Friday, July 31, 2009

Friday Kitten Blogging

Pressure playa

Since I walked in the door after work I have:

1. Cleaned the bathroom
2. Spruced up the kitchen
3.Vacuumed the downstairs
4. Went grocery shopping
5. Made a meat loaf
6. Washed the Dog
7. Walked the Dog twice
8. Called in something suspicious to the police
9. Had a visit with the police
10. Corrected my hair color
11. Harvested the garden
12. Kitten Blogged!


Ta Da!

 
Not pretty, but they will taste glorious!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Getting the job done

There are all these things I should be doing right now. Things that I have spent the last few weeks putting off until right now telling myself that I would do those things closer to when I was leaving.

For instance. I put off cleaning the house until now because if I had cleaned it too early it would just be back to being dirty again by now, and I put off gathering the non-clothing related stuff I want/need to take with me because I am a pressure player. I can’t get away from it all without taking it all with me. I’m up and down every ten minutes because I think to myself Oh! I need to take X with me! but while I am tracking down XYZ thing because I haven’t even thought about XYZ thing in months and I have no idea where XYZ is but I know once I go on vacation I’m going to use XYZ thing every day and won’t be able to enjoy myself if I don’t have it, despite the fact I have not used XYZ thing in months while I was living under the same roof with it. And then while I am searching for XYZ thing I find AAA thing and I decided that AAA thing definitely needs to go because you know, what is vacation without AAA thing and here it is and wow! Its so great I ran across it and that of course leads me to this other thing that if I have AAA I must bring as well....

And I end up in a pile of these things and now I am buried under things and I am completely off the rails and then I decide that maybe I should think about what I’m going to wear to work tomorrow and I go off and do that which brings me back to XYZ thing.

I just spin around. I do a lot of spinning...

But not much cleaning, which I really need to do because the house looks like it’s been hit by a tornado and then we have the bug bodies scattered around - Tiny is a hunter! Well, actually, Tiny is a torturer, I am the one who kills them so there are all these squished bug bodies around because some how I think that if the bugs see all these bug bodies around that they will get frightened and go away. Bugs understand object lessons, because bugs have The Sopranos on DVD back at Bug HQ.

I scream every time I kill a bug and I would think that all that screaming would make them not want to hang out here. I mean, how many bugs do I have to successfully kill before I can stop screaming while I do it? I see a bug and then I scream like a banshee until I find something to kill it with, the other night I used the dogs bowl , but it is a little ridge around the bottom so it wouldn’t squish it with its full weight, the bug kind of was trapped under it, which is a win for the bug and a loose for me so I had scream some more at the bug, perhaps to jam its sonar or whatever they use instead of brains- I had to roll the bowl over the bug to finally kill it and all the time I standing their squealing like I was not 11,000 times the size of this bug. I have to scream.

I don’t know what would do if something bigger came along, a mouse or a rat. I don’t see me  being able to squishing-and-scream my way through it,  and I don’t think the dogs bowl would do it unless I used it to bludgeon the mouse and that sounds even messier than squishing, I think I would use the bowl to trap the mouse and then, you know, flee the house and I would have to worry about how dirty it was or how much work I had to yet to do because you know, I had to flee and that’s like a get-out-of-housework-free card.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Used

Now that was disturbing. I went to a huge-ish used book store and I didn’t buy anything! Ya’ll have no idea! It was clean and well organized well signed and lit well.. the music was too loud but it wasn’t distracting. It’s a great store.

It’s no Half Priced Books but it’ll do.

And I didn’t buy anything! I was horrified. I looked at everything up to and including the music selection and I don’t even really even like music unless I can buy it used and still, nothing. It’s just wrong. I will point out t hat in my defense, he decent titles they had in their larger then expected Humor section, I all ready had at home. I was slightly put off by their “Paranormal Romance” section. Isn’t that a shame that should remain shameful? No one needs watch you browsing for alien porn, its not right. They should have had it behind a sheet or something. I don’t think people should have to know if you favor grays over greens or whether you’re a Joss Whedon sex having vamps fan or a Twilight school of sex fearing vampires person. For real.

I went in there with the mind to go shopping for recorded books for the trip, but sadly, everyone else apparently also went in there before their trips looking for books on tape because they were thoroughly picked over and all that was left was Suze Orrmond and The Davinci Code. Blergh. So last summer. I want the newest Nevada Barr or David Sedaris’ latest or Amy Sedaris! The public that can afford to buy new needs to help me out and sell some of that shite so I can buy it used. Gah.

Weather Dog stroke again by refusing to go for her five o’clock walk because she thought she smelled rain. I remember taking her to puppy classes I have no memory of taking her to meteorology school and she needs to stop this rain-dog nonsense ands get with the program. She’s okay with the dawn patrol and she’s all right with night maneuvers but expect her to walk during rush hour and she will dig all four of her paws into the ground and start a chorus of We Shall Overcome.

Tonight I took her out a little later than usual, it was about the same amount of light as when we go out early but it was so different! It looked almost exactly the same but everything is different. The cars move faster, the people are louder, there are people out at all.In the morning people who are out are people on a mission, I see very few people out . But one morning I walked into a drama. I saw an “other” woman clearly doing a power- walk of shame away from the house while the regularly scheduled women watched her go. It was a little tense. I think if it had been later on, it would have been a 911 call and there would have been more screaming.. At 5: 45 in the morning you don’t have to speak loudly to be heard, at that hour a slammed door sounds like a bomb blast.

