Happy Halloween!

You don't know how hard it was not to buy the Streaky the Super Cat outfit for Thor. Okay, it was a doggie superman costume, but still.
Be safe and have fun!

Twas the Night Before Halloween

Pulling the long suffering kitten eyes trick.

Love the wonder-if-I-can-make-it-to-under-the-bed look about Loki in the background.

What, y'all thought this was easy? You thought they cooperated? They are cats.

I'll call it Thor-ca-motion.

Crazy Ladles Lady

There is a little soup/sandwich/salad shop ever ever too close to my house. Oh, I zoom right by it whenever I am out doing errands and it's just too easy to pop in for some super yummy lunch. Like yesterday, they had Brie and Granny Apple soup. To. Die. For. I think we have single handedly financed at least one of the expansions.

So, I was in there (again) yesterday and was asked, "See you again tomorrow?" Looking back over my reciepts. Um, we had lunch there Sunday. I had lunch there Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I'm trying to resist today, but then part of me is like, oh just do it, and go tomorrow too so you can say you ate there every day for a week.

And I have to go out for a pumpkin and Halloween candy, so I will drive right by. Sigh, wonder what the specials are today?

Thor sez: Friday is She Crab Soup day, don't pretend like you don't already know that.
(Edit: Ha ha. Jason just called, he is bringing me Ladles She Crab soup, so I don't have to show my face there again, today.)

Thor's Day!

You may adore me now.

Decisions, Decisions

About to leave for my first facial. Joyful.

Then I need to decide if I want to get the H1N1 mist vaccine. I can get one free at work today and tomorrow. Here is my problem: My immune system is so bored that when ever I get any vaccine, I have what they call a "robust immune reaction". Which means I'm gonna feel like shitake for a day or so. And the mist is said to provoke a bigger immune response than the injection. So, mist now or injection later?

Oh, and pet peeve: People who say that the flu shot gives them the flu. It does NOT. It makes your immune system think you have the flu, so it runs out the standard bag of tricks: increase the body temperature, crank up the snot production, send out the troops to eat any foreign body they can find (which leads to the sore throat and achy muscles).

When your child got a vaccination and then had a little fever and was grumpy from feeling bad, did you say that the measles vaccine gave your child the measles? No, you just understood that it was part of the immunity building that is the purpose of the vaccination.

End rant.

Loki sez: So my rabies vaccine didn't really give me rabies?

Twosday

Hair is sufficiently short. Slightly Jamie Lee-ish. The hair at the nape of my neck is still dark, but we discovered a white spot in it this morning. A spot-spot, not just a place-spot. Weirdness.

Why did I look okay in the car mirror, go to the wine store, then get home to see the tiny hairs all over my forehead?

Watched an old guy with a McCain sticker and a Jesus fish on his SUV hit a parked car just moments before the old lady who owned the car came out of the wine store. She didn't notice the dent/scratch on the side and Mr. Moral Majority let her drive off without telling her that he'd damaged her car.

Moral fiber, it's not just for slogans!

I honestly thought he was getting out to tell her, but he let her drive away. If I'd been 30 seconds quicker, I would have ratted him out. Poor old lady!

The boyz say: Yell all you want, you should have had the morals not to leave things laying around if you didn't want them haired up.

Monday, Monday

How I love this Monday. It's random week off week! I have a terrible problem - I accumulate too much paid time off and I'm in constant danger of capping out so have to just take time off for no reason. Sounds horrible, huh?

I bought a 36 inch long black wig for Halloween and when I tried it on, realized that my real hair used to be that long. I want to braid it and put flowers in it - I'm going to be a hippie, wanted to be an old hippie and have braided gray hair, but couldn't easily find a gray wig and am too lazy to hunt (only being a hippie cos I already have a tie dyed peace sign shirt). But then I realized that I don't even own a brush. What kind of girl doesn't own a hair brush?

My completely random question for people the past week has been, "Do you know where I can get a picture of Jamie Lee Curtis doing her yogurt commercials?"

Because I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow and want it done like hers, that's why.

I'm also getting my first facial this week. I don't even know proper facial etiquette. Should I wear make up or not? How long does it take? Should I pluck random facial hairs so I don't gross out the person doing the facial? What if I have a big fat pimple? Should I cancel?

Okay, I need to start editing the last short story so I will get up and do one of my big projects: clean out the lower kitchen cabinets. I've scaled that back from cleaning all the kitchen cabinets, just trying to be reasonable with myself.

And supervise cooler weather friskiness.

The boyz say: What? We're playing!
Sure it's all fun and games until Loki starts hissing.

Loki Sunday

Artistic complications.


Loki sez: Did anyone see where it landed? I need that part.

Sigh

I think I must be a non-descript, boring person. For the third time, a person I've met before told me it was "nice to meet you."

Three times.

Sigh.

We went to an art gallery for a book signing and art showing - the art was Fletcher Crossman's and the book was about his art written by Jason's friend Nick Smith.

I love Fletcher's work. Love it. But had a slight case of the giggles when I saw the prices by his work last night. Perhaps he would paint a postage stamp sized piece for me, maybe I could afford that! If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to buy the Apple Thief and then have my house remodeled so it will fit.

On the plus side, I was given the low down on Digestive Biscuits and how to properly eat them -with jam (or jelly as we Yanks say)and butter or dipped in tea.

At one point, I realized that of the three people we were talking to, two were from England, one from Scotland and we were the odd ones out.

