Friday, July 30, 2010

Friday Cat Blogging

where do you keep your spare kitties?
Food-ish

The spambots have fallen in love with me. On the upside, it does mean I'm getting comments for the first time in I don't know ever? its definitely a very thin line between Someone knows I exist! This site isn't in a vacuum and  The only people reading this site are spammers.

Well, for those of you doing a spread sheet, today I did not fall asleep after work but I did waste two hours reading my phone so it was still kind of a wash. But I was awake, so I can claim a win over the forces of somnolence. To achieve this miracle I did not ride my bike at lunch and I did not walk Dogger right after work, I minimized my exposure to the heat and sacrificed by eating lunch in the a/c at Burger Yucky - upside? I scored really cool Dogs and Cats toys from their singularly tasteless and oddly textured  kids meal.

 Speaking of food, we had a birthday party after work and instead of drinking coke I opted for sprite and only had one piece of cookie cake and I had three small chicken tortillas - that everyone else insisted on calling "soft tacos" even though they were tortillas (Yankees). Limited my exposure to excess sugar after 4pm!

My contribution to the to feast was chopped tomatoes. I hoarded  my tomatoes for three days and brought them for the "tacos" and they were a hit! Everyone was impressed that they were yellow and that I grew them myself or on myself,  I  grew them in soil but I did give the impression that I grew them behind my ears and on my lower back. I am totally into natural gardening.

The add for the Fusion Pro-Glide is word for word a SNL fake commercial  from a few years ago, and I can not say that I care at all what The Event is. Not. Even. Kind of.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Things that should not be

Oh dear Gawd. Blogger is back! I'm shocked. I complained, I did with, I gave up and they fixed it.

Yesterday it was still not right and today its right. I don't know what to think, this and  The Texas Rangers are kicking baseball butt, clearly its a sign of the end times. They are winning games, they are winning more  games than they are losing! The Rangers!  I was on Facebook this afternoon and someone said the words "Rangers" and "World Series" in the same breath. I told you, end times. And besides, the Rangers always lose it at the All-Star Break  ...

Oh, dear Gawd. They've all ready had the All-Star break and they are still winning. End. Times.

I'm going to have to get a shirt.

Speaking of end times, I rode my bike at lunch today for the first time in weeks and I walked Dogger right after work. And then I fell asleep, for the first time in weeks.  I think however I have discovered the key to the falling asleep problem.

Today we had our weekly meeting, I needed a soda to make it through and then at the meeting I had four, four jellybeans.  I think it has something to do with blood sugar. I eat either too much of the right thing or any of the wrong thing at the wrong time and it goes up and then it crashes at the wrong time and then factor in the exposure to heat and I fall asleep when I don't want to. I came home, walked Dogger and made us both dinner then I sat down to watch a little L&O and it was lights out.

On the up side, I woke up after not as long as usual.

But back to the pattern. I think being exposed to the heat is a big contributor. I haven't been riding at lunch in about two weeks and I don't think I've had any episodes in that time - Which is good, because these random naps are a real time waste and they don't help with getting my chores done or going to sleep at a reasonable hour and then staying that way. Staying that way is important.

So exposure to the heat is a factor, sweet things or eating anything before five is also a problem, eating at 5:30 doesn't put me to sleep but snacking before five seems to also be a contributing factor. I probably should not have walked Dogger right after work, it was too hot and I should have just taken her out to pee and then fed her and walked later, when it was cooler or at least less hot.

Its good to know how this happens and what I have to do to at least try to avoid.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Somewhere  a coward in a sheet feels sad

-- Federal judge issues injunction blocking key provision of Arizona's controversial immigration law.
Bad A

To my everlasting shock it rained today. Actual, measurable rain. It got overcast and then it got dark and it thundered and then instead of  just petering out and getting sunny again, as per usual -  it rained! It looked like it was going to rain, it got windy, the temperature dropped like a stone to the low nineties and we all held our breaths and said Nah. It does this all the time, it's not going to do anything the lying sack of shit! and then it rained and it kept raining. It didn't decide it liked it or anything but I noticed when I came home that my yard looked slightly less dead and the possibility that I might have to mow it for the first time in four weeks has been raised.  In celebration, one of my eternally green tomatoes started to blush! Which means, maybe, at some point it might actually stop being green! I don't know what to think.

It also means that one of the  garden terrorists might notice it and steal it. I hate squirrels! I've had the garden for three years and no one ever bothered it, the squirrels had no fight with me and left my stuff alone, now suddenly they get more of my harvest then I do! When I see them outside I bang on the windows and instead of running away in respectful fear, wave at me! and one of them I'm pretty sure flipped me off the other day.  I don't need  more pesticides, I need a pellet gun.

Anyway. It was cool after the rain so I took Dogger for her 5:00 pm walk at 5:00 pm!, we've been cheating since its been so hot. 5pm has been getting later and later and has kind of morphed into her evening walk. She's only been getting walked twice a day and now only in the dark. I feel bad about that because I know its good to expose her to  sunlight sometimes and I am a little afraid of rickets with her as it is, and its harder for me to pick of cans and bottles when I'm trying to be all bad ass walking my big dog in the dark. Looking for shiny things and playing hide and seek with water bottles  is not bad ass. Dogger has learned how to pee on the go, which is kind of bad ass.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Just Do It

I'm going on vacation soon. In a month soon. I decided to start getting ready. My first step was to become frantic. My second step was to become paralyzed with fear. Its' good to have a plan and my plan was to panic.

Panic is good. Panic forces action. Panic gets things done.

My first act was to decide that I should clean out one of my desk drawers. I carefully opened it and began to sift through the detritus. I have a lot of pens and many, many highlighters, two pairs of scissors, three white-out pens,. I also have thousands of paperclips and enough rubber bands to make my own Rubberband Man. I had just begun the careful excavation of the drawer when in an effort to grab something from the back of it I pulled it too far and it fell to the floor.  I had not planned to do such a complete job, I had thought to just cataloging  the top layer of grit and then, if I had to, move on to the more delicate task of evaluating whatever solids I found that needed to be added to the shredding or  sent on to be dumped on someone else's desk.

And then it was all all over the floor under my desk. I really didn't plan on spending anytime on my hands and knees under my desk, I wasn't dressed for it for one and I am not up on my shots. it is dark under my desk and I prefer to stay in the dark about whatever goes on under there while I am up above, in the light.

Thankfully, I did not run across any urban farms or wandering livestock and now my desk drawer is visitor ready. I wouldn't do it but my annual substitute has a have-a-question- go-to-the-boss-first policy and that can be problematic as I have a have-a-question-go-to-the-boss-never policy in place and I would like to maintain that and to do so I have to destroy the evidence tidy up before I leave. I have a month and three drawers that still open and I need to use my time wisely. Last year when I came back she told one of my desk drawers was fused shut, I would never have known,  but she apparently went spelunking while I was away and got thwarted. Good. She wanted to know how to get it open and I was like I would tell you.

But I have a month to plot thwarting  any excursions into Dianaland. My personal bubble is mined.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Brand X

Right now I should be out watering my plants, its outrageously hot right now and I can hear them crying out to me to help them  and I would be... but when I walked out the front door I saw a strange car parked in front of my house and other strange cars on the street and voices and oh, shit. Someone is having a party and the party is close by and outdoors.  I do not want to go to the  party but I don't want to be not invited to the party. Hi, I'm Diana and I am eleven:  Even if I don't want to go and wouldn't go even if invited, I don't want to be not invited either.

So I am hiding inside. Its the ideal time for that, in theory it should have cooled down by now,  which it hasn't, but normally I schedule the evening watering for now- which provided I am awake, is what I do at this time most nights.

I have two reasons for being inside, 1) It's still very hot and I don't care for this wet heat. An even hotter temp in a  nice dry heat would be preferable to this

And

 2) the new neighbors (in the drug dealers crazy sisters' old house) are having a cookout in their front yard and I don't want to be invited down. What?  I all ready had dinner and  while we nod and smile and the guy knows my name, they don't know me and I don't know them and I am completely comfortable with this. I don't want to be innocently puttering around and have them think that either A) I am fishing for an invitation and will be hurt if they don't act fast or B) force them to  disingenuously completely ignore me while I completely disingenuously ignore them.

I can see you I can't  see you!
We can see you! We can't see you!

It is why our homes come equipped with backyards. Its the whole Theory of the Mullet thing - Business in front, Party in back. He's a homeowner newbie obviously,  he keeps his ( easily steal-able)  backyard grill in the front yard, not the backyard where backyard grills are designed to live. True, we do have a neighbor who keeps his grill on his front porch, but its under a rather large awning and its in the dark, so its like its we don't really see it and they use it all the time  so its not a giant party favor or anything, and when  they throw parties, which they do,  their parties in the backyard.

Its small. I am being small. I should just go out there and water my plants like a grown up. My plants are out there dieing because I am having an anxiety attack over nothing. The guests are all twenty somethings and at my advanced age I am invisible to them, so the chances are they won't say anything because I could be out in the yard naked and they wouldn't notice.

Also? my hair is really dirty and the top I'm wearing is not the cutest thing I own and my shorts are gross and the quick glimpse I got of them was that they were all twenty-three! Its like the pool at my apartments all over again! I would love to go there but sadly, I would rather not suffer death by comparison.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Friday Cat Blogging




Living La Vida Kiddie Pool

86% humidity and it doesn't rain. It just doesn't seem fair somehow. I go out every morning at an ungodly hour of the morning in the dark to walk Dogger and I walk out the door and into some one else's lukewarm bath water. I just feel coated with ick and then I have to go to work, icky.

I was so happy when it finally stopped being winter. Sigh, be careful what you ask for.

I did not take Dogger for walk number 2. It's just too hot, for her, for my part life in Texas prepared me to deal with this. My blood is a gaseous state, bypassing entirely the lower quality, less advantageous "water" blood. You live in this environment you develop blood the consistency of condensed soup - which is helpful during the winter months as it prevents freezing to death but makes the summer heat brutal.

This humidity business is a bitch though. You could evolve beyond the need for blood entirely and still wish for death after a few minutes in the sun. I develop flop sweat watering my plants in the evening. Flop Sweat, like that character from Broadcast News but its not from savage stage fright its from the 86% humidity - that hangs on all day. It never burns off.

My plants aren't happy. As much as they like the sunlight the humidity makes them sad, they aren't tropicals and they don't understand whats happening to them and they are tomatoes! allegedly they love heat and sunshine and disappear shade and coolness. The peppers are just barely hanging on possibly because they are planted in a strip that seems to get marginally less sun than the tomatoes. Marginally. If I could I would get one of those over sized deck umbrellas and set it up over the garden to make them feel better. The plants in front that get shade are the happiest plants I have  and the only specimens left that I did not have to replant. The experimental tomato is the lone holdout who seems to enjoy the heat and the humidity. The freak.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Discount Foodie

Dogger had a very nice walk this evening and I sweated off five pounds of fluid. We walked through the park at the rec center because I want to keep Doggers healing paws off the boiling pavement when I can and the both of us in the shade as much as possible.

