Hey Blogger, I'm getting really fucking tired of losing a post every time I try to post! I guess I need to start copying everything before I try and post it so I can go back and paste it in when it refuses to post.

To briefly go over what I TRIED to say a few minutes ago, either I'm retarded or Ohio's government Web site sucks, because I can't find information about online business rules or vendor's licenses.

The cover of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has been released. It doesn't seem to be as detailed as previous covers, but what the hell do I know.

Here we go...Oh, as soon as I copy this post.

Add Ohio to list of things that piss me off - oh wait, it's already on that list. We'll just bump it up to the top! Why is it that I can't find any information about the state's rules for online businesses on the state's Web site? I know there are online businesses based in Ohio, and I'm sure you have to have some kind of vendor's license, but I can't find a damned thing about it. Maybe I'm just too sleepy, I dunno. I just don't want to have to call down to Columbus and get put on hold for who knows how long. Bleh.

But on a cheery note, in case you haven't heard, the cover for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has been released. Doesn't seem very detailed, pretty much just Dumbledore and Harry seemingly staring into a smoking pillar. As always, I'm sure it will make sense once the book has been read, which will be by the end of July 17, the day it comes out! Just over four months! Woo-hoo!

OK, I'm off to try and research online business some more.

This thing is pissing me off. I just spent half an hour trying to get that post to publish and then it was there twice so I tried to delete it but it kept showing up twice. Wonder how long this one will take.

Man oh man, do I ever hate that bitch. I was hoping she'd ... hmmm methinks I shouldn't say what I was hoping. But here's an example of why I hate her:


NEW YORK (AP) — Fighting back tears at times, Martha Stewart told cheering employees on her first day back at work Monday that prison was a life-changing experience that made her realize her company may have been out of touch with ordinary Americans. YA THINK?

Dressed in a chocolate-brown suit and pumps, Stewart addressed her employees from a stage where a simple bouquet of yellow daffodils sat in a glass vase atop a stool. Behind her were giant posters of her magazine’s April cover with a photo of daffodils and a headline appropriate for the day: "Just in time for Spring."

"I love all of you from the bottom of my heart — I’m really glad to be home," she said, choking up at the end of her speech. Afterward, she stepped off stage and embraced co-workers one by one. AW, ISN'T SHE WONDERFUL?

Stewart, 63, told the employees that she "learned a great deal about our country" in meeting a cross-section of Americans at the federal women’s prison at Alderson, W.Va. She said that her experience would lead to changes at her homemaking empire that would make it more accessible to ordinary people.

"We’re going to engage and inspire new readers and new viewers for whom these topics may have seemed alien, unfamiliar or even — believe it or not — superficial," she said. SUPERFICIAL? NO, NEVER! AND SURELY NOT UNATTAINABLE FOR WOMEN WHO HAVE JOBS OTHER THAN SITTING AROUND ALL DAY THINKING OF DOILY DESIGNS!

The company was perhaps too focused on the technical aspects of entertaining and cooking, she said, and not enough on why people need to nurture and take care of each other.

"Starting now, we must communicate not only the how-to that we’ve been so proud of, but also the why," she told the group gathered at the Manhattan offices of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, overlooking the Hudson River.

She also held up the gray and white poncho she wore when she left prison Friday. She said it did not come from a fancy store, but was crocheted by a fellow inmate, with yarn from the commissary.

"The night before I left, she handed me this ... and said, ‘Wear it in good health,’" Stewart said. "I hope she is reading the news and looking at television because I’m so proud of her."

The company’s new chief executive and president, Susan Lyne, introduced Stewart to a standing ovation as "your teacher, my inspiration, our founder." I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE, I'M GOING TO VOMIT


Yeah, there was more to the article, but I just couldn't stand it. I hate her and her stupid man hands.

On a lighter note, and seemingly contrary to the above rant, I spent much of the weekend making curtains for the living room and spare room, and for the window at the bottom of the stairs. But you know what? They're not fancy-schmancy curtains with swags and lace and all that crapola. They're rectangles of material hemmed around the edges to keep the light and neighbors out. And I'm proud of them, even if they are plain and simple. Wanna see 'em? OK, go here.

Next up, the bedroom and office curtains! And then the world! OK, maybe not.

Oh, one more thing: "Monty Python's Spamalot" on Broadway. That's all I have to say.

It's nice to find like-minded people. It helps me not feel guilty about the way I feel about things.

Eh, so it's not the next day or during daylight hours, but at least it's not two weeks later. Really not much to tell anyway. A general lack of sleep, a general grouchiness, a general despair that our house will never look like two adults with real jobs live here but will always look like college frat boys live here - you know, the usual stuff.

The threat of a full moon has once again taken its wacky toll on Mojo. He had a strange fascination with Rusty's ear - the inside of it - over the weekend, and tonight he went from sitting on the chair to doing a u-turn run on the chair before dashing off like the devil was on his tail. Speaking of which, I had a dream that part of Mojo's tail broke off, kind of like how a tree branch breaks off. There wasn't any blood, just some snot-looking stuff that could have been slobber gobs from Rusty. It was a very weird dream.

And those, boys and girls, are the highlights. Unless you want to hear about all the cleaning I did this weekend, which I'm pretty sure you don't.

Hmmm, I forgot to check on this new comments thing. Let's see how it works.

So check this out: I'm blogging on high-speed cable Internet! Woo-hoo! Got it on Monday, but I've been too busy playing stupid online games at the speed of light - OK, at the speed of cable - to blog. But here I am, with pretty much nothing to say.

It's about 3:30 a.m. and I wanted to get on here sooner, but after showing Dave the Shatnerology Web site (yes, as in William Shatner) and Dave showing me how speedy this new hook-up is, Dave decided to go back to the very beginning of The Cat's Ass and read all the way up to the present. I told him that maybe if he read this even once a week he wouldn't need so much time to go through it, but I don't think he was listening. There was only one thing I was embarrassed for him to read, and it was my rant about wanting to buy a house. Oh well, it's how I felt, so tough!

Went to the dentist today, and we're all done with fillings - at least for now. Thank goodness! I had an awful lot of trouble drinking my coffee when I got home, due to the numbness, and managed to spit out a mouthful of coffee instead of swallowing it. Not pretty. Amusing, but definitely not pretty.

And speaking of the dentist, Have I mentioned that I now have dental insurance? Well, Dave does anyway, and I'm covered too, and it's some pretty good coverage. Now if somebody would just give us vision coverage, we'd be all set...

Well, that's about it. I'm just not in a writing mood, so maybe more tomorrow - and maybe during daylight since the phone won't be tied up anymore!!

I just had Dave dig out his copy of HTML 4 Dummies, and I'm already intimidated. It's an awfully thick book for a dummy to read. But I'm gonna read it, even if it takes me months and months to get through and actually understand. Then I'll actually have a reason to buy a domain name for my little pet project and find someone to host the site and all that jazz (which I've already gotten some info about that from SupaMB, so I'm a little ahead of things on that front).

Anyway, we went out to dinner with Joy and Rodney Saturday night and then went back to Rodney's place for a little pop culture Trivial Pursuit. An all-around fun-filled evening, I must say! We're going to have to have them over to our house for an evening of Saturday Night Live Trivial Pursuit, I do believe. I love the way they're doing the playing pieces with the TP games now. All 3-D items/people and shit, and if you accidentally knock one over, the pies don't go flying out - a big improvement. It takes so very little to make me happy.

Well, that's all. I need to go e-mail MB and harass her with more site questions and then I think I may play some games. I'm just not sure I can tackle that dummies book tonight.

Happy 2005, everyone! So much to tell, so little desire to type, but here goes.

Went to Pennsylvania for Christmas, and had a nice visit with the in-laws. Had to leave a day late because of the huge-ass snowstorm the day before we were supposed to leave. The roads were just fine all the way out though, so it turned out OK. Got to see pretty much everyone, bonded a little with my sister-in-law which I really enjoyed, and had an all around good time.

Spent New Year's Eve with the Stephensons. They made dinner, we took bread dip and games. We ate, drank, played Beyond Balderdash, gorged ourselves on bread dip, drank, and played euchre, all while watching Sci-Fi channel's Twilight Zone marathon (most of which is our New Year's tradition - Beyond Balderdash was a new addition). Again, an all around good time.

New Year's Day - not such a good time. I woke up around noon and thought it was a little chilly downstairs so I turned up the heat. Then I actually looked at the temperature, which was around 60 degrees, and said to myself, "Oh shit." When the furnace fan refused to kick on after I cranked the thermostat up to like 90, I said to myself, "Oh SHIT!" Then I woke Dave up, and we made lots of phone calls and eventually the furnace go fixed on Wednesday. Yes, Wednesday. That's about 4 1/2 without heat. Luckily New Year's Day wasn't too cold, and we found our space heater and borrowed a space heater from one of my co-workers. We were able to get the downstairs up to almost 70 each night before we went to bed, and it usually only dropped down to about 60 during the night.

So that takes us up to Jan. 5. On Jan. 7 we found out that Dave's grandpa, my mother-in-law's father, had passed away that morning, so we went back out to PA the next Tuesday night for the funeral Wednesday morning in N.J. After sleeping from about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, we went back to N.J. to see Dave's grandma, who had been pretty much in a coma for a few months and had Alzheimer's. She passed away Friday afternoon around 4, which we were there for, having never gone back to my in-laws' house from the Thursday visit. We left Saturday afternoon and got back Saturday night. It was a pretty rough week, but Dave seems to be doing OK now.

So that pretty much brings us to now. We started doing Weight Watchers, which we didn't follow while we were in PA/NJ, but we're back on it. As of right now I've lost about five pounds, which isn't much but it's encouraging. We were going to go to my parents' house today to celebrate my mom's birthday, but since it's snowing and is supposed to snow a whole big crappy bunch, we pushed it back to next weekend. Maybe I'll actually be productive today and clean the house and shit, but I kind of doubt it.

I was going to end this with a nasty comment about this being the Roe v. Wade anniversary, but I think all I'm going to say is go thank your mother for giving you life.

I am such a scrooge this year - I can't even begin to guess how many times I've muttered/said/shouted "I hate Christmas" or some variation on that in the last month or so. I'm sick of fighting crowds in stores and sitting in a parking lot just waiting to get in or out (or into the Bob Evans parking lot) and being told "I'm sorry, we don't have that, but we can special order it" and having people look at me like I'm retarded when I ask about an item and driving all over the frigging state (or into Michigan) to go to a certain store. I'll tell you what, whoever gets a gift from us this year had better act like it's the best gift they ever got, or there's going to be some serious problems.

Speaking of gifts, I've been making gifts for a couple people (which also has caused me great frustration at times, but I'll get over it) and I had a most foul experience Saturday night while working on these projects. I was all settle in on the couch, crafting away, with Sugar Puddin' curled up on the back of the couch and Rusty curled up on the floor at my feet, both of them asleep. All was good until the most horrific stink wafted up from the dog. It was so awful I couldn't even concentrate on what I was doing ... he gassed me out of the family room! I had to leave because trying to fan it away wasn't working, and you can only hold your breath so long before you have to breathe again. It just amazes me how much more awful dog (and cat) farts are than human farts.

Dave and I are going to create a "Things Heard at Work That are Never Good" list, or maybe a "Things I Never Want to Hear at Work Again" list, something along those lines. If you've got something, e-mail it to me and we'll add it. I'm not sure where it'll end up, but it'll probably be somewhere on the site. You'll just have to wait and see.

I wanted to post yesterday, but it just didn't happen. So, I'm announcing, belatedly, the one-year anniversary of the appearance of the burn on the blog. Just over a year ago I was an idiot and burned the shit out of my arm on the iron, and I now have a nice little scar. It's faded quite a bit, but it's still there, and always will be.

I just got off the phone with Tasha the multicultural whore (ha ha) after almost an hour and a half, and it was quite the fun conversation. I like to hear about the wackiness of the south! But she doesn't want to talk about her flair, so don't ask. (go watch Office Space if you don't get that) But seriously, it was nice to have a cheerful conversation after being perpetually pissed off for the last 24 hours. Long story short, I have a boot with the dog's ass' name on it, and I'm not real happy with some other people or work right now.

But hey, I get today and tomorrow off, and then on Saturday I get to see MB at her baby shower, so there's light at the end of this here tunnel.

Since I'm so grouchy, I'm going to sign off. Maybe I'll be cheerier later in the day and I'll tell you all about my annual Christmas shopping trip with Nadia.

*BURN UPDATE* It no longer wants to give updates, unless it's really really important. I'm sorry, but it's not.


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It's amazing how different two weekends can be. One good, one bad. Let's talk about the good one first.

Almost two weeks ago, Dave and I headed down to Athens to spend a few days with the little one (known to most as Kim). We took the dog to the kennel Thursday morning and then began our trek down south. Once in A-town, we checked into the Amerihost and then went to Casa (restaurant where Kim works) to find Kim. We decided to get some tasty pizza and hang out at her house before coming back into town for some adult Shel Silverstein night at Casa that Charles wanted to go to. We discovered that they live waaaaay out in the boonies on a very scary gravel road, but the house is neat. The Shel Silverstein thing would have been much better if we had been able to see and hear it, but that's life I guess. Of course, maybe it wasn't really any good at all, because Charles spent most of the time back in the office of Casa.

Friday, we all rolled out of bed early to have breakfast at the Village Bakery (or something like that). After breakfast, Kim and I went to this crazy bead store. There were so many different kinds of beads and such that I'm pretty sure I didn't even see everything! I must go back!

Now, I had always figured that many people in Athens were, how shall I put it, a little hippie-esque, but the lady that owns this store takes the cake. Keep in mind, this was the Friday after Election Day, and I had heard a lot of political blathering in the weeks leading up to Election day, but ... This lady was talking to another girl working there, and I heard them talking about the election and Issue 1 (state ban on gay marriage [rat bastards]). These two were absolutely shocked that the ban had passed. I was absolutely shocked that they were that stupid. Apparently, people in Athens live in a tiny little bubble. They have no idea what goes on in the rest of the state, and I'd hazard to guess the country, and have no idea what a bunch of smug, self-righteous, gay-bashing bastards populate Ohio. I was just floored.

The other thing that made me shake my head was that this lady "just couldn't spiritually understand" how Kerry lost to Bush. I wanted to tell her that she must not have had her crystals and rocks aligned correctly, but I again bit my tongue. I mean, she was after all counting out my beads to figure out the bill.

So after the bead outing, we ended up back at the hotel where Kim and Dave napped, and then Kim went to work. Then Dave and I napped, and then we went to dinner and to Wal-Mart to buy Kim a flashlight. The house was cool, but they seriously need another outside light to shine on the driveway. Then we met Kim at Casa because she was finished. We ended up playing Scrabble at Casa during "Latin Dance Night," which was so freaking loud that we couldn't even hear each other when we were shouting in each other's ears. Scrabble good, loud music bad.

So Saturday morning we again got up at the butt crack of dawn. Dave and I checked out, then headed to - you guessed it - Casa for breakfast. Kim had to work in the bar after that, so we hung out at the bar for a little while and then headed out for mom & dad's. The visit was pretty good overall, despite our being shunned several times (not by Kim).

The highlight of Saturday was the keith urban concert that night. I have to say, KEITH URBAN FUCKING ROCKS MY WORLD!!! He is a fantastic performer, sings and plays the guitar like you wouldn't believe, and really seems to love what he's doing. My pictures didn't come out at all, so I'm pretty pissed about that, but hey, at least we were at the concert. I'll just throw a little plea out there to keith to please, please, please cut the smoke machine for at least one song, like maybe for "You'll Think of Me," so your adoring fans can get one good picture to remember the concert. But like I said, it was a great concert, and the music is starting to grow on Dave so I'm hoping we'll go again next time he tours.

