Spitting

I wish that someone had taught me to spit properly when I was a kid. If I knew how, I would be able to get rid of this terrible phlegm without having to gag myself to death over the sink. It makes me ill that J can just sniff up, do that weird back of the throat noise and then spit it out...same thing if he has to cough. I am stuck with tears running down my eyes, my tongue hanging out over the sink trying not to bring lunch up with the rest of it....grrr, sometimes I hate being a girl.

Butched Updated

I butched the lion kitty today. Since it has started to warm up, I know she will be shedding that coat like crazy so I decided to get a jump on it. I put her in the bathtub with me (no water, just a place to contain the hair) and I used scissors, laid her on her back and went to town....she is much smaller now but looks a bit butched....cat fur never looks good when it is cut and it is even worse when you use scissors. I just didn't feel like dealing with the clippers and the scissors are much faster and she is used to them. I ended up covered in hair but fortunately I was wearing clothes that were going in the wash anyhow.

She pretty much purred through the whole ordeal...she was just thrilled to have me holding her and she is comfortable on her back because I put her on her back all the time in my lap. Hope it doesn't get too cold again or she will have to huddle in that bed of hers to stay warm because that snow coat she was wearing is GONE!!!!!

Quite the List

Got this one from Chatty...not a bad list (of course, it currently reflects my specifics, please change the formatting to your own if you do it).

Look at the list of books below.
*Bold the ones you’ve read
*Italicize the ones you want to read
*Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

If you are reading this, tag your it!

1.The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2.Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3.To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100.Ulysses (James Joyce)

Repetition

Is is strange that when I find an article of clothing that fits welll and looks good on me, I buy several identical ones in different colors? I just got 5 new shirts in that are just like these two I purchased before from Target and I love them...the colors and the feel of them. I did the initial wash and now I am wearing one of them...this one in fact....only that is not me....

Is It Here Yet?

Today, you would think that spring has sprung....but it might only be fooling us. We are expected to get into the high 60s today but then it will be back down to freezing temps tonight and tomorrow night. Tomorrow won't even break the 60s....I think we have made the turn but that doesn't mean we won't have a few days here and there that are back in the throws of winter. I guess it means I am not going to get my big snow dump that I was hoping for but who knows...we could a freak thing, huh?

Lastly, I guess it means that I will be forced to get off my butt and get this yard looking nicer...our time away from the duties is over...haha.

Geocaching Blues

I found 5 caches yesterday while I was out and about. 3 of them were in parking lots and totally sucked. One of the many reasons I won't miss geocaching in this state when we leave. I am thinking I might just archive all of mine and take them with me because these people who think that micros in the forest or in the littered backs of stores are exciting obviously can't appreciate a quality cache...grrrrr.

Sahara Run

Sahara Run

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070220/ap_on_re_af/running_the_sahara

Sounds Like...

Why is it that the music to the regular Law and Order reminds me so much of the show LA Law from when I was a kid?

How is it that with all the other things going on in our country and around the world, the fact that some stupid rich female celebrity shaved her head is reason for "Breaking News" on CNN?

How can movie trailers for new movies really feel okay about saying "the best animated movie of the year" when we are only in February? Isn't it the only animated movie from this year?

Is it any surprise that the muffler is rusted out on my new truck 900 miles after the end of the manufacturer's warranty?

Peanut Butter Fiasco

Okay, I understand that there is a "recall" on certain peanut butter because of samonella or ecoli (this has been misreported today so who knows) and if a person has access to the Internet, they can find out exactly what brand and which lot number.

Thing is that the jack@ss local news stations want to get people to watch their broadcasts as 11pm so instead of caring about the public (those that might not have cable or Internet), they tell everyone to check in at 11 for the information.

Can I just say jack@sses again!!!

Roses

I went out yesterday afternoon to look at some properties with our realtor (long story), and didn't get back until around 4:30pm....when I did, there were a dozen roses in a vase waiting for me on the doorstep.

J must have ordered them while on his trip...makes me feel good to know he was thinking of me being alone on V day. I talked to him on the phone last night and thanked him for such a nice surprise.

They smell so great and just brighten the whole place up. I can't look at them without thinking of him. FLFA

Midnight Salad

When I was a kid, I would spend the night, quite often in fact, at my cousin's house. There were lots of weekends that I spent at their house....weird because now that I think about it, he hardly ever spent the night at my house...it was always their house that we had sleep overs at.

I could go into a whole soap opera explanation of how our families were connected, both legally and not legally but I am sure you would start to think we were from some hills in the SE of the US if I did that. All you really need to know is that our parents were very good friends as well as relatives (for a time) and that meant that my cousins and I grew up around each other (we even lived with them for a while when I was in jr high).

I always enjoyed my nights at their house...even if I hadn't planned ahead to stay the night, I could fit in my cousin's clothes and my aunt always had lots of silky cool pjs for me to choose from. Sometimes my aunt and uncle would put out the hidabed couch and sleep in the living room with us kids and we would stay up late watching horror movies (what else was on late in the late 70s/early 80s, huh?).

