PICT7097
Originally uploaded by mikehillwig

Some of my friends know that Reggie has been trash obsessed lately and I had come home three times over the course of a week to find my kitchen floor littered with the kitchen trash. This forced me to buy a new trash can. This was no ordinary trash can—it was a $70 trash can. And today, it just paid for itself.

Reggie tried (and failed) to get into the trash. He pushed it around, but it never toppled. Sure, the bag got a little tattered, but I can live with that.

PICT7096
Originally uploaded by mikehillwig

I’m taking part in the Pug Village Christmas card exchange. I put myself in for the whole set, thinking I got a hundred. When I got my labels, there were 140ish, so my 120 cards weren’t enough. I have a few more to send after they’re printed.

My international cards went out today. This stack is all domestic, and it’ll go out tomorrow.

I had the ultrasound of my gallbladder today. The tech says that she can clearly see two stones and potentially a third. She says this is the source of my pain. 

Now I have a call into my doctor to find out what we do next.

Reggie and I are leaving at a rediculously early hour tomorrow morning to head back to Boston.  We’ll be taking the longer route this time. It’ll be SO worth it.

I just ordered my 2007 Christmas Cards, six sets of 20. I think they’re awesome.

For those of you who know what’s been going on, I finally gave my testimony for the court case this morning. It was completely anticlimactic.

It does have me kicking around the idea of moving back to Pittsburgh, though.

Now I know where my love of cheesy reality TV comes from, my mom. Last night, we watched Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor: After the Rose. Tonight, she’ll be watching Project Runway with me.

With my mom, there is never a dull moment. She always worries about how the house is going to look when everybody comes in on Thanksgiving. Never mind that people come in and dump stuff on the counter anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal. She has two women who come in once a week to do some light cleaning. So it’s not that big of a deal. Well, she was having a new couch and end tables delivered today. I was here to get them. After the delivery guys left, I called her at the flower shop and asked how she wanted the furniture arranged. She told me to just put the new couch where the old one was. I asked where the new recliner should go. She asked what I was talking about. She hadn’t ordered a new recliner Oops. Don’t get me wrong. The new recliner was actually pretty nice. It was like a suede type of material that looked like weathered leather. It really didn’t go with the rest of her living room. Somehow, the furniture store’s delivery guys gave us somebody else’s chair. Oops. She called and they came back to get it.

Thanksgiving should be interesting.

Reggie and I made it to my parents’ house in one piece.

I was up at 4:30 with the intention of being on the road by 6:00. At 6:30, we were pulling out. By the time I got to Newton, MA (only two or three stops on the Masspike), I realized that I had forgotten the chargers to both of my cell phones. My personal Blackberry wouldn’t be a big deal since my mom’s phone uses the same charger. My work phone, the Palm Treo, is a different story. So I turned around and went back for the chargers. That set me back a little bit. By 7:30, we were back on the road.

When I got to the I84/I90 interchange, it was decision time. Did I want to take the southern route through Hartford and then Scranton, or did I want to take the northern route taking I90 the whole way to the PA border. The northern route is about a hundred miles longer but is a much nicer drive. It’s also a toll road through the entirety of two states. I opted for the southern route. That was where my first mistake was.

Just north of Hartford, you can take I91 to bypass Hartford. I just forgot how to get back to I84. I had to call Sam for directions. I don’t typically admit this freely, but I have a really bad sense of direction, yet I always give Sam a hard time for her utter lack of sense of direction. For me to call and ask for help was a big deal.

I didn’t stop until I hit the PA border and was on I81 heading south. I made really good time. Really good time, in fact. I was making such good time that I didn’t see the PA State Trooper who clocked me doing 83 in a 65 zone. That’s a $161 speeding ticket I’ll have to pay in short order.

When we got back to where my parents live, we kept going to my mom’s flower shop since she was still at work. Reggie and I went in through the garage. I let him run ahead into the shop. He scared the shit out of my mom, and she loved it.

Anyway, I’m here now, and it’s good to be home.

I just walked out to move my car, and it’s just starting to snow. These are tiny little snowflakes, but it’s starting to snow.

I talked to my mom today and told her I was going to do pumpkin creme bruelee and pumpkin ice cream for Thanksgiving. She said that she’d also have to do something chocolate since her brother won’t eat pumpkin and they always make something chocolate for him. My first thought was that he could bring his own dessert, but I held my tongue for once.

Instead, I’m going to push the versatility of my this custard. If I add some lemon zest and/or lemon extract instead of pumpkin, it’ll make for a lemon creme brulee. Or, with a little chocolate liquor, cocoa powder, and a hint of coffee, we’ll have a good chocolate creme brulee. Regardless, I will have my pumpkin ice cream.

Maybe it’s time to try Nigella’s Chocohotpots.  I have to confess that this was Beth’s initial suggestion. I’ve been wanting to try these for a while. This might be the time.