Cheers!

Cheers to being home and sleeping in my own bed! Cheers to the peace and quiet that we are currently enjoying. Ah so many things to be happy about.

Sadly, Scott is not one of those things - he is in the middle of fretting about this evening's festivities. "It's too expensive, I don't have anything to wear, I don't know half the people" - sometimes he whines more than a girl - jeesh! We're off to dinner soon and then we're heading over to J&M's for hot tubbing, and ringing in the new year. Not sure how many are joining us, but it's quite a few - still should be fun.

Have I mentioned that I've never gone out for new years before? So, I'm not going to let him whine his way out - we're dressing up and we're going out and we're going to have fun! I'm not letting him or the impending winter storm ruin it.

Holidalies is just one short day away, so I'll be blogging hungover tomorrow - expect it to be short and maybe a bit garbled.

Cheers to one and all - wishing you all a happy and safe New Year's celebration!

Current Music: End of the World Party - Medeski, Martin & Wood

Almost There

Just waiting for our connection to arrive. So just an hour and a half flight to Detroit, a half an hour waiting for the bags and an hour drive. Then I'll finally be home!

I'm So Done

And then you arrive at the best part of the trip - the day you realize that you can't wait to get home and that day is tomorrow. Bags are being packed now!

Seriously, 6am Sunday can't get here soon enough!

It Could Be Worse

We're off wine tasting! Even with the family it's not all bad I suppose.

Not A Vacation

I repeat this is not a vacation.

This is going home for the holidays. This is every friend and relative that you've ever had demanding more time from you than you ever gave them when you lived close by. This is every moment of your trip scheduled so that you can see the most people in the least amount of time. This is exhausting.

A vacation is somewhere warm, sandy, sunny and quiet. It does not include children screaming, malls, construction at 7am, after Christmas shopping, overeating (well maybe that one is a bit much), traffic, fighting or crying. So far I have experienced all of the above - and yet everyone continues to ask "How's your vacation going?".

I'm sure I've said this before, but please someone remind me next year - that I do not want to go home for the holidays!

Current Music: Vacation - Guttermouth

Happy Boxing Day

Is that what you say? Or do you just say it's Boxing Day? Being here in the U.S. it's hard to know, since it's not something we celebrate.

This comes up though, because last night we all sat around an put together a billion little boxes, they were actually cardboard boxes made to look like bricks to build a fort. But the point is someone said "Oh I though Boxing day was tomorrow?!"

What is Boxing Day you ask? Well here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:
"Boxing Day is a public holiday celebrated in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and many other members of the Commonwealth of Nations on December 26, the day after Christmas Day;".

Apparently in the UK as well as New Zealand and Australia it's a day for family and an extension of Christmas. In Canada however, it seems to be much more commercial - it's all about shopping. In either case, it sounds like a great thing to have an extra day off to enjoy the season - whichever way you prefer!

Merry Christmas!

Peace out...

There has to be a better way to spend Christmas Eve.

But the real question here is why does an airport need a directory?

Color of the Year

See, I do actually do work now and then! I found this in my wanderings. Pantone Industries, bringers of all things color, have introduced their color for the year for 2008 (drum roll please)...

It's Blue Iris, No. 18-3943!

Apparently this color "brings together the dependable aspects of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.” The color was chosen by a select team because they "felt that it answered several needs, hopes, desires, that kind of thing,”.

Now I love color - I love most of them generally. Color can do so much, improve your mood, make you hungry, make you feel stressed out or amorous - it's a powerful tool. But I never really felt that color could answer needs, hopes or desires. Really if I known all that I'd have painted my entire house this color!

So, I'm off to look for Iris Blue anything - pillows, paint, rugs, PJ's what ever - cause I have a few needs and desires that need answering (and who among us doesn't need a tough of magic?)!

Current Music: Blue Christmas - Elvis

Odds and Ends

Not much happening here today - well, that's not right, there's a lot it's just not interesting.

I've spent the morning doing laundry and starting to clean the house. I still have to go to the restaurant tonight and work tomorrow so I'm trying to pack a lot of things into a small amount of time. I am having motivational issues though - I'm currently sitting with a cat on my lap, all warm and cozy. It's going to be tough to get everything done!

I did manage to take some time to do the Smart or Stoopid? test over on Scoober's blog, that was fun, and I actually did better than I expected!

Verdict: Smart
Average Score is 17.9
Your Score is 22
You are 22.8% smarter than average

(Here's the part where I tell you that I committed at least 7 typos, and couldn't find the percent sign as I typed the results - so really how smart is smart?)

Oh I almost forgot - Happy Solstice! I'm super excited about that. Today is the longest day of the year - which means I'll get .7 seconds of daylight (well that's how it feels anyway) today. So why am I excited? Because from here on in the days get longer! And that means that soon I won't have to wake up in the dark and go home in the dark, and generally live in the dark.

Okay - I'm off to do something interesting, just so that I have something to post about!

Current Music: Christmas Pics - Barenaked Ladies

Bad Blogger

I'm sorry I've been so lame lately! You'd think being busy would mean tons of fodder for the blog, but not really - it just means busy. I haven't had time to stop by everyone's blogs and visit, or just enjoy reading blogs. I'm woefully backed up on the tivo and I have no idea when I'm going to watch anything.

On the bright side I think I made some good progress on the to do list - well except for the work thing. But I've still got the weekend to work on that.

I never really talk about my job, except to say how busy I am. But I guess why should I post about what I do, when I can get some one to do it for me! Alright, so she doesn't exactly do it for me, but she makes it sound fun and exciting (which most of the time it isn't). Anyway, I figure if you wanted to be reading about the ins and outs of kitchen design, you'd be there and not here listening to me whine!

So, I'll get back to work now, glamorous or not it's got to get done!

Current Music: Do They Know It's Christmas Time? - BandAid

The State of Things

This is what my desk looks like:

On the bright side, my Christmas cards are done. Some how that does not make up for all the things that need to be done before I leave Monday morning:

• three clients plans to finish
• two orders to put in
• multiple loads of laundry
• pack
• return gifts that were duplicates (because some people don't know how to use Kaboodle)
• buy new gifts to replace the duplicates
• clean my house
• finish making my mom's gift
• buy a few last minute gifts
• work at both jobs
• get the dog to the kennel
• stop the paper and the mail
• figure out what to make for dessert for Christmas and send a shopping list to my dad

I'm sure that's not everything, but it's a start. Oh, and I'd like to get it all done with out coming completely unhinged!

Very excited to find that there is a word for my condition "Holidaze".

BTW - thanks for the validation on the baby pictures! But please stop if I seem ready to start buying them all sweaters and trying to put them in handbags - 'k?

Current Music: My Christmas List - Simple Plan

It's Finally Happened

I'm turning into one of those people that take too many pictures of their cats and dog. I suppose it's not bad - I don't have kids, and Scott hates having pictures taken - and face it the dog and cats are pretty damn cute.

Still, I didn't figure me for that kind of blogger - I wanted to be the cool kind, that has lots of funny quips and posts about world events. I guess I'm already a bit wide of that mark, so here goes...

How cute is this - you can barely see where the cat leaves off and the dog begins!



Plus - I'm totally busy at work today and later tonight, so this gets my Holidailies out of the way!

