21 December 2007

We had a HUMMINGBIRD !

in our backyard just now.

I went to check on the kitties and I noticed Scooterpoo watching something in the snapdragons. When I looked closer, I saw a green hummingbird about three inches long testing out the nectar.

** to address the comment **
It looked a lot like this. . .



Yay !

Thoughts ?

15 December 2007

The Traveling Gnome's Got Nothing on Us !

We have the traveling penguin sculpture !

The story begins. . . *more to come*

The sculpture suffers a grievous injury. . . *again, more to come*

After considering all options, (bubble gum, baling wire, and duct tape), sculpture has been returned to the artist for repairs.

*snow storm*
*second attempt*
*pick up*

The upshot is. . . Larry McCaffrey is a wonderful artist and a fabulous human being. I am fixin' to go pick up the sculpture in Sequim now as he has been good enough to repair it without charge and has just been wonderful to deal with during the whole thing.

I am honestly not trying to make this a blog about ads, but. . . I do think it's important to share stories of things that go right as well as stories of coulis. *grin*

The
gallery website features artists on the homepage and has an artists' tab or Larry's work can be found here.

Thoughts ?

05 December 2007

Odds & Ends Gleaned from the Intarweb Tubie-Things

After work today, I checked out a few things on the web.

These are a few of them.

  • I am not a huge Kathy Griffin fan, but I'm embarrassed to say that she's kinda growing on me. While digging around for some background information on her, I stumbled on to an article about her botched LASIK surgery (not for the faint of heart).

  • I found a beading designer's screed (again, not for the kiddos) that I found hilarious on a beading site. Melissa -- this is so for you.

  • My sister sent something on Etsy for me, but I just can't post it at all. =P Post a comment if you want to see it -- no, Mother, sorry.

  • I also found something that Kate might like -- and something that I've been looking for regarding Project Runway and all the seasons. Some brilliant person(s) created a wiki article and put in CHARTS with links ! Oooh, SHINY ! So pretty.

In ending the post, here's my inside joke for the day: ADD, ADD, ADD.

Thoughts ?

04 December 2007

Apparently, Moronity Is Contagious. . .

So . . I'm about to tell a story on Robert and I.

We had a problem yesterday in that our water wouldn't ever get hot. It got less than lukewarm, but that was it. We've had this issue before, so we knew to go check the pilot light on the water heater to see if it had blown out for whatever reason.

We went out to the garage and checked the pilot light and, sure enough, no pilot light. *sigh* Robert was a very good handyman and read all the directions in order to get the pilot light working again. Yay ! So, we figure 1-2 hours later, we'll have hot water. Nope.

Hrm.

Maybe it takes more time. . . we decide to go on to bed and check the next morning. During my lunch break today, I zip downstairs and try the hot water again. Nooeeergh. No hot water. *grumble* *think, think*

Think some more. . .

Then I went into the garage to check the pilot light again -- just in case it's off again. And I figured out the problem ! We are idiots.

The pilot light is on, but the little knob is still on "PILOT". We never turned it to "ON". Oops.

Anyhow, that will not be a mistake we make twice -- I hope. . . =P

Thoughts ?

28 November 2007

I. Must. Sleep. Now.

But here's a quick blog I stumbled on that I think might be fun to share.

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

*yawn*

Thoughts ?

27 November 2007

Fairytale Brownies Story -- Bonus Post

Okay -- I figure I've teased my "fans" long enough. All three of you. =D

Here's the story about Fairytale Brownies.

It begins in a kingdom far, far away. . . okay, maybe not. But it DOES begin with Google ! I was checking my Gmail the other day and actually clicked on one of those links at the top.

Lo and behold (as if by magic !), I was directed to the site for Fairytale Brownies. Well, who can resist brownies ? Certainly not me ! So I started poking around and I found a little something. A little something that makes my eyes bleed -- a typo ! EGAD ! Normal people see these all the time and just shrug them off. I have a genetic defect that makes that pretty much impossible.

So -- I send a little note to Fairytale Brownies' webmaster. I include the link to the page and cut & paste the actual piece where the typo occurred (as well as using several happy little asterisks (Thanks, Bob Ross !) to designate the word that was misspelled.

Most of the time when I do stuff like this, here's where the end of the story would be. The Fairytale Brownie people, however, do things a little differently. I received a very nice little email back thanking me for my assistance and asking for my address so that they could send me a little "thank you" gift. Of course, they send it to "Mr. Gifford", but. . . hey ! Who cares ?

Yep. Of COURSE I (very politely) let them know that a) I am not a Mr. and b) my last name now has an "s" at the end. They are completely unfazed and offer their abject apologies. =D

Two days later -- bing, bong ! FedEx calling ! Whatever could it be ?

It's a box. . . of BROWNIES ! Oh. Mah. Gah !

They sent me a TWELVE-PACK of brownies and a sack of coffee ! As a THANK YOU !

Well, then -- Imma gonna help them out ! Here's their
website and. . . the brownies are DEE LISH US ! They are not cheap (but they aren't unreasonable by any stretch), but, heck, they sent 12 different flavors and that seems worth it to me not to have to make 12 batches myself.

Anyhow, if anyone needs an "all-occasion" gift that you don't have to wrap & ship yourself, please avail yourself of these folks. (Speaking of the wrapping & shipping, btw -- the packaging is basically a kraft paper look with some very sophisticated trappings. Custom stickers, custom bands, and a custom outer box all speak to the quality of the operation. Have no fear -- it's VERY sharp. It's also based out of Phoenix.)


Thoughts ?

OMG ! Stealth Post !

So. . . the stars all aligned last night and it was amazing !

I got some sleep because Baxter finally figured out that the garage door leads to. . . NOTHING. He slept like a rock, which meant that I actually got some solid snoozing. It was glorious !

This morning I got up and went to work and actually was very productive. That was very good as I had a lot to do. Sooo. . . work -- ever have one of those days where you just don't feel like all the alleged "crises" of the moment are really critical ? Nah, me neither. =P

When I got done with work, I came downstairs and relaxed by using the new-ish carpet cleaner on our living room carpet. It works _okay_ but not great but, hey, it was less than a hundred bucks ! It does what I want it to do for the price I was willing to pay at the time and, besides, it never hurts to try one out. It's a Dirt Devil Vibe, for those of you dying to know. . .
this is it

Then, I still had a little energy left and I made. . . COOOOOOOKIEEEEEEEEEEES.


