I received this email from a good friend (note that I have have cut and pasted in its entirety):

Going through the pit of despair (a.k.a. my closet). Surfaced with two pairs of size 14 pants from you. Wondering if you need them right away? One tan and one navy. Will get them in the mail to you soon if so or (my husband) can bring them when he comes to the conference the second week of June.

I was a little confused. We had traded clothing as friends cycling through these child-bearing years are apt to do: pre-baby clothes, maternity clothes, post-baby but not yet pre-baby clothes. Sure, it was nice of her to want to return any post-baby size 14’s I may have loaned her, but it certainly wasn’t urgent. Did I complain about my weight on our last phone conversation? Probably. Did we discuss mid-cycle guesses about the possibility of conception? Yes, isn’t that what women talk about? Or is she just being snarky and reminding me how she is only a few pounds away from her goal weight? Hm. Not likely. I decided to respond thusly (again, I cut and pasted…note that neither of us use salutations or sign our names):

hey. I admit that the size 8s are still just a bit too tight, but I have a LONG way to go to get to 14, and I really didn’t think I was heading in that direction. Yet. After the food at my party on Sunday, I may be, but I plan to not eat the rest of the week. So, really, take your time on returning the pants. thanks.

Her reply:

BOYS size 14. Sorry.
LMAO.

Oh. Yes. That is pretty funny.

I ran this menu by Bill who said it was fine. I asked him if he could think of anything else, and he said no. He’s not much help. What do you all think? Some guests may be bringing dishes, too. I’m estimating about 30 adults and 25 kids.

Main dishes:
Mojo Chicken
BBQ Chicken (using a homemade sauce I have leftover from the ribs I recently made)
Grilled Steak Salad (scroll down for the yummy recipe)
Hot dogs (mostly for the kids)

Side Dishes:
Tomato-Basil-Asparagus Pasta Salad (just add Italian dressing)
Texas Caviar with Tortilla Chips (must find recipe…)
Fruit Tray with Marshmallow Fluff/Cream Cheese Dip
probably some other chips

Desserts:
Brownies (3 different kinds)
Cupcakes
Margarita Cupcakes (I have to try these, just have to)

Drinks:
Beer (of course, but having difficulty finding a good one, of course)
Various Soft Drinks
Tequila Mojitos (recipe to follow soon)
Margarrritas (thanks, Barb)
And I think I’ll have everything I need to make the Blueberry Pomengranite Margaritas that Kris left a recipe for in the combox.

And when I went to get the link for the Margarrritas, I saw Barb’s Strawberry Margarita Pie. I don’t know how I can’t make that, too.

Is this enough variety or I am way too heavy on the tequila?

Somehow THEY got my email address and sent me a link to their Mother Superior and Pray-at-Home Mom shirts. Those are cute. I like the one shown here.

I also like the Trophy Wife, and Seeking: Tall, Dark, Rich, cup of coffee.

Note to husband: I like them, but I don’t really want to own them. I generally avoid shirts with “stuff” on them.

We recently added a few more bottles to our liquor supply. After my friend, Rachel, made me a margarita when I was visiting her in Kansas, I decided to add tequila and triple sec. And then I saw a recipe for margaritas using cointreau. That’s three more bottles. Our cabinet is pretty full. I’ve been experimenting on the best ratio and flavor combination.

I’m trying to figure out if alcohol goes under “groceries” or “recreation” in our budget. Thoughts?

We’re having a party next weekend, and I’m flipping through the drink section of my favorite cookbook. Must plan food around beverages, right? There’s a recipe for tequila mojitos which looks good, so I will make a batch this weekend to try it out. There’s also one for margarita granitas. It calls for “orange liqueur.” I asked Bill if that was the cointreau.

“There are three orange liqueurs,” he informs me. “We have them all.”

Hm. Maybe that’s excessive? Actually, there are quite a bit more than three, so maybe having only three is fine.

If you’re in the area, come visit. I hope you’re thirsty.

