Highlight: Learning to breathe fire.

No really. I’m serious. Was at Jason & Laurie’s “Tween” party and Jules (who I know way back when from high school, but who it also turns out knows everyone else in the universe that I do) and her hubby, Brian (with an “i” I think?) showed a few of us (including Kim) how to breathe fire.

I never thought the ability to spray liquid effectively would be so useful (generally speaking, when I spray liquid in the aforementioned fashion it’s because someone has said something too funny when I had my mouth too full of Coke).

Other good bits: Brunch Sunday with my friend David Matusiak and dinner Friday night with my friends Allan & Inez. Much knitting, some card-making and a little bit of jewelry-making thrown in for good measure.

The ANFDCS (Annual Norman Family Dysfucntional Christmas Shindig) was this past weekend, in Charlotte. It was pretty fun, actually, somewhat to my surprise (very confusing family history stuff here, which I’ll spare you, but suffice it to say that it’s been a long road to get here). Here are some pictures — I find it *hilarious* how similar my Dad and his brothers look. Jeff was a doll and (a) went with me (not easy for an introvert to deal with a passel of Norman-kin) and (b) helped in the kitchen (there was some sort of catering snafuu). The neat thing is that was probably the best of all possible worlds. *He* got to do something to keep busy and be productive (which is easier for him than straight-up solcializing) *and* super-huge double bonus points were awarded by my family for his all-around usefulness!

HOORAY!

I had a very productive/fun weekend! On the productive end: installed new molding (to match the cabinets [wood] instead of the walls [white] in the master bath [bought a cheap miter box in order to make angle cuts] — actually Jeff pretty much did this, but I did clean up ;-) ; repaired the bathroom ceiling (at one point I was up to my elbows in ceiling texture spray — that stuff is *messy*!); knit another baby hat.

On the fun side: Friday night Jeff and I went to see the Animation Show at the Carolina Theatre in Durham — nice mix of animations, though some were *really* weird. Then dinner at Verde, which was quite good. Their concept is “simple food” (actually their window sign says “Naked Food”… I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that everyone was fully dressed), so Jeff had roasted chicken and potatoes and I had a ceasar salad. We ordered two different cheeses to start (and they’ve got great bread!) — I need to remember to buy the Celebrity Dairy goat cheese more often — mmmmmm! We went over to Allan & Inez’s house on Saturday for cocktails and scary movies (REALLY scary — “The Ring” — eep!). Sunday afternoon we saw Under the Tuscan Sun (and snuck Wendy’s into the theater… we’re baaaaad!) and enjoyed it (major chick flick though… the IMDB reviewed nailed it on that one). I’ve never thought of myself as someone who’d fall in love with Italy (my people are of the fair-skinned, northern type, and it’s always been the emerald green places (like Ireland) that have “called” to me), but this movie made me want to see Italy. Jeff flew out to Chicago last night & will be there until Friday evening (ick).

So last night I did something that’s embarrasingly uncommon for me: I participated in government.

Odd (and long) story:

I would love to buy some land near my current house so that I can build my next house (let’s face it, I’m gonna outgrow this one!). A few months back a plot of land right around the corner from mine went on the market. I was intrigued, so I called the listing agent. Sadly, the plot was 6.9 acres, which was far too rich for my blood.

Fast forward a few days. I am at my Dr.’s office (Sabrina Mentock) and I’m talking to Melinda, the office manager. She knows I added onto my house a few years back and asks me how I like it. “Oh, great… I love the addition. I love the neighborhood. In fact, I’d like to buy some land around here so I can build my next house here.”

“Oh, really? Dr. Mentock’s trying to buy some land right around here so she can build a new office!”

(You can guess which plot Dr. Mentock was trying to buy.)

So when I went in to see her, I asked Dr. Mentock about her plans. She told me she’d like to build a doctor’s office that’s actually a large house (maybe a Victorian?) with a wraparound porch, where folks from the community can hang out, even if they’re not patients of hers. The only problem is that the zoning of the lot would need to be changed in order to accomodate it (from low-density residential to commerical). Now, I *love* this idea — this is the sort of “mixed use” development that’s good for communities. It’s even good for the environment, as the amount of impermeable surface for her single house-office would be *less* than the amount that would be created if houses were built as the current zoning allows.

So last night I went before the planning council to speak on behalf of the idea. And it will be recommended by the planning council! :) Next step is the actual rezoning hearing, which I might try to attend as well.