F-Word Friday: Finally!

No post yesterday, because of this:



That would be my backyard. That thing in the foreground there is the pile of uninterrupted snow that fell on my patio table.

The Kid suggested sticking a candle in the top and cutting a slice out, but it was also murrfurrin' cold out so...

No.

But yay! Snow day!

The Kid was thrilled, I made French Toast that *almost* rivaled the stuff at Dozens but not quite (since I lack a gas stove and griddle - it really makes a difference), we played with clay and watched dumb horror movies on SciFi (I refuse to use their new spelling because it's stupid), and the cats were all up in our business.

Well, Dea was because she's a noodge.


Please note the fact that the cat is asleep in this picture

The Kid is a sucker... she falls for the "kitty wants a hug" trick every time.

The "Finally" in F-Word Friday today comes from the fact that despite it looking a *lot* like Christmas yesterday, I have at last found my Halloween spirit.

Better late than never!

I may even torture TR by dressing up tomorrow and embarrassing him wherever we go.

And all that spirit is thanks to crafting, as usual.

Now granted, I just made some Candy Corn earrings...


Not as cute as the originals, but did they have cat involvement?

... but The Kid went CUHRAZY.

She made a bag of candy & the cutest pumpkins ever (her own designs) and we had fun making little skull beads which shall be used for *something*, but for now are adorning my little Halloween pile on the living room table, which also includes a candle holder sporting packing tape transfers I did last week.

God but I love the Craft: blog.


Tiggy helped with the size comparison... and please ignore the dust on the table thankyewveddymuch


That's a sucker, a Snickers bar and a giant Pixie Stick in that bag, I'll have you know

We had fun, can you tell?

Last but not least... The Kid's costume.

I give you...

Prom Queen Disaster.



Currently this is blood-free, but that's only because the blood packets are at her friend's house. Don't you just love the streaked mascara? Very dramatic.

Almost as dramatic as this shot:


Please note the Converse

Happy Halloween! Have fun and be safe!

WTF Wednesday - Groovy

James Lileks is hilarious.

He writes well, and is in fact an inspiration to me (my Princess Pantha posts being the best example of that influence I think).

His specialty is finding bits of antiquated American culture and...

Well...

Making fun of it for our amusement (and his).

He does so with reverence, though, and that's why I think his writing strikes such a chord. It's not like he actually *likes* the yellow plaid horror depicted in the 70's decorating photos he unearthed from God knows where, but he recognizes its cultural significance.


Hideous but noteworthy

I used to love flipping through old comic books and magazines at the resale shop I used to regularly haunt when I was about 10 looking for advertising. I often wondered what would happen if I were to send in one of the mail-in slips and request my very own X-Ray Specs or what have you...

I'd like to think there's a kind of time-warp mail service that those letters might enter, and that someday I'd get a curious package via USPS bearing a return address that no longer exists.

Yes, that *is* how my brain works, why are you looking at me like that?

Anyway.

I really don't remember how I stumbled across him, really, just one of those things that happens when you're link-following on the interwebs, but I do remember it being about 8 or 9 years ago and I'm still a regular visitor so that tells you something, huh? Websites come and go, but Lileks is forever. Or something.

The best stuff (in my person opinion) can be found in the Institute of Official Cheer section of his website... go look, but be prepared to spend some time. Make some coffee, get yourself comfortable and don't say I didn't warn you about the time suck factor!

Some of my very favorites (clickable!)...


I wish it still existed, I would go in a heartbeat


Did anyone really eat this stuff? Probably.


This had TR laughing so hard I thought he was going to fall right off his chair


Uh... sexy?

All this has inspired me... I think there might be a new theme in the offing...

Time Waster Wednesday.

Oh yeah.

Totally Random Tuesday: C'mon & Shake It Up Baby Now!

Wow, yesterday's post was...

Wordy.

Today, not so much, so it all balances out.

I did forget to mention one thing yesterday...

Twist & Shout, my new favorite store.

After high-tailing it out of the convention on Saturday, much earlier than anticipated due to the weirdness factor, TR was mid-errands and suggested a good place to hang while he finished up.

Oh my god.

Okay let me back up... I love records. *Real* records, the kind that take up lots of space and have to be handled delicately and so on.

