Regular Tuesday with Irene

Irene reenacting her physical response to each attempt she has given to reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Events sap and surge my creativity. I could make a tidal analogy, but that is so overdone. Friends die. Friends reappear. I've had both this week and today I was glad to find myself in the loving embrace of a strong cup of coffee and a salami with real mayonnaise sandwich with my keel, Irene. (This week Vince is taking more of a mast and rudder position in my boat analogy.)

Topics Discussed:

• Irene's perfect and articulate verbage regarding the latest wave of marriages falling apart. It's not the divorce that is the problem, it is the way these women embarrass their decent husbands, their children and themselves while doing it.
• Are all 'Fair Trade' designated coffees sucky? Irene has a theory that us green shoppers will take anything that is labeled 'Fair Trade' and the coffee producing industry knows this and so they save the good stuff for the real connoisseurs, put the rest in a bag, label it 'Fair Trade' and make money on both ends. Nothing is wasted! Everyone is happy! Profits for second rate coffee is high!
• Vince finally butchered roosters today! (This picture is of Monday nights Curried Halibut with Artechokes, not Rooster). For some reason he only did two of them. (I'm not really sure the reason for that, but I am not complaining.) He then brought them in and put them in the crock pot and wants me to pick up tortillas for a nasty old rooster taco/burrito/fajita thing. How do I sit and eat something that I know too much back story about?
• Priscilla has decided on an appropriate home for this little dog when she dies. It has really calmed her heart. In the meanwhile, she is hoping her lab kicks the bucket before she does so she won't have to worry about her having a proper placement. I said, "What the heck! Let me take her today!" But the idea of Nicki having to go around with other dogs and be outside unchaperoned was too much for her to take. No, Priscilla is not ill or out of sorts in anyway. She is just pre-planning.
• Riley dissected dog sharks in class this week. One of the advantages of having a fisherman dad in the classroom. Irene was amazed they were all female and the kids were amazed they all had a belly full of baby sharks. Can you imagine the look I have on my face as I imagine and write about that. Yea...
• How I kind of got freaked out when I snooped into my old friends career lives and found them all to have very well defined intense job descriptions. I was wondering if I should add that to my list of things to have a midlife crisis about, not having a job title. But then looked over at Vince and remembered that one of the things that made me love him was when I asked him what he did he simply said he "worked at the hospital". I could have thought he was in the laundry for all he cared. This is when I decided that I did not have to add it to my crisis, but that did not stop me from creating a job description for myself. "Disaster Control at Mansfield Avenue Zoo and Social Club". Irene and I created an equally clever job description.
• Irene has been falling asleep at all times of the day and night while trying to get through The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of her validating quotes that she had to share with me is, " Blogging is a powerful way to sharpen the mental saw." OK, the quote was actually about journaling, but this was enough for her to move her blogging priority from quadrant 4 to quadrant 2.
• This weeks film at the Homer Family Theater, "Taken". "Taken" is for guys what chick flix are for gals. Just perfect in that macho killing in the name of righteousness way! The ending was a total let down for Vince who felt that them leaving him there at the airport to take a cab home after he had saved his daughter and wiped out the entire Armenian Slavery ring single handedly was in terrible taste. "You don't ask a guy like that if he wants a ride home. You say, 'Here is my car. I'll take the cab.'" Ah Vince...The little birds of the neighborhood are out in force this week. It is warm and light enough to be tricked into thinking it is spring. I took this shot of this little guy sitting on my deck rail. Many winters I have thought, "If they can make it...so can I."