RKD Pages

8:15 AM- I am way behind on tidying up for the holidays. All this stuff has got to go, accompanied by a massive dusting effort. I like to decorate with sparkle, so dust is not welcome.

12:47 PM- I won't bore you with a photo of Pepper in my laundry basket, since GMiller copped my idea. Instead, look at the pretty blue flame under my cookpot as I prepare lunch.

1:09 PM- Now drool with envy over my bacon pasta with shaved Romano cheese. It was fantastic. I love the roasted garlic in this dish.

1:51 PM- GMiller comes home from a sad errand, and gets welcoming and sympathetic kisses.

3:06 PM- Working at home on my job, holiday cards and bereavement/get well soon food.

3:33 PM- I'm no closer to cleaning up the foyer at the end of the day. GMiller relaxes on the couch.

4:39 PM- My work day is over, so I pack my computer for Monday's return to the office. I didn't leave the condo at all today!

6:38 PM- I fixed a tuna noodle casserole for my MIL. She had a bad spell recently and needs a little TLC. She has a minder, so I had to put instructions on the lid to remove before baking. You never know about the common sense level on some people, and I'd hate the meal to be ruined because the minder didn't think forward very well.

7:56 PM- I also make a chicken and sausage dish for GMiller, who also needs some TLC today. This is one of our favorites, which is good because it makes a ton and we eat it for about three days after baking.

11:19 PM- Back on the couch after dinner, lamenting the lack of entertainment on TV. We're getting a HDTV for our holiday gift to one another, and it will only serve to enhance the clarity on the known quantity of the programming selection. We'll be watching a lot of movies.

11:20 PM- Our holiday cards are signed by both and are now ready for the mailbox.

11:26 PM- Visions of sugarplums, or at least candied mouse peel dance in his head. Flannel is adorable.

If you are new to 12 of 12 - here are the basics:

1) ALL PHOTOS MUST BE TAKEN ON THE 12TH OF EACH MONTH.

2) After you post your pictures onto a webpage of your choice (Livejournal, typepad, MySpace, Flickr, etc...) please post the TIME, LOCATION, and A SMALL COMMENT in the pic.

3) You own the rights to all of your pictures. The idea "12 of 12" is Chad Darnell's. While credit is not necessary, please don't credit someone else with the idea.

4) The original concept was at least one body part in the picture. That idea was slowly faded away. The important part is that it is 12 pics.

5) When referring to the project, please refer to it as "12 OF 12" - not "12 ON 12."

6) Once completed, please e-mail or post the PERMALINK of the post AND the city and state or city and country of WHERE THE PICTURES WERE TAKEN. (If you are on vacation, it's where the pics were taken.)

(The permalink is the link to the ENTRY of your page. If you just send me your website, I have to track it down. By listing the permalink, it helps for people to go back and view your previous 12 of 12 entries from previous months.)

ANYONE is welcome to join in, even if you've never done it before! I hope you will.

12 of 12 November 08

2008-11-13T06:10:00.004-05:00

5:43 AM- Pepper is so greedy, we've started making him sit before we put food in his dish. I always tell him "be a gentleman" and his little butt goes right on the floor. When GMiller is feeding him, Pepper crouches like he's going to get pegged with the scoop.

7:02 AM- I had yesterday off for Veteran's Day and chose to use pockets instead of my purse since we took the Metro in to DC. Before I leave for work, I've got to stuff everything back in to my handbag.

7:45 AM- I am mildly annoyed that my boss' new AE did not yet get this box mountain out of my office as he instructed her. Oh well, now I can build a fort!

9:23 AM- Heirloom apples have been a leitmotif in my life recently. I heard a lot about them when watching the BBC while in Scotland, and my friend Alex brought me this one from the Arlington Farmer's market. It's an Arkansas Black. It was very crisp, not too juicy or too sweet. I think it would make a good baking apple. Inside it looks like a regular apple. I wondered about that before I bit it.

9:01 AM- I finally get a chance for breakfast and have APPLE cinnamon oatmeal and coffee. Both were pleasantly unremarkable.

11:58 AM- I reheated last night's Scarola for lunch. A hearty soup is difficult to eat when your spoon has a puny little bowl, like the plastic ones at work do. I'll have to remember to bring a nicer spoon. Or get a bib.

3:31 PM- I have to get cash for tonight's dinner with Discussion Club. We're going to Ray's Hell Burger, and they don't take credit cards. But they do give you the best burger in DC. When I say Ray's, you say Hell Burger... Go MEAT!

3:45 PM- A snack of popcorn and tea. This is the 12 of 12 food chronicle in case you didn't notice. I thought you guys would get sick of looking at pictures of me on the phone.

4:24 PM- BAM! Ha, ha! Fooled you, suckers! Just kidding. This really is a picture of me on the phone. My dad is at the Cleveland Clinic for surgery and my stepmother called to give me an update. He's fine. But don't yell BAM! at him for a while.

5:53 PM- My best friend Nuvi and I go everywhere together now. I get lost a lot, and she's always there for me.

6:51 PM- While we wait for the group to gather, my Discussion Club girls and I have a drink. We missed our window for both Ray's Hell Burger and Ray's the Steaks and ended up in a largely disappointing Mexican place in the same strip mall. Clouds of billowing acrid smoke brought a hasty end to the evening. The waiter claimed it was fajitas. If true, don't order them there. The girls speculated that it could be a mass poisoning in the style of 24. Which makes me think that 24 might get the credit for softening the heart of America to a black president more than the Cosby Show, since everyone knows a black doctor or lawyer, but only 24 had a black PRESIDENT.

