Phoebe will be 14 years old in April.  That’s getting pretty old for a cat, right?

Poor Phoebe.

For several months now, one of our four cats has been leaving deposits in the laundry room, just outside of one of the cat boxes.  We had no idea who the culprit was but I had suspected each of the other three (the ones who weren’t Phoebe) for three different reasons.  I thought Valley could be responsible because she is SOOOOO clean and fastidious and ANY thought of something slightly soiled could make her refuse to use the box.  I thought it could be Maddy because she balances with all four feet on a single side of the cat box.  She doesn’t step into the litter.  I thought it could be Courtney simply because she’s sort of like a clown and I thought it might be a little joke to her.  I never once suspected Phoebe.

Yesterday was cleaning day.  On cleaning day, the three younger cats spend the day in the basement (so they won’t try to run out the door when the cleaners are bringing in their stuff and all) and Phoebe has the rest of the house to herself.

When we left for work, there were no accidents on the laundry room floor.

When we came home from work, there were two little piles of presents on the laundry room floor.  Phoebe was the only one who had access to the laundry room all day.

Poor Phoebe.

We now suspect that she is probably not able to step up over the edge of the big litter boxes we have.  Poor Phoebe!!  So we either have to find a box with a scooped down side or we have to find a ramp for her.

Poor Phoebe!!!  It sucks getting old!

Far be it from me to make generalizations, generally.  However, when something keeps getting thrown in my face, it’s time to salute the general.

I have heard descriptions of a “really good” pinot noir contain terms like “a sweaty lover” and “completely sensual”.  This morning, my Wine of the Day calendar has this quote from a winemaker:

“Ultimately, any discussion of the aromas and flavors in pinot noir comes down to a discussion of sex.”

Ok, folks.  I’ve had about enough.  Pinot noir is far, far, far away from my favorite red wine.  I don’t think I’m a wine slouch - certainly no expert - but I have had my fair share of good (sometimes, REALLY good) wines.  I have a $250 bottle of Penfolds Grange in my cellar, fagoodnessake!  So, although I’m no master sommelier, I have what I think to be a fair taste for wine.  And pinot noir is not my cup of tea.  It has its place once in a while and I have had a great one (in my opinion) - Gloria Ferrer Pinot Noir.  Very tasty!

Yet, time and again, I hear these wine experts out there talk about how pinot noir is their absolute favorite wine.  And you know what?  I think it’s because they are titillated by the descriptions and aroused by the thought that they are partaking in a wine that is verbally associated with sex and sensuality!  I think these people are dirty little wine snobs!! 

Perverts.

P.S.  If any of you reading this are big fans of pinot noir, I wasn’t talking about you. 

Yep, that’s me doing all that bouncing!  I’m just as giddy as I can be!!  I had been taking a self-guided medical transcription course using a book I bought that came with some software that allows me to actually transcribe and it grades my transcriptions.  I was LOVING it!

Well, the software stopped working and would crash any time I tried to grade my transcription and I would have to restart the program and blah, blah, blah.  Long story short - it got to where it wouldn’t grade at all.  So what good was it?  I could transcribe but I had no way of knowing if it was right or not!  Silly.  And FRUSTRATING!

So I did some research, looking for an actual school where I could study.  I found several options (all expensive) and ended up settling on the almost-most-expensive one of all.

And today I got my student ID and logon information and I was ENCOURAGED TO START IMMEDIATELY!!!

AND THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO DO!!!!  I WANT TO START IMMEDIATELY!!!!! 

(But I can’t - I’m still at work. )

It’s 4:20.  I’ve been up since 3:30.  Why can’t I stay asleep?

Actually, I was doing fine this morning until I had a stupid and sad dream.  Woke me up crying.  Stupid dream.

Anyway, I did get about 6 hours of good sleep, so I should be OK today.  But, damn, I had just told the doctor that I was sleeping very well these days!  Stupid not-sleeping.

*Click to enlarge*

And on a definitely unrelated note, I wish to say that my lunch has been spectacular for two days running.  Yesterday, I had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccoli.  The meatloaf was good, the broccoli was cooked nicely but the star of the show was the mashed potatoes.  Holy mackerel, they were good!!  And today?  Grilled salmon over Spring Mix and roasted winter veggies with a honey mustard vinaigrette.  Bravo!!