I had the two doughs chilling in the fridge, but this time I thought about my time management skills BEFORE I started baking and. . . only baked one set. They are the chocolate crinkles that my mom sent the recipe for the other day. Yummy !

[[ placeholder for cookie sheets ]]

[[ placeholder for cookies ]]

Now, when the sugar high wears off. . . I am gonna craaaasssssshhhh.

Night-night.

(P.S. How much do I LURVES Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe ? )

Thoughts ?

26 November 2007

So. . . I *Was* Sleeping

but then Baxter got the heebie-jeebies and scratched on the door for "Haylp, Momma, haylp !"

Got him outside to pee and whatever else dogs do late at night. Party like rock stars ? Well, maybe -- but only if we compare them to the two oldest Stones. And even then, I think Keith has him beat. . . He's back inside and snoozing merrily on the couch now. And I'm awake. I shouldn't be awake, but I am. At least my massive headache is finally subsiding. I don't mind having them (okay, I so do), but I'd like to know at least what the CAUSE is so that I can treat it. Tylenol PM (yum, vanilla!) only works when the dog is asleep as well. *sigh*

It's kinda weird being the only one awake in the house like this. (Scratch that. Kismet just came to join me and by "join", I mean "walk on the laptop keyboard" and otter around the office looking for breakable items and things that go kasmash. [Note: I hate it when stuff becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Cleanup on aisle Giffords !] ) Shoo ! Shoo !

Anyhow, I also took a quick tour through the "news of the day" and something caught my eye that makes me sad. It also makes me very, very angry.

Baby Grace story (not for the kiddos)

For those of you who know. . . you know. For those of you who don't, a little girl is no longer with us due, it appears, to the unmitigated evil of the two people who should have cared for her and loved her. I won't go into detail, but it disturbs me to think that these two people are still drawing breath.

I don't want to end this post here so. . . for those who know all the names. . .

  • Scooterpoo (S'prise) will be visiting the vet on Wednesday for his attitude adjustment
  • Kismet has settled in quite nicely and she and S'prise have done a great deal of "monkey-rolling" (my neighbor's phrase) this last couple of weeks. We're very glad that they have taken to each other so well that they play together like this. I have to confess that I was a teensy bit worried when we first brought Kismet home -- she was so laid-back and mellow.
  • I broke the original "kitty-playstick". =( I will just have to get another dowel and transfer the yarn, I guess.
  • Bix & Baxter are still as fine as they are going to be.
  • I don't have a tree (yet), but will have one soon. YAY !
  • Chocolate crinkle and snickerdoodle doughs are still chilling in the icebox. I would have made them tonight, but. . . please see above re: massive headache.
  • (For Kate) -- I leveled most of my little toons and skilled them up in cooking, fishing, first aid, etc. during the long four-day weekend. No, I wasn't avoiding chores. Nooooo. =D My plan is to get everyone to 20 sometime in the next couple of months to leverage all the tskills.

Okay -- still have a little bit of a headache, but the massive part is gone. Baxter is still asleep (thank God) and I might be able to log some rack time myself.

Signing off.

Thoughts ?

11 November 2007

October Summary --

Geez, how did I manage to never have time to post in October ? Well, let's see. . . shaalllll weeeee ?

First week of October basically started out with the last day of September -- the Norwood Neighborhood Picnic. I had gotten the invitations designed, created, folded, and distributed earlier this month, so I guess it shouldn't be a shock to me that people actually showed up ! All in all, I consider it to be a success -- got to meet quite a few of our neighbors and, of course, they are lovely people.

Jumped right into work the rest of the week and got everything done and ready because Robert had a friend coming up from Southern California for a few days. Kevin came in with no issues at the airport, so we got him settled in to watch sports with Robert the whole weekend. Phew !

Kevin took off Tuesday to go meet another friend of his, so we got back into the swing of regular work & chores, but we also made time to go out with a few friends of ours on Friday. Kelley and her boyfriend, Joel, and Tracy and her husband, Cole, met up with us at Tides Tavern, which is a local watering hole here in Gig Harbor. We all had a great time and made promises to do it again, although our schedules so far have not coincided to the point where that's been possible.

Turns out it was a good thing that we had Friday night with our friends because Saturday was our day to. . . [drum roll, please] CLEAN THE GUTTERS !! UGH ! I will spare you the details in case you are reading this while eating, but suffice it to say, it's nasty. Oh ! But we found peanuts ! Really ! In the shell ! Apparently, we have found the squirrel's favorite hidey-hole, but I like to think that we have saved yet another backyard varmint from ptomaine. =P

Midway into the following workweek, I attended a work happy hour and I think that went reasonably well. Got to talk with quite a few co-workers and we kicked around a lot of different conversations and such - most non-work-related which, of course, made them WAY more fun than usual !

[Post story on Fairytale Brownies somewhere around here. It's so long that it really requires something all by itself.]

A couple of days later, I noticed that Jinx had not been acting like she was feeling well. She was having periods when it looked like she was having trouble catching her breath and I realized that she had basically stopped eating and drinking. That never bodes well, so I kinda co-opted her to stay in my office while I was working so that I could keep a better eye on her, just in case. She did fine while she was in my office, but I never could get her to drink much, nor eat. S'prise was no help, either, as he danced outside my closed office door, screaming in Kitty "Let me in ! I'll eat whatever she doesn't want ! HONEST !" Unfortunately, he got his wish the next day, as Jinx decided that she was done putting up with him and changed addresses from this world to the next. Robert took her in to the vet and did the hard work as I was still asleep. When he returned, he woke me up and let me know and that's when we kicked around the idea that S'prise did not need to be an only cat if we could help it. We headed down to the Humane Society location and looked at all their adoptable kitties and Kismet was chosen to come and grace our home. (She still hasn't made it there yet, but we're hoping to pick her up Monday afternoon. She got a little cold right after we visited her the first time, so the surgery to have her fixed has had to be postponed several times. C'est la vie.)

