Busy busy busy

Last night, Svend and I went to a Soup Tasting fund-raiser. It was at the Electric Cheetah (no, it's still not open yet) and there were over 100 people there! Crammed elbow-to-elbow! It pretty much freaked me out to be in such a crush, but it was still fun and the soup was all good (made by many of the local business associations). Gina made ours for the bookstore and, man, can she cook! It was my favorite! Even if I didn't know she made it, I'd still have liked it the best! It was a beef consommé, with ginger and mushrooms and lime juice and alphabet noodles. She called it Asian Beef Consommé. Get it? ABC Soup! From the Bookstore! hee hee!!!

Today has been very busy so far (but no pics, sorry). I had baby-sitting duty for The Best Dog in the Whole World, (twice a day, for the next ten days), then Mr. Handsome helped me clean up the streets the bookstore is on, then we went for lunch with some bookstore-neighbors (who were also cleaning up the street - we're having a tour of hotel concierges come through and want to impress them with how lovely and "shoppable" our 'hood is). Lunch was DELISH! As it always is at the Winchester! Then, I went to get an update on another darling pet's health issues for an upcoming baby-sitting gig. Now I should be doing chores, but I'm tired, so I'm playing on Facebook (totally addicted to SuperPoke Pets - I have a baby dragon! I named him Rhys, a good Welsh name for a dragon) and updating here!








It's going to be a really busy time coming up: work plus two pet-sitting gigs (one is way the hell across town, but I just love these cats, Mr Magnificent particularly!) plus I have to go to the Real Doctor tomorrow (YIKES!!!! I"M TERRIFIED OF THE WHITE COATED PEOPLE!!!) and there's a work party in there, too, this-coming couple of weeks. All good stuff though!

Ok, now I'll go do chores. The sun is shining, it's windy and chilly, but Spring is definitely here!

Sam Gamgee

So, the more I think about losing weight, the more weight I gain. Apparently, one cannot just "think" about losing weight. One has to actually take action. huh. Learn sumpthin' new ever' day.

I love the site "I Can Has Cheezburger" and all its offshoots. There's one called "Totally Looks Like." Well, I totally look like Samwise Gamgee, as played by Sean Astin, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.



(my pictures were taken before I found Sam's pics)











I think I'll start walking to work. It only takes 30 minutes, not bad! It snowed this morning, though, so Maybe on Tuesday. I'm bummed about the snow, 'cause last week, it got into the upper 60s! Felt like SUMMER! Spring in the upper Midwest is cruel. A teasing bitch. But beautiful. It's snowing right now, as a matter of fact.
(ok, this is an old picture, but I like it!)


Once again, Sam Gamgee:

cars

I only ever got into cars because of boys, but then I discovered that I LOVE cars, motorcycles, trucks, planes.... FUN STUFF!

This looks a lot like my first car:



Chevy Vega Wagon. Early '70's. It had an 8-track! I played lots of Rush on it. I think it was red with wood vinyl panels, though. That might have been the rust. God that thing was a piece of shit. Burned oil from both ends. I'd be at a stop light and some kind citizen would lean out of his window and shout to me, "You're burning oil!" I'd want to say, "no kidding, dipshit," but I'd just answer with a smile and a "thank you" wave.

Except, it wasn't really MY car, it was my sister's, Sis#1 (and the 8-tracks were Bro's). Dad kept all the keys just hanging up in the kitchen. Easy access. So, I'd "borrow" the car! I vividly remember one night, returning the car, pushing it down our road, all lights and engine off for secrecy, when Dad popped up! Holy shit. He didn't say a word. Just helped me push it back into its parking spot. Then he said, "We'll talk about this in the morning." I was FREAKED out! See, he usually yelled his head off at the smallest thing, so, for him to just quietly, solemnly make that statement.... it was chilling.

In the morning, before he left for work, he was very grim. "I'm not going to hide the keys. But if you get caught, I won't bail you out and you won't be able to get your license until you're 18." I was 14 at the time. Within 2 years, Dad (as he was) would be gone. But I would still be borrowing the cars. All in the family.

My Day

It was a good day at the bookstore! An over $700 day, which is huge for us! We need to make a minimum of $500 just to pay the bills each day, so we have a ways to go before $700 feels like normal. A Michigan author came in and read her books for our Kids' event, then G had a meeting of West Michigan Children's Authors at the store. It was great to have so many people in the store throughout the day!

It's the small things, often, that are so pleasing. Like, I made some bookmarks that list our upcoming events. Book Doctor liked 'em, the customers liked 'em, and that makes me happy! Also, putting a book into someone's hands, knowing they're going to love it... I just love that feeling! Also, frankly, I had on a super-cute outfit that I just got from Sally Ann yesterday. I love feeling like I have on a cute outfit!

Mr Handsome and I were going to go to a Viking Party tonight, but are doing our usual, "nah, let's stay home" deal. Which makes us both happy, staying home, so nothing wrong with that. Not exciting, but it's what we like. We're just going to watch a movie and then I'm going to READ! YAY!

hi!

more animals
Today we had an early morning meeting for work. Cleo (and Bubba, but really, mostly Cleo) didn't care. She was all "I'm cold! Keep me warm with your body heat via the only visible part of your body which would be your face!" Yes, that's right. She's taken to walking on my face in the middle of the night. She's 18 or 19 years old. She's an old cat. No body fat. Six pounds on a good day (i.e. she hasn't barfed up a couple meals). Small, old, cranky spoiled. That's our tortie-queen Cleo. I love that cat. I really do.

flowers

These images are from FTD, not me. I just think they're pretty! I like looking at flower designs. I usually just plunk the bouquet in a vase, when I GET flowers, that is! These pictures make me want to do something a little more creative.

I wish my creativity would expand to painting the dining room. ugh.