Friday the 13th!

Not a good day for friggatriskaidekaphobics. Fortunately, I like Friday the 13th. You?

Edit: 10:25 p.m.
I was scanning some old pictures last night and this one tickled me no end, for an odd reason. The picture is about fifty years old, and the kiddie in the sandbox is yours truly. The two men are my dad and my grandpa cornelius, who went by the nickname Shirley. Yep, I was named for my Grandpa. But that's not what tickles me about the picture. It's about the big tree in the background, with the lopsided bench built around it. That's how grandpa built things: fast and sometimes without the aid of a level. But the memories of that tree jump out at me unbidden at different times, memories of the boy cousins hanging a Tarzan rope from one of the branches one summer, flashes of the Baltimore Orioles that built their hanging basket nest in it another summer, and glimpses of gaggles of kids sitting on the bench. And wasn't it just . . . yesterday?

Survivors Ready?

It's time to pick your bootee for tomorrow night's episode.

Bryn posted about Charles Dickens' Birthday on February 7. She had lots of good CD information.

My favorite Dickens book is A Tale of Two Cities, and my favorite quote from it is:

It was remembered afterwards that when he bent down and touched her face with his lips, he murmured some words. The child, who was nearest to him, told them afterwards, and told her grandchildren when she was a handsome old lady, that she heard him say, "A life you love."

Yours?

©

That's just perfect meg! Not only is it perfect for Valentines Day, it fits right in with the Go Red program of the American Heart Association!

AT THE
MOVIES Saturday I met a friend for lunch and a movie. Lunch was at the Irish Pub, a lovely Dublin Salad. It was my first time at the restaurant and I highly recommend it. (How can you not like a place that has "The older the violin the sweeter the music" inscribed above one of the doors?)

We settled on Butterfly Effect for the movie. It was one of those compromise things that turned out to be a good choice. The movie is a time travel movie, where the Ashton Krucher character returns to his childhood to right wrongs. As with all time travel movies, there are the missteps that occur (for we all know that changing things in the past alters the future, right?) and reoccur as he tries to find the key to protecting himself and his friends. The film takes a serious look at child abuse and its repercussions.

I had been curious about Ashton Krucher, as I hadn't watched the Seventies Show. There's lots of intelligence going on there behind that beautiful face, as well as a "regular guy" kind of thing.

Can't sleep? Well then, visit Monday Madness!

1. On Sunday afternoon, I like to ...visit Mom.
2. I'm behind someone at a traffic light, the light turns green and they just sit there, I... count to three, if they haven't moved then, tap lightly on the horn.
3. My immediate reaction to someone making a nasty remark to me is... make a nasty remark back
4. If I had to live in a state/country where it was cold most of the year, I would... adapt.
5. When the weather outside is hot and humid, I prefer to...go swimming.
6. My favorite 'comfy' clothes to wear around the house is...my robe.
7. If given a deadline at work/school to finish a project, I usually... will meet it.
8. If someone gave me a pet for my birthday, I would... be surprised.
9. As far as watching the clock on weekends, I... only watch it if I'm meeting up with friends.
10. I usually wash my car about every...six weeks.

THANK YOU!

Roscoe and Onyx. You made me smile!

Swiped from Cindy, who is in HongKong for the next two weeks for her grandmother's memorial service. {{{hugs}}}


Ballet shoes- beautiful, graceful, and creative,
you enjoy dancing writing and music. You are
often very poetic and sometimes dramatic. You
keep to yourself aside from a few close friends
that you can relate to.


What Kind of Shoe Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

It's Sunday, so it's time for Unconscious Mutterings!

Week 53

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

Identity:: Crisis
Reveal:: Trading Spaces
Live:: and let live
Attitude:: Bad
Night:: Music
Nevada:: Gambling, Ponderosa, Bonanza
Weekend:: Smiles
Write:: Right, necessary
Friend:: Best
Seventeen:: Magazine

COMMON

Good Saturday morning!

I cannot believe it. I was first on Susan's Saturday Morning Me! That's never happened before! (Mmmm, just checked her site again. I'm followed by the intriguing Kane. *evil grin*)

Lynn has a new layout showcasing her black-and-white photography. Sweet.

Bryn has a good quote for the morning. And if you want to see snow, go visit Rune!