Current Music: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Bing Crosby

There Are Good Reasons

To live in Michigan that is. While it doesn't always have a lot to recommend it, but this is one of those good reasons:


Yep, spectacular sunsets (alright, this isn't one of my better shots, but I can't find the one I want to post)! You would think, Hawaii or California would have the best, and I've seen a few of each of those -they're good, no doubt. But there's something about a winter sunset here - just beautiful! I will concede that you need a nice winter day, which can be few and far between, but give a girl a few points from trying.

Current Music: Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian Christmas)- Jimmy Buffet

It's So Wrong It's Right

All right, I admit it - I go to a tanning booth. It's a bit of a habit, but I can stop any time, really, I swear.

The first winter I moved here I was miserable, I was depressed, I could barely get out and do things. I figured that I was just having trouble adjusting, or missing my family. After spending a week at home with my family for Thanksgiving I realized it wasn't that I missed my family - I missed the sun!

It seemed that the only way I was going to get some sun was to go and buy it. I weighed the pros and cons - thought it through and then went out and bought some 15 SPF. It was a bit strange, I didn't know where to go, I didn't know what to do or how much it would cost. But I did it - and now I couldn't be happier (and Scott too - now come mid-November when I start getting grouchy he says "Isn't it time for you to start tanning?").

So now, from Mid-November to April or May (depends on the way Spring is going) I tan a couple of nights a week. I just pop in for 5 to 7 minutes of light and heat and happiness. When I come out of the tanning bed, I'm so warm and cozy, I feel like I'm glowing. Even coming home to a messy house, bad dog and pissy husband barely makes a dent on my fabulous mood - of course that makes me want to do it more often.

All things in moderation...

Current Music: Snow - Bing Crosby

Snow Day

I woke up to a "Blizzard Warning" - while we slept we'd been upgraded from a Winter Storm Watch. But a Blizzard Warning isn't so bad on a Sunday morning when you don't have any thing else to do right? At 9am the day was filled with promise, the promise of a fire, a couple of movies on DVD, catching up on reading blogs, working on the Christmas Cards and of course more snow.

I'm not sure when it happened, maybe it's when I had to spend 20 minutes combing the snow off the dog, or maybe it was when I burned my fingers on the heat tool I was using on the cards, but at some point my good mood turned into a supremely crappy one.

The cards are still not done, the house isn't clean, the laundry isn't done, the Christmas shopping isn't done, there's so much to do and Monday is on it's way. Crap.

Current Music: Today Has Been Okay - Emiliana Torrini

Day 15

Ok - half way through the Holidailies - and already running down. I'll keep at it, cause it's super fun (are you feeling the sarcasm?).

But I have been a bit busy - so that's part of it.

Come to think of it, I haven't told you why I'm so busy. Remember that wine thing I told you about? Well I decided to do it. So on Friday and every other Saturday nights (I just can't give up all of my pitiful social life), I present wine, offer suggestions on wine parings and back up the wait staff.

So far I've worked two nights, waited on four tables and poured a couple of bottles of wine. Strangely enough, it's kind of fun. I'm meeting some new gals, tasting some good food and making some really nice tips.

Scott thinks I'll get tired and burn-out in a month. I told him that it's a new restaurant in a less than happening spot - it might not be open long enough for me to burn out (of course I'm not wishing for that, but let's be realistic). But you know, a little extra spending money and some new experiences - so far so good!

Well, I'm off to do some real work, email some plans then head off to my new work! (see I'm a busy girl!)

Current Music: Move Along - All American Rejects

Reason Number 72

Yep another reason why it's probably a good thing we don't have kids:

Me: What's that noise?
Scott: What noise?
Me: That noise.
Scott: Oh that? Umm, Pearl's into something.
Me: It doesn't sound good - what is it?
Scott: She's chewing on the basket
Me: Well stop her, she shouldn't be chewing on that.
Scott: Oh she's got some kind of plastic thing. Wait, no that's bad she shouldn't be chewing on that - I think.
Me: Well stop her.
Scott: Oh, should I?
Me: Ya think?

Yeah - kids might not survive Scott, there are some days I'm not sure the animals can.

Current Music: You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse

I must have left it in my other purse...

...my brain that is.

Here's how my day went:

Forgot to go to my first morning appointment. Dashed off to my appointment an hour late, fell in the snow, dusted myself off and found that no one was there.

Had a client coming in and forgot (was busy reading blogs - doh!). As we were going over the kitchen design I realized I had forgotten the microwave and the dishwasher - recovered relatively gracefully.

Left work early (though it was probably for the best) to take the dog to the vet. On the way home I stopped at the craft store for yet another component to the holiday cards from hell. I cleared off the front seat, knowing that George would pop up there the second I left the car. As I walked away from the car I realized that I had just locked my keys in the car - with my dog. Twenty calls, ten minutes, and two wonderful men (should I mention that neither of the men that helped me were my husband?) trying to rescue me later I was back in the car with my dog and on the road again. That's when I realized that I had not gone in the store to purchase the item for which I had come! Went back and bought the stinking pen.

Got home, Scott took a couple of pot shots at me and my keen memory. I told him to get in his basement before I kicked his ass - he did as told.

I settled into making dinner - got the rice started, and moved on to the rest. 10 minutes into the rice's cooking time I realized I hadn't actually turned on the oven so that it could cook. So 20 minutes later we ate.

Sat down to relay my spectacular day to you all and could not log into blogger. Finally realized it was because I was trying to use a work password on the account.

So, now I've got a fire going (and haven't burned down the house yet) and I'm going to sit in front of the TV for a bit with a glass of wine and kill off a few more of my ridiculously useless brain cells.

You may have seen this before, but apparently it bears repeating.


Current Music: Still Alright - Adam Merrin

w00t!

What is "w00t" you ask? Well, it's a number of things:

1. It's a favorite exclamation over on Contrary's blog.

2. It's today's Urban Dictionary's Word of the Day (defined as "An expression of joy and excitement.").

And, saving the best for last,

3. It was just named Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2007!

Runner's up were: facebook, conundrum and quixotic, as well as a few more.

It is spelled with two zeros in place of the 'o's - because of some computer gaming thingy. I haven't decided what I think of the whole blending of letters and numbers to form words - but maybe I'm getting old. Sadly it's only the on-line word of the year, and not actually found in the dictionary - but apparently taking top honors could improve it's chances of gaining entry to the big book.

The Global Language Monitor also released it's top words for the year today and they were just a wee bit more hi-brow: Hybrid (actually Hybrid Electric Vehicle - HEV), Surge and Bubble (as in the housing bubble bursting). I did like the fourth word "Smirting – The new-found art of flirting while being banished outside a building for smoking".

I do worry for the future of our culture from time to time - this is one of those times.

Current Music: Blue Christmas - Sheryl Crow

Five Things

I promised Just Laura that I'd do this meme - and since I don't have much time and I don't have much else to talk about, it seems a perfect time to do it!

It's supposed to be five things about me, but I just did 100, so I'm guessing that you're sort of tired of hearing about me. And since I'm not feeling particularly serious or deep I think I'll do a list of strange things currently in my purse (yes, that is indeed a picture of the inside of my purse!):

1. One sun glass lens - it's out of a pair that I broke a while ago, but the color is so perfect to look through that I've been seeking a match for months.

2. Corkscrew - now that's not really all that strange, but it's not something the average person carries around. But you never know when you'll be called upon to open a bottle, so it's a useful tool.

3. Four Empty Gum Packs (which I am now taking out) - clearly I need to clean my purse more often, so not chew as much gum - one or the other.

