Shopping For My 20th Reunion

Ooh, Momma did some damage in the stores today. I'm not fond of shopping and only go out about twice a year but when I do, I bring back the motherload.

Today started with a visit to my hair dresser for highlights. She then proceeded to blow my hair out perfectly straight. WILD. I kept glancing in the mirror, trying to figure out who I reminded myself of and then it hit me: my sister. We look absolutely nothing alike but with the poker straight hair (sorry, sis) there was actually a resemblance. I'd love to keep the straight hair but it would involve about $80 worth of product and 45 minutes manual labor, daily, to make it happen. I get bored waiting the two minutes for the hot water for my tea to boil, so it's probably not going to happen.

I proceeded to the stores (slowly, blowing straight hair out of my eyes) and paid a visit to Black & White. Found a top that may work for dress-up night although I'm concerned it looks like I'm trying a little too hard. Gold lame doesn't go out of style, does it? (You think I'm kidding...)

On to Ann Taylor where I found a pair of white silk pants that may go with the top but even if they don't, they were on sale and make my ass look fabulous. Sold!

Then to Paparazzi. Overpriced, but I love this store. It's unique clothing that stands out. I found an adorable top, jeans, and earrings for Friday's bar-casual night.

Thank God that's over. I was not looking forward to a week of shopping and I think I got everything I need in under three hours. Sweet.

Now I just need a headband to get this stringy straight hair out of my face. =)

Vegetable Curry In A Crockpot. (You heard me--CROCKPOT.)

Yeah, I'm crockpotting today. Soaking some veggies for 7 hours and hoping it turns out edible.

There were crockpot incidents along the way. The first being that my crockpot (which is my mom's orange crockpot from many, many years ago. The handle is broken off so I have to use pliers to turn the settings from low to high to off, but great sentimental value) wasn't big enough for the recipe. But I was dumping veggies in as I went - chopped onion, chick peas, 4 cups butternut squash, red pepper, etc. and it wasn't until I got to the second to last ingredient that I realized it wasn't going to all fit. So I dumped everything into a big bowl and tried to take out even proportions of each veggie so it would all still balance in the end.

This never happens on Rachel Ray's show. (Then again, Rachel probably also doesn't hack a butternut squash to pieces like it's the golden girl in some horror flick.)

So now... we wait. I'm resisting the urge to stir the crockpot. That's the whole point of crockpotting--you put it in and walk away. But maybe just one stir. Just to make sure things are cooking evenly.

If this doesn't work out, no worries. I made a chilled mango noodle salad last night that was supposed to serve 4, but the Asian rice expanded when cooked and I could feed half of Asia with the leftovers I've got in my fridge.

I'll probably get offered my own cooking show in the near future. "Dena's Kitchen Disasters and How to Fix Them." Stay tuned.

That Funny Hubby of Mine

I've been having nightmares lately. The little kid kind, where I'm being chased by monsters through a dark house. I had a rather involved one last night, and woke up in the early morning hours on the verge of a scream. I lay in bed, getting my breathing and heart rate back under control and--as a means of comforting myself--reached out to my beloved, lying peacefully beside me. After all, what better comfort after a nightmare than the solid, reassuring presence of another human being?

That is, until said human being swipes your hand away in his sleep and then scratches the spot on his arm where you dared touch him. "Cooties," Blair said this morning, nodding solemnly, when I told him what he'd done.

He also checked out the reading material on my night stand. "Well no wonder you're having bad dreams," he exclaimed. "Vegetarian Times magazine? It's like you're trying to scare yourself."

He does amuse me...

The Computer - Not Dead Yet

So here's where we stand with the computer. We took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and they gave us no hope. $200 gone on that. Then several people recommended Intrex, so I toted the computer there yesterday. $100. They couldn't read the drive either. However, they said they had seen this before and they knew exactly who to send it to and are confident the data can be retrieved. (I liked Intrex very much and will be using them for future repairs, if needed.)

Intrex can remove the hard drive, which we would then mail to this third party vendor. Intrex said it would probably be a week or two before we got the data back. I don't have a price quote at this point.

After all this, I think I'm just going to let the data be lost. We're already $300 in on this little venture and I'm sure it will be at least another couple hundred to retrieve the data.  I'm not sure that what I've lost is worth $500. I've rewritten my article already, so that's done. We've lost our I-tunes, but it's hardly worth paying a few hundred dollars to replace those. I've lost updates to my Access database where I track job submissions and log payments, but I should be able to go through checking and piece together most of that. As for e-mails... I know I'll lose a bunch, but nothing is screaming at me that I must have it. I might be forgetting something, but I'm willing to risk it.

I'll check and see what the cost is to retrieve the data but I think whichever way it goes, we'll weather the storm okay.

And I'd like to think we've learned a little lesson about backing up the computers on a regular basis.

Thanks to everyone who posted on the blog or e-mailed suggestions on where to take the computer!