I have been fighting with this design for almost 24 hours straight, although I did take a 2 hour nap somewhere between 9 and 11 am. At first I couldn't get my posts to post. I could get only the first one to post. But I figured that out, and then I had this awesome design set up where every entry was going to be encircled by a retro-mod swurvy border. But it wasn't working. So finally, I took the easy way out, which is the simple title border. It's easy.

By the by, Presidents' Day is awesome. It is awesome because I went to Robinsons-May, which is California's version of Hecht's (in Maryland) or Marshall Field's (in Michigan). I had always admired this white suit with orange pinstrips--I am sucker for two things: orange and pinstrips. And when you put the two together, I can't help myself. But the price of the jacket was $34.00 and the pants were $28.00 -- and then I could help myself. But I happened to be waiting for Brad, because he wasn't done working yet, so I went to peruse the clearance racks. I hardly ever buy anything anymore, but I like to look. And I saw the orange-pinstrips I had been coveting since October at 75% off. They ended up only being $6.60 -- the cashier used some store coupon which gave me even more off. So I also bought the blazer, and this other skirt I had been dying for since it was only $6.50 (marked down from $26). I bought three items for like $24--the combined total of which was lower than the price of a single item originally. I love Presidents' Day!

So there has been a recent smelly situation in the apartment, and no, it does not involve poo, Josh. I know you and Brad must be very disappointed.

Last night, I made Beef Teriyaki. I had purchased one of those frozen dinner meals, where all the veggies and meat is in the bag, and all you do is thaw the sauce and simmer the package of food over medium heat. It smelled good while I made it. It tasted good while we ate it--although I do admit I could only eat half because I suddenly felt ill. This was at 6:30 pm.

12 hours later, I kid you not, I was wide awake. I was reading Trading Up by Candace Bushnell (the lady who wrote Sex and the City, it's definitely entertaining, Lorie think Gossip Girl for the 30+ female audience). So it's 6:30 am and I am feeling nauseous. I have been feeling nauseous all night. Why? It wasn't because of what I ate... it was because of what I cooked. The smell of beef teriyaki, broccoli, watercress chestnuts, carrots and cheapo teriyaki sauce had permeated the entire apartment. We're talking it had thoroughly planted itself in the living room (of course), wafted down the hall (obviously) and was maliciously encroaching upon our bedroom. The smell was so frickin' strong that I kept having dry heave reflexes that I could no longer control. And I had done everything in my power, at this point, to try to thwart the smell. I washed the dishes (thank you dishwasher), I scowered the kitchen, washed the floor, lit candles, opened windows and turned on fans.

The smell would not dissipate. The truly awful thing was that my nose wasn't gettiing used to the smell, like normal. Usually when something offends one's olfactory senses, it tends to absorb it and then forget about it, that way you can live with it. But the smell would leave for a bit, and then come in for the suffocating kill. I suppose this was due to the fact that i had fans stupidly circulating the air. So just when my olfactory senses had gotten used to the fact that I was not going to be able to escape the horror of Beef Teriyaki, the smell would smother and make me want to regurgitate all over again.

This went on until 9 am when I finally passed out. At 11, Brad woke up to get ready for work, so I packed him a lunch, and I drove as quickly as I could to CVS Pharmacy to pick up some defense weaponry. First, there was Lysol Neutra-Air. Then a Glade 3-in-1 candle. Also, Febreze for the carpet, in the case the particles of Beef Teriyaki and somehow managed their way into the carpet fibers.

I came home, armed and ready. Brad had found the source of the smell. Apparently a small pool of water and sauce had escaped the pan and was on the burner (we have a gas stove, so it was emanating all night long). Even so, I had just spent $25 on my olfactory defense system, so I went to work spraying and coating and wiping and lighting and airing out. And I'm happy to say that I haven't smelled Beef Teriyaki in at least 4 hours.

Ah... the little joys in life.

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