My bad weekend started last Thursday. I'd had a cold all week, so I was planning on just hanging around the house and resting, maybe doing some laundry. A couple of Dave's friends wanted us to go up to BG to play pool, but I didn't really want to so I told Dave to go and have fun. Later that night Dave called and told me that he'd run into a friend of mine, Jason Frost, who told him that a second friend who's in the reserves, Jason Carmen, got called up to go to Iraq and was leaving Saturday and that they were having a going away party for him Friday night. To put it mildly I was pretty shocked.

After much crying and freaking out, I called to see if I could take Friday off from work, and then I sat around berating myself and feeling guilty for not have talked to Carmen in so long and wasting all that time we've all had to get together. You always take things for granted, you know?

So Friday Dave and I went to the party, and it was horrible. It was so great to see the guys, but it was so hard to just pretend to be happy and pretend like it was any other party. But I didn't cry, although there were a lot of hugs given. And I had several drinks, so that's pretty impressive, take it from me. We got home around 4:30 a.m. and I had a little bit of a headache, so I took an Aleve and went to bed. Not smart. I started puking around 5 and once that gate was open, it didn't want to close.

I think that aside from the alcohol/Aleve mixture, the holding in of emotions just made me sick. That and all the snot from my cold/sinus problems. Those three things combined to keep me in bed until 5 p.m. Saturday, which totally sucked. So don't do that.

Well, I again have a headache, so I'm going to go to bed.


*BURN UPDATE* It's in love with keith urban.

Just one more day, I just have to make it one more day before a little more vacation time and trekking down to Athens and going to the keith urban concert. And what a day-from-hell it's going to be. Election Day, how I hate thee.

Don't get me wrong, voting is great and you should all go vote, but damn it sucks to work at a daily paper on election night. Especially during a presidential election, because then we have to wait for all those west coast numbers. Blah! But, there will be all the tasty treats that everyone brings in, so there is one good thing about it.

Speaking of tasty treats, I'm eating a caramel apple with peanuts on it, and it is goo-oo-ood! And I'm drinking mocha chocolate milk. It may sound like an odd combination, but I don't care. They're both good, and that's what matters.

Well, I'm going to go play silly computer games before I try and go to bed early.


*BURN UPDATE* It's not looking forward to the election madness either.

Vacations are nice, even if all you do is laze around the house. I took Wednesday and Friday off (I have Thursdays and Saturdays off), and to be quite honest, I haven't done a whole hell of a lot. I've worked on Dave's Halloween costume, drunk (drank?) a lot of coffee, played mosh pit with the dog, and kicked the computer's ass at a Scrabble-esque game. It's fun to be lazy! And for now, I can thread my sewing machine and refill a bobbin without looking at the owner's manual - now that's progress!

I have to say, I'm pretty proud of the big flowy robe for Dave's costume, but the pants are a disappointment. In the picture on the pattern envelope, it shows a guy in this tunic/pants ensemble, a la Star Wars or something, and the pants look normal. On Dave's pants, however, the crotch is at the knees. Explain this to me! I cut out the pieces following the pattern, I followed all the directions, and I now have pants for someone with legs a foot long and a torso that's like three feet long. WTF?? I'm dreading starting the tunic tomorrow, because who knows what that'll end up looking like.

Mom was telling me funny stories about her work today, and one of them required her to say a naughty word! Well, I think it's a naughty word some kid made up (have you ever called someone a fuckwad?), but that actually made it even funnier! Pammy doesn't cuss the way, say, I do, so it makes me giggle when she does.

Yeah, I've got problems. But I'm on vacation for one more day, so who cares?


*BURN UPDATE* It wants to surf the Net.


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This was quite the interesting day. Nothing out of the ordinary for most of the day, but we discovered an AP photo of John Kerry campaigning in Xenia holding up a copy of the Courier. There was a big brouhaha last week regarding something John Snow said during a visit to Findlay, and the Dems picked it up and ran with it. If you want to read about it, go to the Courier Web site and look at last Tuesday or Wednesday's stories (I don't remember which day it was). Anyway, we put the picture on the front page for today's paper with a happy little campaign roundup story.

After the paper was out, I was cruising the Courier's public forum on the Web site, and discovered that some chicken-shit anonymous person posted the address for my Web site on the forum. I can't figure out why, though. I rarely post anything on there, and as far as I know I haven't severely pissed anyone off. I find it amusing that this person didn't have the nerve to put their name with their trickery. Grow up! But I figure hey, maybe my fanbase will double to six!

So, I head home, hoping to catch a few minutes of the Yankees/Red Sox game *cough cough* lucky bastards *cough cough* to discover that Mojo had peed all over Dave because one of his friends was here and demanded to see Mojo. Dave tried to take Mojo downstairs and Mojo got scared and peed all over and then went and hid. Anyway, I get home to discover that we have to give poor Mojo a bath because he was soaking wet and stinky and yucky. I ended up basically taking a bath with him, because he fought more than he's ever fought when we've had to give him a bath. It's madness, madness I tell you!

After that, I had to shower and get all the Mojo fur off me. Then I worked on the site to make my new friends feel welcome and to update some of the info, and here I am.

I have to tell you, I am so freaking psyched about going to see keith urban next month! I've been listening to "Golden Road" over and over and over, and it kicks my ass! I've got to go out and get his other two CDs so I can sing along to those too. But I'm telling you, if you buy one CD this year (what's left of it, anyway) it should be "Golden Road." DO IT! No, shhhh, just buy it, I don't care if you don't like country music. Buy it.

Oh, something else. Certain women in my life have told me that I have a northwest Ohio accent. To them I say Shut It. I refuse to believe it. But I still love you.


*BURN UPDATE* It's dreading that nasty s-word: SNOW


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Oh, good god, the next time someone hears me say I'm going to make something out of velvet, shake me and remind me of Dave's Halloween costume, OK? It's almost done, thanks to phone help from the Pammer, but it has been a BITCH! As Dave likes to say about things, it's been at least a 100 effer (as in f---er) project. Now all I have to do is hem the robe, and that part is done. Then the hat, and then I can move on to nice smooth silk (or silk-wannabe, I'm not sure). Probably not easy either, but at least it won't be velvet. But the robe looks pretty kick-ass, and quite Dumbledore-esque, so I'm happy.

I have such the love-hate relationship with sewing. I get severely pissed off while sewing, but I keep going because I'm usually pretty proud of the finished product. And non-sewers are always so impressed, even with crap work, so that's nice too.

When everything is finished, I'll make Dave model and post some pictures on the site. I think I'll also post pictures of some of my other crafty accomplishments, like my jewelry that I'm so proud of and my cute bathroom accessories, and who knows what else. I've become a bit crafty in the past couple of years. I just don't have enough time to do much. >:o

Well, I'm going to go doctor some pics for my fez page. If you wind up on there and don't like it I guess I'll take it down, but I'll probably call you a crybaby first.


*BURN UPDATE* It wants to kill the sewing machine.


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Hey look everyone, I'm awake before noon! I've actually been up since 8 a.m., can you believe it? We took Rusty to the vet to get his distemper and bordatella (sp?) vaccines bright and early...blech! We also ordered tickets to the keith urban concert in Columbus next month! Woo-hoo! I bought his second album earlier this week, and I must say, I like it an awful lot. I'm listening to it now, in fact.

I also took a second jewelry-making class with Joy last night. We made earrings this time, and it was pretty fun, despite the complete bitch that sat next to me. I asked her to switch seats so I could sit across from Joy so that Joy and I could share a bead tray, and you would have thought I'd asked the lady to leave or if I could kick her cat or something. Geez, all you have to do is stand up, take three steps to the left and sit down again. Is it really that big of a deal?