Do I have a record player?

Well... sort of. It's a little plug-in kids player that The Kid borrowed from her aunt once and has yet to return to her. But that's not the point.

It's kind of like collecting, I don't know... airplanes. Sure, they might stay in their boxes, but you *have* them and they are glorious (especially when you get rare ones on the cheap) and you can carefully remove them from their boxes now and again to play with the detachable cockpits until you delicately replace them in their boxes again.

Records are like that for me... I can look at the liner notes, I can admire the album covers, I can look for the little messages etched into the inner wax ring... they're definitely a collectible thing.

And I can download the songs from iTunes if I want to hear them. The modern age is wondrous.

I also have attachment anxiety about them. I used to have some of the coolest records in existence (the *entire* Duran Duran catalog and some serious Smiths EPs - dont' judge me), and my ex-husband sold most of them out from under me about 15 years ago because they were "replaceable - have you heard of CDs?".

Jerk.

Anyway, Twist & Shout is, among other things, a record shop. I hadn't been in a record shop in probably 10 years, yet there I was, simultaneously flipping through albums, eyeballing the many fantastic toys lying around and wool-gathering about Record Shops I Have Known And Loved (oh Vintage Vinyl, I miss you), all while they played some sort of 40's Sinatra-type music over the sound system.

Bliss. I could spend hours in there.

It's probably good I didn't remember to add that yesterday, I probably would have hit some sort of character limit for single posts.

So! Your Randomness for the day... a Halloween Lolcat, because it's my blog and I can if I want to.

I'm mildly Halloweeny now. Only mildly, but still... it's probably the dark sky and bare trees and blowing leaves outside.

I need a pumpkin, STAT!



Clowns are terrifying. Clown dolls are even worse. *shudder*

Just look at that thing. You know it looks for the knives when you sleep, right?

If only it could move its thumbs, you'd have been toast long ago.

Weekend Catchup: A Let-Down Followed By A Pick-Me-Up

I know I write these Weekend Catchups mostly for me, just so I can go back through this 'ere blog and remember what I did last week (I'm getting old), but I hope you enjoy reading them, too!

Friday morning I had a lovely review (mostly) from my manager.

I say "mostly" because this year the faculty and staff of our department were given the chance to anonymously give reviews of our "customer service".

99% of these reviews consisted of folks talking about how they can't live without us down here in the office, but 1% (these are crap percentages... it was 2 people out of 30 or so reviews) used the opportunity to say that I'm crabby sometimes and that I "tend to be somewhat inflexible and use the rules to decide how to do things rather than try to do things that will accommodate the rules.".

In other words, I do my job and won't call the vendors they deal with for them when a billing problem arises on their credit cards, a task which if I did it for one person I'd have to do it for all 250 and which would then become my new job.

Yes, I'm horrible.

That little bit of unpleasantness was, however, canceled out by taking the afternoon off to bake cookies and putz around the house, courtesy of my manager's thankfullness in regard to a project I've been working on.

I made these...


Photo & recipe courtesy of Giggly Mama

...and Lo, They Were Good. They're more like little mini pumpkin bread blobs than cookies, especially after they've cooled, and I plan to make another batch this weekend because oh yeah.

Friday night I went by my friend/boss Wendi's house.

Wendi has a 7-year-old boy-child in her house, and he loves pirates, and is the proud owner of a brand new bunk bed.


Click to see the awesome pirate lights up close... also, that cat was the funniest creature I'd seen all day!

We spent the evening beating a large black piece of cloth into submission, or rather into 2 curtains which wrapped themselves around the bunk bed's bottom half, creating a PIRATE CAVE OMG.


With the lights off and just those awesome pirate-lights for illumination, this became the coolest room ever

To you and me, it's just a curtain, but to 7-year old boy child?

Bliss itself.


Think he likes it?

Saturday morning I headed out rather early for Mile-Hi Con 41 and...

And...

Hm.

Let's just say it wasn't what I was hoping for.

I knew last year that it wasn't the same as the conventions I'd attended before.

All the elements were there, the normal things you find at these shindigs...