On Wednesday, I had a difficult day at work, so I chose to avail myself of some retail therapy that night. Christmas shopping seems to calm me down a little, so. . . that's what I did. =)

On Friday of the same week, we welcomed the Hongs. They are friends of ours from our time in Boise and Albert & Brian had been scheduled to attend a chess tournament in Tacoma, so we went ahead and put them up, along with Geck, their dad. Since I wasn't sure exactly how the chess rounds were scheduled, I scheduled myself to head up to Marysville to check out the outlet stores that I had heard about. Mall report: they are fabulous and I will go back up there, probably after Christmas, to take advantage of some of the sales that I anticipate them running. They have a bunch of shops that you've probably heard of and a few that were new to me. [Seattle Premium Outlets]

The Hongs took off for home Sunday afternoon, so we got ready for the next few days. I had another company function to attend Monday night -- the Annual Tour event, which was held at Hotel 1000 in downtown Seattle. It was a lovely event and I think a good time was had by all.

Momma came up on Wednesday, which was Halloween night and we gave out candy to all our trick-or-treaters dressed as witches this year. No, the bacon & egg suit still didn't work, but I have a much better idea of a couple things to do to fix the obvious issues that are present. Maybe next year. . . sigh. Or. . . maybe I will have time to execute the other idea that I have kicking around in my brain. . . [evil snicker]

And so ended October. . .

November post/s (I swear!) to come.

Thoughts ?

27 September 2007

Brain Bites

It's like a tasting menu, I guess -- nothing here makes up a full meal, but there's little "bites" of lots of stuff.

Top Chef on BravoTV -- I'm addicted. I knew there was lots of drama behind the scenes in most high-end kitchens (which is precisely why I won't watch Hell's Kitchen with that drama chef, Whatshisname). Anyhow, I called it for Season Two, but I'm very interested in Season Three which is still running. I honestly don't know who I'd vote for, but I know that Hung would not be in my top two. He may be the most technically adept, classically-trained chef, but I have issues with his lack of teamwork, poor safety record in the kitchen, and quite frankly, his sheer arrogance. I simply don't believe he has the cattle to go with that hat of his. It's peculiar to me that he doesn't seem to have learned anything from the Seasons 1 & 2 egotists, Stephen & Marcel.

Kitties !
Jinx is still doing well, although she's lost a pound between last year and this one. The vet said that her bloodwork is perfect, so I think she's basically in the catbird seat (no pun intended) right now. It just means that she gets to eat more and that she has no guilt about it. =P
S'prise is also doing very well. He's gotten WAY bigger -- it's almost scary how much he's grown in the three months that we've had him. He still has his "mohawk" and his little blackspot nose. He's gotten MUCH better about not biting quite so hard and is mellowing out (finally) where we can actually play with him a little without having to head back to the blood bank for additional transfusions !
Wet cat food is gross. That is all.

Dogs !
Bix & Baxter are still alive. Nobody faint, please -- I think it's as much of a shock to them as it is to the rest of us. They have taken to sleeping on the couch during the day, which is fine as it allows me to work at the house and not worry about them quite as much. They're ancient, but still movin' & groovin'. Okay, maybe not "groovin'", but I don't know the dog equivalent of "shuffling around trying to remember where I left my brain".

Backyard !
I haven't had any time in the last couple of weeks to do the rest of the blackberry remediation, so the backyard is still in a state of. . . well. . . "flux". I actually froze some berries from the canes, tho. I also bought three sets of raspberries that I hope to plant this weekend. We'll see. When I get them in the ground, I hope to have some more pics to post, along with berries next year. Yum ! (I hope that the coulis next year will be a great deal less expensive because of this foresight. . .)

One more task that will be getting done is cleaning the gutters. I know that this is the sexiest task that most of you can actually imagine yourself doing, but it's just something that we have to do soon. Why, you say ? Is it because our gutters are not draining water into the system correctly ? Nope. Is it because it's one of those "every six months" tasks that need to happen ? Nope. Does it have something to do with the FLORA GROWING IN THE STUFF STUCK IN THE GUTTERS ? Mebbe.

Work !
I am never, ever getting sick again. That is all.
This week has been very busy trying to climb the mountain of work to be processed since I had to take Friday off last week. Stupid weather change caused me to get sick, run fever, cough -- all that fun stuff. I'm much better now -- no worries -- just have to run around and clean the house since Robert's buddy Kevin will be here in a couple of weeks for a visit.

Burn Notice!
I am sad that I have to wait until next summer to see the next season of this series. I think this has been one of the smartest, tightest, sharpest shows to come up lately. I'd like to compare it to Psych, but I just can't. Psych has its own charming goofiness that I love, but it's in a whole different place than Burn Notice. Jeffrey Donovan is so good as the "hero" that you almost forget about him being the astronaut in Monk and the jerk in Hitch.

Last Quarter this Year !
Halloween !
Can't wait ! I'm not sure if I can salvage the "bacon & egg" suit from last year -- and NO, I do not EVER plan to post pics of this. It's one of those "you just had to be there" moments -- or if I am going to come up with something else. I've had a lightbulb in my mind for a couple of weeks -- just not sure how to pull that one off yet.

November !
Hoping that our planned Tucson trip goes well. We're getting to go down for a good friend's wedding and I think we're going to visit with Robert's family while we're down there as we won't have enough time this year to also do Thanksgiving a couple weeks later.

December !
[[ flatline sound ]] -- I just can't quite think this far ahead right now. Got too much on my plate right now as it is. =D Okay, I'm lying, but only a little. I have been doing a little Christmas shopping and trying to get stuff ready to wrap and send when it gets to be time.

Current stuff !
What I've been doing -- I reworked all the cra. . . jun. . . err stuff on my desk after I finished work. I've managed to cull a bunch of stuff out and shred it (I can hear Kate screaming for joy now), which has actually reduced a lot of my stress. I guess my chi was all blocked with all this random. . . schmutz everywhere. It does tend to aggravate me, tho, when I need one thing from the office supply store that they don't sell the way I need it packaged. I just can't understand why stores don't sell exactly what I want when I want it. Stupid folders. =P

Oh, and for those who care, no phone call from Britney's peeps yet. I continue to hold out hope that Little Miss Meltdown will clue in and contact me so that I can start the "tough lov. . . lik. . . um. . . just toughness."

