Irish Punk

A week from today is St. Patrick's Day and I already have an idea of what I'll wear, including my shade of green nail polish. Now if only my mom passed on her "Kiss Me! I'm Irish!" pin, I'd be all set.

With the weather changing, I've noticed an abundance of concerts coming up. And it just so happens that a lot of the bands coming are some of our favorites. In fact, Flogging Molly was in Oakland last night. On Friday, while at work, I was reading the notes a hygienist made in a patient's chart. "Going to see Flogging Molly this weekend - Irish Punk" it read. When the patient came to my desk to schedule his next appointment, I squealed with delight, "I would love to go to the show!" I offered to be his date, since his wife wasn't too keen on going and he was going to be the fifth wheel. He didn't give me an answer, so I'm assuming it was a "no".

I first heard of Flogging Molly (my co-worker kept saying Fogging Molly) while driving across the Bay Bridge on my way to school in 2004. I was listening to Alice @ 97.3 and No Name did a segment on Fridays where he'd play a favorite song by a band that Alice normally didn't play. Seven Deadly Sins blasted through my speakers and I was hooked.

Fast forward to April 2005, when LaVor and I go see Fever Pitch in the theater. If you've seen the movie, you'll remember the Red Sox opening day scene and the song that goes along with it. When I first heard it, it sounded like Flogging Molly but not exact. With LaVor's help, I found out it was Dropkick Murphys (coming to the area April 15 & 16).

That brings us to our trip to the East coast during the summer of 2009. We were so excited to visit Boston and experience a Red Sox game. "Tessie", the song from the movie, is played each time the Red Sox win, and they won the night we went. This is a great article about the traditional music played at games.  (The Lime just turned this song on on our iPad and said, "Baseball!")

And here we are today, actually yesterday, when we were watching Boston's Finest, a new reality show that follows several officers from BPD (I just love the accents!). And who sings the theme song? You've got it! Dropkick Murphys.

So remember, if you go to one of these bands' shows and you're the fifth wheel, I'd be happy to be your date.

It's Hereditary

I have always had a weird desire to visit a jail and/or prison. Any show about such topics instantly draws me in, hence why Prison Break was a favorite (plus Wentworth Miller is pretty easy on the eyes).

With my sister's house being on the way to one of the county courthouses, we see the county jail bus almost every day. The Lime can spot the blue and gold with his eagle eye and I try to get as close as I can to try and catch a glimpse of the inmates. The bus' windows are blacked out so I only catch the outline of bodies. I do wonder if they're able to see me.

Photo from Flickr

One day, a couple weeks ago, we were right behind the Sheriff van. I could, again, make out two bodies and then the sun poked its head out from behind a cloud and landed directly on the inmates. I caught a good glimpse of their faces, which creeped me out. I've decided I prefer to just see the outlines.

On the way to Old Navy today, I took the necessary exit off the freeway when The Lime asked if we could go to the jail. "Jail?" I asked him. I then realized we were down the road from the juvenile hall. I told him we could drive by it on the way home.

Sure enough, as soon as we got in the car and made our way back to the freeway, he reminded me what we needed to do and that Auntie had taken him by the jail and that's where the bad people go. She just about died when I shared the story with her this afternoon.

He hooted and hollered as we drove by. He's following in my footsteps. I just hope he continues his obsession as an outside observer.

His Day

I set my alarm a half hour early yesterday, so I could get everything ready for LaVor's birthday.  I snuck away to the doughnut shop to grab a couple fresh, warm, delicious, chocolate raised (his favorite), blew and hung up the balloons, got the "special red plate" out of the box (which we've had for 6.5 years and have never used), arranged the gifts, and put up the traditional birthday sign just in time.  I heard something come around the corner, as I was taping the last balloon to the ceiling, and it was LaVor.  The Lime woke up a couple minutes later and I didn't have my camera out quick enough.  The Lime had already passed out the gifts and they were opened before I got a shot of the whole shebang.

LaVor took today and yesterday off, in honor of being one year older.  The Lime and I were watching my nieces and nephew yesterday but were able to meet LaVor for lunch, at our favorite La Piñata.  I think LaVor slept the rest of the day, which sounds like a dream come true to me.  When The Lime and I got home, LaVor opened a couple more presents (which The Lime picked out all by himself) and we enjoyed pizza for dinner.

