Holding on to my pocket change, thank you very much

This week I was reunited with my friend Kim, who recently returned from her service in the Peace Corps, and during one of our conversations I told her that I never thought I'd say it, but I miss the suburbs.

There are more reasons than one why this sentiment is sometimes true for me, but one of them is that suburban parking--generally speaking--is free.

I am currently sitting in Starbucks, in a suburb, where the parking is indeed free. And there were several available spots in the parking lot when I arrived, and there still are. Even if I had to park at the nearby bank, on foot it would take me less than two minutes to walk from car to front door of the 'Bucks.

At this time in my life I live in a college town (I'm visiting my family for Thanksgiving break, hence my present presence in a suburban Starbucks). Parking in a college town is, in two words--because I don't want to pick one: obnoxious and aggravating.

There are exceptions, but so often in a trendy, crowded college downtown, you have to pay to park, you have to search for a space, and where you park doesn't necessarily put you very close to your destination building. In fact, unless you have a special permit to park in a lot nearby your place of work, where you park is rarely near to where you want to end up.

Add to this headache that if you are short one dime, or a meter has a 2-hour limit and you really need to park for three hours but don't have the time to find another spot (or there aren't any nearby that are available), or your class or meeting or coffee date goes just a little too long, etc. etc., then you might find a little envelope on your windshield demanding even more money than you're already spending to park in the first place.

Day after day.

Some minutes ago, here in my alma mater workplace, this suburban Starbucks, I vaguely thought to myself about the potential of a ticket being placed on my windshield. I had that slight panic/annoyance/call it what you may that you get when you think, "Do I need to put more money in the meter?"

Then I realized: Relax. You're in the suburbs, Baby.

Cat face

I love my cat so much (most of you know this), but I'm also quite excited to see this one soon soon soon:

Hey, they let me into graduate school

When I was being somewhat neglectful today, some dark blue nail polish landed in my bathroom sink.

I rinsed it with water, which spread it around.

"Crap!" I thought (and probably said aloud), wondering how I was going to remove it from the sink bowl.

I then sprayed it with a surface cleaner. Kind of worked, but not too great.

Then.

Yes, then, I realized:

Nail polish remover would probably do the trick.

I'm a genius.

Dinna!

Tonight a potato made me very happy.

A sweet potato, to be exact.

I cut it up. I'm not gonna say I cubed it, because I didn't--I prefer 3-dimensional non-cube polygon-ish shapes.

I put it in a baking dish (greased, but not sure that was necessary), added:

olive oil

cayenne pepper

cinnamon

cumin

nutmeg

salt

and roasted it at 350 degrees for an hour. Stirred it probably twice while it cooked.

So good. I was quite happy while eating it.

Yay for root vegetables!!

Entertainment for the 'rents

Fairly soon here I'm going to have to go some weeks without my kitten at my side.

:(

Here's why: I get a week off of school for Thanksgiving, which is too long to leave Diblets behind with a sitter when I go home. Thus he comes with me.

Problem: Diblets hates the car. He cries, sometimes he gets sick. All of this makes his mother either sick with worry or at least just very sad for her baby.

So last year I left him with the 'rents between Thanksgiving and winter break so that he wouldn't have to deal with extra car rides, and I'll be doing the same this year. I'm not looking forward to it, but I tell you this mostly to introduce you to the story I really want to tell you:

When I first came to school out here, we decided it would be less stressful on Dibbs and me to first move my stuff into my apartment and then retrieve Dibbs later. So he stayed with Mom and Dad for about 2 1/2 weeks while I got situated and made it through journalism 'boot camp,' and then I went to get him.

Blah blah blah.

Well sometime much later--I think it was this past spring or summer--I was at my parents' house and came across some photos of my Diblets.

While I am not my parents' youngest child, I was technically the last one to more or less permanently leave the nest, as I was still around after Riley Francis left for college. So keep in mind that when I started school out here it was M&D's first two weeks in a truly empty nest.

I think they might have been wondering what to do with themselves.

Because in these photos I found, Dibbs had been dressed in a t-shirt in one, posed to appear as if he were standing on a boogie board in another....there may have been more.

Dibbs wore similar expressions in each pic: not amused.

Well, at least Mom and Dad were amused.

Did I mention I love all three of them?

As my niece calls him: "El mo mo mo"

Yeah, I'm gonna be direct here. Go see this movie.

Another film review by yours truly:

Movie Review: Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey