You are one of the Funniest. People. Ever. There’s a bender somewhere out there in the future, Damnit Janet, with both our names on it, and with the oxygen tank I’ll need to get enough air from laughing so damn hard at your jokes.
You remind me so much of my high school girlfriend (who was also straight…ish). You have the exact same raunchy sense of humor, and she always made me bust a gut laughing, too. People used to say that she reminded them of Bette Midler, only much dirtier.
On the more serious side, you also remind me of her because you have this core inner strength that radiates out from you, helping you cope with some truly difficult shit that few other people understand, and yet you still maintain a sense of compassion so deep that, if other people shared even half of it, would make the world a safe place for idealists.
I would love to meet you. One day I’m sure we will. I’ve written with people I though I’d never meet and then I find myself sitting next to them as if we’ve never been apart.
Your words are too kind. Thank you. I sometimes read my older diaries or journals (real ones with paper LOL) and I wonder.. what the fuck?? LOL Just kidding.
If there’s anything funny in me – it’s the oddity that so much serious crap can be around me, my life is constant chaos, but I can still find someting hella funny to think about. Maybe it was all those chemicals from the 80’s spiral perms??
if we didn’t laugh… we’d never stop screaming. I just want to try and make someone laugh. Just once a day. That’s what gets me through it all. That’s what helps me know I’m not alone. NOt all that political writings… but the fact we can still share, snort and giggle.
But… I do want to get wicked ass FACED one night with you and maybe find some Religions Right Winger to taunt while at it and the next day we can do it again – and sober 🙂
When she wrote “Expresso” it would remind me of Ex-Lax instead of Espresso. Now.. I hear espresso and I have to stifle a grin cause that damn “jingle” has remained with me.
For my annual Christmas party on Saturday I thought that it would be fun to decorate gingerbread houses with the 8 kidlets. This moment of weakness was back in June and the spouse agreed – heh!
Pre-Holiday Party Preparation
Last night make 6 batches of gingerbread dough. Tonight – make another 2 batches of gingerbread dough Tonight – bake 8 sets of house patterns Friday – assemble 8 houses for kidlets Saturday – watch candy and icing fly all over my enclosed patio! Monday – hopefully pictures!
It’s been 25 years since I’ve done them….but can’t wait! Has anyone else done these? What are you favorite candy decorations? Mine include Necco Wafer roofs…and green Lifesaver Wreaths.
Sally!!! Wayne went back to CA and he called to say he re-potted 8 of the bulbs and our friend took the rest. So they’ll be coming back up and a family with a BIG GREEN thumb will have them too. The Sally Bearded Bulbs will flourish!
I’m so jealous. I’d love to do that but my roommate, who cannot have sugar, would shove me off our balcony. (And there is no way I’m doing sugar-free candy, bah humbug!)
Somebody should, if they haven’t already, put together a big book of edible craft projects. I’m actually not a particularly crafty person, but every now and then I just get these random urges to do some weird thing, sometimes in the middle of the night — I’ve been caught at like 2 am making soap before, too. Which is only edible, of course, if you’re my dog Lucy.
One of my old roommates and I used to be home a lot together — he was unemployed and I was on a weird schedule — so we’d make ourselves variously intoxicated and hang out doing strange things with food.
Er, let me rephrase that, because I can already see the gutter that’s about to be entered.
We would hang out making random very pretty or visually interesting things that we could eat. And usually, getting more and more intoxicated in the process.
I just wanted to brag that all sorts of things occurred to me to say to various in people in this thread and I have resisted posting every last one of them (I did get as far as preview but I was able to stop myself).
My girlfriend actually just did this as a program at the library she works at… too bad she’s not home at the moment, I’d ask her what worked the best.
I do know that if you get some ice cream cones and make a batch of very stiff green icing, you can make some pretty killer “pine” trees — but that probably depends on the age (patience level) of the kidlets involved.
YOu may not want my decorting advice. Some of you have seen my co*kies 🙂 I once worked at Baskin and Robbins.. I love decorating with frosting. I seem to have a knack for it.
Spit is spot on about the cones for trees.
For the wee ones, I’ve found using graham crackers and stiff frosting – they, too can make their own little house.
Andes Mints make great Shingles 🙂
When we lived overseas, we were hit with a typhoon. So much of the Christmas supplies didn’t arrive. I went out and found a Gecko cookie cutter. So we’ve always made gingerbread geckos that we decorate. I make each one holding a Hershey chocolate and decorate it like it was a present.
Danni wants to try and make a gingerbread TREE next christmas and decorate that.
You’re absolutely right about that. What I’m doing is not something anyone would want to do. But, I can see that a hard-line is the only thing that works for me.
Otherwise I’d be eating seconds of mr katiebird’s fantastic dinner (chicken & stir-fried veg with a dab of peanut butter) and some ice cream (from son’s 28th birthday a couple of days ago). The temptation never stops.
I told mr. katiebird that I was probably going to through away the ice cream. He said that’s fine, he threw away a high-cholestrol dip yesterday.
I think my brain will explode if I have to live with this pressure at work and at home.
We are making high protein, low carb treats for the spouse this year. He’s tired of looking at the veggie tray at parties. We are making some ham spirals and smoked salmon balls with lowfat cream cheese, among others. Also Devilled Eggs with low fat mayo is one of his favorites.
All are popular when we go to potlucks…I’m sure the others here have some good ideas as well…
Just for you, I’m going to let you in on my secret for devilled eggs: You can skip the mayo entirely! I’ve made them that way for 23 years! Just mash up the yolks with pickle relish and yellow mustard. If you want to get creative, you can add or subtract from that, but it’s quite possible to make devilled eggs that get raves with no mayo whatsoever. Just hard-boil some eggs and play with the mashed-up yolks until you find a combination you both find yummy.
After I typed this, I had to walk past that stuff about 3 dozen times. And i swear there was a fan blowing across some banana bread straight at my desk!
And there I was with my itty bitty ham sandwich. Which is usually plenty. But, you should have seen these pastries.
Can I make it through the next couple of weeks? I don’t know. I wonder if I should file an official complaint. And, I’m only partly joking. I think it’s a hazzard to my health.
Reward yourself in advance – get a gift certificate for a day spa massage and facial for a couple of days after Christmas or New Years. Make a copy and hang it near your desk…whenever you think about goodies think about a massage instead.
I got my husband a couple of new silk shirts since he lost weight. Several women he works with (we’ve known them forever!) keep telling him how great he looks since he lost the weight. Heck some of the guys have complimented him as well.
This is has got to be the worst time of year for you. So that’s the bad news. The good news is to think how good you are going to feel about yourself when it is over.
I know you don’t want to cheat on your plan but I think you should have a “scheduled” cheat where you allow yourself some acceptable amount of bad stuff. I’ve always found that knowing that I am going to get to have something is a great way to be able to resist the temptation at a specific moment (I don’t need to have any of this now because I’m going to get some tomorrow anyway). Also, endless denial is really draining and hard to just keep doing and doing.
Actually, Andi — that’s built into my system. I know that I’m not going to successfully deny myself ice cream, pie — even candy forever.
I can eat whatever I want as long as I have it as part of a regularly scheduled meal. Yesterday I had a serving (1/2 cup) of ice cream. And I ate and drank like a normal person at the wedding. Actually for some reason I ate about 1/2 what everyone else ate, but I think it’s because I kept getting up to take photos. Anyway it wasn’t to punish myself.
But, I’m NOT going to drift into having 1/2 cup of ice cream every day (for one thing I didn’t like having that much sugar).
I appreciate everyone’s support on this — I really hope it isn’t going to be this bad everyday till New Years.
a single Candy Cane Tootsie Pop (discovered them at the store, and will have to stock up before the season is over) each night…but I’ll probably skip it tonight because I had a chili dog for lunch, plus popcorn and lemonade at the theater (at least it was the light lemonade, much fewer calories than the regular stuff).
Went to see “Chronicles of Narnia” (pretty good, would probably give it 3 out of 4 stars, the purist in me got a little bugged by a few things plus they overplayed the battle scenes, typical), then did some shopping — found a small suitcase to use for our weekend out of the apartment (we’re spending Saturday and Sunday at a motel so we can take apart our old bed and get the new one assembled in time for the mattress delivery Monday morning), and also found 2 pairs of exercise shoes in my size (8-1/2 W — I’ve got boat feet), so now I can have a comfortable pair for regular walking and one for actual exercise. 🙂 Actually did quite a bit of walking today (around the mall, plus to/from light rail and bus stops), so I may have come close to exercising off the chili dog, and I’ll probably just have something light for dinner like cottage cheese or some such.
Tomorrow I’ve got to get some work done around here…at least I got a chance to go out and play today. 🙂
Yesterday was a hockey pal’s b-day (reason for nickname – like what we all have here) So Danni made him a poster – what with all the packing paper and she had just found her markers. Here’s what happened…
rustling paper…
ACKKK HERE COMES KITTY ON THE ATTACK!!!!
(look at the “fear” in Danni’s eyes!! LOL) Run Danni Run!!!
Kitty is part CameraHam. Guess she just wanted to wish our friend a Happy B-day, too. 🙂
Anyone catch Jon Stewart last night? He was hilarious on the subject of Bill O’Reilly’s war on Christmas.
Jon explained that it was really true that it would be silly to be offended by a two word greeting like Merry Christmas. Than he played a clip of Bill saying Christians are offended by “happy holidays.”
I just say “PEACE” or “Peace on Earth” in return to ohliday greetings. 🙂 It seems to be working out really nicely, too. People aren’t used to it and seem pleasantly surprised. I’ve even gotten’ a few “Peace to you, too”.
about the whole ‘war on Christmas’ brouhaha — why do they want an affirmation of the meaning of Christmas to be an invitation to spend money in a retail establishment? This seems the exact opposite of what they should want — it would make a lot more sense if they were fighting the use of ‘Merry Christmas’ in any commercial setting as detracting from the religious meaning of the holiday.
this is from my friend Winterhawk in a “hockey” and everything else – chat. We were discussing how 11 Marines families Christmases are ruined forever this week. And how Bill Orielly is such a schmuck…
“Read an interesting article on the history of Christmas. Ironically, Christian churches have tried to eliminate Christmas celebrations on several occasions. The Puritans who first landed in America even criminalized it. The whole notion that it’s a deep Christian tradtion is a myth and many of our current traditions and images date back to the late 19th century when publication of Dickens’ Christmas Carol and the poem “The Night Before Christmas” revitalized the holiday. It was during the height of the industrial revolution and the marketing industry siezed upon it immediately.
Too late, I’m hearing that the season for retail isn’t going particularly well. It’s just slightly ahead of last year. Oh drat, no new yacht for the CEO this year.
Hi everyone.
Quickly stopping by to let you know that cedwyn has re-posted Steven D’s diary at Kos (12 days of Alito). Because of the technical glitches this morning it did not get the attention it deserved.
Please hop over and give it some love, if you are so inclined.
Thanks and see you later.
My roommate & I just received an outstanding gift from a member of our chosen family: 6 whole organic chickens and 12 pounds of organic ground beef from Wholesome Harvest. These products came from animals who were pasture raised on small organic family farms, fed 100% vegetarian feed with no animal by-products, and were clean of antibiotics & growth hormones & other nasties like pesticide treated GMO feed.
As a disabled person who frequently has trouble doing even the light physical work of grocery shopping, plus trying to budget to afford quality meat, I am downright ecstatic about this gift. So I just wanted to post a reminder to folks that a wide variety of people on your holiday list might really appreciate this kind of gift for similar reasons. And while I don’t know anything about the political affiliaton of the company (if any), their principles about the cleanliness of the food are much better than anything I can get at my local grocery stores.
If anyone here is well-versed in CSS and would be willing to help me out with a glitch in my blog’s template, please email me! I am ready to bludgeon my keyboard.
Does anyone have any resources for dealing with a very very nasty malicious internet troll who is inciting violence against Mexicans and Gays? Hint: FBI which supposedly deals with internet crime isn’t interested.
Does anybody out there care? Know any journalists or news outlets that might be interested in doing a story about how little Google cares that someone is using Google Groups to desseminate hate?
I think the FBI is more concerened with covering their asses and snooping on military families and anti-war activists… to actually do anything to help people… (((((sorry Myth))))) I hope you can nail this racist troll to the wall.
Yes, I think you’re absolutely right! I spoke with a lawyer today and he said that the FBI for all intents and purposes stopped functioning on 9/12/01.
Opps, I think my big fat fingers may have hit the wrong key, so I hope this doesn’t get posted twice.
As I was saying, when I so rudely interrupted myself, good tip, AndiF. Do you (or does anyone) know of an organization that fights racism against Hispanics?
If you’re the administrator of the site in question, check your logs and work out how he’s connecting to your site. Identify the school, ISP, or corporation he’s using, find the appropriate department and contact them. If he’s smart, he’s using an anonymizing proxy, but that seems unlikely. If he’s connecting through a school or from work, chances are you can get him in very deep trouble. An ISP is a little more tricky; while they might not like losing a paying customer, chances are they’ll like the smell of illegal activities even less.
If you’re not the administrator of the site said troll is posting on, and the administrator isn’t interested in helping… You’ve pretty much exhausted your options. Sorry.
It used to be that children played in the schoolyard. Now, they play at the computer.
The source of that ad can bite my shiny metal ass. This change isn’t due to video games, folks. It’s due to authoritarian teachers and school administrations that tightly control what kids are allowed to do on school property beyond all bounds of sanity. It’s due to funding cuts that have annihilated budgets for playground equipment and supervision. It’s due to conservative parents that don’t want their children socializing with the Wrong Sort or learning the Wrong Things. It’s because imagination and flights of fancy are discouraged.
Also, the word addiction gets tossed about far too casually these days.
Never mind that what “used to be” wasn’t all that great either. Bullies, anyone?
Too, Too right. Kids can’t play at the school yard even with parents. There is no where in our neighborhood for kids & parents to rollerblade, or bike safely. They can’t do it in the school yard – – there’s a gigantic fence with a locked gate.
I do remember that when I was young (late ’80s, early ’90s), we did play in the schoolyard. And it didn’t have locks on its gates – heck, some of the entrances didn’t have gates. We did, however, always have a parent nearby.
Between the time I graduated from elementary school and my younger brother did (2 years), a new principal got appointed. This one was one of those “zero tolerance” lunatics. His policy changes were quite unpopular in the community, and included restricting access to the local schoolyard.
They also included punishing students for getting bullied, or reporting bullying.
Kids can’t play anywhere outside without adult supervision out of fear of abduction or other disasters, and most adults are too busy working — and willing adults who are available are looked upon with suspicion.
It’s why I get so burned up when folks like Santorum pooh-pooh Hillary Clinton’s “It Takes A Village” ideas — back in my youth we had a “village”, but it was called a neighborhood. Mom could go off to work, knowing there were plenty of folks around to keep track of her brood left at home.
I wonder — is there a connection between the increase in child abductions/molestations and the decrease in neighbors getting to know each other?…
It is worth noting that the “good old days” weren’t so good. That said…
Yes, I think there is something to do with that. Increasing isolation between families in general and people in particular does seem to be the cause of a lot of trouble. Often, those people that cause trouble are the ones that feel “left out” somehow. And while the “good old communities” did leave people out – those that were, for example, inconveniently black – they were still rather tightly knit.
I’m of the opinion that community is very important, and that cities need to be designed to encourage and nurture a sense of community.
Hope you all had a good day. Time to sit down for a while, catch up on my e-mail while in the background the whos down in whoville are decorating for Christmas. Hah. Little do they know what’s coming. Andi, can I have a Guiness too?
Thanks to whoever it was the other night that said that a Manhattan with Scotch is a Rob Roy (not a Roy Rogers as I said).
The Grinch just learned the true meaning of Christmas and all the whos got their presents back. I love a happy ending. Guess its time to get up and do something productive. I’ll be back.
I thought you were asking if I wanted one. Yes, please. My fav drink, which I haven’t had in, um many years. A “Perfect” Manhattan, if you don’t mind, and straight up.
Big ego, huh — every mention of Kansas has to be about you. I’m a very careful with my spelling — little k kansas is you, big K Kansas is the place that is flat as pancake.
Still guzzling the Manhattans? The only part of Kansas I was ever in was hilly. Atchison Kansas. I know it was hilly because I was in college and a bunch of people took me partying on the bluffs. Of course I had a lot to drink that night around the campfire so maybe I’m confused.
Of course, we didn’t change the graphics. Marmotdude and I worked hard on those and you all are gonna see ’em til you’re sick of ’em.
I love them!!!! and I hope to see them often. MarmotDude makes me smile and feel “at home”.
(((((((Andi & MarmotDude)))))))))))
Chill and eat the flowers… Major Snortage on that one! 🙂
xoxo
When summer strolls in, are we going to see MarmotThong?!?! 🙂
MarmotDude in a thong, no way — I’d have to aquire the skills of bood abides for that (but a speedo, hmmm).
But come warm weather, I’m thinking he might want to go dragon boat racing.
Be aware Be aware
That I’ve got plenty of hair
down there down there
Just so as you know
And there’s no doubt
I tend to truly
let it all HANG OUT!
So ladies feel free
to run your fingers
through my locks
and you’ll see
that we
Marmots have the biggest coc…
– oh baby just shush yer mouth-
You are one of the Funniest. People. Ever. There’s a bender somewhere out there in the future, Damnit Janet, with both our names on it, and with the oxygen tank I’ll need to get enough air from laughing so damn hard at your jokes.
are ones that find me funny.
I love sick & twisted people.. we have so much in common. 🙂
I used to write jingles for my old hockey friends with their names. Some commercial ads or Blues. … I’ll have to take that up again methinks.
This one lady kept writing “expresso” instead of espresso. So in order to explain the difference I wrote: lets see if I can remember any of it.
If your butt says no but you gotta go
Expresso!
Expresso!
(something like that)
You remind me so much of my high school girlfriend (who was also straight…ish). You have the exact same raunchy sense of humor, and she always made me bust a gut laughing, too. People used to say that she reminded them of Bette Midler, only much dirtier.
On the more serious side, you also remind me of her because you have this core inner strength that radiates out from you, helping you cope with some truly difficult shit that few other people understand, and yet you still maintain a sense of compassion so deep that, if other people shared even half of it, would make the world a safe place for idealists.
And you make co*kies. 😀
I would love to meet you. One day I’m sure we will. I’ve written with people I though I’d never meet and then I find myself sitting next to them as if we’ve never been apart.
Your words are too kind. Thank you. I sometimes read my older diaries or journals (real ones with paper LOL) and I wonder.. what the fuck?? LOL Just kidding.
If there’s anything funny in me – it’s the oddity that so much serious crap can be around me, my life is constant chaos, but I can still find someting hella funny to think about. Maybe it was all those chemicals from the 80’s spiral perms??
if we didn’t laugh… we’d never stop screaming. I just want to try and make someone laugh. Just once a day. That’s what gets me through it all. That’s what helps me know I’m not alone. NOt all that political writings… but the fact we can still share, snort and giggle.
But… I do want to get wicked ass FACED one night with you and maybe find some Religions Right Winger to taunt while at it and the next day we can do it again – and sober 🙂
as the designated smirker.
I have really missed you and your sick twisted sense of humor lately! Glad you’re back!
If it won’t come out
Don’t scream and shout
Expresso!
Expresso!
When she wrote “Expresso” it would remind me of Ex-Lax instead of Espresso. Now.. I hear espresso and I have to stifle a grin cause that damn “jingle” has remained with me.
Fill it to the RIM!
(flush)
is
And you are a genius!
Now I feel completely obliged to come up with something worthy of that jingle. Well, maybe if I start now, I could have something ready by July.
For my annual Christmas party on Saturday I thought that it would be fun to decorate gingerbread houses with the 8 kidlets. This moment of weakness was back in June and the spouse agreed – heh!
Pre-Holiday Party Preparation
Last night make 6 batches of gingerbread dough.
Tonight – make another 2 batches of gingerbread dough
Tonight – bake 8 sets of house patterns
Friday – assemble 8 houses for kidlets
Saturday – watch candy and icing fly all over my enclosed patio!
Monday – hopefully pictures!
It’s been 25 years since I’ve done them….but can’t wait! Has anyone else done these? What are you favorite candy decorations? Mine include Necco Wafer roofs…and green Lifesaver Wreaths.
Gingerbread Patterns and other stuff…
Sally!!! Wayne went back to CA and he called to say he re-potted 8 of the bulbs and our friend took the rest. So they’ll be coming back up and a family with a BIG GREEN thumb will have them too. The Sally Bearded Bulbs will flourish!
I am so glad you arrived…got the email on the e-list. Been a little crazy (obviously). Give Wesley a really big hug from us…
I’ll get more bulbs to you when you get a house. In the meantime they’ll do well in pots.
Is the phone working or should I use the cell number? Email me which # works best for you.
I’m so jealous. I’d love to do that but my roommate, who cannot have sugar, would shove me off our balcony. (And there is no way I’m doing sugar-free candy, bah humbug!)
I’ve been wanting, for no apparent reason, to make a pretzel log cabin lately.
But I guess there’ll still be icing involved.
I could so get on board with edible Lincoln Log projects.
Somebody should, if they haven’t already, put together a big book of edible craft projects. I’m actually not a particularly crafty person, but every now and then I just get these random urges to do some weird thing, sometimes in the middle of the night — I’ve been caught at like 2 am making soap before, too. Which is only edible, of course, if you’re my dog Lucy.
One of my old roommates and I used to be home a lot together — he was unemployed and I was on a weird schedule — so we’d make ourselves variously intoxicated and hang out doing strange things with food.
Er, let me rephrase that, because I can already see the gutter that’s about to be entered.
We would hang out making random very pretty or visually interesting things that we could eat. And usually, getting more and more intoxicated in the process.
Too late my mind went there right away!
double parked in the gutter. As usual. 🙂
I just wanted to brag that all sorts of things occurred to me to say to various in people in this thread and I have resisted posting every last one of them (I did get as far as preview but I was able to stop myself).
I’m exhausted.
is hard work.
It’s a sad day when Andi embraces some kind of decorum.
This would be one of those, “you can’t win” moments, n’est ce pas?
But, I had no idea this was something you wanted to do. Or was it just an experiment for this afternoon?
Necco wafers rock for this sort of thing.
My girlfriend actually just did this as a program at the library she works at… too bad she’s not home at the moment, I’d ask her what worked the best.
I do know that if you get some ice cream cones and make a batch of very stiff green icing, you can make some pretty killer “pine” trees — but that probably depends on the age (patience level) of the kidlets involved.
I can make those on Friday night – then they can stick them on the boards!
We’ll let the kids help with some icing but mostly grownups will squeeze icing bags. Kids get to stick the candy on!
YOu may not want my decorting advice. Some of you have seen my co*kies 🙂 I once worked at Baskin and Robbins.. I love decorating with frosting. I seem to have a knack for it.
Spit is spot on about the cones for trees.
For the wee ones, I’ve found using graham crackers and stiff frosting – they, too can make their own little house.
Andes Mints make great Shingles 🙂
When we lived overseas, we were hit with a typhoon. So much of the Christmas supplies didn’t arrive. I went out and found a Gecko cookie cutter. So we’ve always made gingerbread geckos that we decorate. I make each one holding a Hershey chocolate and decorate it like it was a present.
Danni wants to try and make a gingerbread TREE next christmas and decorate that.
When I’m googling for patterns I’ll check for gingerbread trees <and other stuff>!
Gingerbread would be good for your cookies – spicy!
I just walked past 6 different platters of sweet snacks.
I looked at them pretty closely, but kept walking past.
I think that last year, I would have said, “Oh, I shouldn’t” as I reached out for a sample.
But this year I said, “Oh, I can’t” and kept walking.
And I really wish I could have last year back, for just a couple of minutes!
you wouldn’t be able to do what you are doing now. People have understand exactly what it is that they want to stop doing before they can really stop.
You’re absolutely right about that. What I’m doing is not something anyone would want to do. But, I can see that a hard-line is the only thing that works for me.
Otherwise I’d be eating seconds of mr katiebird’s fantastic dinner (chicken & stir-fried veg with a dab of peanut butter) and some ice cream (from son’s 28th birthday a couple of days ago). The temptation never stops.
I told mr. katiebird that I was probably going to through away the ice cream. He said that’s fine, he threw away a high-cholestrol dip yesterday.
I think my brain will explode if I have to live with this pressure at work and at home.
(I HAVE to start that blog)
having dogs — we never have to throw away anything. If it has been alive any time in the last 10,000 years, my dogs will eat it.
We still look at stuff as it hits the floor and sniff back tears because Digby isn’t here to gobble it up.
I keep telling mr katiebird that I want a puppy, but he says his mom is all he can handle right now. And I can’t say I blame him.
Lots of support here…
We are making high protein, low carb treats for the spouse this year. He’s tired of looking at the veggie tray at parties. We are making some ham spirals and smoked salmon balls with lowfat cream cheese, among others. Also Devilled Eggs with low fat mayo is one of his favorites.
All are popular when we go to potlucks…I’m sure the others here have some good ideas as well…
Just for you, I’m going to let you in on my secret for devilled eggs: You can skip the mayo entirely! I’ve made them that way for 23 years! Just mash up the yolks with pickle relish and yellow mustard. If you want to get creative, you can add or subtract from that, but it’s quite possible to make devilled eggs that get raves with no mayo whatsoever. Just hard-boil some eggs and play with the mashed-up yolks until you find a combination you both find yummy.
After I typed this, I had to walk past that stuff about 3 dozen times. And i swear there was a fan blowing across some banana bread straight at my desk!
And there I was with my itty bitty ham sandwich. Which is usually plenty. But, you should have seen these pastries.
Can I make it through the next couple of weeks? I don’t know. I wonder if I should file an official complaint. And, I’m only partly joking. I think it’s a hazzard to my health.
Reward yourself in advance – get a gift certificate for a day spa massage and facial for a couple of days after Christmas or New Years. Make a copy and hang it near your desk…whenever you think about goodies think about a massage instead.
I got my husband a couple of new silk shirts since he lost weight. Several women he works with (we’ve known them forever!) keep telling him how great he looks since he lost the weight. Heck some of the guys have complimented him as well.
Reward yourself…and keep us posted…
This is has got to be the worst time of year for you. So that’s the bad news. The good news is to think how good you are going to feel about yourself when it is over.
I know you don’t want to cheat on your plan but I think you should have a “scheduled” cheat where you allow yourself some acceptable amount of bad stuff. I’ve always found that knowing that I am going to get to have something is a great way to be able to resist the temptation at a specific moment (I don’t need to have any of this now because I’m going to get some tomorrow anyway). Also, endless denial is really draining and hard to just keep doing and doing.
Actually, Andi — that’s built into my system. I know that I’m not going to successfully deny myself ice cream, pie — even candy forever.
I can eat whatever I want as long as I have it as part of a regularly scheduled meal. Yesterday I had a serving (1/2 cup) of ice cream. And I ate and drank like a normal person at the wedding. Actually for some reason I ate about 1/2 what everyone else ate, but I think it’s because I kept getting up to take photos. Anyway it wasn’t to punish myself.
But, I’m NOT going to drift into having 1/2 cup of ice cream every day (for one thing I didn’t like having that much sugar).
I appreciate everyone’s support on this — I really hope it isn’t going to be this bad everyday till New Years.
a single Candy Cane Tootsie Pop (discovered them at the store, and will have to stock up before the season is over) each night…but I’ll probably skip it tonight because I had a chili dog for lunch, plus popcorn and lemonade at the theater (at least it was the light lemonade, much fewer calories than the regular stuff).
Went to see “Chronicles of Narnia” (pretty good, would probably give it 3 out of 4 stars, the purist in me got a little bugged by a few things plus they overplayed the battle scenes, typical), then did some shopping — found a small suitcase to use for our weekend out of the apartment (we’re spending Saturday and Sunday at a motel so we can take apart our old bed and get the new one assembled in time for the mattress delivery Monday morning), and also found 2 pairs of exercise shoes in my size (8-1/2 W — I’ve got boat feet), so now I can have a comfortable pair for regular walking and one for actual exercise. 🙂 Actually did quite a bit of walking today (around the mall, plus to/from light rail and bus stops), so I may have come close to exercising off the chili dog, and I’ll probably just have something light for dinner like cottage cheese or some such.
Tomorrow I’ve got to get some work done around here…at least I got a chance to go out and play today. 🙂
Yesterday was a hockey pal’s b-day (reason for nickname – like what we all have here) So Danni made him a poster – what with all the packing paper and she had just found her markers. Here’s what happened…
rustling paper…
ACKKK HERE COMES KITTY ON THE ATTACK!!!!