Speaking of bitches, I read MB's blog a little bit ago, and I just can't believe what a bunch of idiots there are in the world. People are apparently sending her nasty e-mails telling her they're tired of reading about her being pregnant and pregnancy-related things. Um, it's her blog! And generally when you have a blog where you write about your life and you get pregnant, since that's a part of you life, you're going to write about it! I write about the stupid animals a lot, and if you don't like it, then go away. It's that simple. So, MB, you rock on and write about SupaMojo/The Beaner and tell those jerks where they can go. People are just assholes!

On that note, I'm going to go play Mah Jong. Keep an eye on the Web site for a new page I'm hoping to add soon: Things I found in my flower beds. It might be interesting or it might be stupid. We'll see.


*BURN UPDATE* It's disgusted that Rusty threw up in the car on the way home from the vet.



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It's rare these days that the computer's free when I get home from work. Dave's teaching online classes now, so he spends a lot of time on this here machine. It just doesn't seem right to say "Hey, stop doing work so I can mess around online," ya know?

Lots of stuff has gone on since my last post, not much of it very interesting. Most of it's just the little kinds of things that's of no interest to anyone but me, and maybe Dave.

Well, Dave and I celebrated our third anniversary. That was more interesting than most things. We were married Sept. 8, 2001. That's right! We were in Canada on a mini-honeymoon on Sept. 11. I was going to write about that on Sept. 11 this year, but I just really didn't feel like it. Maybe next year. On a happy note, Dave got me (us) surround sound for our anniversary, and it's pretty damn cool. Three little speakers on the front wall, one big speaker by the entertainment center, and two little speakers behind the couch. It's crazy to hear the little sounds you've never noticed before when you're sitting on the couch watching a movie.

We took my co-worker Kurt and his twin girls fishing at my parents' house a couple weeks ago. Good times were had by all. I actually did some fishing, which I haven't done in several years. I was impressed that I can still cast, but I lost one on Dave's pole 'cause I pulled a little too hard and the line snapped. Oh well.

Rusty has the fleas, so he got a bath last week, and all three animals got a Frontline treatment yesterday. They were not impressed, and Rusty did a bit of peeing in the living room and kitchen. He tends to get scared when both of us come at him, can't imagine why. Just because it usually means bathtime or trouble...

I took a bracelet-making class with Joy a few weeks ago, and I'm quite proud of the results. I tried to take a picture of it to put on the Web site, but it's a bit blurry. We'll see how it looks. Joy and I are taking an earring-making class next week, and then we're gonna head to Hobby Lobby and go bead crazy. Woo-hoo!

I've been in a semi-crafty mood lately. I finished curtains for one living room window (except for the ties) on Sunday, and I'm hoping to start work on the ones for the other living room window on Thursday before our new weekly pool date with Dave's friends. I'm also really in the mood to do that Barbie doll dress thing again (can I say again if I really only ever made one practice dress?). And as far as I know, I'm making Dave's Dumbledore costume this year in hopes that we get happy little trick-or-treaters now that we live in a house. So much to make, so little time.

Well, I want to go mess around with my site now, so nighty-night!


*BURN UPDATE* It's looking forward to fall/winter when I go back to being pasty white so it will show up better.



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Since I tend to not pay attention to the news on my day off, this is a day or so late, but California sucks. Actually, most of the states suck, Ohio in a big way, but Calif. just made headlines for sucking, so they're getting singled out. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you suck too. Click here so you won't suck any more. And I learned as I was looking for that link that Australia sucks, too.

On another topic, Rusty just got yelled at by Dave for eating cat shit. Trivial, I know, but I thought I'd get my mind onto another topic. Now Dave is making idle threats that the dog can't understand about building a dog house and making Rusty sleep outside. Dogs are great.

We'll be heading to my parents' house in a little over 10 hours for a fishing "tournament," so I'm thinking I should probably at least think about going to bed. Nighty-night!


*BURN UPDATE* It's snoring.

Ah, I beat my last record of length between posts. How nice. I'm going to do better from now on, I swear. Even if the online classes Dave's teaching have to be pushed aside.

So what's new, you might ask. I might answer not a heck of a lot. The house resembles a home now, although many things have just been shoved into closets and the garage, thanks to my parents, sister, aunt & uncle, cousin and a friend of ours.

See, I threw a surprise birthday party for Dave on Saturday, and the aforementioned wonderful people helped me pull everything together at the 11th hour by shoving unsightly boxes, well, out of sight. The house looked (and still looks, for the most part) pretty good.

The party was a success; Dave seems to have been quite surprised, thanks to some help and sneakiness on the parts of Jim & Lori, and thanks to no one slipping up (including myself, and it was really hard!).

On another topic pertaining to the madness of my life, work just plain sucks for the most part right now. We got a new computer system & pagination system, and it's making everyone's life quite difficult. Much confusion, much frustration, much cursing. My sympathies to Supa MB, who will be getting the same system.

So between trying to settle in, then frantic house cleaning, work stress, and Dave needing the computer a lot more, I haven't had much of a chance to be online for an extended amount of time. And I didn't want to miss calls during the day, but today I said "Screw it!" That's what we have voice mail for. And we're going to get DSL sometime soon, so I won't have to worry about those missed telemarketing calls anymore. Speaking of which, CitiBank seriously pissed me off last week, but I think I'll save that for my next babbling session.


*BURN UPDATE* The tan has really made it less noticeable, so it's devised ways to get back at me. I ran into a doorway Saturday and spilled coffee on my freshly mopped kitchen floor, and I think the scar is somehow responsible. I now have a very large bruise on my left forearm just below my elbow.

Well, this is what I get for not posting in a month and a half. The site is all different, and I don't know what the hell's going on. I'm all confused! Sons of bitches!

Things have just been too crazy for the last several weeks, and I should have at least hopped on to say "Hey, I'm still here!" but I didn't. We moved, we got a dog (which I'm still questioning), I've been hella busy at work, and it's all just exhausted me to the point of not wanting to sit at a computer and babble - hard to believe, I know.

But don't worry, I've been saving little tidbits to ramble about, it's just a matter of getting around to it.

Hmmm, I keep trying to post this silly thing, but it won't go. Or at least it's telling me it won't go. I wonder if it'll be out there 50 times or something.


*BURN UPDATE* It doesn't like that my forearm is getting a little tan and getting closer to its color.

Well, we signed our lease Friday. A nice little two-story house here in town. Street seems quiet, we're near a park, and there's a bit of a yard for the puppy. Inside, stairs for the cats to race up and down on, nooks to hide in, and a pantry in the kitchen for Baby Cat to perch upon. I think we'll be happy, even though there's only one bathroom.

Not much else going on. I'm distraught over the end of "Friends," so we went and bought season 1 on DVD. Oh man, did I ever laugh my ass off Saturday night. Actually, the reason I wanted to get it is because Dave's grandma is very sick, and I wanted something to take his mind off that for at least a little while. He needed laughs.

It's too freaking cold for May, let me tell you. When you can see your breath at night, it's just not right.

Oh, we took Fat Mojo to the vet last week, and Dr. Jones couldn't find anything wrong. He checked both front legs and said he didn't feel anything out of sorts. So, he put Mojo on the floor to watch him walk, but all Mojo did was almost hide in the trash can, low walk, and try to get back in his cage. Low walking, in case you're wondering, is when he crouches down and runs. It's pretty amusing. Anyway, with the low walking, Dr. Jones couldn't see him limp of course, so the Mojo got a cortisone shot, and seems to be all better, so who knows what his deal was. He did let me know how displeased he was about the whole trip when we got home though. He yowled at me for a while and then punished me by going in another room to sleep. Mean, isn't he?


*BURN UPDATE* It wonders what all the fuss is about over the puppy.

Oh man, I wish I could tell you what I did Wednesday. It's a secret though, and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell yet. If the curiosity starts to kill you before I can tell, too bad! I will tell you it's work-related, but that's all you'll get from me, for now. And that I'm proud to have been a part of it.

