This one swiped from Diane, who is riffing off Mandarin meg:

☼☼☼

☼

Waiting for Spring

My OWN Garden. What do you see?

P I L L O W

Survivors Ready?

Double Tribal Council tonight. What's that all about?

A couple of places I've been playing:

Surname distribution. It's fun to see how the surnames move from 1820 to 1990.

Sheryl pointed to Placing the States. It's become addictive. Thanks, S!

You can make your own word here. Spotted at White Pebble and Crossing the Rubicon. Thanks!

Oh shoot! It's almost over and I just found out (again) that it's Pi day. My bad.

Ah, someone was very busy this weekend. Congratulations to Rune who was married yesterday!

5 +teams

ToWin

THAT DESERVE

The joy of CSS. Mandarin meg has given us some more CSS with which to play. I've taken her copy and paste and messed it up with what's on my mind right now, the NCAA March Madness. Which teams are you rooting for?

Cyber-bro Jeeem, in Thailand, reports on another day-in-the-life.

NCAA Men's brackets here.

NCAA Women's brackets here.

I'm back, and it's time for the Unconscious Mutterings.

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

1. Shape up::or ship out
2. New Orleans::French Quarter
3. In the bedroom::*smile*
4. All the time::All News
5. Philosophy::Belief
6. Tyler::Mary Tyler Moore
7. Disturbed::Upset
8. French kiss::Tongue
9. Solidify::Strengthen
10. Furtive::Sneaky

I changed the colors to green, but it didn't help. Michigan State lost to Iowa in the Big 10 Conference Game. Shoot!

Brief posting this morning. Heading up north to see Niece #3 as the lead in her school musical. It's Annie Get Your Gun, and Niece #6 plays her little sister. Type-casting!

Impossible.

I have not had a Pepsi or any other caffeinated cola since December 18. I would never have thought it possible to go that long without my favorite beverage.

This has been the year of living differently.

Today (well, I mean, right this very moment wrong again, they're not working now, oh yes they are!) my comments are working, but blogger comments on some of my friends blogs aren't working. Hugs to y'all!

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Picked up at LDH's. He's a D20

• Joan of Arc or Joan of Arcadia?
• John Lennon or John Denver?
• Emily Dickinson or Emily Bronte?
• Paul McCartney or Paul Anka?
• Katherine Hepburn or Catherine Zeta-Jones?
• George Harrison or George Clooney?
• Harriett Tubman or Harriett Beecher Stowe?
• Mick Jagger or Mickey Dolenz?
• Margaret Mitchell or Martha Mitchell?
• Orlando Bloom or Orlando, Florida?

W A I T I N G

oh yum. Bobbi is finding spring in Kansas.

Survivors Ready?

Who will get booted off tonight?
Who is your favorite player?

I may be watching Survivor too much.

The other night I dreamed that my brother Grizzl, a big old 48-year-old dude, was a contestant on Survivor. My mother and I decided we would go check on him. We flew to the island where the contest was being held. My mother stayed with the plane, and I sneakily followed a path. The path led directly to a hut. No on was around. Aha! I went into the hut and then out the other side, and THERE was a room that had a sink with running water, a refrigerator, and some lockers and stuff. I heard someone coming, so hid on a cot (sheesh) with some clothes over me. As luck would have it, it was my brother Grizzl. He was getting into the fridge for a Mountain Dew. He realized someone was in the room and walked over to the cot. I couldn't see him (I was under all those clothes) but I could hear him laugh and say "oh great". Well, of course he had to tell Mark Burnett I was there. Burnett made me attend Tribal Council where he told me that I had NO MORALS and then let the other contestants decide if Grizzl could stay or not. (They did.)
I may be watching Survivor too much.

blogger is being hinky again.

Aphrodite/Eros


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Swiped from Roscoe!

• Tom Cruise or Tom Selleck?
• Barbara Walters or Barbara Bush?
• Steven Spielberg or Stephen King?
• Elizabeth Taylor or Elizabeth Barrett Browning?
• Isaac Asimov or Isaac?
• Jennifer Aniston or Jennifer Lopez?
• Tom McGuane or Tom Wolfe?
• Chris Rock or Chris Locke?
• Susan Sarandon or Susan B. Anthony?
• Kevin Costner or Kevin Kline?

cat's got my fingers.

