F-Word Friday - Full Of Grace

Oh hi!

Me again, the girl who wasn't going to post for a week and a half!

Christmas was lovely; I'm sitting at 8AM in my friend Nova's living room, using her laptop (oh someday... someday) and enjoying the snowy view from her brand new windows.

Christmas Eve ended up being fantastic!

After leaving TR with his other gift (a bottle of mead from beautiful Lindisfarne - more on that later!) and a couple of awesome CDs (and a box of Happy Cakes), I made my way home, braved the grocery store (in and out in 20 minutes on Christmas Eve - I deserve an award or something), stopped at Papa Murphy's for pizza (take and bake is so the way to go) and headed home...

Right when my guests were arriving. AWESOME.

Thank goodness they know me well - they were not shocked.

I popped the pizzas in the oven, threw together all the salad makings, made a couple of people some hot cocoa perfection (it just takes a splash of milk), sampled a cupcake (I deserved it after all that running!), and then sat down with a glass of wine.

You know how it goes.

After our makeshift dinner (pizza always works), we sat and enjoyed each others company awhile, playing Wii Sports Resort (courtesy of TR - what a wonderful present!) and eating our very happy Happy Cakes (my favorite - Sugar Cookie). Then they (The Kid's uncle and grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend) headed to their respective homes and The Kid & I took a breath.

Then we did something that I hadn't done in 20 years, and The Child had never experienced...

Midnight Mass.

Ok, Ten PM Mass.

I'm not sure if it's just Longmont, land of Everything's-Closed-By-9PM, or papal decree (apparently the new Pope is too pooped to party that late), but I had to assume the former. It is Longmont, after all... maybe we were the inspiration?

Anyway, it was off to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, which was not the cathedral I was hoping for but pretty nonetheless, for lots of loud singing (my favorite part of the whole deal - I can harmonize and try for the high notes and only those nearest will really know) and a little inspiration.

I actually really liked the message the priest imparted... being a candle in the darkness. Sometimes all it takes is being nice to someone to set off a whole random chain of positivity. To illustrate this, they had handed everyone a small taper candle as they came in, and at the end of the service as he was talking about being lights in the darkness, everyone had their candles lit by each other, and then they turned down the lights and we all sang Oh Holy Night.

Not a dry eye, at least in my row.

And we were home by 11! The Pope is on to something.

After a quick trip to ferry our neighbor to the (thankfully open) convenience store for Midnight Milk, it was home again for us. The Child headed to bed, the presents went under the tree, and I settled in to watch my very favorite version of A Christmas Carol (the one with George C. Scott).

I made it through 10 minutes.

Christmas morning, we managed to sleep until 8:30 (remember those days of waking your parents up at 5AM? Or at least, waking up at 5AM, going to check if Santa came, and then going back to bed since you had been threatened with death and dismemberment the last time you pulled that?), and then it was up and on to the presents!

The Kid had a good bunch of stuff this year, in particular her brand new camera, which is super cool and I want one. She also got a few movies & CDs, but the camera was the main thing so, ya know...

Quality over quantity.

She didn't complain.

And I even got gifts! She railroaded her grandfather into "helping her get me gifts" (read: buying them and letting her take the credit), and I received a couple of really lovely-smelling candles from Yankee Candle.

She knows me so well!

We lazed around a bit, and then it was off to Greeley, where I remain at this very moment, and wait until I show you a picture of what my lovely friend Nova got me.

There'll be a picture-laden post soon, full of photos of goodies and things I made, but for now...

It's off to have a little breakfast and then head home and finish a few crafty things, and clean my house in anticipation of my mom and aunt and uncle and cousins arriving Monday for a week of insanity and bliss.

I hope your holiday, however you spent it, was lovely and peaceful.

Thrilling Thursday: Suck It, Lieberman

Okay so I lied... a new post despite my lack of internet!

Is it a Christmas miracle?!

Nay, just TR's Mac.

You always hear this Mac vs. PC stuff, but I don't know, seems like the same thing, just with different icons and a slightly different keyboard with symbols like "Command" instead of the little Windows icon.

And of course my Windows keyboard shortcuts don't work, not that it stops me from trying them EVERY SINGLE TIME. I'm a slow learner.

Anyway, I dropped in because I feel that you need to see something.

Okay well first I just need to share my utter joy that the Health Care Bill passed this morning. Merry Christmas! It's imperfect, and still has a little ways to go before it's really in place, but it's something!

