Thursday, May. 12, 2011 - 2:00 p.m.

We have a carpenter bee gnawing a hole into a plank on our deck. Since we're moving, I'm not going to do anything about it. I hate hurting insects, especially cute, non-stinging ones like bees. I hope no one will notice when we're trying to sell the house. We may have to strategically place the grill in front of the hole. It's not like it's a structural piece of wood, so I'm inclined to say it isn't really hurting anything.

Made a rum-soaked vanilla cake for one of the parties being thrown for J's conference this weekend. It's crazy good. I've never used vanilla bean in actual baked goods before, just extract, and wow! I'll have to do it more often. The rum doesn't hurt, either.

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