LOL

My latest project:

My sister and I collaborated on a gift for our parents for Christmas. It was not to be from us, it was to be from all the grandchildren. My sister got the idea, we worked together on the design, and I did the constructing. It's a family quilt, which we the grandkids gave them tonight, and which they absolutely loved. Yay!

And also:

Happy Holidays, everyone!

My very own Christmas miracle!

So, as previously mentioned, my laptop power cord went kerplooey on Monday. I ordered a new cord on Monday night, with free two day shipping. (yay!) But that meant it would ship on Tuesday, and since Thursday is a holiday, I would not receive it until Friday. Not a very long wait, but with The Boy and I fighting over who gets to use the desktop computer, it was getting a bit hairy already.

Except that tonight when I came home from my parents' house, the new cord had already arrived! And it works! And the computer still works, which means it didn't get fried when the cord exploded! And I'm typing on my laptop right now! Wheeeeee!!

Oh, how I missed you, Laptop. Please don't ever leave me again.

Happy Festivus!

OH, SHIT!

... is exactly what I exclaimed when the cord to my laptop sparked and exploded.
I've ordered a new one. And I promise to be more gentle with this one.

I just hope my computer is ok.

Ah, I've taught him so well...

Just went to get our Christmas tree. This year Christmas snuck up on us really quickly, and I felt I was really late getting the tree. Sure enough, when we got to our usual place, they literally had maybe twenty trees left. One whole side of the lot, usually full of trees, was completely empty. Not much to choose from, they were all bigger and more expensive than I wanted. And then The Boy asked me: "And what have we learned about waiting too long to get a Christmas tree?"

The only answer, of course, is: "Foamy!"




Well, and: "Expensive!"

This just defies the laws of nature

I wanted to hate it...but now I just WANT it:


'A Friendship Lasts a Lifetime'

Anyone who has ever enjoyed the magic of the 100 Acre Woods will love to be part of the 80th Anniversary Celebration with this cozy Limited Edition piece (Production limited to 2006)! Classic Winnie the Pooh and the more contemporary Pooh Bear are both represented as they share the adventure with the Honey Tree as readers, big and small, have for decades. Fourteen different molds were used in the careful creation of this meticulously detailed porcelain bisque treasure. This is a collector's piece that will bring a lifetime of pleasure! 5"H.

Hubba, hubba

I'm really liking the beard.

Blast From the Past

You may or may not remember when I posted about my nephew Mikey's birthday in October. At that time, my dad had requested that I take a picture of him and my mom, with all the grandkids. He wanted to recreate a photo that had been taken of them all, some 10 or 11 years previously. I finally managed to get that original pic scanned into the computer, so I can now share with you the two pics together.
Jake did his best at remaining in the position he was supposed to, but he's a little too big to sit on his Mimi's lap these days.

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!

Please Don't Bomb Nobody This Holiday

I'm not terribly familiar with the comedy antics of Dan Finnerty, but if he could get Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris to appear in his holiday video, he's got to be ok.

Game Fail

Christmas, anyone?

I'm trying to organize my Christmas card list. Is there anyone who's not on my list who would like to be?

If so, please either PM at the temp WD (which is up again!), or my email address is on my Facebook page.

Thanks!

And now, a word from the cat:

xdddddddddddddddddddddd';as

Sleep? We don't need no steenkin' sleep!

Yeah, we do, actually. I've been having so much trouble falling asleep for weeks and weeks, now. And then I have just as much trouble waking up in the morning. It's shameful, really, the time of day I wake up. So, now it's 3am and I'm up blogging, instead of sleeping.

What's new:
I have three new books that I'm excited to read. I abandoned Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson (which I've read eleventy million times), right in the middle, to start reading The Color Purple as soon as it arrived. I am currently on page 180. Then I will read Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs, and The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

I have also decided that my newest obsession is CSI: NY. I hate it when I get into a show four or five years in and have so much catching up to do. But luckily for me, Spike TV has been playing mini-marathons during the weekdays. I tape them and watch them later. They are even running them in order, so I should be able to catch up with most of the episodes. And I've got just a teeny tiny thing for Carmine Giovinazzo.
It must be the accent. And that he's Italian. And I love the glasses, but it appears that it's just his character on the show who wears them, not him. And, true fact: he was the first person to be killed on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show, not the movie). Yep, he is the boy who snuck into the school with Darla at the beginning of the first ep. So cool!

