Two Fridays

Last Friday:

I was in Houston. A cold front had come through and it was cold for Houston, in the 40's. But sunny and clear. I met up with my friend Anne in the evening and we checked out the First Friday shopping festivities in her part of town, the Heights. Bands were playing funky Texas music outside all the shops, there were line dancers and face painters, there were Santas everywhere (and of every color) and all the shops were handing out food and wine. I got some cute Christmas cards and we tried on some really great clothes. It's nice to have a freind like Anne, who, though I may not see her for a year, it's like we never had any time apart when we DO get together. She's so great.
After that, we headed downtown where we met up with a bunch of girls for a girl's night out. My dear friend, lately of Norway, Julia, was there and she looked beautiful as always. I had the somewhat pleasurable, somewhat frustrating experience of not being able to eat my food due to my late food poisoning. I actually heard the words "Karla, you MUST eat or you will waste away" directed at me. That is a first. Nobody says that to me! I did have a nice glass of wine with my non-meal.
I had an early night that night, headed back to my brother's by about 10:30, and got ready to fly back to Norway the next day.

This Friday (last night):
Rich stayed late at work for his Annual Get Drunk And Puke Work Party. (I hate that party. Everyone stays late at the office, wives are NOT invited. The guys get drunk like nobody's business because offering free alcohol in Norway is like offering free Playstation 3's at a Walmart...it's gonna get crazy. Then all us wives, who are left at home, get to have these stinking drunk husbands coming home from a party we weren't even allowed to join. Grrr....but now I tell him that it's sofa time for him when this party comes around, I don't want to be awakened at 2 am from my restful slumber by a lumbering drunk man. So, there.)
Anyhow, the husband was off imbibing with the work blokes. I was at home in my jammies, enjoying a quiet vicodine for cramps and attempting to watch TV. Our cable box is on the blink and for some reason it just turns itself off after about an hour of TV watching. What pisses me off is its talent for clicking off just at the end of the movie I'm watching, in this case "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", which I had never seen in its entirely and still, unfortunately, haven't, thanks to the cable box. Once it turns off, you have to unplug it and let it sit for a while before trying again. this is seriously putting a dent in the tv watching experience. You never know when it's gonna quit working. So you can never get comfortable. I gave up on the TV and watched "The Notorious Bettie Page", which was pretty good. I am sure most guys would LOVE it as there is enough cheesecake and nekkid chicks in there to fuel most guys' fantasies for weeks. Gretchen Mol looks BETTER than the real Bettie Page. She was really good in the part.
I spent the early evening making chicken stock from leftover chicken bones from the night before. The pain pill and the hormones also gave me a craving for chocolate, so made brownies as well. Me so domestic! I forgot to make dinner, though, and ended up eating brownies and some "faux cheetos" that are actually better than the real American cheetos. "Krizpy Cheez Kruncherz". They smell like ass, but taste great. (Hey! Great slogan!)
I fell asleep in the "comfy chair" by 9pm. I crawled into bed and watched a couple of episodes of "My Name is Earl" on the bedroom TV before giving up and turning off the lights. I love everything about that show....the premise is brilliant, there is always a sweet little lesson, and just enough naughty humor that I snort at least once an episode. And hello...Jamie Pressley? How fucking awesome is she?

So there you have it, two Fridays, one week and two continents apart.