Alton Bay, NH

I have found the cheap cheese section of the local grocery store. Let's all rejoice! :>) You can find cheese in three different sections of the store. Why? The same can be asked about the need to keep the rice and pasta on different asiles of the store. I still spend quite a bit of time shopping.

You can't pick your own mushrooms from the bulk bin. There is no bulk bin. They all come wrapped in plastic, whole, and in two sizes of containers. The small size has the option of sliced as well.

When you make homemade salsa and use the hot peppers, please be sure to wear some gloves when chopping them up by hand! My left hand was on fire for a good day, even with Mom's suggestion of soaking it in white vinegar. I kept a vinegar bowl out the night I was stupid and would use it to cool my hand off every once in a while. The vinegar stunk, but it was soothingly cool... It was only a little green pepper. I didn't know that they were so hot! The salsa turned out just as hot even though I had taken out the pepper's seeds. Extra tomato, onion, cilantro, and even a little sugar helped. Lesson learned. Anyone want my extra green pepper?

There are A LOT of personalized license plates in NH. There are lots and lots of them. My favorite of this past week was: AMEEEZ. Cute, but I don't need my name on the car.

We almost have the computers networked. Luke is stopping by after work today to hook up my internet. Not that it matters b/ they're gone, but I miss all my organized bookmarks. After I blog, I need to find my job search sites again.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Not too hot or humid. I asked Luke about where I could go to enjoy it. He suggested some mountain. Not wanting to drive northward by myself for a few hours, I asked what his plans were. None. We packed a lunch and ended up at Alton Bay. I have no clue as to if it was near said mtn, but it was beautiful up there. This bay is a part of the southern half of Lake Winnipesaukee. His other uncle, the one that lives in Nashua, Al, owns a house on the lake. It's a little bit away from the touristy area, which makes it very nice. Pretty quiet except for the large dock next to us with the jet skis and boats constantly going in and out. We broke into the house using the spare key... OK. Not a commando mission or anything. Bummer, huh? Appearently, Al had called up Luke to invite us over for a BBQ, found out that we had plans to be out of the Nashua area, and offered directions on how to find the hide-a-key at the lake house.....

Anyway, nice area. Cooler than home. We took the little raft/paddle boat out onto the lake. I did fine. No sunburn, but I did wish I had changed into a swimsuit b/ I had an uncomfortably wet butt at the end of the trip. Luke, on the other hand, didn't fare so well. A guy with a small boy on a jet ski basically did a u-turn around us and it made for very rocky waters. Luke ended up overboard. It was not a too graceful of a fall, but it was still entertaining for me. In the end, it didn't matter b/ after we got the boat out of the water, he went for a swim. We had our first experience of role reversal on the carride home and it probably won't happen again for a long time. I was supremely hot and Luke was freezing. I was dressed in a now-dry t-shirt and a pair of flannel pajama bottoms (I keep that pair in the car) and he was basically undressed except for wet shorts. I was kind and turned off the air conditioning for a while...

More, later, when something else happens.