Loki sez: It's okay that you didn't take me to the art gallery.

One Project Done

Before: (Note that isn't really Loki, just a screen saver)

My assistant:

Measure twice:

Maybe thrice:

After:

This is why my pictures are all crooked. Living with Thor is like having a three year old around.

Thor's Day!

Frog hunting.

Twosday

Was on call last night (one baby?????) and now my sleep/wake cycle is completely messed up. I need to get up and get going. I've finally made prints of our Arizona and Utah trips to frame and put up. I even bought frames! I told Jason I was just going to turn the entire house into the JAZ Photo Gallery.
Semi-synchronized cat yawns:

One Down!

I have been editing two short stories for the last several weeks. Let me just state that short stories are not my strong point and if offered the choice between editing and a Brazilian wax job, I'd have to think about it for a minute. (And I'd choose editing, thank you very much.)

One is done and submitted. Well, as done as done can be. Seriously, you can pick at a story forever and at some point you just have to say enough.

The second is newer and has had fewer going overs than the first, but I think it is better written, so hopefully it won't be as tortuous to edit. My characters have to stop cussing so much, this I know. One edit, that was all I did was take out all the fucks and shits. For Pete's sake, just because I cuss like crazy (I blame my brothers), doesn't mean everyone who lives in my head needs to do so.

But any casual reader of this blog knows that I detest editing. So I've been very grumpy lately. But my house is clean due to the whole I-know-I-should-be-editing-but-this-mess-that-has-been-here-since-last-year-must-be-cleaned-right-now syndrome.

Plus, having this sprawled out across the desk is just distracting:

Thor sez: Shut up and adore me.
(Note the air paw-knead that accompanies the purr that can be felt while typing)

Lazy Loki Sunday

Lazy for Loki, that is. I'm cleaning house.





Loki sez: Do ya mind? That flash is disturbing my mid-morning nap.

Double Trouble

Thor's Day!

Don't wanna be a pirate!



Thor sez: Try it again. Dare you.

Silly Frog, Part Two

Where'd he go?

AKA That cat don't hunt.

Silly Frog

I swear, he jumps into the house voluntarily. I think he likes the adventure.

Madness!

Dear Universe:

Is there really a can of "Spotted Dick" in my pantry?

Or am I hallucinating in my feverish fog?

Thor sez: I swear I saw a froggie!

Loki Sunday

Loki pictures from a few days ago.




The end.

Oh, If I Were In a Ranting Mood

I'm trying not to rant. It isn't good for me. It isn't good for anyone, really, but good gawd y'all.

I was going to rant about some ultra conservatives who are rewriting the bible to "remove liberal bias" such as editing the from the cross "Forgive them for they know not what they do" line because, the authors say, some of those "they" knew exactly what they were doing.

Silly me, I thought that was what the whole thing with Jesus was about - forgiving regardless.

They also want to edit the ten commandments to change do not worship false idols to not worshipping false "media". Okay. So there goes Faux News.

I'd hate to see what they would do to the Sermon on the Mount.

I was also going to rant on a video I saw on Facebook about a baby that was systematically beaten and tortured for over a year before he died and how he fell through every crack and was let down by every one who had a chance to save him.

But what angered me was the "oh, well, he's an angel now" attitude. That's just great. Doesn't help, it's pointless, only comforts the horrified with a false sense of some sort of celestial justice. The baby was still beaten and tortured and endured a life of constant pain and no loving affection. Saying he is in heaven now is like saying flowers still bloomed while he suffered. Meaningless.

Then I woke up this morning to the whole Nobel Peace Prize hoopla. It's too much. I already get chest pains when stressed out at work.

Our culture wants to be stupid and reactive and thoughtless. We want Glen Beck to tell us how to feel. We wait like slack jawed emotional junkies for our latest outrage fix. We are so caught up in our knee jerk reactions that we are no longer capable of stepping back and looking at ourselves, either individually or as a nation. We surround ourselves with people who think, speak, believe and act exactly as we do and allow our circle to convince us that the whole nation is just like us and relentlessly attack and villainize anyone who does any different.

From now on, I'm just the stupid cat lady with stupid cat pictures.

Loki sez: Huh? My name isn't Cain.

Thor's Day!

Congrats to Dan at Xark who joined the very exclusive club of humans who have seen Thor IRL. Well, as much Thor as most people usually see - a brown blur.



Thor sez: Yeah, well I was late for a nap. Humans think I'm gonna sit around all day waiting for their adoration?

Tuesday Tidbits

Got a letter offering me a button that says: Another Nurse for Healthcare Reform. The letter said I should wear it at work to show my support.

Ha. More likely I'd be fired. Or shunned. I'm already the (roll-your-eyes-as-you-say-it) token liberal in the joint.

Today is flu shot day at CVS. I wish I'd known that before I ran out to pick up a prescription. Yikes.

I hope the non-adult supervised child who was coughing his fool head off without covering his mouth as he walked by me in the aisle was too short for the germs to be propelled into my airspace.

I'm wondering if the woman in Tennessee who was attacked, stabbed and had her newborn infant kidnapped had been white instead of Hispanic and had spoken more English than Spanish, would there have been more coverage? Because I had to hunt to find updates on the story.

I like that Thor, when you catch him doing something cute, usually stays in place while you go get the camera.


Thor sez: What? It's dirty laundry!