Sassy Black Friend

More money, more problems

Is anyone surprised that the boyfriend and I have used the need to buy a new dishwasher as an excuse to talk about redoing the kitchen? No. Didn’t think so. He got a job sooner than we thought, and we still have extra money that was set aside to tide us over. So, a little shopping spree might be happening.

I’m angling for new tile for the floor, a new disposal, Insinkerator of course, and maybe a new stand mixer. We’re going to do some looking this weekend.

Happy Banned Books Week!

Er, I’m not sure why this week goes from Saturday-Saturday, but here it is, Banned Books Week 2010 from September 25 – October 2, 2010.

From the official site:

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. The challenges have occurred in every state and in hundreds of communities.

On the list of the top 10 most challenged books for 2009 were four I read in school: To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple and The Chocolate War. Sheesh. Kids today are screwed.

Fun time planning

Considering how warm it has been this week, it’s no great surprise that I’m thinking of the beach. But I’m not willing to wait until next summer. So, I’ve decided to put together a group trip for New Year’s.

Right now I’m looking at the Outer Banks as a destination, because it’s fun and easy to get to. Who doesn’t want a great Outer Banks vacation?

The weather is pretty nice down there even in the winter, so we don’t have to worry (hopefully) about blizzards or anything. The drive is reasonable from DC, and there are enough locals in the area that we’ll have plenty of things to do, even off season.

I’m looking at houses from Carolina designs because they’ve got nice houses and a good website full of photos (very important).

I’m aiming for a group of 10 or so, and so far we’ve got 6 definites and 2 maybes. I want to go now.

Trying to heal

Drug addiction is a serious problem, of course. And everyone knows the emotional toll it can take on the addict and everyone that cares about them. What some people don’t think about is the physical effect using drugs, and even recovery can have.

Opiate addiction is one of the hardest to overcome. Part of the reason is that once your brain gets used to an opiate, getting it out of your system can be incredibly painful, and dangerous to your health. To help people get through the most physically difficult part of the process there is something called opiate detox.

The detox centers that perform rapid detox are able to use medications to quickly remove the opiate from the addicts body. This allows them to move into the active stage of recovery, learning to live without drugs, without the painful side effects of withdrawal.

This is just wrong

Funny, but wrong.

Pamper this!

Given the weird events of the last few days, I am a little worried about this weekend. Little Sister is taking J and I to a spa for the day Saturday as a thank you for helping with her wedding stuff.

Should be fun, but knowing my luck I’ll end up with a rash or getting burnt in a sauna, you know?

Instead of working, right now I’m going through the many offerings on the spa’s website. There are at least 10 “treatments” that I have no idea what they are. Thank goodness for Google. They have the basic stuff, and ahem, colon cleansing options, but there’s a whole list of things called “Rituals” that kind of scare me.