When I was in high school I went through a "gee, I wish I were Jewish" phase, but I never actually knew anyone who was Jewish (going to Catholic school kind of sorts out who you come into contact with). It's interesting for me now to chat a little with Michelle who was born in Israel. This week for game night, since it's Passover week, she suggested some dinner options which she and John could eat and we had a little cheese and fruit bar. Very nice to snack on!

Since I wanted to get in touch with my inner Jew, I checked the internet for something different to make. I ended up making a caramel-chocolate matzoh thing that sounded pretty good. It probably would have been perfect if I hadn't burnt the caramel. I'm guessing that happened when I went to double check the recipe on my laptop and noticed it says, "Stir constantly." Whoops :/

Other than the slight burnt taste, it turned out pretty well. I made some more today (after all, I have a whole box of Passover-friendly matzoh sheets to use) and this time it looks much better.

We went to see Hitchhiker's Guide this afternoon. I didn't particularly enjoy it; it was too disjointed. Maybe if I'd read the books that would make some difference, but it struck me that they must have edited out quite a bit to make it a standard movie length and therefore left out several scenes that might have given the film continuity. It would probably be best viewed on DVD with extras. At least the company was good :)

Many of you ask why I really needed to get another cat. This explains it all.

I have apparently got two of the most high strung cats in the world. It would be funny (and yeah, okay, it is) if it weren't so dangerous. Melody flung herself out the window last night in a frenzy, saved only by her fingernails with which she clawed her way back in through the screen.

Actually, I haven't any idea what she did, but since her favorite tactic is to race across the living room (and I can hear her at it now), then leap onto the table and ride the tablecloth into the window, I'm imagining she rode into the screen and thought she was going through, therefore clawing a very big hole into it as she turned around to dash back the other way. In any case there's a big honking hole in my window screen now.

She and Mittens can sleep on the bed within a foot of each other now, so long as I'm in the middle of them. On one hand, I keep imagining someone finding my shredded remains after they've scared each other into a frenzy. On the other hand, they both stop whatever they're doing if they realize I'm watching them.

Melody came upon Mittens asleep and gently began sniffing him but accidentally whiskered his fur, which brought snarling him awake and caused her to fall off the bed (trying to save herself with those damn fingernails and ruining my duvet) in surprise. Mittens got up growling to attack but I put out a hand which he turned around to bite, realizing it was me juuuuuust in time to stop. He's never hurt me and wouldn't on purpose, but even as I reached for him, I remembered that Behr had never bit through Candice's skin before either, and she ended up in the hospital after startling him.

That's my life. I have cats. And a holey window screen. A-men.

Tivo picked up a show that I'm enjoying: Hot Rocks. Although I was initially poised to delete it, after hearing the host speak I just had to keep it and have now got the season pass. He's got a very Scottish accent which reminded me at first of Billy Boyd (whom I still have a crush upon).

Sometimes though he reminds me of my character at the murder dinner Michelle and John hosted, where I wore my plaid table cloth in the guise of a Scottish wine expert. I have the show running in the background while I'm playing mah jong on my laptop and every so often I find myself chortling under my breath and repeating after him in my bad Scots accent, "We'll find the answer inder the grraw-und." Heh.

An issue with Tivo lately is that it's not changing channels when it says it is, so some of my shows are not the shows I think they are. :( For example, it's recording Hot Rocks now, but when I changed over to check on it, sure enough it said it was recording channel 212, but was actually stuck on BBC America. I'll have to wait for the episode to finish recording so I can fiddle with the IR thingers, as the Tivo help website suggests I need to fiddle with them.

Two sleeping cats curled up on the bed. Mittens beside me (hogging the center of the bed) and Melody in a comma shape at the foot of it (but also toward the middle). I suppose I ought to be grateful for this sliver of bed they allot to me.

Mittens is such a literary cat. He's got his nose in a book again! He's curled up beside me in bed and my book slid down on him. He's so cute. :)

The book in question is The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes. It's been on my Amazon wish list for about 4 years or so and no one got it for me. A couple of months back, though, I saw it in Barnes and Noble and picked it up for myself. It's a really interesting read and some bits had me chuckling out loud (see page 91; it's a hoot). Not bad for a nonfiction story about genetics, huh?

Feeling mildly under the weather. It's a combination of allergies and a mild form of the blues.

I picked up the Sunday paper this weekend and looked at the pages of houses and condos for sale out of curiosity, since my apartment lease is up for renewal. There's nothing here I can afford. Not a single thing, not even a one bedroom fixer-upper. No wonder I have the blues. :( I can't live here.

That is, I can exist here, but I can't feel like a resident when my life will be spent in transitional housing. I asked the apartment whether I could sign a two year lease at least to get a price break, but they max out leases at 13 months. That way they can charge a heckuva lot more next year when I have to renew again. And I'd probably renew because I won't be buying anything. I'll be a renter for life.

