My head hit the pillow  at 10:30 and I was out like a light.

I woke up at 2 from a very strange dream about an 80 year old woman trying to run us off the road.

I couldn’t really fall back asleep.

Then I could hear the tarp on our deck (that is currently covering all our summer deck stuff) moving about. I immediatelythought someone was on our deck moving the tarp around looking for things to steal. I then realized the probability of that was very slim. I listened more and then realized we were in the middle of a wind storm. The whole building shook.

I dozed in an out of sleep but the sound of the trap was so loud I was going mental.

By 4am I felt crazy. The wind would not stop. Things were flapping around everywhere, and that Mother effing tarp WOULD NOT STOP MOVING.

Then I heard my phone beeping. I tried to ignore it, but with the wind, and the tarp, I couldn’t.

Check phone. Txt message from Rogers as to what my account balance is. Thanks Rogers, you read my mind. At 4am I was desperate to know WHAT MY FRIGGING ACCOUNT BALANCE WAS!

Serenity now. Serenity now.

While I was up I check out the deck. Crap everywhere. Tarp about. Wasn’t in the mood to fix any of it.

I go back to bed, where Chad was tossing and turning. I wrap my head in a blanket, fashion a breathing hole, snuggle up next to him and manage to pass out for about an hour, only to be woken up again by another dream.

This time we were in a parking lot at night and wild animals started to come out. A black panther was the first thing we saw, so we hoped in the car to protect ourselves. As we drove away the panther started to attack a rhino. There was a panda bear with her cubs off to the side, and a bull that came out of no where. The bull started to chase up and ram his horns into the car. We we OK until he came around the front and smashed in so hard that he pierced Chad right in his abdomen twice. I knew Chad was going to die from this and then I woke up sweating. Great. I love dreams like this!

Clearly this was not the best night of sleep for two very exhausted people. Thankfully I am not too out of it today.

Tonight Chad is staple gunning the mother friggin tarp to the floor if he has to. I am NOT listening to that again!

Frustration alert.

In other news, this week looks a little more free then last, so it will be back to your regular scheduled programming.

I should probably make this quick. Claudia and the Boss are leaving for L.A. tomorrow and I need to get a crap load of stuff done before they leave, so I won’t have a lot of time to hang around here today.

The weekend did not consist of a lot of pictures, so I’m pretty much going to sum it up right now.

FRIDAY

I ruined the potatoes because I used a new pan that apparently conducts heat better then my old one, so they were burnt on one side. Ugh. I was so mad. I love these potatoes and they were ruined!

The parentals ended up bring over the tree for us which saved us 30 minutes so that was awesome. Chad basically ate and ran off to play with Dario. I spent the rest of the evening cleaning and then to bed early as I had hoped for. I did however get this random txt from Adam, Alicias Boyfriend, which made me panic and think that he was trying to call me to tell me Alicia had been in an accident or something (you know because that’s a rational thing to think) when really it was just a txt about him moms basement leaking and him looking for an Italian to work on it. Crisis averted.

SATURDAY

We slept in even though I had gone to bed early. Really felt like I needed to catch up on my sleep. Went down to the storage locker and grabbed all our Christmas stuff. It took Chad almost two hours to figure out all the lights, then put the tree together to his liking and then put all the lights on the tree. He used three cords worth, that’s 72 feet of lights, on our tree. Sad part is, you can’t even tell. Once Chad was done it was time to decorate the tree and everything else. That was time consuming. We had to be at my Moms house for dinner at 5 so I only had time to set everything up, but not put anything away. It was a bit of a disaster.

It was the first time being at the house since the dog died. It was a little weird. Whenever you use to enter the office, where the dog slept, he would come out and bark at you if you woke him, and even though he isn’t around anymore, I still found myself tip toeing into the office expecting him to come out and bark at me. That was one of the weirder things. It was, however, the quietest dinner we have had in 15 years.

After dinner we skipped off to Church with the parentals and then off to the Johnny B Pub in Coquitlam to meet up with Ryan & Elise and their crew who were watching the hockey game. I had never been to the pub before and it was definitely a different clientele then what I am use to in Burnaby. (Hello Snob). Everyone in Coquitlam just seems so much older, and so stereotypically from Coquitlam. I don’t know how to describe it, but everyone just has a certain look about them.

