Merry Christmas!

In spite of my high hopes a couple months ago, I haven't done much in the way of Christmas cards this year.

But, to compensate, here's your virtual Christmas card:

Or if you'd rather one of these:

And on the inside it says something along the lines of:

Merry Christmas!
May the Spirit of Christ bless and
guide you this holiday season and always.
Love,
Peanut and Marty

Struggling

Have any of you who read my blog ever asked to be released from a calling or church responsibility?
I'm really having a hard time with mine, and I'm about ready to throw in the towel.
I don't know how to work constructively with the people I'm supposed to work with, and I end up frustrated and crying about it to Marty. Regularly.

Recent Project

The story: One October evening I was hanging out with some friends, and I told them about my Raggedy Ann & Andy project. And my new friend E said, "So are you the one I should talk to about making a garment bag for my temple dress?"
I'm not. But I knew the right people to talk to.
First, I asked a friend about a pattern. She didn't have one per se, but had created her own after not liking any of the patterns she'd seen. She offered to walk me and E through the process. (After E mentioned it, I decided I needed a garment bag too).
And then I called another wonderful friend who makes custom draperies, etc. and has a really great stash of decorator fabrics. Not only that, this friend is nice and very generous with her stash. E and I went over to her house one night and she showed us the fabrics she had. E and I both fell instantly in love with one of the fabrics in particular, and fortunately, there was enough of it that we could both get a bag out of it. When we mentioned that we were going to head out to the store to get zippers and thread, my generous and nice friend scoffed at that idea, and sent us off with everything we needed from what she had in her own supply. She completely hooked us up.
We spent two evenings working on these bags. Once they were done, I left mine hanging in the living room for about a week and a half--for me to easily admire each day.
Here's the pictures of the final product:

Peanut and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I've been working on a project for my boss. A project that my target date for completion was today. Initially I thought I'd have today to work on it, but after talking with my boss I realized she wanted it this morning.
With the change in timing I knew I'd have to do some work from home, but I could definitely get it done.
Last night I stayed up very very late working on this project.
And then when I was done I saved all my documents, closed them, and went to bed.
I woke up early this morning (I didn't even snooze once!) to get into the office early to wrap up a few loose ends.
And then, and then, and then I tried to open my word document from my flash drive. And then I tried again, and again. Nope. My file has a problem and word won't open it. Neither will Open Office, or any other programs I thought of to try to open it.
And when my boss came to me this morning wanting the files, I stammered a bit explaining about the corrupt file, and how I had put together another file for her, but it wasn't the full project.
I had hoped to be able to give her a flash drive that she could just take with her with the entire project on it. Instead I cobbled together a pitiful "it's better than nothing" file.
Good news, my supervisor thinks he can at least recover the text even if we can't find a solution for the whole file. He's working on that. In the mean time I've been sent home to take a break.
And then this afternoon and tomorrow, I'll be reconstructing the lost file. Because while my boss was fairly understanding this morning, she still wants it by Sunday.
------
4:45pm Update: I never did get the whole file recovered, but my supervisor was able to recover the text. And truthfully, though it's pain to put it all together again and copy and paste the figures again, recreating the lost text was the part that I was dreading most.

Still frustrating.

Plus, I appreciate my supervisor's understanding in telling me to come home and take a break when I was at a peak in my frustration. Plus he even mentioned comp time for having to work this weekend.

First Five Stuff

The pictures aren't that great, but this is the end of my First Five...or so. They will be in the mail shortly.

For Bethany:

For Christina:

For Amy:

For Caroline:

For Aunt Diane:

Girls and their bags

I spent some time this summer visiting my sister Boss. We made a purse. She wrote about that experience here. And in case you were wondering, here's what it looks like. It's pretty cute, huh? OK, so what that it's too small for my scriptures. It fits the essentials--iPhone, keys, and chapstick. Plus, it was fun to make. So what that it's bullet-proof? That's a bonus feature.

Anyway, Marty's sister Emily, and my niece Ellorie were here visiting us last week. I showed Emily this little purse Boss and I made. When Ellorie saw it her eye lit up and she got excited. Then she asked, "Is that for me or you [her mom]?" It was so sweet and she was immediately infatuated with it. But I was cold and heartless, and not ready to give away my funny, cute little purse.