Ferrolad has the first three chapters of a work-in-progress posted. More, more. Faster, faster!

Diane is serving rightside up pineapple cake. Check out her new home!

As always, there are more places I would like to send you to visit, but I've gotta meet a friend for lunch today and there are errands to do and . . . I'll catch ya later! Have a great day!

FLIPPING ORKUTFLIPPING ORKUT

(meg made me do it. she did. really.)

Burningbird hits a Homer.

Shelley Powers puts Clay Shirkey's Power Law in perspective here, with her Weblog Speck Law. I like it.

And a good Friday morning to you all! And for those of you starting your weekend today...I am so jealous! *grin* But I'll catch up with you tonight!

Incoherent?

I can't seem to string two sentences together this morning. Yikes! Maybe it's brain freeze: we had homemade ice cream last night. Is there anything better than ice cream cranked in a machine, with ice from winter icicles instead of the ice machine at the local convenience store? I think not.

Survivors Ready? It's tomorrow night for the second round. Who would you like to see booted? No wait, who do you think will be booted?

About mid-day it struck me: Today is 02/03/04. Kinda cool.

Good Tuesday Morning.

Looks like we've got at least a couple new inches of snow again. Whee!

Primary question of the day. Seven primaries or caucuses. How many will John Kerry win?

Okay, so why is that lady in the old silver Corsica driving through the cemetery every night around 5:40 p.m.? Wonder what's up with that?

Er, um . . . that lady would be me, and I've fallen in love. No, not with a ghost, I'm not that far gone. (Yet.) I've fallen in love with the deer herd that comes to hang out at the cemetery in the dusky hours of the evening.

I'm not sure where the herd came from originally. One theory is that they migrated in from the farm area south of town as development took place. A second theory is that they are the product of deer that escaped from the arboretum and zoo years ago. However they came about, I've counted a dozen different animals ranging about the cemetery, including two grown bucks and a spike horn.

I've not been able to get good pictures of the critters yet. A combination of low light, lots of white and black colors, and my own stupid excitement when I see the beasts has made for less than optimal snapshots. But I do have such fun trying.

I had heard that deer stand on their hind legs to reach food. The cemetery is the first place I've ever seen them do it. Don't they look a little like kangaroos? (Oh yeah, they're White-Tail Deer. And from this link I see that pretty soon the antlers will be shed. *sigh*)

I know folks that are buried in this cemetery. My old boss, my sister-in-law's father, old Sunday School teachers. And my best friend from childhood, Linda, is buried here. Kind of makes me smile to watch the deer playing hide-and-seek amongst the tombstones. Kind of.

Anyway, pretty soon I'll decide that I've crossed the line from passion to obsession (see, all posts sort of work together here), and then I won't visit the deer herd anymore. But for now, that silver Corsica pulling into the gates each evening will be me.

Scrabble.

Spotted several places, most recently at FARRAGOS.

**smack** Wake up!

Let's get going with some Monday Madness.

.........here's this week's questions! Hope you like 'fill-in-the-blanks!'
1. I probably spend about ______ on the computer every day. six hours at work, two hours at home
2. It always takes me ____ minutes to get ready in the morning. thirty minutes
3. I would rather go to the dentist than go to _________. the mammogram shop
4. My favorite dessert is ________. Brownie Pudding
5. When I go to the store for one item, I always walk out with about ____. twelve
6. If the statement, 'You are what you eat' was true, I would be a _______. turkey. oh wait. I am one!
7. I set my thermostat to _____ in the summer and _____ in the winter. variable/variable
8. My favorite outdoor activity is _________. walking
9. My favorite indoor activity is _________. umm. *smile* okay, second favorite: reading.
10. When I'm feeling down, I usually _________. go take pictures.

Interesting set of questions, otto. Thanks!

Turn the Calendar Page . . . It's February!

Lynn has a new look!

Two questions:

1. Where is the line between passion and obsession?

2. What is the history of photography in your life?

Gotta run, but I think I have more to say on #2 . . . see ya!

Edit:

Still waiting for Survivor to start. Still thinking about #2.
There's a ring around the moon. We have snow predicted for Tuesday. Uhoh!

Edit Monday Morning:

Well, I missed all the half-time hoopla!