The pub was pretty good during the game. They had a lot of TVs and it was fun to watch, but once the game was over their live band hit the stage and it was a bit loud. That is probably one of our biggest pet peeves when going out, not being able to talk to each other because the music is so loud. We hung around for a bit, long enough to witness the creepiest, weirdest, possible gayest, 50 year old  man dance around ever. Chad wanted to video tape it because it was so bad but it would have been pretty obvious what we were doing from where we were sitting. We also realized that on three of their TVs they were playing some weird show that kept showing naked people every 5 minutes. It looked like Manswers but worse. It was funny at first but then just got weird and awkward. Needless to say, we left at around 10:30 and headed back to our place so we could actually have a conversation.

SUNDAY

The plan was for my Mom to come over at 10:30 and then for us to catch the Skytrain and head downtown for some Christmas Shopping. Only problem was that she showed up at 10 and I was still in bed. So I rushed to get ready and ended up looking like a pile of crap, but I got myself together enough to go out shopping. Thankfully it wasn’t raining downtown because that would have basically ruined the day. Everything I wanted to buy either wasn’t in stock, or was sold out, or was way more money then I was expecting it to be, so I only bought a few things. It was kind of disappointing. We had a sushi lunch in Pacific Centre and then caught the skytrain back to metrotown to see if there was anything there we could find. After Mom successfully purchasing a few gifts, but I was done for the day so we headed home. My plan was to clean up a little from the day before but I basically laid on the couch for 2 hours watching Sex and the City before getting ready for my work Christmas Party.

Picked up Claudia at 6 and headed over to the Bosses house where it is held every year. We were a little bit late which meant that we didn’t get a seat around the table of amazing appetizers. The food was, as always, the best ever. The company of everyone was good and there were such cute outfits.

Near the end of the night Claudia and I were sitting on the couch and one of the store employees came up to talk to us about what we do and what kind  of schooling we had. I don’t know how we got onto the subject but we started talking about how my voice sounds when I answer the front door on the intercom. Apparently it comes out really rough and aggressive (which actually isn’t that shocking). Then the girl asked if I was from around here because based on the sound of my voice and the way I talk she thought I was from Brooklyn. Ha. Best compliment ever!

At about the time this conversation was taking place I started to get a bit of a headache, which quickly turned into a migrane, so Claudia and I packed up and left. Time flew by because it was already 10pm and we were expecting it to be much earlier then that. The migraine got to the point where I thought I was going to puke everywhere, so I quickly got home, popped some Advil and went straight to bed. Ugh, it was the worst feeling ever.

I got a lot of flack for putting the Christmas stuff up a week early. The reason is, our Christmas Party is next Saturday, and every year it is a disaster trying to finish the tree, clean the apartment, and bake all in the same day. This year, I’m a head of the game. I also LOVE the way the apartment feels when all the Christmas decorations are out!

TONIGHT

Clean, relax, make some pasta, start on the Christmas Cards!!!

Last night was Matt’s birthday extravaganza. Well it wasn’t really an extravaganza it was just dinner at our favorite sushi place by Metrotown.

We talked business as usual. A bunch of people got laid off at his work, including 5 of his friends, but he was safe. He is a genius and they know it.

He had a work birthday dinner last week and the rule was everyone had to wear fur. So classic Matt. Reminds me of the time I bought him fur for his birthday many years ago.

After dinner we went and saw Zombieland. OMG the Bill Murray part was the best part of the whole movie. I think that’s why I loved the movie so much. Hahahaha when they started to act out Ghostbusters hahah PRICELESS. Damn I love BM.

Speaking of work, I have to go out to the warehouse this afternoon and clean the crap out of the Notions room. It is the only room in the entire building that has never been cleaned and organized and yours truly is left to the task. Piss me off.

I had to go in there yesterday to look for some binders and I blew a gasket. It is so gross in there I can not tell you. When they re-did that section of the roof they didn’t cover anything so there is a layer of dirt everywhere. It is so so so gross. Not to mention all the old crap they shove into corners and forget about instead of just chucking the stuff they don’t need anymore. It doesn’t make any sense.

I brought old clothes, an apron, and rubber gloves because I know half the stuff in there is going to need to be washed. Pretty sure when I signed up for this job it didn’t say warehouse maid. I mean I don’t mind cleaning up and organizing things, but this is ridiculous. I’m actually really annoyed about it. It seems that no one except the Italian Housewife cares enough to get off their ass and clean something. It is very frustrating. I spent three days last week cleaning different parts of the office, and if it wasn’t for me, no one would do it. No one would sweep or wash or organize. We would just live in more filth then we actually do. I tested it and when I wasn’t cleaning no one was cleaning. Ok, I’ve gone off on a rant here but I am just frustrated. I know people do help out in a small way here in there, it just seems like the big projects are left to me. Or maybe I just take the initiative to do it. Ugh, oh well.

