Happy Birthday Miss Pamela!

This is my dear sister, Miss Pamela Jean. It is her birthday today, but we shall mention nary a number. As a true Southern Belle, she is elegant and ageless. I thank my brother, Cullen, nearly every day for having had the sense to marry her. He made us sisters, our hearts made us friends. And as any fool could tell you, a friend is a precious gift. Cake seems to be in order, or, at the very least, a cookie.

Twins Separated at Birth?

One of my favorite guilty pleasure movies is Legend. You know, that fantasy flik from the eighties starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara and Tim Curry? You're embarrassed, too, huh? I think all of us ought to come out of the closet and openly love the movies that the snootier among us love to hate. Last night I watched Legend with Reid, the younger son. I was surprised he was interested in viewing such schlocky fare. We do share a love of fantasy stories and the myriad mystical folk that inhabit them, although his medium is videogames, whilst mine are books and movies. It was fun to watch Legend with Reid drawing parallels in the story and characters to the
Legend of Zelda series of vidoegames. Our heroes, Link of Zelda fame and Cruise as Jack, do bear a remarkable resemblance. The movie was released in 1985 and Link debuted in The Legend of Zelda in 1986. Considering the lengthy pre and post production time necessary for a film as well as the time involved to create story and characters for a videogame, it is difficult to ascertain which is the chicken and which is the egg. I'd post a photo of Reid in his Link costume but he would certainly object. Reid is neither chicken nor egg, having made his debut in 1992. One thing I'm sure of is that Reid, at 6'2" and still growing, is surely the tallest of the three.

Proof

Conversation between me and the 17yo last night:

Wow, that 7 Deadly Zins has quite a kick to it! I swear it's got to be 15% alcohol! I pick up the bottle to read the label. Look at this! 14.5%!

That's 29 proof.

How do you know about proof?

You explained it to me.

Oh.

And all I have to say about that is, I love cooking with wine! Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Food Night!

Cajun seafood chowder. Cornbread with butter and honey. Accompanied by 7 Deadly Zins, a lovely red wine. Tigh loved it. Reid ate it and declared it yummy. It was.

Miss Emma's Tea Party

I do love a theme party. We have painted flowers, mismatched teacups and the birthday girl is the Queen of Hearts.

And a Mad Hatter!

Have some wine, said the March Hare. You never can tell what might be in a teacup...

A hookah-smoking Caterpillar, no tea party is complete without one.

Cheshire Cat, with grin.

Demanding Drinks

Bossy Cakes

Flaming Cake

Birthday Queen and Alice

Off with the kittycat teapot's head.

Rhinitis Rant

Firstly, this cold is kicking my ass. Secondly, this cold is kicking my ass. And thirdly, time for a hot, steamy, bubbles up to my chin bath. I can never remember, do I feed it or starve it? Perhaps drowning it could be a viable option. Then meds and sleep. Turn out the lights while you're tiptoing out and please don't slam the door. Thank you ever so much.

If Only I'd Been Listening...

I worry more for you, than for me

When you said this to me, very early on in our involvement, I thought, how sweet. Your concern for me warmed my heart. You recognized what was on the line for me, how much I had to lose, how much I was risking to be with you. If only I'd been listening with objective ears! Even then, at the very beginning, you knew that you'd leave me. It was a warning in the guise of caring. If only I'd been listening at all.

Bring on Spring!

Here we are, a mere six days from Ostara, and signs of spring are abundant!

*DST has arrived. I'm not cranky about it yet. Yet.

*Spring Break has come to a conclusion. Michael and Liz have returned from Florida and at this very moment I'm wearing the pink TinkerBell hoodie they brought me. I may never take it off.

*The sump pump ran a couple of days ago! I put on my serious slogging boots and ventured out into the back yard to move the hose out away from the house. I think the water was mostly run-off from the glacial mass melting on the roof, another sign of spring.

*I can see concrete! The entire driveway area has melted!

*It may be possible to finally put away the light up palm tree and pink flamingo holiday decorations. Maybe a few more days of warmer weather to reduce that massive snowbank they're encased in...

*I hear birds in the morning!

*Now that the roof has survived one more winter, it's time to call contractors and get estimates for a new one. It will be ever so lovely to have matching shingles after thirteen years of three different colors and vintages of roofing up there. Four if you count the quickie patch job I did on the peak last fall just before winter hit!

Springing Ahead

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I'd just as soon lose an hour out of the middle of Monday afternoon than the middle of Saturday night. Whose cockeyed idea was this anyway? And who do I see about changing it? If you ask me, we ought to quit this springing ahead and falling back nonsense, and leave the clock where it is all the time! Just pick one or the other and be done with it already!

Fun With Hot Glue

Yes, you can try this at home! Purchase a plain jane lampshade, some ball fringe and flat braid trim. Plug in your hot glue gun, say goodbye to your manicure, and remember to use that wood craft stick instead of your finger!







And this is what you get! Fancy lamps that match the big comfy chair in your office. Caution, your results may differ from these depending upon your experience with a hot glue gun. Personally, I'm happy when I complete a project without burning myself. Your expectations may be greater. In this particular instance, I am quite pleased with the results and believe that minimal swearing was involved.

