The First 10 StumbleUpon hits

So Blissdom was wonderful. It was all too much to talk about in one post so I will be chatting about it throughout the week (just because I want to torture you with all the details of my confinement within the scary biosphere hotel). One thing that I do want to say right off is that spending time with Mary Anne, Keely, Becky, and Beth was absolutely fantastic. They are all lovely genuine women. Who I adore.

The conference itself was interesting. It made me think about things like: "what is my blog all about?", "where do I plan to take it?", "do I have a point?", "do I care to have a point?", "can't I be completely superficial?" Isn't inanity enough?". In that vain I give you the first ten websites that pop up on my StumbleUpon spins.

Lemon-Honey Cupcakes Recipe. Mmmmmm...cupcakes. Muffins sweeter and more fattening cousin.

10 Dogs that make great pets. Here they are in order: St Bernard, Labradors, Newfoundland, German Pointer, Collies, Dalmatians, Siberian Husky, German Shepard, Basset Hound, Great Dane. Do you know what dogs I don't see? I don't see a tall ball obsessed blond curly haired mutt and her fat and less fortunate brother the Corgie.

8 Stupid Amazon Products With Impressively Sarcastic Reviews  I have nothing to add to this; you MUST read the reviews. No! Go right now. I'll wait. It is totally worth your time. I laughed so hard I cried, snorted coffee out my nose, and pretty much humiliated myself. Very embarrassing. 

How to clean a house: "The secret to an organized and clean house." I've got a secret for you...pick up your stuff.

How to tick people off  This is one of those silly how-to things that I don't really need. I KNOW how to tick people off. I do it all the time. In fact, I'd hazard to guess that I am a frickin' genius at ticking people off. 

Whorange: banksy versus bristol museum. It seems there is a person the doctors up fine art pieces to make them funny. Does this person get paid for this because I do it everyday for free? I think I'm missing some earning potential here. Anyway, they are kind of cute.

HowStuffWorks "History of the Rosetta Stone" This could prove interesting if I ever need to know 3 different dead languages. What? It could happen.

7 Creative Corn Recipes. Brought to us by the Lifescript people whose motto is "healthy living for women". Corn? Seriously? It that the best you could do? Wouldn't broccoli been a "healthier" choice?

Artwork: Diversity. I'm not exactly sure why a painting with a 3 headed woman and squash means diversity but who am I to understand artists. I think the colors are purty though.

What Beer Should I Drink. I feel so much better in my beer drinking choices.

There you have it. My first ten StumbleUpon hits for today (or really yesterday. Okay, half yesterday and other half today). 

Do you waste an embarrassing amount of time play around with SumbleUpon? What are your first ten hits?

Love,

M

Blissdom - come for the friends stay for the hotel

I came to Blissdom to meet some  (only some. The rest of you I hope to catch up with on my various travels.) of my favorite bloggers. 

And, I have. 

And, they are fabulous! 

More on that later. 

Let's talk about this hotel instead.

It is over the top.

There are waterfalls everywhere.

It's like the designer said. 

"let's put a waterfall right here. No, let's make it 2 waterfalls. And while we are at it let's make one of them 2 stories tall."

Or maybe She/he said;

"you know those water spouty things? I like those. Let's put 10 over here."

It's unbelievable.

You never leave the building but feel like you've been outside all day.

They have guided tours boats that circles an indoor island.

They have 15 different different restaurants.

A spa.

3 huge gardens

All under a 53 acre roof.

I need to remind myself to shut my mouth because everytime I turn a corner my mouth drops because of some crazy over-the-top thing.

I'm sure the prices are through the moon but I'm going to just close my eyes and hand over my credit card.

More to come tomorrow.

Love,

M

RTT - justifying

Yada, yada, yada

Random thoughts

tuesday

Get on it.

I can't do this for you, people!

Sorry, feeling out of sorts today.

While there is never any question about what I drink (red wine all the time. I justify drinking red wine by saying it is good for my heart. My cardiologist would want me too.) I found this website that might help those of you who need to know what to serve with dinner or at that party.


I ordered a new pizza stone from Amazon and I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl to get it. I'm not even going to justify this purchase. Sometimes I'm like that.

I want these boots. I just don't want to pay $96 for them.

