Shortly after I got my laptop, Sana decided the powercord would be fun to chew. She didn’t get all the way through the cord, and we continued to use it. We were (sorta) careful not to leave the computer/cord plugged in unattended or to let the cord get covered with a blanket or other flammable-type materials. Things were good for about a year. Sure, occasionally someone would get a small shock or see a leetle blue spark, but there was no damage. Also, sometimes the cord would get finnicky and have to be wiggled or unplugged/replugged to work. About a week and a half ago the cord stopped working and the usual measures didn’t bring it back to life. Andy seemed sure he could get the cord to work with just the right wiggle and kept messing with the cord. Until he got one dooze of a shock and I saw a huge blue spark.

We ordered a new cord and shelled out the extra $10 for fast delivery, and we waited for Friday when the cord should have arrived. We came home from work and there was a friendly little note hanging on the door from Fedex saying, “Sorry Charlie. No signature, no power cord.” Back in AA this would not have been a problem. We could have just bopped over to the Fedex place and picked the cord up. Here, we’d have to make an-almost-two-hour round trip to get the cord, and our weekend errands were in the other direction. So, no cord until Monday.

And that is the saga that led to no posts for a long, long time.

Okay, yeah, we do have another computer. So…I guess we could have posted from that computer, but…umm…it’s so far away you know? Like, all the way in the other room behind a door and everything. Plus, one time I tried to use that computer and Andy went “AIEIEIEIEIE!” I think he was scared I’d find his secret stash of llama porn. So why didn’t Andy post? Good question. Probably because he’s a big poopy head.

And, well, yes, we did get the cord on Monday and it’s Wednesday. So…I guess we could have posted from this computer sooner. But, um, there were pictures to upload and that takes time! And, the recycle center isn’t finished yet and why post about an unfinished recycle center when soon it will be finished? And then there was that whole daylight savings time thing that really messed everything up.

Stupid daylight savings time.

Who says nothing exciting ever happens out in the boonies? Yesterday was the grand opening of the Cburg Habitat ReStore!

We planned to wake up bright and early to get there when the doors opened, but … come on… it was Saturday. We got there around 11:00 and the place was still hopping. The parking lot was packed, and there was a radio station bus and a soda company truck-type thing out front. The soda truck was bumping and bouncing to some tunes, and inside the radio station had set up more music. There were people EVERYWHERE.

The store had a lot of really nice outdoor furniture and some building stuff (and a racecar bed that I could tell Andy really wanted!)…but the place was getting close to bare even though I’m pretty sure it was packed full o’ stuff when it opened that morning. We talked to the volunteer who checked us out, and she said when she got there at 8:30 (store opened at 9:00) people were lined up to get in. They were just emptying those shelves like crazy. Fantastic!

We weren’t looking for anything in particular, but we did find a really nice faucet to go with the vanity and tiles we bought at the Roanoke Habitat ReStore a few months ago. Our bathroom is gonna be a Habitat-furnished room!

We saw the same faucet at HD for almost twice what we paid, so YAY! We also bought a pair of rubbery gloves because they were pretty…and rubbery.

After we paid and headed outside, we saw a line forming and we smelled food! There were free burgers, chips, and drinks! WHEE! And who was cooking up the burgers but none other than Mr. Kenney! (Admittedly, before that moment we didn’t know who Mr. Kenney was.) He was having a blast cooking up burgers with a speed to be envied by any barbecuer. Flames shot up as he flipped and turned burgers left and right. Yum yum!

We had a few more errands to run before heading home, but it was all pretty anticlimatic after the Habitat opening.

We have a signed contract for the purchase of our old house!!!! Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.

As long as I can remember my parents have had one of those domed popcorn poppers where you add the oil and kernels and the little thingy spins around and mixes it all up. After the corn is popped, my Dad dumps the corn into a paper grocery bag, adds some salt, folds over the top of the bag, and shakes. This way, the salt gets all over and well…that’s just how you do it, ya know?

I had an air popper for a while, but it met an untimely death at the bladders of the cats. Or maybe Andy killed it because he does not like air popped corn. Either way, we’ve been without a popper for at least a year, and lately I’ve really been wanting popcorn. Andy likes the microwave stuff, which is nice, but it’s not the same. And it’s expensive. And I’m cheap.

We were in walmart the other day and I saw a popper there and almost bought it but decided to wait. A few weeks later, Andy was browsing around on Amazon (he likes to web window shop) and saw a popper for a decent price. He ordered it and we waited. For some reason they wouldn’t ship it. And we waited. And waited. ARG. WHERE IS MY POPPER??

Finally, one day we came home from work and there was a nice happy box on the porch. YAY! We’d bought a bag of corn on our last shopping trip so we’d be ready. What a very good idea because if that popper arrived and we hadn’t had corn, I probably would have tried to pop something else. Like sunflower seeds. Or pepper corns. Or cotton balls.

After digging the popper out of its box and setting it up on the counter and adding the oil and the kernels and putting the top on and plugging it in, I waited patiently. (Okay, there may have been some bouncing involved.) This is what I saw:

Did you know, they’ve made innovations in popcorn poppers in the last ten years or so? It seems like such a basic device to me that I never thought there’d be popper engineers sitting around trying to make a better popper. But, I guess there have been.

As the little spinner thing spun, I started to get hypnotized. Then it happened. the spinner thing stopped.

“Aie! It’s broken! Annnddddddddy!”

Andy came in and we stared at the popper and the spinner thing. The spinner thing spun some more. Then stopped again. Then it spun in the other direction!! Whoa. Popcorn popper evolution.

A few minutes later…light, fluffy success. And a cat.

Now all we need are a few paper grocery bags, and we’ll be set.

This evening, since we don’t really care about the Super Bowl, we decided to watch Little Miss Sunshine. Now, I know when you’re pregnant organs and such get, um, compromised by the watermelon growing in your stomach….and it was a funny movie, with a hilarious climatic scene that had us in tears…

…but I’m not sure I wanted to hear, afterwards, “I think I just peed myself a little.”