The Cure for Boredom is Curiosity.

Nothing really. It's a gray Saturday morning. It's breezy and cool, but not really cold enough to want to snuggle up under the covers. Ronette had to go to a wedding shower this afternoon. I was able to opt out of it although I'm sure that when she returns home she will tell me how everyone asked where I was. For the record, I did not whine or fuss about not wanting to go, I was off the hook before I knew about it. The shower is suppose to last from 1 - 5, which is a really long time for a wedding shower if you ask me. Apparently the agenda has everyone playing Sex Trivia for 1 1/2 hours. Hmmm, I'm not sure about that one.

The shower theme is 50's perfect wife. Ronette wanted to revolve around that theme and had decided that the gift would be a good cookbook and an apron with some other kitchen-y/cooking items. I threw in some other ideas that were vetoed - mixing bowls to hold all the stuff and actually making an apron from one of my grandma's old patterns. Since I still wasn't completely digging Ronette's ideas I went searching for Tricia's (the bride-to-be) gift registries. On one of her registries she asked for a cast iron skillet and The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook. I'm thinking that this is perfect because one of the things that we have in common with Tricia is North Carolina/southern cooking. And I believe that everyone must have a cast iron skillet. Plus, this would go great with an apron.

We went to Sur La Table this morning to buy all the gifts. If we couldn't find the Cast Iron Cookbook, then we were going to put in the extra copy of Mama Dip's Family Cookbook that we bought at Christmas. Would you believe that Sur La Table didn't have a single 12 inch pan? We could buy any other size but not the 12 inch. We ended up buying a 13 inch pan, found The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook, and added a silicone potholder. [If you have a cast iron pan (or other pans that the handles get hot) this thing is wonderful! I don't have to worry about catching a towel on fire, wearing a bulking oven mitt, or remembering to grab a cloth before I pick up the pan.] Then she started looking at aprons and the one she really liked was $40. There is a point where you have to stop spending on wedding gifts. Yep, I could have made one for less than $10. Probably could have made two. At least, she admitted that she should have had me make the apron when I offered. We ended up buying a reusable mesh bag (very handy in SF) to stuff everything into. It looked pretty neat when we had it all wrapped up.

So I get to be home alone for awhile. Ronette asked what was on my agenda today. She was looking at my spackling that needs to be re-painted. I announced that I was taking a long soak in the tub. And if the dry weather holds out for a few more hours, I'll weed some more before the rain comes. Painting can be for the rainy days that are around the corner or I guess today if my weather doesn't hold out.

I have mixed emotions about RTL going out of town for work - on one hand - PaRtY!!!!!!! I can sit on the couch and read without being interrupted every 5 seconds with "did you see that?", I can hog the bed, I can cook loads of onions and peppers, I can add spice to my taste, I can use up all the hot water, lots of good party time things; on the other hand - I can't sleep. Let's use last night as an example - I think I finally went to bed at 3, but I still woke up at 7. Which sucks when I've made plans to run all the errands I need to do.

Which is what I've been doing this morning. Did some grocery shopping at the Bowl. It's a local market that has some of the BEST veggies in the area. Fresh and not rotting already. Downside is that everyone knows this so it's packed no matter when you go. People are parked and waiting for hours before the doors open at 9. Which was me. And it was still a madhouse.

I did cheat a little and went across the street to Walgreens so that I could buy some shampoo and stuff. Which was a pain in the tushy. I used to be able to find a wide variety of brands at Walgreens, now I'm limited to about 7 or 8 brands of shampoo and it's stuff that I won't or can't use on my head. I just don't get it.

Went to B & N as well so I could get a trash book to read when The Secret Life of Bees starts weighing my brain down. I have melted chocolate for that little side trip. Just call me Blondie. The truth is that I was actually looking for a couple of other books which is why I stayed too long in the store. I should have realized that skipping the Berkeley store would have been a better option and just gone to Emeryville where I have three floors to choose from. Of course, because I'm looking for a specific book I'll still have to go to Emeryville.

Now that I'm back, I'm trying to figure out what my neighbor is doing. I think he's finally trimming the hedge between our houses. Yay! I did my side a while back.

And thanks for the smart playlist tip, although now I'm trying to figure out when I bought a Modest Mouse cd.