Unconscious Mutterings. It must be Sunday!

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

Ignore:: Me
Death:: Resurrection
Missy:: Roo
Ballet:: Boo's girls
Guest:: Towel
Campus:: MSU
Lonely:: Solitary
Company:: Party
Helicopter:: Pad
Sterile:: White

SURVIVORS READY???
I forgot, Survivor starts tomorrow night too! For those of you who watch, choose your bootee!

I don't watch enough professional football to know who to root for in the Super Bowl? Any suggestions? If the Colts had made it I would have rooted for them in honor of Roscoe, but now I'm at a loss.

Naomi is an artist from the west coast of Canada (where the winds do blow). Her journal is pretty in pink and very peaceful. Yesterday she pointed to several children's book illustrators. Among them was a link to Tasha Tudor, one of my favorites. Oh, if only I could reach my eighties with such beauty as Tasha!

Yay!

Lynn is posting after almost two weeks of enforced quiet. Great pics of Halifax! Yum!

Good Saturday Morning!

Swiped from picklejuice:

You are 31% geek

You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

My cyber-bro Jeeem (with three e's of course) was in New Hampshire when I first met him on line. Now he's teaching in China, and his blog isn't accessible to him. So, he sends stuff to Mandarin meg, and she posts for him. She is such a sweetie! New post is up on his visit to Thailand.

Good to see mz posting a lot this week. She's counting steps. Interesting concept! She's also the leader of the Red Hat Society in her neck of the woods. I tried to buy a red hat last Saturday but my darn head is too big. Quit laughing! It's awful to have a big head.

Good Friday morning!

It's another cold morning up here in mid-Michigan, with temps between 0 and 10° F. We've had about 10 inches of snow this week. The thing that has been missing has been wind, thank goodness. It's so pretty out (sorry otto and LA, but it is, really *grin*). Last night I was walking from the parking lot to my apartment and I had a touch of vertigo: the trees were so pretty with their frosting of snow that I felt I had stepped into a Christmas card.

Twenty-two years ago today my dad passed away. A blizzard blew up on the 31st, and it always amazed me that no one got stuck, no one was involved in an accident, and that so awesome many people made it to the funeral home and funeral. He was a good family man.

I understand that for several of you, Thursday was your Friday. . . enjoy your weekend!

And now, I'd better gird up for the day ahead. See ya!

I suspect this might be an off-kilter day. I woke up thinking it was Friday. But it's not.

Have a great Thursday, everyone!

WHEN . . .

what decade does your personality live in?


quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd


Saw it first at Karen's and second at Joni's.

Tuesday in New Hampshire.

If you're watching the primaries, take a guess at the top three vote getters for the Dems in the New Hampshire primary. Bryn called the Iowa one. Let's see how this one goes.

Museum Visit.

Don't want to venture out into the cold? Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art online here.

Robert Burns.

See bryn's blog.

And Stu Savory's blog.

What a Mid-Westerner.



create your own visited states map

Swiped at Solonor's.

Monday.

So it's time for otto's Monday Madness!

1. The one kitchen appliance I just could not live without is my _______. Can Opener
2. My desk always looks like _______. I'm busy.
3. The clocks in my house are always ____ minutes fast. Let's see. 8, 10, 15 and 20 minutes4. The one television program I just can't stand is _______. Star Search
5. The one television program I try to never miss is _______. Survivor
6. When it comes to housework, I really hate cleaning ________. all the knick-knacks I have.
7. If I could re-design my living room, the first thing I would do is _______. have a window-seat.
8. I wish I had a bigger ______ in my house. bathroom.
9. When someone points a camera at me and says 'Smile!' I usually ________. turn my back.
10. I expect I'll have my income tax done by _______. February 29

Very Important Things.

Link via Fishbucket, who has really been shoveling the snow. And Jennifer has a picture of her temperature, and a picture of some awesome icicles. All right, I concede. We're the picture of warmth here in Michigan!

It's -9F. Brrr.

Edit at 8:00 a.m.

It's now -12F/-24C. Bryn, do we now qualify for Canadian cold?

Edit at 10:30 a.m.

Okay, it's 0F now. And of course, this is the morning the newspaper delivery would get screwed up. "It will be right there." Heard that at 8:00, 9:00 and 10:15. I'm leaving for church in a few. Wonder if it will be here when I get back?

Guess we just can't qualify for Canadian cold yet, according to Jennifer (go see if you can spot the white-haired dude on the bus at her site) and Bryn. Hey Lynn and Joni . . . how's it feeling in your neck of the woods? And it can't be very warm in your area, can it, Karen?

Edit at 7:50 p.m.

Oops. The sermon should have been on patience. The paper was at my door when I returned from church.

Bopped over to Mom's for a nice chicken dinner and watching Trading Spaces. Got groceries. They're put away. Now on to some projects. Hope your Sunday went well!

Unconscious Mutterings. (It must be Sunday!)

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

Political:: Cartoon
Concentration:: Camp
Fish:: Ron
Lunacy:: Idiocy
Red:: Planet
Imply:: Mean
Recognize:: Remember
Sexist:: Pig
Commercial:: Super Bowl
Stricken:: Grief

Good Saturday Morning!

We have a little sunshine and -4 degrees F here. Brrr!

Saturday morning is a good time to hop over to Susan's and see what she's up to. She's got some great links going today!

Congratulations to Kat! She is an artist, and just had her largest sale yet! Applause, applause!

Scott at EdgeCurve is back from a trip to Finland. Check him out!

Mandarin meg has a beautiful slide show (and as always tells us how to do it!!!)

Petals Art Journal is pretty in pink . . . and always filled with positive thoughts!

Every time I stop at WittBitts I think: I really should buy a red hat! Maybe I will today!

Cindy really knows how to celebrate the Chinese New Year!

Onyx just returned from a trip to Mexico. It can be hard to get in the groove again!

The other side of the world susan is talking about "21 Grams". Glad you had a good Saturday, girl!

I so enjoy everyone on the blogroll. There's just never enough time to get all of you in!

Captain Kangaroo. Bye-bye. You were our babysitter for so many years. Thank you!

Is the Dream Alive? Many have asked it this week as we celebrated Martin Luther King day on Monday.

Last night I attended a middle school production here in Lansing. The show was "Annie" (the junior version). The cast was black/brown/white. It didn't matter. So I think the dream may still be alive. Maybe not thriving, but alive.

Michigan. Where the deer but no antelope play.

Have a great Saturday . . . please!

Yay! Another Friday!

Another lovely flash production. This one is 23¢ Stories, interactive postcards from NYC.

READING
CORNER Place matters. The Black Hills of South Dakota have a star spot in my family history. My parents honeymooned there in 1950. My father's last vacation was centered in that area in 1981. And in 1968 there was a magical mystical family camping trip to the area. Camping was different back then. Imagine, if you will, eight people packed in blue Chevy station wagon. Mom, Dad and one kid in the front seat. Four kids in the back seat. Hmmm. That only adds up to seven people. Oh yeah, the cargo area was loaded with sleeping bags and Boo, who was three, perched on top of those. It was definitely a different time, a different era.

One of the highlights of the trip was hunting for buffalo. At the time there was a small herd of about 300 bison in Custer State Park. My father was a wildlife nut, so up and down the back trails we went, and finally, the last day, we found a group of the beasts. The memory is so ingrained that I have to admit: my favorite scene in Dances with Wolves is the buffalo hunt. Weird, eh?

I tell this to explain how I picked up the book BUFFALO FOR THE BROKEN HEART: Restoring life to a Black Hills Ranch, by Dan O'Brien. As a child, O'Brien made a similar trip with his family to South Dakota from Ohio. He fell in love with the land, and as an adult purchased a ranch near the Black Hills. Ranching is hard business in South Dakota: O'Brien often makes the payments by teaching or writing or taking other work throughout the west.

In Buffalo for the Broken Heart he details how he switched from cattle to buffalo on his ranch. It is an intriguing story, told with the passion of someone who loves and understands the cycles of the grasses and native animals of the area. I think I'm in love. (Except he's married again now. Sigh.)

In these days of suspect beef, I found the buffalo raising and butchering methods described in the book fascinating. One of these days I may just order some buff from their distribution center at Wild Idea Buffalo.

What special places are close to your heart?

Happy New Year!

Jennifer has the reminder: It's Chinese New Year!

For a long while I thought I was born in the year of the Dragon. About five years ago I realized that with an early January birthday I was actually a Rabbit. Rabbits suit me better, I think.

What Mask Do You Wear?

I'm savoring the journal writings of Sabrina Ward Harrison in Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself. This is the work of a young woman from the ages of 18-21, and at first blush I would say: too different of age span here. And yet, I find that is not true. It seems to me that there is a lot of self-examination going on over on the "other side" of fifty. I think some of the pressures of life are off: the raising of children has eased, the establishing career, the meeting the bills. And with that reduction of pressure comes, at least for me, time for a little more introspection. Gotta make sure that the last third of my life is done the way I would like it to be done.

Anyway, masks. The author talks about her "long black skirts and clunky shoes". My mask? It was pointed out to me this summer that I wear single colored tees to an extreme. I think I've been trying to fade in, not stand out.

Your masks?

Oh Kat! The forward is done by SARK!

Took the day off.

I did, I did. Was unwell last night and decided I needed a day to recover. It may be more mental health than anything, but it was needed.

And Jann points to a nifty spelling test. (I put my score in the comments.)

Thank you, Susan!

Blogging as Playground.

Okay, I need help. Can someone explain what is the fascination with categorizing weblogs? I came to blogging through having a personal webpage. One day someone stopped by and said "you'd like blogging". Good call and here I am. To me blogging is about playground time, and I mean that in the best possible way. We play here for the most part. Sometimes we have serious conversations, like kids in the corner of the schoolyard discussing life. We have emotional ties to blogging friends. There are the kids who can teach us new tricks, thank you very much, meg. To me, this is what blogging is all about, and I don't understand the compulsion to put blogs in a box.

There is broadcast blogging, which I believe is significantly different than playground blogging. That type of blogging is not about interaction, it is about proclamation. I don't visit those type of blogs very often (and none are on my bloglist).

Oops, so I just categorized: playground vs broadcast blogging. Caught myself on that one!

In other thoughts: Good call on Kerry, bryn! And Susan, your dude did an awesome job.

It's 0/-18 here. Brrr. I have to go warm up.

Have a great day!

Random Thoughts:

Mandarin meg is blogging for my cyber-bro Jeeem, who is teaching in China. Check out the dragon fruit!

The author of The First Wives Club, Olivia Goldsmith, passed away at the age of 54 due to complications from plastic surgery. I've never understood the fascination with surgically altering appearance. Anyone want to weigh in on the "other side" for the pros of the procedures?

For those watching the Democratic Party Caucus in Iowa:

Who do you think will win?

Otto has the Monday Madness up!

Let's try something different this week. For each of the statements below, put a T for true or F for false. Oh yeah; please feel FREE to elaborate! Have fun! And a big THANK YOU goes to sherle for this idea! Also, please know that I'm in the process of updating the participants list. Your link will be added within 24 hours! Promise!

1. I often wake up before my alarm clock goes off. T
2. I love to drive; in any kind of weather! F
3. I'd rather have to worry about staying warm than staying cool. T
4. I wish I lived in another state. Only occasionally, but Montana winters would kill me
5. Multi-tasking is what I do best! F Multi-tasking is what I do, and I do it well, but what I do best is sink into a project.
6. Flying is the only way to go! F It's the train, not the plane.
7. Budgeting my money is one of my downfalls. T
8. I wish there was 8 days in the week! F
9. I get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. F Some nights yes, some more, some less
10. I'm a night owl. T

Oh. It's January 18th. It's Kevin Costner's birthday. (And Cary Grant's and A. A. Milne's.)

The evening after Christmas my mother and I took a drive around town to look at lights. As we approached the Capitol, we noticed that there appeared to be a number of chairs set out in front of City Hall. We were curious, but it was dark and we didn't explore.

Last Saturday I drove by City Hall again and the chairs were still there. I had to check out the situation. They weren't chairs that had been removed from the building. They were part of an art installation. Nothing was posted about the artist, but the bench on one end of the line had been painted with the words: To promote peace between u n me, or something to that effect.

Unconscious Mutterings.

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

Berry:: Halle
Fiendish:: Evil
Bar:: Drink
Frank:: 'n Stein
Bend:: Stretch
Fanatic:: Overwrought
Belch:: Burp
Flagrant:: Too much
Burden:: Beast
Flimsy:: Nightie

READING
CORNER I usually attend A Rally of Writers here in town in April. This is a day long conference that consists of a keynote address and four workshops. A friend of mine knows the romance writer DeAnna Talcott, so I attended her session. DeAnna was dressed beautifully, in a long flowing dress, but her session was anything but flowery. She talked specifically about assessing the market and her information was very down-to-earth, probably the most realistic information presented in the conference. She knows what it takes to make a living writing.

Her latest, Fill-In Fiancée, came out in November, but I didn't catch it until the holidays, so it was another New Year read. Good, quick, relaxing fun.

Back at Christmas time Susan's sister Robin became critically ill. Good things have happened though; Robin is going home today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY R O S C O E

Happy Birthday, Roscoe, and here's a spot to visit if you miss those Indiana winters too much. (Shockwave needed.)

What day are you?


Via naomi.

The Sleeping Beauty quizlet has slipped to the archives. Here are the results:

What would have happened if the Prince and Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora) never hooked up?
A. She'd still be snoozing, he'd still be riding through the forest. 9
B. He would have hooked up with the old crone who put the spell on SB.1
C. SB would have eventually tired of sleeping and awakened of her own volition. 5
D. The Prince would have hooked up with the good fairy.10

My choice would be C. I believe that eventually her dreams would have made her restless and she would have awakened on her own. And then she would have joined QuirkyAlone.

Thanks for playing!

CONFESSION
TIMEMy cell-phone takes pictures! Yep, in the middle of December I succumbed. I upgraded my phone and system to a picture phone. What sold me was that you don't have to send the pictures to a phone, you can send them to an email address!

I went crazy when I first got it, sending pictures to all my friends and family and even to some people I didn't know. (At the request of some people I did know.) The newness wore off. And then my birthday came. I had brought a little Polaroid camera to the family dinner . . . it decided it didn't want to work. What to do? My sister came to the rescue. "Use your cellphone!" Such a smart sister.

So here is my birthday cake. I love butter brickle, so Mom puts a lot of brickle on the side of the cake . . . so much that the one side got a little side-heavy. It was decorated by my 10-year-old niece Rose. The girls did a good job, don't you think!

Thursday. A good day to you all!

FARRAGO found someone snipping her photos, and she knows who the culprit is.

Cybertoad has been busy finding new stuff again. She also has a lovely post about her aging dog Ginger. Pets are small, but they take up such a big place in our hearts.



Which Cartoon Cat Are You? Quiz by gypsydance

There is something comforting about visiting an Australian blog in the morning. We're just starting the day: susan at 3rd Daughter is ending hers. Glad you made it over hump day, susan!

January is a bit drear up here in Michigan, so I find that I often pick up bright magazines for visual stimulation. One that I'm perusing now is CMYK, which spotlights cutting edge design work by graduate students. There is an on-line version here.

All Rightie! Bryn has the listing of the Survivors All-Stars. I get first dibs on Colby!

Cool, Cybertoad!

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 8. What is your score? Get it here.

AT THE
MOVIES I saw the movie BIG FISH this weekend. I'm usually not a Tim Burton fan, but I enjoyed this tale of a son's attempt to reconcile his father's stories with reality. Albert Finney was perfect as the father in older age, while Ewan MacGregor did a fine job portraying the younger father. Billy Crudup (what a name) was the son.

I feel that the BIG FISH works as a great companion piece to my favorite movie, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. The movies share the same cinematographer, the wonderful Philippe Rousselot. They also share the same joy of the story, of marking the moments.

Poets talk about "spots of time," but it is really fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment. No one can tell what a spot of time is until suddenly the whole world is a fish and the fish is gone. I shall remember that son of a bitch forever.

Happy Tuesday! My Monday was a loser, but I'm hoping things will be better today. See ya!

Good morning! It's actually above freezing already this morning. What a treat!

We usually start the week with a bit of otto's Monday Madness.

