A Tree Story: Let's Dig Some Holes, Yo

So yesterday you heard about how we bought some trees to plant in our backyard. Today I'm telling the next chapter in this story: the exciting and physically daunting task of digging the holes for said trees.

The tree hole is the most important part of tree planting, according to people who know things about trees and planting them. It has to be the right depth, because the root system of a tree flourishes best in the oxygen-rich soil in the first couple feet of the ground. It has to be the right width, because the transplanted tree will need to stretch its first roots through well-tilled earth. It has to be the right shape, because the tree can drown if it sits in too much water that doesn't drain through a poorly-constructed hole. Hellooooooo, high maintenance.

We started with the hole for the willow oak since it would need to be bigger - about 4 feet in diameter and close to 2 feet deep at its edges.

First, we marked off our circle with some old spray paint we had in the garage. There is probably some much more eco-friendly way to mark it out, so if you plant a tree you should do that and not what I just said. In fact, scratch that. Umm, we used a non-synthetic organic soy-based paint that actually naturally fertilizes the soil and washes away in the rain. We bought it at a free trade store. Yeah, that sounds better.

Then, we started digging. Gotta get off the top layer of sod w/ all the grass and set that aside, because you don't want to put that back in the hole later.

You can see from these pictures the sad, sad state of our backyard. All that green behind us? That belongs to our neighbor. But the dead grass with patches of weeds? That's all ours. But that's why we're doing this! To bring beauty and life to our yard! So on with the digging.


This is the part where I was still helping. I couldn't do much digging with the big shovel so it was my job to use some other assorted tools to help. We were supposed to keep the edges pretty straight so I used an edger and a weird long shovel to do that. I also used a rake-thingie to loosen up the dirt for Ben's digging. Evidence that I helped as shown with these dirty tools:


When the hole was too deep for me to be much more helpful, I let Ben keep digging but sat outside and read Harry Potter aloud to him for entertainment. He was a total machine and made amazing progress.

What a good husband I have! His finished work was so fabulous. The perfect specimen of a well-dug hole. The hole by which all other tree holes should be judged. It will be a loving and happy home for our oak tree, I'm quite sure. The next night he nearly finished the hole for the cherry tree, too. He set up his video light rig outside so he could work after dusk. Cue dramatically lit digging shot:

The trees will hopefully be delivered today, so tomorrow I hope to have some pictures of them and the process of getting them into the ground. The adventure continues, next time, on A TREE STORY.

A Tree Story: Introduction

This weekend I got it in my head that we were going to buy and plant a tree. So I'm trying to document the process and share it with you fine folks. This will be an introduction to our story.

I've wanted to do something different in our backyard for a long time now. It is basically a scorched-earth wasteland that gets baked into oblivion during the summer. I have hopes that a couple trees could be the answer, providing shade to the rest of the yard and maybe even allowing a little grass to grow. Plus, planting trees is a nice thing to do for the earth and hopefully (providing I don't kill them in this process) they will be enjoyed by many families who live in our neighborhood for generations to come.

I made it clear at the nursery that I was not to be trusted with plants and needed idiot-proof trees and directions on what to do with them. The owner of the nursery helped us himself, picking out two trees and giving us the details on how to get them in the ground. We ended up with a cherry tree and an oak tree. Someday, theoretically, they will look like this:

Yoshino Cherry Tree

Willow Oak Tree

I tried to buy the biggest trees I could get. Newsflash: Big trees aren't cheap! Second newsflash: big trees require digging... a really big hole.

Apparently planting a tree is all about getting the hole right in the first place. The hole is recommended to be at least twice the width of the container and as deep. For the oak tree, this meant we were digging a four foot wide and nearly two foot deep hole. And be "we" I mean mostly Ben. My back injury - instigated, as a matter of fact, by my last attempt at landscaping - prevented me from being very helpful.

One man... many shovels... WILL Ben succeed in his task? WHAT will happen to our trees? Cliffhanger! Stay tuned for more on our tree-venture, next time with pictures!

It's Brookie Time

I have to start this post with a disclaimer. I did not invent the concept of the Brookie. I'm not sure who first decided, "Hey, let's see what happens if we make a half-brownie half-cookie cupcake," although I'd like to find that person and shake them warmly by the hand. I do know where I first experienced them, and that was in Estes Park, Colorado on my 25th birthday last year. My parents found the Brookies at the cute Estes Park Pie Shop & Bakery... you have to love a place where their slogan is "You Need Pie!" Perhaps they invented the Brookie idea there, or perhaps they merely invented the name. Whatever the case may be, I mean, hello. It was just crying out for me to try my own hand at it.