Thanks, Pam! What could be more impractical than ball fringe?

It's About Nothing...

It's not really a secret. But I feel like if I talk about it, I'll jinx it. I know, I know, there is no cause/effect relationship here. If it turns into something, then you can bet your sweet bippy I'll talk about it. Probably ad continuum, ad nauseum. To the point where you'll wish for me to shut up already and move on to the next mildly interesting or amusing topic. So I'm going to keep this to myself for a while. Ponder perhaps to the point of obsession. Maybe do a HAL thing and wig out because I'm acting all normal, at least for me, on the outside whilst something entirely different is lurking on the inside and playing havoc with the neural streams in my positronic artificial brain. And, no, this is not about a man. Or the possibility of a man or the probability of a man. It's about me, my life, and I. And where do we go from here. The whole point is, some sort of movement is necessary. I have been nudged out of my former place of complacency into an area of the ethereal. When tenuous becomes tangible, we'll definitely talk.

What's Goin' On!

In the Kitchen:

Chicken Noodle Soup -- Tonight's supper as well as lunch for me all next week.
Pork Roast -- In the crock pot, for sandwiches and quesadillas this week.
French Toast -- Oodles of it! What wasn't consumed for breakfast today will be enjoyed for breakfast all week.

In the Laundry Room:

Phase three of the major clean-up in this most neglected room is in progress. Phase one was wading through and sorting out the garbage from what was in good enough shape to donate. Three large garbage bags were hauled out to the curb and the entire back end of the Subaru was full of clothing, fabric, sheets and comforters and curtains and decorative items that made the trip to Goodwill. Phase two was a serious vacuuming job that involved moving everything around and cleaning out decade-old cobwebs. The third phase was this afternoon, and entailed cleaning off the shelves above the washer and dryer and another shelf unit across the room. The fourth and final phase will be sorting out and finding a home for everything I determined was a keeper. About a year ago I posted photos of how awful it had become in there. Gratefully, no one turned me in to the EPA for hosting a toxic waste dump in my basement. When phase four is complete, I'll post some pictures of how greatly that space has been improved.

In My Head:

A scarier place to be at times than the laundry room a year ago! But lately, I'm discovering how genuinely happy I am. In the areas of my life that need some work, things seem to be falling into place. And for those of you who believe that time heals all, WAKE UP!!! It has been my experience that all the time in the world can pass and nothing improves unless you do the work that needs to be done. Personally, I happen to think cleaning up my physical surroundings can be conducive to cleaning out the emotional closet. And I am happy to say that I have relieved myself of considerable baggage, both in my head and in my house. Works in progress, both.

International Night at Jim's

Jim's Tap, that is, a renowned watering hole on Main Street right here in Brookings. International Night takes place on Thursday evenings. I am not privy to the process by which a country is chosen, but someone seems to be on top of this. You can tell by the sign in the window and the chalk boards at either end of the bar declaring which drinks from the featured country are specials. Buy a featured drink and you get a ticket! A ticket with a number on it! The more featured drinks you buy, the more tickets you collect! Then, at the appointed times, 10:30 and 12:30, tickets are drawn and prizes are awarded. Prizes are often more featured drinks, sometimes in special logo embellished glasses that you get to take home. There is usually a tee shirt and other assorted merchandise like key chains that likely are freebies from the liquor distributors. Last night the Caribbean was the featured locale, although technically not a country, the Caribbean is certainly a source of potent potables. Rum. And beer. And, well, rum. All I have to say about that is I have discovered that fruity drinks containing rum, while tasty, result in heartburn. Regretfully, this likely means I won't have a date with Captain Morgan Lime again any time soon. Also, the Caribbean theme led many of us to adopt speaking in pirate parlance, which left me a bit froggy for most of the day. Arrrrgggg, indeed. I may have to keep showing up until I win one of those coveted "free" tee shirts. Don't you just love marketing!

Random Cats

Newton, all casual with his front paws crossed. Also note how inconveniently he is posed in the doorway, thereby getting attention when I very nearly trip over him. He remains nonplussed. Now I wonder how he'd look if he was plussed.

Einstein, demonstrating his peculiar fetish for packaging tape. Yes, the secret has been revealed. All the packages I send out are laced with cat saliva. He likes shoes, too.

Beer!

Beer is good. God gave us beer because she wants us to be happy. I like beer. And don't you wish you were in Iceland right now, where Beer Day is being celebriated. On this day in 1989, a 74 year ban on the production and consumption of beer was abolished. It would seem to great delight of the beer deprived Icelandic people, where the drinking establishments will remain open until four tomorrow morning. Unbeknownst to me until just now, I celebrated by knocking back a couple of Fat Tires. Which were in honor of Tigh's 22nd birthday. More appropriately, we celebrated his turning 5.5 years old, because Tigh is a leap year baby and his actual date of birth, February 29th, only rolls around once every four years. Next year, I suggest we all trek to Iceland to celebrate Beer Day and Tigh's birthday. Ironically, Tigh does not care for beer. All the more for the rest of us.