Seven Quick Takes, Post-Date-Night Random Edition

1.) Mark and I went on a date tonight. It was stormy and it is Monday but neither of those things mean it shouldn't be date night, right? He's just a cool person to have dinnertime chatter with. Also, I had a very Erin order, off the menu: a fried green tomato BLT, except instead of the brie, I wanted the pimiento cheese. And instead of the herby mayo or whatever, I wanted the bacon balsamic jam. And instead of on toast, I wanted ciabatta. (All servers love me, I'm sure. But this is the kind of place where that's okay! Also it was delicious.) And Mark loves me anyway, and doesn't even bat an eye, because he is pretty spectacular. Also I had a beer at dinner and am now writing this with a glass of wine in hand. Hi! Random blog post ahead, I feel sure of it!

2.) I finished a delightful book yesterday. I was promised lovely things about AJ Fickry and it took me a while to find it as amazing as everyone else seemed to find it; the beginning was scattered and I couldn't quite stay on top of the timeline, but then it settled and was sweet and easy and full of cute quirky people dealing with real life problems in cute quirky ways, and anyway. Delightful. Recommend.

3.) Anneliese has had an odd rash, like bright red and swollen, and it was causing us some... concern. We called my mom and she said the only thing to watch for was a fever or fast spreading of the red area, and within a day Anneliese had both of those things, so we took her to be seen and yay! cellulitis! (Has nothing to do with cellulite. True story.) Which means an intensive few weeks of antibiotics (gross-tasting ones, for the record - it reduces her to tears every time but she is being a champ), but 90% of cases will respond to an antibiotic so there is no need to worry, yet, so we won't. Yay gross meds.

4.) Speaking of ailments, Bowden got into the trash while I was grocery shopping and I was annoyed in the moment, from cleaning it up, but then when we got home we realized she must have saved an open can from the mess and she had sliced her tongue open and her whole body was covered in blood and we were all, WHAAAAA??? but then after many wet towels, we figured out where the blood was coming from and what must have happened (and then I felt bad for being irritated about the trash mess, because injured pup is way worse! still her own fault though). Blood from her tongue, she licks her foot, blood on her foot, she licks that and drags blood to her chest, then licks that and blood gets on her other foot, etc etc etc BLOOD EVERYWHERE. I just told that story in a convoluted way but whatever. The end result is that she is wearing the cone of shame for a few days, to prevent her from further licking and aggravating her tongue and getting blood all over herself, and by herself I mean the furniture.

5.) We did another craft! That is two crafts mentioned in two blog posts (three for three, if you count the giant 3 cake, AND I DO) and I'm not statistician or sportsman but that's exactly what it means to be batting a thousand, right? Right? Yes. Okay. So. We painted cars. These were little kits from the Target one spot (which is now the Target one OR three spot, have y'all noticed that?) and you paint the pieces and then put them together, and you have racecars. It was cute. They made them into Friend Cars, with faces. I melted a little, because my love for the Friend Cars shall never fade.

6.) Another Nathan, up in tiny town Minnesota, the land of no-Starbucks-except-the-one-in-his-Target (he calls it his Tarbucks and I roll with it, which is a sign of how much I love him because no, that name is not super clever, yeah I said it), is in danger of losing his gold card status {INSERT ALARMED EYES HERE O_o}. So, being clever friends that we are, we devised a plan where I would use a new starbucks card which he had linked to his account, and so any coffees I buy will earn stars towards keeping his gold card status. Smart, right? I mean, I go often enough that my gold status is not in jeopardy (I think I'm good through 2016, y'all don't judge), and I'm glad to help a fella out. EXCEPT. It turns out every time I swipe that card, his phone app lights up with a reciept, so he knew exactly in the moment every time I'm standing in Starbucks. Which is... often. And I knew he would know, since he would see the stars adding up, but DANG I did not know he would know IN THE EXACT MOMENT, EVERY SINGLE TIME. Clearly I can have no shameful secrets anymore. I am sheepish. But on a mission. So.

7.) I came to the bonus room to switch the laundry earlier, and it turns out THIS is a thing that will scare the sh!t out of a person. HI THERE TERRIFYING *GIANT* OLAF EMERGING FROM MY BABY'S BEDROOM STAIRCASE.