4. Little Metal Foot - not a real foot shaped foot, but one of the little feet off the bottom of one of my other purses. Though I'm not exactly sure how it ended up in this purse.

5. A 100 Calorie Snack Pack of Gold Fish - how long they've been at the bottom of my purse I'm not sure, but I can tell you that they are no longer gold fish.

If you'd like to play along consider your self tagged!

Current Music: Elf's Lament - Barenaked Ladies

Hurdles

Ok this is where the whole Holidailies/NaBloPoMo thing gets irritating.

I got home about 20 minutes ago - had to make dinner and am just sitting down to look at this blog. I've been working all day (actually working, not goofing off!), I've got laundry to finish, I've got holiday cards to finish and a bunch more work to get done.

But am I doing it - nope, I'm posting to the blog (probably boring the pants off you with all my whining). My overwhelming sense of responsibility makes me feel like I MUST post.

There are so many hurdles to the holidays, what made me think that I should add another?!

Oh yeah - and there's an ice storm headed this way, what the heck is that?! And what do I do about it?

Current Music: Snowman - Barenaked Ladies

I'll Be Home for Christmas

No really, I will be home for Christmas. Yeah, I'm super pumped - can ya tell?

Being home Christmas isn't really negotiable in my house. My little Mom may seem all easy going, but when it comes to having everyone home for Christmas, well she's not as easy going as she may seem!

So $700 something dollars later we have tickets booked to fly home for the holidays. We'll fly our on Christmas Eve and head back on the 30th, just in time for what ever New Years debauchery we can figure out. I'm hoping that by showing up just before Santa that the rush and stress will be lessened - but really who am I kidding?

So, unless this happens:

I guess we'll be going home for Christmas!

Who You Calling A Ho?

UPS Guy: Ho, ho, ho!

Me: Who you calling a Ho?

So then he tells me that he heard on the news that this season Mall Santas are being told not to say "ho, ho, ho" - since it could offend women. I thought he was joking, there's just no way that some one could actually take offense with Santa, right?

I try to be politically correct, I realize that others have thinner skins than I do, but really?!

Current Music: Santa Baby - The Pussy Cat Dolls

Photo Courtesy of: CaptCaveman

A Day To Remember

Today is Pearl Harbor Day, the "Day that shall live in Infamy". There have been plenty of wars since then, and we've since worse attacks on American soil, but we can't loose sight of this day just because of the newer, fresher wounds.

Every anniversary there are fewer and fewer survivors. Imagine, those that were 18 would be 84 now - we're loosing a generation of heroes and survivors.

December 7th 1941, my Dad was about to turn six months old and my Mom wasn't even born yet. My Grandparents we're living in Oakland, my Grandfather a family surgeon, my Grandmother a housewife.

I've been to Pearl Harbor, and I've seen the Arizona Memorial - it was moving, even at the age of 16. I'd love to go back though, it seems as I age that history means more.

Current Music: The Ocean - The Bravery

More Hanukkah...

Today we have a special musical guest - here's Adam Sandler doing the third version of his Chanukah Song (one of my favorites):

Now on to more important things, Latkes.

Latkes are just potato pancakes, but damn are they good. There are different ways to make them, some use shredded potatoes some use mashed (though I'm not a big fan of the mashed variety). But you've got to love the fact that eating food cooked in oil is part of the Hanukkah tradition. It is meant to represent the small amount of oil the Jews had when defending the Temple - miraculously the oil lasted for eight days. So foods that are commonly served at Hanukkah include doughnuts, fritters of all sorts, and any other fried vegetable (particularly squash) - woo hoo!

So here's my favorite recipe for Latkes, it's from Louise Fiszer, a woman I used to work with years ago. She's a great recipe writer (she use to test her new recipes on us, that was an excellent perk) and has done a number of books.

So here's the recipe, super simple and crazy good!

Potato Latkes (makes about 16)
1 1/2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled
1 medium onion, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 to 1 cup vegetable oil for frying

Grate potatoes and place in strainer or colander. Squeeze out as much moisture from potatoes as you can. In large bowl, combine potatoes with remaining ingredients, except for oil. Heat about 1/4 cup oil in large frying pan until very hot. Drop two to three tablespoons potato mixture into pan for each latke. Use back of spoon to flatten mixture so that each latke is about three-inches in diameter. Fry over medium high heat about four to five minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in oven. Continue, using more oil if necessary for each batch. Serve hot with an apple-pear sauce.

Scott prefers his with sour cream - I like either sour cream or apple sauce. Last year I made a great homemade apple sauce (I know, how perky!) - try it if you have the time.

Current Music: I'm Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica - Tom Lehrer

Why Hannukah Rocks

So yesterday I was feeling all sentimental and got wrapped up in our family traditions, and I forgot to say how fun Hanukkah is! So here are eight reasons (get it, eight nights?):

1. Playing Dreidel - though we never actually play, we just eat the candy. Whoever eats the most candy wins! I used to put out the traditional "gelt" but now I get more adult and put out truffles or something.

2. Decorating - I decorate for Christmas, but if I only did Hanukkah it would be 2 minutes of getting stuff together and that's it. Well I supposed I'd still do the icicle lights on the outside of the house.

3. Presents - "Eight Crazy Nights" as Adam Sandler says - that's right eight nights of presents! We usually set a budget and sometimes blow it on all on one gift or spread it out. Now we have one rule - there have to be eight nights of presents, even if you blew you budget on a couple of items (so I usually get a couple really good presents and a lot of candy - works for me!).

4. Latkes - There's nothing like 'em! We make them a couple of times during Hanukkah. I supposed that I should make them more often than one week a year, but my laziness seems to make them that much more special.

5. Timing - The date for Hanukkah is based on the Jewish calendar, so it's a bit of a moving target, but usually it is earlier than Christmas, so I get all of Scott's shopping done, then once it's done I get started really worrying about every one's Christmas presents.

6. The spelling - You just can't get it wrong (or right). There are at least three different ways to spell it, and a lot of people don't even know how to spell it, so I'm never wrong!

7. Sunset - That's when you're supposed to light the candles. So I get a get out of jail free card to leave work a bit early so I can get home to celebrate.

8. Eight Nights - I love that we get to be a family eight nights in a row - without all the stress of the single night of family celebration (don't get me wrong, I do love Christmas, but it's way higher on the stress scale).

Current Music: The Hanukkah Song - Adam Sandler

Getting to Know You

Ok, here's something you didn't know about me - we celebrate Hanukkah.

I was raised as a generic Christian, though technically I'm Episcopalian. Scott was raised full-on Jewish, but stopped practising after his Bar Mitzvah (when he "became a man" - which in reality still has yet to happen, but that's another post). So neither one of us is particularly religious.

We've always celebrated Christmas together and we've always had a menorah around during the holiday season. The year that Scott's dad died we both sort of felt like actually lighting the candles. Still it was just sort of a thing we did - nothing really serious.

Once we moved to Michigan and had to fly home for Christmas we realized that we didn't want to schlep our presents for each other across the country, but we wanted to have our own holiday time together. So we decided to begin celebrating Hanukkah together.

Now I love it - we have a special spot in the house for our menorah, and together we say the blessing together. Religious or not, it's nice to have our own holiday tradition.

Current Music: Hanukkah Blessings - Barenaked Ladies

Sick

I was feeling fine this morning, still finishing off the cold I got on the plane, but no big deal. Then I took a bit of Robitussin to help with the cough - that was the mistake.