I mentioned James Lileks awhile back, you might recall, and he is as yet not done with his quest to find print items from days of yore for us to apraise and appreciate.

Today?

How To Gift Wrap, courtesy of Patricia Rhyll, Ben-Mont Gift Wrapping Stylist.


She looks a little lit, actually. Think she's been hitting the 'nog a bit early.

Why don't I have that job? I want to be a Gift Wrapping Stylist.

Enjoy, and have a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve! Might even have a post for you tomorrow, if I can convince my friend Nova to let me borrow her computer.

Try to contain your excitement, and be safe! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!

(That leaves you open for ridiculous amounts of eggnog and cookies, followed by Tums and a sense of gastro-intestinal regret, just in case you were wondering.)

Time Waster Wednesday - Bacachun

Okay, so I'm behind the times...

I have no home internet.

This means that unless I miraculously make my way to someone else's house that *does* have the interwebs, you shall not hear from me until the new year.

It's okay, dry your eyes... I'll be thinking of you! And I'll miss you!

And just think, it'll give me all kinds of time to come up with entertaining tales to tell, and I'm sure I'll have bunches of pictures. Just bunches.

I hope you have a WONDERFUL holiday, full of calm and no malls of any kind.

And lots of cookies.


I think it might be impossible to get a better version via YouTube, but you get the idea. I always loved this!


Thanks to the Formerly Almost Mrs. Ms. Dandy (Mrs. B for short) for reminding me that it's just not Christmas without Kenny & Dolly.

It's not! Don't look at me like that!

Weekend Catchup: Wherein I Blame Others For My Forgetfulness

I think next year I'm just going to buy everyone's gifts.

(No I'm not.)

I mean, it's just so much easier, and really what difference does it make?!

(Tons.)

It's exhausting trying to make all these gifts for everyone!!

But...

Then there's the unexpected winner gift. The one where you spend EONS making it just so, and then look at it and declare it offensive, but complete, and it's too close to Christmas to start something else, so you wrap it and hope for the best, but in the end it is a delight to the recipient.

Those make all the trouble entirely worth it. And remind you not to be so critical of your crafting skills.

No photo yet of the gift I'm thinking of (the elusive TR used his Jedi mind tricks on me to keep me from remembering to get a pic of him in his authentic Tom Baker-era Dr. Who scarf), but it shall be done.

IT SHALL.

Yes, it was early, but he needed a Christmas present.

He drove all the way up to the boonies to see me on Friday even though we didn't actually have plans (I quite possibly discussed having any such plans with him only in my own head. I do that sometimes - tell me you do too and make me feel better!), so it was the least I could do to give him something to unwrap and enjoy, which he did!

He also informed me that it perfectly fit around and protected 2 liquor bottles in his backpack on the way to a party the next night, so it's many purposes have begun to emerge. I bet it would make a great escape hatch from a first-floor window (maybe second floor after it's gotten stretched a bit more). Life as a hammock/floor pillow for 2 stripey cats is no doubt in it's repertoire... it remains to be seen.

Mainly though, it's warm and cozy, and just right for late-night snowy walks looking for ones T.A.R.D.I.S.

Really, was the invisibility function a *good* idea? Perhaps not.

(I am having a stream of consciousness sort of day. My apologies.)

We had delicious Mexican food at Ajuua!! (you have to say it with an exclamation point and jazz-hands, or at least I have to - I'd never make you) in fabulous Niwot, Colorado. They have this thing called Azteca Soup, which is chicken broth with pieces of grilled chicken and tortilla and a bunch of cheese and cut up avocado. DELICIOUS.

Of course it was just a bowl of soup, so I ordered a tamale on the side so I wouldn't be starving later, but I didn't realize it would be your regular tamale, only covered in a bunch of stuff and on a big plate, so it looked like I was having two meals like a giant cow. It was tasty though, so whatever.

Anyway, then it was back home to watch more Rick Steves and plan trips to Britain for later; I think that's my favorite thing about watching his show, is the trip-planning. Will I ever actually go to all these places? Maybe not, but I know what they look like so that' s something.

I did make a selfish-parent decision though...

The first time I do real travelling, wherever it may be, I'm not taking The Kid.

I know, so mean.

But I want to experience it as myself, not as somebody's mom. I'll take her later. Or she can go with her friends, because I know she won't want to see the same stuff I will ("The train museum, mom? Really?"), and besides I want to be able to do things like get silly on the various and glorious alcoholic beverages to be had in Europe without having to completely forfeit my Mom Authority Card.