As a treat, and totally unrelated to what I did Wednesday, I'm taking Friday off from work. Major excitement, I know. We're going to go look at some rentals and then go celebrate our friend Rob's 30th birthday. I'll probably do some dishes or something too, to add to the excitement.

You know, Mr. Haus turns 30 in July and I'm trying to figure out what to do for that. Any ideas would be appreciated (I mean party-wise, for all you gutter brains).

Talked to Kim today, and realized that I cannot have kids. I worry enough about my sister, and I can't imagine the worry involved with a child. I think I should just have lots and lots of cats.

Speaking of cats, I don't think I ever mentioned some fabulous books I read a couple months ago. Or did I? Well, I'm telling now, so if I'm repeating myself, sorry. Cat people should absolutely read "The Cat Who Went to Paris," "A Cat Abroad" and "The Cat Who'll Live Forever" by Peter Gethers. (Yes Gethers, not Gathers) Even dog people would probably enjoy them. This cat is amazing! I cannot tell you how wonderful they are. You will laugh out loud, and if you have cats, you'll probably find yourself thinking "That's just like the time ..." Oh, and you'll want some tissues for "The Cat Who'll Live Forever." Luckily I was reading it around 4 a.m. and Dave was asleep so I could bawl my eyes out without being embarrassed. Yeah, that pretty much gives things away, but you should be more prepared than I was.

And also, speaking of cats, we think the Fat Mojo may have a touch of arthritis. He's been gimping around the last few days, and at first we thought it was his paw, but after poking at him and trying to inspect the suspect paw, we think it's his shoulder. He never made a sound when I was messing with his paw, so I don't think it's hurt. I really don't want to call the vet, but I know I should. We've had that cat to Dr. Jones way too many times. Thank goodness Sugar never gets sick!


*BURN UPDATE* It hates the rain.

Kindly ignore my last post. I was mistaken. I would much rather waste more than $15,000 on renting a house over the next two years instead of buying one on the off chance that we'd have to move and sell it. I'd much rather be stuck with whatever paint, carpet, etc. a rental has. Thank you.


*BURN UPDATE* Don't ask.

Ever wanted something so bad you absolutely can't stand it? So bad that it's all you can think about? All you can talk about? I have. It's called a house. A place where every room doesn't have off-white walls and tan carpet, where you can hang something up without worrying about losing part of your deposit because of nail holes, a place that doesn't have paper thin walls so you can hear the kid next door getting her butt smacked for being bad, a place where every check for X hundreds of dollars each month goes toward owning that place. Seriously, I absolutely CANNOT stand it anymore. I want rose-colored carpet in my bedroom with a painted border of roses and vines around the top of the walls and deep green curtains - not fucking beige horizontal blinds, deep green curtains. I want space in said bedroom to have a dresser and a real bed frame, not the stupid metal frame. I want a bathroom with black and white linoleum and counters to match my kick-ass shower curtain my sister made and my kick-ass bath accessories that I made. I want room to bring up the sewing table Dad made for my sewing machine. I want walls to hang shelves for my cute kitty knick-knacks.

I WANT I WANT I WANT!


*BURN UPDATE* It's grouchy.

Hmmmm should I start the same way as the last one? Wow, it's been a while, huh? But that's OK. All I would have done is bitch for the most part anyway. The reason for my lack of posting is that by the time I get home from work these days, the last thing I want to do is get back on a computer. BLEH!

Anyway, we did buy a truck, and we did get my window fixed, so that's good. The truck is a 2000 Chevy Silverado 4x4, a lovely blue. It's pretty cool, but not meant for short people.

Had a fabulous time with Jen & MB last month. Went out to lunch, dyed our hair, had some drinks, did the Mary Kay thing, and I got my iron-on from MB. Haven't put it on the shirt yet, but I will eventually.

It's 4 a.m. and I'm actually getting sleepy, so that's all for now.


*BURN UPDATE* I think it's losing its power; it looks a little fainter.

Wow, it's been a while, huh? I'm sure the two people who read this are pretty pissed, but I know you'll get over it. In my defense though, this is only partly my fault. Some nights, no, I didn't feel like getting back on the computer after work. Some nights Dave was working so I couldn't get on here.

Anyway, we've decided on a truck, and we're just waiting to get Dave's next paycheck so we can go put a downpayment on it. Woo-hoo! Then we can start saving money to get my stupid car window fixed, and start looking for a house to rent.

Something that needs to be done, like tomorrow (Wednesday, today, whatever - my days start around noon so I'm still on Tuesday ya know) What was I saying? Oh yeah, something that needs to be ASAP is mailing my T-shirt to MB so I can have my supamb.com shirt. Curious? Well, I'm not giving you the link! Ha! You have to go to www.supamb.com on your own and read her fantastic blog and find the shirt yourself! Work for it!

Speaking of MB, I get to see her and Jen on the 27th! YAY!q )That q is brought to you by Sugar Puddin' a.k.a. Jebus and Baby Cat.)

*BURN UPDATE* It's pretty pissed that it snowed just days before the first day of spring.



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Today was the best day! Know why? I went to the dentist! Bet you never thought you'd hear someone say that! But I just did, so cross that off the list of wacky things you'll never hear. I had a very decay-infested front tooth (gross, very gross, but that's what happens when you drink too much soda) and now it's fixed! I'm not embarrassed to smile anymore! Let me tell you, if for some reason you feel the need to go to the dentist, and you happen to be in Findlay, Dr. Mitchell is your man. He is so nice, obviously loves his job, and is fan-freaking-tastic at it. It's lame, but I almost cried going to the car, I was so happy with my "new" tooth. I owe it all to the Pammer, 'cause she made me go.

I'm still trying to find something to draw to look for any speck of artistic talent. I'd try to draw Baby Cat, but she moves too much, the little schizo. I'd try one of my Barbies, but I think it would be too much detail, plus eyes are hard! I can do the first one OK, but the second is never as good (I know this from my drawings of Fat Mojo). Maybe I should just stick to doodles, so as not to depress myself. But even if I can't find even a speck, I always have my craftiness and sewing ability, the latter of which seems to be a lost art.

*BURN UPDATE* It's jealous of my gums, lip and cheek for the large amounts of Novocaine they received today.

Hey, did I ever tell you that spellcheck always wants to change Findlay to fondle?

Election night, how do I hate thee? There are too many ways to count. But we made deadline, squished every stupid levy and primary race in, and ate our weight in junk food (everyone brings a tasty dish in on election night). And the incumbent county commissioner got the boot, so WOO-HOO! One down, one to go! On a sad note, I managed to get a paper cut UNDER the nail of my right index finger, and it bled and now it looks gross under my nail, and it hurts.

I have decided for some odd reason that I need to find out if I have any artistic talent whatsoever. I bought some colored pencils the other night, and I already have a lovely sketch pad and pencils, so I'm all set. Problem is I don't know what to draw, and I'm embarrassed to even try even though no one else will see it. How stupid is that?

I have a theory on this, though. In middle school (when you had no choice but to take art class) we had to draw/paint with watercolors a candy bar in three stages. 1. The whole candy bar, still in the wrapper. 2. The candy bar with a little of the wrapper peeled away with a bite taken out of it. 3. The wrapper crumpled up. I chose to do a Hershey's bar. I did a really good job, if I do say so myself. I even managed to mix the paints to the exact weird-ass color of the wrapper. I had never been so proud of myself! My art teacher said she was going to put it in the lame-ass middle school art show. I was so excited!

Art show rolls around, my beautiful Hershey's bar is nowhere to be found! I was heartbroken! And to top it all off, I never got it back! Because of this, I have to wonder if my mind and hands refuse to work together when I try to draw anything beyond 3-D boxes, stick figures or childish little flowers.

*BURN UPDATE* It's sleepy.

Yeah, I was totally unproductive this weekend. I did get some dishes done, but that's about it. Oh well, there's always Thursday.