Sheryl has an Accessible photo series here. Well done.

Starting the week with a little Monday Madness. And questions are courtesy of our good friend susan!

1. What's on your refrigerator? (Please feel free to use a picture to answer.) On top of the refrigerator we have: Shredded Mini-Wheats/bread/Easter Egg dyes. On the face of the refrigerator we have about 600 magnetic words. As I look at that I'm thinking I really might be a little OCD. Who buys 4 sets of magnetic words? Huh???
2. What color is your refrigerator? White
3. Is the freezer on the top, bottom or side? Top
4. How old is your fridge? Does it match your stove? About ten years old and it does match the stove
5. How regularly do you clean the inside of your fridge? Regularly? Oops.

Blue Snow

Green Snow

Brown Snow

Oh no! The dreaded Yellow Snow.


As always, blame it on Mandarin meg.

Swiped from Sheryl:


You're a Dialogue/Character Writer!


What kind of writer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

We wake up on Sunday and we Mutter.

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

1. Usher::Church, Wedding
2. Cherish::Tender Love
3. Mistreat::Abuse
4. Forum::Symposium
5. Systematic::Methodical
6. Warning::Siren
7. Wash::Car
8. I wish::upon a star, you were here
9. Candles::Birthday
10. Metallic::Silver

Another Saturday discussion of words. Today the word is chock-full.

Brrr!

This has been a most wintry winter up here in mid-Michigan. We've had more snow than usual, and we're waking up to temperatures of 7F/-14C. In March!

I work for a heating and air conditioning company, and we have booths in Spring Home Shows in March. The first is this weekend. So much for showcasing air conditioning!

Make me envious. How's the weather in your area?

This is one of those "everyone is doing it" things, so here goes:

oh, and I write my dates Month/Day/Year, so today is: 03/04/05. Cool, eh?

Sheryl gives us a visual for accessibility.
Thanks!

Edit: Yeah yeah, I accidentally double posted. Blogger was hinky last night. But I'm leaving both posts up. It's a great picture. Really.

Sheryl gives us a visual for accessibility.
Thanks!

OtherSide

OtherSide

Okay, meg started this here, and I couldn't get it to work. Gary at TFS Reluctant got it to work, so I swiped his code. Yay for the internet!

Accessible Art.

Our local art gallery recently moved to a site in the downtown area. They moved into a vacant store that had been designed by the architect George Nelson. The building contains a mezzanine. There is an exhibit on the mezzanine. The second level is reached by climbing stairs.

BARRIER FREE DESIGN

Barrier Free Design, a special part of the building codes, has been public policy in Michigan since 1966. It is intended to assure that public facilities and facilities used by the public are accessible to and usable by all citizens, including elderly persons, wheelchair users and individuals with permanent or temporary conditions that reduce coordination or mobility or make walking difficult or insecure.

Hmmm.

I asked about the accessibility issue when the Gallery moved into the building in December. (I was quite amazed that they would put an exhibit on the mezzanine. The store that had been there before had blocked that area off to the public.) I was assured that they were working on getting the funding for an elevator.

Today I stopped by to browse, and one of the volunteers asked if I had seen the exhibit on the second floor. I had to be truthful (didn't I?) and said, "I'm sorry, I'm boycotting the mezzanine until the elevator is installed."

That volunteer seemed to understand, but another volunteer had to pipe in. "Would you rather we hadn't opened here at all?"

*sigh* "No, I would prefer that the exhibits were held on the first floor. Art should be accessible to everyone." Obviously I wasn't boycotting the first floor, as I was strolling around viewing the works. If I had really wanted to make an issue, I would have been picketing outside the front door.

Oh wait, maybe that's what I should do next.

So Happy It's Thursday!*

And Survivor tonight . . . pick your bootee, please!

*E.B.C.

The elusive buck.

Good Wednesday Evening!

So are we having fun yet? I'll bet Karen is. Going to go check on her Wednesday hunk now.

Oh my! Karen is having a good day *evil grin* and also sends us over to Cassie-B's, where she has March's Bizarre and unique holidays posted. I'm going to celebrate March 14. Can anyone guess what day that is? (Hint. 3/14)

P I E C E

Kids With Cameras.

Snow Deer

All right! Good Monday evening, and let's do a little Monday Madness!

1. What time is it right now? 8:51 p.m.
2. What are you usually doing at this time on any given day? it varies. Tonight I'm doing laundry and playing on the internet.
3. Is there a day of the week that time seems to fly by faster than the other days? Not really
4. If you could make ONE hour of each day twice as long, which hour of the day would you choose? 9 to 10 p.m.
5. If you could make one DAY of the week twice as long, which day would you choose? Saturday
6. If you could make one hour and/or one day HALF as long, which time of the day, and which day of the week would you choose?Monday, and 7-8 a.m.
7. Do you agree with the following statement? "The older you get, the faster time goes by." yes
8. What do you usually do during your "down time?" read, take pictures, play on the internet, scrapbook, write
9. What one thing do you spend more time doing each day than anything else? Working. *sigh*

Hinky.

Sunday, so let's Mutter:

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

1. You’ve got a friend::when you're down and troubled
2. Immigration::Ellis Island
3. Waitress::Waiter
4. Snickers::Candy Bar
5. Recognize::Know
6. Concept::Idea
7. Birthday::Party, Candles
8. Told you so::Know-It-All
9. Unlikely::implausible
10. Extension::Cord

P E A C E

This week was sunnier and brighter and it shirley seemed to go much better than last week. And yay! It's Friday!

Whoa! I'm Late!

Survivor tonight. Any last minute bootee guesses???

Malcolm Count

I'm counting the Malcolm Answers in the Unconscious Mutterings of Sunday. The project is going slower than I thought it would, as of course I have to check out the blogs that have the answers and you know how that goes. So far the distribution is as follows:

X = 11
Ian = 1
Fraser = 2
Great Aussie Film = 1
Jeff Goldblum = 1
Jamal Warner = 1
in the Middle = 10
Forbes = 2

You are 'Latin'. Even among obsolete skills, the
tongue of the ancient Romans is a real
anachronism. With its profusion of different
cases and conjugations, Latin is more than a
language; it is a whole different way of
thinking about things.

You are very classy, meaning that you value the
classics. You value old things, good things
which have stood the test of time. You value
things which have been proven worthy and
valuable, even if no one else these days sees
them that way. Your life is touched by a
certain 'pietas', or piety; perhaps you are
even a Stoic. Nonetheless, you have a certain
fascination with the grotesque and the profane.
Also, the modern world rejects you like a bad
transplant. Your problem is that Latin has
been obsolete for a long time.


What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Found at Rune's, who is the regular metric verse.

Project: What were the different Malcolm: responses for Unconscious Mutterings. Stay tuned.

Go Green!

The women's basketball team at Michigan State University is in sixth place in the AP ranking. Yes! There were 14,095 people at Sunday's MSU-Ohio State match-up at Breslin. What a win for the Spartans!

Okay, I had to do this. I picked up the template at Bryn's. She picked it up at Fragments from Floyd. Sheryl and Claude have already blogged theirs. I'm going to sneak mine in here.

I am from _______ (specific ordinary item), from _______ (product name) and _______.
I am from the _______ (home description... adjective, adjective, sensory detail).

I am from the _______ (plant, flower, natural item), the _______ (plant, flower, natural detail)

I am from _______ (family tradition) and _______ (family trait), from _______ (name of family member) and _______ (another family name) and _______ (family name).

I am from the _______ (description of family tendency) and _______ (another one).

From _______ (something you were told as a child) and _______ (another).

I am from (representation of religion, or lack of it). Further description.

I'm from _______ (place of birth and family ancestry), _______ (two food items representing your family).

From the _______ (specific family story about a specific person and detail), the _______ (another detail, and the _______ (another detail about another family member).

I am from _______ (location of family pictures, mementos, archives and several more lines indicating their worth).

A am from pine trees, from Dominos Pizza and Pepsi.

I am from the small white house . . . overflowing with love, laughter and an abundance of ragtag children.

I am from the lilacs, childhood shelters and foil-wrapped bouquets to lay on soldier graves.

I am from music and stubbornness, from Grandma Bea and the great-great-grandpa Charleys.

I am from the hard-workers and the practical jokers.

From hey punkin and quit crying or I'll give you something to cry about.

I am from the Easter Son-Rise Service.

I'm from Lansing, the combination of many branches, roast beef and corn on the cob.

From the finger my grandfather lost in his workshop (which my cousins later found) (and did EVERYONE's Grandpa lose a finger?) . . . and the legs that never worked right for my brother J.R.

I am from the boxes and albums of pictures that originated with Great Grandma Alta and to which I have added.

I am childless.
Where will the pictures go?
Will anyone remember me?

Not a lot of time this morning, but let's grab a little Monday Madness:

This week, using the letters in your name (real or screen name), list places that you've been to. Be creative! Have fun! =)

S St. Louis, Missouri. And to the top of the arch.
H Heaven and Hell
I Island. Mackinac Island.
R Rhode Island. (well, we drove through a tiny bit of it.)
L Lansing. Lansing, Michigan!!

Umhhhhhhhhh......


You are a Go-Go Girl! Yay you!


What kind of Sixties Person are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

All right, it's Sunday and it's time for the Unconscious Mutterings:

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

1. Dirty work::Diaper Duty
2. Shopkeeper::Gift shop
3. Goodness::Mercy
4. Yearning::Longing
5. Show and tell::Kindergarten
6. Trapped::Stuck
7. Malcolm::X
8. Season::Christmas
9. Bestseller::Book
10. Desk::Job

Here's a blog that showcases the bad script pitches a talent manager has received. Yikes!

Lots of things to do here. I had fun with the collage maker.

The Joys of Blogging, part the gazillionth.

I consider blogging both writing in a blog and reading other blogs. There are so many reasons I enjoy blogging. One of the reasons is the synchronicity and serendipity that often occur.

For example: January 31.

I'm over at Patti's White Pebble, and she's talking about her adoration of Moleskines. Now, I'm a paper junkie, but I had never heard of these. So I followed her links and was quite impressed. In that same blog run, I'm visiting Annie at Fishbucket, and what does she have but a link to Moleskinerie. This is really cool!

Fast forward to yesterday. I was at Gibson's Bookstore over by the Community College. Guess what they had? Mmmhmmm. I am now a proud owner of a moleskine. As I was checking out, the clerk said, "I didn't know we had those!"

The power of the blog. Big thanks, Patti and Annie!

The Card Player.

My mom is quite a gal. She's had a lot of ups and downs in her life, but at 76 she just keeps on keeping on. She picks up her granddaughters from school twice a week: the woman knows more middle school gossip than most kids do, I think. She makes sure another granddaughter gets to Junior Symphony every Monday. And on Wednesday she picks up her senior high grandson and gives him piano lessons.

A couple of years ago she took up walking. This was a woman who thought going a block was too much for her, but a friend was a walker so they began walking at the senior center. Darned if she didn't get strong enough that last year we did a 5K walk in the spring. In the summer she hiked over 4 miles to the Ludington lighthouse.

Then it struck. Tibialis posterior dysfunction, the beginnings of adult onset flatfoot. She's caught it early, so she and the podiatrist are working on treating it, but it put a crimp in her walking. That doesn't slow Mom down, though. Nope, she goes to the senior center with her friend, the friend walks, and Mom uses the weights and machines there to exercise. This has given her more time to meet some of the other seniors, and they invited her to play euchre. She didn't know how to play euchre, but she loves to learn new things. She played an introductory game there, then badgered me to play with her for the next couple of weeks 'til she got the hang of the strategies. And now she's an official euchre player.

I hope I still have that love of learning when I hit 76.

These are fun! Onyx was playing, and I had to play too!

Mike came in from the warehouse with two packages that had been delivered from U.P.S. "Which would you rather open," he asked. "A package from Pittney Bowes, or a package from Brad Pitt?" He wasn't kidding.

Sheryl has some interesting questions up here.

And how cool! It's Random Acts of Kindness Week! What to do, what to do!

So Happy It's Thursday*

It's been a long week. I'm not exactly sure why, unless it's been the lack of sun. Temperatures have been all over the place, with rain, ice and now some snow out there. And I'm jealous. *GRIN* We don't get Mondays off for Presidents' Day. *sigh*

Survivor Fans: Tonight begins #10!

