubt a Crappy Feeling.

Now, here's the real All Purpose Happy Feeling for today. Mrs. Gorn and I have been married for a while, and we lived together a while before that. Ten years total when all is said and done. Those of you in long-term relationships know that things kind of ... well, slow down after a while. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it's just not the same as those first crazy days and weeks when you were first seeing each other, you know? Maybe "mellow-out" is a better phrase than "slow down."

Not sure what came over us today, but we had some spontaneous SMOKIN' nookie this afternoon while the plumber was out in the garage. I'm talking House Is A Rockin' Don't Bother Knockin' Nookie, the kind you have when you're out of town on vacation and the neighbors can't hear you. I would not have thought that the depression of getting-then-losing a heap of money in the space of a few hours like that would be such a turn-on. And yet, sitting here in the evening talking to MKF, I find myself smiling about the nookie more than weeping about the money.

Only on a Thursday, I guess.