And if you happen to have a tequila based summer-time drink recipe you’d care to share, please do.

I LOVE this “commercial.”

h/t Eric Scheske.

A closer look at the MRI on my foot by the doctors in podiatry revealed, possibly, a bone chip near the ankle. On Wednesday, they had me come in and do a CT scan, which had them further convinced that there were multiple fragments of bone in my ankle – “like pebbles in your foot,” said one doctor.

They wanted to inject a steroid into the area to see if that eliminated the pain. If it did, they reasoned, it meant the bone fragments were responsible for the pain, and surgery to remove them would be the recommended course of action. Getting the steroid into the right spot is a tricky thing and required an x-ray machine and me lying very still. Despite the local anesthetic, the pressure on my foot was rather uncomfortable and I had to focus on my “happy place” and do some deep breathing to get through it. I also kept reminding myself that it wasn’t as bad as labor. So far, when they ask me to rank pain on a scale from 0 to 10 with 10 being “the worst pain you’ve ever felt,” natural childbirth is my 10.

Wednesday afternoon, the local anesthetic wore off and the pain was in the 3 -4 range. It doesn’t usually hurt that much unless I’m actually running, but I guess it’s pretty traumatic to have a needle shoved into your ankle bone. The doctor had told me not to run for a couple of days (Thursday and Friday). Just walking around yesterday, I felt fine, and was eager to get out today to see how things felt.

And things felt great. Five miles (some of it walking) and no pain, no pressure, nothing. I would not normally be excited at the prospect of surgery, but if it solves the problem, I can’t wait. Two months ago, I truly despaired that I would ever run again. But now, I have a glimmer of hope.

School for today will be a field trip to observe marine life, wave and tide progression, and the effects of sunlight on hair and skin. In other words, we’re going to Hilton Head.

Last weekend, Bill’s work took him away from us to Colorado Springs and the Olympic Village where he met many paralympians. If you ever want to feel like a whiny slacker (oh, my foot hurts, I can’t go running…), spend a few days listening to the stories of these courageous people who overcome significant disabilities to compete in events I couldn’t master even with all my limbs and senses intact.

Among others, he met these inspirational, young men from Cleveland, Ohio.

High school teammates carry on

A few years ago, Bill traveled to Germany with his boss to visit wounded soldiers. He had a hangnail, which we all know can be painful and annoying. But he knew how ridiculous it was to be bothered by something like that when he was surrounded by people who had lost limbs or half their brains. Hopefully that video will put some perspective on whatever ails you right now.

Have a great weekend.

Man Who Found Next-Generation iPhone in Bar ‘Regrets His Mistake’

A young man finds a prototype iPhone in a bar. It isn’t claimed by anyone sitting in his vicinity, so he keeps it and ends up selling it to a competitor for $5000. Despite this, his lawyer says he’s a really good person:

“Brian has been working part time at a Church run community center where he was teaching swimming to kids age 3 to 10. He also has taught English in China to college students and volunteered at a Chinese orphanage in 2009 while enrolled in a study abroad program through college. In that same year, Brian volunteered in Vietnam to plant a friendship garden.

He also volunteers to assist his aunt and sister with fund-raising for their work to provide medical care to orphans in Kenya.”

Volunteer work is nice and all, but a true test of a person’s virtue is how they behave when faced with temptation. Not many people give away their time or money for worthwhile causes, and hence they are laudable activities. But fewer still do the right thing when nobody is looking, when there is money to be made, or when it seems you can get away with it.

All he had to do was turn the phone over to the bartender. Simple. He failed. I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, but I wouldn’t trust him.

Inspiration for a Monday morning:

Sophia Academy founder is Georgia’s ‘Mother Of The Year’

“…after one particularly frustrating and despairing day, she came home in the early afternoon and just “wanted to sit in my car and cry,” Corrigan says. But then she had an unusual visit.

“Then he left, and I never saw him again.”

I love that the messenger was dressed in white.