People in carefully designed costumes displaying all the minutiae of the show/movie/genre they love best, a whole room full of fan art and paperback copies of 20-book-long series about dragons/elves/mages/etc., discussions going on here and there about the science behind sci-fi and whether or not Worf could kick Chewbacca's ass...

Girls who, just for example, have watched all of the Firefly episodes so often that they can almost curse in Chinese and who laugh maniacally every time they see little plastic dinosaurs.


Mine is an evil laugh!

The problem with these things is that they are a social event for a group of people that run in a very tight circle, mainly because they often can't find anyone who understands them out in the "mundane" world, and many if not most of the attendees at any one convention have probably been going to that event for years upon years or, and here's the key, are attending it with someone who *has* attended regularly and knows everyone.

This, at other cons, has been remedied easily on Friday night by a stroll on the party floor...

Mingling! Social networking! Strange drinks in test tubes! All the elements are there to make some new friends.

At Mile-Hi Con, however, it seems that unless you're in with the in-crowd, come with a group, or are an author with a reading, you're going to end up sitting at the back of a room listening to 3 or 4 people discuss Steam Punk and walk away feeling like you probably could have just stayed home watching Serenity.

Again.

It's not a *bad* convention, it's just not for me... I knew that after last year, and wasn't going to go this year, but I had promised to help with the kids stuff so I did.

Remember, I have volunteeritis, it couldn't be helped.

Luckily, I had dinner with TR to look forward to, and as soon as my shift was over, I headed to his place, and do you know what he had waiting for me?

A Firefly licence plate holder, that's what.


He even put it on for me

Who needs conventions when you have people who understand your weird Joss Whedon thing right here in the real world?

I don't think I'll bother with them again, honestly. It's too bad, really, the Chicago ones really were fun, The Kid and I would go with friends who had kids her age, and they would have sleepovers in the hotel rooms while we went out and mingled... here, it was just a chore.

I guess it was a fleeting thing.

At least it was free, but I'm glad TR didn't take me up on my offer to attend... I would have felt terrible! It was a selfish invitation, I'll admit... I think deep down I knew it was going to be a lackluster experience, and he tends to make things more entertaining.

Saturday night's dinner of Thai food made my tummy sad the next day... don't get me wrong, everything was flawless, but the hot soup was maybe a mistake. It was not hot as in "ow my membranes are gone now" but rather hot-due-to-being-loaded-with-chili-oil hot, and man did I pay for that one, but it was totally worth it.

I took the leftovers home with me and had the unexpected but delightful bonus of another chance to appreciate my kid, who when we shared the leftovers lamented the lack of good Thai food in Longmont.

Do most 13 year olds like curried chicken and satay-sauce-covered broccoli? I hope so.

Sunday was the laziest day I've had in awhile, and it was delightful... up at the crack of noon, a yummy breakfast featuring some fantastic coffee and bacony perfection, and then back to bed for a few hours to digest and watch the snow fly outside.

Then it was off to my friend Melissa's for chili and cornbread and conversation.

Perfection, and I didn't even have to cook... well, except for the cookies, but those were by choice.

How was your weekend?

F-Word Friday: Fantastico

New stuff on the wall! Woohoo!

He kept the Thriller-era Michael Jackson and added the video behind it. Nice!



You can see more in the Flickr set.

I love what he did to the side of the tool shed... you can't see it from the street, and I only noticed when I got out to take windshield-free shots.



Have a wonderful weekend! I hope you get some Halloween fun in. We all know I'm a total stick in the mud, but I think I'll at least make these. Yum.

Thrilling Thursday: Not Feelin' It

Okay, Halloween is in a week and still nothing - no tinge of excitement, no sudden urge to buy a costume or make popcorn balls...

It's so weird!

Is it just me? Are you not feeling the spirit of it this year either?

I barely put up any decorations, I haven't watched any horror movies, I haven't even bought any of those disgusting Brach's mallowcreme things I love so much.


Come to mama

What *is* it this year?

My poor kid, she loves it so much and her lame mom hasn't done anything to help this.

We bought one stinkin' pumpkin, and it was subsequently eaten by a squirrel.

I put up some lame tombstones out front but not even a *shred* of that irritating fake spiderweb stuff.

I didn't even put up any lights.

I'm going to have to throw a party next year or something. This is just pathetic.

How does this fit into Thrilling Thursday, you ask?