Or maybe I won't let her go with her friends, since I saw "Taken" over the weekend on cable and now I'm convinced she'll be kidnapped by Albanians.

Anyway.

The rest of my weekend involved a whole lot of crafts... a cape, a bunny, several birds...

And not even one photo. The Jedi Mind Trick was apparently time-release, but I'm good now so I'll get on those photos tonight, I swear!

Because I know you're just DYING to see the crap job I did sewing little eyeless birds and the most terrifyingly ugly bunny IN THE UNIVERSE.

Actually it's sort of cute. Just in an ugly sort of way. It's for a 1-year-old, and it's squashy and has no swallow-able parts, so she'll love it. Everyone else can just look away if the Fug Bunny is too much for their tender eyes.

I hope you had a lovely weekend; this morning I was treated to the following photo and a new website of captioned photos (one of my very favorite things)... Epic Win FTW. Slightly redundant title, but it's okay when you have this:


I wish my Starbucks was this cool.

F-Word Friday: Fabled

So here's the thing about biopics...

They're usually fluff pieces, or on the other end of the spectrum, total hatchet jobs. There's a reason they say "based on a true story".

Granted, sometimes they get close to the truth (The Basketball Diaries comes to mind), but most of the time everything has been prettied up and glossed over and in some cases, like A Beautiful Mind and The Great Debators, the endings themselves are altered in order to make a point or give a good, round ending to the show.

There's no real harm in that, of course, it's just a movie, but it does tend to create these myths about the famous people involved, justified or otherwise. Granted, in this modern age, we can look up the facts, but most people don't do so - they just take what they're shown and told and accept it as fact.

(I am resisting the urge to go off on a political rant on that subject. You're welcome!)

You'll understand, given these facts of movie-making magic, that I'm a little cautious about wanting to see The Runaways.

See, I love Joan Jett. She is such a badass, and doesn't care what anyone thinks of her, and can scream louder and with more passion than 10 big-haired glam-rockers guitarists vying for a backup spot on a Poison reunion tour put together and covered in fire ants. Plus, she's political and paying attention - if there is a better antithesis to the bad example of Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan et al as role models for my kid, I can't think of one.

I was also always fascinated by Cherie Currie, who was 15 when she joined The Runaways. (Cherry Bomb was written for her at the audition.) Can you imagine the life she's led? Incidentally that is *not* an example I'd like to make for my kid, except that it kind of is... she's lived exactly as she pleased.

She's a chainsaw artist these days. No I'm not kidding.

This movie aims to help you imagine what it must have been like to be Joan and Cherie and Lita and Sandy and Vicky/Jackie/Mickey/Peggy/Laurie (they went through a lot of bassists), but can they do it?

Who knows? Even if they get close, it won't be quite enough...

How do you Silver Screen the girls who actually came up with the term Riot Girl? Who modeled themselves after people like David Bowie and Leather Tuscadero?

You can't.

But I have a little faith... despite Kristen Stewart's lip-biting, there's the promise of the fabulous Dakota Fanning as Cherie, and I think she can pull it off.

And anyway, if I want realism, I can find it on YouTube. The movies are for fantasy.

Happy Friday, my little cherry bombs!

Thrilling Thursday: That Time Of Year

Do you remember Winter Break?

The Kid is about foaming at the mouth because there are ZOMG 2 DaYs To Go!!!!one1!!

(If her speech looked like type, that's what it would look like. Take note, internet denizens... when you talk like that online, you look like a 13 year old girl sounds. Truth.)

I, of course, being a working stiff, don't get a 2 1/2 week break, and this is lamentable.

I should be even more jealous of the kids here on campus... they're off for a month!

I *should* be, but I'm not, because it's like a holiday gift for me... NO STUDENTS. No students blocking the road with their stupid skateboards and Ugg boots, no students making it take 20 minutes to get off campus, no students clomping through the hallway and leaving mascara on the mirrors. (More truth!)

I don't think I could stand to be off that long now unless I had something specific to do, like a cruise (RUTH - so jealous, you better bring me something good from the Carribean)... a few days putzing around is quite enough thank you.

I remember not being able to wait for school to start again after Summer vacation was done... well, for about a week anyway. Then I was totally ready for another break.

