You're Joel! You're incredibly complex, and you
spend a lot of time looking for that missing
piece in your life. Hate to be a downer, but
you might never find it.

Which Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

again, via Rex.

M O V E

Evening walk for the deer.

Shirl Gold Medal Winner in... Cross Country Hunting 'What rejected olympic sport would you win gold in?' at QuizGalaxy.com

via Rex, who is a champion of Curling for Cookies!

Slow to the Monday Madness, but here I am.

This week's questions are all about blogging... Have fun, and thank you for playing! =)

1. What time of year do you blog the most? Winter
2. What time of year do you seem to blog the least? Summer
3. What time of DAY do you do your most blogging? Either before 7 a.m. or after 10 p.m.
4. When blog-hopping, do you tend to look at your blogroll list (or fave blogs) to see which ones have been updated, or do you visit your faves on a regular basis regardless? Can't trust the updated features from blogrolling, so I try to see everyone weekly at the minimum.
5. Do you change your blogroll often? Top blogroll only when someone quits blogging. Bottom roll about every two months.
6. How many times a day, after writing a new post, do you check for new comments? Depends on the day.
7. Do you leave comments on others' blogs, or are you more of a lurker? I blurk.

Bird convention

You Are Austin

A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. You're totally weird and very proud of it. Artistic and freaky, you still seem to fit in... in your own strange way. Famous Austin residents: Lance Armstrong, Sandra Bullock, Andy Roddick

What American City Are You?

Swiped from Gail, who is New York.

Drat!

Indiana is squishing MSU in basketball.

Someone is moving in across the hall and woke me up, so I thought I would Unconsciously Mutter. (These are much nicer than the real mutterings going on here.)

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Baby step::Bill Murray
2. Wasted::Away
3. Reggie::Jackson
4. Pitiful::too sad
5. Acting out::Emily
6. Tomato::Red
7. Bad night::oh well
8. Trip::Fall
9. Finance charges::Too expensive
10. Sport::Football

Speaking of Spring.

Last night I went to a retirement party. On the way home I smelled skunk, not once, but TWICE! That's a sure sign of spring. They're on the move.

Well, I guess we'll all go to work Monday. Our office group didn't win the Mega Millions.

Cleaning out old .jpg files today and found this. I want to go to Lake Michigan. (But I want it to be spring!)

Remember Lucky?

Remember Lucky Vanos, from the diet coke ads in the early 90's? He now resides in our bathroom cupboard at work.

We moved into our new building in 1994. That was a big year for the Lucky ads. A building was being built across the road from us. Lots of construction guys around. In the Diet Coke ads, Lucky was a construction worker who would take his break by taking off his shirt and swilling a Diet Coke, while women in the next building would ogle him.

We left a case of diet coke at the building site. None of the construction workers took the hint.

*sigh*

I'm not a big Grey's Anatomy fan yet, but the writers of that show have a cool blog here.

Whoa! It's already Thursday. Where did Wednesday go?

Anyhoo, I have questions:

1. Any thoughts on Survivor tonight?
2. What can you tell me about GPS systems?
3. Are we having fun yet?

Later, 'gators!

National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than at our worst."

~~Wallace Stegner

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

Thanks, Patti, for the link!

About Snow.

Not everyone lives with snow for three four five six months of the year. I don't either, but as I look at a calendar I note that it's not unusual for us to have snow in November, December, January, February, March, with a last freak storm in April. Years vary.

Our snow this weekend was mixed with sleet and freezing rain, which made it crusty. When I was at the park Saturday, the deer spooked twice. Normally they dance away silently to their next gathering place. Saturday, even they clattered.

My favorite snow is the thick heavy kind that makes super snow people and snowballs. (There is NOTHING like a good snowball fight to get the adrenalin running.)

I prefer my snow light in the morning. That way, I can brush it off my car, instead of scraping.

Would you like to share any thoughts on snow?

And a thank you to blogmuse susan for inspiring this post. *smile*

Instead of three french hens

I Fixed It!

I'm not a particularly mechanical person. Not at all. So when I have a problem with my car I panic.

Last night I returned home about dusk from taking pictures. As I was exiting the car, I somehow managed to knock off two parts of the light-turner-onner. (I'm sure there's a name for it.) I only saw one part go, as it rolled out the door and under the car. I retrieved it, then tried to fix it. No go.

It was cold out (that 6 degrees I spoke of earlier) so I decided to think about it overnight. In the middle of the night I realized there was a second part missing. This morning I searched under the car. I searched under the seat. I searched on the seat. Hmmm. Finally I looked down into the driver's side map case. There it was.

Now, I had to put all the parts together. I'm not very mechanical. (My father was a mechanic, and even though he made me work on my cars with him when I was a teenager I never developed a talent for it. ) So I put the parts together wrong the first, second, and third times. Finally, I puzzled out all the ways things were supposed to fit, and voila! I have lights.