When I'm not reading or watching CSI: NY, (well, sometimes while I'm watching CSI: NY), I am knitting my shrug. I can't wait to finish it because my shoulders are chilly. I'd show you a picture, but I'm too lazy to go take one. I'm almost done with one arm. I've finished the increases and now I'm just knitting row after row, and when it's long enough, I'll start the decreases down the other arm. I had to keep very careful track, on paper, of where and when the increases were made, so I can make the decreases the same on the other side. Now that I don't have to keep track of that stuff, it's going much faster. I noticed a slipped stitch quite far down, and dropped my stitches down to it to pick it up, but now that they're back up, it's still there. I must have missed it. Doh! I'll fix it again tomorrow.

Oh, and because he's on TV right now so I thought of it, did anyone know that Anthony LaPaglia is Australian? I had no idea. I thought he was native New Yorker. Boggled my mind when I read that.

And also, go check out Jenn's Rather Crafty's Etsy shop. She makes the most lovely handmade cards for all kinds of occasions. They are so sweet. And then go check out Meg's blog, as she is hosting a giveaway, and YOU can get a chance to win a set of these wonderful cards.

And, finally...pie.

Prop 8: The Musical

*sob*

The Temp WD is down again. :(

Quick and Dirty Chicken Pot Pie

• Poach chicken breasts in canned chicken broth.
• Saute celery and onions in butter.
  
• Remove celery and onions, add more butter to pot, melt. Add flour to make a roux.
  
• Remove chicken breasts from broth, mix strained broth into roux, stirring well, to make sauce. Add more chicken broth as needed. Make sure sauce is thick.
  
• Chop up chicken.
  
• Add chicken, celery and onions, and thawed frozen peas & carrots to sauce.
  
• Now that we know how much filling we're dealing with, decide which casserole dish to use. grease and flour casserole dish.
  
• Open box of Pillsbury pie crusts, which have been sitting at room temp. Put bottom crust in casserole dish.
  
• Add filling.
  
• Add top crust, pinching edges. Cut hole in middle of crust for steam release.
  
• Cover top with foil.
  
• Put in 350 (preheated) oven. Set timer for 30 minutes.
  
• Knowing how badly your oven Sucks Out Loud, pray for the best.

I'll let you know what happens.

EDIT:
Ok, it ended up baking for 1 hour with the foil on top, then I took the foil off but recovered the edges of the crust, and baked for about 20 minutes more, until the top was golden. At some point I'd wished I'd baked it in glass, so I could check on the bottom crust. But it cooked well, and did not burn.

Yum!

E-Harmony is *soooooo* picky!

Finished!

I finished my scarf last night. I had been a little undecided about how long to make it, but it ended up being decided for me when it became apparent that I was going to run out of yarn. I ended up making it 1 row of boxes shorter than I thought I would, but that's just fine. It measures 67", taller than me. I ended up with perhaps 5" of yarn left, so I had just enough.



Don't ask my why I wore a red shirt to model a red scarf. Doh.

I went out today to buy more yarn. While I was knitting, it had become apparent to me that my next project will be a shrug for myself. It's a plain black yarn, very soft. It's going to be quick and dirty, and help me learn new techniques: It will be one piece, a ribbed cuff, then garter stitch up the arm and across the back, and back down the other arm. It will be a good chance to practice increasing and decreasing, because I haven't done much of that yet, and I'm going to make the cuffs in the round, which I've never done before I'm not going to knit the cuffs in the round, because I've cast on and started 6 times now, and I keep getting gaps in the stitches between the needles. (If I don't get going on this shrug soon, I will get frustrated and lose interest. So I will try again to learn to knit in the round at another time, on something larger than a cuff.) And then it can keep my arms warm while I knit more!

I also bought some baby yarn (on sale) to make my cat a blanket, because she was very interested in the scarf while I knitted it so I thought she might like something for herself, and two other skeins of pretty multi-colored purple-y yarn (on sale) because there's a baby blanket in the Stitch N Bitch book that I want to make. I don't know who it's for yet, but my friend Trish is having a baby so it will probably be for her. Her favorite color is purple and I'm pretty sure I was thinking of her when I picked it out.

And do you know how much I paid for gas today???? $1.89 a gallon! I filled up my car for less than $30. Hallelujah!

And the cat would like to say: oiiii;lllllllllllll

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving episodes, ever.

Now, please excuse me while I go watch my other favorite Thanksgiving episode, ever, "Pangs".

Woohoo!!

Bwahahahahaha!!

Oh my God, I'm such a dork!

I'm watching an old episode of Star Trek: Voyager that I haven't seen in at least a million years. One of the crew has gone into labor and is about to deliver her baby. Suddenly, her pain is different, something is wrong. The Doctor discovers that the baby's forehead ridges (don't ask me the race of the baby's father) are causing a complication. If they don't deliver the baby now, the uterus might be punctured and cause internal bleeding.