* E.B.C.

Stopped at LDH's for a quiz again.

You Aren't Scary, You're Scared

Probably even scared to see how this quiz came out!

How scary are you?

Oh cool!

Laura was just in NYC and has some great pictures of The Gates installation here.

Scared myself silly.

I was sitting at a spot where I sometimes observe deer. I turned the car off, as I didn't want the engine noise to spook the critters. The deer appeared, and I was intent on counting them. Suddenly, I felt a vibration. What the heck? Something is always happening to my car, but never when the engine isn't on!

Doh. Somehow I had changed my cell phone to vibrate.

Double Doh. It was a wrong number.

s l e e p

Yum! I do love Clementines!

Ack! Carol at work asked me what I was doing tonight. "Oh, taking out the trash and sorting pictures for a scrapbook that I'm working on." What a sad answer for Valentine's night, eh? Ah, well.

Today is Monday, so bring on the Madness:


Ok, I thought we'd do something a little different this week. Are you up for it??

First of all, choose a letter of the alphabet. Now, choose a number 1-10.
...
...
...
Got a letter? Got a number? Here's this week's challenge:
Using the letter you chose, write down _____ (number you chose) things that describe the current season where you live. (You don't necessarily have to begin each word with the letter you chose.) Also, if you chose a low number and would like to choose a higher one, feel free! =)

Ok doke, my letter was e and the number was seven.

Our winter season here in Michigan is:

1. ephemeral.
2. eye-watering.
3. Eden for cold-weather lovers.
4. empyreal
5. enchanting
6. energizing
7. enough!!

Around and about:

Roscoe points to a fascinating political test here. If politics intrigues you, I urge you to take it.

My brother manages a paint store, so I had to take this quiz I spotted at LDH's:

I am Benjamin Moore "Royal Evening Baja Avocado" gloss interior acrylic latex Exactly the right shade for that upstairs hallway in a home with a bold yet exquisite sense of style.

Which house paint are you?

Sunday Morning, so let's do the Unconscious Muttering:

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

1. Judge::Not
2. Detroit::Motor City
3. Hyphen::Dash
4. Get it right::the first time if possible, do-overs are a pain
5. Pulsating::Throbbing
6. Yoga::Meditation
7. Memorable::Evening
8. Financial advisor::Charles Schwab
9. Ten million::a high number
10. I::can

Hmmm. Interesting. Found this at Tuckle Rori.

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln signed the charter for Gallaudet University in 1864?

That on the Lincoln Memorial, the fact that his hands are in the shape of an A and an L (in fingerspelling) is only a coincidence?

Lincoln was our first prez with a beard? Rawr!

Ah yes. New poetry up at Broadview Avenue.

Saw is over on the other-side-of-the-world at the third daughter's:

Directions: Copy into your blog and bold all that apply.

i have a cell phone.
i have friends that use me.
i am an only child.
i am a shopoholic.
i love dangly earrings.
i love cold weather.
i'm obsessed with the computer.
i have shot a gun before.
i can't live without music.
i have no tolerance of ignorant people.
i have ridden on a motorcycle before.
i'll be in this town forever.
i've been to 5 other countries.
i get annoyed easily.
i have kids.
i have neat handwriting.
i have more than a few horrible memories.
i am addicted to chocolate.
i am an atheist.
i love airplane rides.
i love taking pictures.
i hate people who are fake.
i can be mean when i want to.
one of my best friends is a guy.
i have way too many purses.
i'm obsessed with lip gloss.
i am easy to talk to.
i would never eat raw fish.
i cry easily.
i hate when people are late.
i procrastinate.
i love winter.
i have too many clothes for my closet/dresser.
i love to sleep.
i wish i were smarter.
i'm afraid of flying.
i hate drama.
i bite my nails.
i have been on an 8 hour drive.
i love the beach.
i have never had the chicken pox.
i have gone out in public in my pajamas.
i can't control my emotions.
i have a best friend.
i have moved more than once.
i truly love my friends.
i have braces.
i have never broken a bone.
i hate my computer.
i love guys that play the drums.
i state the obvious.
i'm a happy person.
i love to dance.
i love to sing.
i love cleaning my room.
i tend to get jealous very easily.
i love cute underwear.
i love night better than day.
i don't like to study for tests.
i have been on the phone for over 5 hours.
i am too forgiving.
i have horrible sense in direction.
i miss elementary school.
i'm a daddy's girl.
i love kisses on my forehead.
i love the color pink.
i love to sew.
my eye color changes.
i should see a therapist.
i played on a guys sports team.
i become stressed easily.
i hate liars.
i like comfy sweatpants.
i can play the piano.
i love the smell of rain.
i love my family.
i hate needles.
i am a perfectionist.
i always wanted to learn to play the drums.
i hate the feeling of failure.
i have friends in other countries.
i know how to cook.
i can be quite selfish.
at times, i still act like a little kid.(an 8 year-old in a 53-year-old body. Not a pretty sight.)
i have food allergies.
i love to read.
i love getting stuff in the mail.
i have problems with letting go of old feelings.
i hate being alone.
i love summer.
i love the weekends.
i love black eyeliner.
i think im pretty.
i type with one hand.
i live in a one story house.
i wear make-up.
i have never rode on an underground subway.
i can't swim.
i have bad memories.
i go to church.
i sing in the shower.
i have never been camping.
i hate cheerleaders.
i usually get what i want.
i have been on stage before.
i love roller coasters.
no one knows my full story of my life.
i am close with my parent.