I fixed the comment thing, btw -- all of you (all three) that want to post anonymous comments can do so now.

Thoughts ?

12 September 2007

An Open Letter To Britney Spears

Dear Miss Spears:

I am sure that you do not wish to hear any more about your personal "malfunctions"; however, I believe that I can provide a solution to your current woes.

I will agree to be a Life Coach for you for the sum of $300.00 USD per hour.

I will provide my services to you for one hour -- no more, no less -- per day for a total of 5 hours per week until you are able to maintain some semblance of sanity for more than a few days.

I see several pros to this approach:

1) $300.00/hour is most certainly less than whatever you are paying your attorney/s.
2) I can help you repair your public image.
3) I can assist you with your custody issues.
4) I can make myself available to you for those hours -- interruption-free.

I believe that you are searching for help and I can and will provide that assistance to you.

My rules are simple and few:

You agree to do what I ask for the time period that I am employed by you, although negotiation of those requests is possible. Wearing underwear is not negotiable.
You further agree not to make decisions outside that scope without first vetting them through me.
If you cannot follow the first two rules, our employment period will end immediately and any and all errors in judgment to follow will be understood to be your sole responsibility.

My methods speed growth of personal accountability and responsibility, while allowing time for you to work through whatever demons you currently have or believe you have.

I believe that the time period that will be required will span approximately 6 months.
This is a rough figure of $36,000. This is a sum less than you spent last month on well, whatever you spend your money on. After six months, if you still require additional assistance/lessons, supplemental hours can be purchased, although the price for those lessons will increase to $500.00/hour for the first twenty hours and on an increasing scale for any further lessons. This is to prevent dependence and encourage personal growth.

At the end of those six months, if my rules are adhered to, I can guarantee that your life will have less stress, more focus, and a much better trajectory than it currently has. I can further guarantee that your children will be happier and healthier.

Please let me know. Comments can be posted to this blog - so have your people get in touch with my. . . well, me.

To my friends and family -- no, I'm not kidding.
To Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, and Paris Hilton -- this applies to you as well.

11 September 2007

A Week In the Life

Okay -- a little more than a week, I guess. . .

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy at work, and I hadn't gotten Robert his birthday gift yet. So, naturally, I spent Saturday the 1st Christmas shopping ! Yes, yes, I know. Horrible wife. Well, not exactly.

I decided to let him off the hook Saturday for the first day of the college football season. Of course on SUNDAY, we did go to Fry's electronics and brought home every (tech) man's dream. No -- not the 60 inch plasma that plugs into the ear automagically. Just a 22 inch LCD monitor that is, I must say, bee-yoo-ti-ful. After we went to Fry's, we also took a quick trip up to Seattle because I had a small obsession to fulfill. Who knew it would be so hard to find tequila lollipops ? No, not for me. Yes, I found them. No, not in Seattle. Puyallup. Yes. Puyallup. We also did a Nielsen survey for a new movie (me) and a new tv show (Robert). I can't tell you any more than that, but. . . I think there may be a new movie coming out that I will have to drag poor Robert to.

Monday was Labor Day, so of course Baxter woke me up at 6:45, scratching on the garage door. He doesn't want in the garage -- he just wants to go somewhere else. I wish I knew where he wanted to go because I know dang well that garage door doesn't lead to the Cayman Islands. Since I was already awake, I went ahead and knocked some stuff off our DVR -- two more obsessions, Monk & Psych -- did some chores, and then settled down with Robert for some WoW time. No, no -- not that. Notice the capitals, please. =P

Tuesday I got to learn a whole new set of skills. I was already covering for one person out on vacation. I thought -- how difficult can this be, seeing as I already know the system, know most of the people involved on our side, and know most of the assignments for those people. Let me mention right now that I am an eeeeediot. Anyhow. . . those aren't the skills I was talking about -- I was also asked to take on another small task overseeing a meeting. That's not so hard except it involved some technology that a) I have not used in this manner before, b) I haven't seen in action at this particular meeting, and c) is only possible for me to use when I am on the client site. Interesting. I knew about the coverage last week, but just hadn't had a chance to actually test drive everything that was required, so what do I do ? Yep -- I work it out where I'm at the site early, I talk with the designated tech person, and I do a quick run-through in the conference room. One small oopsie -- this is a borrowed laptop and doesn't love me. I have to call the tech back in order to have the software installed by an "administrator". Fuuuunnnn. Suffice it to say -- the meeting went as well as it was going to -- it wasn't bad.

Wednesday was a normal day -- just getting ready to be busy, although I didn't realize it at the time. I got quite a bit done and did the normal Wednesday meeting. After that, I talked with another co-worker and realized that I was not going to have any space allocated to me in the new building. At all. For those of you in the audience (j/k), this means that I am now working from home five days a week. Am I complaining ? NOPE. It just means that I now have to pack up every single item in my office (a couple of moving boxes' worth) and take it home because I have no idea what else to do with it. I spend a little time packing up and get all the stuff in my car. It's amazing what you can do all by yourself, btw. Just hoist that box up on your shoulder like a stevedore and tote that bale right down a couple flights of stairs. Nope, nope -- I can sure get that door by myself as well -- no help needed. /eye

I thought the heavy lifting was over, but then Thursday & Friday crashed down on me like a tidal wave. Processed a bunch of work on Thursday and then dealt with the requests on Friday for all the specific tasks required since I am covering for someone else. The upshot of this is. . .not a lot of my work got done, although nothing is/was late and nothing will be. Robert's been sick for a few days as well -- running fever and coughing, so I'm not getting much sleep.

Saturday ! I get to sleep late ! Okay -- 9:30 is not late exactly, but at least I'm being able to catch up on some of the sleep deprivation caused by Baxter for the last couple of weeks months. Oh, but we leave the house around 10:30. Did I mention that we are headed to the UW Husky vs Boise State Bronco game ? Robert's co-worker, the other Robert, came over and we headed to the Federal Way Transit Center. Oh, HEY ! WRONG transit center ! Who would have ever thought that the shuttle to the game would be at the other transit center in Federal Way ? Actually -- who would have ever thought that there were TWO TRANSIT CENTERS in the SAME PLACE ? Yes -- we drove up to the UW campus in Seattle. *grumble, mumble* Stupid transit center.