Doctor (on the tv, of course): Prepare for fetal transport!
Me (out loud, to no one): Sweet!!!

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Wow...and I thought *my* cat was out of her mind!

Slinky Cat:

LOL!!!

Ok, fine. I give in!

It's 27 degrees out (F). I finally relented and turned on the heat for the first time this season.

They see me rollin'...they hatin'...

*sigh* What am I going to do with this boy?!?

I'm just kidding. In fact, if you cannot stand shameless bragging about one's offspring, please exit this blog now.

Today I went to the parent/teacher conferences and got the boy's report card:

(click picture for larger version)

He takes his schoolwork seriously and works hard to get his grades. He is responsible and well behaved. I'm obviously very pleased.

Got Fruitcake?

It's just about that time of year again. For those of you who enjoy fruitcake, I'd like to recommend what I have found to be the Best. Fruitcake. Ever. Made lovingly by the monks at the Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Virginia. They are a bit pricey, but definitely worth it. I treat myself to one every year at Christmas time.

Book Meme

Bradi has tagged me for a book meme. I’m supposed to tell you six book-related things about myself and then tag six others to do the same. I don't have a damned clue how to go about this, and there's a good chance this will never get published. But I'll give it a try.

1. The Little House on the Prairie books were my favorites growing up. I learned a lot about how things were done back then, through the eyes of a little girl: I learned about making maple syrup and maple candy; about butchering a pig, which included making headcheese, roasting the pig's tail (a treat!), and blowing up the bladder as a balloon to play with; how they sewed all their clothes and made mattresses stuffed with straw. I sewed a skirt, shirt, nightgown, bonnet, mattress (stuffed with batting, not straw) and a quilt for my Holly Hobby doll.

2. One of my all-time favorite books is Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson. I was first introduced to Ms. Jackson in the eighth grade, when my English class read the short story Charles (which is part of that book). I am currently rereading this book for the eleventy-millionth time. My copy is literally as old as I am, and falling apart worse than I am.

3. The most books I've ever read by one author is the Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman. I started reading these in (I think) the early 90s. I read maybe 7 or 8 of them, stopped reading all together for a few years when I had a baby and was otherwise occupied, and then picked them back up a few years ago. In my absence he had written quite a few more of them, so I had a great time devouring them all to catch up. But now that I am caught up, I have to wait for him to publish the next one. :( I have read 21 of these so far, and am waiting for the latest to come out in paperback. A few years ago I emailed the author about my disappointment about some character developments. He emailed me back, assuring me it was not the last we would see of that character. True to his word, things are now back on track. And also, the author's wife, Faye Kellerman (also an author) has the same birthday as me.

4. The first book I ever got emotional about, I cannot even remember the name of. I was in the first grade, and I got this book out of the school library. It featured pictures of ragdolls as the illustrations, and I cannot remember the storyline but something sad happened and made me cry. I took this book out every week for I don't know how long. And thus began my habit of obsessing over things.

5. The furthest away I ever sent for a book was for a used copy of The Sunflower Forest by Torey Hayden, ordered on Ebay from England. I had read it years prior and decided I had to re-read it and own it. By that point it was rather hard to find a copy of it.

6. The last books I've purchased are Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs, and The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I haven't even received them yet.

I am not going to tag anyone for this, as I figure everyone I know on the interwebs has already been tagged and I'm too lazy right now to check. If you are reading this and have not been tagged previously, and would like to participate, please consider yourself tagged.

WARNING to all cat owners!!

Progress

Did some housecleaning today. Then my friend Ericka came over to watch a movie. (You didn't really think I'd clean the house for no reason, did you?) We had quite a bit of girl talk (she's got some interesting changes going on in her life), then watched Memento, which I haven't seen in eleventy thousand years, and she's never seen. Got a pizza, drank a little vodka. The only thing I really had for a mixer was V8 Fusion juice, you know, the kind that mixes fruit and vegetable juices and counts as a serving of fruits and a serving of vegetables. So I convinced Ericka that it was a healthy drink when you add vodka, and that was fine with her.

And I got some knitting done:


I'm really excited. I can knit!!

A crisis of faith

I am Christian. I believe in God and Jesus. I grew up Catholic (though my family is pretty much non-practicing). I have always considered myself to be Catholic. After I divorced, I avoided church for a while, unsure of where I fit in. I finally made peace with that, I started researching Catholic annullments, and started attending church on a regular basis. I found it comforting. I enrolled Jake in CCD, and we made church part of our lives. When Michael died, I got mad at God for a while and stopped going. Then I tried to go back, but just being at Mass became so emotional for me that I had to leave in the middle of it. I don't think I've been back since.