So I did the next best thing. I made one especially for Ellorie. Purple and cute, but not bullet-proof. Oh, and here's a cute Ellorie story--we were in a thrift store when I commented on her pretty purple hairbows, which matched her purple shirt. She then recounted for me how "the lady" (the store owner) had seen Ellorie and asked, "Who likes purple?" And how Ellorie had raised her hand and said, "I do!"

The beauty of this project is that I had everything except for the interfacing in my stash already. I love you Ellorie! I hope you like this one as much as you liked the other one.

Conference Quilt

Six months ago I worked on this one for Mom. Six months before that it was this one for Junior Mint. I didn't have a specific project in mind to work on this past General Conference, so I went to my fabric stash started a potential project.

This is some of the fabric I got from Aunt Betty. When I chose the fabric, I wasn't really sure how anything would come together. There were fat quarters, large pieces of fabric, and a few pieces that were already cut out--some triangles, some strips, some squares. Unlike any of the other quilts I've done, I didn't draft it out and do careful calculations ahead of time. I just started sewing.

Here's how it ended up:

I really like it. It's one of my very favorite quilts that I have made. Ok, it's not finished yet, but still, I really like it. In fact, I think I'm going to keep it for myself. In terms of finishing it, I've asked Marty's mom to do the quilting with her long arm quilter.

I'm looking forward to the completely finished product.

Belly Button Research

Today at work I was doing what I normally do--going through a number of patents. This sentence in one of the patent applications* caught my eye:

This invention was made with U.S. Government support under grant N00014-94-1-4457 from the Office of Navel Research.

Really? I wonder what the competition is like in getting a grant from the Office of Navel Research? And, how much is there to study about belly buttons? Maybe I left academia too soon.

*For those who want to check it out yourself, it's US patent application number 20050037975

What's cooking

Last night Marty and I went and saw Julie & Julia. It was fun, and cute, and I was inspired. So inspired that since then I've thought that I should spend some of my birthday money to go to my favorite kitchen-supplies outlet store and get one of the mortar and pestles that I've had my eye on. And maybe I need to get a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking too. Or at least see what Julia Child videos I can find at my local library.

Tonight on my way home from work, I stopped by the grocery store. I didn't buy a duck to debone and turn into "pate de canard en croute." I'm not ready for "Boeuf Bourguignon" either. As you can see, perhaps some of the Julia Child mojo has worn off. Or maybe it was a long, hard day at work.

On the bright side, the employee monitoring the self-checkout lanes complimented me on how well and efficiently I checked myself out.

Catching Up

You might not know it from what I've posted so far, but it's been a pretty busy couple of months for us. So here's a quick run-down of some of what we've been up to.

In July, Marty's "Grandpa Jack" passed away. We changed our 4th of July plans and went up to Minnesota for the funeral. I've been meaning to post about this trip. About Grandpa Jack. But I haven't known what to say. We miss him, but the funeral services were a nice tribute to a life well lived.

We enjoyed being able to visit with family and friends while we were in Minnesota. Unfortunately, though we took the camera with us, we only managed to get 2 pictures on it from that trip.

Not too long after returning from Minnesota, I had a little vacation trip to Buffalo to stay with Boss and her family.

I had a really good time while I was there. In fact, even the fact that my luggage didn't arrive with me (or if it did, it spent the night on the plane) was a good excuse to have some fun crafty time. Afterall, what do you do when you're on vacation with no clean clothes and have spent the night in borrowed PJs? Why, you get your super-crafty sister to whip up a skirt for you. And of course she'll just happen to have a shirt to go with it that she can give you.

We played in the backyard, made paper boats (and submarines), went to the Buffalo Zoo, and lots of other fun stuff. Again, I didn't do so great at photo-documentation. Here are a couple pictures I got on my iPhone. These onese with Sam on the bench were initially going to have both Sam and Grace on the bench, but Grace got tired of my inability to push the right buttons and effectively take a picture. So by the time I actually got any pictures taken, she had wandered off.

And these are some of the pictures I took of Sam and Grace and Boss riding the train at the zoo.