If you are new to 12 of 12 - here are the basics:

1) ALL PHOTOS MUST BE TAKEN ON THE 12TH OF EACH MONTH.

2) After you post your pictures onto a webpage of your choice (Livejournal, typepad, MySpace, Flickr, etc...) please post the TIME, LOCATION, and A SMALL COMMENT in the pic.

3) You own the rights to all of your pictures. The idea "12 of 12" is Chad Darnell's. While credit is not necessary, please don't credit someone else with the idea.

4) The original concept was at least one body part in the picture. That idea was slowly faded away. The important part is that it is 12 pics.

5) When referring to the project, please refer to it as "12 OF 12" - not "12 ON 12."

6) Once completed, please e-mail or post the PERMALINK of the post AND the city and state or city and country of WHERE THE PICTURES WERE TAKEN. (If you are on vacation, it's where the pics were taken.)

(The permalink is the link to the ENTRY of your page. If you just send me your website, I have to track it down. By listing the permalink, it helps for people to go back and view your previous 12 of 12 entries from previous months.)

ANYONE is welcome to join in, even if you've never done it before! I hope you will.

12 of 12 October 08

2008-10-13T11:31:00.003-04:00

7:09 AM - I pull my tea out and contemplate oatmeal for breakfast. I stick with tea and decide not to go to weight class.

9:30 AM - Since I've got time on my hands, I clean out the refrigerator in preparation for our honeymoon. All perishable items that won't be eaten this week have got to go. Plus there's a bad smell that needs to go.

9:43 - Using leftover challah from Rosh Hashanah and eggs, I have toad-in-the-hole for breakfast. Even though I call it the British name, whenever I cook this, I remember the movie Moonstruck, one of my favorites. Olympia Dukakis makes it for breakfast in one scene.

11:13 AM - I'm at the mall to get three last minute things for the wedding, and am shocked to see a ghost town in the parking lot. On Sunday. On Columbus Day Weekend. I believe our dire economic predictions. The parking lot is proof. Or it could be the abundance of truly hideous clothes in stores this season. Let's all dress like oatmeal colored Oompa Loompas!

6:22 PM - Later in the day, GMiller decides to do some minor surgery on the carpet. If the vacuum cleaner runs over that, it will pull whole rows out of the carpet. Not good.

6:32 PM - My dad sort of forgot that his anniversary is the day that they fly in for the wedding. I convince him that taking is wife to a stand up burger joint for eats is probably not going to score a lot of points, and make reservations for us at Indebleu instead. They have good food and chairs.

7:06 PM - The clock is ticking down on when I have to leave to meet some friends, so dinner is a tag-team effort. Penne alla vodka with pancetta, done and eaten in less than 40 minutes.

8:11 PM - I find a sweet parking spot in Adams Morgan, just one street over from the speakeasy I'm going to tonight. Rumor has it that this is the last night for the floating cocktail bar, Hummingbird to Mars, so I'm glad we got reservations.

10:25 PM - After a cup of Porter Punch, a Corpse Reviver #2 and a Ginger Manhattan, the drinking part of the night is over. We all agree that much starch and cheese must immediately be consumed, and I dread the staircase that will lead me to the street, as the bar has suddenly been transformed into a ship in stormy seas, judging from the pitch and yaw of the deck. No, that's just me trying to walk. Where's Carrie Nation when you need her?

11:09 PM - We found relief downstairs at Bourbon. Tater tots, chili cheese waffle fries and mac 'n' cheese came to our rescue and we polished them off in short order.

11:50 PM - I find Flannel where he's been most of the day, but now he's in my way. We discuss the options, then decide the best idea would be for him not to move, and for me to squeeze in the best I can.

11:54 PM - I managed to find some space from Mr. Bed Hog, and am asleep, passed out, whatever the kids are calling it these days.

12 of 12 September 08

2008-09-13T11:36:00.003-04:00

7:04 AM- Working at home this morning. My boss believes that working from home is a wild, irresponsible business practice. I don't do anything at work that I don't do at home... for the most part.

8:09 AM- Except that I get to see GMiller awake in the morning.

11:03 AM- But I'm on the phone a lot, just like in the office...

12:24 PM-On our way to getting our Ketubah framed, we realized that we forgot the Ketubah, so on our way back home stuck in traffic, I see this truck. You got that right, brother. It's hard out here for a pimp.

12:28 PM- GMiller tosses the poster tube in the back seat. He had been holding it in an extremely provocative manner only moments before. I'm sure you can fill in the equation of boy + large cynlinder =

1:10 PM- At our very most favorite Szechuan restaurant, Joe's Noodle. I feel that we showed remarkable restraint in ordering. Only five dishes to our more normal seven to ten.

3:13 PM- Driving around Rockville gives us the chance for simultaneous photos. This time the attempt was successful and we both got usable shots.

3:34 PM- I could not wait to put the chicken disguise I bought at Target on Pepper. He is my little chicken in so many ways and now the hat can let everybody know.

5:57 PM- Home for the evening, GMiller checks the computer while Flannel lounges amidst the squalor that is our messy foyer. It doesn't look that bad when you see it every day, but in pictures... Yikes!

6:54 PM- A friend gave me a box of chocolates from Artisan Confections, really one of the best chocolatiers in the area. I eat one piece a day, though I'd certainly like more than that.

7:46 PM- I bleached and washed my antique lace table cloth in anticipation of Rosh Hahshana dinner, which we are hosting for the first time this year. Because I'm a stress junkie who is unabashedly attracted to trouble, I guess.