 I'm probably going to get these instead. They are only $49.

 I can and probably will feel the need to justify a $50 pair of rain boots. 

Sometimes it just pays to be the Queen of Justification. I'm also the Queen of Bullshit. I really see those two as synonymous. One needs to be able to spew a lot of bullshit in order to justify a $50 pair of rain boots. Or a pizza stone. Or my new stupid smart phone. Or a hundred other things I have lying around the house.



I picked up a bunch of shells at the beach on Saturday. As JR was washing them off he found a hermit crab in one. So, of course, he had to tell me all about it. I feel terrible now. I can't drive over an hour to take the hermit crab back to the beach, I have to pack for Blissdom! So it is going to die on my patio. I can hardly stand the thought of bringing those lovely shells back into my house. And, don't tell me that there are thousands upon thousands of hermit crabs in the world and one of them dying on my patio is no big deal. JR already tried that one. It didn't work. I still feel like a murdering murderer. My family thinks I'm a nut case for getting all broken up about this.  Okay, I can't talk about this right now.


I need to go do something else for awhile. I think I'll put black beans in the crockpot for dinner tonight. Maybe, it will get my mind off the little baby crab on my patio. Food is always a distraction.

I'll be heading off to Blissdom tomorrow (Thank You ConAgra! For the lovely prep package). I'll try to send pics if my stupid camera will ever charge. You may be seeing pics from my phone. It works!

Love,
the crab murderer
M

Day Trippin'

JR and I like to get away on day trips. These are nothing big; just an afternoon away. We get a chance to chat in the car about stuff that is happening at our jobs, our home, our future plans, you know; stuff. Mostly, it's me pontificating to JR what he should be doing because obviously I know best (snicker) and him saying "yes dear" because he knows when to appease me. It's a win win.

We decided to take such a day trip on Saturday. Yes, I know I should have been painting. Yes, I know I should have gotten a little of the work I brought home done. No, I didn't do either of those things on Saturday. I left them until Sunday. Because, I like to amuse myself with the idea that I work better under pressure but mostly, it's because I'm a procrastinator that needs specific deadlines or I do nothing. Not that doing nothing is a bad thing.

Back to our little day trip, we decided to go to the beach. You would think that going to the beach would not be an hour+ drive from where we live but it is. The trek goes something like this:

First, you have to go through the city. It's a very big city, combined with the road construction and general traffic, this takes some time.

Then, you have to drive past the oil refineries and the Budweiser brewery. The brewery should have been of some interest for JR since he enjoys having a beer but he doesn't like Bud. We do have to go past the St. Arnold brewery which does interest him. So it is right here that he always says; "let's make plans to go there sometime." And where I always say; "sure".

Then you have to drive across some bayous and swamps. All the while making snarky comments about the alligator farms. Yes, you read that right. Alligator farms. That you can visit. Think about it.

Then, you take a right at more oil refineries. This particular ugliness is broken up by the coal plants. Adds another layer to hideous.

This part of the drive gives you the opportunity to admire (and feel somewhat superior again. because the alligator farm thing is just never enough)  the houses on stilts and to question others intelligence. Sure it would be great to have beach property but when it blows away on a fairly regular basis one has to wonder how great that really is.

Then you are at the beach. It's on your left. You can't really see much of it yet because it sits over the dunes.

It's less like a picturesque drive and more like an odyssey.

Our plan was to stop at Sea Rim State Park for a quick walk along. Get back in the car for a leisurely drive down the coast to the ferry that would take us to Galveston. In Galveston we'd do a little more beach combing then drive up to Pasadena where we would stop for burgers at Culvers (only because Jan says their butter burgers are the best ever). Then head home. Our plans were foiled when we found that the road down the gulf was still closed. It seems it hasn't been repaired since Hurricane Ike came screaming onshore a while back.

When we got to the beach we found a local nature conservancy group had set up shop. They were giving out garbage bags for those that wanted to help clean up the beach.

We decided to help out. So I grabbed a couple of bags while JR and Nessa grabbed some snacks. I can't hardly blame them. They never have Hot Links at my house. We thought better of giving one to Nessa. We did have over an hour drive home with her in the car.

Filled two big black garbage bags. 

These bags and tooth brushes seemed to dominate the refuse pickup.

 You can probably guess where the oil salt bags came from.

 Seems that when you clean up a major oil spill you forget a few things.

I guess it could have been worse.

We could have found oil blobs.

Which we didn't.

Blessings people, one must count them every once in awhile.

 There were several others on the beach helping out. These people had the cutest boxer dog. He was very anxious to play with Nessa. She was unimpressed.

 

 There are my loveys on the beach.

The weather was perfect. 

Not too hot.

Not too cool.

Helping to clean up the beach made us feel all civic and superior.

At the end of the day we went into Beaumont for some dinner.

It was a perfectly nice feel-good day trip.

How was your weekend?

Love,

M

P.S. All these photos were taken with my phone. I've been having problems with my camera lately. This does not make me happy. I need my camera for the trip to Nashville.

These were not exactly what I was looking for....but funny all the same.

I can't really tell if this was an error in judgment on my part or a happy accident. You tell me.

I put a twenty-something intern in charge of writing titles and descriptions for some images that we were going to put up online at the end of this month. I give him the same instructions and training that I give everyone that will be writing "metadata" for us. These instructions usually include the words: "describe and title the item as you see it and be creative. Just not too creative because we don't want to offend anyone that might be still alive or make the university look bad."
No one to date has had a problem with these instructions.

Well, until now.

Title: Half and Half

Description: A shot of a gentleman with half his upper face missing

Now, I don't know about you but I think that if my upper face was missing I wouldn't be posing for pictures.

 Title: It's a Cruel World

Description: A shot of a sad looking little girl.

Probably not what the photographer was going for but a great shot anyway

Title: Lights...Just Lights!

Description: Two men working on some lighting instruments for (TV station call letters)

Not sound, not camera, not film.....Just Lights.

 Title: Man In Charge

Description: A shot of two gentlemen in which one is commanding the other.

Considering the smile on the face of the man sitting I'd say the that the man standing isn't very commanding.

Title: One of a Kind

Description: A lady in her later years giving some sort of speech

First off; later years?

Second off; later years?

Title: Spring Ouarterback

Description: Man in a stupid shirt

WTF?

Title: That's So 1950s
Descritption: (none)
Uh yeah, it was the 1950s when this photo was taken. It might have even been the 1960s. 




And the two that win the award for creativity are.......

Title: Stick in in your pipe and smoke it!!!
Description: A young gentleman smoking his pipe as he listens to an ongoing presentation
Hilarious!

 Title: Creepy....
Descritpion: A strange woman making a silly face
Phyllis Diller did make silly faces but was she creepy?

 We obviously didn't leave these title and descriptions as they were but it was very tempting. What do you think? Was my intern being creative or a smartass? 

Love,

M

What it means to me

 
Last week I did a post on wine descriptors. It was great fun. This time I'm using chess descriptors. Just like the French, those people have a different name for everything and the ones that are the same don't always mean that same thing.

Here is the chess communities meaning of a term or word and mine. You can see where they are not really the same.




Wiki: Bad Bishop
A bishop which is hemmed in by the player's own pawns.

Me: Bad Bishop
"Don't say the baby's name!" When The Bishop gets there too late.


Wiki: Book draw
An endgame position known to be a draw with perfect play. The name reflects that traditionally the analysis has been found in the chess endgame literature, but in simplified positions (currently six pieces or fewer) computer analysis in an endgame tablebase can be used.

Me: Book draw
This one has two meanings for me. 1. When someone maliciously draws in a book. Punishable by a firm talking to and suspension of their circulation rights. And, maybe if you protest too loudly you'll get a major shushing.  2. The watercolour paper book that I travel with.


Wiki: Calculate
To carefully plan a series of moves while considering possible responses.
Me: Calculate
Something to avoid at all costs. The reason I became a librarian. I don't do math.


Wiki: Cheapo
Slang for a primitive trap, often set in the hope of swindling a win or a draw from a lost position.
Me: Cheapo
Me



Wiki: Coffeehouse
Adjective used to describe a move, player, or style of play characterized by risky, positionally dubious play that sets traps for the opponent. The name comes from the notion that one would expect to see such play in skittles games played in a coffeehouse or similar setting, particularly in games played for stakes and/or blitz chess. The Blackburne Shilling Gambit is a typical example of coffeehouse play.
Me: Coffeehouse
The place where I go to get my 'cup of consciousness'. Without it I am not fit company.