What's really putting the Thrill in Thrilling Thursday though is the fact that, because The Child is older now and homework is much more involved, being a Hovering Parent (patent pending) means it's almost as stressful for me as it is for her! I may not get to stay home for 2 weeks, but I don't have to think about her grades even once.

Woohoo!

Dare I say...

ZOMG 2 dAyS To gO!!!!!!one1!!

I*will* be taking a little time off to spend with my mom the week after Christmas, as well as my aunt and her husband & 2 of her chilluns... it's a quiet week here on campus so it's a safe bet I won't come back to find a huge pile of crap on my desk.

I know I've been slacking on my posts this week; Joe "Asshat" Lieberman took over for Wednesday and I am now down 2 book reports (I'm so getting a D in that class), but I swear I'm going to do some serious reading over the holiday and make it up! I'm determined to read 52 books this year, but I think the book-a-week thing was a slightly lofty goal, at least without resorting to comics and Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books.

Although on second thought, I frickin' loved those books, so maybe it's not such a bad idea!

Anyway I swear my posts will be better after this stupid month is up; don't get me wrong, I love the holidays and stuff, but the stress level - despite my best efforts to keep it to a minimum - is starting to wear on me.

I can promise you a post just chock full of crafty pictures though, because let me tell YOU...

I have been a busy girl.

There may even be a giveaway... I got sort of carried away with one of the projects and now have waaaaaay more of them than I could give as gifts without seeming like one of those crazy old ladies that always have 30 year old butterscotch hard candies stashed in their sweater pockets and 46 afghans in the works.

To make up for my lame posting, here's a video!

You knew that was coming... but it's for all our good - I feel less lame, you get to see something cute, and we both get to spend 5 minutes not thinking about what we have to do for the holiday which is OH F!@# A WEEK AWAY. (ZOMG, etc.)



Too cute!

Oh and in case you weren't sure whether or not the "Obama's A Socialist" people are completely crazy cakes, I offer you the following.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Obama's Socialist Christmas Ornament Program
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I should have put that in WTF Wednesday, huh? That's right, Obama is trying to indoctrinate your kids! By getting them to contribute ornaments to the White House! And showing civic pride! And, like, being nice and stuff!

Wow.

Happy Thursday!

WTF Wednesday - The Party Of ME!

I think this picture sort of speaks for itself, don't you?

No?

Oh, well go Google "Joe Lieberman Is An Enormous Jerk" and you'll see what I mean.

Nothing like holding the nation hostage, Joe! WAY TO GO!

That is all.

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Catchup: Introspection

It was a very long week last week, one of those stretches of time that doesn't seem to fit its moniker. It felt like a month.

I don't even remember what I had for dinner on Friday, I was that exhausted. I just remember waking up Saturday morning feeling more refreshed than I had in ages!

I don't know about you, but everyone I know has been having really bizarre dreams the past week or so, and I'm no exception. Friday night's dreams must have been doozies (I only remember a curly haired girl), and done their part to work out whatever anxieties I'd been having.

Saturday afternoon we headed to The Kid's grampa's house for one of his future-daughter-in-law's (Megan) birthdays. She is very very silly, and so we get along rather well.

Shocking, I know.

She got some neat stuff, including what is apparently quite the hard-to-find book, the recently-published Red Book of Carl Jung, who apparently went a bit off the deep end for awhile and wrote a lot of strange and disturbing stuff which his family wasn't too keen on anyone seeing. Fast forward nearly 100 years or and the grandkids relented.

It's amazing, if you have a chance to browse through one I recommend it for the art if nothing else!


So, um... tell me about your childhood?

Saturday evening I took Megan, her sister Amber, Amber's daughter and The Child to the Longmont Parade of Lights, which was fun as ever, and blessed with lovely weather. Considering we had been laboring under sub-zero temps the past week, the 38 degree evening was practically tshirt weather!

Sunday was a lazy day. We headed back to The Child's grampa's house so she could work on a Science assignment (he has the interwebs), and I watched the Broncos get their butts handed to them by the Colts.

I spent the afternoon finishing TR's gift, and getting a good chunk done on my mom's gift as well. Yay for being productive!

Finally, last night TR came by and we watched some of his very cool new acquisition, the complete 80-episode set (2000-2009) of Rick Steve's Europe!! I've always loved that show. We watched one of my favorite episodes, the one set in Salzburg, Austria with the alpine slide and schnapps and gorgeous shots of one of the places I want to see before I die, Hallstatt.

Seriously, look at this place...


