The Moz is playing on my stereo...

OK. Not really right now, but we will get to see him tomorrow night. Yes, Morrissey is coming to Tucson! We didn't find out until last Saturday night. I couldn't believe it. Husband was reading the newspaper and said "Holy cow! Morrissey is coming here on Wednesday!" How come we didn't know about this? By then, it was probably too late to get tickets, but I thought I'd look anyway. I didn't see anything that said the show was sold out. We had to try to get tickets! We figured this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, since Morrissey is somewhat reclusive and doesn't tour very often. Husband looked it up and there are only 6 US tour dates this year and Tucson is one of them! Tickets were only sold at the venue box office or Ticketmaster. I refuse to buy anything from Ticketmaster (sorry Ticketmaster people - too many extra charges) so I had to wait until yesterday morning to head over to the box office.

The venue is located in downtown Tucson. I don't go downtown very often. Like just about never. But I wanted Morrissey tickets. It's amazing what you will do if you want something really bad! I consulted Google maps to make sure I knew where I was going. I forgot though, that there is major construction going on to install a new "modern streetcar" downtown. I don't know why they call it a modern streetcar - I don't think they'd install an ancient, outdated streetcar. Anyway, I had to take a bit of a detour and got a little lost on the way to the box office. I managed to find it though after a little extra driving around.

The box office opened at 10:30. There were 4 people in line ahead of me. They took FOREVER!!! And it was HOT! Yesterday the high temperature was 104. There were all sorts of heat warnings on TV saying don't go outside, drink lots of water, etc. And where is the line for the box office? Outside. And not much shade. I was seriously worried that I might pass out before I got my tickets.

Finally it was my turn. I knew what I wanted, how much I wanted to spend, and was done in about 2 minutes. I was actually able to get fairly good seats for what we were willing to pay. I figured we'd end up in the back of the very top balcony or something, but we are actually on the main floor about 2/3 back. Not bad. Although this venue is mostly used for ballets and symphonies, and sit-down-and-watch sorts of things, so if people stand up in front of us, we won't be able to see very well. But at least we will be there! And I will definitely try to take pictures. I will post them here, so check back in a few days!

On a side note: I realised the other night that I have a little something I can brag about. I can honestly say that I have performed on the same stage as Morrissey (well, after tomorrow night anyway.) When I was little, I took ballet, and we had to do recitals which were terrifying, but the recitals were at the same venue that the concert will be at. :)

Thanks for reading!

I'm still here

Hi! It's been a while. Sorry for not posting anything for so long. I know there are so many of you out there hanging on my every word. :)

Today is the first day in a long time that I actually feel like doing something. I just haven't felt good lately. I've been really tired and haven't felt like doing much. It's starting to get hot here - that might be it. I used to handle the heat really well, but lately it seems like if it gets above 80, I feel like I'm going to die. If we hadn't bought a house recently, I would pack up and move somewhere cooler!

Not much has gone on since my last post. I think the big thing was we had a yard sale last weekend. Our neighborhood has a good reputation for successful yard sales. And we had a lot of stuff to get rid of. We didn't even have enough time to go through and find it all, so there will definitely be another yard sale in the future. Not until it cools off though.

The yard sale wasn't as successful as we had hoped. But money is better than crap that we don't use/want anymore. :) And we made enough to buy some things we actually need, so that's good. We also got to meet a few of our neighbors, so that was nice too.

I will try really hard to post stuff more often. I promise.

Hold the phone

Tonight I was home alone and the phone rang. It was a telemarketer.

"Hello"
"Can I speak to one of your parents?"
"Um...they don't live here"
"Oh. I'm so sorry ma'am, you uh sounded uh like a uh child"

Thanks. It's OK to look younger than you are, but to be mistaken for a kid on the phone is just insulting! This isn't the first time this has happened either.

The other thing that bugs me about this is...Do not, under any circumstances, call me ma'am!!! Ma'am is for old ladies. First you think I'm a child, and then you go and call me ma'am??!!?? Ugh!

AND... Why on earth are you calling me anyway? Our number is unlisted and unpublished, which we pay a whopping 90 cents a month for. (Seriously, why don't keyboards have a "cents" symbol on them?) Anyway, back to our phone number. We are also on the National Do Not Call registry. This means that technically, telemarketers and the like are not allowed to bother us! I am always too unnerved by these calls to ever think to call them out on that, but they shouldn't have our number to begin with!

