Overall you could say the weekend was domestically satisfying. On Saturday night I washed and folded many loads of laundry, decluttered the entryway, watched too much Bravo -- "The Real Housewives of Orange County" and the movie "Honey" -- and dusted. Sunday morning I woke up too early, loaded a mostly full knife block into my backpack, and drove to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. Then I walked over to the farmer's market, paid to have my knives sharpened, and bought Cirrus cheese from Port Townsend Creamery, a baguette, and a jar of pumpkin butter.

It was surreal walking around carrying 6 dull knives and a pair of kitchen scissors on my back. I kept wondering what the guys at the Jiffy Lube would think if they knew what I was packing. I was like the world's most inefficient hitman.

Hold on, [swing bag around, unzip], just give me a second, [fumble, fumble, draw], don't move, I SAID DON'T MOVE, [thrust dull knife at target, scratching the target really badly]. DamMIT. [run]

After I got home, I started prep work on the beef stew, stopped to chat with the landlady, and put the stew in the oven. It turned out well, though I would probably skip the noddles and just add potatoes next time. Jer and I ate dinner while watching the English language version of "Kiki's Delivery Service," which I thought was only okay. We usually watch sub-titled anime, so I'm not sure how much the experience would change without dubbing. It was sort of strange to say, "That sounds a lot like Janeane Garafalo," and then see her name in the credits.

I'm taking vacation days all next week and it looks like Jer will have Thanksgiving evening off, which is very nice. So far I've bought ingredients to make the green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and ordered the turkey. Not particularly imaginative, but comforty-type food. I might try my hand at the family Greek Stuffing recipe, and I will definitely be making mashed potatoes. Beyond that I should sit down and hammer out a menu.

Whatever I do, it'll beat my lame attempt last year. I think we stocked up on turkey TV dinners and ate that for a week.

Apathy and I, we are on-again off-again.