We ran into a little boy who lurved him some Dogger. He was thrilled that the big dog wasn't a biter and asked if all the dogs around here was a nice, he knew another dog and it was also a nice, non-bitey dog and he thought this was unusual. While he pet on Dogger he advised me on the care and feeding of the other nice, non-bitey dog he had met, his friends chiwawa. He gave me two pieces of advice when dealing with the little dog, 1) Don't call the little dog stupid, he hates it and  2) Don't  use people lotion on the dog, it makes his fur fall off.

The little boys friends finally called him over, after I was about to die, and Dogger and I went home to eat. I had a really nice Farmers Market bell pepper stuffed with ground chicken and my tomatoes while Dogger enjoyed kibble. I made sure to not let my peppers see the interlopers, I didn't want to hurt their feelings or make any comment on their relative quality and size. I watched a little TV and left to pick up some pictures and hopefully, to get a much reduced floor lamp at Poverty Barn. Membership has its rewards.

I didn't get my lamp but I did get three new types of pasta! Wooo! I passed on one interesting variety that was so interesting I had to call my sister in law to get some advice on how I was supposed to cook it, but I couldn't get her and I didn't get the pasta. Its not a big loss, the stuff looked like unpainted pick up sticks and I don't think I need bring home noodles I need to do research on order to eat, my food doesn't need to be that interesting.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Sleep Study

I think I might have figured out the whole uncontrolled napping phenomena and why this doesn't happen in the winter months. I think its about exposure to the heat.

Today for example, I crashed hard. Out like a light. it was very hot today and I spent a lot of time out in it. I think this was a bad idea. It started at lunch.

I wanted to go to the demonstration downtown about the bigots on the Wake County school boards desire to set Wake County Schools back to where they were circa Jim Crow - and thus far they are succeeding. If Hillary had won, instead of this surge of racism, would there have been  a surge of anti-woman sentiment? If she had won would this be happening to me?

Anyway, I really, really wanted to be a part of the demonstration.  I've moved heaven and hell to go to Washington when I want to get my march on, I should do the same when I hardly have to move myself to do so. My biggest mistake was to not take into consideration that when I go to DC I do not have to think about parking... There isn't any parking in downtown Raleigh even under normal circumstance, add a few thousand extra cars to the mix there is really no parking in downtown. I drove and drove and drove all over downtown. I could not find a place. I was frantic.

Finally, finally I found somewhere to leave the car. I even paid for it and I hate paying to park. Its wrong. Anyway, I had to get back to work and all the people I was running into were going the wrong way. I held out hope.

I arrived at the staging point to find it being town down.

Fortunately there was an older man there and I was able to ask him about the demonstration and get his take on it. He said it went very well, the speakers were moving and the crowd was large and well behaved. He had a wonderful, empowering experience but now it was really hot and he wanted to get out of the heat.

I let him go and turned back and it took me about three steps to ask myself: Where is my car? Where was my car. I was frantic when I left it and hadn't really paid any attention about where I was. I knew I was A) a long way from downtown and B) in parking spot #208. I started walking and walking and walking and nothing was familiar. I headed back to where the march was and started looking for help.

I found a cop. The cop told me he was a sheriff's deputy and he didn't do traffic. He suggested I run after the lady in the red shirt, a kind of  downtown courtesy clerk and she could help me. Well, God Bless the lady in the red shirt. She knew what the parking space numbers meant and where my car was and she walked me there. I called my boss to let her know I was going to be tardy and I went back to work. I had  been in the heat for a while.

I was hot. Very hot. And I spent the day feeling really thirsty and  off. After work, still not having enough of the oppressive heat, I went to the farmers market and picked up some vegetables, I also decided I would need to hit the grocery because now that I had my veggies I would need some meat to go with them. I went home and took dogger out and fed her and then hit the grocery. I came back home and made a really good meal and then I cleaned up and then I noticed it was really windy outside. I took Dogger outside and we enjoyed the wind and the thunder and watched some very violent lightening in the distance. And then we went inside and I watched some TV...

...And fell asleep. I woke up at a quarter to nine wondering what happened. I think what happened is I was out in the heat too long and it was not good for me. Lesson learned, less time I spend in the heat the more time I can stay conscious.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Protesters rally against Wake schools plan - Local - NewsObserver.com

Protesters rally against Wake schools plan - Local - NewsObserver.com
Thoughts

My birthday is in 43 days. In 43 days I'll be 42, and as such I shouldn't really need anything as forty-two is the answer to life the universe and everything. But. What if it isn't? What if Douglas Adams was wrong? I mean, what if forty -tow just follows forty-one? What if it isn't the ultimate answer? What if I can;t just polish my nose and get answers? I was going to order a Genie costume and rent myself out to parties and if that worked out I was thinking of becoming a Carney Step right up folks! I'm Forty-Two!  Answers to life the universe and everything right here! Ask Me Anything!

What if forty-two is just another step in inexorable journey  from merely Old Enough To Know Better to just Old? And really, forty-two? it lacks the panache of forty. People right books about forty, its  a statement age - I am 40!  40 is a life style its the whole Lordy, Lordy Look Who's 40! thing. It means something there is all this deeper meaning to being no longer in your thirties, which is big because it means you are no longer in your twenties... I don't remember being hugely excited about twenty, the best thing about it was next year I would be twenty-one! - Which was really a big deal because then I went in to business for myself doing my younger classmates The Favor and keeping the change - a much more lucritive money earner than fishing change out of jammed coke machines.

 They don't make clever things for 42. I suppose that forty-two is better than forty-one, a real let down after the whole I am 40! angstavaganza. No one celebrates being in their forties All my friends are 40.  My entire graduating class is now at least 40 years old.

Whatever.

While spending a few moments in the here and now, for about ten minutes I entertained the idea of giving the dog a bath and then  having decided I that I really didn't want to do that I then I wasted some time thinking that maybe I would put some thought to following Tom Felton on Twitter because someone on Fark said he was funny but then I decided that he's like twelve or something and it wouldn't be right  and it would make me feel like a stalker- I follow a lot of celebrities, and embarrassing number of them actually but they are all old, I have no problem reading Matthew Perry, who doesn't post enough or the guy who writes Community,  or Elizabeth Banks  who used to post a lot ( still don't know who she is, but recently learned that she is not actually Chelsie Handler), or Roger Ebert who never stops posting... I didn't actually have to search for them though, I followed links to their tweets so it wasn't like I went and formally searched their name or anything. I would follow the funny twelve year old if I found a link to him, that would be less stalker-y.Again, forty-one, should probably not even know who is he is (Draco).

But it doesn't matter! I follow eighty-two people and I almost never go and read any of them any more. I have followers, porn-bots mostly, but when I went to look at my list of folks there seemed to be more than a few actual people. That was heartening.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Friday Monday Cat Blogging



Happy Monday!!

Early in the week I took purple bike to the bike hospital. It was time. I told them that while it was a cheap bike it was a good cheap bike and it had been good to me. I rode that cheap bike every day and that's more than a lot of people can say about their not cheap bikes. I wanted them to treat it with some respect but I also told them I wasn't using it right now and they didn't have to get to it right now, you know, if they had someone come in with some sort of bike emergency that they most certainly should get right on it and not feel bad about it.

On Friday they called me.

The bzzzzzzzzzz needs to be replaced.Bzzzzzzzzzzzz The wheel and inner tube have been replaced. The bzzzzzzz is bad and the part needs to be ordered, converting to single spebzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The bzzzzzzzz is on its last legs. Derailbzzzzzzzzzzzzz What do you want us to do? bzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I asked them how much this had cost so far

$Bzzzzz

I told them I paid $48 for it and how much more they thought this was going to run me.

$Bzzzzzzzzzzz

They asked me what I wanted them to do, as I had now spent much more to fix purple bike than I spent to buy purple bike in the first place. About twice what I spent for it and the ticker is still ticking. I told them to do the least they can do and not get sued.  To acheive this they have to order a something that is a "six" and what they have in the store is a "seven" bzzzzzzzzzz to take the bike from a three speeder to a one speed and fix the breaks that failed and do something with something else and thing they need to order won't be in for another week and they'll call me then. Bzzzzzzzzzz. I was like thank you for the updates but you're speaking Sanskrit, just fix the damn bike.

After my talk with the bike guy, I  went on to spend entirely too much time in grocery stores. I would go and buy what I needed and then I would need more things and I would go back to the grocery store and buy more stuff and then do the whole thing again. On the up side I did get everything I needed.

Other than marketing, I did laundry, I baked - I baked very naughty blueberry muffins from a package and then I baked very obedient blueberry  all-bran muffins. From scratch, flour, baking powder, egg whites... 

Speaking of from making from scratch, two of my sauce tomatoes either jumped or were pushed to their deaths! by squirrel or squirrels unknown. I only had three of them to begin with and now I have one. How can I make sauce with one tomato?! I put the fruits into a bag and I'm hopeing for the best but I know it won't make them ripe it will just make them red.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Garden Update 13?

I know you have missed Garden Updates - I have too but Blogger has made it very hard and time consuming to post multiple shots and the whole narrative isn't the same without illustrations. I will try though.

I have harvested a number of Forth of July tomatoes, they range from smallish to mid-sized and despite their size they are slice-able,  a big pink, which shockingly, is actually big and pink and I think two Carolina Golds.

Much to my shock, the experimental pepper is kicking the traditional planted peppers butts! I have four young peppers on the EP plant and  one on the four other plants. Total.  The Experimental Tomato is also really showing the planted tomatoes up as well. The ET is covered with sizable fruits and is still making new fruits too. The plant is compact and has not out-grown its cage in the least. My planted tomatoes are all taller than I am not not covered with fruits - all but one of the plants has unripe fruits, and the remaining plant might have issues with the humidity. I wish the fruits would come ripe though. One of my plants is trying to make sauce tomatoes and I am going to make sauce with them damn it. If they ever get ripe and if it ever makes more than three fruits.

I pulled up most of the beans because they had become played out and weren't producing any longer and I thought they leaves looked a little tetchy so I pulled all but two of the plants out and replanted. The two remaining mature plants have a handful of baby beans but they don't seem to be maturing . The newly planted beans haven't sprouted yet.

My plants in the front are doing well, now that I pulled out and replaced almost everything with inpatients. The flowers I started as seeds are still plants,  plants with interesting foliage but they haven't made the transition to flowers as yet.

See? none of this makes anywhere near as much sense without illustrations! You just have to take my word for it - Tomatoes, too tall, rangy, peppers shorter and not producing, beans pulled, experimental plants kicking traditionally planted plants planty butts, flowers pretty.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Maybe I should start drinking coffee


Tonight was supposed to be the first day this week where I came home directly after work. Monday after work, dropped something off, Tuesday after work I went shopping, Wednesday I was suppsoed to go striaght home but I got lassoed into a retirement party for my boss's boss. Lovely woman by the way, had a long and interesting career in state government and one hell of a story teller. Long stories. Long, stories that would be great to listen to,say Saturday morning on NPR not on a work day when I was supposed to get off forty-five minutes ago.