1. When I sing, I sound like a _________. wounded bird
2. ________ is my favorite month of the year. May
3. I've always wanted to improve my ________ skills. Piano playing
4. It's Monday morning, and the first thing that goes through my mind is ________. where the heck did the weekend go?
5. My favorite day of the week is ________ because _______. Saturday, it is adventure day.
6. I used to/currently collect _______. Beanie babies, angels, confetti, lighthouses
7. At the end of a work day/school day, the first thing I want to do is ________. chill
8. I really look forward to ________ because it's my favorite holiday.Easter
9. When I need some down-time, I usually _________. sleep and sleep and sleep
10. I plan to travel to _________ someday. Paris.

Fun questions, otto!

Y'all have a great day and week, k?

Oh cool! It worked. Thanks to MandarinDesign for the code!

I always get curious: are you left-handed or right?

Unconscious Mutterings! It's Sunday morning.

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

Mitchell:: State Park
Mercury:: Venus
Cycle:: Menstrual
Engagement:: Party
Alternative:: Education
Gang:: of Thieves
Emotional:: Sensitive
Skinny::Fat
Hypochondriac::Unproductive
Insecure:: who me?

Welcome back, Pariah.

This week's question goes right along with the survey question from yesterday. Here it is:

If you were banished from reality into a faery tale of your choice, which would it be, which character would you choose to become, and why?
This is a classic Saturday Slant revisited. Would you be Snow White, destined to be rescued by, and live happily ever after with, Prince Charming? Or would you choose someone who’s entire fate is not yet written, one of the Seven Dwarves, for example, so that you might reap the benefits of choosing your own path? There are easy, glib answers; and then there are deeper, more meaningful answers waiting within your heart and mind. Which will you choose?

I would want to be either the princess in the Frog Prince, or Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Both women had to accept differences and ugliness to find their "princes" and I think that is an important lesson.

Need to wake up this morning?

I stopped by Jennifer's this morning, and she pointed to Speed. She's at 5796 points though, how'd ya do that, Jennifer?

Edit: Eep! A virus has been detected on the downloadable game of Speed, so play online only. Eep! Thanks to dear naomi for the heads up on that!

Well, that woke me up!

I was up and down last night/this morning a bit, and had finally settled back into bed for a good sleep.

I had a dream. I was attending the wedding of a former boyfriend. It was in an old church, with highly polished wood pews and soaring stained glass windows. The service began.

I was called on to give a prayer of blessing. *gulp* I made it through both the stage-fright and the emotions one feels as one sees a former "friend" wed. (I just typed web. That's kind of funny.) And then I woke up.

Hmmm. The sermon Sunday was on prayer. And I absolutely fell in love with the last prayer in BRUCE ALMIGHTY.

But the dream still woke me up.

Edit: I just realized that Bryn had a Bruce Almighty reference yesterday. That might have triggered the dream too.

Swiped from Cindy this time!


What Snack Food are You? (With Cool Pics!!)
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I'd never make a good guy.
I'm forever breaking zippers.

TGIF
We made it! Well, almost. Another nine hours to go and we will have made it through the first full week since December 8, and through the first full week of 2004. Have you dated any checks 2003 or have you successfully transitioned to the new year?

Hmmm. If you're stopping by from MandarinDesign, welcome.

Oh yay! Ilana is posting again! I had been a little worried, as she lives in Israel, but she just added a bunch of great new links.

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Laura turns that magical age of *gasp* thirty today. Please stop by and tell her how young that is! Laura has been a great inspiration for me to read this past year as she details achieving weight loss goals. She's on the right track!

Mz started a Circulating Journal back in July. It has now moved on to the Czech Republic!

Well, it's a week into the New Year now. How's it going for you? Surprisingly, I still feel really stress-free and relaxed. Hope that keeps up!

Tonight was the last of my birthday celebrations. Some friends and I saw Mona Lisa Smile at the theater and then went to Applebee's for dinner after. While the movie was predictable, the company was good. It was a great fun night, and I received a "bear" blanket. Can't wait to cuddle up in that.

Good night, now!

This Week's Reading List.

Started the new year out with a little light reading: A COLD HEART, by Jonathan Kellerman. This is the latest paperback release in the Alex Delaware psychological series. Kellerman's main cast of characters is always interesting, but in this book he has added to his roster.

Do you read mystery series? I've gotten hooked on several, but the Kellerman series is my favorite.

Will He Stay or Go?