It’s a good thing of regardless when I’m out, I speak quietly and carry a big dog.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Go-nuts

I have already started vacation. One way I can tell is that I had donuts for dinner. Donuts. Plural. For dinner.

Because I could. I blame the pirates at the corner for this. I went to the pirates for a simple candy bar and they wouldn’t sell it to me because I didn’t have a second form of ID and when I said I live right down the street! The pirate said I don’t know you. If he didn’t charge 25 cents more a gallon then anyone else, he might know me better. Bastard. Bastards, the both of them, he and his price fixing buddy across the street. So I was forced to go elsewhere to scratch my junk food itch. Enter Krispy Kreme. Did you know that a dozen donuts are cheaper than six donuts? It’s the shitty economy, you have to save money where you can.

The donuts are there, they’re in the refrigerator and no one is here to tell me no. Which is good, because I want those donuts and I would piss me off if I were to be thwarted. I don’t like being thwarted.

It’s also for my energy levels. I’ve been so tired by the end of the week from all the walks that I want to die, so I’m looking at the addition of the donuts as a plus. I have so much more energy post donut that I could take Dogger go on a couple of more walks a week... Which did not happen to day, as it rained before I ever got home and Dogger has paws of clay and can’t do wetness or damp, or puddles, or more than 70% cloud cover. She did agree to a walk later but she was not wanting to do any walk-a-thons. Maybe she should eat a donut.

I think the burn wants to donuts, it’s not all me, it’s the burn. The burn needs donuts. I think the sugar is good for the healing process. For real.

They are healthy donuts. More than half of them are blueberry cake donuts, instead of those unhealthy fried donuts that Krispy Kream usually produces, so I am getting fruit too and fruit is good for us. True, I also picked out some frosted donuts but I prefer to think about those blueberry ones, besides, the frosted donuts are gone.

Monday, July 27, 2009

To- Do List

I am going on vacation!. Going being  the operative word. I'm still here but the clock is ticking. I have so far packed my things, went book shopping for the trip (three days in the back "seat" of a pick up with two cats and a dog) I should  have also gone tranq shopping. I've gathered the animals belongings, paid off the lawn guy to take care of my yard while I'm gone and done a lot of laundry. Whew.

And I'm not done yet. The house is awful, and I can't come back to find it in this same state. I'm going to have to do a cleaning before I leave so that I am not welcomed home by a dirty house, it's has always been my dream that someday we will all have elves or fairies or something that will clean our homes and mow our lawns for us without making us feel guilty or expecting to be paid. We're Americans, we deserve this.

Anyway,   I also have a list for work too, I need to order and make copies and make sure the nice woman who is going to be doing my job and can actually do it. We've had some clinics on how to do it, but she's not really ready yet. This year it is just the one and not all seven and that's a relief. To everyone. They hated it last year, the whining and complaining they did for what amounted to sitting in my chair for two days, not even consecutive days! Two days out of three weeks and they carried on like they had been sent to the salt mines. It's not that bad.

But. I can't get too stressed about it. I mean, I am and I will get stressed about it but there isn't really anything I can do about it now.  But, Monday? I'm giving her the tour. This is where the white envelopes live, this is the box for the manila envelops, this is where the labels are, this is where the rubber bands are, this is where the mailing slips are... I'm hoping the fact that all of these things are within a foot of each other makes it easier for her.  There are other things, this is when you take the mail down, this is where the mail goes...

And that doesn't even go into how to operate the phone and how to tell if the call is for me or for others or for the 800 number, last year they were all very confused by the phone. I tried to explain it before I left but they thought they knew how to make it work because we all have the same system, well, not really. I'm so low on the totem pole that most people don't even notice what I do. Oh, well, they'll notice when I'm not there to do it.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

HAPPY   SUNDAY   !!!!!!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

HAPPY     SATURDAY   !!!!!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Friday Kitten Blogging

The Best Laid Plans

My plan for Thursday evening were, admittedly, a little ambitious. My plans were to come home, walk Dogger, feed Dogger, chill out a little, feed myself and then bath Dogger, walk Dogger and gather up the trash and take it and the recycling out, and then bathing myself  Oh, and laundering all of Doggers bedding and towels.

I was planning on going to bed early, because after all that I would be exhausted

Well. Instead I came home, took Dogger for a walk but  Dogger saw clouds in the sky and decided she needed to go home now. I took her home, fed her and then fell asleep.

Great. I think it's a side effect of all the  extra walks with Dogger, by the end of the week I'm just exhausted.

I napped for long enough that I  had time to get up mid-nap and keep Dogger company in the office. Tiny came to see what was up and it was kind of a group activity, except Tiny wasn't napping. Tiny doesn't nap.Yeah. I got a lot done. I ended up having to go out to get dinner and that wasn't adding to my planned efficiency. Dogger did get  the bath-tub bath  and that was in my  original agenda, but she didn't get a walk because it was now raining and Dogger doesn't do rain. I was really excited about getting her bathed as I haven't been able to give her a bath in the tub for quite some time and since I don't get the chance as often as I used to pre- blown knees, I took advantage and  did two different shampoos and I snuck in some conditioner too. I can and do bath her in the yard but it's just not the same.

Okay, so one  major task  out of how many? completed. Doggers' laundry is now in a pile on the floor sitting there looking at me with its lumpy, laundry eyes and I want to make it go away but to do that I have to take a shower and I have other things I want to do before that and then if I leave the laundry to wash until later it's going to sit there in the machine and be damp all night and I have a bad habit of forgetting about laundry sitting damp in the machine.

 I tried to take Dogger for her scheduled  eight-something walk but it was dark and still raining so no walk for Dogger and my hopes were dimmed for taking the trash and recycling out to the curb. It's fine, I'll survive. Now I have plans for the weekend! Yay!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Keeping an eye on her

I was a bad dog Mama : I didn't take Dogger for her 5pm walk because I wanted to watch a movie instead! I know! I put her rehab back because I didn't want to get off the couch. Bad, bad Dog Mama and that's not all I should be ashamed. I read a forum about canine Addison's and I learned that if I was a alert Addison Dog Mama, I would be following Dogger around with a  notebook cataloging what, how much, color, consistency and number of times Dogger voids! I would also have a measuring cup with me as well. I would treat everything that comes out of her like "signs" and I would read her waste like ancient runes.

I don't do that.

The AD people would be horrified that my primary concern is not her all important 'lites, but her knee, a mere bone. The AD people are very focused. The fact I don't take her to her vet for every burp either is a sign of my unfitness as an AD dog person as well, the fact that it's more like every other burp doesn't make it better, I'm still a slacker in their view. If I posted to the forum more frequently, they would disapprove of the idea that I haven't changed her Florinef dosage since she was diagnosed. They don't like the pill in the first place because  every dog that is on pills is one less dog that is on the injection and they love the injections. They cost a lot more and require more frequent visits to the vet but you can be a lot more fluid in the dosage and they love the control that allows.

The shot  option is an old treatment for human Addison's Disease but then back in the sixties Florinef was developed and that allowed suffers to no long have to get a shot every  month and make multiple trips back and forth to their doctors offices for electrolyte checks to adjust their monthly dosages.

Humans jumped on the new easy, daily treatment. Dog owners did not jump with them. It didn't take many years of  human patients dumping the injection to cause the industry to want to stop producing it, and when they announced this, Dog owners, the only users left, complained to high heaven about this, ultimately, they won and the drug industry agreed to keep producing it but now it is only produced for veterinary use and then in small, difficult to prepare batches. Now , these control freaks cling to it, despite it's high price and high maintenance.  Those people hate people like me and Dogger because we don't add to their numbers. They snipe about how Florinef is designed for humans and not dogs and that their doggy bodies don't metabolize it as efficiently has humans and the dosages are not as easy to adjust to minute changes in their electrolyte numbers.

But she's knock wood, okay at least for the time being, I hope. She started having Addison crises symptoms and I took her in and it was Dog Flu - But it could have been her Addison's and still could and I have to pay attention to her behaver and whether  she seems "down" or depressed and whether she's drinking enough or too much and how all of it comes out. I always have to ask myself, is she limping because her knee or because of Addison's' back leg weakness? Is she drinking because she's thirsty or because her 'lites are out of whack? Is she slacking a thirst or messing up her salt count.

All her walks have really helped with her bounce count  and that's the most important count. I'm going to go take her for a walk now.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Harvest II

 
  
That's two days worth! I know! I'm shocked too. It turns out if you plant in good soil and you take care of the plants as they grow, you may be able to get fruit to ripen. I gave the vegetables in the first picture to a friend at work and I said "Well, that will be it for a while, I don't see anything else ripening up in the near future". Liar, liar.

I came home from work to check on the plants mostly to see how chewed up the peppers are getting and instead harvested tomatoes. The peppers are getting chewed though so it's time for another visit with Uncle Seven and hopefully it will clear whatever it is up. Something is being mean to my raspberries too and I'm not happy about it. I did get eleven or twelve berries off the plants and even as tiny as the output was, I'm taking it as a victory over the forces of  evil anyway.  Those bushes are going to have to be re-potted in the fall because even with their current state of random dead branchedness, they are still sizable plants. I could replant them but the holes would need to be massive and I'm not going to torture myself or anyone else with the job of digging to China. I'm pretty sure re-potting them is going to be enough of an adventure in horticulture itself, perhaps the job for an unwanted above ground pool?

Going back to the plants that are still actually producing, the orange tomato in the front of the second picture is a different variety than  the Carolina Gold pictured in the back, the front tomato is a Yellow Mama and it is a sauce tomato, it is the surviving sibling of the Tangerine Mama that died after planting and that Burpee refunded. The Yellow Mama took forever to start growing and even longer to set fruit and is the last of the tomatoes to ripen.  That variety unlike other non-red sauce tomatoes is supposed to retain its color after cooking, so if the plant was to ever produce a bumper crop I could conceivably make yellow spaghetti sauce. That would be neat.

Speaking of things that are not neat. I have a second degree burn on my arm!  my own Darkmark! Imagine me, a Deatheater...

 The doctor did say it had all ready begun to heal and that it looked very good and had no sign of infection! So no antibiotics for me, she did give me some silver sulfadiazine to lightly apply twice a day for the next two weeks. She did mention that despite the high quality healing , it is going to scar.. But that's all right,  I mean who wants to go through life with no proof that you've had a life? I mean really?  I've all ready decided that  it's not really a scar from a cooking mishap. The mark will be all that remains of a tattoo from some terribly exotic and secret  adventure I went on in my youth after which  I was forced to remove the tat when I returned to my prosaic reality where I tell everyone evermore that I got the scar from a cooking mishap.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Blog Plug!!


2nd Skin Moist Burn pads are a fantastic product! They sooth, they protect and they are kind to your skin. I love this product and it's making my burn feel better every day I use the pads. If you get a minor burn I suggest this product wholeheartedly . I bought mine at CVS Pharmacies. 
Why chefs wear long sleeves

My eighth grade homemaking teacher would be so disappointed.

Thursday evening I was steaming some very nice green beans from the farmers market for my dinner. They were lovely and green and crunchy, very fresh. I put them on to steam and I checked them periodically to see what kind of progress they were making.  These beans were really insistent about spending as much time in the steam as possible - Which I understand, steam baths are really good for your complexion and great for sweating out toxins. I want as many toxins as possible sweat-ed out of my food prior to consumption and if my meal can have a bright, clean complexions, mores the better. I like a pretty bean.

So. I'm going back and forth to the stove watching TV and talking on the phone and I think you can see where this is going... I picked up the lid of the steamer  again and didn't think about where my arm was and where I was aiming the escaping steam.

F!@#&!!!

Aim the steam AWAY from your flesh! AWAY! If you're a little scattered and pulled too many directions and just not as focused as you should be and you're hungry... I suggest eating out.  The pain got me focused in a hurry and I was suddenly a lot more single minded than I was. I got off the phone and everything.

And it is an owie. It is more of an owie now than it was then and that confuses me. Day 1 it was just kind of reddish brown and once I smeared it with some aloe based sunburn treatment, it didn't even really hurt. Ta da.

Well. time passed. Friday it was a little more red and a little more sore but it was okay as long as I didn't brush it against anything.  It looked like a big bruise more than a burn. I did notice the topography was changing a bit by Friday night but I didn't think much of it because, well, it just looked a little bumpy and what do I know about burns. I thought minor burns were like sunburn. A little pain, a little discoloration and then it goes away. By Saturday morning I had blisters, "had" being operative, I broke one before I even got out of bed and then I popped the larger one getting out of the car. Brilliant and now my little owie was a big pain. And much  redder. And drippy. And it really hurt.

I had been going to the drug store to get some benadryl for some minor itchiness that the vet found on Dogger,  then I decided that I needed to take care of me more than she needed  off brand sleeping pills. Much to my joy I discovered you can get some really effective treatments for minor burns OTC, clearly I am not the only person to get distracted while cooking. Yay.

I ended up with some mesh tubes to keep  my burn pads in place and also to keep me from my compulsion to take them out of place. The burn aids don't stick the the wound or your skin  and they are wet and cooling and wonderful, I lurve them. I just didn't buy enough of them so  Sunday I had to go back to the store to get more supplies. I was shocked that grocery stores do not carry the same stock as drugstores and I could not get more of my little cooling little friends The best I could find were really big band aids that stick to both the wound and my skin. Not cool.

Monday I came into work and asked one of the nurses about my little owie and she takes one look at it and advises me to call my doctor.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Garden Update 11

First off,

Yay! We have broccoli!
We do not have the crop of green beans I started with, but the one plant that's left seems healthy
In the back ground, you can see two lovely little gypsy peppers. Speaking of peppers...
And of course, tomatoes, tomatoes tomatoes
Those aren't grapes, that's what  happens when there are too many tomatoes for the branch to hold. It dips. I think that is also the sign of a lazy gardener. At present I have two different places where I can't pass because of dipping branches and I have branches that have taken up residence in other plants cages. I do not see this a good thing.
We had a storm the other night and it took three of my large tomatoes! I was broken hearted. I should be happy it didn't uproot any plants but I did have one plant tip over but the base was strong enough to not break but it could have, its the first time I was happy that plant has been so slow to grow fruits, if it had been as heavy as the others it would have been a loss. It is also a lesson on planting deep, the deeper you plant your plants the stronger a support system they develop and they can survive  assaults like a strong wind. I also credit the cage to keeping the plant safe and protecting it heavy weather. So 1) Plant deep and 2) Use  well made cages.
The whole gang
And the garden is only about vegetables, I also planted some flowers, my Spanish Flag is doing beautifully. I'm still waiting on my morning glories and black eyed Susan vines.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

RIP

Frank McCork, author of Angela's Ashes among other titles, died today, he was 78.
HAPPY   SUNDAY   !!!!!!!!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

HAPPY   SATURDAY   !!!!!!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday Kitten Blogging

Contractually Obligated Will/Should post nomination entry

2009 Cable Ace Award Nominations

Note that this year there are six nominees because otherwise there would be no network shows nominated.

Best Drama
'Big Love' (C)
Breaking Bad' (C)
'Damages' (C)
'Dexter' (C)
'House'
'Lost'
'Mad Men' (C)

Will - Breaking Bad
Should - House

Best Series, Comedy
'30 Rock'
'Entourage' (C)
Family Guy'
'Flight Of The Conchords' (C)
'How I Met Your Mother'
'The Office'
'Weeds' (C)

I just have to say Entourage? For real? I like this show, I have Netflixed every episode available and I find this to be an odd choice. Flight of the Concords? Really? A cartoon? Sloppy.

Will - How I Met your Mother
Should - 30 Rock

Best Actor, Drama
Bryan Cranston - 'Breaking Bad' (C)
Michael C. Hall - 'Dexter' (C)
Hugh Laurie - 'House'
Gabriel Byrne - 'In Treatment' (C)
Jon Hamm - 'Mad Men' (C)
Simon Baker - 'The Mentalist'

Will - Simon Baker - New!  shiny!
Should - Hugh Laurie

Best Actor, Comedy
Alec Baldwin - '30 Rock'
Tony Shalhoub - 'Monk' (C)
Jim Parsons - The Big Bang Theory'
Steve Carell - 'The Office'
Charlie Sheen - 'Two And A Half Men'
Jemaine Clement - Flight Of The Conchords' (C)

Will - Tony Shaluob
Should - Alec Baldwin

Best Actress, Drama
Sally Field - 'Brothers & Sisters'
Glenn Close - Damages' (C)
Mariska Hargitay - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'
Holly Hunter- 'Saving Grace' (C)
Kyra Sedgwick - 'The Closer' (C)
Elisabeth Moss - 'Mad Men' (C)

Is this a repeat of the Best Supporting Actress from the Oscars in the early eighties? I mean, Yay women over twenty! But, you know they don't deserve awards for moving to TV.

Will - Mariska Hargitay
Should - Elizabeth Moss

Best Actress, Comedy
Tina Fey - '30 Rock'
Christina Applegate - 'Samantha Who?'
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - 'The New Adventures Of Old Christine'
Sarah Silverman - 'The Sarah Silverman Program' (C)
Mary-Louise Parker -'Weeds' (C)
Toni Collette - 'United States Of Tara' (C)
\
Should - Tina Fey
Will - Toni Collette

Best Supporting Actor, Drama Series
William Shatner - 'Boston Legal'
Christian Clemenson - 'Boston Legal'
Aaron Paul - 'Breaking Bad' (C)
Michael Emerson - 'Lost'
John Slattery - Mad Men' (C)
William Hurt - 'Damages' (C)

Oh dear Gawd! Shatner? AGAIN! Anyone from Boston Legal! Give me a break!

Will - Shatner
Should - William Hurt

Best Supporting Actress, Drama Series
Rose Byrne - 'Damages' (C)
Hope Davis - 'In Treatment' (C)
Chandra Wilson -'Grey's Anatomy'
Sandra Oh - Grey's Anatomy'
Dianne Wiest -'In Treatment' (C)
Cherry Jones - 24'

No Opinion.

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy Series
Kevin Dillon - 'Entourage' (C)
Tracy Morgan - '30 Rock'
Neil Patrick Harris - 'How I Met Your Mother'
Rainn Wilson - 'The Office'
Jon Cryer - 'Two And A Half Men'
Jack McBrayer - '30 Rock'

I follow Rainn Wilson on Twitter but I'm a big 30 Rock fan, I don't feel Cryer (Republican!) and I don't need more Tracy Morgan.

Should - Kevin Dillon OR Jack McBrayer
Will - Neal Patrick Harris

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy Series
Kristin Chenoweth - 'Pushing Daisies'
Kristin Wiig - Saturday Night Live'
Amy Poehler - 'Saturday Night Live'
Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock'
Vanessa Williams -'Ugly Betty'
Elizabeth Perkins - 'Weeds' (C)

Okay, so many I like. Through out Weeds and Ugly Betty... I loved Pushing Daisies but I am thrilled with the SNL nominations and would be happy to see either win, and again, Big 30 Rock fan but I don't need to see more Jane Krakowski...

Should - Kristin Chenoweth
Will -Amy Poehler

Best Variety, Music or Comedy Series
'Late Show With David Letterman'
'Real Time With Bill Maher' (C)
Saturday Night Live'
'The Colbert Report' (C)
'The Daily Show With Jon Stewart' (C)

Damn. I like all of these. I don't watch them as much as I should but...

Should - Saturday Night Live
Will - The Colbert Report

Clearly, cable needs to work on their sitcoms. They are howewver, kicking network ass with serious, high quality dramas about conflicted men and women over forty who curse a lot while naked and doing drugs.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Emmy Nomintations

Emmy Nominees 2009
The Harry Potter Movie

Yes, you do really need to go see it right now . Just go buy a ticket. Go see the movie, you know you want to. Yes, its 500 pages of boyfriend/girlfriend angst but those last 150 pages will absolutely blow your mind. And yes, you will want to have the last book pre-set in your car so you can start reading it on the way home. Just go see the movie. It will be showing at every movie theatre in the world pretty much around the clock for the next few weeks .  Go see it right now. Really.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Here we go again

I came home, greeted the little animals, changed  into walking shoes and  looked at the mail Hmm. Bills. How wonderful. I will definitely get back with these, but first Dogger needed her second walk and then I needed to watch  Tifauxed Curb Appeal, it's about setting your priorities and sticking with them.

Before I left I brought the mail into the diningroom. I put the bills on the table and said The City and Lowes. Okay . I get a bill from Home Depot, not Lowes. I didn't think about this. I should have. I take Dogger for her walk, feed her,feed myself - steamed fish and broccoli and some pasta. Nummy. Dogger gets kibble, also nummy.

Time passes and I watched my Curb Appeal and a Netflixed Ricky Gervais do stand up. I guffaw, but I still don't get it. I decided to pay those bills and then ride my bike to the post office before Doggers third walk. I thought this was a good idea and it would have been and then I open the bills. This is the first time I thought about the Lowes bill. I haven't bought anything at Lowes in a very long time, over  a year and that was to pay off the clothes washer, I haven't actually used the card in a long time. I had to order a new one after my purse got stolen but that was a long time ago. Then I opened the bill, curious about what it was I bought and forgot about.

DAMN IT TO HELL  $754.58!!!!!

And then I  had temper tantrum,  I dumped out my purse and went though my wallet and my card was right there. Some ass wipe in Pennsylvania went shopping with my number.  My card had been charged  $375.66 for lovely double bowl sinks, two sink strainers and bath water sealant in Lebanon , PA and then the next day it  was charged $378.90 in W. Hazleton, PA where when they went to another Lowes and bought two garage door operators hardware, Schlage door locks, landscape fabric, and various unspecified hand tools and misc garage door parts.

HOUSE FLIPPING BASTARDS

I stopped screaming, tried to cool down and called Lowes. And sat on hold for half an hour and heated right back up again. I read somewhere that if you curse at the hold music that it will get you through faster. It doesn't and I cursed a lot to test it out. Finally, a human came on the line and we had a visit. I told him about my purse being stolen a year ago and gave him my report numbers - Which wasn't relevant to this case of credit fraud, but it felt like the right thing to do at the time. In real life, I canceled my old card when I canceled everything else. This stolen number was my new number so the old reports aren't going to do very much. They wanted me to file a police report but there isn't anything to report, this time I wasn't involved and nothing was physically stolen. Lowes  messed up somewhere with my data and now they get to eat $754.58 and my goodwill. My old thief is still out there but she has never been  interested in hardware, she steals girly things. Bless her.

Lowes isn't going to make me pay any of it, BECAUSE ITS THEIR DAMN FAULT . They also canceled my card and told me to expect a packet with paper work about  the fraud. I know when it arrives I'm going to get all kinds of stolen purse PTSD and I'm not looking forward to that.

I'm just so pissed again. I'm taking deep breaths and fondling my Harry Potter ticket.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Diana and The Ticket Shock

Over the weekend I went to a concert and that whetted my appetite for large scale group activities.  I'm not really into group activities, I have a satellite TV, an Ipod and an a Netflix membership, I never have to be in a crowd for any reason. Pop-culture comes to me. I've gotten rusty at "crowds" for instance, I almost killed the jackassi  who were planted in front of me at the concert the other night.  These people had personal bubbles the size of a four-person-tent. I'm not certain but I'm pretty sure  they thought planting their chairs in the park gave them the mineral  and oil rights too. Byotches. I would hate to see how they would have behaved if they had actually had to pay for the concert.

These people needed a beating, while I did not administer the beating myself, a mosh pit broke out immediately next to them early in the show and they disappeared in a puff of outrage. I don't know what happened to them but they became gone and joy returned to the valley. I went to the concert because it was free and close by but in reality, I needed the group activity warm up because I'm going to see Harry Potter on Wednesday! That's right,  opening day babee! 7pm show! I'm too old and too employed to to the midnight show, but I think opening day is adequate. There is an energy to a full house that lends a huge amount of excitement that you can't get from Netflix or  a half empty matinee show a month and a half out at a dollar show.

I've been studying too. I read the book and then I read the last book and then I started over from the begging with books one and two. It sounds impressive but the first two books are pamphlets and if you really put your mind to it, the later tomes are quick reads.  I did all this re-reading because I couldn't remember a damn thing from Harry Potter and  the 500 pages of filler and I didn't think that was a good way to walk into the movie. Post read, I  can call the movie Harry Potter and The Relationship Drama without fear of reprisal. It was 500 pages of teenage dating angst and about 100 pages of actual plot. I mean, its really more than all that and when it's all over a lot has happened and things have changed and blah. blah blah and and all but while I was reading I kept waiting for the other shoe to fall. And then it did, right off the roof. Bang.

I think this was the book I ordered from Amazon and had shipped to Marquette so I could read it there. The postman did me a huge favor and brought it right to our door after he had finished his route. We had been gone when he came through the first time and he wasn't supposed to just leave it in the box and I would have had to wait until the next day to get it! That would not have worked at all, and he was really nice to go out of his way for me. I kind of think he didn't know there was an adult waiting for it, I think he may have thought he was being nice to a kid - Which is wonderful, but I bet if he knew who the recipient  was all old and everything,he would have let me wait.

 But there would have been nothing adult about the fit I would have pitched if I had had to wait.

So. I bought a ticket to the show. I've been Netflixing for a while now and I haven't seen a movie in the theatre since last summer when I saw Tropic Thunder - Kewl movie by the way, so I'm pretty psyched about seeing this. I had several theaters to pick from and I decided on the student-y theater.  It's oldish and interesting and closer to my house than the fancy, high-end gigaplex I thought about.  It''s still running me $8 and that came as a little shock. A big shock. I read where they renovated their big screen and its much nicer than it was but dayum! I'm not even going to look at the concession stand. I don't want to go into a coma before the movie starts, that would suck.

Monday, July 13, 2009

If I had several hundred dollars to blow on Tiny...

She Doesn't  Give a Damn 'bout her Bad Reputation


Sunday, July 12, 2009

HAPPY    SUNDAY   !!!!!!!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

HAPPY   SATURDAY   !!!!!!!

Friday, July 10, 2009

I'd Moo for Free Food

I thought it would be kind of fun to dress like a cow but then I went to the site and saw saw what they meant and I decided that maybe I didn't want to dress like a cow. And what if I didn't want to be a guernsey cow? There are all kinds of cows, I could wear all black and get both the thinning qualities of black and a damn close approximation of at least one variety of cow. Maybe if I print off the approved of cow nose and just tapped it on and went with that?  What if I just went in and assured them I was thinking  positive thoughts about cows and negative  thoughts about evil chickens?
Friday Kitten Blogging

 
It's finally Friday

It hasn't rained in a while but it was over cast and a little gray, so I thought I would make it rain by watering my flowers in the front. It never fails, I water the flowers and it starts raining before I've had a chance to clear the porch. If it's been really dry, sometimes it won't start raining until I get inside the house but it will rain if I water the flowers, especially if they don't really need to be watered and they just want to be watered and I decide to indulge them. Pouring rain.

It still hadn't started raining so I changed into a white tee shirt and  walked Dogger - She hates walking in the rain  so surely the skies would open up. Also, I had on a white tee shirt, I mean come on! - all told? I should have had to swim home. Yeah. Not so much.

I hate having to water my plants  the same way some people object to using pesticides, I object to using city water. I'm into totally organic hydration. I like my water free range.

I had to pull out one of my bean plants. it had essentially turned into paper and it wasn't producing beans so I had to let it go. I feel bad about it but not really bad, last year I pulled out all my squash and most of my cucumbers so I've kind of learned to suck it up and let nature take its course. If it dies it dies and that's what happens. Also, I have seeds for the beans. They're replaceable.

My plan  while I was daydreaming about not being at work, was  that I would come home, walk the dog, put the trash out and run the dishwasher.I try not to let my reach exceed my grasp.  I tried to take Dogger for a walk when I got home  but she didn't want to, I'd force her to go but I'm not sure it's good for her knee to lock in place.  I was more successful with pushing the button to make the dishwasher run.

I was going to take the trash out but I wanted to not do that. I used to feel really pressured to take the trash out and the recycling and everything Thursday night because the world would end. Or something. It turns out that shockingly,  if I take everything to the curb Friday morning instead, that the world will not come to an end. I was really surprised the first time.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Walk it off

I have had a day. Dogger agreed to take a nice walk this morning, worked, worked, worked then I rode my bike at lunch,  worked, worked, worked  then after work Dogger and I went for another good walk at five and then I took another bike ride to the post office after that. Whew! But I'm not finished yet! Dogger and I took a great walk at eight. All this exercise would be great except all this extra exercise is making me extra hungry.

And we all watched Bolt . Why didn't anyone tell me how sad it is? I mean really! I was happy that Dogger had her back to the screen playing with her toy so most of the time she wasn't watching it. Tiny was watching and now he's sad. Tiny is never sad, he's never been sad and now he is. Thanks Disney you made my kitten sad. Good going.

The ads made it look like it was all funny and joyful and a laugh a minute. The trailers made it all about the hamster! No one talked about the depressed animals around him. He was like happy and shit all the time or pretending to be a bad ass and in real life, he was just too demented to really grasp what was going on. They totally exploited him.  It's a damn sad movie, now I know why it wasn't a Happy Meal movie. I watched the ads for it and I said Wow! What a great movie!  Puppies! Kitties!  a Hamster in a ball! The toys will rock!  The only rocking was what I did because I was stressed over the animals. Not happy! A sad, lonely lost puppy and a sad, abandoned Kitty and a clearly demented hamster. Wow. A laugh riot.

I mean, ultimalty it was a good movie and I believed in all the characters and didn't hate the little girl out of hand even after I found out she was Miley Sirus but damn! the movie should come with a warning.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Garden Update 10

First, today is 7-8-9! and  I want to brag on my harvests

 
  
  
 those little red tomatoes are not the same as the tomatoes in the first shot
In the first shot we have some very nice little tomatoes and two even nicer Carolina Golds! They are beautiful fruits and really quite large and I love their color. I'm really proud of thoseThat plant is going crazy with fruits and if even  only some go all the way, I'm going to have to learn how to cook with them. So far I've made two meat loafs with the help of the little tomatoes and they have been a great addition.
In the second shot we have my darling hand sized Gypsy pepper. They can be red, green or brown. My plant seems to be a green plant. I looked the variety up and they are good for being stuffed or used in any number of recipes where you might use a bell but  they have a thinner skin and a less watery taste are are considered a better for cooking then your bells. I put it in my meat loaf too. Num.
In shot three we have more of the little red tomatoes and a few of the Italian Ice variety. They are larger and fatter than then reds. I ate one and it tasted just like a regular tomato, I had thought the literature said they were sweeter. I think I'll let the next batch stay on the plant longer. They don't look white in the picture but they are, mostly. The large tomato is my first large red to get ripe, it's really kind of a dark pink but that is the variety, they are called Razzle Dazzle.
On to the whats in the garden but first to my issue. My green beans are ill! I've been told they have powdery mildew.
 
I've also been told how to cure it but its all the plants and I found the seeds. I might just yank them up and plant new ones  and tuck away the mildew cure for another time. . What should I do? The beans are not a success, but... Tomotos!

 
And the peppers! They are s l o w l y coming along with the smaller varieties leading the way
 
  
And finally, the brocs. I don't know if it's actually bolting, but its doing something and I'm happy

And the family picture
Ambassadog

Today has been very Doggercentric. We did her three walks, 5:45, still not her favorite, fiveish, not my favorite and 8ish - a big hit.  I think they are helping her but they are making me tired!, I'm riding my bike at lunch too and it's just a lot more activity then I am used to. By about 3pm I really want a nap.

Dogger not only got her walks in today she also got a bath and a trip in the car. It's been a very good doggy day for her. I also noted  this afternoon that she felt up to getting on the futon today while I was at work. This is a good sign, she also had no problem getting into Minnie by herself  too. I need to keep her walks therapeutically useful without making them too challenging too soon. Friday I over did it with her and she was sore and couldn't get into Minnie or up onto the futon. I've learned my lesson. Too bad I had to learn it at her expense, but I leaned a lesson.

I've noticed something about walking a dog. When you have a dog you have a passport to anywhere.  Are you trespassing? Maybe a little, but you're just a dog walker, you  aren't there on purpose! Are you in  a not-great-place that if you were dogless you would never go? Not a problem with your dog, it's saying "I'm harmless, but this dog could be a lethal weapon. I'm just passing through. These aren't the droids you are looking for."  I keep moving, keep my head down and don't cause trouble. No one has ever bugged me because they see me all the time all over the place and they think I'm packing a loaded rottweiler.

It doesn't matter what caliber of dog I'm packing, I'm with  Dogger! Everyone no matter how G they are, loves Dogger. She has more friends then I will ever have. There are folks around here who don't feel the white girl, but they love the big orange dog and always ask  her how she's doing  and offer her rehab pointers and diet tips. I'm invisible and I've gotten used to being a prop, but  I'm cool with it. People will talk to Dogger who would never talk to me, and through Dogger I can talk to people I would probably never talk to.  It's weird but it works.

At five it was hot, and it was like walking into a Spike Lee Joint, when we walked again at eight,  it was like walking  into  a Penny Marshall film. It was five degrees cooler and the sun had moved. Same place, totally different world.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Grumble

Yeah. Back to work.

Friday was fun. I didn't do anything. I was a very bad dog mommy and blew off Doggers 5:45 walk and then painfully over taxed her later by taking her on  long walks downtown because I was bored with our shorter walks around the neighborhood. Bad Diana.

She survived and I went shopping  later on with Alphagal and her her Mom. I didn't buy anything though, Good Diana.

My big work was finishing the sixth Harry Potter, as I know it now  Harry Potter and the 550 pages of relationship drama before the sixty pages of actual plot advancement, then I started on the seventh book where more happens in the first three pages than occurred in the entire fifth book. I finished that one Sunday afternoon and now I'm going to start on the earlier books, hopefully finishing the series before the movie comes out on the 14th. It's good to set goals.

That leaves Saturday.  Up early and then off to The Eno River Festival with Alphagal, Broskey, the little people and Alphagals Mom. It was really fun and I was able to pick up some nic art items. Socks, I bought socks, tie died socks. But really nice tie died socks, not even kind of I-Went-To-A- Phish concert and I checked, not a whiff of patchouli either, I also got a new bird for my collection, a stuffed bird! so I don't have to worry about it. It's  kind of triangular. It's very pretty, it looks like a 3D quilt piece. After all that I came home and fed all the little animals and walked Dogger and then went back to Alphagal and Broskeys for barbecue and fireworks.

Sunday I slept and read Harry Potter. Do I have to go back to work?  Speaking of work. I want to share the best obit ever.

She spent the bulk of her career working at a major, but administratively Machiavellian university. Upon her retirement she celebrated for two solid months before become physically exhausted due to be overly overjoyed. After retirement she found employment with a company that values its employees and treats them with genuine respect. Linda was so overwhelmed by such professional treatment she offered to work there for free

The lady was hardcore to the end. May she rest in peace.
HAPPY   SUNDAY    !!!!!!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

HAPPY   JULY    4TH!!!!!


 
From the Dogs mouth to your ears...

 
I don't like fireworks! Your dog doesn't like fireworks! Don't take your pets to fireworks shows! Do us all a favor, leave us at home!
 

Friday, July 3, 2009

Friday Kitten Blogging

 
baby pink, baby blue and white edition
 
HAPPY  FRIDAY   !!!!!!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

A bar too high

Hello! Sorry yesterday was so brief, but the fam was in town and things just kind of got away from me. And those pesky three walks a day and I just ran out of time. And there was this NOVA episode about Oliver Sacks' latest book and well, sorry. Have you ever read any Oliver Sack books? you really should.

Thursday is out little group at works quarterly birthday party. We used to celebrate birthdays on actual birthdays but someone objected and now we do quarterly parties. They are lame. I am hoping that someone retires soon. The last quarterly birthday I made the most adorable pink cupcakes ever. Really, I wa so happy and they were just so cute, I set the  bar really high. Well, tonight, I made cupcakes again. I had a great idea, I wanted to go red-white-and-blue, you know in honor of July 4th. Fine. So, I had this vision, white icing, red sprinkles and something blue. What is blue? Blue food is not as common or as cupcake ready as you might imagine. No one wants blue corn chips on a cupcake. No, really, they don't. I asked around. Then I decided on blueberries! Everyone likes blueberries right?

I made the cupcakes, they turned out well. Fairly even, not very tippy. I was pleased. So. let there be icing. I iced, I blue-berried, I sprinkled. Not cute! Art by a bad artist! Hells Cupcakes!  I was horrified. I mean, really. The pink ones were like an artists rendition of pink cupcakes. Sigh. The bar was too high.

I looked at them and felt really bad. I added more sprinkles and it didn't do it for me. I added more berries and still wasn't feeling it. I'm just not happy with these cupcakes. The berries are too big and too dark and the sprinkles are too small and maybe I used too much or not enough or the wrong kind, and the frosting is not white enough and its the wrong texture. If they did the same thing in a magazine it would look so much better.

I am having cupcake disappointment.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

RIP

Karl Malden has died, he was 97.
Glenn Beck thinks  the U.S "needs" another terrorist bombing. For our own good.


From FOX  News : "We need to be blown up, it would be good for America"
OMG

There be monsters...   Under Cameron Village! Arrrrrrrrggggghhhh! Running, screaming!
Progress!

After only eleven walks over four days...  Dogger pulled on her leash!!