This is why I love email so much.

And don't worry all you telemarketers out there. I was civil and politely got rid of him. I didn't go off on the guy until after I hung up.

Thanks for reading!

Cluck cluck

Thursday night we finally got our chickens! They are Barred Plymouth Rocks. We named them Henrietta and Sophie. They were pretty stressed out when our friend brought them over. He said they probably wouldn't lay any eggs until they calmed down and got used to their new surroundings. It might even be a week before they lay any. Well he was wrong. There was an egg in the nest yesterday and one today! I haven't ever had eggs fresh from the chicken before, but I've heard they're very good. I'm excited to try them.

We started a blog that will be about our adventures raising chickens. It's at thechickencoopscoop.blogspot.com. Feel free to check in on the chickens!

Sophie (left) and Henrietta

Our first egg (bigger than actual size!) It's actually about the size of a standard grocery store egg.

Success!

After much stress and confusion regarding different types of potatoes for making Mother in Law's potato salad, I have finally achieved success.

Yesterday we went to the In-Law's for Easter dinner. When we got there, Mother in Law was very excited to see the giant bowl of potato salad we brought. She grabbed it from my hands and ran into the kitchen for a taste. She liked it! Yay! The first thing she said was "When did you start making it?"

Oh dear. I must confess something. I made it on Saturday! I didn't take three days to make it. I knew it could all be done in one day.

"A couple days ago," I lied.

"That's what makes it so good," she said.

Ha! Take that, Mother in Law! I feel a little bad for lying to her, but it shouldn't and doesn't need to take three days to make a bowl of potato salad! And it was just as good.

I just wish there were more leftovers!

Confusion abounds

So last time I wrote, I was waiting for Mother in Law to bring me some ridiculously overpriced potatoes to make her blessed potato salad with for Easter dinner. She brought them this morning.

Now I'm really confused. The potatoes she brought me are red potatoes. Little tiny red potatoes. I thought the proper potatoes were these big yellowish ones. I think they're called Yukon Gold. So I consulted the recipe from the family cookbook. It says to use White Rose potatoes! What are those? Why did she bring me red ones? I don't dare ask her. This is driving me nuts!

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of The Preposterous Potato Predicament. I will definitely be keeping you posted.

You say potato i say potato

I was asked to make potato salad for Easter dinner. No big deal, except it's not just ANY potato salad. It's Mother in Law's potato salad recipe. Mother in Law takes her potato salad very seriously. It is quite an honor to be asked to make it. It IS delicious potato salad - probably the best I've ever had - but the whole process of making it is quite ridiculous. Like the fact that it takes three days to make. Three days to make potato salad?!? Are you serious? According to her, it's too much to do in one day and it's better if the flavors have time to incorporate. OK, but three days? Also, the type of potatoes used is very important. I found this out the other night...

We had a whole family discussion on the importance of using the proper potatoes in the potato salad. When Mother in Law asked me if I would make the potato salad, she asked me what kind of potatoes I use. I just use regular potatoes. She just about had a hissy fit! Heaven forbid that I use normal regular potatoes! The ones she uses are some fancy kind that are like $2.99 a pound. I'm not going to pay $20 for like 4 potatoes when I can get a 10 pound bag for about $.50! (Why isn't there a "cents" symbol on the keyboard?) I was saying that potatoes all taste the same. Brother in Law agreed with me (thank you!) but Husband and Mother in Law were both lecturing me on the difference between the fancy potatoes and regular potatoes. They cook differently, they taste better, the texture is different, etc. Potato Snobs! I have quite a picky palate. I can taste certain things a mile away. And don't even get me going on texture. There are things I refuse to eat based solely on texture. Husband and I have made the precious potato salad before with regular potatoes and it's been just fine! It is still delicious! I have actually thought that ours is better than Mother in Law's! I just don't get what the big deal is with the stupid potatoes!

Finally, we reached a compromise. Mother in Law said she would purchase the potatoes if I would still make the potato salad. That sounded good to me. She is supposed to deliver them this week. She'd better hurry, because I should have probably already started making it by now so it can be ready by Sunday! :P