I guess in the end, I am the one who needs to use the room the most and if I have a problem with it I should fix it. I just don’t like the idea of it being covered in dirt and grime.

If only I wasn’t so damn good at cleaning!!!

Woot Woot Halloween Post!!!

Not going to lie, our costumes weren’t the best this year. I mean, Chad and I DID look exactly like who we dressed up as, but no one knew who we were, and really that’s half the fun. Mental note for next year.

I always understood that Chad hated Halloween, so in my attempt to have him participate I told him to dress up as the easiest person I knew – Don Draper. Easiest costume plus Chad loves him, and kind of looks like him. Well, getting him to dress up in a suit was like pulling teeth. I learned that night, that he would rather go ALL out for Halloween as appose to doing it half assed, which is apparently how he felt about this year. Again, mental noted.

So we headed over to Adams new place for a Halloween Party where Alicia put my hosting abilities to shame with the amount of food and things she prepared. It was amazing!

Don Draper

Little Edie

Carmen Sandiego

Salad Fingers

Checking out the foodz.

Wheres Waldo?

So his name is Jeremy Fisher but I renamed him Leroy, you know, more stereotypical.

Hanging out as more people showed up.

Leroy is in your pocket!

This became somewhat of a theme for the evening.

Hahaha so creepy!

A few of Alicia’s photos below…

I love the side part.

Ok Danielle, a little too skanky here.

Girls Shot.

Alicia thinks I’m being a racist in this photo, but really I was just fixing my head scarf.

Hahahaha

Alicias got some more pictures up on her blog, some pictures of everyone elses costumes, I didn’t take that many.

Over all the night was fun. The girls all became obsessed with Palm Bay. Looks manly like beer, but tastes girly like a cooler. Marlee brought a million of them and we all stole one. Best drink ever!

Adams new place is above the Greek Restaurant on Commercial, so I guess the guys that own the Restaurant decided to provide us with a a fireworks show in their parking lot, which was pretty cool. The store front across the street was also taken over by a place that sells fireworks and those were going off every 5 minutes. We were just waiting for the place to blow up.

Chad told me I should probably skanky up my costume next year instead of looking like an old lady. Ha, thats what every girl does, and I’m clearly not a part of that scene.

I’ve already come up with the greatest idea for next year, I just don’t know how into it he will be.

Ceasare.

Friday night started out with Ryan coming over to help Chad with some Strata stuff and then staying to watch the game and eat dinner. Then it turned into Alicia coming over to use my Photoshop. Then Elise’s plans fell through so she joined in on the fun, and finally, Adams plans didn’t work out so he stopped by as well.  So Friday night turned into an impromptu dinner party for 6.

Don’t Mess!

Thankfully we had enough bits of random meat to BBQ for everyone. I made a big salad and some potato fries and Alicia made a big pan of stir fry.

Look Ryan, even Elise helped out!

The boys started watching amazing hockey shots on YouTube while dinner was cooking, considering the hockey game was so crappy.

Why hello vegtable delight!

I have to say impromptu dinner truly are my favorite. There is no pressure to have everything turn out perfect, its just about what you have in your fridge and what kind of magic you can do with it. If only I treated regular dinner parties like this.

The single sausage on Elise’s plate looks funny. I think I’m just being a perv.

Whats that? Oh Hi Pat!

Of course the boys indulged themselves.

We ended up getting into a huge discussion about our family, the Rossi’s that is, and Adam and Alicia just sat their trying to figure out who we were talking about and what was going on. Luckily Alicia knows most of the stories so she was trying to make the connections for Adam. It was kind of funny watching them trying to figure it all out. It was also kind of rude of us to have a converstion for an hour that didn’t involve Adam and Alicia, but they found it interesting so it was all good.

It turned out to be a sucessful night for how random that it was. Everyone left by 1:30, only to find that the foyer on the first floor was flooded due to all the rain that was coming down that night. So of course Chad had to go down there with Contractor Ryan to see what was going on. They couldn’t figure it out so they left it for morning when the construction guys who had just finished the deck above could come take a look and figure it out. Gong Show apartment building.

The crazy Asian neighbours beside us who are hording 6 people in their apartment are actually moving out this week. Only problem is they started moving at 8pm last night, because you know, that seems like a sensible time to move large items and boxes and your screaming children. They didn’t stop until 11:30. Chad was going to blow a gasket. The kids would not shut up and the adults were yelling at each other in Chinese down the hallway. It was a bad scene. They should be all moved out by tonight so hopefully that will be the last of everything. I just hope the new neighbours are somewhat reasonable.

Oh the joys of apartments!

Last Tuesday I went to the Cancer Clinic to get my second shot of Thyrogen and then over to VGH to get a very small dose of Radioactive Iodine. The dose they gave me was only enough so that the iodine would attach itself to any Cancerous cells in and around my neck so that they would show up in a scan.

That night I got all my stuff together, which wasn’t very much because I couldn’t bring very much, and prepared for my 3 days in isolation. Ugh, I  was not looking forward to it.

I was nervous about the whole experience, not really sure why, but I guess it was all a fear of the unknown.

We got there Wednesday morning and I went for a few scans and then met with the doctor who basically went over the few things I already knew. Then Chad and I went upstairs, had some breakfast at the cafe and then was admitted to the hospital.

We went up to my room, which was on the 15th floor, which is also the Leukemia floor, and were brought to this room off in the corner locked away from everything. There were two rooms in this section of the floor that were sectioned off with big doors and both the rooms and the hallway were lead lined.  I guess this is where they stick everyone who is radioactive.

There was also something very eerie about being in the Leukemia Ward.

While waiting for the nurse to come back and give me my hospital PJ’s and whatever stuff I would need, we started to read all the ‘rules’ that were listed on the bulletin board in the room. There was a list of food that I was apparently allowed to eat and another list that I wasn’t allowed to eat. No one had informed me that I would be on a restricted diet, other then the fact that I couldn’t bring stuff with Iodine in it (which did not clue me in to the fact that SALT contains Iodine, but anyways). As I read on I realized that every single thing I had brought as a snack I was not allowed to eat. Great!

Finally the nurse came back, I put on my PJ’s (which made me look like a convicted prisoner) and was told I would have to wait probably an hour before the technician would come up with the radioactive iodine. At that point Chad kissed me good bye and went off to work since he really couldn’t stay any longer and I was fine waiting in the room watching TV.

By 12 I was getting pretty hungry but wasn’t allowed to eat anything until an hour after drinking the iodine. Finally at 1:30 the technician came and I drank the stuff. It was very odd having a lady come in wearing all this protective gear, carrying a giant metal case with all this special stuff surrounding the tiny vial of radioactive iodine and then I, having no protection, had to consume it. She had me drink it with a straw and then down it with water. It didn’t really taste like anything. Then she measured the amount of radioactive stuff coming off of me, and bid me farewell.

All the handles in the room and most of the surfaces were covered in plastic and protective sheets. They said it made it easier for clean up after I was gone. I had to flush the toilet twice every time I went and I had to have a shower every morning. I had to drink lot of fluids and I was only allowed to have people come visit me for a short period of time while standing at the doorway. Certain things had to be thrown into one bucket, and other garbage in another. It was all very bizarre.

Finally 3pm came and I could eat something. By this point I was starving and had a headache from the whole thing. I grabbed the tray of food that they brought up for me and almost puked. The food smelled so bad and it had no flavour. Chicken with no salt and no seasoning, steamed broccoli with nothing on it and a bed of ghetto rice. It was cold andso gross. Unfortunately, I had to eat. I was dying and it was all that I had. I ate the smallest amount possible and then chucked it. I just could not eat it.

The food was the worst part of the whole experience. Every meal ended up being the same thing and it made me so unbelievably depressed. I couldn’t handle the food so I just didn’t eat. I basically starved myself and survived on the bag of Starburst that Claudia bought me. Every time they brought me my tray of food I cried. How could someone so obsessed with good food live on this crap? I went into survival mode and figured if I didn’t move then I wouldn’t need energy, and if I didn’t need energy then I wouldn’t be hungry, and if I wasn’t hungry I wouldn’t have to eat the crappy food. I know that sounds nuts but it was the only sane thing I could do.

At least breakfast consisted of toast and fruit. That I could eat.

There was a phone in my room, but of course it didn’t work.  I tried calling Chad and my Mom all of Wednesday but the calls would not go through. I was getting so unbelievably frustrating. I had a direct number so people could reach me, but of course Chad didn’t write it down because he figured I would just call him. I knew that he was freaking out because I wasn’t calling but there was nothing I could do. Luckily my Mom stopped by Thursday morning to bring me cookies so I told her about the phone and passed the number onto Chad. It felt so nice to finally talk to someone.