Let's just say that it tastes pretty bad going down, and there's no improvement going the other direction! So I've been laying low today - a few saltines and some Vernor's, and working from home.

On the bright side, I've finalized the design for our holiday card - so now all I have to do is make a billion of them and get them out within the next two weeks! No prob!

Since everyone else is doing it, and really what's a few more when you're making a billion cards, I'd be happy to swap cards with any one that's willing! Just email me at mandylou_who@yahoo.com and give me your data and I'll add you to the ridiculously long list of family and friends that don't really deserve a handmade card (no - not you, you totally deserve a handmade card).

Current Music: Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies

The Holidays are Here

And I quote "It looks like one of Santa's Elves threw up in here." This is what passes for a complement from my darling husband regarding the Christmas decor in my home.

On the bright side the tree is up (well, unboxed and decorated) and the house is all done up (I'd post pictures, but my friend borrowed my uploader do-hicky). I danced about with the holiday songs on my ipod - shaking my bootie and decking the halls. Sadly, I still have the lights to do outside, but I'll get them done - I promise, really.

For reasons that are just to long and drawn out to explain - this is our first year with a fake tree. In fact this is our first time with a tree in our house since we moved (three years!). Our dog and our two kittens have never seen a Christmas tree (so we'll see how that goes?!) - I'm not sure that the tree can take any of them.

Anyway, back to the fake tree thing. I think that given that it started off life looking like this - that it turned out pretty well. Actually as long as you look at it an night with the lights out and sqidge up you eyes a bit it looks totally real!

I'll tell you what - fake trees with the lights attached may not look or smell real, but they rock when it comes to putting up Christmas in a hurry. Most of the time was spent putting up the decorations around the house, rather than the tree itself. And I didn't have to worry about pine needles all over the floor!

Current Music: White Christmas - Bing Crosby (though we lost all the white that we got yesterday - it's pouring rain right now)

December First

Hey look - I'm posting, does that mean... nah, still haven't decided about the Holidailies, but I thought I'd post today anyway (just in case).

Actually it's just a way to delay going out into the cheek chilling cold to put the lights up on the front of the house. Of course I also have to clean the house and decorate for the Holidays.

Let's circle back to "Cheek Chilling" shall we? In my house that phrase is used to describe not the cute rosy cheeked variety - I mean the other cheeks. I have no idea how my ass can get so cold. I mean sure it's big and it's all fat, but who knew it could get so freaking cold that it hurts?!

All right, enough about my ass - I'll get back to decorating, and maybe I'll swing by Holidailies and sign up, what have I got to loose?

Wondering about the picture? Well, it's World AIDS Day, which isn't nearly as fun as National Ice Cream Day, but more important (it is, right?). So follow the link and give a few bucks if you can, we gotta get rid of this disease.

Current Music: To Build A Home - The Cinematic Orchestra (ok, not actually listening per se, I'm watching the end of the Grey's rerun and that's the song that's on - but I do have the song in my play list and I could be listening to it)

Drain Bamage?

I feel like I should be making some fabulous post - some grand gesture for the last day of NaBloPoMo. And yet nothing earth shattering is coming to mind. Mostly I'm just out of words.

Though I am entertaining a ridiculous idea. Contrary is looking for other suckers friends to join her in doing Holidailies (posting every day from December 1 to January 1). Now, you know I'm a joiner, and I can state with all honesty that I was dropped on my head as a small child (a couple of times actually), but I haven't decided if I'm actually dumb enough to do this? The answer might be yes - cause I can be that dumb from time to time! Besides How much more do you really want to hear from me?!

For now I'll just say "woooooo hooooo!!!!!!" NaBloPoMo is D-U-N done! If I post tomorrow and the next day and the next day maybe I'll go ahead and join up for the Holidailes.



Current Music: Oi to the World - No Doubt

photo courtesy of Subversive Cross Stitch

A Litlle Bit of Everything

Ok, if I could just start with a bit of a rant. I would like to know why I am expected to come home from work and make dinner ever night, but somehow Scott doesn't have to do dishes every night? I came home to three days worth of dishes in the sink - I couldn't even make dinner because I didn't have any clean pans! And I really hate having dirty dishes in the sink. He gets all pissy and surly if I don't make dinner in a (which is a whole other topic) and yet can't manage to find time to do the freakin' dishes!

Ok, I'm better now. On to the Q&A - obviously I was a bit too vague with the 100 things, and inquiring minds want to know. So here's more detail for y'all:

Laura
George is an insane beast, but she should mellow with age. They don't shed much, but they do have a wiry coat - they don't have a soft coat. Take a peek at the post I did for her b-day - it becomes clearer!

The reason that my Mom calls me "Wiz" isn't for the obvious reason - at the time I had a necklace with a wizard charm, and I was kind of into the whole unicorn thing. So she called me Wizzer or Wizzy or Wiz.

Not sure what I would pick for a prize, but wouldn't it be funny if it was a paper thing?!

KimmyK
The sailboat was moored in a marina that was way out of the way and in a no wake zone so there wasn't much rocking. Periodically there would be someone in a power boat being a jackass, but mostly it was smooth. The bigger problem was storage - boats are not big places!

We kept the boat in Redwood City, CA, where the weather is much more temperate. It's not like back here where you have to pull the boat out of the water in winter.

Katie
I'd love to like coffee - I love girly coffee drinks like lattes and cappuccinos and I love the smell of coffee, but I just don't like plain coffee.

Did you know that the Grey's website has a whole music listing by episode? Oh yeah, I am that addicted! I check out the songs then down load them - it's awesome!

Scoobers and KimmyK
Glad to hear that others don't do the checkbook thing! I felt like a bit of a looser writing that, but I'm feeling better now :-)

Ok that answers everything I think!

Also, an update on the wine thing, I met with the guy and I may do it! The deal is this, they need someone to do wine presentations in the restaurant. That means bringing the wine to the table, opening it, etc. Also talking to people about the wines or helping them pick up the right wine to go with their entrees. So it sounds interesting - it would only be weekends, so maybe it'll be cool. Anyway - I'm meeting him again on Monday, so I'll no more then.

Just one more day to go - take that NaBloPoMo!!!

Current Music: Happy Endings - The All-American Rejects

100th Post...

... was actually a while ago. I had most of it typed up and ready to go, but I was in California and didn't have easy access to a computer and a bunch of other excuses. Anyway here it is, the much awaited One Hundred (and twelfth) post.

I guess I should thank NaBloPoMo - it would have taken a lot longer to get to the magical 100 if I hadn't. But come to think of it, I'm not so sure what's so spiffy about the 100th post. Does it make you a real blogger? Is it a rite of passage? Do I get a prize?

Anyway, way back when Scoobers did her 100th, I told her I was going to steal her idea for 100 Things About Me, so here it goes...