Someday!

All in all, it was a great weekend! I couldn't possibly ask for more.

I'm going to attempt to get my next Tome Tuesday post up tomorrow; you may have noticed its absence last week, but probably not because you have a life! It's a crazy time of year, and unfortunately reading for more than a few minutes seems to be out of the picture right now. Luckily it's only the beginning of the Cannonball Run yet, so I have plenty of time to make up the gaps.

I'm determined to pull off the 52 books goal!

F-Word Friday: Fa-La-La-La-Lame

Okay, this is going to sound really bitchy, and full of spiteful non-Christmas-spiritness, and will fly in the face of anything resembling a world view containing knowledge of those suffering around me.

I'm warning you in advance.

Are you sufficiently warned?

Here goes.

The Rickets are cursed. Cursed forever to get the absolute shittiest present-swap presents on earth. Though I, and Mama Rickets before me, have always taken careful measures to assure that our swapees get something catered to them, or in the case of a White Elephant, to get something that anyone would be thrilled to have, inevitably...

We get skunked.

Every time.

Today was our office party (I made matzo ball soup, and it was awesome), and as tradition dictates we had our White Elephant. If you've never heard of this practice, it's a little like a grab bag, only you can steal the presents from others (up to 3 times per present), and it can get pretty rowdy and fun.

Depending on the group doing it, there are different schools of thought on the gift-procurement process. For some, it's a $10 limit and should be something at least passably nice. For others it's a chance to offload that horrible tea cup set they got from Aunt Mable last year.

And I *always* get the tea set, so to speak. Every time! Even when I have the coveted last or second to last number and get my choice of all the bounty before me... I still manage to pick the crap.

It's a gambling problem, of sorts...sure there's that fabulous DVD of The Princess Bride over there, and a hot chocolate set that The Kid would just drool over hiding behind that woman's hands on the end (she's hoping I won't notice - she need not worry). There's a set of tea towels, just begging to be embroidered or otherwise craftified, RIGHT NEXT TO ME.

But...

But...

There's one more gift on the table. It's wrapped in sparkling paper, it's got a big red bow. How can I resist?

Skunked.

Every time.

What exactly do I think is going to be in that gift, anyway, a new car?

And don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to receive any gift at all, but why do I end up with the Nuns Having Fun calendar?

The dollar-store candle-scaping set that the gifter probably had sitting in the attic for a few years, as evidenced by the candle which is CRACKED UP THE MIDDLE?

The antique chocolates circa the Nixon-era White House, that literally have dust in the crevices of the yellowing cellophane?

Cursed, I tell you.

Well, the good news is, I've got my White Elephant gift all tied up for next time!

Have a wonderful weekend! Me and my candle scape (excuse me, my candle scape and *I*) will be finishing up some gifts and lounging around the house.

Thrilling Thursday: Pretties

Lazy post today... I've had lots on my mind (no worries, kids, I'm working my way through it - good advice and support have been invaluable, even when it's just a pat on the back), so I'm a little tapped out this week.

A weekend full of refreshing rest will no doubt perk me right back up. You know me... I'm a perky malcontent, remember? You can't keep me low for long.

Before I offer you some thrilling videos today, I want to show you something I made!

I have so many crafts on the pile - a couple of scarves, a hat, etc etc etc - really why do I always end up scrambling 2 weeks before the holiday? I swear every year I will start in August, and sometimes I even do, but I bargain myself down to December 5th every single time.

Naturally, being in a bit of a rush, I felt it necessary to make The Kid and myself some mittens. They paid off though... we've had frigid weather here just lately, so some woolly mitts really paid off!



Click to embigafy if you'd like to see the details, but don't look too closely, I totally screwed up the pair on the right! The ones on the left are mine, made from a thick wool blend, and were the second pair so the pattern worked out the way it was supposed to. The ones on the right are The Child's, an amalgam of two colorways of marino my aunt gave me for my birthday... the skeins weren't *quite* big enough to cover a whole pair, so I improvised! Unusual, and kinda cute, and The Kid loves em', and thinks the flaws just make them cooler.

(FYI, lest you think me a mean mom, I did let her have her pick. I would have worn the wonky ones.)

The nice thing about the deep freeze, combined with the Colorado sunshine, is that all the ground snow is sticking around for once (whereas it's usually gone in a day or two), while the roadways are clearing, so I get to truly enjoy the beauty of winter without worrying about driving around in dangerous conditions. It's been nice, despite the numb extremities!