We get to the game and hunt for a place to park. Since we are late -- because of the Transit Center boo-boo -- we have to park in Spokane. I keed, I keed. We hunt around close to campus and finally find the secret parking spot. After a quick hike of about half a mile (I wish I keed), we get to the stadium and meet the friends who have made the tickets available to us. Now, we need to climb the Everest of stadiums. One set of stairs coming in, two more ramps to the "upper section". Oh, but then, friends and neighbors, there are some more stairs and we all know that I am built for comfort and not for stamina. I make it up the stairs fine and get to our seats. I sit down and get ready to cheer for the Broncos, but. . . oh ! What are those ? Those neato little green spots ? What are those and. . . why am I suddenly having trouble staying upright ? Wow. Robert got to see his wife doing some swaying that puts to shame anyone else's stinkin' drunk.

Disclaimer for all -- I'm FINE ! I'm FINE !

Anyway, the paramedic lady was very nice and I was just a smidge dehydrated, I guess. (Actually, I don't guess -- that's what she told me. I went down at halftime and had a chat with her to prove that I really was okay and that she didn't need to worry. She really told me that I was so dehydrated that I had a green ring around my right eye. I explained that it was my contact showing.

She said, "That's what I mean -- you were so dehydrated that your contact was pulling away from your eye a little.)

A little pizza and some fresh-squeezed lemonade later, I am feeling much better. The game ends and Boise State doesn't win, but that's okay, I guess -- the UW folks are very happy. We all head to the car and finally get home late that night. Poor Robert II -- I get home and crash out. Robert I goes out to supper with him and they have a great time. I sleep for about 5 hours and finally get some REM sleep.

Sunday I continue my quest for sleep. Robert and I do our normal chores and I get ready for the next week. I know that there is a lot of work coming my way, so I'm trying to conserve a little energy.

I hit the ground running sprinting loping walking crawling dragging on Monday, because Baxter, in some psychic dog way, decided to scratch the [ censored ] garage door at 2:00am. After about an hour and a half of trying to get him settled down, I haul myself back upstairs and proceed to wake up every hour until I finally remember my name and get up to go to work at 8:00. Monday is very busy. I have an early meeting and then I crank out a bunch of processed work. I also get the picnic invitations printed out for our neighborhood picnic, but can't find my stupid paper trimmer. I also get the China pics off my HP camera ! YAY !


Tuesday is almost as busy. I work in the morning and get a bunch of work processed, then I head downtown to oversee the same meeting that I handled last Tuesday. THIS time, it goes way smoother. I finally get done and spend the rest of my night with my brand new shiny guilty pleasure. Yes, it's true. I've found. . . "Flipping Out" on Bravo. And it's a MARATHON ! I also find the paper trimmer.

Thoughts ?

27 August 2007

Bowling or Food Poisoning ? So Hard to Choose !

Yes, that's correct, friends and neighbors ! You too can go bowling, then return home to have a touch of food poisoning ! It's amazing !

Okay -- here's the story. . .

Robert's birthday was last week and he has a present coming. We've been talking about playing miniature golf or going bowling for most of the summer, so I menti. . . um begg. . well, whined until we agreed to go bowling ! (If it had been sunnier, we would have gone golfing, so I totally blame the rest of this on the weather.) We went up to Port Orchard to the lanes and did us some highly redneck bowling. By that I mean neither of us had any idea of what we were doing but we both had a great time.

We bowled three games before our old decrepit parts began showing signs of wear. I swear -- who started making bowling balls out of lead, anyway ?

After three games, we were pretty famished, so we swung by one of the local places for lunch. We've eaten there before and it's been good, but this time. . . [ insert sinister music here ] we were betrayed . bump, bump, bummmmm !

It didn't hit us at first -- we came on home and began doing some chores. I went upstairs to take a nap (or so I thought), but wasn't able to fall asleep because my head started to hurt. Yep, it was one of those migraine headaches that I'm famous for. Fast forward to six hours later -- I have slogged through some of the stuff on our DVR (a Shield or two and part of LoTR) -- when I finally am able to rid myself of that which is causing my misery. [ edited for the weak of stomach ]

I think I'm fine now because I usually am, but I'm really hungry now. So. . . I eat a banana. Like I've always been told to -- it's a bland, but filling, nutrient-rich food. And it has a potassium bonus. Yep. Not fifteen minutes later, I no longer have that extra potassium.

So. . . I give up and go to bed. Don't sleep well. . . because I'm hungry. . . and when I'm hungry. . . my head hurts. Fabulous. I wake up abouuuttt a gazillionty-'leven times which is [voice="cheerleader on Jolly Rancher high"] sooper-condoocive ![/voice] to REM sleep. [/sarcasm]

Anyhoo -- I'm fine now. Got up this am and went to work in my pajamas. Okay, not really, but. . . let's just say I have another reason to be grateful that I am able to work from home some days.

Thoughts ?

20 August 2007

Blackberries aren't just PDAs

Living in the Pacific Northwest is very different from living in Texas and I've found another difference. . .there are TONS of blackberry bushes up here ! It's like kudzu, only with ginormous thorns and sweet berries.

Having said that, I set myself a goal this year of ripping most of it out of our backyard. Not ever having lived with blackberries, I had no idea that they were so pervasive and invasive. What that means is -- if you leave them alone at any point, there is the distinct possibility that you will return to find them smoking cigarettes, drinking Mad Dog, and holding squirrels hostage. Yeah. . . the squirrels are fine, but they were still definitely bad news.

I put on my leather gloves and went to work. I have ripped out, by the roots, approximately twelve gazillion "runners". It could be less than that, but. . . no, it's twelve gazillion. Of course, that's only half the backyard, so I still have some work to do. In doing so, I have uncovered ferns, small trees, more ferns, Jimmy Hoffa, and a family of leprechauns.

The plan is, with most of the blackberry runners eradicated and the remaining woody stems tied up to a system of lattice work so that they will be off the ground and the berries will be easier to pick next year, I can start laying out pathways and flat spaces and marking where I want the little bridge to go. We have a little "rill" in our backyard -- it's actually just a cut in the backyard, but I plan to bed it with small river rocks, both to increase the water flow (like a French drain) and to improve the aesthetics. This will also keep most of the tree trash from damming up and looking terrible, I hope.

Anyhow, between the blackberries and the new kitty, I think I will be headed to the blood bank in the next few days -- I'm pretty sure that I'm due for that transfusion.

Thoughts ?

03 August 2007

You say "coulis", I say "AAAAAGH" !

So. . . I've been feeling fairly ambitious the past few weeks. My creativity monkey has really been a weight on my back, but I've been so dang busy with work that I didn't want to do anything but veg out when I was done.

Anyhoo. . . I've sandwiched little things in here and there because if I didn't, well. . . I would just explode. [-P To that end, I have about a dozen eggs that I have messed with, along with stringing a really cool necklace (I think so, anyhow), and a pair of crocheted and beaded flip-flops. . . you get the picture.

In the back of my mind, tho, I've been obsessed with making a raspberry sauce. No, I don't know why. Probably the same reason I whomped out a batch of mocha-chocolate shortbread the other day (only I substituted finely chopped Hershey's Raspberry Special Dark Kisses for the morsels that the recipe called for). Holy macaroni, but those were goooooood !

Back to the raspberry stuff. I found a recipe for raspberry coulis, which requires cooking, which made it "legal" for the creativity cop in my head. (Apparently, smashing raspberries together with some sugar and straining out the seeds doesn't really have a Julia Child kinda feel to it.) *sigh* I found the recipe about three weeks ago. Yeah. Absorb that for a mo.

1) I have bought FOUR sets of raspberries for this stinkin' recipe.
2) Three have gone bad while the stars aligned for the "right time" to create my masterpiece. The birds in our backyard are starting to have just a smidge of a red tint, they've eaten so many of my soon-to-be-compost,-I-swear "offerings".
3) I tried to make it at noon yesterday, but. . . that became the third set to get tossed as soon as I saw the fuzziyuckity.
4) I promise myself that if I get through my work day without a) screaming, b) snapping, or c) crying. . . I will run out and get more berries and try again last night.

Set the stage in your mind:
Late last night, I now have in my possession. . .
a) berries
b) a lemon (which is required for the recipe, but that I kept forgetting about)
c) corn starch (who knew it was so good at hide & seek in the pantry ?)
d) a saucepan of the right size and dimension and
e) a blender -- required to pulverize the amount of berries and water the recipe calls for)

I have dumped the measured berries and the water in the blender, I have the empty sauce pan on the stove, I have sliced the lemon and juiced it correctly, and I have the sugar measured. All that remains is to puree the berries so that I can squish them through the "fine sieve". (Yeah, already had one of those. Take THAT, stupid stars ! Nanner, nanner !)

I hit the button on the blender ! Annnnd. . . errrrrrrrrgh.

BRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPP

No workie.

I hit the button AGAIN ! Ah HA !

BRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPP

Still no workie.

The dogs hear, with their supersonic (old & blind deaf as a post Momma must need our help because we are blender experts !) ears and make countless trips into the kitchen at which point I scream at them to GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN !

Those of you who have cooked in my kitchen understand because they are the worst rugs ever. They ease up behind you and collapse silently just behind your feet, so that when you step back, you a) step on them, b) stumble (because you've just stepped on something that is not the solid floor you expected), c) somehow manage to lift your entire body up using nothing but immense willpower and air molecules (because you don't WANT to step on them, causing them (AND YOU) possible horrendous injury), d) pull muscles you didn't know EXISTED because you are managing to rip open the space/time continuum to avoid a heinous disaster (you are, of course, usually juggling something hot from the stove, or watery, or both), and e) attempting to restrain yourself from blistering the paint off the walls by shrieking obscenities at the object of your imminent demise. But I digress. . .

At this point, I feel the bile rising. I pull the blender components apart, verify that, without the blender jar on top, the mechanism works just fiiiiiine. Ziiiiiing ! Ziiiiing ! But, hey -- I kinda NEED that blender jar thingy to work while it's ON the mechanism. That's really the whole purpose of a blender MECHANISM. I poke around it for a while. . .still no workie.

The dogs have decided to continue their level of support and I continue to pound the GET OUT drum. Robert comes to help (Yay ! A human helper !) and . . .well, let's just say that as he was checking the blender, after I managed to cleverly step on the piece of raspberry on the floor and grind it in to the new kitchen rug, causing a big red stain, he decided that upstairs might be safer for all concerned (him).

I didn't know that I could peel out going downhill and backward at a 45 degree angle to get to the main street. That was quite a revelation.

Three stores later. . . it's eight o'clock and neither of the grocery stores I zoomed around to sell small appliances. Yeah. The DRUGSTORE does, tho. Quite an interesting thing to discover, I must say. Thirty-five of the best dollars I have ever spent later, I am the proud owner of a fine new blender. I drive home with my favoritist new purchase in hand and ready myself for COULIS TIME !

Suffice it to say, THIS blender works.

A whole mess of blended berries and water later. . . which actually looks quite disgusting. . . I begin the process of STRAINING this mess into my little sieve. Several lessons learned. Never make this recipe if you have the slightest hint of OCD. It doesn't say how carefully you need to strain anything, which means you don't really know how much juicy stuff you should have when you're done, plus I did it about three times because I didn't know how juicy the "solids" should be. I was a raspberry juice pig. Don't fill the entire sieve up with the liquid. It's just a pain if you do and seeds fall over the side into the other bowl. A small cup-type measuring cup is a godsend. Smash this carefully inside the sieve to push out the liquid. It takes forever to sieve out the seeds and the "solids". Yucko. And it sticks to the bottom of your measuring cup and is gucky. Gross. Yell at dogs.