My trip to Buffalo was strategically planned so that I could also fit in a night at The Hill Cumorah Pageant. Until this year, I think the last time I saw it was in 1993. What made it especially fun was having Mom and Dad, Mark and Shana and their boys, John, and Michael there too, and getting to meet Michael's fiancee Jenny and her kids.

Then a couple weekends ago we had Marty's sister Jamie and her family come visit us. We picnicked at Duke Gardens and enjoyed seeing all the beautiful flowers in bloom. We checked out Duke University and UNC campuses. We played some cards and some rock band. And we took a trip to the beach.

We didn't take any pictures of that visit either because we'd managed to lose the camera (I have since found it--in the laptop bag--still packed from our Minnesota trip). But I do have this picture to share that Jamie took while we were in Minnesota. This is me and Jamie and Ryan's daughter Norah. Marty and I are both quite smitten with Norah--and can you blame us? Look at that smile!

Caught!

The other day Marty and I were in Target. On our way to the checkout counter, I was side-tracked by a tote bag. I admit, I have a thing for tote bags, and this one was cute. Real cute. My infatuation with it was short lived, however, because I don't pay that much for a tote bag. So I walked away.
A couple days later Marty said to me, "I looked in the office closet today..."
Right then I knew I was caught. That's where I keep my purses, totes, and other random bags that I'm not currently using. He'd found my stash! (And I thought I'd hidden it so well behind my fabric and card-making stashes--Argh!)
"...You've got like a hundred bags in there! And you were eying a new one at the store!?"
"It's not 100. Maybe 20. Or so. And I've used them all."
"But how can you possibly need another?"

He just doesn't understand. But if I go back to Target and find that bag on clearance, I'm getting it in a heartbeat.

More First Five...

For Boss:

A House of Order

Marty has been out of town for the past three and a half weeks. He's been on the west coast. Working. On a yacht.
We've missed him dearly. We've survived and everyone got fed everyday and the house didn't burn down. But still, we've missed him.
Marty came home today. All of a sudden it feels like order has been restored. The home and family are as they should be.
It's nice.
Welcome home, Marty.

My Garden

It's not much, but these pictures pretty much sum up my garden.

Upper left--my tomato plant. I'm pretty happy with how the tomato is doing, but I'm battling whiteflies. I don't like whiteflies. Grrr.

Upper right--my mint plants-spearmint and chocolate mint. These guys are doing pretty well. However, at this point I don't think I have enough to make mint jelly. But maybe I can find someone with mint to spare.

Lower left--my basil. A few months ago I was pretty darn sure that I'd successsfully killed this basil. I was wrong. This makes me happy. I got this basil plant last year--yep, I've had it a year and haven't killed it yet. Apparently, however, I was successful at killing the one on the right. Doesn't the happy one just make you want to get some fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and french bread?

Lower right--my kitchen sink plant. I got this at a plant exchange at my old job a couple years ago. Before accepting it I needed lots of assurances that this plant was difficult to kill. I've watered it maybe twice in the past 6 months--good thing Marty does it more often.

Not shown--my parsley. I grew this from seed last year (sort of accidentally). Not long ago I repotted them to give them a little more room to spread out. It seems they didn't truly appreciate this act of love. They haven't been doing too well since then. I'm still hoping they recover.

Also not shown--the African Violet from Anne Marie. It's not looking as nice as it was when she gave it to me, but I'm not giving up on it yet.

My Little Tattle Tale

For the most part our guest bedroom is an animal free room. We keep the door closed and Razor and Cher are not allowed in.
However, since our last series of guests, we haven't re-made up the room nor have we been as vigilant about keeping the door closed.
I've witnessed Razor sneaking into and out of that room, and I've assumed the same was true for Cher (but she happens to be sneakier).
Tonight Razor was agitated and came to get my attention. She led me to the guest room and into the closet--where Cher was snuggled comfortably in a corner. About an hour later Razor came and got me again. This time to let me know that Cher was under the bed.
My guess is that Razor thinks it's her room now and doesn't want to share. I'm sure they'll both be disappointed when the door is closed again and neither of them are allowed in.

Mark your calendars...

I've successfully completed the first milestone of being chairperson for the 2010 Henrichsen Family Reunion.
We're on the calendar for July 21-23, 2010 at Reid Ranch.