You know what I miss about the television season? Boundaries! Rules! Direction! Discipline! You can't screw around or waste time or spend too much time at retirement parties for people you don't know because your shows are on! You have come home and get your chores done: feed that dog! make that dinner! empty that dishwasher! fold the laundry! and get them done promptly! There is no time to waste because starting at 8pm (7pm central) you have shite to do!

The long summer days suck as far as setting boundaries for myself but it also allows me to stretch those boundaries and get stuff done after work. I do not enjoy spending the winter months running errands over my lunch hours but I need to use what daylight I still have left after work to get Dogger walked but over the summer, I can get those same errands done after work and get my chores done and not miss my TV. I still like getting home sooner rather than later and Dogger doesn't like having to wait and I don't like making her wait because she doesn't hire out her wet-work. She gets mad? she has her ways of letting me know.

I don't nap in the winter. I do so much more napping in the summer. Its always a good time for a nap, I don't have time for naps in February! I have to get things done! I'm also so much more alert in the winter, over the summer I'm hot nearly all the time and that makes me lazy and nap prone. In the winter I'm cold all the time I have to keep moving just to not freeze to death, its hard to nap when you are afraid of losing your nose. In the winter I'm certainly not burning what little daylight there is by napping, I'm getting stuff done before my shows come on. In the summer it stays light forever, there's nothing to watch on TV so why not just take a nap? Sure! It stays light until what? midnight? Why not watch a couple of hours of HGTV and then take another nap!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Bigger Lots

A few weeks ago I was told that They are putting a Big Lots where the old Garner Wal-Mart used to be! This is heady stuff. I love Big Lots in the way I wish I could love Target. I would love to express my lurve for Target the same way I can for Big Lots, by buying lots and lots of stuff from them all the time. Target is for days I feel rich.

Thanks to Big Lots I have developed a taste for the finer things, Twinings Teas for example. Gawd that's good tea and if you can't even buy it at my Kroger! If I want to spend retail for it I have to go all the way to Harris Teeter and that's like going to Whole Foods almost and I've never wanted any tea that much. My great hope is that I will find boxes of Twinings green tea  at my 'Lots once again.

The Big Big Lots officially opened this weekend and it is to my great disappointment that I forgot about it and missed the opening festivities. I imagine they handed out gift bags full of Israeli chips and Polish jam, Peruvian sodas and  Jamaican dish washing detergent and probably 300 count boxes of Twinings green tea! 

And I spent the day spray painting my railing! Oh! to be able to turn back time.

I finally got there, too late for gift bags but Grand Opening Week none the less.  It does not actually take up the entire Wal-Mart. It takes up about a third of it - which is still gargantuan for a Big Lots store that are not by nature overly large - but it not technically a genuine Wal-Mart sized  Big Lots.

The put a Big Lots into a Wal-Mart and it didn't magically turn into a Target . Hopes dashed.

It is bigger and brighter with shorter shelves than either of the two BL I shop at and at least at present, cleaner and better smelling. The greeting cards are nicer and there are more of them, they have  brand name vacuum cleaners and record players and microwave ovens and enormous commercial grade George Foreman grills -  which is nice but  I wanted more stuff not  a few nicer things. It doesn't have more stuff stuff than my BL. I don't think they changed the amount of inventory they sent to the store to to really suit the expanded square footage but instead sprinkled a few higher ticket items in to mark the opening. The real test will be if they still stock the vacuums in four months.

 The wheat is easier to find in the chaff but no one shops at BL for wheat.

 It seemed a little sparse for a BL. BL is always full of stuff, crammed together and crowded. It makes it kinds of an adventure really, you never know what might be hiding under all those just slightly out of date bags of  exotic Chinese noodles, there might be some other even more exotic noodles hiding beneath than or some interesting  German toothpaste or two boxes of very odd Dominican cookie product. You never know.

 I went to an Asian market expecting a profound noodle buying experience but instead found the same noodles I see at BL. Really, even the varieties I don't under stand how to eat. If its weird and you can boil it? It's at BL.

I didn't feel I was at a better or a fancier BL. Slovenian branded canned peaches are still Slovenian branded canned peaches. I went to my favorite sections and did not see anything new and exciting, they did not have a huge selection of yard art or picture frames or chotchkies and  while they did seem to have a lot of toys, they did not have the fairy costume selection that I would have expected to see. They did have  appear to have more cereals and condiments but it might have just been the lower shelves and better lighting. Lets hear it for commercial design.

 The furniture was over priced as it always is at BL. I would think that by the time its hitting BL the dream of making a profit is gone. No one wants it, there is something aesthetically offensive about the piece and no one is going to give you $199 for that bench, it's time to give it up and that lamp? Its cursed, you aren't going to get $90 for it. Give in and mark it down. It stopped being a Broyhill anything a long time ago its at Big Lots now. Let it go. To me for 85% off.

I did see a lady trying on a bra. They don't sell bras at my BL and now I am glad.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The cat is not in the bag

HA! Blogger  I found a back door! I hacked Blogger! I can post and I can edit and I have all my little icon things back and I don't have to continue to eat my young.

Okay then.

Tiny E asked if I could bring over Baby Kitty to her house and I said sure! Baby Kitty needs the socialization and he genuinely seems to enjoy the kids, so its a win/win.  Way before I left for their  house, after I came home from work, I parked too far up my driveway - not that big a deal, in-fact a good thing as I park too far back as  a habit and I don't need to. Anyway, when I was leaving to go to their house I went to put Baby Kitty in the car in his bag, we encountered some difficulties.