And now for your thrilling videos...

First, something cool TR found, as he so often does. It's oddly joyful, or maybe just odd, but either way I can't seem to stop watching! It's lovely, to say the least, and plus - Mary Poppins! You just can't go wrong.



Amazing! The guy who did this is fairly young, and did it in hours. Kids these days, I tell ya.

Here's another neat one he did using Alice In Wonderland.



FAR OUT. I mean, Alice In Wonderland is trippy all on its own, but he really takes it way past far out and into the land of "who slipped me a mickey?!".

Last but not least, here's one from one of my favorite versions of The Secret Garden.



Lovely.

Go check out more of his stuff! I should... I don't know if "warn" is the word, but fore-arm you that the kid has named himself a not-terribly-kid-friendly name...

Although you're all adults, and as such are not new to the internets and have learned by now that link-jumping is going to eventually land you in the realm of "oh god my eyes", I also know that some of you, my fine readers, have school-age kids and goodness knows they love to read over our shoulders.

Have a wonderful day... stay warm!

Wonder Why Wednesday - Adjustment

I haven't done a Wonder Why in awhile, but all around me people have been growing and changing and morphing (in not-disturbing ways, I swear - no extra limbs), and I've been seeing again and again all these videos and articles about people who have had life-changing events occur.

And it got me wondering...

How do you deal with change?

For me it depends on the nature of the alteration... was it planned, or was it foisted upon you?

Did you choose the change or was it chosen for you?

The common viewpoint seems to be that when the unexpected occurs, it's acceptable to fall apart, but that if it was something you chose or knew was coming, you should just suck it up and deal with the fallout.

I think that's crap.

Too often I think we shy away from being really open with our emotional responses - I'm guilty of this, for sure.

I've changed jobs many times in my life, and every time, even though I've chosen to leave, it's been emotionally draining to do so. The response to expressing this feeling, though, has often been "but you wanted to leave, aren't you happy?".

And?

I don't believe that just because you choose to do something, it invalidates your right to express sadness or regret, or even just to bitch about it.

Then there's the idea of change thrust upon us, altered states we don't choose but which are chosen for us.

The natural, acceptable response seems to be to lose one's mind over it... and if you *don't* freak out, people wonder if you're holding something back. Bottling it up. Keeping it in.

But what if that shock of change opens your eyes? What if it makes you appreciate your life all that much more completely, and put you in a state of serenity unmatched in your past?

The most completely perfect example of this was shown to me this week via a video of Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor who died in 2008 of pancreatic cancer, giving his "Last Lecture" (it wasn't really, but that was the idea).

If you can find an hour to watch this, I can't recommend it enough... I promise you will be inspired.

Weekend Catchup: Tarantula!

You should go listen to some Bob Schneider.

I know what you're saying... "Who?"

He's a very talented, funny, occassionally deeply raunchy and completely prolific singer/songwriter (are we supposed to use that term anymore?) who's been around for many a year now, and despite a huge and rabid fan base often gets that "who?" look (I was guilty of this myself).

Today, I'm doing my part to change that, because I have seen the light.

So go visit his music site... It contains tons of his songs for your listening pleasure (generous, in my opinion), plus what amounts to really amusingly bad answering machine messages as information about each song (I leave really awful ones myself - I know my own).

Go! (He, like myself, enjoys using swears - fair warning!)

Also, listen to this song, which has been in my head all weekend...



...and this song, for which I now know the dance, which is good because it makes me shake my ass a whole lot and I need something to do with my hands so I don't look like Elaine.

Also, my mother will love it.


Not the best video in the world, and not the whole song, but you get the idea

He was just in Boulder & Denver last week, and I am lame and didn't go but I am so happy to finally be on the Bob Train. Thanks TR! You always have the best music.

Friday night was lovely, and involved the best pizza I've had in ages, plus Star Trek and lots and lots of music and lovely conversation and that redhead I may have mentioned a time or two. Really what more could I ask for after a long week?

(Cannot... resist... grammar... correction... For what more could you ask? Ah, that's better. Like scratching an itch in the middle of your back.)

Saturday and Sunday were sleep-in kinds of days, which is exactly what I did. I hope you had a chance to do the same!

Happy Monday!

F-Word Friday: Funnies

Okay kids I am totally swamped this week... so you get another lazy post.

I will write something totally scintillating next week, about war and peace and the nature of our humanity...