Almost Done

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to Ree's for the weekend. I went to help get this quilt finished up. I've been Ree's cheerleader and assistant on this project since she first told me she was thinking about making a quilt to go on MJ's daybed. Christmas 2007 we spent time with crayons and graph paper mapping out the block scheme, and putting in the request with Mom for the embroidered blocks in coordinating colors. Thanksgiving 2008 we worked on sewing the blocks together.

When Ree told me that she was hoping to finish it up before the baby is born I started thinking about finding a weekend to go out and help her. Thus my trip this past weekend.

We put the layers together, and tied the yarns. I think MJ liked that part--she was in charge of cutting the yarns. And then we pinned on the binding. Unfortunately, I'm a dummy and managed to leave the powercord and foot pedal for my sewing machine at home. And when it came to sewing on the binding, Ree's sewing machine just wasn't feeling up to the task. We did some brainstorming about what to do. The ideas included playing electrician and trying to convert the powercord for Ree's machine to work on mine, hand sewing, and using my machine by hand turning the wheel for the entire binding. In the end, I packed the quilt up in my trunk and brought it home to finish up the binding.

It's still not completely finished--the hand quilting in the embroidered blocks still needs to be done. But it's not too far off from being completely done.

First of the First Five

This weekend I drove out to visit Ree and family.
I went to help finish a quilt for MJ--a quilt that's been about a year and a half in the making. More on that in another post.
But this post is about my First Five ... or so.
I gave Ree a couple of options to choose from. She passed on the chicken:


And instead she chose a selection of cards:


As for BigZ, after a discussion of his interests and my crafty capabilities, we decided that unless I learn to make games for the Wii anytime soon, cookies may be the best choice.

For Mom

Spring

Spring is something I really love about North Carolina.

In an email I sent earlier this week I mentioned how lovely my drive to and from work is right now. Today I took a few pictures to share.

And this one is in my back yard...

Closets, head shots, and Bon Jovi

A theme that occurs in my dreams on a fairly regular basis is that I have a misunderstanding with someone in the family and it blows up and everyone is mad at me. But the misunderstandings that get it all started can be really strange sometimes. For example, last night's dream--
Boss and Coach were upset with me for two main reasons: 1) I was in bed when Boss and her fellow med students arrived to have a study group in my closet, and 2) I wasn't supportive of Coach's acting career and I kept pointing out flaws in all of Coach's head shots.
Dream Boss and Coach were very mad at me and my dream-self. And for good reason, clearly.

And on the topic of misunderstandings... Let's talk about Bon Jovi.
Specifically, Livin' on a Prayer
Back in the 80's when this song was all the rage on the radio, I thought it was so cool. But I also thought it was "Livin' on a Prair" as in short for "prairie" as in Little House on the Prairie. I knew I really liked, Little House, and clearly so did Bon Jovi.
When I hear Livin' on a Prayer these days, I still think about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Untested--Triple Chocolate Mousse Torte

I did some searching online and this looks like it might be close to what I had at the conference last month. I haven't tried it, so I can't be totally sure. If you try it before I do, let me know how it is. Does it qualify as "Triple Chocolate Mousse Heavenly Delight"?

Triple Chocolate Mousse Torte
(published in Bon Appetit April 1996, recipe from the White House Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island)

Ingredients:
Vegetable Oil
4 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
4 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
4 ounces good-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Baker's), chopped
1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup half and half

1 3/4 cups chilled whipping cream

Preparation:
Brush 9-inch diameter springform plan with oil. Place each chocolate in separate medium bowl. Combine 1/4 cup water and gelatin in a small bowl. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat yolks and sugar in a large bowl until mixture is pale yellow and very thick, about 5 minutes. Bring half and half just to simmer in heavy large saucepan. Gradually whisk hot half and half into beaten egg mixture. Return mixture to same saucepan. Stir over medium heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 3 minutes (do not boil). Remove custard from heat. Add softened gelatin; stir until gelatin dissolves. Strain mixture into large glass measuring cup. Immediately pour 1/3 of hot custard over each chocolate. Stir each chocolate with separate spoon until melted and smooth. If mixture cools before chocolate is completely melted, set bowl over saucepan of simmering water and stir just until chocolate melts. Cool chocolate mixtures to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
Beat cream in large bowl until stiff peaks form. Divide whipped cream equally among bowls of chocolate, using about 1 1/3 cups cream for each. Fold whipped cream into chocolate in each bowl.
Pour bittersweet chocolate mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Smooth top with spatula. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Pour milk chocolate mixture over bittersweet chocolate later. Smooth top with spatula. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Pour white chocolate mixture over milk chocolate mixture. Smooth top with spatula. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. (Torte can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover with plastic and store in refrigerator.)
Run sharp knife around sides of pan. Remove pan sides. Cut torte into wedges and serve.

Progress

Good news. My letters seem to have done something because my former insurance company has changed my coverage termination date yet again, and unless they've altered the space time continuum, my appointment with the foot doctor should be covered.

For more details see: To Whom It May Concern

First Five...or so

I've made another executive decision. I've had such fun planning and making the fabulous give-aways for my first five, and I've had fun signing up for lots of other people's first fives, I'm extending my first five.
It's now first five...or so.
I haven't decided how many I'll go to, but we can find out. :)

First Five

As seen on Patrick Place, it's time for free stuff! Here's how it works:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It’ll be done this year. {translation: you may be waiting a little while}
4. You have no clue what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a poem, a bookmark, something yummy or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows? not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
6. Most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog (or if you do not have a blog, facebook) get something made by YOU!

Anyone up for it? Let the comments begin...

___________________________________________________________________
EDITOR'S NOTE: Um, I'm going to edit rule 6. It's not most important to me that you offer the same deal. I don't really care. I'm excited about crafting stuff for people. So don't let rule 6 keep you from leaving a comment. Come on, you know you want to comment and see what kind of surprise you'll get... Do it. Do it now.

10 for Tuesday

I'm a copycat. Here goes.
1. Today I got a bill from the doctor. The foot doctor. Remember that story? Yeah, I didn't really think so. Anyway, even though the last time I spoke with them they went on and on about monthly payments from their patients with no insurance, today's bill has a little note at the bottom "FINAL NOTICE. IF THIS ACCOUNT IS NOT SETTLED WITHIN THE NEXT 30 DAYS, IT WILL BE PLACED IN COLLECTION." Let me point out that I've been making monthly payments. Grrr.

2. Speaking of those payments I've been making, with the first payment I included a letter explaining that I was disputing the decision of the insurance company to not cover the appointment. And I have been--disputing the decision. I sent faxes to everyone at the insurance company for whom I could come up with a fax number. The President and CEO of the company was one of the intended recipients of the fax. Good news: I got a letter of acknowledgment with an assurance that the matter would be looked into with the hope of speedy resolution. Then I got another letter, apparently from the person who looked into the matter. Paraphrasing, it said, "Suck it. Better luck next time."

3. I learned a new term. "Detrimental Reliance." I sent more letters back to the insurance company. This time cc-ing the general counsel and using this newly learned legalese. I'm still waiting to hear back from them, but I'm glad I have lawyer-type friends who encouraged me not to give up on this yet (and taught me new words).

4. More legal stuff. I got a ticket. :( Last month. I was on my way home, about a block from my house when the blue lights came on. My registration was expired. Oops. I hadn't realized it because I didn't get the renewal notice in the mail. Probably because we moved and the DMV didn't know my new address even though I'd told them the new address when I got a new license with the proper address on it.
But anyway, my registration was expired, and this highway patrolman noticed. Here's my bad luck. I've been pulled over twice--once for speeding on my way home to Minnesota after a weekend in Iowa, and then last month. Both times I got full-fledged tickets. No warnings. Just tickets.

5. My court date for the ticket is this week. Last week I started wondering about it--see, the fine itself was only $25, but the "court costs" part of the ticket was over $100. Rumor had it that by going in to court I could get the fine waived, but not the court costs. So I began to wonder, is it worth $25 to take at least 2 hours off work to spend part of the day at the courthouse waiting in line?

6. Enter my dear husband, Marty. I expressed the dilemma about the ticket to him, and he says, "Let me see what I can do. Maybe I can have power of attorney and take care of it for you. I have more time on my hands during the day." So, last week Marty made a call and then took my proof of registration (because I came home and registered the car online within an hour of getting the ticket) and the ticket in to the courthouse and waited. At the end of his waiting he had the good news that all charges were dropped and all fines waived--even the court costs. Hooray Marty!

7. Before Marty told me the good news about the ticket, he tricked me and told me that he'd gotten upset while at the courthouse and been found in contempt.
He got a good reaction out of me before telling me the real story.

8. Speaking of Marty, he has a job interview on Friday. It's the next step from a phone interview he had last week. Please, keep him in your prayers.

9. And on the topic of prayers, please keep Marty's sister and her husband in your thoughts and prayers. They are in the midst of adopting a beautiful baby girl, Norah Noelle. However, apparently the biological father is trying to stop the process. Please pray for their family and for all involved that the situation can be resolved quickly and according to God's will.

10. Well, I made it to #10. Dessert time. Last week I went to a conference where they served an amazing dessert. They called it "Flourless Chocolate Cake," but that's a major undersell. It was more like "Triple Chocolate Mousse Heavenly Delight." It was layers of mousse-like consistency, starting with a dark chocolate bottom layer and successively lighter chocolate layers on top, with a final dollop of whipped cream. It was creamy and light and absolutely divine. I've had fond thoughts of that dessert ever since. Mmmm. Yummy, yummy goodness.

Miscellaneous

I have a lot of pictures I've meant to do some blogging with.

First, here are some pictures of Harvey's family playing Rock Band with us. I admit, I wasn't excited about Rock Band when Marty got it for Christmas, but it has been a lot of fun. We even got Dad to play with us when he came to visit last week.

Next up: Crafty stuff. Here's a quilt I finished up recently. I used a fuzzy throw I got on discount after Christmas for the backing and the front was from fabrics that I had--either just lying around waiting to be used or leftover from other projects. I got this pattern from the quilting book I got from Mom's library several years ago. This pattern is called Kaleidoscope. I'm a big fan of it. I thought it looked pretty cool in the sketched-out drawing in the book, but I think the finished design is much better. I gave this quilt to the friend of ours who has taken care of Cher for us the past several times we've left town. There were a few times that I considered just keeping this one and giving her a different one. I settled for pictures.

And finally, Barbies. I came home from Mom and Dad's house with these three little dolls. I guess all the fun playing Barbies over Christmas and seeing how Harvey's girls enjoyed these three dolls encouraged me to do some Craigslist searching for Barbies. A few days and $6 later I added 10 Barbies and a Ken doll to my collection. Here's the thing about free Barbie collections--the dolls don't always come fully clothed. In fact, poor Ken only had a ratty old T-shirt and no pants whatsoever. I did some Barbie clothes mending, purchased a few outfits, and even tried my hand at designing some of my own--the black dress, black skirt, white top, belt, and black and grey swirly dress are the ones I crafted. Anyone wanna play Barbies? I'll let you pick first. And then we can play spin the Ken.

Snow Day

Yesterday when it was first mentioned that I be prepared to work from home today, I thought it was a bunch of hype.

But this is the scene I woke up to. I haven't seen this much snow in North Carolina before.


Razor went out on the porch with me to take the first picture. She didn't make it down the first step. Just one footprint in the snow was enough.

Neener, part 2

It's my turn now.

Jr. Mint came to visit for New Years.

And while we never did work out the terms to finalize a trade, having this little guy and his family around for almost a week sure did get the year off to a sweet start.

Thanks for the visit! Come back any time!

That's not a name you hear everyday

Peanut: Blah, blah, blah
[enter toddler who laughs and smiles at us then leaves]
Peanut: That was Solomon, by the way.
Bob: They pick some odd names.
Peanut: [shrug]
Bob, beginning to list examples of uncommon names in Solomon's family
Peanut: You realize you're talking to someone named Peanut.
Bob: Oh yeah. I forgot.

Negotiations

Harvey and Pooka's family packed up and left today. We miss them already. Here's a snippet from today.

Holly: [realizing that they are leaving to go home soon] Is Razor coming?
Me: No. Razor's going to stay here with Uncle Marty and me.
Holly: Why?
I started into an explanation about how Razor would miss us, etc.
Marty jumped in: Maybe we could trade--Razor can go with you, and Jr. Mint can stay here with us.
D.W.: [from the other room] No! If you get Jr. Mint, we get Cher!