We were supposed to go to the Pennywise concert tonight but both felt like we should pass it by.  So instead, we longboarded alongside The Lime, as he rode his bike, and then went on a date to P.F. Changs.  We hadn't been in years (pre-Lime) and now remember why.  The wait was a joke, despite calling ahead, and the food was "eh".  We decided this was our last visit unless a major overhaul takes place.

If we get a hankering for lettuce wraps, we'll make them ourselves.

Back to birthdays, we had a discussion about this topic and Facebook.  We purposely don't put our birthday on Facebook, as we feel like the people that matter most don't need a technological reminder.  If our 80+ year old grandparents can remember, anyone can.  With that said, we also hate how impersonal relationships have become with the uprising of technology.  Facebook and cellphones are convenient when relaying messages but I feel like they take away the "I love you, am thinking about you, and wanted you to know I made an effort in getting in touch with you" feelings that come with either a phone call or perhaps a handwritten note.  My feelings are the same for most special occasions, but especially Mother's and Father's day.  I could go off on another tangent but that would take away from LaVor's special day. 

And I think I've already done that enough.

USPS

Last year, after The Lime got his bike, we spent a lot of time outside. We got to know our mailman quite well (maybe a little too well) but I also noticed something different.

Growing up, I remember two of our mailmen: Eddie and...the other guy. We would leave gifts for Eddie in our mailbox and then peek out the window to see his reaction.

When I first started my current job, our mailman was Ron. A sweet man who would stop and chat with us every day. He made scrumptious garlic peanuts. Then his route was switched and we haven't seen him in years.

Our normal guy at home, Josh, wasn't delivering today. The Lime and I were leaving when the mail was delivered. The man handed me my junk, walked back to the truck, drove two houses down, delivered their mail and the neighbor's, got back in his truck, drove to the next two houses, and did the same thing throughout the neighborhood.

Back in the good old days, our mailman would park his truck around the corner and walk around the entire neighborhood, with an enormous pile of mail in his arms. Do these kind not exist anymore? Is this why the postage is increasing but they just blame it on us?

I'm curious...what kind of post person do you have? A walker or a driver?

Extra Crispy

LaVor put a frozen chicken in the fridge last night to defrost so we could make the fried chicken we've been anticipating. Unfortunately, it was still semi-frozen when I got home from church. We started thumbing through our other dinner choices, only to find that we were missing components to every other recipe. Thank goodness the chicken was ready to go by 5:00.

For Christmas a few years back, LaVor received the cookbook "Ad Hoc at Home" by Thomas Keller. We've drooled over the recipes and pictures and admired the daily menu that LaVor receives through his e-mail. For instance, the dessert for tonight is ice cream sundaes: reese’s pieces, brownie bites, chocolate & caramel sauces, whipped chantilly, and vanilla ice cream. Simple but I'm sure it's AMAZING! Keller's restaurant, Ad Hoc, serves a different four course family style dinner, five days out of the week. One day we'll be able to visit but until then, we'll try out the recipes from the cookbook.

Like we did tonight with the fried chicken. Due to time, we didn't brine it, which we agreed would have made it even more delicious. But according to LaVor, this was the best fried chicken he's ever had (I totally agree). It was extremely moist and the skin was amazingly crispy. He drizzled some hot sauce on his pieces which took it over the top for him. We get excited about food around here, what can I say!

See that brown bag at the top?  That's the garlic sourdough bread we got at the Farmers' Market yesterday.  We dipped it in  a roasted garlic olive oil...YUM!

The sink is sky high with dishes and the kitchen needs a good clean-up but it was so worth it. Oh so worth it.

Fire Hazard

Our bath mat was in need of a wash. I've done it many times before and it always came out clean and fluffy. This time, after taking it out of the washer, I noticed the rubber backing was beginning to break apart. The lightbulb didn't go off in my head so I threw the mat in the dryer. When the cycle was over, I got the mat out of the dryer and noticed lots of little pieces of rubber scattered everywhere. Again, no lightbulb, so when the following load needed drying, I just threw it in and pressed "start". Within minutes, LaVor said, "I smell something burning!" It was the dryer...the dryer with the rubber in it.

I could see lint and rubber behind the grill(?) on the right side, where the lint screen hangs out. My initial reaction was to get my tweezers and start picking away but LaVor vetoed that idea, as it was late and the washing machine/dryer share a wall with The Lime's room.

