reader, the baron is taking a break this week. she has traveled home, to california, to see friends and family, so her posting this week will be light.
[you are thinking, "the baron, your posts have been light recently anyway!"]
[the baron would respond, "yes, reader, i am a crappy blogger. 'become a better blogger' is on my list of things to do, right under drop 10 lbs and read that tolkien trilogy. for real."]
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
tripey, tripey, tripey tripe
those of you who know the baron probably also know that, excepting a few circumstances (starving dogs? sniffle. sniffle. to whom can she write the donation check?), she is unflinchingly unsentimental.
so.
imagine her confusion when this video made. her. weep. like. an. infant.
[reader, though the baron is familiar with simon cowell - having had a coworker who would break down EVERY SINGLE EPISODE OF AMERICAN IDOL the morning after it aired - she's not familiar with the show in the clip: something, something, a talent show? also, at just over 7 minutes, the clip is long... but totally worth it. get that tissue ready.]
so.
imagine her confusion when this video made. her. weep. like. an. infant.
[reader, though the baron is familiar with simon cowell - having had a coworker who would break down EVERY SINGLE EPISODE OF AMERICAN IDOL the morning after it aired - she's not familiar with the show in the clip: something, something, a talent show? also, at just over 7 minutes, the clip is long... but totally worth it. get that tissue ready.]
thank god for mr. c
in a recent post (the last one, actually), the baron revealed to you, reader, that she doesn't care much for the washing of dishes. she had been prepared to defend herself, to claim that this - her avoidance of this type of cleaning - is anomaly, and that she generally works to keep a clean house.
but.
that's kind of not true.
what IS true is that the baron is fighting an unending battle against the dogs' hair, hair that pulls loose from their coats and puddles in the corners of the house, finding its way under the sofas and beds. to handle this most worthy adversary, the baron uses the Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner (maybe, by the way, the best gift the husband ever gave the baron), and on the whole - by waging two battles a week - she is mostly able to keep the hair at bay.
what is also true is this: that's pretty much all she does. yes, yes, she does laundry, and the occasional furniture wipe-down to catch the dust, but reader, the baron doesn't clean the floors, or the bathroom, or the kitchen (beyond keeping it tidy between uses), or the windows or the mirrors...
instead, over the last 18 months or so, she has come to rely on a man she'll call mr. c. (doesn't that make you think of mr. f, reader?). introduced to her by someone at her job, mr. c is the godsend who comes to the baron's house twice a month to CLEAN! he does the floors, and the bathroom, and the kitchen, and the windows, and the dusting, and reader, never have you seen joy until you've seen mr. c trying out a new cleaning product.
at first, the baron was just glad to have someone around to do the work she DIDN'T want to do; she'd heave a sigh of relief knowing that it was almost time for one of his visits.
but.
it turns out, mr. c is more than just the sum of his cleaning products! he's also a whole person, a humane, funny, snarky librarian with a wit that could cut you, reader, right to shreds. and his boyfriend? an opera singer. the baron, though grateful for his cleaning services, is also grateful just to know him (something that happened almost right away, as soon as she noticed that he remembered all the dogs' names and was not put off by baron's incessant barking).
see how that works, that positive reinforcement? deny housecleaning and get a friend!!
but.
that's kind of not true.
what IS true is that the baron is fighting an unending battle against the dogs' hair, hair that pulls loose from their coats and puddles in the corners of the house, finding its way under the sofas and beds. to handle this most worthy adversary, the baron uses the Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner (maybe, by the way, the best gift the husband ever gave the baron), and on the whole - by waging two battles a week - she is mostly able to keep the hair at bay.
what is also true is this: that's pretty much all she does. yes, yes, she does laundry, and the occasional furniture wipe-down to catch the dust, but reader, the baron doesn't clean the floors, or the bathroom, or the kitchen (beyond keeping it tidy between uses), or the windows or the mirrors...
instead, over the last 18 months or so, she has come to rely on a man she'll call mr. c. (doesn't that make you think of mr. f, reader?). introduced to her by someone at her job, mr. c is the godsend who comes to the baron's house twice a month to CLEAN! he does the floors, and the bathroom, and the kitchen, and the windows, and the dusting, and reader, never have you seen joy until you've seen mr. c trying out a new cleaning product.
at first, the baron was just glad to have someone around to do the work she DIDN'T want to do; she'd heave a sigh of relief knowing that it was almost time for one of his visits.
but.
it turns out, mr. c is more than just the sum of his cleaning products! he's also a whole person, a humane, funny, snarky librarian with a wit that could cut you, reader, right to shreds. and his boyfriend? an opera singer. the baron, though grateful for his cleaning services, is also grateful just to know him (something that happened almost right away, as soon as she noticed that he remembered all the dogs' names and was not put off by baron's incessant barking).
