ouch

My finger hurts. Here's a picture of the specific finger that hurts. I don't think you can see the spot too well, but it hurts and is tender to the touch. While I do acknowledge that you might not care about this, this is my blog and I can write about whatever I want to. OK I just found the Neosporin... hold on... k... soothing...good stuff. To be continued....

The sewer

I got out of my car, innocently stepped onto my front lawn, stepped on something black in the grass, and promply fell through the "black thing" and into the sewer! No, I am not making this up... how could I? I would like to take a moment to personally thank Nat for his reminder that snakes, rats, lizards, swamp thing, and quite possibly big foot all live in the sewers. Thank you for that. I'm fine... until the creatures get out of the now uncovered hole, or as I like to call it, scene of the catastrophe.

the frog

There was just a frog on my mailbox. This shit does not happen in Michigan. Seriously. Geez.

Lindsay's scream

Lindsay: (screams) Laura get in here right now!
Laura: (grabs her phone in case 911 is needed and runs to the bathroom)
Lindsay: (in her underware... which is relevant to the story, I swear) There is a lizard in the bathroom on my shirt.
Laura: Oh my god! Are you serious?
Lindsay: I can't make shit like this up. I have to leave in ten minutes!
Laura: Wear something else!
Lindsay: I can't, the lizard is on top of my costume!
Laura: shit
Lindsay: What do we do?
Laura: We need a bucket.
Lindsay: I have a bucket (Lindsay gets the bucket)
Laura: and tongs
Lindsay: Well don't kill it!
Laura: Are you crazy! I'm going to scoop it AND the shirt into the bucket and take it outside.
Lindsay: You're so brave.
Laura: (armed with tongs and a bucket tip toes into the bathroom, approaches the counter, and runs out screaming)
Lindsay: Sarah (girl that lives upstairs) likes snakes. Let's call her.
Laura: Yes!
Lindsay: Fuck, my phone is under the Lizard.
Laura: Are you kidding?
Lindsay: No!
Laura: fuck!
Lindsay: We'll have to move out.
Laura: Yes.
Lindsay: fuck
Laura: ok I can do this... but we'll still have to move.
Lindsay: yes
Laura: (bravely approaches the counter again still with tongs and bucket in hand) What if it jumps?
Lindsay: Well it must have been fast to get into my cloths while I was in the shower.
Laura: fuck
Lindsay: maybe it has magical powers
Laura: what if it went through one of our rooms.
Both: impossible
Laura: ( slowly grabs the edge of the shirt with the tongs and pulls it into the bucket. She gets the shirt and the lizard into the bucket and runs outside to dump it. She then retrieves the shirt, with the tongs, or course, and puts it back in the bucket)
Lindsay: oh my god you did it. Where'd you put it.
Laura: Outside. You'll have to burn the shirt.
Lindsay: clearly
Laura: You can't leave me here all by myself!
Lindsay: I'm so sorry!

gorgeous flowers from Nat

Nat did good! Look how beautiful these are! Thanks babe!

Pumpkin Drilling

Yes, that's right. Guy let me take his drill to my pumpkin. Need I say more? This could be a sport!!!!! I assure you we'll be doing this again next weekend... as if that needs to be said!

Fall Festival Dinner with Marta and Guy

I spent a very eventful weekend with Marta and Guy. Marta and I decided to treat Guy by cooking dinner while he watched football / did homework. We made baked apples (by the way, if you haven't tried the honeycrisp apples yet, you MUST buy one!!!! they're heavenly... I even convinced a random women at the grocery store to buy them), acorn squash, and steak (Guy grilled that). We also made this fruit pizza Marta got growing up. It is AMAZING!!!!!!

So Marta was cutting the acorn squash and I said, be really careful not to cut yourself. So of course twenty seconds later she yelled shit and ran to the bathroom (forgetting about the sink mere inches from here in the kitchen... but then, some kitchens don't have sinks... oh wait) Anyway, her mom (on the phone) said, "well that was dumb." My mom (on the phone) said do you need to go to the emergency room and get stiches?" I highlight this part of the evening only to point out differences in parental approaches :-)


There's also a picture of the dinner, and the fruit pizza thing.

Then, we made a gingerbread haunted house... didn't you?

Please note the candy corn pornography on the back :-)

Today was quite a disturbing morning. I walked outside (barefoot to put something in the mail) and I felt a leaf on my foot. I looked down in what I would later recall in horror film-like slow motion, only to see a LIZARD ON MY FOOT. If at this moment you find yourself laughing, ask yourself why? Why are you so heartless so as to think that this could be construed as "funny!"

Now sadly, by the time I went back out to document this "catastrophic event" the "lizard" was gone. I have instead included a picture of the scene of the event (the porch)





and a likeness from the internet.

kangaroo's b and c

Here's my next two!

kangaroo draft 2

Everyone, I would like to introduce Norbert. Norbert is a squirrel who desperatly wants to be a kangaroo... unless you actually think he looks like a Kangaroo. Then that's a different story.

Ballroom

I had my trial private ballroom lesson today with William (yes he's cute, and strong, and funny, and can dance). I think basically he just dragged me around the floor for an hour, with the occasional "graceful" step on my part, but I had a blast! So obviously I signed up on the spot for the next three weeks. I also get to go to a group class/party every Friday night from 8:00-10:00, so maybe I'll meet some fun people. Then, I went right out and purchased the proper foot attire, as pictured here. You can't see very well (well maybe YOU can, but I can't) but they're sort of a deep brown/golden material with black lace over it, then the heel and straps are black. They're suede on the bottom to minimize me sliding across the floor unintentionally, and the strap goes under the arch of the foot, which is pretty cool. Also, they last a hell of a lot longer than pointe shoes. Oh, and my lack of turnout is a GOOD thing in ballroom. Who knew.

Kangaroo draft 1

I went out this morning, purchased 25 pounds of clay, and decided I'm going to start on a kangaroo chess set for Marta and Guy. Here's my first try.

My first cockroach

So I saw movement in the corner of my eye... which is very bad when alone... and it was the biggest bug I have ever seen, minus a few in New York... so I took a picture, then I went to find a very hard shoe... and now I can't find the bug... which is worse because now every noise I hear is obviously going to be the bug...

Here's what I did with the flowers...

Dinner gone wrong

I thought it might work to make gnocchi out of sweet potatoes... it did not. Here's a picture of it.

Art Project!

The dining room is plain white and boring... so this calls for an art project! Marta took me to this very cool, very big, craft store that happened to have silk flowers for 90% off... so I bought like $80 of flowers for under $9.00. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them.

more apartment pictures

OK...I made it down to Houston with the help of my parents and brother. The drive was endless, and we created lots of random games to pass the time. For example, guess what number I'm thinking of... (you say 7) I say no, higher... (you say 600) I say nope lower... etc... We also did the same with colors and words. 20 questions came in handy as well. The highlights were cell tower, the moon, and poop.

My job is starting on Monday and so far I have four students lined up for trial lessons. Hopefully that will increase quickly. The studio is very nice though and has been around for over 35 years. Also, the owner studied voice under Renata Tebaldi, who is my all time favorite singer... so that's just cool.

Lindsay is in Ocean City meeting her (hopefully) soon to be in-laws. Marta and Guy are on their way back to Houston on Tuesday, so I'll go visit them for the rest of the week.

Navigating is made possible by the wonderful GPS system my parents got me for graduation... thanks again! No matter where I go, I can just hone in on home again.

OK... more later... I'm off to sketch my art project for the dining room wall.