It’s just after 3:30 AM.  I’ve been awake since 1:30 AM.  The alarm clock goes off at 4:30 AM.

I have been down this road so many times before.  Usually, I fall back asleep about half an hour before I’m supposed to get up and then I feel ten times worse.  I’m trying a different tack this time.

I’m just going to stay up. 

So, good morning, everyone!  How’s your day going so far??  Join me in a cup of coffee?

I am the worst high-fiver in all the land.  I am also no good at the handshake and the whole bumping knuckles thing (I don’t even know what that’s called) and I start to panic as the social hug or the friendly side-of-the-face kiss approaches.  Basically, the whole “touch” thing is not my thing.

I have no problem touching my husband, no.  Beyond that?  I’m a total klutz.

Is this a socially retarded problem?  Is this a German thing, Statia?  Am I a cold-hearted orb that rules the night bitch?  Am I dead inside??

Maybe I just like my space, man.  Give me my space, man!!

So it seems that we found ourselves with still MORE leftover tenderloin roast last night.  What to do?  What to do?  I scoured the interwebs for ideas and found one that gave me a good starting point.  Bent to our own whims, this is what we ended up with.

Tenderloin Hash

1½ cups cubed cooked tenderloin roast
4 small potatoes, skin on, boiled until fork-tender and cubed
1 small onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onion and green pepper in a tablespoon of butter until soft.  Let cool.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the cubed beef, potatoes and onion mixture and mix well.  Heat a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the beef and egg mixture.  Let it cook over medium-high heat for about 6 minutes, until a crust forms.  Invert the skillet onto a dinner plate and then slide the mixture back into the skillet to crisp up the other side.  Season with salt and pepper.  Let it cook for about 3-4 minutes more and serve.

This was SOOOO good!!  We actually ended up using two cast iron skillets so that we kept the frittata (that’s what I ended up thinking of it as) thin and everything got really crispy.  We will probably add some sliced and sautéed cremini mushrooms right before we flip it if we ever do this again.  I think you could add pretty much anything you can find in your kitchen and it would be good.  Note that we didn’t add any garlic, but that’s only because when we cooked the tenderloin roast, we had sprinkled it with a lot of onion and garlic powder.  Otherwise, I would have added the garlic to the onion/green pepper mixture.  I thought about shredding some cheddar cheese onto the top of it before serving but wanted to see what it was like without it.  It was just great!  But, again, I think you could throw practically anything into this dish and it would come out wonderful.

Aren’t food cravings weird?  And they happen to all of us, not just those who are expecting, ya know!  Don’t give me that look - I know you’ve had a food craving once or twice in your life!!

But I digress.

Yesterday, I had the strongest craving for a sandwich that I had had two days ago - leftover tenderloin roast on homemade bread with horseradish mayo.  It was spectacular and I found myself wanting it again.  As it turns out, we still had leftover tenderloin roast so Buzz made those sandwiches for lunch again today.  Dee-lish!

But now?  What I want more than anything in the world is fresh hot sweet Jersey corn on the cob with lots of butter and salt and pepper.  Mmmmm!

What up?

I remember back in the old days, nay, the OLDEN days, of my youth when toothpaste used to come in metal tubes.  As you used up the toothpaste, you could easily roll it up and keep all of the remaining minty stuff at the top of the tube.  The wealthy families in my neighborhood (read: my cousins) even had special key-like devices that you could attach to the tube just above the crimp that would allow you to roll up the tube professionally!

Nowadays, toothpaste comes in plastic tubes.  They are almost roll-proof.  I tried to roll up my tube of Crest this morning and it promptly unfurled.

I have to raise the question.  What was wrong with the metal tubes?  I’m not so sure I want to know the answer because it may be that these metal tubes were once made from malleable lead or something equally as sinister.  Naturally, this is leading to generations of people who will die mysterious deaths because of the poisoning they got from their oral care.

But still.  I miss the rollability of my toothpaste tube!  I guess the best I can do now is to save my money and get one of these, ‘cause I’m sure this is what all the wealthy people in my neighborhood (read: everyone but us) are using: