Hi there!
I have a new best friend. Yep, Sansa has been replaced in my heart by Isi. I was having an email conversation with a nice fellow about bottled water, and mentioned to him that I have a sparkling water PROBLEM. He said that he and his wife got a soda siphon for Xmas and just love it. So, when I found myself in the strip yesterday buying food protection gloves (more on that later) I impetuously stopped into what was until recently Balcolny Cookware (it's being taken over by In the Kitchen from Wexford) and just got one. I just put it together about an hour ago and made my first batch. Wow. It's like science! And no more plastic bottles cluttering up my life. I am so psyched. Plus, damn...isn't she sexy? I am pretty sure that Isi is a she. SO now I have to come up with some clever uses for the used chargers. I'll bet someone out there in internet land has done some cool things with them.

Please do not ask me if you can come over and do whippits. The answer will be no. Isi is civilised.

So, other than buying a soda siphon, I have been busy being tossed and turned by the tides of life. Just found out today that the super secret thing is NOT going happen. Bummer. I am pretty sad about it, but there are plenty of ways in which it is just as well. I am still being a little cagey I know but until all the angles have been figured out I don't want to say anything concrete. Maybe tomorrow.
Also, I finally got to meet my new nephew on Friday when rebby and I went to dad's for good friday steak. We are the most blasphemous family of all time, no? It was a really nice evening with just dad and the sibs and the sibs offspring. Brady, the new nephew, is indeed a bruiser. But he is a bouncy smiling baby. I had a great time hanging out with him. Tristan is getting to be very communicative. The moms are both looking great. Dad made some awesome steaks and we feasted, drank wine, and talked about various things. It was a good way to spend the "holiday." Ha.
Before that, my almost-nephew was born, about three weeks early. I figure I might as well just claim him as a nephew too since I plan to lean heavily on him in my old age. Donovan Victor Shanley is a tiny little dude, but he has some pipes on him. Of course, he was born on Sebastian Bach's birthday. I was so excited to tell his parents that I practically ran to the hospital. He developed a little jaundice so he had to hang out on a glowing blue pillow for his first few days...it was pretty cool to walk into the room and see a soft blue light emanating from the crib. Everyone seems to be settling in well. I can't wait to go and check him out again now that he doesn't have to be plugged in. :)
Lets see...what else? Oh yeah...the food protection gloves. Last Friday we got a surprise visit from the health department. Bummer. We really do run a pretty clean operation, and in general we have very good habits, but there are some little nitpicky things that are health department requirements that we must do even if they don't really make sense. Like, wearing the gloves all the time. The health dept dude even admitted to me that PUTTING THE GLOVES ON contaminates them, but these days everyone has to act like each piece of spinach could potentially be diseased. The last time we were reviewed we were exempted from the gloves because we are a vegetarian operation, but things have gotten more stringent since all the vegetable based food poisoning epidemics of late. I have opinions on that, you know, but I kept them to myself. We also have to keep a chart of calibrating the thermometers every day. Grr. These are little annoyances, but it's like insurance against getting sued, apparently. Whatever it takes.
I'm really excited for my day off tomorrow. I just had two days off (though I did have a meeting on Sunday) but for some reason the weekend just tired me out. I am looking forward to some cleaning, laundry, and perhaps RELAXING. woohoo.