But for today, you get the following video, which made me almost get in trouble for guffawing out loud in my office.

My boss really wanted to know just what was so funny - I had to make something up about how the invoice I was reviewing was just too ridiculous to be believed.

Happy Friday!


Alan! Alan!


TURTLE FIIIIIIGHT! (You'll see.)

The first one up there made me think of the following, so here it is... your double-bonus obscure music of the day. You're welcome!


Ellen! Ellen!

PS... I totally didn't know this was a cover of ABBA song until right this minute.

Thrilling Thursday - I Bowled A 20 Last Time

Well I guess yesterday was kind of thrilling so how can I thrill you today?

That sounds like I'm taking your order, doesn't it?

Your porn order, maybe.

(Sorry, I'm just in that kind of mood today.)

I spent all morning being trained on a new expense system I don't want to use, ever.

I shouldn't complain, this is creating more job security than one could ever really have a right to expect, but still.

Since the expense system ate my brains, all I really have left is my favorite lazy post standard...

Video!

Oh wait, I posted video yesterday. Shit.

Well I know you'll forgive me...

Especially when you see just how cool the video really, truly is...

Enjoy! More laziness tomorrow!


Tell me you didn't totally smile. Thrilling right?!

Time Waster Wednesday - We're All Made Of Stars

TR sent me this, and it gave me chills.



Carl Sagan always thrilled me. I remember first hearing him speak about our place in the universe when I was maybe 11 or 12, and he made me feel alternately small and connected.

And I heart Bill Nye.

Put em' together with some other smart guys (one of whom is just so gleeful about his musings that I can't help but smile every time I see him) and some lovely music and it's Mimi Rickets Bliss.

Your time waster today? (Not so much a waste of time as a distraction for you to curse me about later.)

Exploration.

(Cleeck the peectures!)


The coolest of the cool, especially if you love maps.


Link is for the videos... a little ad-heavy but really interesting stuff!


A virtual tour, how cool!

Happy Wednesday!

Tome Tuesday #5 - Stacked: A 32DDD Reports From The Front

I'll admit, I've been slacking on my reading... with the holiday looming (and the many crafts I'm trying to pull off) I find myself exhausted, hands sore from crocheting like a fiend, and too tired to look at words in print anymore.

Maybe I should switch to books on CD. No no no, that's cheating.

Anyway, enough whining... on to today's book!



Stacked, by Susan Seligson, is all about boobs, in particular hers.

She is blessed (or cursed, depends on the day) with enormous breasts. They stick out, they get in the way, there are stares.

Why all the fuss?

That's the question she set out to answer, more or less.

The book is more a series of short essays about the nature of breasts than it is an autobiography of her personal experiences, and she covers a lot of ground. Amongst other subjects, there are interesting treatises on...

* Various theories on the reasons behind the sexual appeal of what are basically baby-feeding devices.
* A run down of the various nicknames out there and where they come from, my hands-down favorite of all time being sweater puppies - it's just so cute!
* Finding the perfect bra (it's nearly impossible withough some special handling and a lot of bucks).
* How size affects success in the sex industries - apparently the large, fake breasts of women like Maxi Mounds (yes really) are considered offputting and more a gimmick than an alluring feature.
* The history, pros and cons and realities of breast augmentation, from increasing to decreasing (there's an hysterical rundown of a day with Dr. 90210).
* Some thoughts on why so many women feel the need to change their breasts.
* The lengths to which girls will go to grow bigger boobs, and the lies they'll believe.
* Learning to love your boobs as they are.

The last part really struck a cord with me personally. Something you may not know about me is that I have enormous boobs.

Imagine how defeating, even upsetting, it is to see all these magazine pictures of huge breasts that sit somewhere around the armpits. That's not natural and we know it, but when you're shown it enough times you start to think that your rather normal, gravity-challenged breasts are gross and unattractive.

It isn't helped, of course, by the fact that best we big-busted girls can hope for in a sexy AND supportive bra is a little lace, at least if we don't want to shell out 100.00 a pop and go to some hard-to-find specialty store. It ends up being one or the other, supportive and BEIGE or pretty and a constant threat to others... those straps could go any time!

So to read about a woman who has learned to accept her breasts as they are, who even extols the virtues of lettin' em' hang free, is rather empowering for me. I don't think I'll ever be able to go bra-less in public and feel classy, but I have suddenly found myself whipping off the restraints the minute I get in the house.

It's bliss.