Wiki: Domination

Main article: Domination (chess). A situation whereby capture of a piece is unavoidable despite it having wide freedom of movement. Usually occurs in chess problems.

Me: Domination

What I am planning for my digital library. World domination of the digital library world. I will settle for nothing less.

Wiki: Extended Position Description (EPD) 

A Forsyth-Edwards Notation derivative format that contains the position on the chessboard, but not the game. It is primarily used to test chess engines. 

Me: Extended Position Description (EPD) 

Probably nobody's business.


Wiki: Fool's mate 
The shortest possible chess game ending in mate: 1. f3 e5 2. g4 Qh4# (or minor variations on this).
Me: Fool's mate
JR


Wiki: Scholar's mate
A four-move checkmate (common among novices) in which White plays 1. e4, follows with Qh5 (or Qf3) and Bc4, and finishes with 4. Qxf7#.
Me: Scholar's mate
Not JR


Wiki: Skittles 
A casual or "pick-up" game, usually played without a chess clock. At chess tournaments, a skittles room is where one goes to play for fun while waiting for the next formal game. 
Me: Skittles
What life isn't. As in 'life isn't always skittles and beer'. 


There are just a few of the chess game terms that mean something different to me.
Have a great day everyone
Love,
M

Nessa gets a new do

 See this dog?

This dog is a mess.

She is in serious need of a hair cut.

I feel her pain.

I am too.

 Look at those floppy furry ears,

the barely visible eyes

the matted gunk around her mouth.

You don't even want to smell her breath

and her nails can scratch a gash in your leg that will require hospitalization.

She's a mess.

A heinous mess.

Not any more.

The floppy furry ears have been trimmed and cleaned.

You can see her bright beautiful brown eyes.

Her muzzle doesn't have all the unidentifiable stuff matted around it.

Her nails have been clipped.

Her teeth have been brushed.

She got the whole spa treatment.

And, because she did

I didn't.

There is no justice.

Love,

M

RTT - sort of, kind of, maybe not so much.

You all know what day it is. That's right. It's Tuesday. So we're random. Okay, so maybe you all are random. I'm random only by virtue of posting about Keely, who hosts this crazy thing.

I'm painting a picture for her. 

She sent me this:

Isn't it the sweetest thing?

I started Sunday morning.

Then I took it back up on Monday after I took Nessa to the groomers.

She looks and smells beautiful now, by the way.

I'm down about $100.

It costs less for me to get my hair cut.

This was where I was at by Monday evening when the light gave out.

I could have gone on since I have lights for my studio but
I have to wait for parts of it to dry before I can start up again.
Nothing screws up a painting faster than painting on it too soon.

 

 By Wednesday I hope I can finish Pooh Bear,

Xander's face and hand.

Xander's knees and his coat need to be more defined and then some shading.

And, if I can carve out the time, I'll finish the grass.

My plan is to have it done by Sunday.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it right now.

I'm doing another post about the differences in terms. This time it is about chess. Anyone who wants to play along you'll find the link to the terms here.

This is brilliant.  Wine-icicles. Wine-pops. Whatever you want to call them, How great would those be on a hot summer day.

That's it. I just wanted to show you what I have been working on. Please go visit everyone else. This randoming is hard work and they all deserve a little comment love as a reward.

Love,
M

Wine tasting descriptors per Wikipedia

This morning I decided to do a little Stumbling or as I like to say; looking for blog inspiration, and what is the first thing that pops up in my browser? No, not that, sheesh. Wine descriptors.  

Wine tasting descriptors  are used to describe the aromas and tastes of wine and accessing the quality according to Wikipedia. There is this huge A to Z (or as my Canadian friends would say; A to Zed. A bunch of us librarians were giving one of our Canadian librarians a hard time because when she says A to Zed is sounds like a name. A name of a rock band. Sorry, tangent over) list of descriptors.

Isn't it interesting how each industry has it's own terms? As librarians we have our own vernacular also but mostly we like acronyms. When I started reading the wine industry descriptors I thought; I wouldn't use that word for that I'd use it for this. Then as with most everything I thought; Wow! That would be a fun game.