The nurses on the 15th floor were nice. They couldn’t really do anything for me because they weren’t allowed in the room, but they would come by everyone once in a while and wave through the door window to see if I was OK. It was nice to see someone since my wing was pretty much abandoned.

The view was beautiful, but it was hard to enjoy, all alone up there. I tried to stay positive for the most part. I mean I wasn’t in pain or anything so I really didn’t have it ALL that bad. What got me down the most was just how frustrated I was with everything.

Frustrated with the food, and the phone. Frustrated that I wasn’t told I would be put on a weird diet. Frustrated that I wasn’t prepared as I thought I should have been for the whole thing. And Frustrated that the damn nurses would not turn off the lights in the hallway at night so I could sleep.

All I wanted to do was go home. Naturally.

Finally Thursday afternoon came and the doctor came in to measure how radioactive I was. Thankfully I was already low enough that he said I could actually go home Friday morning as long as I stayed away from people. WooHoo!

I waited all night for Chads call to tell him what time to pick  me up but nothing. At about 9:30 the nurse came to my door and said my husband was on the phone saying he had been trying to call me since 6pm but couldn’t get through. Low and behold the phone had some how partially fallen out of the jack so it wasn’t even hooked up. I don’t know how the hell that happened. UGH Frustrating!!! Finally he got through and said he would be there at 9am to pick me up.

Sleeping in a hospital bed with weird smells and bright lights all around you is not the most comfortable thing in the world and by 8am the next morning, when I had to get up, I was exhausted. I quickly jumped in the shower to scrub myself off before Chad came, but quickly realized that wasn’t a good idea.

Oh sensitive body.

Due to the fact that I has basically eaten nothing for 2 days, I was quite weak, which isn’t evident when laying down, but becomes very evident when violently scrubbing ones self in the shower. Fainting was evident. Luckily, this has happened many time before, due to the fact I hardly eat in the mornings, so I knew the signs.  I tried to rinse myself off as fast as I could so I could go lay down on the bed with some food, but the water pressure in the hospital shower was that of misting rain. Shit. This wasn’t going to happen. I turned off the shower, grabbed a towel and then saw spots. Shit. To the floor I went.

Once I hit the ground I was good.  The nice cool floor always makes me feel better but I knew I couldn’t just lay there and wait for someone to find me. Plus, this had happened before and I knew what to do. I just had to dress myself, grab the muffin I wasn’t suppose to eat and lay on the bed while consuming said muffin to satisfy the body. This took some maneuvering and a second fainting spell but I made it. Thank God I made it.

I didn’t tell anyone I fainted, other then Chad. It didn’t matter anyways. Actually, it probably did matter but I didn’t care. I wanted OUT. I knew I would be fine.

Finally I got home but I still felt very faint and sick. Ick. Friday was not a good day. I started to feel the side effects of the iodine which was a sore throat, swollen glands, and a very swollen neck. Felt like someone was choking me.

I basically spent the rest of the weekend in isolation at my parents house. I’ve never watched so much TV in my life. The one thing that was basically driving me nuts was that I couldn’t spend any time with Chad, and for someone who is in his face tickling him 24/7, it was very difficult.

Tomorrow I go back for another body scan. This one is suppose to take an hour. I guess it’s to see how much stuff is left in my body. I’m sure everything will be fine.

At least I am back to sleeping in my own bed!

I left work a few minutes early yesterday to run to the store to pick up some veggies. I was thinking about dinner and realized we didn’t have any lettuce. We could not have dinner with out lettuce.

Once I got there I realized there was no point in buying just a head of lettuce and then using a credit card to pay for it. Oh the paroles of never having cash on hand. I didn’t want to buy too much stuff as I knew the fridge was pretty full of vegetables so I opted for some tomatoes and  two peppers. The peppers I would get the husband to BBQ.

In wanting to be speedy I grabbed what I need in my hand and didn’t go for a basket. The veggies felt cool against my thin t-shirt but I didn’t think much about it, that was, until I put the veggies down to pay for them. A tomato had exploded on my nice white t-shirt. The same t-shirt that I figured was on the verge of death but wanted to try and save as much as possible. It was a bad scene.

The veggies came to $5.26.