1. I am a kitchen designer

2. I graduated with a degree in Psychology, but I went back to school for a degree in Interior Design

3. My first car was a Mazda 323 and I cried when I sold it

4. I have know Scott since I was nineteen

5. I am a Pisces

6. In my family we are all twin signs, two Pisces and two Gemini

7. I was born in the Year of the Rat

8. George is the sixth Airedale I've had, but the first that wasn't a "family" dog

9. I stared First Grade early, so I was a year younger than all my classmates

10. I failed my first driving test

11. I am a scrapbooker

12. I can be very creative, but rarely have the opportunity

13. I think my feet are seriously ugly

14. Because I think my feet are ugly, I keep my toenails painted almost all the time

15. I have a stuffed animal that I've had since I was 10 - and sometimes (when I've had an incredibly bad day) I will sleep with him

16. I feel exceptionally lost without my cell phone

17. My first job was busing tables at a local restaurant

18. I have two bad knees, but not bad enough to operate on

19. I play too much computer solitaire

20. There are days when I miss my two cats that died so much that it hurts

21. I watch way too much TV

22. I'm addicted to the music on Grey's Anatomy

23. I was born and raised in Oakland, California (but you already knew that)

24. I use the snooze button way too much

25. I'm better at reading and writing than math

26. I never really wore flip-flops until I moved to Michigan and had to deal with very hot summers

27. I have a minor shoe addiction, but my lack of money helps me keep it in check

28. I've always wanted to have a funny nickname (besides the crappy ones that my family call me)

29. Some of the crappy nicknames my family call me are: Man, Manny, Meanie, and Wiz

30. My Dad has always called me Pooh Bear (sometimes it's Pooh-Ba-Looh) and I actually like that one.

31. I still watch cartoons

32. I dislike being cold

33. I can't sleep if my feet are too hot or too cold

34. I love yellow sports cars - but it has to be the right type of yellow

35. I was once a dog person, I have since turned into a cat person (though I do love my dog)

36. I would love to live abroad

37. I prefer to have some type of background noise (radio, tv, etc.) - especially when I'm home by myself

38. I want to be cremated

39. Brownies are probably my favorite dessert

40. I love what I do, but I don't always love my job

41. I have been (and still am) a registered Girl Scout since I was four

42. I have a pretty good collection of Barbie Dolls

43. I am a licenced Optician

44. I had to rent the largest Penske truck when we moved across the country

45. I played the flute for nine years

46. I am addicted to diet coke, but in a good non-12 step kind of way

47. I am allergic to fresh pineapple, which is sad cause I really love it

48. I am allergic to most furry animals (including horses), but I have pets anyway

49. I love listening to opera on rainy days

50. I have been to 19 of the United States

51. I have one brother-in-law and one sister-in-law, but no parent in-laws

52. I've been to most of western Europe

53. I only knew one pair of my grandparents

54. I don't like to camp, but I have and probably will again

55. I got laid off from a software company when the dot com bubble was bursting

56. Then I took an eight week cooking class

57. I am seriously afraid of snakes and spiders

58. I am overcoming my fear of spiders because they're everywhere in Michigan - all summer long

59. I am fairly computer savvy

60. Most people would consider me an Extrovert, rather than an Introvert

61. I really am an Introvert, but being an extrovert is part of my job

62. Scott is my best friend

63. I do counted cross-stitch and am not 100 years old

64. I have made a couple of quilts, but am not much of a quilter

65. I have a weakness for gummy frogs

66. I have one sister

67. I am the oldest child in our family

68. I have a bunch of typical "first-born" traits

69. I have three cats

70. I was in a sorority in college

71. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz

72. I went to a Catholic high school, but not because I'm Catholic

73. I prefer baking to cooking

74. My cell phone ring is "Barbie Girl"

75. I do not have a good face for hats

76. I hate cleaning house

77. I also dislike laundry, not doing it so much as folding it

78. I love new books

79. I've been to three Barenaked Ladies concerts

80. I have a ton of lipsticks and glosses but rarely wear any of them

81. I like making Christmas cookies, but rarely do it

82. I like traveling for business, when I used to do it

83. I used to work in the dot com industry

84. I have to read at night to fall asleep

85. I fall asleep better if I'm in bed alone, but I sleep better with someone in the bed

86. I really loved the Harry Potter series and cried when I finished the last book

87. I lived on a sail boat for 4 years

88. I dislike drinking water

89. I love getting mail (but not bills), email counts

90. I love going through open homes or model homes

91. I like to turn the music up really loud and dance around the house

92. I get flushed and blotchy when I get mad, stressed or drink too much

93. My Grandmother and I used to dance all the time - and it's something I miss all the time

94. I would love to work for the World Wildlife Federation or something like that

95. The last time I balanced my check book was at least 15 years ago

96. My ideal life would be working full time, but having two months vacation

97. There are very few sports I like to play or watch

98. When ever I've had a really bad day I like to curl up in bed and watch Mary Poppins

99. I don't really like coffee

100. I changed my middle name to my maiden name when I got married

Current Music: A Little Less Conversation - Elvis

HRH

I know that you are intrigued by me, so I thought I'd give you just another little tidbit of info about me ('cause you know, I never share!).

My real name is:

Marchioness Mandy Lou the Lush of London by the Bow

Now you all can just call me Mandy Lou, it's all right, we're all friends here - but if you met me on the street it's best to use my full title.

If you want to find your true title, you can find it here.

Current Music: London Bridge - Fergie

(I sooooo need to have November be over!)

Wine-o

Here's a new fact about me that you didn't know. I am a wine-o, that is I like wine. I've always liked wine. I used to work for a wine company. I'm no expert, but I know my way around a wine list.

"So what" you say?

Well I had an interesting offer today. My friend is opening a new restaurant and he wants me to be the "wine consultant". I'm not sure what that is, or if I'm even the right person for it, but it's intriguing.

I'm not sure what will happen, but I'll know more on Wednesday - I'll report back then.

Current Music: Alcohol - Barenaked Ladies

And the Gross Goes On

Ok, just when you thought it was safe to go to the Tiki bar again! One of my friends that also gave out her business card got this email on Friday...

"How are you? This is ***** from the Tikki bar few days back. Just wanted to let you know, ***** and I had a very good time. You were all very mellow down to earth...solid people. Hopefully we can do it again (I think we are going there tonight actually)."

The good news is that this guy was one of the single guys, the bad news is that she was one of the married girls (the even worse news is that he was one of the least attractive of the bunch).

Apparently we won't be frequenting the Forbidden Island for a while.

Current Music: Famous Last Words - My Chemical Romance

Yet Another Meme

I told Contratry I'd pick this up, since I'm always looking for NaPoBloMo fodder

So here are the rules for this meme:

List one fact, word or tidbit that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your first or middle name. You can theme it to your blog or make it general. Then tag one person for each letter of your name.

Here we go:

M - Mean. You know those bumper stickers "Mean People Suck" - I've always wanted one that says "Nice People Swallow". That's right, I'm a mean person - I only play a nice person on this blog.

A - Animals. I've got a bunch of them and I love them!

N - Not a bad Cook. I'm not saying I'm about to show up on "The Next Food Network Star", but I can hold my own in the kitchen.

D - Dumb. Sometimes I am just dumb as a box of doorknobs, it's not an all day, everyday thing, but sometimes...

Y - "Why? Because we like you!" Can't really think of a "Y" one.

L - Late. I'm always late and I hate it. I wish I could be one of those together, on time people - but I'm not.

O - "Oh my Sweet Baby Jesus!". That's my catch phrase, Homer has "D'oh" and I have that. The alternatives are "Oh, sweet Mary mother of God!" or "Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

U - Underpaid. Sad but true, over-valued but seriously underpaid. Unfortunately the "Hooters" in town closed, so my back up job is off the table.

As for tagging everyone else - you're on you own, feel free to pick it up or not!

Current Music: Working on clearing out the Coupling marathon off the Tivo.

Lazy...

