Friday Five -- Time for pancakes!

Where can you get some really good pancakes?
Here. You can get a lot of really good stuff here, actually -- almond challah french toast, egg salad sandwiches with tons of sprouts, incredible teas, great omelets. The pancakes are awesome though.

How do you like your pancakes?
No butter, a little bit of syrup, or Beans and Barley's cranberry compote.

What’s your theory on why restaurant waffles are so much more expensive than pancakes?
Presentation. And Reddi Whip.

The pancake chef is going whip up a batch of the most interesting, creative pancake invention you can imagine. What will you order?
Not really interested. See above. I like things to be what they are, much to the chagrin of Hubby John who likes to experiment.

When was the last time someone made you pancakes, not counting visits to restaurants?
Hubby John makes them on Saturday mornings every once in a while. The last batch he made had a little cinnamon and ginger sprinkled in. Yum.

Proof that I'm not very mature

This headline made me laugh. Twice.

Roundy's Evacuates Over Leak

The story itself is decidedly unfunny. Ammonia leak was detected in grocery store chain's distribution facility. Employees were asked to clear the building . No one was injured or overcome by fumes. Employees returned to building a short time later.

Off to look up boobs in the dictionary.

Proof the world hasn't gone completely nuts

Toddlers can no longer marry in Arkansas.

The nest has been irreversibly fouled

Thanks, IU trustees, for taking one of the few things I'm completely passionate about and thoroughly ruining it. What's next? Springsteen dedicating his musical life to smooth jazz? I'm taking to my bed for the next few months.

My biggest question is how long will it take for the overjoyed IU fans to realize it was all Dwyane Wade? And I'm speaking as a proud Marquette grad and fan of the team, just not particularly of the coach. I'm willing to spot them a couple of years. It took us about that long.

The Rules of 21st Century Hitchhiking

TFD!

Friday Fill-Ins - In a rut

1. Some relationships are meant to _____
make you squirm on recollection.

2. _____ is the last concert I saw; it was _____.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (14th show); incredible (despite the fact that some pinched-up, bullying baby boomer told me to sit down about 30 seconds into the show. Sure. As soon as the other 17,000 people in this arena sit down I will. Maybe you should go home and watch tv or stare slack-jawed at a dvd in your no doubt mammoth SUV. I'd like to experience what's going on around me.)

3. Spring should be _____.
here weeks ago.

4. Oh no! I forgot _____!
to have children.

5. I've recently started _____.
adding wheat germ to my oatmeal in the morning.

6. _____ never fails to make me smile.
watching Bob Huggins bitch up a storm about "bad calls" and eventually losing.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!
(this question is getting boring) watching basketball; watching basketball; watch basketball.

The Friday Feast

Appetizer
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how much do you like your own handwriting?
About a 3 or 4. It's pretty bad. Also, since I cut my thumb a couple of years ago, I can't hold a pen the way I always have since there is still a tiny piece of glass in there that I can feel. That doesn't help.

Soup
Do you prefer baths or showers?
Oh, fer cry, showers. Don't like wallowing in my own filth.

Salad
What was the last bad movie you watched?
Margot at the Wedding. Got it a couple weeks ago from Netflix. Holy cripes, what a turd. Run, do not walk, in the opposite direction of this complete waste of time. It had some potential, but all of the characters were ultimately so thoroughly unlikeable and the plot so meandering that I curled up in front of the fireplace and slept through the last half hour of it.

Main Course
Name something you are addicted to and describe how it affects your life.
My name is Karen and I'm addicted to college basketball. (Hi, Karen!) It is the source of both tremendous joy and maddening frustration for four or five months of the year. It also turns me into a bit of hermit during the last month of the season. I really don't want to the leave the house this weekend, but we need food.

Dessert
Which instrument is your favorite to listen to?
Piano.

The Friday Shuffle

A random number of random songs from my iPod. Just push play.

1. Date Rape - Sublime, 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Sublime
That's when things got out of control. The moral of the date rape story, it does not pay to be drunk and horny. But that's the way it had to be. They locked him up and threw away the key. Well, I can't take pity on men of his kind, even though he now takes it in the behind.

2. I Will Buy You a New Life - Everclear, So Much for the Afterglow
Here is the money that I owe you so you can pay the bills. I will give you more when I get paid again. I hate those people who love to tell you money is the root of all that kills. They have never been poor. They have never had the joy of a welfare Christmas. I know we will never look back.

3. So Says I - The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow
So we burned all our uniforms and let nature take its course again. And the big ones just eat all the little ones. That sent us back to the drawing board. In our darkest hours we have all asked for some angel to come sprinkle his dust all around. But all our crying voices they can't turn it around. And you've had some crazy conversations of your own.

4. Letter to Elise - The Cure, Galore - The Singles 1987-1997
Oh, Elise, it doesn't matter what you do. I know I'll never really get inside of you to make your eyes catch fire the way they should. The way the blue could pull me in if they only would if they only would. At least I'd lose this sense of sensing something else that hides away from me and you.