Since then, our church stopped offering regular CCD classes, and started some "total family" classes, which I didn't really want to be a part of. So we have been completely away from church for a couple of years now.

Jake mentions church sometimes. I think he misses it. I think I'd like to go back. But I don't think I can bring myself to rejoin the Catholic church. I have mostly two issues, one being the whole pro-life/pro-choice thing, and the bigger issue being the Roman Catholic church's view on homosexuality. I believe in equal rights and acceptance for homosexuals. And I don't feel like I can go back to the church.

I've been doing a little research, I think there are a couple of Christian churches in my area that accept homosexuality. (There's even a Free Catholic Church, but there isn't one in my area.) So I'm thinking about checking them out. And while that might be a happy answer to my problem, I'm still feeling very sad about my loss of my church. Not sure I can articulate it, but I'm feeling it.

Getting my knit on

A few years ago, I bought the book Stitch 'N Bitch, and taught myself to knit from it. I didn't get very far. I got to where I could knit and purl, made a practice swatch with a garter stitch, stockinette, ribbing, and seed stitching. I made a little sweater for a stuffed animal. Then I thought I'd make myself a little scarf out of eyelash yarn, but the eyelash yarn kicked my ass. I restarted that one I don't know how many times, and never finished. I came to the conclusion that I didn't have the patience for knitting. When I make something, I want to see the finished results QUICKLY. I don't have months to dedicate to ONE project. That's why I sew, and bead, and build stuff. And so, I abandoned knitting.

But Cassy's party gave me serious knitting fever. Everyone (well, not literally everyone, but a good number of them) was working on such lovely projects! And I needed to knit. I decided I'd buy some good yarn, and actually make something. A scarf. A scarf can't take TOO long, right? Earlier this week I went to a crafty store and looked at the yarn. I picked a red wool, and found it was even on sale. Woohoo! Bought some new bamboo needles, too, since I was pretty sure I didn't have the size I wanted at home.

Yesterday I spent a few hours getting myself reacquainted with the book and with knitting. Today I dove into my project. I'm going to make myself a red scarf, in a 'basketweave' pattern. I cast on 45 stitches. I started with 15 rows of seed stitch, then did: 5 seed (that is to say, 1k, 1p, 1k, 1p, 1k), 7 knit, 7 purl, 7 knit, 7 purl, 7 knit, 5 seed. And of course swap the knits and purls on the next row, etc. I think I am just about at the point where there areas are squares so I will start doing the opposite. I'll decide that tomorrow. And also, I am really happy that I started with the seed stitch, because plain knitting or purling positively flies by in comparison! Incidentally, I got this pattern idea from Crazy Aunt Purl's blog. Once I saw it, I knew I wanted to try to make it! Here's a shot of what I've done so far:

I am pleased, so far.

Seriously...

what kind of assholes have a screaming argument at ONE IN THE MORNING? Especially when they live in an apartment building so all their neighbors are thisclose, and their windows are open?

I NEVER get good upstairs neighbors. The latest ones let their daughter run and stomp all the fucking time. Seriously. For HOURS. Sometimes just stamping in the same spot again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. I mean, I KNOW kids play and run. I do expect there to be certain level of noise. I have a kid. I raised him in this building. And I spent a lot of time telling him to be "easy on the floor" because we have neighbors downstairs. If your kid needs to run that much, take her the fuck out to play for a little while.

And they leave their laundry in the machines for HOURS. Do they think they own this building? Do they think that those machines are for themselves, alone? Newsflash: you are sharing those machines with 11 other families! Common courtesy and common sense should tell you that it's NOT OK to leave your stuff in the machines for 3 hours, for 4 hours, and longer. OTHER PEOPLE WANT TO USE THEM, ASSHOLES. And when you find someone emptying the machine of the clothes you just left in there for 3 hours, don't cop an attitude about it.

So, now they're fighting. Right now I can hear him saying, "What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?". I can't decide whether to yell "SHUT THE FUCK UP" out the window, or just pound on the ceiling.

Wow. I didn't mean for this post to get this long. Guess I needed a good little rant, there.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled posting.

Bwaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Is it just me, or is the Buffy board not working?

I mean the temp board, of course.


*sob*

I really think I prefer when my head is firmly planted in the sand

I was just reading a news article, in which a 9 year old girl in Massachusetts was kicked off the bus by the bus driver, on a busy street, far from her home, just because she got up and switched seats without permission. She could have gotten hit by a car, she could have gotten kidnapped, and worse. Luckily, another student who got off at that stop told his parent, and that parent got the girl and drove her home. People are outraged, the driver was fired. I'm so glad it all ended well.

