News Roundup

I was just thinking about writing one of my legendary (in my own mind) off the wall blogs when it occurred to me that I don't know why "off the wall" means out-of-the-ordinary. Does on the wall mean normal, regular, ordinary? If so, why does no one use the phrase? These are the questions that try my mind because why would I worry about war, the economy and man's inhumanity to man when I've got "off the wall" to chew on.

Got an email from a fellow ex-pat today, that, if I understand it correctly, encourages me to contact my congressperson and complain about a bill that will require expats to pay a portion of their income for health care. Health care that most ex-pats can't or won't use. I won't do it though. If the U.S. is going to see to it that everyone has some kind of care, then the means to pay for that have to be found. If the amount is reasonable, (of course) I'm willing to pay my share.

And you thought I never address the tough issues. Why only yesterday I thought long and hard about whether the NFL should expand their schedule to 18 games. (I was about to add other serious thoughts I've had recently, like should Obama be in the running for the Heisman trophy, but now that I've used the phrase "long and hard", well, my mind, such as it is, has gone elsewhere.) (Yeah, I know, that's too much information.) (Hey, c'mon, I've been sick.)

We did go to lovely and talented Daveed yesterday where at Pricesmart we purchased an amount that may not have been a record, but got us a standing ovation from the store's employees. They took a look at our two loaded and rounded carts and visions of sugar plums and raises danced in thier heads. When we placed the goodies in the back of the car, the front tires rose off the pavement. Very nearly anyway. We then drove to King Supers (El Rey) and filled in the unscratched off our list extras not available at Pricesmart. We hadn't shopped for weeks, so now, having accomplished this odious task (for me anyway)the situation called for a celebration. We selected Mrs. Mendozas, a new Mexican restaurant for the toasting and the here heres. Mrs. M's has a very nice light green, frozen margarita that is served in a pretty glass. It tastes exactly like a Seven Eleven lime Slurpy and is worth the $5.25 it costs if you like your margaritas without tequila. Woowoo Charly and RTGFKAR disagree with me on this point saying the margs were "Just fine as they are" but, of course, and I can say this in all certainty, they are wrong. Normally in a case like this I would just order a shot of cactus juice and pour it in the drink. Yesterday, however, still being "under-the-weather" (Whatever that means. Really. If the weather is bad are you safer under it, over it, or in it?) I eschewed the shot and drank my slurpy disgruntedly. I should also point out in the interest of full disclosure that I ordered a second. It also had no tequila, so I shared.

And speaking of sharing I thought I'd share this next with you so my mind wouldn't dwell on off-the-wall and under-the-weather a moment longer. One of the purchases we made yesterday was a bedspread/blanket washable bed cover thing. What we had been using previously was two quilts; one ratty old nasty thing that we used during the day because we allow the Cockers on it and they are frequently, okay always, a mess, and the other at night when the dogs are kenneled and we want to be under something clean. The first thing we did after putting away our other purchases was to put on the new bed cover. Some twenty minutes or so later, as we reclined in front of the tube exhausted from the day, the sound of the dogs low and fussedly growling caught my attention. I got up to see what the fuss was all about. There, in the middle of the great room, all three dogs were having a nice game of tug-of-war with the new cover.

Alrighty then.