Cheering up (with recipe for Saturday)

You know what makes me feel better? Krylon. That's actually one of my mottoes--why cry when you can Krylon? If I didn't paint something today, I was truly going to go bizonkers. Beads simply aren't *enough*.

So I painted our queen-sized iron canopy bed. Hot pink. By myself. It's hot pink because L'Ailee said she would never use the bed again if I painted it turquoise. Hot pink will go nicely with the dove-gray walls and rose sheets, though. When it's all dry, I'm going to hang up white sheers along the rails, like curtains. A member of the Sweet Taters message board also suggested white holiday lights--OOH! And then there are Flor tiles, which I will be using to update the hardwood floor. It's not very nice wood.

Painting and redecorating don't make things any better, but they do make me *feel* better, and that's just about all I can shoot for at the moment. I went to the Krylon website, and found out that they also have something called Mystic Prism for plastic. A super-awesome glittery rainbow finish. "Darlin', what do we have that's plastic?" I hollered to L'Ailee. She didn't even know what I was looking at, but summarily replied, "Nothing for you to spray-paint!" You know, I shave that head every damn morning; I *know* she doesn't have eyes in the back of it!

Also, for some reason, the cats are avoiding me today. :-)

This, from Busy Cooks at About.com, is also cheering us up. It's awesome on chocolate ice cream.

MINT PESTO

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups packed mint leaves
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 Tbsp. honey
1/4 tsp. salt

PREPARATION:
In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water and bring to a boil. Boil until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes.
In food processor, combine mint with almonds; process until finely chopped.
With the motor running, add the cooled sugar syrup and the honey; blend until a paste forms. You may need to add more water to reach desired consistency. Store in the refrigerator up to 3 days, or freeze up to 3 months.

Speaking of things that make bad days better, Tai Shan, the National Zoo's cute little panda boy, is turning one. I just now realized that because of the panda mating season, almost all pandas are Cancers! No wonder I love them so much. Tai Shan acts more like a Leo, though, daring little show-off that he is. What a fantastic year it's been! Happy birthday, little guy. Thank you so much for all the smiles and all the fun. And huge thank yous to everyone at the National Zoo who takes such good care of him and his parents and lets the whole world enjoy them. I've said it before, and people laugh, but each time I am perfectly serious: The PandaCam offers me much more proof of a loving Deity than a thousand Christian Nationalists ever can.