I actually made a batch right away when we got back to Nashville, but I didn't document them, and they were quickly and violently consumed. So last night when I felt like baking but was a little cupcaked-out, I decided... it's Brookie time!

Now, a more purist baker than I (and one who doesn't start at 11:00 pm) might decide to make both brownie batter and chocolate chip cookie batter from scratch for this project. Good news for the rest of us: I am not that girl. So this is REAL simple. Here is what you will need:

Brownie mix (and eggs/oil/water to make batter) and break-and-bake cookie dough. I got both items that said to bake at 350 degrees. Ta-da, ingredients, CHECK.


Oh, and one cupcake pan, greased and ready to go.


Pay attention, here's where it gets tricky. (I lied just then. None of this is remotely tricky.) Make the brownie batter.


Ummmmmmmmmmmmmy. Eat as much of the batter as you see fit. No one is watching. No one is judging.

Now scoop it into the cupcake pan, filling each cup about 1/2 full. I used my handy dandy scooper thing. You have no idea the contortionistic way in which I took this picture. I think I pressed the shutter button with my chin.


Now bake the brownie batter for... I'd say 7-9 minutes. Remove from oven but keep oven on b/c they're going right back in just a sec.

Okay, time to introduce the cookie into the mix! I smooshed off some dough - maybe like a smidge less than the actual full break-off chunk - and then just pushed it right down as far as it would go into the middle of the half-cooked brownie cup. It will probably make some of the uncooked brownie goo ooze up around the cookie. This is fine.


A note: the original brookies we bought and the first set I made where side-by-side, a ying-yang of brownie to cookie. This is yummy but I found it difficult for baking times and also the cookie and brownie halves tended to want to split apart down the middle after they had cooled from baking. Thus this time I improvised with the push-it-in-the-middle method and I found it to work much better.

Okay, back in the oven with you, brookies! Now this time cook for 9-10 more minutes. Maybe one or two more, depending on if they look done.


Well hello lovahs!

I gave 'em a minute or two and then pried them out of the pan w/ a fork. This was probably not the best idea because they were still very soft and wanted to smoosh in on the softer center and I nearly ruined a few of them. I would recommend waiting a little longer til they've cooled a touch more. Then they might come out easier.

Aren't they cute? Being all brookielicious.


A whole batch of Brookies just for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I mean, to share. Yes. Sharing is good.


Here's what one looks like cut down the center. That's what I call a winning combination.


And that is how you make a brookie. Let me know if anyone else tries these out and how it goes for you. Happy Baking!

Oooh Pt. 2

A few days ago I blogged about seeing the poster for the Where the Wild Things Are movie coming out this fall. And today, this:



I'm even more encouraged that this could be a really special movie!

To view the high-quality version, click here.

Thanks Rachel for the heads up!

Movie Review: Duplicity

We went to see Duplicity a few nights ago. I would describe this movie as Oceans 11 meets Michael Clayton. Okay, to be honest I haven't seen Michael Clayton, but its Oscar-nominated writer/director Tony Gilroy also penned and directed Duplicity. It has the same theme of corporate espionage but with that Oceans 11 caper feel and wry humor.

The plot - without giving too much away - follows the complicated story of Ray (Clive Owens) & Claire (Julia Roberts), one ex-MI6 and one ex-CIA, working together (or are they?) to steal and sell corporate secrets from two rival companies. They're in love (or are they?) but their skills at lying and subterfuge, which make them so good at their jobs, make them rather bad at maintaining a trusting relationship. Just like the characters themselves, we're kept guessing as to who's gaming who, who's to be trusted, and whether or not Ray & Claire will make it out with their relationship intact.

Overall I enjoyed the film - it was a quick-witted and well-written romp of a spy/caper movie, and I appreciated the subtle maturity that the lead actors brought to the roles. Alongside countless similar films, it was their performances that took this movie to the next level. Their interpretation of the roles, alongside the sophisticated script, gave the film a classic feel - not that it felt dated, but rather that it seemed the type of movie that could've been made forty years ago starring Audrey Hepburn & Cary Grant. Stylish, sleek, playful.

I'd forgotten how enjoyable it could be to watch Julia Roberts on the big screen. She laughed her famous laugh and smiled her famous smile and did a fine job playing the strong character of Claire, who's not sure if she can trust her man but doesn't mind having a little fun with him while she figures it all out.