But while reading the news article and the accompanying comments, I came across this one:

So the liberals come out in force to fuss and whine about this poor child, and the poor single mother fighting against sexism. Boo hoo hoo.

Fact is, if your child has a different name than the mother, then something's wrong. The mother should put EVERYTHING into creating a solid family with a mother AND a father. Not a family with a single mother. Not a 'solid' family with two mothers. Not a 'solid' family with two fathers.

A mother and a father. Instead of wasting time crying about this daughter she couldn't even bother to DRIVE to school, she runs off to the Telegram and the police.

Stop fussing about this, and figure out how to marry well (and no, 'Ellen' or 'Rosie' doesn't count). If you can't do that, and teach your child how to walk along Route 9 and how to CROSS THE STREET!

-Telling it like it is

There is SOOO much I could say about this person's comment. But I'm going to focus on just the first point, which I've bolded above: "If your child has a different last name than the mother, then something's wrong". Wow.* People still think like this? When I give my name and my child's name for school registration or doctors appointments or...whatever, the person I'm dealing with may be a person who gets a little blip in their brain and assume that our family life is 'wrong'? That I'm a bad mom? That my kid suffers in a poor environment? That I'm immoral in some way?

I guess I thought that we were past this kind of thinking. It's a new world out there. I didn't know I was getting looked down on because I have a different last name than my kid.

This just makes me very sad.



* (In case anyone didn't know, I have a different last name than The Boy. I went back to my maiden name when I divorced DF; the reasons behind the decision would be a whole 'nother post.)

God bless her

Determined Texas Woman, 92, Votes in Ambulance

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Betty Owen is 92 and after a stroke four years ago, needs a feeding tube and can't walk. But she was determined not to miss Tuesday's election. She arrived at her polling place on a gurney in an ambulance, where an election judge and support worker climbed aboard with an electronic voting machine and let her cast her ballot.

"And you have voted," precinct judge Sam Green said after Owen pushed the red button finalizing her choices. "You know, you look so pretty in that red dress."

Owen grinned, the San Antonio Express-News reported in Tuesday's online edition.

Her daughter arranged for the ambulance ride at the last minute after Owen failed to get an absentee ballot.

Owen, a Marine Corps veteran who served in World War II, cast her first ballot for Wendell Willkie, a Republican running against Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.

She became a Democrat after voting for John Kennedy in 1960. She cast a straight Democratic ballot Tuesday.

Why do people still act like assholes when they're on airplanes?

Don't they realize that NO ONE is going to put up with it?


FBI: Airline passenger restrained with duct tape

RALEIGH, N.C. - An airline crew used duct tape to keep a passenger in her seat because they say she became unruly, fighting flight attendants and grabbing other passengers, forcing the flight to land in North Carolina.

Maria Esther Castillo of Oswego, N.Y., is due in court Thursday, charged with resisting arrest and interfering with the operations of a flight crew aboard United Airlines Flight 645, from Puerto Rico to Chicago.

Castillo, 45, struck a flight attendant on the buttocks with the back of her hand during Saturday's flight, FBI Special Agent Peter Carricato said in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Charlotte. She also stood and fell onto the head of a blind passenger and later started pulling the person's hair, the complaint stated.

Ankle cuffs kept slipping off Castillo, so the flight crew and two passengers were forced to use duct tape to keep her in her seat, the complaint states.

She calmed as the pilot diverted the flight to Charlotte-Douglass International Airport, but became disruptive again when authorities boarded the plane to remove her, authorities said.

Carricato states that a passenger saw Castillo having drinks in an airport bar before boarding. She bought another drink on the plane. Flight attendants stopped serving her alcohol because of her behavior, the complaint states.

United spokesman Jeff Kovick said Wednesday that safety is the company's top priority and that it's cooperating with authorities.

FBI spokeswoman Amy Thoreson on Wednesday declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

A message left seeking comment wasn't immediately returned by Castillo's attorney, Julia Mimms.

Holy Shit

Jogger runs mile with rabid fox locked on her arm

The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; 6:02 PM

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Authorities in Arizona say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal's jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital. The Yavapai County sheriff's office said the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot.

She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but it bit her arm.

The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran a mile to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital.

The sheriff's office says the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.

Ok, ok, another one!

Police Dog Fail:

This just made me lol so hard!

WANT!

I don't even know which set I want. I want them all. Stone dice!

Look at the aventurine ones! So pretty!

Look at the clear quartz!

And rose quartz!