Work sucked ass. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I saw a fabulous sign whilst browsing the AP photos tonight. It was out in San Francisco; I can't remember if they were at a protest or at the courthouse or what, but it said "Preserve Marriage Ban Divorce" That is exactly right. I still want to send some flowers out, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow. They are still marrying couples tomorrow, aren't they? I want to thank RevSpork's girlfriend for informing us all of these goings-on, by the way. Rock on!

Mom tells me our little Rusty has hurt his hind leg/paw. Rough-housing outside, no doubt. Silly puppy; I can't wait until we have him up here!

*BURN UPDATE* It wants to play Tetris.

I think I have a version of a cold. No stuffiness to speak of, but a terribly dry throat. Actually, my nose is pretty dry (and yes, I know how odd that sounds). Anyway, no matter how much water I drink I still feel parched. Poor Dani!

Maybe it's because I haven't had a soda in two days. I went to the dentist Wednesday, and I've been a bad, bad girl. I need lots o' fillings because I drink way too much soda. But Dr. Mitchell says he can save me (no, really, that's what he said) so I guess it'll be OK. Stupid girl.

A word to the wise: If you plan on being productive, don't get out the Tetris. Especially if you have a gamecube, because there are some crazy addictive games on there. I did get most of the dishes done, but I didn't even touch the bathroom or any laundry. I suppose there's always Saturday.

So, I realized today that in the next few months I'm going to need to start planning Dave's graduation party - or should I say par-tay, because it's gonna be huge! By that time we should be in a house (renting) so there will be room for more than five people to be there at the same time. If only BGSU's colors weren't orange & brown...maybe the history department has its own colors? Probably not.

I really want to redo my Web site, but I haven't been in a particularly creative or witty mood lately. Maybe inspiration will strike this weekend and I won't have to clean the bathroom. We'll see.

*BURN UPDATE* I think it tells Fat Mojo to be bad.


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It's so depressing finding out you really cannot hold your liquor. In the BGSU days, I could keep up with just about anyone, but no more. We went to the AMVETS Valentine's Day dance with Joy and Rodney Saturday night, and my buzz began with my first rum & coke. By the time I finished No. 3, it was all over. In my defense though, they were big glasses; they used those big red plastic cups. I was way too excited about the ham raffles and the door prizes, but that's OK. I had fun, and I didn't even get weepy until we got home!

Nothing else to report, sorry!

*BURN UPDATE* It likes my Garth Brooks Live CD.

Just a quickie 'cause my head is killing me. Star is back home, safe and sound. She was just two doors down from my parents' house, and they finally got around to calling the humane society Thursday, and found out where she belonged.

Fat Mojo is just fine. Apparently he just has some wacky "pigmentation" on the belly.

*BURN UPDATE* It's asleep.

Damn lunchlady bitch spit on my dessert today. My parents' puppy, Star aka Star-baby, is missing. She's been gone since Tuesday evening. I'm hoping that a well-meaning person picked her up and will see the signs and bring her home. You all had better stay away from me for a while, becuase my bad karma is apparently spreading.

No word on Mojo.

*BURN UPDATE* Who cares?

Oh, and no word on Mojo's biopsy yet.

As I stand in the line of the cafeteria of life, I look at my plate piled high with work casserole and financial casserole and say "That is so not what I ordered!" I take it back to the lunchlady of life and tell her she screwed up, to fix it but not to touch the personal dessert. She flips me off and piles more casserole on, but thankfully doesn't take my dessert. Well guess what lunchlady? I'm not paying!

I am so sick of playing catch-up, hurry up and wait, and all the other oxymoronic games that borderline sane people have to play. I'm sick of playing Capable Woman, Responsible Girl, Tough Lady and all the other stupid roles I have. I'm sick of smiling sweetly when I want to yell and scream and lock myself in the bathroom and cry. Thank God for Dave.

*BURN UPDATE* It's a damned ugly reminder of how stupid I am.



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I would like to apologize to Meijer for saying mean things about them. They still make their lotion tissues, and I stocked up last week.

Now, anybody who had a suck-ass Thursday raise your hand (or just a finger if it was really bad). We had a really bad Thursday, so I am currently flipping that day the bird. It started when I got home from work and saw Fat Mojo sprawled out on his back, presenting the belly. In and of itself, that's not a bad thing; it was the bare patch around his little Mojo nipple with the mole-like spots that was bad. We poked and prodded the belly, trying to feel if these spots were raised and trying to decide whether we should be worried. We decided they weren't really raised and that maybe we should worry a little.

So, after three hours of sleep, I got up and called Dr. Jones (the veterinarian, not the archaeologist) and got an appointment for 9:30 that morning. Took the fat cat up to Bowling Green, and Dr. Jones decided to do a biopsy just to be safe. I left the fat cat with the doctor, promising said fat cat that I would be back to get him that night. When I got home I was going to try and nap, but that didn't really happen. I think I dozed off and on for about an hour.

I was supposed to pick Mojo up between 7:30-8:30 p.m., and Dave gets home at 8, so I was going to leave a bit before 7 so we'd get home around the same time. Well, Dave got home at 6, and when I said "What the hell are you doing home?" he said "I just got in a car accident."

Nobody got hurt, don't worry, but the front of the car is smushed in a bit. I don't feel like getting into all the details, but we'll just say it involved an old lady who kept slowing down in the left lane and the guy behind her (not Dave) who was riding her ass and was just shy of a DUI.

So, about an hour later, after Dave had calmed down, we headed out for BG. It had started snowing at some point, and the interstate was a mess. We finally made it to Dr. Jones', got Fat Mojo, wrote out a big-ass check, and headed home. The interstate was even worse, so I wasn't going too fast. We got about halfway home, maybe 2/3 of the way there, and I saw a knot of traffic up ahead, so I started slowing down.

One car went flying by me on the left, and then a second car went flying by. As they got up to the little knot of traffic, the second driver realized that the first driver wasn't going as fast as him, so he slammed on his brakes. On the icy road. Do you see where I'm going with this?

As soon as I saw those brake lights, I said to Dave "Oh shit, this is gonna be bad!" Car 2 swung to the left, then swung to the right, into my lane, in front of a semi so I couldn't see what was going on. Then it swung back into the left lane, fishtailed a couple of times, and then slid into the median. I cannot express to you how scared I was.

We made it down the interstate - seeing a semi upright but jackknifed on the side of the road and a car in a deep ditch (well, not really seeing the car, just the headlights pointing up and towards us) - with no other near misses.

When we got home we discovered that Fat Mojo was still messed up from the anesthetic, which is funny now but was disturbing at the time. He didn't have total control of his back legs, so he was kind of stumbling all over. It was like he didn't know where he was. Dave had to help Mojo into the litter box, and at one point Mojo wandered into the bathroom and just stood there in the doorway. Mojo also managed to get behind the entertainment center and the washer and dryer. He seemed to want to eat, but I didn't know if it would make him sick, so I was all worried about that.

We may get the biopsy results as soon as Monday, but most likely Tuesday, so I'll keep you posted.

I know it probably doesn't sound like Thursday was that awful, but it was. It just was.

On a completely different topic, I just want to say that as much as the governor sucks ass, Ohio is still a good state. There are several issues knocking around in my brain - state-oriented and otherwise - but I just don't feel like getting political right now. Sorry.

*BURN UPDATE* It's trying to recruit the scar on my left ring finger.



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All is right with the world. My Harry Potter Goblet of Fire & Order of the Phoenix (GoF & OotP for those of you as obsessed as I am) have been returned. I loaned them to a lady in the rental office months ago and finally asked after them yesterday. I'm seriously going to have to rethink my borrowing system, or start charging fines like the library. But anyway, I can get started on OotP for the third (or is it fourth) time and get back to hunting for clues. I'm pathetic.

It's a damn good thing I don't have a bad back, because I'm pretty sure I'd have thrown it out several times in the last few days. Our landlord apparently doesn't believe in salting sidewalks or the parking lot, so there have been some rather painful and unnatural movements on my part. I've taken to kind of rocking from side to side as I take tiny little baby steps, because it seems to work for penguins. Although today I found myself shouting "Son of a bitch!" on my dinner break as I tried to make it to the building. Serious back and knee twistage, but I remained upright.