Without fail, everyone would fall asleep except for me and my uncle (think there were night owl genes involved here because my bio father was also a night owl). Around midnight we would get the munchies and he would get up and make a salad of iceburg lettuce, chunks of ham and blue cheese dressing. I swear that was the best salad I have ever had....and that time with him sharing that simple salad will always be a memory I cherish. I wonder if he remembers it too.

On My Own

I have been getting some awesome sleep the last few nights....and I know why. J is on a short business trip and I have the bed to myself. I put both head pillows in the middle of the bed and then the two leg pillows on each side. I can roll from position to position without having to do my usual "flip" and I guess that means that I am not waking up as much. It has been so nice.

I'll be glad when he gets home cause I miss him tons but I right now I am enjoying not having to do the "flip".

Saving Water

Do automatic flushing toilets really save any water if they flush 4 or 5 times while you are still in the stall?

Is This True?

According to my January issue of Fitness magazine, nearly 25 percent of Americans say they've ironed their clothes while wearing them....

Grandma's Pillowcases

Yesterday in my quest to remove all poison ivy/oak oil from my house, I did all the bedding. We have 4 pillows on our bed...one for each head and then one for each person's legs. The leg pillows sit on top of the bed and are visible. I always put one of my grandmother's pillow cases on those pillows because they are nice to look at and since they are out in the open, I figure what better place to have them.

For as long as I can remember my grandmother has embroidered. Mostly pillowcases but table runners, baby quilts and other items have made it in the mix as well. I started my own embroidery kit so I could do it with her when I was still in elementary school and I cross stitch now (and I am sure this comes from her). I have lots of pillowcases for my home that she has embroidered for me. I joke that I have enough to change cases everyday and not repeat for a year but I don't have that many...

I was thinking yesterday, when I was changing the cases on our leg pillows, that I will be bummed when these cases wear out. I have some quilts in my closet that were made by one of my great grandmothers and I don't use them like I used to because I don't want them to wear out. My great grandmothers would think it was weird that I have these beautiful quilts that I don't use for fear of wearing them out (but when they made them, they probably didn't think they would become antiques and worth money).

I am sure my grandma would think it was strange if I didn't use her pillowcases too, but then if I ever handed them down to the next generation, they would probably end up stored like my quilts so they wouldn't get worn out...weird how the value changes. Is it more valuable as something being used or is it more valuable hanging out in pristine condition in my closet?

Anyhow I decided I would make a quilt out of the embroidered parts when and if the pillowcases wear out. I have never made a quilt before and I don't really need another project right now so hopefully they will last for quite some time.

Warning....Updated

Make sure you are changing your Blogger password regularly...seems to be a rash of h@ckers using a forced password program to hack people's account. Since Blogger doesn't have a lock out on their password system, the h@ckers can just keep trying until they get it right...I have seen at least 8 blogs today that were broken into in the last two days....and I am sure there are more.

Don't know why anyone would do this to someone else...just lame but then some people are just lame.

Update:
Seems that most of those claiming to being hacked were actually deleted by Blogger for TOS violations. At least one was really hacked and the password issue is still relevant but at least it is not a epidemic of hacking going on...

Stamping Out The Oil

Looks like J might have gotten either poison ivy or oak so I am doing a lot of laundry today because who knows what clothes he was wearing when it happened and what he might have touched in our house.

I already went through the entire house with a rag soaked with alcohol on it so I could get rid of the oils if they are any anything, like doorknobs, lightswitches, and flushers.

Ugh!!! I hate this stuff but we both get it pretty bad so the precautions are worth the effort.

Today Is The Day

Whooooeeee!!! Superbowl Sunday is here. I will get going on that soon, but I have to get some stuff done around here before heading over to our friends for the big game. I will have my socks and sweatshirt on and hopefully they will help to push the Bears to a Superbowl Victory!!!!

Reading Update

Updated Mishka's Reading with the January reads...hope you enjoy them.

Snow Updated!!!

We finally got snow this morning!!!! We only had a sprinkling earlier and then it started to really snow a bit. Now we have about 2 inches but the rain has started so I am sure it won't last long. I managed to get outside and take some photos and video before my camcorder batteries died. At least I have some footage...will probably stay in today, except for picking up my niece later this afternoon and going to the gym after lunch.

Redundant

I have become a bit addicted to the Blogger Help Forum's. I try to post helpful information when I can, but this morning has been ridiculous.

Apparently a huge amount of people are having problems. These could be a server problem at Blogger, or they could be a migration from old to new problem. Thing is, everyone is posting their error message on the forums in all the different topic areas (some of which are not for problems) and no one seems to be reading the fact that EVERYONE is having this problem (meaning it is something that Blogger is probably working on and won't be fixed until it is fixed by them). There are hundreds of posts about this same exact problem and people are all pissed because it is not fixed yet.

Seems a few people have found relief by reloading their pages, or even by upgrading to the new templates while others have mentioned that reverting back to classic templates has helped them. I know that I would be irritated if I was having a problem, and I might even go to the forums to see what was up, but if I saw that everyone was having the same problem, I would just figure that Blogger was working on it and I would just have to wait. I definitely wouldn't start modifying my template without an indication from Blogger that I should do so.

It is amazing to me that when there is a problem online, people get mad so fast when it is not completely fixed in a matter of minutes. The instantaneousness of the web has made us all a bit less patient.