And can we talk for a minute about Clive Owen? He's a particularly yummy brand of good-looking, that one. He's got sort of a rough edge that keeps him from veering towards the pretty, but with a twist of don't-I-look-fine-in-this-suit. Add in a dash of swoon-inducing British accent and you've covered my bases for leading man material. I liked that the story set you up to believe his character Ray more than Julia's Claire. Or at least, I had that feeling, that he was more ready to trust and play it straight than she was.

The ancillary characters, particularly the rivaling corporate CEOs played by Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti, filled in the scenes nicely. It was very funny to see the polar opposite ways in which Wilkinson and Giamatti played their characters, and they share the film's only (humorously shot in slow motion) fight scene. If you can call it that. Man, it's hard to write a review for a movie where you can't give even the slightest plot points away without ruining something!

The fun of Duplicity is in watching Ray & Claire - and by extension Roberts & Owen themselves - having fun with one another. I would definitely recommend! Oh, and a word of advice: pay attention! The twists and turns are all over the place and this is a smart movie that expects a smart audience to keep up.

Watch the trailer here:

Peanut, Peanut Butter. And Cupcakes!

Ten points to you if you knew that title was a play on the childhood "Peanut Butter & Jelly" song. A classic.

The other night I made some devil's food chocolate cupcakes (I confess, it was a box mix) with white buttercream frosting (that part was from scratch). They were delicious! However, at the end I had about six extra cupcakes with not enough frosting left to cover them. I decided I wanted to try a peanut butter frosting.

I've never done that before, so I just threw one together myself. Not much can go wrong when the working ingredients are peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter, and milk. At first the frosting was very very thick, almost like cookie dough. It was delicious but didn't pipe onto the cupcakes very well. I added some more milk and voila! It worked!



They looked so cute and tasted very nice. The peanut butter frosting was not overly sweet, which was a nice combination. I think however that next time I would pipe on a smaller amount, or just put on a normal layer with a knife. The swirl of frosting was very pretty but I mostly tasted peanut butter with a little chocolate, and I was going for a more moderate balance. One thing that I feel sort of adamantly about is that above all else, dessert is supposed to be delicious. Looks are secondary... the icing on the cake, if you will. Ba-dum-bum-ching!

I made them late at night but I wanted to take their picture without having to use my flash. Enter Ben with his nifty new light rig that he uses for his video projects at work! Thanks babe for making my cupcakes look so good!

PS. By the way, I have a separate blog that I was posting my crafty and baking stuff on, but in the interest of simplifying I think I'm going to dismantle that and just post all that stuff here instead. So I might switch some of the posts over so they don't get lost in cyberspace. Be prepared!

Oooh.

When I first heard they were making a live-action version of the beloved children's book Where the Wild Things Are I thought "Why?" and "How?" Then today while browsing the interwebs I saw this:


I think I love it. The monster looks, somehow, as if it just walked off the pages of the book. The muted color scheme is so perfect and again, reminds me of the book's illustrations. Think of the contrast to advertising for other kids' movies! I also looooooove the typeface and simplicity of the tagline. If the poster is a portend of things to come in the film, this might be one of the movies I'm really looking forward to this fall.

Mascotology

It's that time of year again. Across the country, basketball fans are gearing up for March Madness. I am not one of them.

College basketball ranks somewhere around bowling and badmitton in "sports which disinterest me." I have no particular aversion to it - not to be compared to the way I feel about, say, the NBA. But neither do I follow or keep tabs on it with the exception of taking note here and there of a particular phenom or being generally pleased that a school I like is doing well.

However, all that aside, the one part of NCAA basketball I DO like is filling out my tourney bracket. Each year in our office we have a strictly-for-fun pool and each year I get really excited to use my own special methodology to complete my sheet. What is this method you ask? (Or maybe you didn't, but I will tell you anyway.)

I'm dubbing it... mascotology. I didn't invent this style of play or even this word, but I'm one of its biggest fans for sure. The general idea is this - all other knowledge of the sport (which in my case is very little) and the teams involved aside, which mascot would win in a battle to the death?

Sometimes it is a no-brainer. Sorry Syracuse, but the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack would hack you to a juicy pulp with one swing of his manly ax.

This guy's not hurting anyone.

