what should I buy to mix with a) Three Olives triple espresso Vodka, and b) Seagram's sweet tea vodka (individually not together, obviously) that I could buy at Trader Joes or a regular grocery store?

Oooo. I love Three Olives but I have not seen triple espresso. Yowza.

Simple options would be to get cream and make pseudo-white russians with the espresso vodka. With the sweet tea vodka, any kind of juice ought to work. And club soda, too.

Aw, Sue, you are so so sweet.... we'll see how ebay goes.

My brother just told me he's going to be in Boston for like a week! If I had known earlier, I totally would have made a trip up and visited Jesse and her new couch too! As it is, a little late to even make weekend plans. Ah well. (Besides, I'm going to B'ham at Xmas.) He's done this conference before, so maybe next year.

Swam a nice fuckload, 2700 yards. New suit is a hell of a lot less stretchy than old, and that's a good thing, though it will take getting used to. Was briefly trapped trying to get out of it in the shower. Depending on how it wears, might prefer the next size up, but we'll see. It was nice having all my parts stay put, gave a much more stable swim. It's a lot higher cut, which is ...interesting.

Erranded to the Walmarts and TJs. I hate that Walmart, but it is the only place I can regularly find my face lotion.

Doing a load of laundry now. Need to rake/sweep leaves tomorrow. And walk the lake. I've missed it.

Aw! That would have been fun!! Especially since he'll probably be literally around the corner from me.

He goes there a couple times a year. Now if he'll just give me a little more warning... This one is the week before TG, and I just can't do it now.

Just got done watching a Masterpiece Contemporary show from a few weeks ago called "Endgame," about the talks that brought about the end of apartheid. Really excellent show!! Starred Chiwetel Ejiofor (in a thick beard--I didn't recognize him for about ten minutes) as Mbeki, William Hurt as his Afrikaner counterpart in the talks, and a cameo by Derek Jacobi as the CEO of Cecil Rhodes' company (Consolidated Goldfields) whose underling was the mediator who organized and facilitated the talks. Just a fascinating depiction of the events in South Africa in the late 80s'/early 90s.

ETA: You can see it online here: [link]

I just opened my cupboard and realized K bought "syrup" to replace our almost empty bottle of maple syrup. It's ingredients are high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, caramel coloring, water, potassium sorbate, citric acid and salt. Notice the word maple is not in that list.

As someone who grew up in a town with an annual maple festival, I'm just sort of appalled.

AND the brand? Tropical!! What?!?! Maples don't grow in the tropics because they need a freeze-thaw-freeze cycle for the sap to run.

I just opened my cupboard and realized K bought "syrup" to replace our almost empty bottle of maple syrup.

Non-maple "syrup" is one of my shameful food loves. I was raised on Log Cabin and Mrs. Butterworth, so it tastes normal to me. Now that I have a brother in Vermont (mecca of real maple syrup), he supplies it to us on a regular basis. Still, when I have it, just for a minute, it doesn't taste "right."

I always liked the fake stuff better as a kid. Like with my non-love of lobster, my family was happy to indulge my cheaper preference.

I missed that, Kathy, because Masterpiece keeps changing its name and TiVo didn't know. I'm pissed I missed Chiwetel.

My skin has gotten so sensitive. Now when I eat tomato sauce it burns my lips as if it had been spicy food. I even have a tiny rash on top of the scar from when I last split my lip. I have no idea what's up with that. Everything I cook with stings. Still tastes good though.