The car door was blocked by one of the legs of the car port and I couldn't open the door all the way. I didn't think this was a big deal, I could open the sliding car door and just slip the cat bag over the front seat and he would be fine.It seemed like a good idea at the time/ I could have just moved the car a few feet so I could use the door too.  But I didn't. The "slipping" was closer to throwing the cat over the seat back and dropping the cat and his bag down two feet on its side. This was not heroic. It quickly did not seem like a good idea.

But I preserved. I got in the car and flipped the bag over and tried to put the handle around the back of the seat to hold the crate secure in case of a sudden stop. This proved "too hard" and how often do I  have to stop suddenly anyway? Like almost never. "Almost" / About ten minutes from my house I had to stop suddenly and the crate and the cat shot off the seat like bullet into the floor board. Hard. Upside down and crumpled like a tin can. The cat was furious and I'm guilt stricken and freaked out  at forty-five miles and hour. Brilliant.

There must be a law that you are never going to get the red light when you need a red light. Need a green and you will  get there faster if you crawled there on your knees but need a red light and its non-stop all the way. I finally got Baby Kitty righted and back on the seat and he mewed sadly and kicked the ceiling of his box in protest. I just knew I would never get him back into his crate, once out of the bag, I was afraid Broskey and Alphagal might end up with Baby Kitty as a permanent boarder.

The children made Baby Kitty very happy. Tiny E apparently has the sweetest, most lick needing toes he's ever encountered and the most headbuttable knees evah. Nephy lurves him some baby kitty and Baby Kitty lurves to play chase with Nephy - never going out of sight, not hideing too well,  staying alert but near by.

Baby Kitty had such a good time he let me put him back in his crate! and  he slept all the way home. Securely attached to the seat, rightside up and uncrumpled.

Monday, July 12, 2010

They haven't fixed it but I might have...
Curb Appeal
Originally not posted on 12/9/08  this was a way to remind myself what my new Christmas tree was going to look like so when I got all buyers remorse-y I would be comforted by what a kick-ass tree it was (is).
I did the single most thankless curb appeal project evah on Saturday.
On Saturday, I repainted my patio railing For real. The paint on the handrails going to the front door were almost completely paint -free , which is weird because I don't think anyone has used my front door since I moved in, so its not from over use. It looked bad from the curb because it  revealed that the railing is made of  el cheap-o aluminum and not actually pricy wrought iron,  and it just made the place look unkempt. It is also in my best interest to make sure it is clear that someone lives here because the city code enforcement people are out in force and they will tack a yellow sign telling you your house is tacky and a mess and you have X number of days to clean it up or suffer the consequences to your door if they have any doubts of your properties occupancy. It would be really ironic if I got one of those because I'm pretty sure it was my non-stop bitching that got them out in the first place.
There are a lot of things around the front of the house that look a little sloppy but this was the easiest to fix and the only one that did not require a heavy truck and a tow line to fix. I am looking at you out of control, over grown, ugly, red-bud shrub!
Friday night  I went out and  bought a can of  black spray paint, with the idea that this task was going to be a one can of spray paint job and the project  was only going to include areas that really needed it - clearly forgetting that all home improvement projects no matter how small take longer and cost more than you had thought they would. This was no different.
The scale of the project was very small. Tiny. Two hand rails needed to be touched up. Emphasis on the "touched up" not repainted - and that was all I did until I realized I still had almost all the can of spray paint left and I didn't want to keep a almost full can of spray paint around  because I think its a safety hazard, so I started looking for other areas that might need a little sprucing up.
Four cans of spray paint and another trip to the hardware store later  and a whole Saturday gone every bit of the railing all the way around the front porch looks great as do my porch lights that even with a new coat of paint, I now really hate because they are too small and very ugly and not at all cottage-y! I have a curved door and a peaked roof I can claim Tudor if I want to and I think I want to claim Tudor cottage now and so the lights must go.
I am the only person in the entire world that will notice my labors, I even repaired the fallen handle on the front of the had rail that has been down since I moved into the house but still I am the only one who is ever going to notice how nice it suddenly looks. The railing is still black, it looks exactly the same except it is now more black, it is now all black. Very much like my lungs after inhaling four cans of black spray paint.
The postman might notice how stunning they look after years of being ignored but if I was the postman, I probably keep my eyes open for possible tripping hazards and stray dogs and not how awesome the railings on on of the houses my route suddenly look. I guess I could have gone with another color, bronze comes to mind because I think it would look nice with the bricks but in that case I really would have had to cover every inch of the railing and even in my gusto to tidy it up, I didn't hit every square inch, some inches didn't need to be bothered at all and some inches were too covered with plant growth to get painted. I do now have some black plant growth here and there but, well, it could be because it hasn't rained in a while. I saw some hostas once that had been burned black by the sun. Chilling really.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Friday Cat Blogging


Skin so sticky

Okay, I need a plastic fork and change for a dollar,. Who’s going to help me?

This was somehow relevant but not relevant enough to post on December 13, 2006

I decided that since I'm temporarily not waking Dogger, I need to get back on the bike, at one point I was on the bike a lot. That was then, this is now. Its hotter now.

Putting on my big girl panties and just doin' it, I decided that I could ride my bike to the post office in place of Doggers seven something walk. I did this and it was such a not bad experience, I remembered that I had thoughtfully stuffed some cash into my cell phone holder.

I had money and I was more than half way to the Krispy Kreme. I was  on my way to donut city and I'm rolling along and everything is down hill and the pavement is smooth and I am going 100 miles an hour. Life is good.

I arrive at the Kreme and look for somewhere to put the bike. It is now uphill, there is nowhere to park my bike and even worse : I do not have a bike lock. I used to have a lock for purple bike but then I didn't have a lock and more but it didn't matter because even the most junior member of the future bike thief's' of America wouldn't  lift purple bike. Purple bike is was and always shall be a cheap piece of  Walmart crap. Purple is a great bike and worked really well  for me but even a crack fiend wouldn't see much to steal there. Purples' worth is all on the inside and it is very deep and gives selflessly to many, many green charities  and oddly, the United Farm Workers. Its weird. it still aint' going to get stolen.

Anyway. I am not riding Purple bike, I am riding Black Bike. Black Bike is a much better bike,  I remember spending what felt like a lot for it back when I got it back in the day and it has aged well. It might be attractive to a crack fiend. I'm standing there outside the Krispy Kreme and the line is growing and I if I didn't really want a donut before the specter of someone getting my donut is freaking me out.I  am really needing a donut now. I leave the bike in a corner and hope that the good donut seeking people of Raleigh are so blinded by their need for hot, fresh donuts that they aren't going to see my sad unguarded bike.

After bike and I and my donuts get home, I go to Wallyworld and buy a lock.And some Glucosamine for Dogger . For those of you keeping track that means sticking my hand down her throat eleven times a day.  Did you know that dog saliva is not a previously unknown skin softener?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Emmy Nominations
Not posted on June 6, 2007. Clearly I had a theory.


Bush says Russia won't attack Europe despite rhetoric
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/06/bush.summit.ap/index.html

Bush says Russia "not our enemy"
http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070605122056.2gv0lnu1&cat=null

The mayor of Farmers Branch wants to be my Facebook friend. I'm not surprised as we have 46 friends in common - which makes me wonder about the quality of the friends I have on facebook.

I only friend people I was friends with or were in my kindergarten class, that's my official cut off. Okay, if you were friends with someone I was friends with, or if we had a class together or we went to the same junior high or if I worked with you or work with you,  or if I read your blog, or I voted for you, or if I kind of knew someone who kind of knew you or if we went to college together. But that's it. I don't just friend anybody.

 I would think the mayor of Farmers Branch would remember that I have sent him hate mail in the past and I might not want to be friends with him.  I would assume a bottom dwelling, scum sucking bigot  like himself  gets a lot of hate mail and can't be expected to remember everyone who has told him to go to hell,  but from there I got less friendly  and more specific about how I felt about the pogrom he was instituting . My name should be on a list somewhere but not on his list of FRIENDS. I don't friend people I've sent signed hate mail to so I pushed the ignore button with a great deal of spite and I'm sure it came through.

If I get a second request, I might have to tell him to go to hell again.

Speaking of things that left a bad taste in my mouth, Bitter Apple or Bitter Yuck is actually bitter and yucky. Wow, imagine, the product is what it says it is! Who knew, except your dog. I had to buy a new bottle of the stuff and while I was at the store the clerk told me that he got it on his hands once and it stayed  a long time. Callow youth I said to myself, what does he know from a "long time", he's 12, he probably think The Hills ran a "long time".Ptooy.

Well, I accidentally got it on my hands. Thus far it took seven hand washings, bathing the dog and then washing my own hair to wash it off my hands and out of my life. It might be a good diet aid though because once its on your hands it really interferes with your enjoyment of finger foods and I bet it would stop nail biting in a hot minute.You do not want to get this stuff on your hands  and it does not have to be wet to be effective, it really hangs on. Just because its not freshly applied doesn't mean it isn't working, its insidious. Wow, and it does really taste dreadful, think non-lethal nail polish remover. Yuck.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The unblank page

http://www.dallastheatercenter.org/Page.aspx?WP_ID=3346

I originally did not post the above in August of 2008. I decided instead of using my Happy's as substitutes for a working site, I would turn to another source of possible  solutions to my Blogger problem.  sad, forgotten drafts. Its lucky I have suffered from commitment issues.

Oh.

Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Aunty
Aunty who?
Antibiotic!

Yes, Dogger is back on the juice. I had noticed a spot on one of her paws two weeks ago,  and she was licking it and her leg was pink  and I diagnosed it as a possible hot spot and I treated it and it went away. Now, it either went away because I treated it or I got confused about which foot I was looking at.

Anyway, either Foot B became pink after Foot A or Foot B is Foot A and the spot wasn't a spot at all and was in fact tears on her paw pads or there was a hot spot and then she got the burns from hot pavement or she tore the pads along the way or she licked the wounds and then they became the pinkness and infection. It doesn't matter, her one paw is good the other has multiple, small infected wounds.

Dogger, after a good year of downing pills like a suburban teen was down two pills a day, Now she's back to sevenwhich means I get to shove my hand down her throat seven times a day! I'm so excited. On the up side, its not for long and the meds will clear up the infection and so she's not going to die from septicemia because that's how she rolls -  Zero to deaths' door.

 The doctor also gave me the go ahead to not freak out if Dogger uses the stairs. I've been keeping her from using them for over a year because I was afraid if she used the stairs her entire back end would shatter. She has gone upstairs a couple of times and caused me to hyperventilate but knowing she isn't going to shatter like a vase doesn't mean I want her using them either. The cats' litter box lives upstairs and I'd like to limit Doggers' access to it....But, I do have a DVD player up there and it might be nice to watch movies with her on the bed sometime and when it gets really hot, I'd like to have Dogger share the joys of the window unit with Baby Kitty and I. We have some options now.

Also, the vet and I spoke about getting Dogger on glucosamine. She has arthritis and the winter sucks for her and means more pills and vet visits. I would like to limit both. He suggested getting her started on 2000 mgs a day for a month and then moving her down to 1000 mgs a day from then on. I can get her dose in bottles at Wally World or vats at Sam's.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

I'm not dead  but I had to go back in time to August 24, 2003 to make this work.

A perfectly innocent HAPPY SUNDAY  had to be sacrificed to  order to get this done. I hate Blogger. Hate them. I am having to plow under my young and there is not one thing I can do about it and Blogger doesn't care. Hateful bastards.

You gets what you pays for and I pay nothing so I gets nothing.

Hate.

I had a lovely 4th of July . I spent time with family, I ate a lot of food, I took a lot of pictures, I shopped, I saw fireworks, I bought things - dog and cat food mostly but I did stock up on protean bars , after a fashion. I think Kelloggs is trying to tell me something as they are making my protean bars hard to find and more expensive and making me use a lesser version if I want any at all. Sam's again stopped carrying them and I've been reduced to buying the lesser bars at Wally World for more to get fewer of them.

When I wasn't convincing myself of a massive plot against me, I worked on the garden -I also pulled out almost all my green beans. I'm soaking the seeds for the next generation as we speak, I will not go beanless - and I finally went into battle with the bird netting holding my raspberry bushes hostage and wining by the by. I hacked off some dead branches and freed the rest of the plants from the clutches of the hostile netting. The plant itself no longer needs the protection as its not producing any longer and it also ultimately  the first steps of our journey towards re-potting in the fall.
On Friday after being freed from work, I went to a very nice nursery, too nice for  the likes of my garden, and found some very lovely plants for my Mother for her birthday. While I was there I went a cross the parking lot and checked out an equally  very nice children's clothing store. The shopping center was an evil place, but I was stronger. I was surrounded by all make and model of expensive examples of  my two favorite things to buy and I only bought what I needed - which did not included the most adorable children's clothes eveh or some very interesting plants that would really look nice on my deck. Ask me about my plans to expand my deck to allow for all these plants I think I have room for.  On a realted note, later that evening I want you all to know that I did not buy the clever topiaires I saw for $11 at Wally World. The tag said that if I did nothing but dance attention to them they might survive. Might. It said it on the tag, how can I refuse a challenge like that?

Speaking of dancing attention, Dogger has to go back to the vet. Its been a really long time in Dogger Time since we've had to see the vet, but this time I'm pretty sure this time its not a life or death problem but Dogger does have a talent that way. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that one of her front paws was a little reddish and when I inspected it closer I saw something that might be a hot spot. I did what I could for it and it resolved...

Or not. Now the other paw is inflamed and I think it looks swollen and both paws look red.  It might be  burns from hot pavement, splinters, maybe she got a cut from some broken glass - although , I've seen no evidence of blood, and in my research I've learned that when paws bleed,  paws bleed a lot. Whatever it is, its making her limp and that we can't have. First thing business on Tuesday I'm calling and getting her an appointment.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Lets see if I can work around Blogger have no custumer service to speak of.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Stupid Blogger.Com won't let me post. Hate!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Cruel Shoes


I got paid today and I decided that I needed new sneakers and I promised myself new sneakers when I got paid. I got a new pair last summer but like all expensive things, they wore out after I wore them every day and  they need to be replaced. Cheap sneakers you can wear every day and they never wear out.  When was the last time you wore out your Keds or your Chucks? You didn't, you won't,  and you can't.Your feet will get damaged but the shoes themselves will never wear out.

I need new expensive sneakers because I can not buy new feet.

My  expensive sneakers live at DSW but my original expensive sneakers I bought from a  man who was two steps from a podiatrist at a genuine shoe store and he only sold shoes , no bags no hats no fru-fru. Just shoes. Just expensive shoes.  Shoes that fix your feet. He knew all about feet and taught me about the right shoes to buy. And so shoes were bought, the right shoes, the right expensive shoes.

My feet felt like new.

I  cruelly took his shoe teachings and I went searching for discounted expensive shoes. The shoe man and his expensive shoes don't live here, which is good because I would hate to have to have him see me buy his expensive shoes discounted at DSW. They don't know from feet at DSW! They know about style, they know about six-months-out-of-date-shoe-fashion and they know all about bags and purses and fru-fru.

I was very excited about buying my shoes. I had looked for them the last time I was there but I couldn't remember what brand the shoe man sold me and all my shoe knowledge is relevant to that brand. I know the right shoes should not twist or bend and a lot of shoes twist and bend! Twisting and bending is bad for your feet,  but good for your wallet because cheap shoes bend and twist  and expensive shoes do not. Good shoes have the twisting range of a brick  while bad shoes are like Twizzlers. This is what I learned, I'm sure he imparted more wisdom that than but that is what I retained. The DSW people were looking at me oddly while I picked up and twisted all their sneakers. I was really hoping I would find a pair of cheap untwisty, unturny shoes and I did not, I found expensive shoes that twisted and turned. And I found the One True Shoe, it was expensive, it was pretty, it was good for my feet and it didn't come in my size.

And I tested every shoe they had but I kept going back to the One True Shoe. I wasn't asking for a lot, I just needed the perfect shoe. The perfect shoe lives at a DSW behind Triangle Town Center and they will hold it until tomorrow at closing and charge me less than half of what the shoe man would.