see how that works, that positive reinforcement? deny housecleaning and get a friend!!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
dinner without the husband
last week, the husband traveled to texas for a conference. he was gone the entire week, which meant that:
-there was much less laundry for the baron to do
-the baron stayed up past her usual 8pm bedtime to let the dogs out every night
-the baron rose much earlier every morning to let the dogs out - and to feed them breakfast
-the baron had no one to cook for... so she had a series of lazy gal's meals (see the salad below)
that's lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, chickpeas, pepperoncinis, cherry tomatoes, and dried bing cherries, doused in olive oil and red wine vinegar. yummy yummy yum.
the baron has decided that salads are an amazing dinner choice because after the meal, there's only one dish to wash! true, the cutlery would need to be washed as well, but reader, at the end of a salad night one would have no more than 5 pieces of kitchenware to attend to!
did the baron mention, she hates washing dishes? so much so that she'll use the same water glass over and over again, for days, so she won't have to wash it?
when the husband is home, he does the dishes (not all the time, but most of the time, and YES the baron knows how lucky she is in this regard). when he's gone, the baron tries to mitigate her dish use. it's a fairly juvenile way to live. she knows it.
-there was much less laundry for the baron to do
-the baron stayed up past her usual 8pm bedtime to let the dogs out every night
-the baron rose much earlier every morning to let the dogs out - and to feed them breakfast
-the baron had no one to cook for... so she had a series of lazy gal's meals (see the salad below)
that's lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, chickpeas, pepperoncinis, cherry tomatoes, and dried bing cherries, doused in olive oil and red wine vinegar. yummy yummy yum.
the baron has decided that salads are an amazing dinner choice because after the meal, there's only one dish to wash! true, the cutlery would need to be washed as well, but reader, at the end of a salad night one would have no more than 5 pieces of kitchenware to attend to!
did the baron mention, she hates washing dishes? so much so that she'll use the same water glass over and over again, for days, so she won't have to wash it?
when the husband is home, he does the dishes (not all the time, but most of the time, and YES the baron knows how lucky she is in this regard). when he's gone, the baron tries to mitigate her dish use. it's a fairly juvenile way to live. she knows it.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
a good year for the roses
on a recent friday, the husband walked through the front door with a bouquet of flowers; it was his attempt at cheering the baron up after her dismal visit with the endocrinologist.
it totally worked.
and also, is anyone else thinking of this elvis costello song?
it totally worked.
and also, is anyone else thinking of this elvis costello song?
love: a (brief) photo essay
the baron and the dogs saw a lot of the outdoors this past weekend, seeing as the sun shone so brightly. the baron never passes up the chance to photograph her brood: these two pictures are lovely. baron is so pretty when he's not barking like a rabid dachshund.
Monday, April 6, 2009
waaa-waaaaaaaah
today, the baron is suffering from a case of the grumpies.
for instance: she set the alarm for 6:12am, hoping that the dogs would let her sleep until then. the dogs had other plans, and she was up just past 5am.
and, she went back to bed and overslept until almost 7am.
and, she planned ahead and made coffee to go, but realized (only when unlocking her office door) that she had left it in the car.
so, she closed up her office and went back to her car (no mean feat, reader, as the baron's building is HUGE), only to realize on her return trip that she was locked out of her suite. (she had taken care to lock her office door and stash her keys in her suite's lobby desk -"no need to carry car keys AND office keys/ID", she thought - but had forgotten that the suite doors open at 8:30, and that until that time an ID card is needed for access to the suite. blar.)
and so, she stopped by the operations office of her building, to borrow the master keys... and then had to return them.
all that walking, and in three inch heels, and before 8:15am even! and there were stairs too, reader, lots of stairs.
the baron is grumpy, oh but grumpy. the day can only look up, right?
for instance: she set the alarm for 6:12am, hoping that the dogs would let her sleep until then. the dogs had other plans, and she was up just past 5am.
and, she went back to bed and overslept until almost 7am.
and, she planned ahead and made coffee to go, but realized (only when unlocking her office door) that she had left it in the car.
so, she closed up her office and went back to her car (no mean feat, reader, as the baron's building is HUGE), only to realize on her return trip that she was locked out of her suite. (she had taken care to lock her office door and stash her keys in her suite's lobby desk -"no need to carry car keys AND office keys/ID", she thought - but had forgotten that the suite doors open at 8:30, and that until that time an ID card is needed for access to the suite. blar.)
and so, she stopped by the operations office of her building, to borrow the master keys... and then had to return them.
all that walking, and in three inch heels, and before 8:15am even! and there were stairs too, reader, lots of stairs.
the baron is grumpy, oh but grumpy. the day can only look up, right?
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