Little things make me happy.

Did I tell you about the time I replaced my windshield mirror???

Still being a Birdbrain

Up for the 3:00 a.m. wander, so I think I'll Unconsciously Mutter:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Right time::Now is the
2. Funeral::Death
3. Calculate::Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide
4. Believe me::Please
5. Chat::Idle talk
6. Anniversary::Marking the Moment
7. Let you down::Gently
8. Shout::Holler
9. Sweatsock::Gym
10. Prayer::of Thanksgiving

Cold here.

It's cold here, with a high of six degrees fahrenheit. I still had to go to the park. I'm surprised my camera didn't freeze! However, it wasn't too cold for my furry buddies, and it was light enough to capture them.




Also, MSU beat UofM, so all is right with the world!

Hangman

Daily content
provided by The Free Dictionary

I swiped this from Gail, at Crossing the Rubicon. Gail provides a wonderful mix of current events and fun internet happenings AND wonderful powerful tough stories of her personal life. She has guts and graciousness and goodness. Check her out.

Internet Friends

One of the first things I did when I started on the internet, way back in 1998, was join a Kevin Costner group. It's on Yahoo now, but it came from somewhere else. Anyway, one of the people I met on-line was JulieRoo from Australia. We Imed and viewed the internet together quite frequently in that other millennium. Times change and we lost contact. Roo wasn't on the internet for awhile. She's back now, and maybe, just maybe, she's going to join the world of blogging. If you have a moment, go say hey to her first post. Or check out the bookstore she works at here.

and, bryn's Prince has arrived. He's gorgeous! (and smart to boot!)

My full name ...

... anagrams to: 'Sleepy, serene thrill.


Found at: So cruel harlotries.

A Repeat.

I'm preparing to move in May or June, and am working at lowering my stacks of books and paper ephemera. I proposed this in January, and yesterday I sent out six packets. I'll make the same offer in February, as I've progressed to a different set of bookcases.

If you would like a couple of books, free of charge, send me an email with your snail mail addy. My middle initial, E, officially stands for Ellen, but unofficially stands for eclectic, so I bet I can find something that will suit your tastes. And you'll be helping a bookaholic pare her stash.

Nothing to lose, no postage, no fuss or muss, and if you don't like the offerings you can pass them right on!

Thanks!

Sherle has started a "favorite five" photo meme. On the 15th of each month, you choose your five favorite photos since the 16th of the previous month. No categorization necessary, just your five favorite photos. You link them here.

My February Favorite Five are here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I believe I have discoverd that it is Rex Ferric's birthday. Happy birthday, kiddo. And if not, happy day. He made a Johari Window, so I did too.

U N D E R

Yeouch!

It's Monday Morning. Normally I do the Monday Madness, but it's all about Valentine's Day, and I guess I'd rather skip it this year. The whole thing. I'm such a spoil sport.

The long weekend was great, except that it is over now. *sigh* It had the right amount of downtime (i.e. naps) and uptime (the scrapbooking crop) and I learned some new photography things and visited with family. Now I'm back to work, but I think I'll schedule another day off for the middle of March. Yep. I've become addicted.

On Saturday's walk, I caught the squirrel in the birdfeeder at the beginning of the walk. Forty-five minutes later it was just finishing its meal, and then it did this:

Shirl the Pearl -- [adjective]: Smells like teen spirit 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Stopping at Rex's again.

Now y'all can call me birdbrain.

Sunday Morning, so you know what that means: a little unconscious muttering:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Unorthodox::Orthodox
2. Skate::olympics, Figure
3. Hold on::help is coming
4. Europe::Asia
5. Reminder::post-it note
6. Gold::Medal
7. Calcium::Strong bones
8. Rated R::Movies
9. Saturday night::is a weird night
10. Tell::I'll never

so instead of deer, we'll do . . . birds this week! Birds, and a cheeky squirrel.

Deer Chasing.

I've been seeing deer, really, I have, but in adverse photography situations. Thursday night there were between twelve and fifteen in the forest-meadow, and they were doing the thing where they stand on their hind legs and eat evergreens . . . but the light was too low. Then today, I pulled into the Arboretum, and there was one right at the edge of the parking lot. I watched, and I could see another back by the woods. I thought if I stayed in the car they might come closer, but they were too edgy, and eventually five of them crossed in front of me and headed into the woods.

I SO wanted to follow, but: there were no other cars at the Arboretum. Our fair city, in its infinite wisdom and desire to cut costs has closed the nature center's building on Mondays and SATURDAYS!! (This, in spite of the park millage being increased last election.) Now, I'll hike if there are only two or three other cars in the lot, but I spooked on being the only one. I settled for walking around the little pond by the nature center building. No deer, but there were some other beings about. This first picture is for Kim. We shall see this critter again.