(look at the “fear” in Danni’s eyes!! LOL) Run Danni Run!!!
Kitty is part CameraHam. Guess she just wanted to wish our friend a Happy B-day, too. 🙂
This is a great sequence of pictures. I think the middle one is the best, though — it’s the kind of picture that gets cherished all one’s life.
Anyone catch Jon Stewart last night? He was hilarious on the subject of Bill O’Reilly’s war on Christmas.
Jon explained that it was really true that it would be silly to be offended by a two word greeting like Merry Christmas. Than he played a clip of Bill saying Christians are offended by “happy holidays.”
Bill O really is teh stupid, isn’t he?
I just say “PEACE” or “Peace on Earth” in return to ohliday greetings. 🙂 It seems to be working out really nicely, too. People aren’t used to it and seem pleasantly surprised. I’ve even gotten’ a few “Peace to you, too”.
Peace on Earth –
Let the Religious Right try to fuck with that.
if they look like the types who might be offended by the idea of peace.
Rudolph the red-nosed Lemming had very shiney credit card.
about the whole ‘war on Christmas’ brouhaha — why do they want an affirmation of the meaning of Christmas to be an invitation to spend money in a retail establishment? This seems the exact opposite of what they should want — it would make a lot more sense if they were fighting the use of ‘Merry Christmas’ in any commercial setting as detracting from the religious meaning of the holiday.
this is from my friend Winterhawk in a “hockey” and everything else – chat. We were discussing how 11 Marines families Christmases are ruined forever this week. And how Bill Orielly is such a schmuck…
“Read an interesting article on the history of Christmas. Ironically, Christian churches have tried to eliminate Christmas celebrations on several occasions. The Puritans who first landed in America even criminalized it. The whole notion that it’s a deep Christian tradtion is a myth and many of our current traditions and images date back to the late 19th century when publication of Dickens’ Christmas Carol and the poem “The Night Before Christmas” revitalized the holiday. It was during the height of the industrial revolution and the marketing industry siezed upon it immediately.
Never thought I’d have anything good to say about the Puritans but “Yay Puritans!”
Too late, I’m hearing that the season for retail isn’t going particularly well. It’s just slightly ahead of last year. Oh drat, no new yacht for the CEO this year.
Hi everyone.
Quickly stopping by to let you know that cedwyn has re-posted Steven D’s diary at Kos (12 days of Alito). Because of the technical glitches this morning it did not get the attention it deserved.
Please hop over and give it some love, if you are so inclined.
Thanks and see you later.
My roommate & I just received an outstanding gift from a member of our chosen family: 6 whole organic chickens and 12 pounds of organic ground beef from Wholesome Harvest. These products came from animals who were pasture raised on small organic family farms, fed 100% vegetarian feed with no animal by-products, and were clean of antibiotics & growth hormones & other nasties like pesticide treated GMO feed.
As a disabled person who frequently has trouble doing even the light physical work of grocery shopping, plus trying to budget to afford quality meat, I am downright ecstatic about this gift. So I just wanted to post a reminder to folks that a wide variety of people on your holiday list might really appreciate this kind of gift for similar reasons. And while I don’t know anything about the political affiliaton of the company (if any), their principles about the cleanliness of the food are much better than anything I can get at my local grocery stores.
If anyone here is well-versed in CSS and would be willing to help me out with a glitch in my blog’s template, please email me! I am ready to bludgeon my keyboard.
is the equipment abuse.
But when katiebird shows up you might ask her because I think she does a lot of webbie stuff.
Hi Man E —
I’m home and just sent you an email. Are you still looking for help?
I know some CSS, I might be able to help.
thanks for following up on my offer of your help.
🙂
Anytime!
I just responded 😀
Does anyone have any resources for dealing with a very very nasty malicious internet troll who is inciting violence against Mexicans and Gays? Hint: FBI which supposedly deals with internet crime isn’t interested.
Does anybody out there care? Know any journalists or news outlets that might be interested in doing a story about how little Google cares that someone is using Google Groups to desseminate hate?
I hope you can find help soon!
I think the FBI is more concerened with covering their asses and snooping on military families and anti-war activists… to actually do anything to help people… (((((sorry Myth))))) I hope you can nail this racist troll to the wall.
Yes, I think you’re absolutely right! I spoke with a lawyer today and he said that the FBI for all intents and purposes stopped functioning on 9/12/01.
would be able to help.
You could try 365gay.
or a smaller site like Pam’s House Blend.
Opps, I think my big fat fingers may have hit the wrong key, so I hope this doesn’t get posted twice.
As I was saying, when I so rudely interrupted myself, good tip, AndiF. Do you (or does anyone) know of an organization that fights racism against Hispanics?
MALDEF or NCLR.
Thanks!
If you’re the administrator of the site in question, check your logs and work out how he’s connecting to your site. Identify the school, ISP, or corporation he’s using, find the appropriate department and contact them. If he’s smart, he’s using an anonymizing proxy, but that seems unlikely. If he’s connecting through a school or from work, chances are you can get him in very deep trouble. An ISP is a little more tricky; while they might not like losing a paying customer, chances are they’ll like the smell of illegal activities even less.
If you’re not the administrator of the site said troll is posting on, and the administrator isn’t interested in helping… You’ve pretty much exhausted your options. Sorry.
The source of that ad can bite my shiny metal ass. This change isn’t due to video games, folks. It’s due to authoritarian teachers and school administrations that tightly control what kids are allowed to do on school property beyond all bounds of sanity. It’s due to funding cuts that have annihilated budgets for playground equipment and supervision. It’s due to conservative parents that don’t want their children socializing with the Wrong Sort or learning the Wrong Things. It’s because imagination and flights of fancy are discouraged.
Also, the word addiction gets tossed about far too casually these days.
Never mind that what “used to be” wasn’t all that great either. Bullies, anyone?
Well, just had to get that off my chest.
Too, Too right. Kids can’t play at the school yard even with parents. There is no where in our neighborhood for kids & parents to rollerblade, or bike safely. They can’t do it in the school yard – – there’s a gigantic fence with a locked gate.
I do remember that when I was young (late ’80s, early ’90s), we did play in the schoolyard. And it didn’t have locks on its gates – heck, some of the entrances didn’t have gates. We did, however, always have a parent nearby.
Between the time I graduated from elementary school and my younger brother did (2 years), a new principal got appointed. This one was one of those “zero tolerance” lunatics. His policy changes were quite unpopular in the community, and included restricting access to the local schoolyard.
They also included punishing students for getting bullied, or reporting bullying.
Kids can’t play anywhere outside without adult supervision out of fear of abduction or other disasters, and most adults are too busy working — and willing adults who are available are looked upon with suspicion.
It’s why I get so burned up when folks like Santorum pooh-pooh Hillary Clinton’s “It Takes A Village” ideas — back in my youth we had a “village”, but it was called a neighborhood. Mom could go off to work, knowing there were plenty of folks around to keep track of her brood left at home.
I wonder — is there a connection between the increase in child abductions/molestations and the decrease in neighbors getting to know each other?…
It is worth noting that the “good old days” weren’t so good. That said…
Yes, I think there is something to do with that. Increasing isolation between families in general and people in particular does seem to be the cause of a lot of trouble. Often, those people that cause trouble are the ones that feel “left out” somehow. And while the “good old communities” did leave people out – those that were, for example, inconveniently black – they were still rather tightly knit.
I’m of the opinion that community is very important, and that cities need to be designed to encourage and nurture a sense of community.
Hope you all had a good day. Time to sit down for a while, catch up on my e-mail while in the background the whos down in whoville are decorating for Christmas. Hah. Little do they know what’s coming. Andi, can I have a Guiness too?
OOO, I forgot, I would like a Manhattan. Do you make those, Andi?
Thanks to whoever it was the other night that said that a Manhattan with Scotch is a Rob Roy (not a Roy Rogers as I said).
The Grinch just learned the true meaning of Christmas and all the whos got their presents back. I love a happy ending. Guess its time to get up and do something productive. I’ll be back.
Nope, I don’t make ’em but I can find you one of the internet. What are they, anyway?
I thought you were asking if I wanted one. Yes, please. My fav drink, which I haven’t had in, um many years. A “Perfect” Manhattan, if you don’t mind, and straight up.
Big ego, huh — every mention of Kansas has to be about you. I’m a very careful with my spelling — little k kansas is you, big K Kansas is the place that is flat as pancake.
But back to the manhattan — what’s the big deal?
Actually, Kansas is flatter than a pancake
that neither you nor kansas want to tell me what the big deal about a manhattan is?
Still guzzling the Manhattans? The only part of Kansas I was ever in was hilly. Atchison Kansas. I know it was hilly because I was in college and a bunch of people took me partying on the bluffs. Of course I had a lot to drink that night around the campfire so maybe I’m confused.
Whatya mean, back to Manhattan? We were talking about me.
I’m sorry, I meant that KANsas is flatter than a pancake, not kansas!!
Here’s a recipe It’s all in the aroma. They smell wonderful.
Must abandon ship to go watch Runway now.
I think we should abandon all discussion of manhattans
n.t.
I’m such a softie.
Have another one.
One guinness coming up.
Well darn .. now I have to stay. sigh. Oh well.
Night owls or early birds, this joint is for you.
‘Evening, everyone. Hope the end of another day finds you well.
As for libations, I thought I’d share an image of my personal favorite: fresh spring water on the rocks, headed downhill to — yes — Manhattan 😉
I’ve closed this cafe up.
Head on over to the new one here and re-post that fine picture in there.