Up to my old tricks

Okay, so I couldn't make it until Christmas without a new bauble. Big surprise. But how could I say 'no' to a tanzanite pendant on TV early this morning that was just the simple stone, no diamonds, inlaid opal or any other added gewgaws that make all the others so ugly (not to mention a hell of a lot more expensive)? Not the world's biggest stone (.40 carat), but the price was right, and it was all the temptation I needed. Now I have the full ensemble of tanzanite jewelry, and my world is complete (at least until I see the next bauble I lust after). Didn't come with a chain, so I had to buy one of those. I've been needing a 14K gold box-link chain anyway...

OMG, I saw something that made my jaw nearly hit the floor this morning. It was on Gemshopping.com, and it was a round chocolate diamond solitaire ring, with white diamond baguettes stairstepping down either side. I think the host said the stone was SI in clarity, but he never said what the carat weight was. It looked like at least one carat, maybe even tickling two. It was set in white gold, and the thing was utterly gorgeous. Sounded like it was spoken for, like he was just showing it to the buyer. The price was somewhere between 12 and 13 thousand dollars. Pah! Mere walking-around money...

I'm mental with joy, because I have the ENTIRE week off work. Why did I take the entire week off work? If I recall correctly...no real reason in particular!! I think I got mad at something a couple months ago, and took a week off at random, and this was it. Probably the sight of a coworker sitting on her ass reading a novel while there was work to be done everywhere around her, and/or me probably skipping lunch to get said work done. I heard through the grapevine she has completely depleted her supply of paid-time-off. She takes so many days off, the new guy thought she was a part-timer (nooooo, it says her status is full-time on her check stub, Padawan). While I, on the other hand, need to bleed some of it off because it's approaching critical mass again. *squirms with nasty delight*

So what I have I done with all these days off so far? *sigh* Unfortunately, not a whole lot. Yet. I watched all three (well, most of them) Indiana Jones movies back to back yesterday. Why did I do that, when I have them on tape and can watch them in full without ^&%$#@*! commercial interruptions? I dunno. Because they were on the tube, and I had a headache, and my butt was fitting so comfortably in the hollow on the couch. Then I fell asleep during 'Scorpion King' and had me a nice little 3-hour nap. I like 'The Rock'. What a cool guy. Nice pecs, too.

Haven't had to do a whole lotta cooking this week because of leftovers, but Tim and I did make a good pasta dish last night. We took the rest of the tomatoes his parents had given us, and I sliced them in half and roasted them in the oven for over an hour. We cooked some farfalle (bow tie) pasta, and browned some diced pancetta and sauteed some onions. Then we tossed all together: a can of crushed tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, a head of roasted garlic, a can of cannellini beans, a can of borlotti beans, a splash or three of chianti, the pancetta, the onion, the roasted tomatoes and the deglazed juices. Just before it was done, I ran out to the gardens and grabbed some flat-leaf parsley and some basil leaves and chopped those up to scatter on top. It was quite nice.

I'm really tempted to go down to the basement right now and grab me an Arcadia Imperial Stout, but that will probably make me sleepy and even lazier than I already am right now, and it might tip my willpower over the edge and I'll find myself driving down the road to Farmer Jack to get some tortilla chips. The PMS roulette wheel has landed on 'salty and crunchy' this month. Must resist temptation... Ha! Like I've been any good at that so far today.

There's a mountain of dishes to be done/put away in the kitchen, and I vowed to get those done this afternoon. Then I have a mountain of crap to go through in the living room. Just miscellaneous stuff in a laundry basket that's been sitting by the side of the bed for, oh, about a year and a half now. There's another, smaller mountain of loose recipes I need to file and organize next to it. It's a wonder I find any recipe with the mess they're in. Then I may make some peanut butter brownies for Tim to take into work.

We have concrete plans for this upcoming weekend now, too. Tim was surfing around last night and discovered there's an alumni weekend going on up at Lake Superior State U. this weekend, so we are going to take in a hockey game on Friday night, and then see 'Da Yoopers' show on Saturday night. Not even his alma mater, but he's all excited about going. On the way up Friday, we will stop and grab a pasty for lunch in one of those little lunch counter places just east of the Mackinac Bridge, since we didn't get to have one of those when we were in the UP in June. Tim found some cabins in Kinross (for only $50 a night!) and he booked 2 nights. The Holiday Inn was all filled up in Sault Ste Marie, and some of the motels down by the locks can be a bit noisy and questionable quality, so this sounded good. Crossing my fingers it won't be a glorified deer camp (some of the pics on the site were of proud hunters with their freshly gutted quarry hung up for display). Hey, as long as it's clean, warm and the coffee maker works, I'll be happy.

The long-ago goal we set for this weekend was to see some fall colors, so we will probably take a drive north of the International Bridge into Canada, and see what we can see. I always remember the view out of the dorm windows being spectacular in the fall. Beyond the steam plumes and towers of Algoma Steel, the hills were just a carpet of oranges, yellows and reds.

I think Ferrari's forgiven me for the trip to the vet this morning. It was just his yearly exam and shots. Mocha Java's not acting paranoid any more, so I think he realizes he's not going, too. They always are terrified of each other for a few hours after they get back home. Like just the smells from the office are that terrifying. The new office building is absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't help looking around at the arts-and-crafts style, cherry wood pillars, salt water aquarium and vaulted ceilings and wonder how much all this cost. Well, I'm sure we had a small part in paying for it, and will in years to come. Very, very swank.

Okay, time to attack those dishes. Maybe that beer will help me do them more efficiently? Ya think?