kitty bed

I must take knitting classes. I MUST! Because I want, no, I NEED to make a bunch of these for gifts for Linda and John's cats, The Blonde and Bryan's cats, Karen and Joe's cats, Book Doctor's cat (Stamp, the bookstore cat who refuses to let anyone but Book Doctor touch her), Lima's sweet little Yorkie (Hi Madison!), Mrs Puffy-Thing-In-The-Sky's cats, and of course, OUR kitties!

Links to come, maybe, but it's dinner time.

Mild Monday

Here are some fun pics to start the week with!


An important concept to keep in mind! We are (at least mostly) in control of our own happiness.

Heroes is almost back and hockey season is here SOON!

Kitties love books!

So does Darth!

Speaks for itself, I think!

Birthday!

Today is my birthday and I'm in CHICAGO with Sis and SpyMaster and Mr. Handsome! I'll have pictures later.

My present to you is to have you open this site and enjoy the funniness. It's my birthday. I'll have chocolate!

(cake credit)

Chi-town, comin' up!

I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!!! I'm going to see Sis and Spy Master this weekend! They're going to be in Chicago, so Mr. Handsome and I are going to meet them there after I get out of work today.

Tomorrow, we're going to go to the Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute, Millenium Park, and do a little shopping, and have some chocolate cake (with chocolate frosting), 'cause it's my birthday! YAY!

Here they are when we visited Bro in Tucson last year. I LOOOOVED the Pima Air Museum (and I never did finish posting pics from that trip, or from visiting Sis in Seattle. Well, too late now, I think).

Reading

I have a lot of books I haven't read yet. Many of them are advanced reader copies, books sent to us booksellers before they're final edition is printed. If we read them and recommend them as SOON as they're published, it's benefits everyone, so they send us these books for FREE! I get greedy. I take loads of 'em home, planning on reading them (really, I mean to!), but I just can't keep up.

I also go to the library a LOT for books I want to read but don't want to buy. I looooooove the library, it's a wonderful public resource. After work, I stopped by and got The Magicians, by Lev Grossman. Sort of a "fix" for those of us having magic-withdrawal, after Harry Potter. I had to FORCE myself to put it down to try to get some sleep, it's GOOD! I going to actually BUY this book, 'cause I think I want to share it around and I KNOW I'll want to read it again!

turkey

I made a turkey casserole last night. Usually, I make it with LOTS of cheeeeeeeesey goodness. But we were plum out of cheese! So, I decided to experiment. I made it with celery, broccoli, tomato soup, yogurt, onions, mushroom bouillion and wine and noodles. Spiced it up with oregano and thyme and lots of basil. I should've put tomatoes in it, too; in fact, I meant to, but forgot. It was ok. The wine was juuuuust about to turn, so it gave it a kinda weird flavor. Ah, well.

Chopping onions is painful for me. My eyes burn really painfully and tears flow down like rivers. I need this set-up:

hair pics

Mr Handsome and I went out for lunch last week and I thought I'd snap a coupla pics to show Sis (she likes to see where we go).




The next night, we went out for dinner with friends (gosh, I post lots of pictures of beer on here, don't I?).


These pictures proved to me, beyond a doubt, that it was time to do something about my HAIR. So, Sunday night, I colored it. I've been trying to grow it out for months, and my hair takes so long to grow, that I knew I shouldn't cut it. So, I colored it auburn mixed with brown, to give it some dimension (hopefully).


It just wasn't enough. Today, I got it cut. I'm still growing it out (from the Pob - the Posh Spice Bob),

but my hair needed professional help! Here are some before and afters from today!


After color

After cut

After color

After cut

I like it!

jeans

I went jeans shopping today. I was not successful. I have got what is known colloquially as a "juicy" butt. Big and round and bubbley. When I was junior high, we called such things bubble butts. I didn't have one then, but this girl named Kim did. All us girls mocked her, but the boys LOVED her!

For Sir Mix A Lot's original version, click here.

Anyhoo, I have, actually, gotten many appreciative comments from men, some known to me, some complete strangers, over the last couple of years on my "healthy" butt. To me, though, it's just big and difficult to fit into my current clothes. I even went into stores that cater to the thick butt crowd, but they were very embellished. The jeans, not the people. So. My search for jeans that will give me a cute butt continues.

Of course, I COULD start doing some exercises to reduce the "liciousness" of my booty.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~And now for something completely different ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A quote I really like:

But oh! The blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.

(Dinah Craik, A Life for a Life, 1859)

A blessing, indeed.

great band!

Don't you love 'em?

make-up

This is why make-up is important.

Look at Eva (the pretty girl - ok, she's prob pretty even without paint).
Gorgeous!

Now look at the poor staffer scurrying to get out of the shot.

She really, really, REALLY would look so much better with just a little concealer, lipstick, and the application of hair grooming tools. I know that, sometimes, when you're at work, there's just not time for primping. But, just a little slick of lip color! It doesn't take any time at all!

It is a red-carpet affair she's working, after all. Poor thing.

Vote Lilly!

Cubbies v Reds in Cinci today at 1:20. Go Cubs!

Vote for Lilly as Man of the Year! We could use the positive thoughts!

UPDATE:
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
6-4 over the Reds

holy cow, no access!

I wrote most of this this morning, before work.

No phone! It's like HEAVEN! Except that means there is no internet connection. Holy Cow! I'm an addict who can't get a fix!!!

Today is Joe Boyersmith's birthday. We were in elementary school together. A great old building, named after a president. It had a wonderful playground with lots of toys, a big tennis court, a basketball court, a soccer field, a baseball diamond, a wooded hill we'd play pirates, and indians and homesteaders in. It was wonderful. WONDERFUL! The kindergarten room had a beautiful fishpond, I loved the tiles and the water. I loved elementary school.