Ooh! Carnelian!

Botswana Agate!

Hematite!

And they have metal: steel, brass finish and copper finish.

I think I just had an orgasm.

Stolen from Jenn

Use one word to describe or answer the following list:

1.Your house? none

2.Your significant other? none

3. Your hair? curly

4. Your family? stressful

5. Favorite place to eat? Chinese

6. Your favorite thing you can see right now? cat

7. Where is your cell phone? counter

8. Your favorite drink? Kahlua

9.Your dream/goal? house

10. What Room you are in? bedroom

11. Your hobby? beads

12. Your fear? heights

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? housed

14. Where were you last night? home

15. Something that you aren’t? employed

16. Pie? Please!

17. Wish list item? DVDs

18. TV show? How I Met Your Mother

19. Last thing you did? blog

20. What are you wearing? jammies

21. Vacation spot? island

22. Your pets? cat

23. A best friend? no

24. Your life? whee

25. Your mood? whee

26. Missing someone? sometimes

27. Your car? Toyota

28. Something you’re not wearing. pants

29. Your favorite store? Amazon

30. Best memory? Vineyard

Jensen Ackles pwns all

I can't actually find the source of this article beyond it being posted on YouTube, but it explains how this awesomeness happened:

'Supernatural' Surprise

At the end of Supernatural 4x06 Yellow Fever (9/8 p.m. Thursday), fans will get to see the result of an on-set practical joke as series star Jensen Ackles lip-syncs the song "Eye of the Tiger."

Ackles' video, running about 90-seconds, will air at the end of the episode and then presumably go viral on the Internet among his adoring female fans.

According to a publicist for the show, it all began as a prank that co-star Jared Padalecki decided to pull on Ackles:

They were filming a scene of "Yellow Fever" in which Sam (Jared's character) returns to their parked car where Dean (Jensen's character) has been waiting and hears "Eye of the Tiger" blaring.

When Sam looks in the car he finds Dean laying down on the front seat, eyes closed, air-drumming and singing along to the song. Jared's cue to Jensen to open his eyes and stop was to tap on the roof of the car. Jared told the crew that he wasn't going to give the cue and to just keep rolling and see what Jensen would do...and so a classic interpretation of Survivor's hit song was born!

Church Raffle Fail

This is my very own Fail that I've submitted to the Fail Blog. This is my actual raffle ticket that I bought when my church held a raffle. I figured that I could not win. Even if they picked my ticket, they would not have the balls to announce the number out loud, and would just pick another instead. I never had a chance.

Sadly, Fail Blog has not picked it yet. But I am hopeful.

I'm not in LA! :(

I'm home, now. I'm happy to see my cat (she missed me terribly and yelled at me when I came in the door) and will be thrilled to see The Boy tomorrow, but I'm really sad I had to leave the party.

Things We Did:

• Went to breakfast THREE times. I love going to breakfast. It's my favorite thing ever.
• Walked to the beach.
• Bought lots of chocolate and some licorice at a lovely candy shop.
  
• Had a Dr. Horrible sing-along. Two of them, actually.
• Had a OMWF sing-along.
• Had a How I Met Your Mother marathon.
• Played Ring of Fire. I was afraid at first, but it was SO MUCH FUN!!!
• Drank. A lot.
• Ate. A lot.
• Drunk posted.

Things I did NOT do:

• a goat

People I met:

• Cassy (CassyLee)
• Helen (Callie)
• Amanda (Cosmic Avatar)
• Caz (Caz)
• Gayle (kirielle)
• Bradi (MenleyNin)
• Amanda (MdmeAlbetine)
• Annika (bettie)
• Will (oslowe)
• Sam
  
• Rich (BigEvil)
• Kathrine (SoupyTwist)
• Tom, Kathrine's husband
  
• Rian (Tinkcat)
• Simon (Bally)
• Cindy (Starshine, I'd already met her but it seemed wrong to leave her out of the list)
• Debbie, Cindy's cousin

I am SO happy that I got to meet and spend time with each and every one of you! You are all awesome, awesome people and I am glad I can call you my friends. I hope to get to see you all again.