There was no way I could save the T-shirt. It was hot out and I had no soap. I also had a 20 minute car ride home in a non air-conditioned car. There was no hope. I feared the worse.

I came home to my sauna like apartment and stripped off my clothes, replacing them with as little as possible while still remaining presentable. I remembered that we had a little bit of the martini mix from Sunday left over and figured I might as well finish it off. Vodka on a Tuesday. Don’t judge. I went to the freezer to get some ice and I noticed the door was slightly open. There was a pool of water forming underneath the door. The freezer was warm. The ice had melted. The meat was partially thawed. It took all my strength to calmly backed away.

It seemed as though my dear husband had gone into the freezer that morning to get some toast and did not notice that he had not shut the door properly. This simple absent minded act now destroyed all that I had been longing for; the cooling sensation of an iced martini. I was instantly filled with negative emotions, though knowing full well that this act was not done intentionally, I could not help it. Who does this on a bloody hot day! The day of all days! There was nothing I could do other then screaming into a towel the profanities of the world.

This unfortunately series of events made me forgot all about my nicely stained white t-shirt.

I carried on and began to prepare dinner. Everything on the BBQ. So simple yet so satisfying.

Finally the destroyer of my ice dreams came home and I immediately pointed to the freezer like pointing to a puddle of pee that a little puppy had left behind. And like a puppy who left behind a puddle of pee, I knew I couldn’t be mad for two long when I saw that oh so cute look on his face.

The heat of the apartment made me want to throw up. Outside there was a nice breeze but inside it was the stench of roasting souls.

The husband asked what I had picked up at the store. I told him the story about needing the lettuce and the credit card and the exploding tomato. He looked at me with a funny glare and proceeded to remind me that we had just bought lettuce on Saturday. Blasted! He was right. How could I have forgotten? This whole stained white t-shirt could have been avoided if only I had a better memory. I was embarrassed.

We ate dinner and it was amazing. The highlight of my day.

I knew that if I had any hopes of surviving the evening I had to get outside as quick as possible, but the more I cleaned up, the hotter I got, and the more I just wanted to leave everything as it was to escape to the cool blue yonder. I did the least amount of work possible. I loaded the dishwasher, cleared the table and bolted. Everything else about the apartment was exactly the way I had left it Sunday night after the party. Bowls of stale chips and unwashed martini glasses piled upon each other in the corner. It was just too hot to do anything about it now.

I grabbed Eleanor Rigbyand the one Popsicle that had not completely melted and headed to the deck. Oh outside, how much I love thee.

I never really gave Eleanor a chance. I’d read a few pages here and there, but never enough to become completely engrossed in the story. This is no way to read a book. You forget what you read last week before you are done reading this week. It was time I give her the attention she deserved. Plus it was too hot to go back inside and there was nothing else to do outside.

I finished the whole book last night. I couldn’t stop reading it. I loved it. Though I felt the ending was maybe rushed a bit but maybe that’s because I just wanted it to keep going. I wanted to know more about Liz now that she wasn’t lonely.

The clock hit 10pm.

I was nicely cooled at this point. My repitle like body had returned to a reasonable temperature and I was feeling good. I decided to get up, water the plants, put away the clothes on the bed and send myself off to dream land. My head thought this was a good idea, my body did not.

The second my body got up and started moving around it over heated. All the work I had done to cool it down was lost. I was in disbelief. I was suffocating in my own skin wanting to shed layers in hopes of finding a cool retreat.

Instead I went to the bedroom and found the stained white t-shirt under the husbands work clothes. I had forgotten about it. The stain had set. Dammit, Danielle. This shirt and I had been through so much. Squished chocolate, spilled wine, pasta sauce drippings, the works. And now, to be destroyed by the tiniest of tomato explosions. What had I done?

I ran to the bathroom and drowned it in soap and water. I scrubbed it like a poor Italian woman washing her clothes in the nearby stream thinking that I still had time to revive it. But my faith in the magic soap was fading away. Now it just looked orange. I was defeated. I threw it in the laundry basket trying to deny what had just happened.

Maybe the washing machine would be stronger then I!

Maybe it would work and I would have one more chance with my favorite shirt!

Maybe all hope was NOT lost!

And if not?

Another one bites the dust.

I lay on the bed and kicked off all the sheets. The fan was in the living room cooling off the husband. I was about to kill myself with heat exhaustion.  All I wanted was some lettuce with dinner, an iced martini, a clean apartment, and cooling evening. And all of it was lost.

I hate the heat.