*BURN UPDATE* It's plotting against me with the scar on my shin.



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I keep forgetting about that article I wrote and said I'd post up here, but I finally remembered tonight, so here you go...It's not much, but it's mine. And the Courier's.



History und sausage

Learn about the life of James Thurber, then grab a bite to eat in German Village



By DANIELLE HAUS

ASSISTANT WIRE EDITOR





From the outside, the Thurber House at 77 Jefferson Ave. in Co­lumbus looks like most any other carefully restored home.

In fact, even with my mom, my aunt and myself looking for the former home of author James Thurber, we almost had to take a second lap around the circular road.

Inside there was a museum-like aura, but that was probably due to the near-silence in the building, because this is not your typical historical site.

No plastic runners to follow, no docents "asking" visitors not to touch anything, no velvet ropes keeping visitors out of rooms — the Thurber family wanted the house to be a com­fortable place to visit and work.

The house (which is reported­ly haunted) has been restored to reflect the period when the Thurber family lived there (1913-1917), and even the wall­paper designs have been duplicat­ed. Some rooms do double duty, like the dining room/gift shop or a bedroom/staff office, but peri­od pieces or memorabilia can al­ways be found, and Thurber-like drawings abound.

Six days a week, tours are self-guided with the aid of a laminat­ed brochure, and you can roam the rooms at leisure getting a close-up view of any little thing that catches your eye. On Sundays, tours are given by a staff member.

If you don’t want to cart the brochure around, outside the rooms there are small plaques with a drawing and a brief des­cription of the room. Inside the rooms a more detailed descrip­tion is available.

We started off by wandering through the comfortable parlor — "suitable for reading and light conversation" according to the plaque — and the living room, and then headed upstairs. We checked out the area at the top of the stairs, where we found, among other items, an antique dress and pair of very small, pointy shoes.

We laughed quietly at the size of the shoes, because we still couldn’t shake the be-quiet-you’re-in-a-museum feeling. That didn’t last too much longer though.

After looking at some Ohio State sports pictures in one of the bedrooms and a showcase of memorabilia in another bedroom, my companions browsed through the Thurber family pictures down the wall of the hallway, dis­cussing how they would make over Mame Thurber, James’ mother.

We looked through James’ bedroom, making sure to find him in the fraternity picture, and even peered into the closets. We were amused to find the scrawled signatures of (we assumed) past visitors.

One even claimed to have been "Thurbered."

After peeking into the bath­room where Thurber once hid from a ghost, we made our way downstairs into the dining room/gift shop. I listened for the ghostly footsteps that allegedly go around the kitchen table and then run up the stairs, but sadly I heard nothing.

After one more look at the liv­ing room, we left the quietness of the Thurber House for the hubbub of the original Schmidt’s Restaurant und Sausage Haus in German Village.

Schmidt’s, located in a former livery stable, has been around since 1886. They offer an original line of German and American food and drink, including Ger­man and micro brews.

We were seated in the room where the German Autobahn Buffet is located, and after squeezing between the tables we had a nice view down Kossuth Street. The restaurant was quite full, and as much as I tried not to listen, I heard many snippets of conversations from other tables.

This is definitely not the place for a clandestine meeting.

Despite the impression my last name may give, I am totally unfa­miliar with most German foods. I played it safe and ordered the Ba­hama Mama sandwich with pota­to pancakes, while my mom and aunt went for the honey roasted turkey Reuben.

After very little debate, the three of us decided to split one of Schmidt’s famous jumbo cream puffs.

A word to the wise — if you can’t handle spicy food, I’d try the "Milder Mama." I did my best, but I just couldn’t finish the sandwich. The turkey Reubens are fantastic, or so I’m told, and the cream puffs alone may be worth the drive.

I had been staring out the win­dow at Schmidt’s Fudge Haus und Gifts all through lunch, and my placemat told me to go see fudge being made, so we careful­ly made our way across the street — sleet had made for a slippery road that day.

The Fudge Haus is filled to the brim with candy, gifts and annoy­ing items that say "Try me" and make a lot of noise when you do. The guy behind the counter (Daniel) greeted us with a cheery "Hello," and I made a beeline for the fudge-making area. Alas, no one was there.

According to Daniel, things are a bit slow this time of year. He assured me, however, that the daily fudge making would re­sume in February.

After exploring the store, we made our purchases. The store apparently is frequented by Ohio State University football coach Jim Tressel, so I made sure to get a "Tressel Truffle" for my dad.

If you plan on using a credit card, make sure you have a min­imum of $10 worth of goodies.

Our next stop was The Red Stable, back towards Schmidt’s. I would have liked to have spent more time browsing through this little shop, but the weather was getting worse so we only did a quick walk-through. There are all kinds of little antiques, trinkets, steins and more.

I got the feeling that you may never know what you’ll find at The Red Stable.

Schmidt’s Restaurant und Sau­sage Haus is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Satur­day.

Hours for Schmidt’s Fudge Haus have been shortened for the winter. Saturday is your best bet for a visit. Their hours should be expanding in the next few weeks.

The Red Stable is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.



*BURN UPDATE* It's very angry today.



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Has it really been a week? What a bad seed I am! And nothing exciting has happened, so I have no excuse.

We went down to the Pammer & the Papa's house Saturday. Watched the tape of the previously mentioned ex-step-cousin on Maury. Lovely.

Also got to see our little Rusty! He's such a sweet little thing! Dad and mom say it's all an act, but I don't believe them. SO wish we could bring him up now!

Those nasty little pounds did leave, and they did take a couple of their friends with them, so I'll keep pluggin' along for now. If we go out for Valentine's Day though, I may have to splurge a little and have some chocolate cake or something.

*BURN UPDATE* It's cold and has goosebumps.

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Damn you Mother Nature! Who do you think you are, covering Findlay in snow? Don't you know my husband has to get up early and drive to work? The nerve.

Did A1 almost on my own today; I think I'm getting better. You'd have to ask Ted whether I really am or not.

How about a big woo-hoo to "Lord of the Rings" for winning four Golden Globes! Best drama, Peter Jackson won best director, and two musical awards.

How about another big woo-hoo to Cleveland Heights, whose domestic partner registry begins today! I know it's not legal, and it's not the first, but still! It could help late on down the line. Take that Bob Taft!

So I lost two pounds, and then I got PMS and they came back. They're on their way back out though, and they'd damn better take a bunch of their friends with them!!! About 50 of their friends, and then I'd be happy. But just a couple for now would be good.

Sorry, I'm all hopped up for some reason. And I'm having trouble typing, so I'm going away now. I've screwed up about every other word so far, and I just can't take it anymore.

*BURN UPDATE* It hates the snow.



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Wow, I just updated the site, read a bunch of blogs, checked my e-mail, and it's not even 1:30 yet (although it will be past 1:30 by the time this is posted). It feels like I've been sitting here all night.

Have you ever been so full of love for your friends that you just want to call them and tell them how extraordinary they are? I get these moods of sentimentality extreme, and I'm having one tonight. I'm a pretty sappy, sensitive person, but these moods are ridiculous. Oh well, it'll pass. Then I'll be back to the nice but cynical midget that I am.

I have been informed that Mr. Hat is only needed if the entire class gets an A on a test. This means that Mr. Hat will most likely never be needed, but I'm going to make him anyway.

I went to the mall to get some new foundation because I'm almost out, and I need a new shade. The one I've been using is the same tone I used the day of my wedding when I was TAN, and as most people know I am PALE. Somebody at the Clinique counter last time thought it was a good match, and I didn't realize until the next day when I put on my makeup how bad it was. Anyway, the woman there today fixed me up with a good shade. She probably took my makeup off and tried a different color three or four times to find a good one. I've never had anyone be so diligent in helping me. It's probably a little bit because there weren't any other customers, but that's OK. The nicest part, though, was we stood there and talked like old friends for a very long time. She used to work at the Courier in the advertising department, and once she said that it was like the floodgates opened. It was kind of cool. The most pleasant experience I've had at a cosmetics counter.

