What made you smile today?

We have plenty of back bacon over here too.

Having my traditional on leave Laksa at Asian Gourmet in the market.

Cheap and basic cafe with the most wonderful food.

Mame called me.

Sounded exactly like I thought she would!

Good for you! Mame is a treat.

Two neither here nor there things, but inner smile producers -

I've been going through my closets, etc., to divest myself of a lot of stuff (and far to go before I get that all done), and ran across a set of hard to describe comfy wear that I'd worn maybe once before, even though I've had it for years. The label for the top and bottom says DKNY and Underwear. Well, I've known that's Donna Karan, even when I bought these at St. Vincent de Paul's thrift, and they don't look much like underwear.

How to describe - very soft woven taupe colored jersey of mostly but not all cotton. Draw string at bottom of the long sleeved top, and draw string at the top of the 3/4 length pants (sort of like capris).
So for years going by, I've thought I'd never be caught outdoors in these (all the time the pajama wearing teens go to school in this stuff) and they've been too big a commitment to wear around the house (as opposed to, say, a long tee shirt). But this week I tossed them on, and gads are they comfortable. I suppose I'll have to put them in the laundry at some point in the future.


Next - I was reading the LA Times and clicked on a blog article about a local chef there. And ran into myself, in that she reminds me of a younger me, not that I've ever been a chef, but from some of our kitchen preferences. And not that I've had a Wolf range either. That would probably scare me to death.
Bro in law, the building inspector, had one though. Not that he ever cooks.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2011/10/corina-weibel-canele-house.html

It was my last day on my job.

Free at last!
Free at last!
Thank God I'm free at last!

you finally decided that you could get by on just Otis's income, eh...?

Congrats, Chai, that sounds wonderful..

retired?

Far from retired.

I've put up with my job for a few years now, and now is the time to make a change.

About 3 years ago I said "If I can just hang in there until Wally turns 65, he can temporarily get on Medicare, and I can get a temporary policy until I find a new job. Well, he turned 65 in August, and I realized "What am I waiting for?" I'm 12 years younger than him, I've got a lot of mileage left in me.

I've got a few irons in the fire. Putting resumes out, have talked to people, etc.

Next week I'll sign up with a few temp agencies, to generate a little cash while I'm looking. I don't want to start any temp assignments for a week or 2. There's plenty to keep me busy at home, and I'd like some time off.

I know the feeling. Good for you Chai! Enjoy your freedom.

Thanks. My husband asked me a few minutes ago how I was feeling and I said "Great! I'm not going to give it another thought."

Good for you!

I smiled a lot yesterday as the (expensive) plumber installed a new toilet in our master bedroom. It's chair ht., flushes in 2 seconds, and has a lid that comes down gradually, doesn't slam. Also two new sinks and faucets in guest bath.

Today I smiled when I finally finished painting our patio, front porch and sidewalk. Gawd, does it all look good. The cement was turning putrid green from the rain which (used to) fall through the trees. I hear we're not having anymore rain for a while, so if I have dead plants around, my porch and patio will be spotless.

Excellent, Chai!
I'm really happy for you.
Enjoy your freedom.

Enjoy the freedom, kid.

Boida called me kid!

She likes me! She really likes !

chai, Your comment made me laugh out loud (better than LOL).

My father called me "kid." Definitely a sign of affection. I had no idea that when I used that term, I was saying anything beyond the obvious.

You are one astute cookie, kid.

Sozlet's played soccer for a while now. She (and about 20 of her friends) just jumped to a new league, for much more skilled players, and they've been pretty much at sea all season. Their first game they lost, second one they tied, third one they won... so they were optimistic that they'd figured things out. But no. That one game ended up being the ONLY one that they won all regular season.

So in this league, everyone gets to the tournament, no matter how stinky they were during the regular season. There are three divisions, and they were in the bottom division, of course.

So this is all qualified -- it was the bottom division -- but still, something got into 'em and they tore through the tournament and won their division! First-place trophies and everything! They won three out of four games (as in, three times as many as they'd won ALL regular season), one of 'em 10-0. They made all kinds of crazy plays (two header goals!). They looked unstoppable. (Sozlet didn't play the first game, which we lost 1-0 but was evidently very close -- then we won every game after that.)

The opponents, who we'd played during the regular season, were obviously shocked.

And the girls were delirious. Lots of jumping around and screaming. Lots of improvised cheers. Lots to smile about.

First, lull them into a false sense of security.
Then go all Mia Hamm on them.


I love it when a plan comes together.