5. Surf Wax America - Weezer, Weezer
You take your car to work. I'll take my board. And when you're out of fuel. I'm still afloa(r)t.

6. Emaline - Ben Folds Five, Naked Baby Photos
Don't let me walk away from Emaline for stupid reasons. Now I'm talking 'bout money. When money talks, I hate to listen but lately its been screaming in my ear. Oh what advice --Girls need attention. Well are you different than all mine? For what its worth, shes got attention from people like you who see black and white.

7. The Chinatown Bus - Bishop Allen, The Broken String
And I remember Shanghai, how I wasn't sure just what was safe to eat. The chickens pecked and wandered at the barefoot children hawking figurines of workers smiling. What's the Chinese word for cheese? Watched a sidewalk butcher, his instinctive understanding made the carcass snap and clarify beneath his nimble hand that held the knife so long. So many times the handles changed to shapes just like his fingers and his palms.

Friday Fill-In

1. I'm looking forward to _____ next week.
seeing the Edward Hopper exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago

2. I don't handle _____ very well.
stress, pressure, or talking to strangers

3. _____ is something I could eat every day, (but I would die. -ed.)
The Commuter Sandwich -- recently renamed the Mrs. Hollander -- (smoked shaved ham, eggs over-easy, and white cheddar cheese piled on a buttery, fresh croissant) from Cafe Hollander in Milwaukee (They also have an appetizer called Pile of Cheese, which is delightfully simple and completely awesome.)

4. Warmth and sunlight _____.
can show up any time now as far as I'm concerned

5. _____ here I come!
Supervalu, (it's grocery day)

6. I _____ tattoo(s).
used to think I'd like having a

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!
going out with friends somewhere where people aren't talking about Favre (under a rock or in a cave most likely); watching college basketball (I'm nothing if not predictable); shop for specialty items at Whole Foods, have a beer at my favorite Teutonic tavern in Milwaukee, and see a movie

The Friday Shuffle

A random number of random songs from my iPod. Just push play.

1. Lucille (You Won't Do Your Daddy's Will) - Waylon Jennings, The Essential Waylon Jennings (Yes, there is such a thing. -ed.)
Well I woke up this morning. Lucille was not in sight. I asked her friends about her, but all their lips were tight. Lucille, you won't do your daddy's will. Well, it ain't nothin' to you. I love you still.

2. Farther On -Jackson Browne, Late for the Sky
But the angels are older. They can see that the sun's setting fast. They look over my shoulder at the vision of paradise contained in the light of the past. And they lay down behind me to sleep beside the road 'til the morning has come. Where they know they will find me with my maps and my faith in the distance, moving farther on.

3. You're My Favorite Waste of Time - Marshall Crenshaw, The Best of Marshall Crenshaw: This Is Easy
I don't care if being with you is meaningless and ridiculous, if it's wrong or right. I've got to give you my love tonight and tomorrow night. Cause you're my-eye-eye-eye-eye..... You're my favorite waste of time.

4. Only You - Yaz, Napoleon Dynamite (Soundtrack to the Motion Picture)
All I needed was the love you gave. All I needed for another day. And all I ever knew...only you.

5. You Could Be Her - Jonathan Coulton, Thing A Week II
I run the god damned pretzel store at Buckingham Mall. Here on the east wing’s second floor, I’m belle of the ball. But at night I could swear that I’m someone else, someone who’s better. Why does no one come here to save me? Why won’t anybody stay? 'Cause I’ve got it in my head that maybe you could be her. Six hundred dollars, seven days, and I drink all I make. While people with great big fat BA’s, they move and they shake. I can’t dress me up, I can’t take me out. I can’t do nothing.

6. July, July! - The Decemberists, Castaways and Cutouts
This is the story of the road that goes to my house and what ghosts there do remain. And all the troughs that run the length and breadth of my house and the chickens, how they rattle chicken chains. And we'll remember this when we are old and ancient though the specifics might be vague. And I'll say your camisole was a sprightly light magenta when in fact it was a nappy bluish grey. And the water rolls down the drain. The blood rolls down the drain. O, what a lonely pain in a blood red drain. July, July, July! It never seemed so, it never seemed so strange.

The Friday Five -- What's It Like?

1. What is your keyring like?
Sad. And, no I don't hook it to my belt loop. I only use it as a loving tribute to Hubby John's workplace, i.e. the gravy train.


2. What is your purse/bag/briefcase like?
My favorite Christmas present! No, it's not a diaper bag.


3. What is your wallet like?
My first real grown-up wallet. No more goofy vinyl wallets with cats and owls on them. No more converted cigarette cases bulging with crap and no place to put change.

4. What is your mousepad like?
This is me expressing myself.


5. What are the curtains in your bedroom like?
They're not really curtains, but sun-filtering shades. They let in lots of light but filter out UV rays and help control the heat in the summer. They also allow us to see the mostly pleasant view to the south of our condo.

It's official.

2008 completely sucks.

I never even got the chance to finish my decoupaged Packers cheeseboard.

Photo courtesy of JS Online