Several folks have dropped by looking for "Nick Saban". Mmmhmmm. I've mentioned the LSU coach before because: he was Michigan State's Head Football Coach in the late 90's. His LSU Tigers just won a National Championship. And now the question is: stay or go to the pros? What do you think?

Omigosh: There's a nicksaban.net. Who would have thunk it.

Brrr!

It's cold here this morning. 12° F (-11° C). This cold snap is supposed to continue for a few days.

Brrr.

I need to change the topper and colors of the blog, but I just haven't figured out what to do next. Must be "old age" is clogging my brain.

I just realized I haven't worked a "full" week of work since the week of December 8. And looking at the calendar: is it my imagination or do we have 53 Fridays this year? What does that do to the economy? It must do something to the markers?

Susan*Jayne has a post on the unavailability of calendars. Remember when banks used to give them away? Even our HVAC company mailed out 4000 a year at one time, but no more. I had picked up a Charlie Russell calendar when I was in Montana last August, but that was the only one I had. Sometimes I get them for gifts, but not this year. Ah well, at least buying at the beginning of the year means that most of them were half off!

Happy Tuesday!

Bobbi is an artist from Kansas. She uses several types of media. Here she has photographs from San Antonio. Powerful use of light.

Some of you know how much I like Montana. We spent several days in the Great Falls area last summer, in 95-105 degree weather. Big Sky Dave has pictures of the same area, only the temperature is -17. Brrrr!

Monday Madness.

Slang.........this week's questions are all about slang.
1. Do you use any slang words on a regular basis? Probably, but I can't think of specific ones right now
2. Is there any one slang word that really bothers you when you hear others use it? Not really
3. Do you have a favorite slang word? Not really. I change word usages around too much to have a favorite.
4. What are your thoughts on adding slang words to the dictionary? I guess it's all right if they've come into common usage and will stand the test of time.

Well, as often happens when the kids are due to go back to school: the snow started at about 3:30 p.m. and is coming down at a pretty good clip. Now the kids will be up and down all night, checking to see if there is enough accumulation for a "snow day" tomorrow. Probably there won't be, and then they'll start the week dragging. It's just one of those things.

Monkey see, Monkey do. Mandarin meg was playing and I wanted to too.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! Often people try to analyze the whys and wherefores of blogging. To me, the real joy of blogging is the chance to cyber-meet some awesome people. And the possibilities are always there for face-to-face meet-ups. I feel like we're all part of a pioneer thing here, and it is good.

It was a quiet birthday, with a big family dinner scheduled today. Hopefully the snow will hold off. Wishing you a great day!

Oh good grief! Now Britney Spears has gotten married. By accident.

Unconscious Mutterings.

Vintage:: Olden
Longing:: Yearning
Specimen:: Bottle
Mock:: Taunt
Shit:: Happens
Friday:: the 13th
Cruel:: and Unusual
Insufficient:: Not enough
Pessimistic::Optimistic
Grin:: and bear it

You may have heard about a birthday today!

And it's true! Mel Gibson is 48 today!

And Shirl, who was born in '52, is 52 today. There's a kind of symmetry there, I think. Maybe.

Thanks Bryn and Lynn and Susan for starting my morning so sweetly!

Good morning!

I owe, I owe, so it's off to work I go!

The boss allowed us to choose as an extra day off either the day after Christmas or the day after New Year. Umm. I took the day after Christmas, so today it's back to the trenches!

Had a super duper New Years and hope you had the same.

For large group game playing, may I suggest Apples to Apples, which is a fairly fast game and varies according to who is playing. We had twelve playing and played two games in an hour. Cranium is another new game for us this holiday season. We played it Sunday with eight people. It combines trivia/language/drawing/charades and is a very busy fun game.

We also spent about an hour outdoors yesterday playing a game the kids made up in the 90's and which we've dubbed Aliens. It's a combination of tags and we had twelve people playing it in Mom's backyard yesterday. Five of us were over 35. I'm nursing a jammed finger and an achy right hip this morning, but hey. It's good to be alive!

See ya!

There is a moment. The count-down has been enumerated, ten down to one, happy new year is shouted, and the confetti flung. The moment is then, as the confetti arcs above the crowd and glistens and shimmers and seems to be suspended for an instant. That is the moment that all seems possible and new again.

Wishing you all possibilities and happiness in this new year!!