Um...

It doesn't.

But to make up for my off-theme post, here, have a few Halloween cartoons. They're *totally* thrilling!


This used to scare the pants off me.


One of my favorites... it's only part 1, but if you look on YouTube you can find the rest!


Of course.

WTF Wednesday - Reshoots

Okay I promise no political stuff today, except to say that the "100,000 call Tuesday" turned into an over 300,000 call day. That rocked.

Anyway, on to WTF Wednesday...my new favorite lazy blog post day. All I have to do is find fun stuff with which to distract you! (Yay grammar!)

My favorite (today)...

Re-cut movie trailers.

I won't even try to explain these to you, because really they speak for themselves - people get bored, and bored people screw around with editing software.

I'm looking at you, Ralph Lauren.

There are approximately 4 million of these, 3.9 million of which suck, but some are really well done and, because I love you, here are a couple for your viewing pleasure.


When you think about it, she was sort of terrifying.


Jack was just trying to HELP, don't you get it Wendy?!


Mashup! The Fugitive's Day Off. Oh yeah.

On that note...


Requiem For A Dream was a horrifying movie, but this was just awesome.

Plus, ya know, more Ferris. And shots of my beloved Chicago. Winner!

Last but not least today, here's a fun nugget I found through BoingBoing.net today...

"Unfortunate Cookie", a random document generator. It pulls up news headlines (and full stories) from decades past and you know I spent about half an hour before I had to make myself do something productive.

Weekend Catchup: Empanadas Have Consequences

A good weekend... quiet, nice weather, can't complain.

Today I'm feeling a little maudlin, but I'll spare you my whining and instead tell you about all the delicious food I ate on Saturday which was worth every minute of the subsequent indigestion.

It's much more fun to read than "wah wah poor me", especially when the whining is entirely unsubstantiated by reality.

Saturday we headed over to The Child's grampa's house for his housewarming party. His nearly-son-in-law is a chef, and as such was relegated the task of cooking up goodies for the party.

There were so many things I couldn't even detail them all for you, but my favorites were the butternut squash empanadas (oh goodness), the mini pecan pies (oh help me), and the balsamic-glazed stir-fried shrimps (served piping hot and gone in under 2 minutes).

Add to that a whole lot of fizzy lemonade, some seriously spicy cocktail sauce, and a queso dip that had everyone clustered around like zebras at a watering hole, and I was death-gripping the Pepto Saturday night.

It was entirely worth it.

In other news, I decided this weekend that I hate selling stuff; it sucks all the fun out of crafting.

I'll be zapping my Etsy account, however if you'd like something made for you, just say the word! It's much more fun for me, and you get something you picked yourself.

At least I know I have a few holiday gifts already taken care of.

Lucky for The Kid, that means she received the Halloween bowl I made and was so proud of. Lucky girl!

Last but not least, I *finally* dragged the photos on my camera out into the world... not much to speak of, but worth sharing. Enjoy!



This was October 10th. A bit early for this, in my humble opinion, but in true Colorado fashion it was gone the next day.



The Child's owl pumpkin. It has since been defaced by squirrels.

No seriously, de-faced. The face is gone! But the squirrels are happy.



The Halloween bowl... I wish it photographed better, the orange and black fabrics both have sparkles! Too cute, and Child is thrilled it's now hers-all-hers.



Blurry but still so cute... he wore that thing all day.

He is laying on a book (The Big Ass Book Of Crafts, to be precise), because if I put anything on the table, he will lay on it. It's just the arrangement we have.

Hope your weekend was lovely!

F-Word Friday: Fan Club

So there's this awesome dog named Max.

How awesome, you ask?

Well.

This was him as a puppy.


Could you resist? I don't think so.

At a year old he was chasing me around the tree whenever I visited, playing keepaway (his favorite game still, incidentally). Also, he had gotten even cuter.


Can you believe this was only 6 weeks later?

Then he got a baby sister, Greta.


He's an excellent big brother.

After an exciting cross-country move from Chicago to Tucson, he also found himself with a brother from another mother, Buster.


Three enormous dogs, and clean carpets. My parents are amazing.

But now? Now, he's a local hero!

From Wednesday's Marana (it's Tucson, only quieter) paper...


Click to see it better, but that says "Winner of the 2009 Pet Paparazzi Contest"

When he tilts his head, you just want to hug him. He'll let you, too.

Boy I hope he doesn't forget his roots, though... next thing you know, I'll be having to schedule an appointment to visit!

*psh* Celebrities.

Thrilling Thursday: Come Together (Blog Action Day)

Elle over on Kitchen With Kids posted this morning in honor of Blog Action Day '09.



And because I'm a jumper of bandwagons (at least worthy ones), here's mine.

It's hard to see all the time, but climate change is real. Although we can't necessarily *stop* it - some is part of nature doing her thing after all - we can certainly do something about how much we contribute to the issue.

It's really easy to fall into the "I'm just one person, what can I do" state of mind, but there are 6 bajillion of us on the planet... if we each did one very small thing, wouldn't that be amazing?

Dare I say...

Thrilling?! (See how I can make anything fit my theme days? I should add that as a skill on my resume.)

It's equally easy to feel like if you don't do EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE, then somehow you're slacking, so why bother.

I know that I often feel that way...there are so many who do so much more than I do, but while I admire that, it doesn't mean my part doesn't count!

I don't compost, but I recycle everything I can.

I bleach the crap out of my bathroom on a regular basis because I have a slight germ thing, but I also buy natural cleaning agents as much as possible.

I keep my heat low and wear a sweater instead (although to be honest that's half because I'm cheap), but you can bet your butt I crank the a/c if I'm home on a hot day, and if it's particularly chilly I will totally up the heat for awhile to warm up.

Nobody's perfect, and we all just do what we can.

And we can all do *something*!

Here are some easy things you can do (which you're probably doing already, but they're good to remember!):

* Swap the regular light bulbs in your house for CFL bulbs. They're a little more than the 99 cent regular bulb you usually get, but they last a LOT longer. (WHY?) Just be sure to dispose of these properly and be careful when handling them...read up about that here. You can also take your used ones to many Ace Hardware stores; check with your local one or find a CFL recycling center by searching here.

* Pay your bills online. Most companies to whom you might make a payment for services use online billpay these days. Your cell phone, your cable, even your utilities are all payable through company websites. Even if they aren't, almost all banks now offer free online checking... half an hour with your paper bills setting up payees could mean that box of checks you bought will last you the next 5 years! (I think I've written 10 checks in the last year.)

* Set yourself up with online billing, while you're at it. Most companies offer this too - it saves them money. Not only will you save paper by doing this, you can also guard against identity theft because you won't have bills sitting in your mailbox anymore. You can even make it so your bank sends your statements to your inbox!

* Install a programmable thermostat. If you're not home all day, do you really need to keep your house at 70 degrees? Probably not. I have mine set to keep us comfy for a couple of hours in the morning, and a couple at night... the rest of the time I set it high in the summer and low in the winter - and my utility bills went down drastically when I started doing so! Double bonus. (Unless you have a lizard or bird, your pets will survive if your house gets to 85 in the summer and down to 60 in winter.)

* Use cloth grocery bags. Now granted, I'm guilty of going plastic now and again, but I really do try to use the reusable ones as much as possible. Lots of grocery stores are even giving 5 cent per bag discounts if you show them you've brought your own! You can even make your own... remember my favorite bag pattern?

* Check your tires. (From the Time.com article.) "Just giving your engine a tune-up can improve gas mileage 4% and often much more. Replacing a clogged air filter can boost efficiency 10%. And keeping tires properly inflated can improve gas mileage more than 3%. The bottom line? If you can boost your gas mileage from 20 to 24 m.p.g., your old heap will put 200 fewer pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere each year."

That same Time article had a lot of interesting points, some of which I probably couldn't do myself (solar panels, etc.) but that were worth reading about. The strangest one that I could personally accomplish was to make more right turns. It sounds weird, but I never really thought about it... how much time do you spend sitting waiting to make a left? If you go a slightly longer way that you know will not have you sitting around waiting to turn, you're actually using *less* gas... even if you went a mile or two out of the way.

Who knew?

Just to add to the thrill of Thrilling Thursday, here's a lovely bit of vid that reminds me of why I do these little things...

I live here.

Enjoy!

Earth from davide falco on Vimeo.

WTF Wednesday - Time To Go To The Mattresses

Okay guys, it's time for your weekly/biweekly/when I get incensed and post something about it reminder to please please PLEASE contact your congresspeople/representatives and let them know you support them supporting reform.

Here's an easy way:


Click it!

How does this fall under WTF Wednesday, you ask? Today, it stands for Win This Fight. If the insurance companies win, the rest of us will lose - now if we could only get the opponents to understand that the "rest of us" includes THEM, we might get somewhere.

It comes down to the simple fact that if you, say, slice your finger open with an enormous knife because you were being dumb and not taking the avocado pit out with a spoon like a normal person, you should be able to go to the ER without fear that even though you *have* insurance, the deductible and copays are such that you'd rather wait and see if it stops soaking through the paper towels on its own.

Wouldn't it be a better world if, ya know, you got kidney stones (just for example) and could just take care of them even though you didn't have any health insurance, and do what needed doing without worry that the cost of the scans and medications might be so prohibitive as to be financially crippling?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if people could just go to the damn doctor when it was clear they had the flu, instead of just drinking Theraflu and hoping for the best because the insurance they do have is so inadequate that they know a trip to the doctor to get Tamiflu or whatever will set them back $300?

And hey, it's October. Breast Cancer Awareness month, ya know? And wouldn't it be fantastic if every woman knew that if God forbid they developed breast cancer, they could count on the fact that they would be able to have a fighting chance, no matter what their income level and insurance capabilities?

These are simple things here. Nobody's asking for free facelifts, or to not have to contribute. Just that we have a safe, adequate, fair system that assures *every citizen of this country* the right to the basics - a doctor when we need one, medications that do all sorts of wonderful things if we require them, and the ability to have those things without giving up the ability to, ya know, eat and pay the mortgage.

Please, even if you feel like nothing you do will help, believe me it will... they need to hear from us. The opponents, the ones who've either been taken in by the lies about this reform or are just afraid of losing their big paychecks, are calling and writing *every day*, I can guarantee it.

This is for YOU, for all of us.. Even if you have health insurance, don't believe for one minute that going on as usual won't affect you, because it will, even if it's just that your premiums will continue to go up and up and up disproportional to your income.

I know, this was a ranty post, and I assure you I will quit with the soap-boxin' (not nearly as cool as beat-boxin') as soon as it's over, but for now...

For now, it's time to go to the mattresses.

Totally Random Tuesday: Late Breaking Godtopus Edition

Yeah, so it's Wednesday morning... does that mean I can't do a Tuesday blog? No it does not.

So, nerd alert, but when I was in 2nd grade (I think - Mom, want to verify?) I won the MS Read-A-Thon, in tandem with a girl I remember distinctly only because of her massively awesome black pigtails. I was a total reading nerd even then (my 6th grade favorite was Jane Eyre) and am sorry to say I've slacked off mightily since then.

Enter Pajiba. Not only are they funny over there (if occasionally overly in-joke snarky) they are also doing something completely awesome.

I am officially throwing my hat in the ring for the second annual Cannonball Read... you should too, if at all possible, because a) you'll make your brain bigger and b) it's an easy way to donate bucks to a good cause without having to, you know, actually donate money.

Pajiba will do that part.

Here's the text of the Facebook group (go join it!):

A group of Pajibans (www.pajiba.com) competing to read 52 books in 1 year. Anyone can participate. All you need is a blog, a library card, and gumption. (Gumption can be replaced with gunpowder.)

If anyone is interested in joining the Cannonball Read, you can! It's so easy, it's easier than Sunday Morning. Or bad song lyric puns.

Basic Rules:
1. Your book needs to be "of substance": 150 pages or so. No Pokey Little Puppy. But the Phantom Tollbooth? That's fine. Unless you're in elementary school. And if you are a kid doing the Cannonball Read, you've already won. At life. Collect your trophy.
2. Post your thoughts on a blog or on a website, or somewhere where others can read it to prove you've read. The reviews need to be at least three solid paragraphs, as they may be possibly be published on Pajiba.

Again, those are parameters. But if you are interested in participating, go for it! You can set your own rules, like, every other book has to be non-fiction, or I want to read nothing but books written by old dead white men, or I must read every recommendation people give to me. It's all up to you!

This year, Pajiba (www.pajiba.com) was kind enough to promise that for everyone who completes the one book, one week, one review requirement, they will make a contribution in your name to the Lil A' College Fund. Please read The Legend of Cannonball Read to get more details.

Cool, right?!

I should read more anyway, so I'm totally getting on this.

Starting with next Tuesday, I will be posting a review of a book I've read that week, and if you have any recommendations I'd love to hear them! A book a week may involve raiding The Child's collection of Magic Tree House books in a pinch, and if you could spare me I'd so appreciate it.


It may come to this

Weekend Catchup: Short But Sweet

Friday night was spent carving a pumpkin and roasting the seeds, finishing a scarf, contemplating my navel and watching Dollhouse. Delightful.

The pumpkin design was agonized over by The Kid, she wanted *just the thing* - nothing *too* spooky since the pumpkin won't last until Halloween, but something Fall-ish just the same.

An owl was just the ticket.

I swear, I SWEAR I'm going to take pictures soon. Or at least, I'll get them out of my camera.

I promise.

Saturday was a fairly relaxed event all together, especially once it was clear the 4 INCHES OF SNOW was not going to impede my plans to go down to Denver in the evening.

I just love Colorado weather...it's like a box-a-chawklits.

Saturday night, after seeing The Kid off to a sleepover, TR & I went to a really fantastic pizza place called Il Vicino to celebrate his birthday with a bunch of his friends (all of whom are fantastic people I was glad to meet and hope to see again).

The thing about which you really must know, however, is the dessert.

I give to you...

Profiterole.


OMIGAWD

These are puff pastry, filled with cold, creamy chocolate mousse, then topped with what can only truly be described as marshmallow goop.

How good, you ask?

Every single person at the table scarfed theirs down. No "oh, none for me" or "I don't like chocolate" or anything. Just the sound of forks and happiness.

And I feel I've earned a Parent of the Century sticker for sharing the leftovers with The Kid.

Also, I licked the inside of the box after the leftovers were gone. I'm not ashamed.

Sunday started *way* too early for me, but one of The Kid's grandparents was in town, in particular one she only sees every couple of years, so I sucked it up. Child was glad to see her and had a pretty nice visit, including our 3rd trip through the Celestial Seasonings factory tour (the Mint Room never gets old).


My sinuses are always so CLEAR when I walk out of there.

A good weekend is always too short, don't you think?

One more day probably would have done it for me, but I would have settled for 3 or 4 more hours on Sunday morning.

Alas, the space-time continuum continues to defy me at every turn, and I lost the keys to the teleporter.

AGAIN.

F-Word Friday: Fantasy

I used to roller skate.

Every single weekend at The Rainbo, the most god-awfully decorated (black shiny walls with pink flamingos, it was heaven itself) I'd skate circles around everyone at top speeds.

My friend Dawn & I were demons on 8 wheels apiece.

I can still remember the whoosh of stale air past my face, how the sound from the speakers would ring off the walls, the sound your skates would make as you transitioned from floor to carpet, and how I learned to skate backwards from some very old-school skate-dancers who would absolutely smoke the floor in their sparkly pantsuits.

They were awesome.



I really wish there were pictures of what it looked like in there - it was the darkest, dankest place. Old filled-in brick, neon lights, a big city-scape made out of what I seem to remember as tinfoil-covered corrugated cardboard.

It was bliss.

Our favorite song to skate to? Why Brass Monkey of course. Paul Revere was a close second, but it didn't have that skate-50-MPH beat to it.

I just dated myself, didn't I. *sigh*

Anyway, my point is that had Roller Derby been made available to us back then, we would have kicked ass.

Alas, now I'm old, and delicate of back and bone, and if I tried to do Roller Derby I'd be crippled in a month, but in my head, I hold on to the fantasy of how completely awesome it would be to get in on that action...

I would be a killer blocker now, and my 13-year-old self would have been the queen of the jammers.

I'm just saying.

Out here in Colorado we've got TWO groups (rivals, apparently).



Not sure what happened there, but you know I understand cross-town rivalries, but I'm not local enough to have a preference for one over the other.

I say they're both pretty badass, because they're out there doing what I'd love to be able to do myself.

Have an awesome weekend!

Thrilling Thursday: Rock Star

If you have kids or know kids 13 or younger, you may have heard of the books of Laura Joffe Numeroff.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, If You Give A Pig A Pancake, If You Give A Moose A Muffin...there were more, but my kiddo stopped wanting them before they came out.

They're all very cute and clever and take the "what happens next" chaos-theory of The Cat In The Hat and make it a little less terrifying.

I don't know about you but I was always nervous reading that book as a child; I was so sure those kids were going to get in HUGE trouble that I just couldn't enjoy the mess Thing 1 and Thing 2 made. It was nerve-wracking, just like I Love Lucy reruns.

Just me? *ahem* Moving on.


Almost as scary as the Jim Carrey movie version

So my friend Christine is going to learn to play the guitar.

She decided that her one regret as she approaches 30 (you're welcome, dear) is that she never really tried to learn.

She bought this yesterday:


Bitchin

I've been imagining all morning how badass it would be if I finally learned to play drums like *I've* always wanted to... we could totally start a band. But you know what happens to bands, you've seen Behind The Music! Better to just leave it to the imagination...

If You Start A Band With Your Friend, by Mimi Rickets.

If you start a band with your friend, she'll probably want to pick the songs you play.

After she picks the songs, and you veto doing the entire Jack White catalog, she'll want to figure out what the name of your band should be.


What, no Coldplay?

Once you've ruled out the weird ones and the off-putting ones, you'll both settle on a good name you both like, Tom Waits For No Man.


Oh yes

Now that you have a name, she'll probably want to get some new outfits.


No.

Trying on outfits will remind her that she still has to learn the guitar and you still have to learn the drums, so you'll both get lessons.

While you're trying to set them up, she'll totally get distracted by your new lead singer and bassist, the hot guy who teaches guitar.


You knew it was coming

After she hires him without an audition, you'll immediately get signed to a label because he's so cute.

Once you've had your big meeting with the record label, they'll ask her and the cute guy to replace the drummer.

Oh wait, that's you.


Now you'll *never* meet him

Five years later, while sitting on your couch watching VH1 and lamenting the fact that you were almost the drummer for TWFNM, you'll get a knock on the door.

It'll be your friend.

She got dropped from the label due to "artistic differences".

You'll invite your friend in, and she'll tell you she's joined a commune & taken up the zither.



And chances are, if you let her demonstrate the zither (and teach you about composting)...

She'll want to start a band!

THE END

Chris, congrats on your new venture, you're going to do AWESOME and have so much fun!

WTF Wednesday - Whatever You Want, Kids

Okay you know I'm really really tolerant, of pretty much everyone, with the exception of dumb-asses with no common sense.

And this guy. And her.

Okay I lied, I'm not tolerant of *everyone*, but most people get a pass.

I'm even cool with the folks who believe the earth is 6,000 years old. Do I think they're on to something? No, but that's fine, they can believe whatever they like! It's fine!

I say all this because I want you to know I'm truly not making fun of the whole creationism thing, because you know, whatever you want.

But...

But...


I sort of love this

Because I love Eddie Izzard more than I can really express to you, I give you this rather appropriate video... and there are swears, FYI.



Ciao!

Totally Random Tuesday: Fired Up!

Here's some stuff to inform and amuse.

First, a soapbox moment. I implore you to please not believe the insurance industry-driven hype, because trust me - that's all the scary stuff you've heard is. They stand to lose billions and billions of dollars, and they love them some money.



TR posted that today and I blatantly copied... and also this, which his brother found:


Click to see it

That was in response, I'm guessing, to this completely ridiculous flow-chart, which makes no sense. Go ahead, try and read it... if you can make heads or tails of it, I'll give you a dollar.

Seriously people. I know I've said this before but here it is again...

Please call your local congress-person and senator and ask them to support Health Care Reform. Encourage your friends and neighbors to do it too. They really do listen.

Finally, to put the Random in Totally Random Tuesday, I give to you the happiest cat in the world.



I think my Dea could pull this off, but only for a second before she rolled over and made tomato paste. Which she would eat, because she's entirely weird like that.