fireworks central

my neighborhood is fireworks crazy. people have been setting them off for a month here, and if last summer is any indication, it will continue until august. i like a pretty light spray as much as the next person, but i'm sick of the popping noises. i'm getting jumpy.

*****

it's taken me a while to catch up on my blogs (which sounds uncomfortably like a redneck housewife of the previous generation talking about "her stories"). david finally got his interview posted - and he gave some most intriguing answers, i must say; apparently i missed the hamlet references in strange brew. mb picked up anam cara's interview request, and her answers are now posted, too; i love that she's been everywhere! holly - i will post your questions soon!

*****

friday, oh friday - it was good, then very bad, then good again.

we didn't leave town until noon, but we got to rock out to the radio - as hard as one can rock in a white volvo station wagon.

and then we drove 60 miles past pittsburgh before we realized it and had to drive 60 miles back. we're so used to traveling by the seat of our pants that neither of us bothered with directions to the places we wanted to go, but we didn't have the normal travel luxury of days to figure it out. so we wasted two hours, which was the last straw for me. i so badly needed to get out of town. i still do. i need to sleep on hotel sheets. i need to eat in new restaurants. i can't explain it - i just know that these things renew me. and this day was not doing it. and i kept having misplaced hans moments. at a rest stop, there was a lovely picnic area and i thought, oh, we could take hans there. i had moments like that one all day. so when we got lost, i just lost it. hans should have been in the back seat, being cranky and making us have to stop frequently.

after we got back on track, we made ourselves feel better by spending a chunk of change at ikea. at last - the family wagon comes in handy! we got a loveseat, a coffee table, two chests and a large rug into the back. or i should say, justin did. i mostly just watched him and looked pretty.

(what is wrong with the "add image" function? i've tried three times to add the picture that shows just how full our car was - otherwise you'd never believe it. now you just have to take my word for it.)

afterwards we found a bar in the south side flats where some of justin's old friends from the regional hard core scene play sometimes (although not friday night) and ate pierogies fried in hot sauce - amazingly good.

so even if we were missing hans, we were together, and that made it okay.

*****

saturday we tackled too many house projects at once and were running late for salad night, but it was okay because it was just mike and kath and charlie that came over - everyone else in the known universe went out of town for the whole weekend - and we don't have to impress them. they hung out in the kitchen with us while we made insalata caprese and warm potato salad (minus the bacon fat for which i compensated with double-strength veggie boullion) and a pecan pie (my first ever!), and mike brought his famous lentil salad. after dinner we sat in the backyard and ate our dessert, and then it actually got chilly so we came in for coffee, but as soon as we poured it, charlie woke up and thus ended the evening.

justin and i walked up to hollywood video and rented the first disk of the first season of six feet under. we only got through the pilot last night; tonight we'll tackle the next episode. i laughed out loud several times during the pilot; i don't remember ever doing that watching any episode of the show before - i.e. before hans died. maybe it makes a difference.

today i have done nothing but last night's dishes. i did get groceries and take a little nap, which was shortened by my mother calling. tomorrow i will get more done, i promise.