I know that I'm supposed to be all pumped up for the day after Thanksgiving - but I'm not (aparently my sister was up for 5am door busters). Of course it could be because I'm working off a NyQuil hangover and I've got a serious buzz going from all the Sudafed I'm taking. I'm also happy to blame the fact that I was up cooking all day yesterday instead of resting like I should have been (though dinner was quite good).

I've done all I can today - I've got no more gas in the tank. I watched a little TV, did a little scrapbooking, I went out and did a bit of shopping (but only at the uncrowded stores) and I stopped by the office for a bit. So now I'm toast.

Anyway - all that adds up to the fact that I'm too lazy to blog.

Current Music: Passenger Seat - Death Cab for Cutie

Happy Turkey Day

Watched the Thanksgiving Parade - check
Looked at all the Black Friday ads - check
Pies made - check
Snowing outside/Warm and snugly inside - check
Fire going in the Fireplace - check
Football on TV - check

Ok, with the exception of a massive head cold Thanksgiving is off to a good start. I'll get the turkey in the oven in a couple of hours and we'll have a nice quiet Thanksgiving for two!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Current Music: nope - currently got the football game on, though I'll be on to the Coupling marathon soon (love that show).

Not a Genius

I blame my over use of the words "Dude" and Grey's Anatomy "Seriously". I'm probably also penalized for trying to bring back "Hella" (but I refuse to apologize for that one!).

Current Music: Barbie Girl - Aqua

Eeeeewwwwww

Creepy-Gross Stalker moment!

Wait, let me set the story up right...

Friday night was our Girl's Night Out. As seen in the picture, there was a fair amount of drinking involved. We started off with dinner and Mojitos then we walked to a really fun (and very busy) tiki bar for the rest of the evening. We were into our first round of cute umbrella drinks when we finally managed to get a table. The table happened to be on a long bench, and there were other tables along the bench - we had been hoping for a booth, but on a Friday night you take what you can get.

A couple of guys were sitting at the next table over, so we stuck the single girl on the end (the rest of us are married so we sacrificed her!). As the evening wore on, they joined our party - it was fine, they were fun enough and a couple of them were single, we were all feeling no pain and enjoying the evening. Later in the evening the married guy starts hitting on me a bit - nothing I couldn't handle, but eew! I mean I'm married, he's married and he wasn't even close to cute enough to get over either of those hurdles. So I head out side for a bit, try to get a little fresh air and get away from him - and end up getting hit on by the bouncer! At that point I went back in and kicked my sister out of her seat so I wouldn't have to fend off the creepy married guy or the bouncer for the rest evening.

Not long after, (around 1 am) we called my brother-in-law to pick us up, it was getting late and all the drunk guys were getting a little hand-sy. As we're leaving, all the guys were asking us to stay and for our numbers - so I gave one of them my card. I figured, I'd be home in Michigan before any of them realized that I didn't live in the state!

So here's the creepy-gross part - I get in to the office this morning and my boss says there was a message for me from a name he didn't recognize (we both work with most of the clients here - so he usually knows the names). After staring at the name and number for a bit - I realize that it's the creepy married guy calling me!!! Yuck! Not only did he take my business card from his cuter single friend, but he actually called me here.

Feeling all kinds of gross now - I'm heading home to take a shower.

Special Musical Treat: (cause it's just sooooo very appropriate!):

I Came, I Saw, I Went Home

So happy to be home! But so very, very tired.

The time change is kind of hard, and the red eye arriving at 5 a.m. is no picnic, but the real problem is that I am getting too old to stay up till the wee hours of the morning for five days in a row. Stupidly enough I had planned to go to work today - I really had the best of intentions, but I couldn't do it. Plus I figured that working with clients on fewer than an hour of sleep was a bad I idea. So today I snoozed, worked from home a bit, did some laundry and caught up on Tivo.

Besides the severe lack of sleep, the trip was good. We got lots of scrap booking done, the girl's night was seriously fun (more on that later) and we even got my sister's scrap booking room cleaned up a bit. There was one major disappointment though - I did not get my tee-shirt. The store was closed by the time we got there, but I'll try to get there during our next trip out.

But as I said before, there's nothing like a visit with family to make you miss your home thousands of miles away. I missed my bed, I missed sleep, I missed the peace and quiet of my house, I missed my normal sized keyboard, but most of all I missed my little patch of Internet! Very glad to be home.

Current Music: My Patch - Jim Noir

I'm outta here

I'm sitting in the airport, waiting to catch the red eye home.

Back to normal tommorow and I can hardly wait! Nothing like a visit home to make me remember why I left in the first place.

Cropping

We're all cropping away.

If it weren't for this mobile blogging I wouldn't be doing NaBloPoMo!

Girl's Night Out

The first of many! Man I love mojitos.

I'm here!

I made it safe and sound.

Today was a pre-school field trip and mani-pedi, tomorrow is relaxing and girl's night out. About to head out for dinner with the folks.

Currently trying the mobile blogging - hope it works! Sorry for any typos, but text messaging isn't my strong suit.

My Hood

I do "Hella love Oakland" - it's my hood! Born and Raised (I'd do that gangsta chest thumping thing, but you can't see it so just pretend)!

Now you would think that being from Oak-town would give me some serious street cred, but no, the Oakland hills are not the mean streets. Though I have seen some raised eye-brows when I tell people that I'm from Oakland.

I never really liked it much growing up (always wished I was from somewhere cooler), but since moving away I've found that it has it's charms. Here are just a couple really great things about Oakland:

• It's in a good central position in the the Bay Area (so you can get everywhere easily).
• The real estate prices are still slightly lower than San Francisco or the Peninsula
• There are great views to be had when you go up in the hills and look out on the bay
• There are great little neighborhoods that make it feel like your not living in a big city, but you have all the conveniences of living in a big city

I'm sure there are tons more - but having been away so long, I'm not always up to date on all the cool things. But I am really looking forward to catching up on a few of them!

Thanks to Leah for finding this - she loves Oakland too!

BTW - I am so getting a tee while I'm home - you want one? Get them here or here.

Stalker Clock says just 1 day, 1 hour, 23 minutes and 42 seconds till I'm home!!!

Current Music: Homebird - Foy Vance

P.S. For all of you in search of my new fab mascara it's just the new Maybelline Define-A-Lash. I tried a bunch of expensive ones and they run, plus I'm a sucker for anything in such a great shade of green! It's got a REALLY strange brush (think plastic velcro caterpillar) but damned if it doesn't work!

Snow Freakin' White

Yep - that's me! Every morning I get up and feed our little zoo. Starting with the cats, then the dog and then finishing up with the birds and the squirrels.

I head out front with my mix of peanuts and sunflower seeds and toss it to my little crowd. It's a serious Disney moment, everyone gathers round - black and grey squirrels (we have both, and red ones periodically), blue jays and a wood pecker or two. They all wait at a safe distance and then hop in to chow down, though there are a few really brave ones that will get close to beg. In any case, it's one of my favorite times of the morning - Scott calls it my Snow White Moment.

I have a long history of feeding squirrels. Years ago I got my parents a squirrel feeder - and we'd put out apples, corn, fresh berries, nuts, even peanut butter. On our honeymoon Scott and I were walking through a park in London and we saw a guy feeding squirrels, he'd train them to come and climb up his pants (the outside of course) to get food. So Scott, being the good sport that he is, managed to get a few squirrels to climb him too. And of course we have two squirrel feeders in the yard, along with a number of bird feeders.