News since I've been back:

• Called the boy today, found out he was sick and did not go to school today. :( Am trying to not feel guilty for not being here for him when he was sick.
• My mom might possibly have diabetes. She needs to go for more tests. She has started eating better and hopefully she will take care of herself. In the short term, this meant that I could not give her the gift I got her, truffles from the candy shop.
• In the five minutes that my parents and I left their minivan on the street and went into their house, before coming back outside to move my car to the street so my dad could move the minivan back to the driveway, someone broke into* the minivan and rifled through it, stealing the big stash of change my dad had in there, and moving other items around, looking for who-knows-what. We suspect that when we turned on the outside light to go move the cars, we scared the asshole away. The person had been in the glovebox, yet did not find the little bit of money that was in there, so it seems he left in a hurry.
• My mom woke my 20 year old nephew up to tell him about the break-in, and he promptly took off in his car, we assume to look for some asshole walking or running down the street. He came back once, but then took off again. Now my mom will worry about him until he gets back home.
• Got back to my own home and my cat is stuck to me likethis. Kitty love is special.
• There was a message on my machine from the school, because The Boy was absent and no one (The Boy's dad) called the school to notify them that he would not be in today. *sigh*
  

QUESTION FOR THE WDers!!!
I wrote down the directions for Ring of Fire, but I cannot remember what happens when you get a queen!! Please help!

* My parents had left the minivan unlocked, since it would only be a few minutes until we were going to move the cars, so technically it wasn't BROKEN into, but I don't know what else to call it.

I'm in LA!

And Cassy is here (well, it's her house, so, duh) and Helen is here and Gaile is here and Cassy has gone to the airport to get Amanda and Caroline then she's going to the other airport to get the other Amanda, then Bradi will be here later and more to come tomorrow. Probably drunken pictures to follow, too.

Edit: Cindyshine and her cousin are here, too. We have had a slightly drunken Dr. Horrible Sing-along. Grand fun.

Wheeee!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Mikey!

My mom had us all over today, as it is my nephew's 20th birthday. I was 20 years old myself when he was born, and I remember that day clear as a bell. Sometimes it's hard to reconcile the grown man I see now with the little baby born that day!

This picture was a special request from my dad, it's a re-creation of a picture from 11 years ago when the kids were very small. I wish I had that picture here to post them both together! Everyone is in the same spot. (Except the dog. She wasn't here 11 years ago.) Left to right is: Jake, my mom, my niece Jessie, my nephew Mikey, Sugar the black lab, my dad, and my nephew Joey.

My sister and her awesome family: standing are my nephew Mikey and my sister Susan, sitting are my nephew Joey and niece Jessie, and Sugar.

The Boy and I, plotting evil as usual.

Sis bought pumpkins and brought all her carving supplies over for a jack-o-lantern-athon.

Sadly, we discovered too late that Jessie's pumpkin was actually pregnant! She found sprouted seeds inside.

Happy Birthday!

Sugar's birthday was last week, so she got a present, too.

Ta-da!!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Jake has quite a collection of light sabers. Most are the cheap ones you get in the Target toy department for $8. But he recently got a 'real' one, the expensive kind that lights up and makes sounds as you move the hilt. He'd heard of them before, saw them in person at Dragon*Con, and was heartbroken when I told him we couldn't get one just then, because we simply could not get it home. (Do you have any idea how much the airlines charge for odd shaped packages?) I promised him that as soon as we got home I would order him one from Think Geek, and I would even buy it for him as an early Christmas present. In fact, I think I ordered it while we were still in Atlanta.

Shortly after that acquisition, he came across a toy light saber building kit at Toys R Us. It's all plastic and has the telescoping blade like the cheap ones, but you customize how you build the hilt, and it lights up and has sound. This one, he bought himself. (And I'm quite sure that eventually he will get into the build-it-yourself 'realistic' ones.)

Tonight we had a duel in the living room with those two light sabers. It was the second one this week.

It was a lot of fun. Even the cat came out to hang around. For some reason she likes light sabers.

Double Feature Thursdays!

Jake and I always watch Supernatural together on Thursday nights. It is one of my favorite rituals. One problem we ran into early on is that every other Thursday is one of the nights when he goes to his dad's house. The solution? Thursday Night Double Features! On the Thursday when he's with his dad, I tape Supernatural and watch CSI instead. (I NEVER watch the Supernatural episode without Jake!) On the following Thursday, we start watching the tape at 8:00. We have to hunker down in my bed, with all the lights off. We fast forward through the commercials, so we usually have around a 10 minute intermission to get snacks/have a bathroom break, and then we watch the new episode at 9:00. We really enjoy watching it together. We seem to laugh or gasp at nearly all of the same parts. He can't always appreciate the music because it's older stuff, but I always tell him what it is. (Tonight was Lonely is the Night by Billy Squire! Awesome!) And he can near well always identify AC/DC when given a pop quiz.

Double Feature Thursdays Rock!

my latest lol

New LollyBeads products

I started making these Swarovski Crystal Circle Pendants a while ago, but I've just gotten around to taking all the pictures and putting them up in my store:


There are 8 different color combinations, plus I will take requests for custom colors.