Let's play a little. 

Wiki: Accessible A wine that is easy to drink without an overwhelming sense of tannin, acidityextract. or

Me: Accessible A wine bottle that is already opened so that I don't have to get off my lazy a$$ and open it, then have to wait to let it breathe.

Wiki: Baked A wine with a high alcohol content that gives the perception of stewed or baked fruit flavors. May indicate a wine from grapes that were exposed to the heat of the sun after harvesting.

Me: Baked: what I am 3 glasses in after a hard day at work.

Wiki: Charming A subjective term used to describe a wine with a range of pleasing properties but nothing that stands out in an obvious fashion.

Me: Charming what I am after 2 glasses. Not so much after 4. (I meant to type 3 but my finger went to 4 automatically. Freudian slip? I didn't think so either.

Wiki: Dirty A wine with off flavors and aromas that most likely resulted from poor hygiene during the fermentation or bottling process.

Me: Dirty Usually where my mind goes after I hit that point between tipsy and numb tongue. JR doesn't mind it so much but in public situations it's a little off-putting.

Wiki: Easy A term that can be synonymous with "approachable" but more commonly refers to a wine that is simple and straightforward without much complexity but still enjoyable to drink.

Me: Easy What most of the girls in my high school were. Me? Let's not go there okay?

Wiki: Fallen over A wine that, at a relatively young age, has already gone past its peak (or optimal) drinking period and is rapidly declining in quality is said to have "fallen over".

Me: Fallen over Help me! I'm drunk and I can't get up.

Let's not go over Fat and Fleshy,

Wiki: Feminine Describes a wine that emphasizes delicate flavors, silky textures and subtle aromas rather than strength, weight and intensity of fruit.

Me: Feminine Pretty much what they said except applied to women or how I, as a woman, want people to think I am, the delicate, silky and subtle part.

Wiki: Hot Overly alcoholic wine.

Me: Hot How I think of myself after a few glasses of Hot wine.

There are plenty more. Go check out the link then let me know what comes to mind when you look at the list of descriptors. 

Love,

M

I think my appliances are over-compensating

I have your typical small appliances, microwave, toaster, mixer, espresso machine. Some spend their days on the counter (a huge peeve of mine, by the way) and some stay nicely hidden away in the cupboards. The toaster sits out on the counter. I'm not sure why. It is not like we use it all that often. Maybe, that is the problem. Maybe, it feels neglected. Maybe, it feels like though it has earned a place of honor on the counter top that if it doesn't work hard enough it will be relegated to the cupboard. Why do I think it has motives beyond toasting bread? Because, it burns the bread, every.single.time!

Conversation with JR this am:

Me: I think the toaster is over-compensating.

JR: Huh?

Me: You know, it doesn't get much use. It's sort of ignored. We set stuff on top of it when we run out of counter space. 

JR: What does all that have to do with over-compensating?

Me: It always burns the toast. Hence, it's over-compensating. It probably says to itself; "Oh my Gawd! She put bread in me. Okay, no pressure but I'm going to have to toast this bread like it's no tomorrow. So well that she never thinks to relegate me to the cupboard where I'll never see the light of day." See over-compensating.

JR: Wasn't there a anxiety ridden toaster in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Me: I don't think so. Are you thinking of the bunch of petunias?

JR: No. I'm sure there was a toaster.

Me: I don't remember but if you say so.

JR: What are you going to do about the toaster?

Me: I'm thinking about having a stern come to Jesus talk with it.

JR: Could you include the microwave because that bitch is just as bad.

Love,

M

Isn't it amazing

Isn't it amazing how trends, attitudes, and fashion all seem to cycle around?

There are more movements these days than there are days of the week. (yeah I was going to say something else that was totally disgusting but decided against it. It sort of made me throw up in my mouth a bit so I figured I'd save you the details) 

Anyway, these days there is the:

whole food movement, 

gluten-free movement, 

meatless movement, 

lower sugar no high fructose movement

save money, spend less

buy local

you name it there is a movement, diet, foundation, organization, society, charity, cause, or association for it.

Funny thing is during World War I the United States rallied around their troops overseas by becoming Hoover Helpers. It was one cause that encompassed all of the ones listed above and everyone joined.