At the end of the sieving process, you have about a half a mixing bowl full of bright red liquid. YAY ! Carefully avoid dogs who are both in your kitchen (again) and take bowl over to the stove. Pour liquid into the saucepan (again carefully because it's a) liquid and b) STAINY RED). Set it up to boil and go start on the 1358233584594867338574306.9 dishes you have dirtied up in the sieving process detailed above. Get a third of the way through soaping up dishes. Rinse hands. Check on red juicy stuff because it's not boiling yet. Turn up the heat.

Return to sink and soap up exactly two more dishes before the LAVA POT begins steaming and rattling. Fling dishes (carefully) down into the sink and sprint to the stove. Avoid dog 1. Avoid dog 2 who is watching with intent concentration. The fact that she is watching exactly NOTHING is not really a consideration at this point. Realize that you still have soap on your hands and sprint back to sink to rinse hands and dry on towel. Hear lava pot continue to hiss and despair of coulis scorching on the bottom. Avoid dogs again. Twice. Stir sauce while quickly turning down heat on the stove. Set timer for four minutes of cook time. Realize that sauce is fine, dogs are fine, you are fine. Stand for a moment in utter disbelief.

Return to sink and wash more dishes. Pile them all up onto the drainer and realize. . . no more room. Decide to leave remaining dishes in the sink and get them tomorrow. Timer pings to check sauce.

Sauce GOOD !

Sauce. . . omg ! There's TONS of it ! How are we ever going to eat all this ? Panic because I'm not sure I have enough containers to store it in. Make mental note to NEVER make this much again ! A quarter recipe would have been plenty !

Anticlimax: Sauce good. Sauce stored successfully. Dishes (mostly) done. Blender functional. Dogs alive. Floor. . . well, anyway, the sauce was good.

Thoughts ?

23 July 2007

The Land of Eh

Robert & I zipped up to Victoria for the weekend and had a great time up there. I had never been to Canada, so it was definitely a wonderful initiation to the land of "Eh".

We took the ferry from Port Angeles over Friday night. We were a little worried that we weren't going to make the ferry because, on the way up, there was a guy hauling a boat that had broken down in the middle of the road. Being that it's only two-lane for most of the trip, it backed up traffic for about four miles. That was a little scary since we had a ferry reservation for 5:15 and neither of us had any idea about what exactly we needed to do when we got there.

We got there on time, although a little later than what we were hoping for, and everything went pretty smoothly from there. It takes about an hour to cross, in good weather, and we had good weather. =)

We got off the boat in a foreign country ! The harbor at Victoria is bee-you-tee-ful. There are flowers everywhere -- it looks like the harbor is a big water cupcake with these multicolored sprinkles all over the edges.

First stop was the Penny Lane Sweet Shop which is like an old-fashioned British candy shoppe. It's pretty tiny, but extremely well-stocked. They have chocolate bars, toffees, and hard candies in glass apothecary jars. The staff was very friendly and very knowledgeable about their stocks -- gave us a couple of recommendations on chocolate bars. They also have dark chocolate Toblerone, which is fairly difficult to find in the states. What can I say ? It's no more than 25 yards from the debarkation point. Really !

We left Penny Lane and dragged our luggage up the hill to the hotel -- approximately 6-7 blocks. We stayed at the Chateau Victoria, which is not completely "downtown", but certainly close enough to everything we were interested in. After stashing our stuff, we went out poking around. We did a lot of walking, found all kinds of little shops and then stumbled on the mall. Bay Centre is a four-story mall, very nice, lots of shops. We were pretty tired by then, so we just wandered up to the food court and ate a little supper before hitting the sack.

Next morning, we (okay, I) slept in a little bit. (It's a VACATION !) When I got up around nine, we went back out poking around. We hit Miniature World, which is very interesting. It's a huge collection of different types of miniatures -- from dollhouses to Civil War and Revolutionary War figures painted and arranged on "battlefields". There's also an enormous diorama which shows the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway. They also have the world's smallest working sawmill. (Fire regulations prevent it from operating in the display, but they have a video which shows what everything does). The sawmill was probably my very favorite part. Miniature World also has some Wild West dioramas as well as some of the cheesiest "fantasy" scenes evah. Snow White's dwarves did not have a "diamond mine" made entirely of glitter and cheap drugstore costume jewelry. They didn't and you can't make me believe they did ! Nonetheless, I give the entire venue a 93 -- because you sure can dance to it. =P

We wandered around the "downtown tourist trap area" for a while longer and grabbed a little brunch at Sam's Deli (they have "Samwiches" !) before I couldn't bear it any longer and we popped into Munro's. Munro's is a wonderful old bookstore with what appears to be the original wooden floors -- think the Sparenberg building. Since this was my "birthday" trip, Robert had called ahead and reserved a copy of the new Harry Potter book. Since I got it in Canada, the cover and the size of the book is different from the one published down here. The bookstore was also having a little promotion where you could go over to the "Headmistress's Office" and have a certificate with your name on it signed by the Headmistress of Hogwarts. It was designed for the kiddos, so of course I went !

We also poked around the Royal BC Museum right quick. We didn't think we had time to give the museum the attention it deserved, so we hit the gift shop to see the highlights.

With Harry Potter burning a hole in my pocket, we hiked back to the hotel for a little light reading and a nap. I did the reading and Robert took a little nap. After I read for a while, I finally fell asleep as well, and didn't get up until about 6. By that time, we were fairly hungry again, so we set off to find food. I wasn't starving, so it was hard to decide. We had our choice of The Keg -- a steak house, an Indian food place, Chinese, Thai, a place called the Noodle Box, Smitty's (looks like an IHOP), pizza, and a few other places -- and that's all within about six blocks ! After meandering a while, we finally agreed on pizza so we grabbed it to go. I read all through supper and read on till about 2:00am, when I finished the book. Poor Robert ! He had to listen to me gasp and exclaim over the plot twists (although I did try very hard to be as quiet as possible.) We finally both hit the sack for good around 2:30.