ALL GREEN ALL THE TIME

What are some other colors that have multiple meanings? Help me out here. Oh, and isn't this two column stuff cool? I got it over at Mandarin Design. Go ahead, meg wants you to steal.

Green. A funny color when you think about it. It stands for money, and the environment, and the Michigan State Spartans.

L O O K

Poking and probing with the analytic roving,
of a pen unleashed with power,
to tear down every tower,
that the writer has created since her birth.

Argh! Chinese checkers is just toooo much fun. Thanks, Roscoe.

Step one.

The Joy of Green

Check out the full technique at Mandarin.

Year of the Rooster

Cindy at Loo Who reminds us that it is now the Chinese Year of the Rooster. Happy New Year!

Why not do Monday Madness on Tuesday? Here we go:

1. How many clocks (not watches) are in your home? How many of them are digital? How many do you really look at during the day? Three/two/two.

2. How many lamps (non-overhead lights) do you have in your home? What's your average wattage? Are any of them energy saver bulbs?
3/60 watt/??

3. How many house plants do you have in your home? How many need more attention than you give them? None. I'm waiting for it to warm up so I can grow things on my balcony.

4. How many photos/pictures/drawings/child's art are on your walls? How many from each of the four categories? Oh my. I can't count that far. Lots of photos/lots of pictures/an oil painting and a water color that my mother did.

5. About how many electric gadgets are in your kitchen? How many are used on a daily basis? How many are used occasionally? How many have been used once and stashed? How many have never been used? Oh probably about five, but only one is used frequently. The rest need to be used more often.

i was tagged and had to answer these questions, thanks to susan.

1. Total amount of music files on your computer? 32.4 mb

2. The CD you last bought is: The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message? Live Like You were Dying

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
Past the Point of No Return, from Phantom of the Opera.
Lose Yourself, Eminem.
The Theme Song from Rocky, the movie.
Bring Them Home, from Les Miserables.
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor.

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why?
* Susan - because she has great taste in music
* Roscoe - because he has great taste in music
* Sheryl - because I want to see what she comes up with. She has great taste.

Drat. I wanted the Eagles to win.

Sleeping Beauty

Sunday morning, the Unconscious Mutterings:

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

1. Shelter:: from the storm
2. Karate Kid:: wipe on, wipe off
3. Andrew:: Peter
4. Rib:: Eve
5. Push it:: to the limits
6. Creep::Crawl
7. Chainlink::Fence
8. Squash::Pumpkin
9. No mercy::no forgiveness
10. Superhero::Superman!

All right, Sheryl, quit horsing around!

You Have A Type B+ Personality

B+ You're a pro at going with the flow You love to kick back and take in everything life has to offer A total joy to be around, people crave your stability. While you're totally laid back, you can have bouts of hyperactivity. Get into a project you love, and you won't stop until it's done You're passionate - just selective about your passions

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

And so is Out of the Frying Pan, where I swiped this.