Other times, it requires serious thought (Bear against Tiger? Husky v. Bulldog?) and even thorough (read: Wikipedia) research. I kid you not, at one point I was forced to dig into Ancient Greek history to determine what went down between the Spartans (Michigan State) and the Trojans (USC). Spartans for the wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!

I must confess, I'm not completely faithful to the method. 1, 2, and 3 seeds usually get a pass for at least a round or two before I subject them to the same scrutiny. My favorites from the Big XII get the same special treatment. Other times a school's mascot is so ridiculously strong (heloooooo the Purdue Boilermaker is a STEAM TRAIN ENGINE, which could run over and smoosh the life out of just about anything) or pathetically passive (sorry OSU, but the worst a buckeye tree is going to do is fall on something) that I have to take into account that school's ranking to give them or their opponents a fair cop.

Things also get tricky when the spiritual plane (Demon Deacons, Blue Devils, Sun Devils) collides with the phyiscal (Wildcats, Longhorns). Technically I'd say the demons and devils have the upper hand, what with their powers of possession and all, but occassionally I'll make exceptions.

Certain mascots almost never win. Eagles and other assorted birds are frequently outmatched, although I do have the Louisville Cardinals beating the Ohio State Buckeyes... since, you know, one can eat the other. Also at a disadvantage (unless they're one of my favorite teams) are those with the fictional or otherwise unidentifiable mascots. Jayhawk, for example? Made up animal. And Akron, really? What exactly, pray tell, is a Zip? (Upon further investigation, the Akron mascot is actually a kangaroo. Kind of cool. However, upon further further investigation, it is really... special looking.)

Duuuuuuuuuuh.

Then there's the whole world of human v. human. Those with guns (Mountaineers, Cowboys) have an upper hand, although the stealth and hunting expertise of the American Indians (Utes, Fighting Illini, Seminoles) and the sheer old-school brutality of others (Vikings) give the organized militia (Spartans, Trojans, Volunteers) a run for their money. Others like Aggies and Sooners and TarHeels seem harmless, but keep in mind, as I do, that they were all probably armed.

My most difficult match-up so far was Memphis and Mizzou, who I have playing against one another in the Sweet Sixteen round. Memphis beat the California Golden Bears to advance to this game, while Mizzou took down the Utah State Aggies. So what's the problem?

Noooooo.... TIGER v. TIGER

I eventually went with Mizzou, them being a hometown favorite and all. Otherwise I probably would've had to get down to which tiger mascot looked more ferocious. Again, I think Mizzou would've won out. The Memphis tiger looks kind of like he was trying to climb over that M and got stuck, where as the Mizzou tiger is just apparating from within the M. Extra bonus powers.

In 2007, I came close to winning it all with mascotology. In 2008, it failed miserably. We'll see what happens in 2009!

Empire Records: Liveblogging the Best Lines

Empire Records... where do I begin? It certainly gets my vote for most super-awesome 90s movie. A bevy of quirky teenaged characters (including a young Liv Tyler and Renee Zelweger), a killer soundtrack, silly plotline with random tangential scenes. Rex Manning Day? Warren the shoplifter? Oh, and as if that weren't enough, an adorable Ethan Embry plays the metal-loving goofball with a hankering for pot brownies. And, like all 90s movies of any importance, it ends with the cast dancing together on the roof. Roll credits.

I decided as we watched the movie for the umpteenth time tonight that I would live-blog all my favorite lines.

Talk back in the comments... your favorite part of the movie I missed or your own best 90s movie memories.


I wonder if I'll be held responsible for this? -Lucas after losing $9K of the store's money

So today, I will offer myself to Rex Manning. - Cory

Mark, listening to this crap is guaranteed to make you sterile. - AJ
Maybe I wanna be sterile. - Mark

You know, someday I'm going to show you little people. - Mark
Yeah, well on that day I'm going to jump out of my wheelchair and do a dance. - Joe

What's the money doing in Atlantic City? - Joe
Recirculating. It could be in other cities by now.- Lucas

Joe, I can categorically say you are not a bigger banana-head. - Lucas

What's with you today? - AJ
What's with today today? - Lucas

Well Sinead O-rebellion! Shock me shock me shock me with your deviant behavorior! - Gina

This song goes out to our employee of the week, Lucas. (Plays "The Best Things In Life Are Free") - Gina

How old are you? - Joe to shoplifter
Old enough to kick your butt and splatter your brains against the wall. - Warren the shoplifter
Yeah, he's a juvenile. - Joe to cops

Warren, look what you stole. Rap, metal, rap, metal, Whitney Houston. - Lucas

The long arm of the law has embraced our dear friend Warren. - Lucas, as the cops come to arrest Warren

Take your purse and get the hell outta my store. - Joe to Rex Manning

Stop calling me Warren! My name isn't f*&$@& Warren! - Warren

Damn the man! Save the Empire! - Mark

Movie Review: Australia

I finally got around to watching Australia last night. I know I blogged months ago about how excited I was to see it, but then I went and spent all of December seeing Twilight 500 times (slight exaggeration) and plus it seemed I never had three free hours to devote to it, and then it was gone from theaters and I had to wait for it on DVD... all that to say, it took a while! I thought I'd share my review with you fine people.

