Tablecloth
We are a tablecloth away from extrodinary dinner parties.
Finally accepting that we will never fit another piece of furniture in our house (that can't fold up Jetsons-style), but not giving up our hope that we could invite our friends over for dinner and not make them awkwardly eat off the coffee table, we compromised on a folding table and chairs. The Target circular in the paper two Sundays ago called to us. Think of a slightly classed-up version of a six-foot chuch basement folding table with metal legs and that's what we got. We went with the budget table since all that needs to sit on that is the food, and splurged on better-than-your-average folding chairs.
The chairs only required two trips to Ikea... on the first trip, we found the perfect chair and then found them to be out of stock, likely permanently. They had them in white, but only two of them, and I was so in love with the
Arvinn chair in "antique" that I couldn't see the worth in white. However, Ikea dude did mention that more were arriving the next day in white. Wouldn't you know that two days later (after an exhaustive online search for something equivalent) we were backing up the car share prius to that very same Ikea. Four white chairs later, we're oh-so-close to a meal.
As a result of the wedding loot, we have fabulous white china, two kinds of real fabric napkins, great flatware, and fancy stemware. So, really, we just need a tablecloth. Shouldn't be that hard, right? J says, "can't you sew one?" Well, not if we want one this year. The ones at Ikea were crap. The ones at Williams Sonoma are freaking expensive for something that we're inevitably going to spill food and wine on.
I know, I've already spent too much time obsessing... but I'm sure the right tablecloth is out there. I will find it.
Oh, and if you know our apartment, you're probably wondering where we're going to keep a six-foot folding table and four folding chairs. Yeah, we are too.
ISO: Zero-calorie mid to late-day snack that gives me pep
Two days, well, a day and a half, into Diet Coke-free living and I'm migraine free. I know it's not really a large enough sample to know if there's a correlation there, but I'm letting myself believe it if it keeps me off the stuff.
It's not even the caffeine that's the problem. I believe it to the aspartame. I discovered this after giving up caffeine about 8 years ago (that lasted about 3 years) when I realized that the caffeine-free Diet Coke (I know, I know, what's the point?) was still causing headaches.
I came back to caffeine with coffee. The gateway, I suppose. And, before long was back on the DC. Sweet, but not too sweet, and carbonated. Sweet, sweet carbonation.
I've tried the Diet Coke with Splenda. But, it's just too artificially sweet. Plus Splenda creeps me out. Why are we letting big corporations mess with sugar? For the most part, I've put Splenda on my list, right there with McDonald's and Walmart. Evil, not to be patronized.
So, I'm open to suggestions. Carbonated, flavored, preferably not fruity, although I'd take lime, and zero to very few calories. Any thoughts?
Crazy Trumps Waiting for the Bus. Any Day.
Waiting for the bus this morning, in Philadelphia, I noticed a woman standing in the street staring at the bus stop. Or staring at me sitting in the bus stop. Standing, in the bus lane, staring at me. That was my first clue. Then, as she unwrapped her egg sandwich (on a hoagie roll, like the kind from a truck), she began to talk, then yell, possibly at her sandwich.
Then I decided to get up and walk out of the bus shelter. But, I couldn't go far, as I was actually waiting for a bus. And, I knew that I probably didn't have time to make it to the next stop, without missing the bus while in between.
An NJ Transit bus came and sat for an unusually long time, so in an effort to see if my bus was coming up behind it, I got closer to the shelter. Too close.
"Get out of here, f-ing bitch!"
I honestly don't know if that was directed at me or the bus. Or any of the number of invisible people who were apparently giving her a rough time this morning. So, I hid, behind the advertisement on the far end of the shelter. She was eating a sandwich and the bus stop bench was a far better place than standing in a lane of traffic, right?
A grown woman, hiding, waiting for the bus.
What was I supposed to do? She didn't seem homeless, just, unmedicated. I considered telling the Center City District folks that were cleaning the streets, but what do I say?
"Uh, excuse me, there's a mentally ill woman who's kicked me out of the bus shelter."
"And, she's not even waiting for the bus!"
Labels: crazy, NJ Transit