Your Candy Heart Says "Hug Me"

A total sweetheart, you always have a lot of love to give out. Your heart is open to where ever love takes you! Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a surprise romantic evening that you've planned out Your flirting style: lots of listening and talking What turns you off: fighting and conflict Why you're hot: you're fearless about falling in love

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

Found at Roscoe's, where he is a "first kiss".

Swiped from Cybertoad:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

How I Spent my Day Off.

Woke up at 7:15 a.m. (Usually I get up at 6:00.)

Picked up the paper from outside my door, took it back to bed, read it, and fell asleep until 9:30 a.m.

Spent the morning, early afternoon doing the following:

• Journaling
• Paying bills
• Not being able to get on blogger
• Reading
• Sorting more stuff for throwaway
• Packaged two more sets of books for mailing
• Ate something around noonish.
• Taking a relaxing bubble bath
  

In the late afternoon I headed over to the Scrapbooking Store, where I had a reservation for their Friday crop. I'm working on the 16-year-old album for my niece Glory. Got the pictures sorted, earmarked for their pages, and completed four pages. (Well actually only three. I screwed-up one and won't be able to use it.)

And now I'm home, saying good-night to y'all. Happy Weekend!

Call for help.

I'm a little fussed with google over the China thing. That means I'm also upset with Yahoo and MSN. I'm thinking I need to change search engines. (They don't call me mistress of the futile gesture for nothing.)

So I'm asking: what search engine that isn't one of the above would you recommend? THanks!

teeheehee.

I took today as a vacation day. I have a three-day weekend.

teeheehee.

Why do YOU photograph?

Blogger is coming down again tonight at 9:00 p.m. PST. Will the fun never end?

and now I'm wondering which one I missed. Don't tell my nieces, eh? They'll never let me live it down!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Swiped this link from Patti. Goodness!


You will sink in a mire. You like to think you're

normal, but deep down you really just want to

strip off your clothes and roll around in

chicken fat.


What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
brought to you by Quizilla

S. H. I. T. *

Long weekend coming. Yay! I took tomorrow off as a vacation day. I'm going to sleep in, watch a few soap operas, sort pictures, and then go to a crop at my most recent favorite scrapbooking store.

We're back to winter up here in mid-Michigan. Twelve degrees Fahrenheit this morning. Brrr. Thankful that the car started.

Survivor tonight! Are you watching? Do you have an idea who might be booted?

We'll be back!

*So Happy It's Thursday, with a nod to Susan.

New-born calf alert! Sarpy Sam has a picture of a two-hour old one.

Can You Feel The Love?

I can! One of the perks of having a Big-10 University right across the highway is the wonderful musical offerings at the Wharton Center. They are in the middle of a seven-week run of Disney's Lion King. Guess who was there tonight?

Hakuna Matata!

Okay, let's start the week with a little Monday Madness:


True or False (and feel free to elaborate)

1. I consider myself to be very organized. False.
2. I tend to get more done when I'm pressed for time. False.
3. Multi-tasking is something I do often. True
4. I might be a perfectionist. False
5. I enjoy Mondays as much as I enjoy Fridays. Well, after I picked myself up from rolling on the floor laughing let me just say . . . FALSE!
6. If I didn't make a list (or hang a post-it note) I'd forget what it is I need to do. False
7. I have no problem asking for help when I don't understand something. True.

And onward we go!

Saturday at the Bookstore.

and I didn't make a purchase. Wow!

Okay, backing up. My friend Deb called. Her husband was going ice-fishing, and she wondered if I wanted to take in a movie. Sure! We saw Something New, which is a delightful romantic comedy. It was good to see Simon Baker again, as I was a big Guardian fan.

We then went over to Bravo's, the in Italian Restaurant at the mall, but there was already a 45-minute wait (at five o-clock in the afternoon!!) Yikes! Johnny Rocket's, a burger joint, had immediate seating, so we ended up there. A line-up soon formed there, so we adjourned catercorner to the bookstore.

I know. I know. I don't need anymore books. But Deb wanted to look at some screenplay writing books, and I had to keep her company, didn't I? Schuler's has deep couches in front of a fireplace, we were lucky enough to grab one. Without thinking about purchasing, I felt freer to just grab some books that looked interesting.

The first was The Number. The Number is that number you need to have available for retirement. I've seen different possibilities presented before. This book went further. It gave you the formulas, but it also discussed having "a life" in retirement. And surprisingly, it wasn't referring to a high-faluting life, but a meaningful life, emphasizing giving back (in time) and having hobbies that were challenging and rewarding.

The second book was The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus, by Margaret Atwood. I have to confess, I've never been able to get into Atwood's books. However, y'all remember how taken I was with Troy last year two years ago. At that time I spent some time studying the Greek myths, so this book caught my eye.

What a great book! It's the story of Odysseus and Penelope, his wife. Penelope waited at home for twenty years for Odysseus while he was off waging battles over that flirt Helen. When he came home, he had her twelve maids hung. Eek!

This book is Penelope's side of the story, with a chorus of the maids. It was intriguing, and I highly recommend it!

Okay, so Deb did buy a book, so we weren't total goofs!

And I have books being packaged to send to folks that have said they would like them. Anymore takers?

Doesn't Detroit look nice?

Go Steelers!

Well dang! Bigfoot has been on my balcony!!!!

Now to the Unconscious Mutterings.

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Taking sides::Choosing
2. Couples::Valentines
3. Right of refusal::uhhh
4. Marla::Carla
5. Multiple::Personalities
6. Trinity::Three-in-One
7. Sneeze::Achoo
8. Sweatpants::workout
9. Steve::Wonder
10. Fabulous::Acres

I Love It.

Got home last night, went to post, and blogger was unavailable to me. Worse yet, my site was "forbidden". Gosh. What did I do???

Oh well, I'm back again today. *grin*

Hmmm. Rex and I are the same? Can that be right?

Your Personality Is

Rational (NT) You are both logical and creative. You are full of ideas. You are so rational that you analyze everything. This drives people a little crazy! Intelligence is important to you. You always like to be around smart people. In fact, you're often a little short with people who don't impress you mentally. You seem distant to some - but it's usually because you're deep in thought. Those who understand you best are fellow Rationals. In love, you tend to approach things with logic. You seek a compatible mate - who is also very intelligent. At work, you tend to gravitate toward idea building careers - like programming, medicine, or academia. With others, you are very honest and direct. People often can't take your criticism well. As far as your looks go, you're coasting on what you were born with. You think fashion is silly. On weekends, you spend most of your time thinking, experimenting with new ideas, or learning new things.

The Three Question Personality Test

well. umm. Cat's got my tongue. Or fingers. Or something.

TGIF!

I was tagged!

Cybertoad tagged me so here goes…

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:
1) Shirt Presser in a laundromat.
2) Bull in a China Shop.
3) Teacher's Assistant.
4) Amanuensis

Four movies you could watch over and over again (not to be confused with favorite movies):
1) River Runs Through It
2) Field of Dreams
3) Dances with Wolves
4) What About Bob

Four TV shows you love(d) to watch: (gonna really date myself here)
1) Bonanza
2) Magnum PI
3) Captain Kangaroo
4) CSI (The original)

Four places you’ve lived:
1) Grand Ledge, Michigan
2) Lansing, Michigan
3) Upland, Indiana
4) The Other Side of Lansing


Four places you’ve been on vacation to:
1) Montana
2) Florida
3) Boston
4) Washington D.C.

Four places you would rather be (or where you’ll like to visit?):
1) Paris
2) Australia
3) Alaska
4) Montana

Four of your favorite foods:
1) Governor's Chicken
2) Roast Beef
3) Corn-on-the-Cob
4) Butter brickle cake with butter brickle frosting

Four websites you visit daily:
1) blogger.com
2) hotmail.com
3) www.flickr.com
4) various blogs

Four tagged:
1) Cindy
2) Sheryl
3) Susan
4) Anyone else who hasn't played and would like to play

Happy Birthday!

Go on over and wish Karen a happy happy birthday! Happy birthday, kiddo!

The Good Thing

The good thing about winter up-North here in Michigan is that the sun is always so low in the sky that you can get good shadows throughout the day. (This was at 11:30 a.m.)



The bad thing about winter up-North here in Michigan is that the sun only shines about every tenth day.

Survivors Ready?

Do you hear that sound? Yes, Survivors starts again tonight. Four tribes this time, divided along older men/older women/younger men/younger women lines. And the addition of "exile" island. Are you watching?

A Repeat.

I'm preparing to move in May or June, and am working at lowering my stacks of books and paper ephemera. I proposed this in January, and yesterday I sent out six packets. I'll make the same offer in February, as I've progressed to a different set of bookcases.

If you would like a couple of books, free of charge, send me an email with your snail mail addy. My middle initial, E, officially stands for Ellen, but unofficially stands for eclectic, so I bet I can find something that will suit your tastes. And you'll be helping a bookaholic pare her stash.

Nothing to lose, no postage, no fuss or muss, and if you don't like the offerings you can pass them right on!

Thanks!

You Should Drive a Saturn Sky

You're sleek and smooth, and you need a car to match your hot persona. Besides, sometimes you want your top up - and sometimes you want it down.

What 2007 Car Should You Drive?

yup! From Rex.

I don't always find deer on my walks in the woods, but I always know they're near.