  

• Save the wheat. 
• Save the meat
• Save the milk
• Save the fats
• Save the sugar
• Save the fuel
• Use perishable food
• Use local supplies

94 years later these have become relevant again. Maybe it's just me (mostly likely since I'm a bit of an anthropology/history nut) but I find this a fascinating bit of social history.

Something else that I like about this is the idea of starting at home to help yourself and the greater collective. I know, I sound like a commune-loving, liberal whack-job who enjoys smoking pot, looking at flowers, singing Kum-By-ya, and holding hands but really if we all thought a little more about helping others and in the process help ourselves wouldn't that make life a little easier? I'm probably talking out of my a$$ but I've been kind of disillusioned lately by the American people and by people in general, including myself. Or maybe it is the winter blues. Whatever.

What do you think? Does anything on this list relate to you? Am I a liberal whack-job? Should I be worried about that?

Just please don't call me a Hooverite.

Love,

M

What the Elmore do you want?

I posted something awhile back from this little Houston Chamber of Commerce pamphlet that I adore. Since it was mostly about cars Mary, from Unmitigated, was interested in seeing it. She works at the Ford Museum in probably one of the coolest jobs ever. She brought my attention to this gem. 

From now on I plan to use this sentence as often as possible and would like to encourage all of you to also.

What the Elmore do you want?

Fun facts about Elmore:

The Elmore Manufacturing Company, made the Elmore Bicycle before the turn of the century. As the nation turned to the automobile, Elmore Manufacturing developed the Elmore Car which was unique because it had a valveless motor. Needing to expand its operation, the Elmore Manufacturing Company moved to Clyde on the grounds of the present Whirlpool Plant. New models of the Elmore Car were made every year until the company was sold to General Motors. There is an Elmore Car and Elmore Bicycle on display in the Harris-Elmore Public Library.Fun facts about Elmore - WTOL.com - Toledo's News Leader |

Wikipedia has bit bit more info about this car manufacturer. 

Remarkable Cars has a great photo and a bit more information.

Have a great day everyone.

Love,

M

I've won the jackpot

And while it is not the big Lotto jackpot (wouldn't that have been sweet? It would be Blissdom11 for everyone!) 

No, I won a give away over at Stacy's place.

It was a gift basket full of my favorites.

19 pounds worth

(according to FedEx)

 

 Let's deconstruct it.

Back in the back is a Starbucks gift pack with coffee and a travel mug. I don't know how she knew it but I needed a new travel mug. JR has made off with mine. His first words upon seeing the new mug; "oh good, now I can switch off days." I don't think so, buddy. (my first words)

Off to the right is a Johnsonville gift set with sausage, cheese, crackers, cutting board and a knife. Once the guys got a look at that it was gone. All that is left is the cutting board, the knife, and some crumbs. I was hoping that would get me out of making dinner but no such luck.

In front of the Johnsonville stuff is a little package of coffee and some chocolates. I have absconded with those. They will be going to a safe place where only I know where they are. There maybe keys involved. And, little stolen moments.

Smack in the middle front is two stemless wine glasses. I'm uber happy about these. They turn my set of 4 to a set of 6. Really, a much better entertaining number. It also means that I can use a glass everyday without the pesky task of washing and still take Sundays off. Okay, so I never take Sundays off. I'll just have to find another glass. Wine tastes just as good in a water glass.

In front of those is a Black Cherry scented candle. Stacy thinks of everything. This gem came in handy after the guys ate all the cheese and meat. Enuf said.

That little white package on the left is Focaccia mix. That will be a weekend project.

Last but in my mind not least, 3 (count them, 3) bottles of homemade wine and 1 bottle of coffee liqueur. Added to my overindulgence latest purchases my wine fridge is satisfyingly full.  There  is really very little more beautiful than a satisfyingly full wine fridge. Okay, maybe there is (sunsets, puppies, babies) but for me the full wine fridge is good. We've all got to take these little pleasures when we can.

While I was feeling all special and taunting you with my win the cat yakked up a massive pile of undigested cat food. On the carpet no less. Oh yeah! I feel special. I bet you want to be me.

Thank you Stacy! You are the best!