Sunday morning, we went ahead and got up about 9-10 and took a quick shower before going back out. We managed to score a table at Smitty's (a Canadian institution !) and verified that it is like a Denny's. Yum ! Smoked salmon Eggs Benedict ! We then went out and visited the Victoria Bug Zoo. I thought it might be a little creepy (and it is, but just a little bit). They have LOTS of bugs and most of them are not scary. =P Robert and I were the only grownups there without kids and we did just fine (until Robert scared me and I, in turn, accidentally scared a little girl there). No. There are no details. Just. . . yeah, no. Just know that the ant farm is SO worth a look along with all the other stuff. Leaf bugs, stick bugs, beetles, leetle spiders, BIG spiders, scorpions (and a vinegarone ! They call it a "whip scorpion".), praying mantises (manti ?), and. . . cockroaches (eeeeeee).

It was about 11-11:15 when we got out of the "zoo", so I realized I had to get some shopping done. =) Robert got dragged around to a whole bunch of little stores and I did some Christmas shopping. No hints, y'all ! =P When we were done there, it was almost time to head to the ferry terminal, so we hiked back to the hotel and packed up again. The shuttle driver was so wonderful !

The boat took longer going back because there was a huge fog bank, but we got home and were immediately set upon by the Whiny Twins (tm). Jinx is pretty used to us taking weekend trips, but I guess S'prise didn't understand that we were coming back. We have been nearly overwhelmed by the "attention".

Stuff that didn't make it in this missive:

: Nightmares -- "interesting" horror shop
: The fire juggler -- there were two that we saw, one is hilarious
: The mermaid with the accordion
: Darth Vader with his violin
: The drum and xylophone quintet on the street
: Roger's Chocolates -- Victoria creams
: The mime. No, I'm not kidding. Weeeeird.


All for now.

Thoughts ?

10 July 2007

Gosh, I don't feel forty

But I guess that's just the nature of the beast. Most of us will experience this moment. . . when we stop for a second and realize that we actually are four decades ol. . . um. . . experi. . . err. . . seasoned.

I remember being much younger and interested in the year I would turn 33 -- because that was the year 2000 and the turning of the millenium. I don't guess I ever thought much further than that -- that I would someday turn 40. It doesn't really "feel" like 40, though. I wonder if most people "feel" forty or if it's just another birthday.

Forty does seem like it should be a milestone, however. It seems like it's a fairly "weighty" birthday because you're not just 30-something anymore. You're "forty" -- with all the gravitas and responsibility that seems to go with those numbers and that label. You're old enough to call kids "kids", although not old enough to go with "whippersnappers". =P You're old enough to remember the actual moon landing and the shuttle flights, Nixon and both Bushes, sex, drugs & rock -n- roll and Mrs. Reagan with her Just Say No campaign. I was just old enough to know that Viet Nam was some country "over there" but now I can understand a lot of the political implications that it had and can see a lot of the effects that shook out. Same with Colombia.

Forty is when you are old enough to raise kids, but don't have enough energy to do so properly. Forty is when you lie in bed at night and think. Forty is when you know stuff. You don't know everything, but you can sure do a lot of things.

Forty is when you see The Hill. You aren't on it yet, but you sure know what it looks like. You begin to find people and teach them the things that you know because you don't want anyone else to have to start from scratch like you did. You have stuff to teach and you don't mind because you are confident that the ones you are teaching to can't catch you anyhow. =P You can teach them all they know, but not all you know. You begin to say things like "when I was little, we counted change back to our customers !" And "I remember when gas was 93 cents a gallon !"

Forty is when fiction begins to get boring -- because you can figure it out before the book ends. You begin to read non-fiction for the history and because you can't make some of that stuff up ! You know who to call for whatever you need and you know how to set up a local network of people when you have to move somewhere else.

Forty is when you look back at all the things you've done and wonder how you ever made it this far.

I guess everyone deals with being forty in their own way -- they bring their own experiences, their own prejudices, their own memories. I'm just glad that I got here because it's been a heck of a ride so far.

Thoughts ?

07 July 2007

Why Are Kittens Cute ?

Kitties are cute for a reason.

They are cute as a means of self-preservation. I say this because we have a new kitty in our house. He's been here three weeks. Robert & I both look like we have been drug through a knothole backwards -- with the knothole packed full of blackberry vines. He is a busy kitty -- busy biting toes in the middle of the night, busy pulling U-turns in front of the "other" cat before she can swat him, busy trying to climb up our curtains. . .you get the idea.

Don't get me wrong -- when he is cute, he is adorable. The problem has been when he is "cute", he is "asleep". This would be way better if we were not ALSO asleep (read: exhausted). When we first brought him home, he was very nervous and apprehensive -- because he was very small and our house was bigger than the place he had been living before. Well, he's over that. Totally.

He now knows all the rooms in the house and pounds up and down the stairs with no fear. Of course, we have to watch him constantly because he has developed a habit of "playing" with our legs & feet (because they move constantly). I give us probably another two-three days before one of us steps on him accidentally. *sigh*

Anyhow, I will close this post with an explanation of his name -- S'prise. He was a surprise to us after losing another well-loved cat in our house. I am seriously thinking of changing his name, however, to one that fits him a little better during this time of his life.

I'm thinking about calling him "OW ! OW !"

Thoughts ?

06 July 2007

Bandwagon anyone ?

Yep -- looks like I'm finally jumping on it. It's only been what ? 6-7 years since it was fashionable to start your own blog and clog up those darn Internet tubes with the ramblings of Shakespeare's monkeys, right ?

Anyhow -- I don't promise to write often, nor to write anything that will change the course of mankind, but. . . it has been my recent experience that some of the musings in my head seem to be [a]musings. . . and I think I may be ready on some level to subject them to (gentle, please) criticism. =P

Having said that. . . my first dead horse to beat would be. . . why are so many people in the IT industry these days so incredibly dense ? Is it because there are so many openings that they are just not filled fast enough ? Is it because l33t sk33lz coming out of high school substitute in equal measure for lack of common sense and good judgment ? Is it a simple failure of business in general to demand good communication skills, both written and verbal, that let these slack-jawed yokels in ?

Don't get me wrong -- I don't mean to say that ALL IT folks are drooling eedjits. . . but dang -- I've sure met a bunch. (Maybe that just says something about me, dunno -- or maybe it says a great deal about folks coming into the "industry" with certs and no seasoning.

All righty -- having led with the ol' one-two -- I'll just sit back and wait to be flamed for this. . . although I don't think I'm a) wrong or b) alone in this.

Thoughts ?