Joe was the only kid I knew who had a birthday in my birthday month. We were never buddies, he and I, but his mom and my best friend's mom were best friends. They sobbed when the Boyersmiths moved 2k miles away. His mom wrote letters back, relaying how BIG everything grew out there, including Joe; she said he was growing so fast she couldn't keep up with buying his clothes! Funny!

Walking to work today. Fo' sho'. Seeing Furniture Girl and her new baby girl tonight. Bringing delicious Indian food: Palak paneer, chicken korma, chicken vindaloo (so much fun to say! VIN-dah-loooooo), soft, warm, salty nan bread, raita. Golly, I'm hungry already!

I didn't walk. I was too late to walk, but I WAS on time for work. Well, there's always tomorrow.

OK, now it's after work, after seeing the BEAUTIFUL baby (Furniture Girl and Chair Man make lovely humans). The company was truly pleasant, their son is such a cutie, just bright as a button, and their new daughter is perfect perfect perfect! What a nice night! I had a lot of fun but now I'm absolutely pooped.

The internet is not working (again). Apparently, it WAS working, while I was at work, but now it's dead again. Very frustrating, 'cause when I'm at work, I don't have time to check my personal email. Not a big thing, really; I'm just anxious to see if anyone responded to my craigs ad. And, of course, I want to check all the blogs I read! AND update my very own! ;)

The last little bit I wrote after we got home. We still had no internet, so I wrote it all on old-school word processing. This all seems very random. SO! Why not add a random steampunk keyboard? I looooove steampunk stuff. I wish I could find a reeeeeeally good book that's steampunkey.

Craig

I put some stuff on Craig's List, hoping to make a few bucks from stuff I'd just be giving away otherwise. I have been weeding the closets faithfully, so don't have much to get rid of, but thought I'd give it a go. Easier than a garage sale and no one needs to come over! I figure, if anyone wants to buy my stuff, I can meet them in Meijer's parking lot or something like that.

Next, I'll weed out other stuff in the house, knick-knacks, bedding, VHSes; I just want to get rid of stuff we don't ever even think about or look at or use. I DID get some new-to-me clothes yesterday. Good ol' GW! And I completely scored with a chair for the deck! Pictures to come!

Here are pics of what Mr. Handsome is doing in the dining room.

The view from the living room. Yup, he's ripped off all the plaster from the wall, in preparation for replacing the windows with french doors and sidelights.

Here's a closer-up view.

Can you see the bird? I put two black bars, 1 above and 1 below it. It's at our suction cup window feeder, which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who wants to see the chirpers up close!




Bubba likes to help Mr. Handsome. He's very helpfully being a table while Mr. H. does some designing and talking to a supplier. What a good and helpful kitty! And so cheerful to boot!

putting this on my wish list!

Dang! Doesn't that just make you get your groove on?!?

Nature

Mr Handsome and I went for a walk in the woods yesterday. It was a perfect day for it and the nature preserve was not crowded at all. We started out and it felt like we were the only ones around! The light was so soft and green and the trees still have all their leaves. It was just beautiful.

We found lots of mushrooms, all different colors. There were some that were so white they looked lit from within. There were some purple ones that looked satiny, all dressed up for a ball. The hot-orange ones really stood out. And there were some magenta ones, too, like the purple ones poor cousins. Here's a red-topped one.

We both used to be really into the outdoors, knew all our trees and birds, went wilderness camping, stargazing, lots of fun stuff. Now we stay inside, eyes glued to the computers. Not good. Mr Handsome couldn't decide if this was a white pine or not. I think it is, he doesn't think so. We'll never know for sure....

The nature preserve has all kinds of different ecosystems in it, from dunes to swamps. It's wonderful! There are former farm fields that are being reclaimed, meadows, mixed deciduous stands..., it's a beautiful, peaceful place to be and there're always things to look at. There's even a boardwalk to get across the swampy area.

And that's where I found an owl pellet! Look carefully; you can see a little, tiny bone in there! COOL!

I really started to get tired and sore about 30 minutes into the walk. And we were kind of lost at that point. It's not a huge preserve, but it's got different trails that loop around and the trail markers are pretty discreet.

Anyway, we got a little turned around, a little farther out than we'd planned on

After another 20 minutes, I was starting to think the path would never end.

But, finally,

light at the end of the tunnel!

It was fun and felt great, though, to get outside, to be together, to feel the sun.

gloom and doom then better through reading!

This week has been strange, and not just for me. It's like a miasma is hanging over lots of people, an invisible net of gloom that the gorgeous and nourishing sunshine can't burn away. And it seems like it's a poison-cloud that's specific to each person. I don't mean to spread it via the intertubes (though I've found it there, too; look at this really beautifully-written essay ); it is just so strange that so many people I've talked to lately have volunteered how blue they feel.

To break out of it, I think I'll drink more coffee. Coffee is a wonder drug!

Seriously, though, It's another beautiful day and I think I will go to a park and just sit in the sunshine with a drink and one of the many books I'm reading right now. I hope Mr. Handsome will join me, but he might want to work on the house (lots of projects going on).

I'm reading The Art of Racing in the Rain, Julie & Julia, Hush, Hush, and I just finished Rendezvous-South Atlantic. I'm about to start The Anthologist and I just bought Wishful Drinking.

There are many, many other books I want to start, too! Golly, I wish I could just read read read all day long, escape into other worlds, not have to go grocery shopping (which, actually, Mr Handsome has done the last couple of times, YAY Mr H!).

Ok, while I was looking for links for Rendezvous (a great read, by the way!), I made another cup o' joe. I'm gonna get started reading, out in the backyard, on the beautiful new deck Mr Handsome built (pictures to come)! I hope everyone out there has a good Labor Day and doesn't let the fog descend!