I was hoping LaVor would be able to fix my mistake the next day but he had to work late. I needed to do a big load of laundry but didn't have enough space to hang dry so I needed my dryer. I decided to take matters into my own hands.

It took me about 30 minutes to find a socket that matched the bolts on the back of the dryer. Thank goodness for a mechanic husband that has every tool you can imagine! While I was taking the back of the dryer off, The Lime, decked out in his hard hat, goggles, and tools in hand, knelt down next to me and said, "Mama, what do we have here?" He was in work mode and was going to help me get to the bottom of this.

With the help of our trusty Shop Vac, I sucked every ounce of lint/rubber remnant out of the inside of our dryer (or so I thought). I am religious about cleaning the lint screen in between loads but it obviously makes zero difference. There was lint EVERYWHERE! I really have no idea how we haven't erupted in flames.

Just shy of two hours later, I put the dryer back together and attempted to slide it back in place. Trying to align the lint vent took me forever but I did it. Thank goodness for being small, somewhat flexible, and strong enough to push my body weight up and over appliances.

I wanted to confirm my work paid off and threw another load of laundry in the dryer. Again, within minutes of starting it, the smell was still there.

So the next morning, complete with swollen eyes from the previous nights exposure to large amounts of lint, The Lime and I tackled the back of the dryer one more time. This time, we were going to clean the left side of the dryer where the heating element is. Little brown (burnt) pieces of lint and rubber were retrieved and another hour and a half was spent cleaning every nook and cranny. Another repeat of my newly discovered contortionist talent took place and we were back in business.

This time, when I turned the dryer on, I crossed my fingers and stood there as things heated up. My nose sniffed and sniffed. Nothing. I stood there a little longer, still waiting. And still nothing. We did it! No more burning rubber!

I was thinking that after six and a half years, LaVor's ability to fix anything was beginning to rub off on me.

Then I remembered that all I did was vacuum the heck out of the dryer.

At least it's clean and we won't catch on fire.

Nag and Ye Shall Receive

For a few weeks now, I've been suggesting to LaVor that we pay a visit to San Francisco. Yesterday, after the boys got their doughnuts and we stopped by a gun shop, we finally made it happen.

On the way to the city, LaVor remembered that our friend, Jason, was working in the city. We found his location and dropped in for a grand tour. He's seismically retrofitting an office building that was originally built in 1929. The Lime was in heaven with all the dust and dirt, hard hats, and demolition taking place. On our way home, he told us it was his favorite thing from the whole day.

We had to hurry back to our car to check our parking meter, which ended up being expired (we think they run faster than normal clocks). LaVor wanted to stop by the Ferry Building, which we could see from our parking space. We re-filled the sucker (meter) and walked the few blocks to our destination. Once there, we braved the horrendous crowds that didn't seem to notice our little dude, with his huge cowboy hat on. They were like a herd of cattle on a rampage and I gripped his hand tightly so he wouldn't be trampled.

While we were crossing the bridge, I told LaVor I wanted to find a bakery that had macarons. Lo' and behold, the first shop we saw in the Ferry Building was Miette, a cute little bakery that had several jars of macarons. We grabbed a few and it took me but a few seconds to dig in. They were good but nothing compared to Sprüngli's.

We grabbed a couple other items, walked around the Farmers' Market, and stopped for an enjoyable lunch in the warm sunshine. The Lime got the cutest little hot dog in the cutest little bun and our mint chocolate chip milkshake was good enough to lick the cup clean.

While eating lunch, The Lime noticed all of the bike riders and asked if he could ride his bike. Normally this wouldn't be the case but we left his bike in the back of our car after the fiasco we had earlier in the week. Once our bellies were satisfied, we headed over to Crissy Field where The Lime could ride his little heart out.

The bike riders and runners in the Bay Area have a somewhat Nazi attitude. They will steamroll you if you get in their way and if you don't move over fast enough, you'll get sworn and screamed at. So you can imagine my fear of The Lime, who can't ride in a straight line, riding among these folks. He did amazingly well, riding close to the grass, which was graced with the presence of a few random piles of dog poop. We all came out alive and with clean shoes.

After we walked and rode for almost two hours, we watched a couple cargo ships make their way under the Golden Gate, on their way to "Oatlind". Spending five days on a cruise ship was enough for me; my hat goes off to the crews of these ships.

The day was perfect in more ways than one. So lucky to live so close to a beautiful city.