I will admit that feeding the squirrels has caused me some trouble. One time when I was feeding them peanut butter (at my parents house) one of the really brave ones came over and actually started eating off the spoon I was using to serve them. The brave squirrel was sort of holding onto my hand to get a better lick - and somehow I got bitten! It didn't hurt, but I had to go get a tetanus shot (I didn't really know that squirrels carried tetanus) - the worst part was the embarrassment I suffered at the hands of the doctor. She asked why I was in for a tetanus shot, I said I was bitten by a squirrel while I was feeding it. She started snickering and said that they usually only have to treat little old ladies for that!

I am a bit worried that Scott won't feed them while I'm gone - it drives him nuts (ha! no pun intended) that I feed the squirrels. He doesn't mind that I feed the birds so much, but the squirrels, well we'll just say he's not a fan (he says they are just rats with good PR).

Stalker Clock says 1 day, 11 hours, 59 minutes and 31 seconds - getting very excited, but I'm still not packed!

Current Music: The Sun is Shining - Bob Marley

Seven is My Lucky Number

Thanks KimmyK - you know I need the blog fodder for NaBloPoMo!

So for my seven things I'm grateful for, I'm gonna take another page out of her book and say that there are some obvious things that I am grateful for (friends, family, health, work, etc.) and give you the list of things that I really am truly grateful for:

1. The Transplant Team at Kaiser and Stanford. They have my dad on the road to recovery and in reality there is nothing that I am more grateful for.

2. My Tivo. Seriously, without it I would be forced to choose which shows I watched, I wouldn't be able to sit on my butt all weekend and watch an entire week of shows, and I wouldn't be able to burn out my brain cells one sitcom at a time.

3. This Blog. I say things on here that I don't say to anyone else - and I think that being able to get it out of my system helps. Although I suppose some of it really does need to be said out loud to the appropriate people.

4. The Beauty Industry - giver of nail polish, hair color and my spiffy new mascara (with cool packaging too!). I admit it, I'm a girly-girl! And as I've said before, nail polish is "calorie-free happiness in a jar".

5. The end of Daylight-Savings Time. I do love the long evenings of summer, but I really hate getting up in the dark. So now that the clocks are back an hour I'm not so late to work everyday.

6. My Job. I know I said that this was one of the obvious ones, but I'm grateful for a different reason. As much as I'd like to stay home everyday, with Scott sick and not working very much, I'd have to kill him if I didn't go to work. Really, it was a long weekend that he almost didn't survive (he does seem to be on the mend though).

7. Diet Coke. I love it, I need it - many years from now they will pry it from my cold dead hands.

Ok - this is the point when I am hugely embarrassed by my lack of readers - I may actually have seven readers to tag, but since one of you tagged me, well - just work it out amongst your selves! (Just Laura, this means you ;-)

Stalker Clock says 2 days, 9 hours, 41 minutes and 31 seconds till I'm stuck sleeping in my parents basement for four nights!

Current Music: Sun Comes Up - John Legend

All Quiet on the Northern Front

It's a dreary, rainy day here. Not too cold, but not inviting either. All the animals are asleep, Scott's downstairs watching as many war movies as he can manage (Veteran's Day and Memorial Day are two of his favorite holidays - non-stop war movies). I'm here pondering what to do with the rest of the day.

I've got to clean the house, get started packing, go shopping to make sure there are enough TV dinners for while I'm gone, and I was hoping to get some real work squeezed in there as well. Even with all the things I have to do, I'll make sure to find time to call my two favorite Veterans, my Dad and my Uncle.

It started off as a good morning though. I was awakened by a small purring puff ball trying to get under the covers. Pearl is a very independent cat, and rarely wants to snuggle - so I equate this to a teenager hanging out with a parent. You have to enjoy the moment thoroughly. So I lay back and listened to the purring and the rain falling - a good start indeed.

Sadly all bets are off once you get out of bed...

Stalker Clock says 3 days, 11 hours, 28 minutes and 46 seconds until I give my long weekend to weekend to my sister (seriously, she's got every minute planned).

Current Music: Stay - Michelle Featherstone

Sick, Whiny Boy

I seriously hate it when Scott gets sick.

Apparently when he was young his mother managed to make the earth stop spinning and time stand still if he got as much as a sniffle. Because that's exactly what he expects me to do when he gets sick now.

Usually he wants me to stay home and take care of his whims. When I do go to work (which is purely for his safety) he calls 27 times asking me to bring home any number of random things (more cold medicine, a new book, cookies, "something fun" - grr). Once I get home it's umpteen-million requests for "something to drink, my throat hurts" or something to eat. I was unaware that the common cold had such a devastating effect on the man's legs.

Now I was raised by a different type of mom. You pretty much had to be near death to get out of school, and if you were that sick well then you were going to the doctor as well. My mom's response to a cold is to give you the right medicine and some tissue and send you packing. If I get a cold I get up in the morning,take my medicine and go to work (I do try to quarantine myself so as not to infect everyone).

Many of my married friends say that their husbands behave similarly when they fall ill. So that makes me wonder - is this a nature vs. nurture thing? Does it depend on the early parenting?

To answer the question we have a case study - JJ. He is 5 years old and consistently blows any illness or injury out of proportion. JJ is our dear friend's youngest and only boy. Now M and I have discussed how similar our mothers parenting styles seemed to be, and that her parenting style is very much the same (as mine would be were I a parent). She guarantees that not a lot of babying is going on.

So I think we can say that by nature men (and boys) are big whiny babies!

Stalker Clock says 4 days, 9 hours, 24 minutes and 26 seconds till I'm "wheels down" in Oakland!

Current Music: Shut-Up and Smile - Bowling For Soup

Cop-Out

Ok, yet another meme to take up blogging space! What was I thinking to sign up for NaBloPoMo - the pressure?!?! Well really, I'm just not that creative, and I really am kinda busy - I gotta pack for next week, I've got to pack scrapbooking stuff too and I've got actual work to do. Blah, blah, blah...

Enough whining, let's get on to the meme! I found this on VeryContrary and thought it was pretty cool. The idea is this, go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday (leave off the year, cause as Contrary puts it "it’s very likely that the most notable thing that happened on your birthday the year you were born is that, well, you were born"). You'll be presented with a bunch of things that happened on your birthday, as well as interesting people that were also born on your birthday.

The list is insanely long, so here are some of the highlights of history for February 23 (besides me being born, which somehow didn't make the list). Sadly many of the things aren't particularly happy, but...

1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.
1797 - French Forces launch a failed invasion of Britain.
1836 - The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
1870 - Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
1893 - Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.
1898 - Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Captain Alfred Dreyfus in jail.
1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
1904 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
1909 - The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
1917 - First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
1919 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
1941 - Plutonium was first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
1945 - World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten US Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize.
1945 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
1947 - International Organization for Standardization(ISO) is founded.
1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
1975 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
1983 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.
1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33, closing above 4,000 for the first time.
1997 - A large fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
1998 - Kissimmee Tornado Outbreak: Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
1998 - Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.

There are a bunch of births and deaths too, but it was getting long enough!

Stalker Clock says days, 6 hours, 3 minutes and 11 seconds till I get home for my visit.

Current Music: From the Morning - Nick Drake

Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius

I take forever to get ready in the morning - I need at least an hour and a half to get out the door. Now I don't use all that time to get dressed and made-up, a fair amount of the time is spent checking the news or playing with the animals or talking to Scott. I just need a bit of time to wake up. If push came to shove, I could get out of the house in a timely fashion, but I choose not to.