JR now thinks that blogging is not just a major time suck and that I would be better using my time paying more attention to him (HA!). See what he knows.

Love,

M

Well, I've bit the bullet

As the 3 year anniversary of my blogging experience comes rushing up it seems the prefect time to reflect a little. 

I didn't start my blog with any need to have my voice heard. (Seriously, why you people keep coming is beyond me. Please don't stop though. I find that my sanity is tied very closely to you all.) I doubt that what I have to say is very important or meaningful though I do hope that I am slightly entertaining. At least, my mother is so that has got to count for something. Speaking of mother stories, I have about 6 posts worth after spending a week with her at Christmas. I'll start sharing those next week.

I didn't start the blog to fulfill a need to connect with people outside my insular world of libraries and family though I feel that need now. This love fest that I've got going with you and your families probably creeps you out. Uh yeah, sorry about that. I know that JR doesn't understand it but then he doesn't understand a lot of stuff that I do, he just goes with it. After 28 years he's learned to live with my craziness. After awhile you will too. I grow on people. 

What is my point? How does the title to this post even relate? Can I possibly be more long winded? All good and burning questions. 

What vehicle will I use to connect all these points?

Until Blogher09 I didn't even know that there were conferences for bloggers. Why it didn't occur to me is ridiculous stupidity on my part. I'm a freaking librarian! We DO conferences.  I should have known but by not knowing until the last minute (my travel schedule is such that I have to plan months in advance) I wasn't able to go to meet my favorite bloggers. Then again they probably lucked out all around. 

Then came Blissdom10. I was out of town and I just couldn't afford it. Blogher10? In NYC. Could it get more expensive? Mary Anne and Keely talked about attending Blissdom11 in Nashville and I thought; this I could afford. My initial idea was that I would just show up to spend time with them and skip the rest of the conference stuff. Mary Anne was most insistent that I buy a ticket. I can't remember the whole chat conversation but I do remember feeling an overwhelming compulsion to buy a ticket (is there any wonder she is an awesome salesperson? It was like I was hypnotized or something. JR didn't know what had come over me. I HAD to buy a ticket.)

So last night I put the last nail in this coffin. I purchased my airline ticket. It's a done deal, ladies. May God have mercy on your souls and give you the strength to overcome my kind of crazy because you are going to need it. Please don't make me list the all the reasons you need this warning but they start with; I tend to be over-served at bars, that leads to, I have been known to flirt with the band, and while it hasn't happened in recent history, it ends with, I have lost clothing pieces while drinking. Just a little FYI.

So see you all in Nashville. A town that I love for obvious reasons.

Love,

M

My Christmas Vacation; A Chart

Hopefully this will conclude the Christmas/New Years blog posts because I am so done with 2010.

Love,
M

RTT - New Years Resolutions

I was never really big on New Years resolutions and as I get older I'm even less so. Evidenced by the lack of post from last year one comes to that conclusion very quickly. With all that said (and not very well I might add. Hey, it's 5:34 am. The old synapses just aren't firing yet) I'll give you a random few that even I think I can keep. So while, this post is not completely random, so shouldn't really qualify as a Random Tuesday Thoughts post, I'm going to call it one because that in and of itself is random. (There! justification for the day is done. I'm feeling so much better)

1. Random Tuesday Thoughts. Keely hosts this weekly gather all your thoughts up, toss them into the internet, mix well and voila you are done fun fest. This I can do or at least attempt to do. I think my success rate is about 90%. That is almost as good as my shower rate. TMI, sorry.

2. Eat fruit. Yeah, I know.....this one is going to be a hard one. I like to challenge myself every once in awhile. I'm nothing if not challenging. Oh wait, that didn't come out right.

These luscious raspberries were sitting out in the cold at the Seattle Pike Place market. Somehow, I doubt that they were locally grown. Maybe it was the 30 degree temperatures, or the snow on the ground, or the years of experience picking berries as a child laborer in the summer (money for those cool I've-got-to-have-them-or-I'm-going-to-die bell-bottoms when I was 13 didn't just grow on trees. At least according to my mother) but even I know that raspberries don't grow locally in the dead of winter. I'm thinking someone cheated.