So, you know when a band has a truly spectacular debut album, and you fall in love with it? And their sound, everything you know of them, is that one album. You can recite the lyrics and you know the opening chord of the second song as soon as the first one is over? And then it is time for their sophomore effort. And you understand that they are pushing into new musical territory and growing as artists, and you still like their new stuff, but part of you just kind of wishes that it sounded like the first album and you know that no matter what they do you might never like anything they do again as much as you did that first time around.

Watching this movie was kind of like that.

Even though Australia is actually Baz Luhrmann's fourth movie, it is the first one that truly departs from his "red-curtain" style, which wove such a strong cinematic narrative through his first three films. I tried to remember that he wasn't making another film to fit into that style, but it was still there in my mind, hovering.

If there is one characteristic of his film-making that translated well, it was the cinematicness. I think I made that word up just now. But what I mean is that it feels like you are watching a movie. A big, wonderful, spectacle of a movie. And sometimes, isn't that the point? I've always felt that with a Baz movie, you aren't exactly supposed to forget you are watching a movie. In fact that cinematicness (there I go again) is enhanced and the vehicle of film to tell the story is an important part of the whole experience. So I don't have to forget exactly that it's Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman up there on my screen, playing Lady Ashley and The Drover. I just have to enjoy the fact that they are playing these two characters, acting out this grandiose romance against the backdrop of a stunning and hostile Outback landscape. And thankfully, I did (although Nicole has got to lay of the Botox for realz).

The story certainly weaves its way around - I wouldn't call it aimless, just... scenic. It felt very much like the Australian cousin of Gone With the Wind - sweeping and grand, turning a nostalgic, but still loving lens on the people and the landscape of a troubled fragment of history. In this case, we see the way that racism and greed affected northern Australia while the reality of WWII advanced ever closer to its borders. Kidman is Lady Ashley, the uptight priss of an Englishwoman who comes to Australia to confront what she presumes to be a philandering husband wasting his time on a cattle ranch. She finds him dead and is forced to confront the situation on the ranch with the help of a handful of Aboriginal workers and the gruff and unwilling favor of The Drover. Played like he just walked off the cover of a paperback romance, Hugh Jackman's cattle-driving hunk is all things manly and rugged and dirty. Together they must also look after Nullah, an orphaned "half-caste" boy. During this period of time, such half black, half white children were often taken from their families and sent to missions where they can be "reformed" from their Aboriginal heritage.

Overall, there were still many parts of the film that felt true to Baz: the blend of humor, romance, and tragedy; the highest respect for the power of storytelling and an accompanying embrace of mythology; the lush visual world constructed with attention to the tinies of details. There's a particularly lovely way that The Wizard of Oz is woven into the story - I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but I found this to be quite endearing and the closest the movie came to Baz's "magic."

Still, at the end I wondered what kind of movie Australia might have been if the director had loosened the reins on that wonderful whimsical nature that has become his trademark. Watching and falling in love with Stricly Ballroom, Romeo+Juliet, and Moulin Rouge, I believed that each one was the kind of movie only Baz could create. If I could put my finger on one thing that was lacking in Australia, it was that same sense of extraordinary uniqueness. Had I not known, I probably wouldn't have guessed that Baz had directed it.


I have to end with a comment on Brandon Walters, the extraordinary child actor who played Nullah. His became the character, completely transformed, and I watched the story unfold across his hauntingly beautiful face and through his wide eyes. He was adorable, magical, heartbreaking. I was surprised to learn that he had never acted before and was discovered by Baz himself one day at a local swimming pool. It was certainly the finest child acting I've seen since another young Aussie made her acting debut - Keisha Castle-Hughes in a beautiful movie called Whale Rider.