PS: How do you like my watermarks? Lie if you have to.

Special announcement about the state of the economy

LOL of the day

Went to the doctor for my yearly physical. The nurse starts with certain basics.
'How much do you weigh?' she asks. '135,' I say.
The nurse puts me on the scale. It turns out my weight is 180.
The nurse asks, 'Your height?' '5 foot 4,' I say.
The nurse checks and sees that I only measure 5'2'.
She then takes my blood pressure and tells me it is very high.
'Of course it's high!' I scream. 'When I came in here I was tall and slender! Now I'm short and fat!'
She put me on Prozac. What a bitch.

recycling

I came across an Etsy tutorial on how to fuse plastic shopping bags together. Once done, you have produced a larger, stronger sheet of plastic, with unending possibilities of uses. I couldn't wait to try it. I decided to make a reusable shopping bag.

The tutorial insinuates that you will cut the 'raw' bags into even sizes, fuse these, then sew them together into the size you want. I had an idea that I would rather overlap many sheets to make one huge piece, and then sew my bag from the one huge piece. I also purposely arranged different kinds/colors of bags haphazardly to get a kind of rustic look. I sewed handles out of some nice strong cotton fabric I had on hand. I didn't work from a pattern, but from what I figured in my head (as I often do), and the bag ended up a little wider and shallower than I like. I may redo it so that it is a little narrower and deeper. In any case, here's the finished product.


If I do another, I may use the colors and patterns of the bags to make a more symmetrical design. Walmart bags used to be blue, but now they're white. This now makes me sad. My plastic sheet also did not come out perfectly flat and even. I will need to work on this.

Guava goodness

I was introduced to this yummy snack a couple of years ago at a cookout. You will need toothpicks, cubes of guava paste, cubes of sharp cheddar cheese, and Spanish olives. Spear each toothpick with one cube of guava paste, one cube of cheese, and one Spanish olive. You eat it by popping the whole thing in your mouth at once. Sweet, salty and tangy all in one. Yum!

Argggh!!

Today be the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day, matey!

Made of Win! ...er..Fail!

I just found this site.

Funniest.

Thing.

Ever.

I've added it to my blogroll so I can remember to check it out every day. Assuming I don't die laughing first.

Edit: This one just almost killed me:


More:

Adventures in quinoa

I've heard some good things about quinoa lately and have been wanting to try it. I finally found some in my grocery store, and found a recipe that included tomatoes, as I have eleventy thousand tomatoes my parents gave to me out of their garden. I modified the recipe to include chicken and zucchini, which I happened to have in the house.

2 t grated lime zest
2 T fresh lime juice
2 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I used regular salted butter)
1 T vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 t sugar
1 cup quinoa
1 (14- to 15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 medium tomatoes, diced
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro
chicken
zucchini

The original recipe called for cooking the quinoa for a time and then steaming it. I cannot be arsed to do that so I just cooked it according to package directions, which was just like cooking rice: quinoa and water, simmer, done.

Whisk together lime zest, lime juice, butter, oil, sugar and some salt and pepper.

Cook chicken in a pan, add zucchini and cook that too. Rinse and drain black beans, add to pan. Add cooked quinoa, tomatoes and scallions. Add lime juice mixture, stir. Yum.

I just realized I totally forgot to add the cilantro. Oh well, it was still very good anyway.


In conclusion, I didn't happen to notice a distinctive flavor from the quinoa. But it is supposed to be Super Good for you, so it will be a great thing to add to dishes. I am thinking of adding it to my stir frys instead of rice. I don't think there is so much nutritional value to rice so this would be a nice substitution.

What else should I try with quinoa? According to my curly hair care book, it's supposed to be a great scalp exfoliator. But at $8 a package, I don't think I'll be rubbing it in my hair.

Elote

Just made elote for the first time. Yummy! I came across a recipe a few weeks ago and it's taken me this long to remember to write the ingredients down before I went to the market.

Elote:

butter
4 ears corn, shucked
3 T mayonnaise
2 t fresh lime juice
2 t finely grated cotija cheese (I could not find cotaja cheese, and had to use Parmesan)
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t ground red pepper
1/8 t salt

Mix mayo and lime juice.

Mix grated cheese and seasonings.

Some versions call for the corn to be grilled in the husk, but I have no grill so I spread butter on the shucked ears of corn, wrapped them in foil, and baked for 30 minutes at 400F.

If you grilled the corn, next you will brush with butter before proceeding. Otherwise, the next step is to brush the corn with the mayo mixture. Then sprinkle with the cheese mixture.


Muy bueno!