3. Speak to my mom about decorating principles. While I'm rather an eclectic decorator (which just means I see something I like then stick it on a wall someplace in my house where it sort of matches) I'm not even sure I could pull off this stunning display. My mother's guest bath is decked out in Southwestern/Native American/Mexican folkart meets English rose garden. It is truly amazing.

I have a couple of choices here:
a. buy her a new shower curtain, rug and some towels that match the Southwest theme she's got going then shame her into switching them out by telling her that she is offending my delicate aesthetic sensibilities. Or....
b. or telling her that her theme is a little on the whacking side. Then letting her pick something that goes better.
I'd better stick with plan a. Look what she came up with on her own.

4. Never let JR do this again. enough said.

5. Enjoy more sunsets. I feel that I need to take the time to enjoy more sunsets. Though preferable not at 35,000 feet. Sunsets are nice. They are soothing slow down, have a drink on the patio kind of nice. They are toss the toy for the dog while chatting about your day kind of nice. They just are never going to happen in that lovely bucolic way at my house kind of nice but I like to think that if I just strive a little harder I'd get to have a few of those kind of nice sunsets.

I think I'll try to stay clear of sunrises. While they are undeniably lovely they do come, well, at sunrise. Which seems like an excessively early hour in the morning. So says the woman that gets up to fix JR breakfast at 5am. Just because I do it doesn't mean I like it. Not the fixing breakfast part, I like that. It's the 5am part that kind of sucks.  

So there is my random new years resolutions that I probably will fail at achieving no matter how generic they are. Now, please leave a comment so I know you've visited (and if you've left an email address I'll probably even respond. Should that be another resolution? Nah, too much pressure) then go visit all the other randomers. (Shut up, Blogger! It is too a word.)

Love,
M

An apology and a recipe

I need to apologize for dropping off the face of the earth last week. Believe it or not but the Seattle area does have internet access it is only that my mother and step dad don't really know how or why it works or how easy it is to swap out computers or how it doesn't really break it if you plug in another computer or that if you plug in another computer your internet service provider doesn't charge you extra. Knowing that it might be a painful exercise in futility to explain all this to them it seemed like dropping off the face of the earth was a better option. My mother doesn't have wireless internet access. She's only got the cable type which isn't to say that wouldn't have worked great but my step dad gets a little cranky about anything to do with computers. Bless his little heart.

I had three options
1. Using my step dad's computer. He volunteers it all the time only to get all upset if the screen doesn't look exactly like when he left it. I hate to upset him so that option was out.
2. I had thought to unplug his computer then plug mine in but I didn't want to crawl aroung under his desk.
3. I could have bought a wireless router but figured that if I had any problems the man would have freaked the hell out. 

So I just decided to opt out of anything except Twitter and Facebook. Those I could keep up a bit with my phone.

I'm back now. JR and I got back to Houston on Saturday evening. We were totally spent from flying most of the day. For some crazy reason the flight to Seattle seemed to take about half the time of the flight home. Maybe it was a time warp or something. I don't know but we were exhausted by the time we got home.

While we were in the Seattle area we ate out; A LOT! One of the places that we went for lunch is a favorite of our oldest son and his wife. I can't remember the name but it is this little cafe in a strip mall. One of the sides that looked really good was a sweet potato hash. I didn't have any because it had bacon in it but everyone else thought it was good. That got me hankering for sweet potato hash. Sunday morning I tried my hand at it.

Sweet Potato Hash

3 medium sized sweet potatoes or yams, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons cumin
1 cup meatless chorizo
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

Dice sweet potatoes. Place in a pot or large fry pan with enough water to just about cover over medium heat. Cover and cook until the potatoes are almost cooked through. You don't want them to be too soft. Sort of al dente. Drain.

Put back into the fry pan or transfer into a large fry pan if you cooked them originally in a pot. Drizzle with the olive oil. Fry over medium to medium high heat. Add onions, garlic, chorizo and cumin to the potatoes. Mix gently.

Fry until the onions are cooked through. The sugar in the potatoes will caramelize and get all yummy.
Serves 6ish. I couldn't tell you all the fat, calories or nutritional value but I can tell you that everyone liked it and it can't be all that bad.

I served it with scrambled eggs. Then I stuffed mushrooms with some of the leftovers. Yum! I'll be making it again. Soon.

See you all around.
Love,
M