Once the cold weather sets in a few things need to be added to the morning routine. You have to add for time to make a cup of tea to-go and go out and start the car a few minutes before leaving. Since it was chilly this morning and my little old car needs a bit of time to collect it's self, I ran out about ten minutes before I was planning to leave to start the car.

As I ran our the door to the car Scott yelled at me to grab the paper when I came back in. I replied that there was no paper (otherwise I would have tripped over it on my way to the car - duh!). He yelled back that it was half way up the driveway.

Now you've seen my driveway it's long, and it was 37 degrees out, and I had on a pair of thin PJ bottoms, a nice sweater and my hair still in a towel (oh yes, it rocks to be my neighbors!). My solution was simply to drive up the driveway to the newspaper, open the door, grab it, and roll back down. I knew that I was bound to get me a ration of crap from Scott, but I thought it was pure genius!

So I did it, grinning like an idiot the entire time, giving myself mental pats on the back for being so smart. By the time I got back to the house, Scott was practically peeing in his pants laughing, saying that I was perhaps the laziest person in the entire world, but that I was seriously funny.

Of course I didn't plan to be that amusing, but perhaps that's part of the curse of genius?

Stalker Clock says 6 days, 10 hours, 36 minutes and 5 seconds

Current Music: Going the Distance - Cake

A Day in the Life

Well, not much happening here today.

I got a crappy night's sleep because it was so cold and I had 30 pounds of cat on me (they were cold too). Scott refuses to put the big comforter on the bed, so I just pile extra blankets on to no avail. I slept in a wee ball in the upper left quarter of the bed. So very sleepy.

Work was crazy busy today, no time to read read blogs or ponder future posts. Do these people have no respect for my personal time - oh wait...

One week till I visit my beloved city by the bay, not sure what to pack, or when I'm going to do it. But the Stalker Clock says 7 days, 4 hours, 46 minutes and 59 seconds - and I'm very excited about that! And I'm trying to figure out how and when I'll be able to post - since my sister has planned every minute of my time.

Dad called and the biopsy results are back, he's at the lowest level of rejection - which is great news. Of course his immune system is in the toilet, and he's not feeling great - but he's on the mend and that's all that counts.

Sorry for the crappy laundry list of a post - the dang NaBloPoMo. I'll do better tomorrow - I swear.

Current Music: no music, watching Brothers and Sisters - in constant need of Tivo space, of course that could be because I Tivo more shows than any one human should really watch.

Kindness

"Three things in human life are important.
The first is to be kind.
The second is to be kind.
And the third is to be kind."
— Henry James

I found that quote in Real Simple this month and it's really stuck with me, I've even put it on my screen so I can be reminded of the need to be kind in my day-to-day life. What really gets me is that not only is it very true, but we humans are so very bad at it most of the time.

An example, I got this magazine last night - it's called allanimals and it's a newsletter from the Humane Society of the United States. Reading all the things that happen to animals, I was crying by the time I got halfway through it. Now I know that I have a weakness for animals. I love them, I have too many of them, I feed strays, I brake for ones in the street, I cry when I see a dead one on the side of the road. I think that the animals in our lives make our lives better - that even goes for the wildlife in the back yard.

So as I'm reading this magazine looking at all the cruelty we inflict on animals it makes me wonder how we, as a species are doing. I have a bit of a problem with animals as food or clothing (I'd love to be a vegetarian in theory, but in reality I love my quarter pounder with cheese too much). At least there is some purpose for their deaths. But when I read about Adam the kitten who was set on fire by two girls for no real reason, or Miracle a puppy also set on fire but happily rescued by a Detroit police officer, or all of the Dog Fighting. I just don't get it.

Who does this? Who among us values life so little that somehow it's okay to harm another living creature (I must make a note of my own hypocrisy here, I will kill any insect that gets in my way)? Perhaps these people are sick and I should be happy that I don't have a brain that "gets it". No matter what the reasoning or excuse, it breaks my heart that we can't be kinder - to everything.

Current Music: New Day - Kate Havnevik


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Going Back to Cali

My sister buys everything she needs (how she does this on their limited budget I don't know, but she does) - and that makes it incredibly difficult to buy her gifts. So my mom gave her the thing that she usually wants most, a visit with me (awww)! Well. she actually gave her a ticket for me to fly out for a long weekend.

Last year I made five trips out to California and had vowed that this year I was only going to come out once - for Christmas. I figured I would go out early next year for this birthday ticket, but my sister (being the force of nature that she is) decided that she wanted me to come out sooner. And given my dad's health and the fact that I'd really like to see him, I gave in. So now I'm heading home next Wednesday for a long weekend of visiting with my nieces and family, scrapbooking and girls nights. I should be toast by Monday!

The best part is, Mer found a Stalker Clock, well countdown clock - and my nieces can watch the countdown till I get there. They're pretty excited, which makes me pretty excited too!

Current Music: Falling or Flying - Grace Potter

October Round-Up

I know these are silly - but I do love recapping the month . It's also great for scrapbooking later on (not that I ever get around to it, but there's hope). Sadly it's a bit late, hopefully I'll remember everything. Anyway, on with October!

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Let's see, magazines are easy Creating Keepsakes, Blue, National Geographic, Memory Makers, Entertainment Weekly and Real Simple.

The books are a bit tougher, I read so fast that I tend to forget what I've read. There was Zoology, The Feasting Season and a bunch of forgettable mystery novels.

What movies and/or TV shows did I watch this month?
Ah fall TV - so far I'm loving all my old stand-bys, on the new show front, I'm liking Women's Murder Club, Big Shots, Reaper, Journeyman and Chuck.

Movies, as usual we didn't see many - I did see Rent, which was great. Can't remember any thing else.

What special days did I celebrate and how?
October is a slow-ish month. We've got Scott's birthday and Halloween. I usually enjoy Halloween more lately. Scott gets harder and harder to shop for, plus with money woes it makes shopping less fun (I don't get to run out and buy him a PS3 or anything!).

For his birthday we had dinner at J & M's with the kids, had lots of martinis and some fun "Birthday Brownies". For his actual birthday I made a coconut cake that he had been requesting.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
For his birthday I got him a bunch of clothes (most of which he liked), a pair of slippers and a couple of used video games. He seemed to like everything and had as good a birthday as you can have as an adult.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
Neither Scott nor I had anything health wise to complain about besides the standard aches and pains.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?
J & M moved back to the river house, so it's nice to be able to just walk down the street to spend the evening with them! But October is kind of a transitional month, so not a lot going on.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
Since Fall is upon us I'm just getting back to cooking. I've pulled a bunch of new recipes to try, but haven't gotten to them yet.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
We bought some cool paver/edge thing-ys for the garden. We really needed to get my super cool hydrangeas in the ground before it got too cold. So we created a new garden bed by the garage and we needed a border type of thing, so that's what we bought.

What were this month's disappointments?
We were supposed to celebrate Dad's one year anniversary with his new heart, but he went into the hospital on the 16th, in serious rejection. We thought everything was going so well.

What were my accomplishments this month?
Sadly, none. I made some cards at forget-me-not and I did get some scrapbooking pages done (6 I think), but it was a quiet month for us. Spent most of the month worried about Dad.

Anything else noteworthy to record?
Nope, see above.

Current Music: Leaving in Coffins - Psapp