Overall I enjoyed the journey through Australia, and, taking it back to my band metaphor, I might just have to realize that Baz is taking his talents and exploring new territories. I recommend for anyone needing a little action, a little romance, and a little adventure to the Outback. Crikey.

Logan

My in-laws came to visit this weekend, and brought along Ben's brother and our nephew Logan. It was a fun experience, to have a three-year-old running (literally, always running) around our lives this weekend. Logan loves slides, Lightning McQueen, and anything you are eating or drinking. He's very articulate and likes to learn names, and he's remarkably agreeable for a toddler. Like when you ask him something, he has this funny way of answering, "Sure. Yea. Of course." Pretty adorable.

Twitter!

Okay, I don't know why I do this stuff. I am a bit of a technology-skeptic, but I still find myself doing things like trying to maintain three separate blogs, Facebook, and now... a Twitter!

If you aren't familiar, Twitter is a strangely fascinating little internet gizmo that consists of leaving 140-word (or less) updates about what you're doing. That's it. The whole point. It's kind of like Facebook status, but more constant.

The interesting thing is that it stays succinct. Just one or two sentences about what different people all over the world are up to. We humans are a curious (nosy?) bunch so Twitter makes the most of that. The other cool part is that many celebrities and organizations also Twitter, so you can get all these tiny updates in one place. For example, on my Twitter feed now, I can learn that right now:

• Charlie from Jars of Clay is listening to the new U2 album
• My friend Rachel is eating at Pei Wei
• Jimmy Fallon felt like his second show went better than his first and is soliciting questions to ask Cameron Diaz
• Needtobreathe is in the studio working on a new album
• There's a new Lost theory I need to check out
• Amazon's mp3 Deal of the Day is Joshua Radin

Isn't that kind of cool? I think I might like this. Bonus: Twitter has one of the internet's most simple and adorably designed interfaces. Cool color combinations, rounded corners, lots of white space... I mean, this is the graphic you get when the site is bogged down and taking a lot of time:

How cute is that? Plus who couldn't like something that involves the words "twitter" and "tweet"?!

If you want to come follow me on Twitter, you can find me at http://twitter.com/amybethjames. I'm going to try and figure out how to add my Twitter feed to this blog's sidebar, too.

How I Spent My Long Sick Weekend

For the past four and a half days, I have been sick. This is pretty rare for me so it has really sucked. And to make matters worse, until yesterday afternoon, Ben was still gone in Japan so I was all alone. Just me and Scruffy in my Den of Germs (aka my house). My time sneezing, coughing, and running a fever can be summarized with the following four actions:

Watching Lost. I had decided I wanted to start rewatching the older seasons of Lost. And you know what works great for that? Days of uninterrupted time in which you want to do nothing more physically taxing than sitting on your couch within arm's length of a Kleenex box. I watched Season 2. And Season 3. And I'm starting Season 4 right now. What a way to spend four days. And as an added bonus, it's helping me remember some important connections for this season. SOMETHING TO NEVER FORGET: Benjamin Linus is a lying liar who lies.


Eating Baja Burrito. I don't know why, but the only thing that sounded good to me for the first part of being sick was Baja Burrito. It isn't even my favorite burrito place, but I NEEDED it. I went there three times, and each time I saved half my burrito and ate it for a later meal. You do the math.
Taking my temperature. I have always had this fascination with taking my temperature, but I hardly EVER run a fever. So imagine my twisted delight when on Thursday night I busted out the little digital thermometer and it read me at a toasty 102. Woo!
Sleeping. I didn't ever get a full night's sleep, mind you, too much coughing for that. But nevertheless, I spent at least 78% of the past four days either asleep on the couch, asleep in my bed, or at the very least snuggled beneath a large fluffy blanket. Nothing wrong with that.

I'd like to give some sick props to Jon & Heather, who answered the call when I was about to go insane from being in my house too long. They took me out to dinner and didn't mind when I asked to go to Target so I could get a new trash can. They didn't even laugh at me too much when I was walking around the store in a sort of craze/daze, fanning myself and wondering why it was so freaking hot. (Hint: it was the fever.)

Finally, I have to add a small note about Ben. He came home on Saturday afternoon to a fussy wife who couldn't even give him a proper welcome home kiss for fear of spreading the sickness around, but he has been nothing short of wonderful. It's so very nice to have someone to look after you when you're sick and tired and tired of being sick. He got me medicine, and rubbed my back, and tucked the covers in at the bottom of the bed where I'd kicked them out in a fevered fit. He loves me very much, and I am so happy he's home.