Kristine's making Red Velvet Cake.

Gotta mark my calendar for the Rally of Writers. (Funny what you find when you're googling the local bookstore.)

Super Sandwich.

Last night I stopped at our wonderful local bookstore, Schulers. They have a cafe adjoining the store, and I decided to have a sandwich. In recent posts we've been talking about hamburger and pizza toppings. Susan from the other-side-of-the-world has given us insight into some of Oz's toppings (eggs on pizza, beets on burgers), and that has made me curious about trying new things. The menu board at the cafe showed a ham/havarti cheese/green apple/honey mustard combination. It was perfect. So thanks, susan!

What is your favorite sandwich combination?

All righty, a quiz first, swiped from LDH, who is the very same thing.

Congratulations! You are the Fundamental Theorem of Linear Programming

So yeah. Most mathematicians don't care about you due to your association with the simplex method and mathematics' bastard son computer science. Real world applications *shudder*

Which Fundamental Theorem of Mathematics Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Oops! Lansing Larry's prediction of good weather came true, at least for a couple of days, and I've been out enjoying the lovely weather. Missed you all, and coming around for a visit now!

Not Melted Yet

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!

Here in the States February 2 is Groundhog Day. According to custom, if a groundhog peeks out of his home on the 2nd and sees his shadow, there will be six more LONG weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, then there will be an early spring. As you can see, it's still pretty cold in my neck of the woods.

I work in Lansing, the Capital City of Michigan, and approximately 1.5 miles from the beautiful State Capitol. Lansing is a great city, but well . . . we're kind of provincial. In the sticks. In the middle of a bunch of cornfields. And that means we have some great wildlife within the city environs.

Now, if you've stopped here from time to time, you may have seen deer pictures. These are taken over on the east side of town. Closer to where I work, in fact right in the vacant lot next door, we have a different kind of wildlife. We have woodchucks, which are in the same family as groundhogs. (Some would say they're the same critter. We can debate that in the comments.)

In the spring, summer and fall we have fun spotting the animals gathering weeds and chasing each other around. (The printer is located in the room that has windows looking out on that field. Really. We're working, not goofing off. Really.) There were three at last count. There are at least two large entrances to their burrows. One is right outside the shop window, the other is farther out in the field. The woodchuck families appeared to go into hibernation sometime before Thanksgiving. In November.

Someone's Up

We had a heavy snow over a week ago, which hasn't melted. I've been keeping an eye on the woodchuck burrow, and imagine my surprise this morning when I looked out and saw what looked like an indentation in the burrow and tracks around it. Could it be? Do the groundhogs, other than Punxsutawney Phil, celebrate this day? I had to explore, of course.

We were very busy this morning as one of our staff was sick and two were at a conference, but things calmed down in the afternoon. At 3:00 p.m. I put on my boots and went out tromping in the snow.

As I neared the burrow I could see the hole that had been opened in the woodchuck home. There were many tracks around it. I became a little anxious. Would a cranky, sleepy woodchuck jump out at me?


I'm a real sissy girl sometimes, and I began to envision a snarling, bug-eyed, rabid groundhog chasing me back to the door. Bud, one of our salesmen, was watching. "Maybe it's a Wolverine," he hollered. Well, that got my back up. As we all know, I'm a true-green Spartan, and I'd never let a little old wolverine intimidate me! I plunged ahead.

My fears were all for naught though. As I approached the hole, I could see a gentle little creature standing near it, with a jaunty cap atop his head. It was our own Lansing Larry, and he decidedly DID NOT SEE his shadow! So winter, begone!

Our Hero

Lansing Larry looked a little worse for wear, and his teeth were chattering from the cold. Because he had done such a fine job of weather forecasting, we brought him inside and let him play under Dee's plant. He brought great joy and happiness to us on this, Groundhogs Day 2005.

I hope you had a great day too!

We ordered our Paczkis for Fat Tuesday today. Did you order yours?

Oops. The truth is out. Bryn made me do it.

Take the quiz: "what storm are you?"

tornado
you are a tornado. you are destructive and mean

Happy Birthday Karen!

I'm late to the party, but wanted to wish Karen a great birthday, and thanks for all the Wednesday hump-day hunks!