Jul. 30: IDCEAYWTPFriday

It’s Friday, and that means you get a post called I Don’t Care Enough About You to Write in Transitioning Paragraphs Friday.

• There’s a new, limited-edition Tillamook ice cream called Grandma’s Cake Batter and it. is. delicious. Like most cake batter-flavored ice creams, it tastes like cake batter and has sprinkles in it. But the Grandma’s Cake Batter also has cream cheese frosting ribbons through it—YUM!—and pieces of cake. Uh, I want to make sure you get that: PIECES OF CAKE. In the ice cream. Pieces of cake in the ice cream, yes. So good. So evil. When you browse the freezer full of Tillamook ice cream cartons at the grocery store, look for a red lid. The red means extry-tasty. (You locals can find it at New Seasons, not Albertsons.)
• Have you read Sarah Palin’s secret dictionary? It’s a good’n.
• I went in for the appointment with my doctor on Wednesday. The nurse fell all over herself with concern, but the doctor was fairly indifferent. When he asked how I was doing, I said, “Well, I have cancer…” but he didn’t take the opportunity to apologize or say “oops” or anything (not that I expected him to), and went right on to more questions. Overall he wasn’t a total jerk, but he wasn’t Dr. Super-Nice-Guy-Because-I-Nearly-Let-You-Die, either. And I handled it all grownup-like, without yelling or crying or flipping him off outside my head, so there’s that. I got my prescription refill and left with a stronger-than-ever resolve to find a new primary care physician. If you have any recommendations, please feel free to send them my way, because I really, really hate this doctor.
• If you like Zach Galifianakis and haven’t watched any of the Between Two Ferns shows at Funny or Die, you’re missing out. Be warned that they are not for little ears. The latest one is with Steve Carell:
  
  
  
• Yesterday was Vic’s birthday. He turned… older. We partied with much delicious food over at Darlene and Wellington’s, and were glad to have his sister Sonya and her family, as well as Sally and Presley (Daryl will be here in a few days) there to celebrate with us. We have such a good time when we’re all together. I married into a lovely family.
• I had chemo #12 on July 20 and still haven’t written about it. I will, though. Still needing to follow up on a small issue and then I’ll actually have something to say.
• This is weird: a dance studio in Scotland is offering pole dancing classes for kids. Now, we all know that pole dancing is a good way to fight cancer and look fabulous doing it, but I’m not sure how I feel about lessons for little ones. Whatevs.
• So now that I’m a big fan of Flight of the Conchords, I was excited to see Kristen Schaal (Mel) was on Letterman this week. She was quite charming and funny:
  
  
  
  
  
• Yesterday I shopped for Katie and Jack’s school supplies. I can’t believe it’s already time to start getting ready for a new school year. Yes, we still have a month of summer left, but there’s so much to do and I know the time will fly. Just thinking about it exhausts me. Dina, you threw a last day of school party; how ‘bout I throw a first day of school party? Five Lemon Drops for everyone!
• The almost-constant sun we’ve had for the past few weeks is making our garden grow and grow. I’ll close this week’s IDCEAYWTPFriday with pictures I took in our yard earlier this week.

 Our coneflowers finally bloomed!

 I think their big fat centers are so cool.

 This is one of the bellflower plants, and it’s beginning to wither.
It’s still got beautiful color, though, and lots more buds to enjoy.
What I love about these flowers are the centers. Take a closer look:

See how they’re all curly?
In the wider angle, you can see the shadows of some of the middles too.
I love these tiny little details.

  Here’s a close-up of one of our tiny little sea thrifts.
The blossoms don’t last long on these flowers, but they bloom for months and months, so I don’t mind.

  I was so glad to see our agapanthus finally started to open up last week.
The ones we planted last spring froze during the winter; this is a new one and much smaller.
If it lasts through next winter we’ll have a nice big one next spring.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Muy importante.

I gotta say, I’m glad to see this week finally end. It was a rough one for me. It shouldn’t have been, with the kids at Grandpa and Grandma’s almost all week, but it was. I’m not sure what triggered the slide down down down, but I was exhausted in every way. I look forward to a peaceful weekend and having Victor home for a couple days. (I kinda like him.) Y’all have a good weekend too! Smooches—