End Game.

Don't worry it's not end game for the list. It's end game with the plow guy. I'm totally over it but thought you might like an update. So at last posting he had come and sanded my nearly bare driveway. That was Monday. On Weds. I get an invoice from him with a little note - and I wish I had it I would just post it here - that said something like, "I received your voice mail and came to sand your driveway as a courtesy for you. The 75.00 for plowing we agreed upon did not include sanding, I had been sanding it as a favor. Please note that for next year 2008-09 I will not be plowing in (my town) and you will need to make other arrangements." Um. Ok guy. So what about the time when we hired someone else to sand and were on the verge of firing you and you said "no no, I can come sand" plus, if someone is paying you 75 for plowing that takes you about 20 minutes, is sanding their driveway so that they can pass safely up and down really a courtesy? Blargh. 900 bucks we have given this guy this winter. Anyhow I called him and very nicely told him that his check was in the mail and don't bother coming back this winter, I will make other arrangements. We should just buy a crappy truck for like $1500 bucks and also use it to go to the dump. I think we would be ahead of the game in less than a year. Ok, enough of that.

It should also be noted I am turning into a super bird nerd. We put out a new feeder for thistle last night and this morning it is swarmed with gold finches. I actually squealed with glee. I'm planning a super awesome bird garden this summer with feeders and plants that birds enjoy. So dork rating status: bird watcher, knitter, audio book and NPR podcast consumer, reader, and trivia fiend. I would say bird/nerd meter is at about 40%.

I think I am going to count applying for writing jobs as submissions. Because I do have to send a sample of writing, and it is just as awesome to not hear/get rejected over and over and over. Even if it's not for a regular magazine it still sucks balls. It's still a big "yeah your writing is not good enough to contribute to our crappy website". Whatev, my ego is big enough so may times I can go check out the site and say, "Oh, I get it - my writing was too good, I scared them away. They probably don't think they can't afford me." The thing is I probably charge far less than the plow guy. Hmm maybe I should give up writing in favor of plowing driveways....

Last night I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring Val Kilmer and Robert Downy Jr. It should be noted that I would probably watch a movie of Robert Downy Jr. doing a crossword puzzle and give it a Woot! Drug problems aside, he is a fantastic actor and plays everything with an infectious sketchy intensity. Yes, I heart Robert Downy Jr. Moving on..The movie was basically the same old formula for a who done it murder in Hollywood. The great thing was the narration - RDJ - who actually acknowledges the cheesiness of the movie. Also, the dialog/humor in the film was fantastic. A lot was made in the media of the fact that Val Kilmer plays a gay detective in this movie, but aside from a few really good jokes, there was only one place where it played an important role. They avoided the whole "Friend pretends to be gay to get the girl" story line which I feared was going to be the case early on. Anyhow this was a great fun movie, a snarky version of a classic story line. It gets a Woot!

I'm still working on Kavalier and Clay, which is still really good. My afternoon nap has been eliminated, and I used to read a lot during that time, so I have been reading a bit less. I have a super fun knitting project going on right now, but it's a gift so I will share it after it's been given.
Oh, and I decided not to try out for Gilgamesh, not because I am a chicken, but because there was "creative movement" mentioned on the casting sheet. Which means - creative dancing- which means - I'll pass.

You may have noticed a huge jump in my local foods bar - that's because we purchased 1/4 of a cow and paid for 1/2 of our CSA share this year. CSA = Community Supported Agriculture which basically means you pay a certain amount to a farm in the spring and then each week in the summer you get a bag of super fresh veggies. I highly recommend joining one near you. I'm super excited about the cow too, especially with the huge beef recall last week. Hopefully we will be purchasing 1/2 a pig as well. Which is a lot of meat but will be saving us money over all next winter.

I also made up a new recipe last night - a super healthy banana bread with dark chocolate chips. The thing is it didn't really bake correctly it took well over an hour, maybe closer to two. This could be because my oven sucks - which it does - OR that it was just too dense for a bread pan and should have ve been cooked in a cake pan. I will try another version soon and report back. That's it. I'm out.