I love America

I'm thrifty. Frugal. Cheap, even. I love to find treasures at thrift stores or on the side of the road. I no longer dumpster-dive, but have in the past. These people are amazing! I'd love to talk to someone who lives this way by choice, as opposed to circumstance. It's different when you're getting your stuff from the trash because you have no other choice. The Freegans are choosing this life.

This is one reason I love America. They get to choose this. Without going to jail.

Love it!

Excellent!

Stream of consciousness

I miss baseball. I miss knowing all the players on my fave team and knowing their stats. I miss knowing who they are by their numbers. Without cable, I don't get to watch the Cubs. Reading about them online just is NOT the same thing. Cable seems like a frivolous expense. We get four or five channels now, all the biggies except for CBS. I don't need to spend yet MORE time planted on my butt in front of an electronic screen. But I miss baseball. It was such an integral part of the family when I was a kid. In the summer, Dad was always listening to a game on the radio in the kitchen while we watched our beloved Cubbies in the living room. Poor man was a White Sox fan with five Cub-fan kids.

We'd play Hot Box in the road. One runner between two bases. I never could outrun that ball. But it was sooooooo much fun to be outside, running around, playing with all the other kids. Being one of the youngest, I always felt like I had to justify my presence, try harder to fit in and be accepted. Bro and John E. were so cool, and their friends: Brian H., Jeff T., Joe With The 'Fro... and that one kid, Joe of the Motorcycles. So cool. Childhood had its challenges, but Summer held only joy and magic, at least in memory.

I should be reading a book to be prepared for a book club, but instead, I'm running around childhood summers! Procrastination, you are my friend!

Cleo is helping me procrastinate. She's lying on my lap, snoring. Cleo is a very old cat. She's 18 or 19 (Mr Handsome can't quite remember when he rescued her). Her back legs are getting weak, she's developing dementia, I worry about her kidney disease. She's been in my life longer than any other cat and longer than many friends. I'm trying to prepare myself for the time (in the far, far distant future, of course) when she will not be here any more. I stare at her, trying to memorize her sweet features and beautiful coloring.

Eeek! I'm getting sentimental, veering on maudlin! Ok, the visit with Homegirls was great, as always! Miss California had a full docket, but made time for me and Homegirl. DeadGirl was out of town, helping some friends come to terms with the loss of a friend (for which I honor her, as she had already said her goodbyes and this trip would not be easy for her). MC and HG and I just hung out, nothing exciting, but so GREAT to just talk and eat and connect. I miss us being together. I hope we can all go visit Miss Cali and Minnesota Man soon. No one was comfortable having her picture put up here, so I am unable to share any pics with you, Sis and Bro. But they said Hi back! :)

Gotta go read now. YAY! I love that I HAVE to read for my job!

























(picture credit: http://www.herndonfineart.com/barnet.htm)

Mr Handsome's Hair

The curls, they are GONE. These pictures represent bed-head, so don't judge, People.





































Here is a Before the Cut pic and a link.

It's all good!

This was a good week at the bookstore and tomorrow I'm going to visit the Homegirls and tonight, Mr. Handsome and I went to the Chop House for dinner with Book Doctor and The Amazing G and her hubby. It was deLISHious! And fun! And tomorrow will be fun! I love fun! And sharing it with people you love makes it even more fun!

more animals

blah blah blah

I'm just about to leave to go meet The Blonde for tea at Marie Catrib's, so excuse the random babbling of this post. We were going to go ice skating, but that didn't work out. I used to LOOOOOVE ice skating, loved it better than anything! I haven't gone in over 20 years, I betcha, though, so I wonder if I can even stay upright on the blades! Maybe I'll try later.

I had SUCH an AWESOME surprise last week (10 days?), though! My nephew came to visit with his girlfriend, Gem! It was fantastic to see him and meet her and we all went to the Green Well for dinner and then just hung out back here after. It was the BEST present, ever!

Last Fri, Mr Handsome and I went to see "Gran Torino" with Museum Girl and Lawyer Boy. We all really enjoyed it, and the Q&A with the lead actress afterwards, too. It's not your typical Eastwood movie, if such an animal even exists. It was very good, regardless! And then we went to Rose's for drinks and snacks. All fun!

Today, I opened the book store 'specially for a book club that wanted to meet there. It was very lucrative, as they spent ~$164! Woo-hoo! Yay! And I just sat there and read my book! Then I went and got Cleo's kibble from the vet. Always a bit awkward to go there. Oh, well. I respect and admire the vet who cares for the kitties and I also trust the vet techs; it's just the receptionists with whom I feel awkward. Kitties need their prescription food, so I gotta go there! The kitties are worth it. Even if Bubba is, right now, being extremely annoying by meowing and clawing at the basement door to try to get to Cleo's special food (which he may NOT have; he's got a separate diet for a different issue from hers)!

New Who

They've just announced who the new D0ctor Wh0 will be! Matt Sm!th. (I'm using 133t 'cause I don't want lots of hits from DW fans.) He has the right look (quirky-sexy) though his voice is a bit thin, kinda like the current DW, Dav!d Tenn@nt. You can read about Smith here and here. I'm very excited, though I have to wait about two years until I can get the DVDs. Grrrr.... wish I traveled to the UK on a regular basis. Or, hell, at ALL!

My favorite, all-time, BEST D0ctor was played by T0m ]3aker! He had such a crazy, wild, unpredictable sense of fun and honor and he also had (and still has) a great voice! Dark and smooth and resonant. Made my pre-adolescent knees melt. I was totally in love with his Doct0r.

Chr!stopher E¢¢leston is my 2nd favorite D0ctor. He had a lot of the same qualities as Baker: gallant, sexy, tall, confident, passionate... one felt that their D0ctors would be able to always keep you safe, no matter what adventure you found yourself in. I totally crushed on him.

I hope they'll get an engaging assistant for the new T1me L0rd. I've felt very lukewarm about the last two most recent ones. My favorites were Sarah J@ne Sm!th (with Baker's) and R0se Ty1er (with E¢¢leston's). R0se continued on with the regenerated D0ctor, played by D@vid Tenn@nt, but I never really bonded to DT's T!me L0rd. He was too..., I dunno, silly, I guess, without the personality/prescence to make it seem like anything but a little boy playing around. I never had confidence that he would be able to get us out of a tight spot. Also, the actor has a very weak chin and I like a rugged face for my heroes! hee hee!

E1isabeth S1aden played Sarah J@ne. She was very sweet, gutsy, smart, and was obviously in love with the D0ctor. * sigh *

Bi11ie πper played R0se. R0se was an inner-city girl, very independent, spunky, ready for ANYTHING! She obviously loved her D0ctor(s), too!

So, while I wait for more updates, I'll be watching DW courtesy of Netflix!