I miss Seattle :(

And now, thanks to CoreyChick, the quiz of the day:

Your Linguistic Profile:

55% General American English

25% Yankee

15% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

We had an earthquake this morning. :)

I woke up to the sound of what I thought was Melody jumping onto the dining table and sliding along with the tablecloth smack into the window (which she did on Sunday; it was funny, but only because she wasn't hurt). As I sat up and groped for my glasses so I could see if she was okay, there was a loud boom. It reminded me of mortar practice at Schofield Barracks, but at 4AM, I was more inclined to believe someone was kicking in my front door.

This is where I wished I had a bo or something, like Steph and Corey. Instead, I grabbed my Tivo remote (it is a +3 crushing weapon, single hand) and headed into battle. The front door was still intact so I looked at the window to make sure Melody hadn't gone through it when the second boom came. Me, Mittens and Melody all fled the living room for the bedroom, where those faithless chickens disappeared under the bed. That left me with my remote control against the enemy.

It didn't occur to me that it was an earthquake. The last one I was in, things rattled and shook and the noise was more like a rumbling craaaaaack than a big BOOM. I did get to use my remote control; I sat up for the next two hours watching TV and fretting over when someone would be busting down my door. As I finally fell asleep, my radio alarm went off and I heard them say it was a quake. That beats it being a home invasion, any day.

I'm a hopeless romantic. I'm also one of those Princess Diana fans that hope Camilla never gets to be queen. :/

There is a certain romance to Charles finally marrying a woman that apparently he's loved for decades. She's certainly cleaned up a bit and is much better looking than she was even ten years ago. Of course, money and position help a woman tremendously in that regard.

In my heart, I find a certain cynical point of view on this. The press carefully points out Camilla's marvelous discretion (she hasn't yet wrote a tell-all book about her affairs and lovers, as has Diana's lover). A program on TV last night mentioned something I thought was significant about this relationship: Camilla would never upstage Charles. Charles certainly seemed jealous of the attention the press gave Diana. You can watch film of them walking down the street and he's barely in the shot; the media favored youth and beauty over stodgy royalty. I read an article yesterday that included a comment about how Diana would certainly not look as good as Camilla does if she had lived to this age.

All I can think when reading this stuff is that the Prince's PR machine is going full bore to make the public like Camilla. And I just can't seem to get to that point because it all seems like such an effort from "the Prince's closest friends" and "Palace insiders" and I don't want to be told what to think or who I should start liking.

I'm a hopeless romantic and I wish I could see past all the "leaked" information about how splendid Camilla is to see if perhaps she really does walk on water.

Must get ready to go now. I get to babysit the cutest little baby boy :) It's his parents' first solo outing since he arrived. I feel really honored that they are going to entrust him to me for a couple of hours!

Mittens and Melody seem to be getting on much better now. When I come home from work, they both curl up beside me for one cat treat apiece followed by a good cat scalp rubbing (thank goodness I have two hands) on each of their little furry heads. Mittens is now brave enough to enter the bedroom and leap onto the bed, even when he knows Melody is on it. He will not do so unless I'm there, though, and he snuggles up against me and sneers at her. Sometimes, when Melody wants to go into the living room and Mittens is on guard duty in the dining room, she'll wait until I wander out, then make a mad dash using me as a visual break.

I believe I'm being used! :)

One thing that startled me earlier tonight: I usually pick Mittens up and sling him around. He doesn't care and seems to enjoy it. Melody has never wanted me to have two hands on any part of her at the same time. As she was using me to screen her departure from the bedroom, I bent over and scooped her up and she made a very gaseous farting noise...but inside her abdomen. :( I put her back down and we stared at each other in surprise. She bit my hand, for which I really can't blame her. Now I'll need to ring up the vet and see if he can't look at her to see if she's full of hot air under her fur. She doesn't seem to be in any agony, but it can't be good to have gas inside your body, can it?

Palomino is located in the building across the street from where I worked in Seattle. Liz and I went there one year for our birthday (hers is the day before mine) and she introduced me to Maytag blue cheese in their pear and walnut salad. I like blue cheese but sometimes it can be a bit too tangy for my taste. Maytag is heaven.

Sometimes you can find it Trader Joe's, but I've found that I can rely on Henry's to carry it all the time. It's the best stuff. I had some on my polenta earlier. If you've never had it, or if you don't like blue cheese, try some Maytag. It will convert you :)

I tried my hand at another Italian dessert today: mocha semifreddo. The particular recipe I used included marsala wine but I think if I make this again, I'll omit it. The marsala was overpowering. And I stuck to the recipe exactly; no extra shots of marsala were sacrificed for dessert! I think I'm better at making tiramisu. The berry one turned out good as did the chocolate one. The next dessert I want to try my hand at (besides cream puffs, which I haven't done yet) are little chocolate lava cakes. I have two different recipes for it; maybe I should make one batch of each. Hehehe!