However, then I stopped at GNC there in the mall, and that guy was an ass. I felt like he thought I was going to steal the box of Atkins bars and other stuff that I wanted to get. I almost told him that I wasn't going to get anything at his store because of his eyeing me. Oh well.

*BURN UPDATE* It's staring at me.


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Damn that man! No, not the man, that man, Dave. He sprayed catnip spray on one of the cat toys and then went to bed, leaving me to deal with the psychotic aftermath.

I have so many things I'd like to babble about, but I can't seem to decide. Maybe I'll just try to be brief and get them all in.

First, did anyone happen to watch the Maury Povich show on Monday? If you did, then you saw my ex-step-cousin. How, uh, special is that? All I'm gonna say is: it was a paternity test show.

I finished that travel story, and I'm pretty proud of myself. I know that sounds conceited, but I'm an editor, not a writer (because I hate writing) so I thought I did a decent job. I've written a guest column before, but that is so different from a real story. Especially because the column was about Harry Potter, which I adore, and personal, so it was kind of easy to write. If you'd like to read the column, click here. The travel story won't be online, but maybe I'll stick it on here in case anyone wants to read it.

You know one of the things I hate about life? How you can't keep track of some of the people you really want to keep track of, but others just won't frigging go away.

Know what else I hate? The way some politicians make their own prejudices into law. It seems that everybody in the state and local government is in a rush to ban/outlaw gay marriage. Who the hell do they think they are? They don't have any fucking right to decide who's allowed to get married. Not to mention there's this thing called equal rights. I hate to break it to them, but the divorce rate would go down if gay people were allowed to get married. Children of gay marriages would have two loving parents, which everyone is so worried about. It would put us one step closer to actually being a society of equality. I could go on, but I won't. I'm getting too hopped up. This will probably irritate my Republican friends, but depending on who ends up winning the primary, I just may vote Democrat in November. I've got some research to do.

On a lighter note, I'm going to try and make Dave a Mr. Hat puppet (from South Park for those saying what the hell is a Mr. Hat?). I guess he told one of his classes that if they all did well on their next test he'd teach using Mr. Hand one day. I asked where he was going to get said Mr. Hand, and he said he guessed he'd have to try and make one. Since I'm the crafty one, I figure I'll try to make it for him. I'm thinking he'll mainly be made of felt, but we'll see. If he turns out looking anything like Mr. Hat, I'll put a picture on the sight.

And, finally, I love rediscovering CDs. At this very moment I'm listening to a Clay Walker CD that I haven't listened to in years. "Rumor Has It," to be specific. I may throw the other two in later, or I may just keep this one going the whole time. It makes me think of Jen.

*BURN UPDATE* Still there on my scaly dry skin.



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Well dammit, I'm not supposed to put a link in my little blurb! Not fair! Maybe I'll just start putting the site at the end of my stupid ramblings.




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Whew! I can finally refer to the surprise party for the Pammer! I've had to avoid any mention of the birthday so as not to slip up, but I made it! Woo-hoo!

There was a little soiree for my momma's 50th birthday Friday, and boy did we trick her! (Or so she says, anyway) I talked to her right before I "went to work" Friday, then we booked it down to Worthington a bit later. She was a surprised Pammer! She thought Dave and I weren't coming down until Saturday, but we LIED! Mwahahahahahaha!

Saturday Pammer and my Aunt Nancy and I went to the Thurber House in Columbus. Damn if it wasn't boring. No guide for us, just laminated brochures. And the ghost didn't make any noise, either. What the hell am I going to write about? I just don't know. Maybe I'll include the bit about the Kroninger sisters wanting to give James Thurber's mother, Mame, a makeover. Anyway, after the house, we had lunch at the original Schmidt's German restaurant. I had a very spicy Bahama Mama and some tasty potato pancakes, and then the three of us split one of Schmidt's famous cream puffs, and I now know why they're famous - they're damn good!

After lunch we went to the Fudge Haus und gifts (or something like that, I can only remember the "und gifts"), and a little shop called The Red Stable, and then ran away from German Village because the weather was getting nasty.

So, all in all a fun day, but only because of the company. I did get some kick-ass fudge though.

Finished "Lord of the Rings." As I told Sean at work, it's one of the few books with a satisfying ending. It seems like there's always one little loose end that never gets tied up. Like Sean said, "What about that guy that was hanging off the edge of the cliff in Chapter 4? What happened to him?"

Mojo would like you to know he just took a big poop. At least I think that's what he wants. He ran in here from the litter box yowling at me, so I can only assume he wants you to know.

Anyhoo, chances are pretty good that Dave is going to get a two-year contract to teach distance learning classes at BGSU, so as soon as we know for sure, we're going to look for a house to rent somewheres around here so we can get a ... puppy! We're going to take one of my parents' puppies, although by the time we would get to bring him up here, I don't think he'd be a puppy anymore. That's OK though, we'll just go down and see him lots and lots. I'll put some pictures up sometime in the next few days.

BTW, I've been meaning to put a link to the site up in the happy little blurb, and I just noticed MB did that in her blurb. So I just want to say I'm not a copycat, I swear!

Spellcheck wanted to change Kroninger to corniness ... if you know my mom and/or aunt, you'll know why that's so damn amusing!

*BURN UPDATE* Still there.

I'll start the way I ended the last one: Fat Mojo is demanding attention. Daddy apparently has been asleep for more than an hour so there's been no belly rubs for the big-eyed boy. Damn but he's a crybaby!

So I did A1 today, with much help from Ted, and I am not a happy camper. I know it'll get better, but it gave me a headache today. My computer crashing didn't help things, either. P.O.S.

Ah, but I have the Mojo to make me laugh. Every time he gets done using the litter box he dashes out into the living room like he's gotta get away from the deposit he just made. Just now he had some trouble making it over the pile of shoes by the door, poor boy. Oh, and he yowls very loud once he makes it to the living room, I guess to announce what he's done. What can I say, stupid things amuse me.

Like how I noticed there's a bottle of white-out in the bathroom. Why? I honestly don't know. I'm thinking it got picked up with some other little bottles (nail strengthener, eye drops) that belong in the bathroom. I just don't know, but I found it pretty funny last night.

I got to see Jen for a bit Saturday, woo-hoo!! First Dave and I went to the GFAPA (Greater Findlay Area Press Association) Christmas in January dinner, then Jen got there and we headed home - with Jen of course. We babbled a little, I showed off some of my lame-ass crafts, and we played Simpson's Road Rage. Good times.

I'll be heading down to Columbus this weekend to do a travel story for work, since most of the reporters won't do one. Notable exceptions: Joy and John, thank God for them! See, we have a travel page on Saturdays, and the reporters are supposed to take happy little day trips around Ohio and write about them. Gas, food, admission, all paid for, plus a day out of the office. Who the hell wouldn't want to do this?

And guess what? This has nothing to do with the traveling, but I'm going to enter some headlines in the Ohio AP contest. I had a few I was pretty damn proud of last year, so what the hell, right?

Gots to go read "Return of the King." I'm almost done, and then I can turn my attention to my sewing endeavors. For some reason, when I'm reading something I've never read before, I can't focus on anything else leisure-wise until I'm done with the book. I'm nuts.

FYI, spellcheck wants to change Findlay to fondle, and Mojo to moos (the Mojo change would be appropriate).

*BURN UPDATE* Yuppers, still there.

Damn, it's no wonder I have to take a sinus pill every day. My poor body doesn't know whether it's coming or going what with the drastic temperature changes between my apartment and the newsroom! I am currently freezing my ass off, but just an hour and a half ago I was in the oven/sauna known as the Courier. Bleh.

Just got done making some minor changes to the Web site, and now I want to make major changes, but that will have to wait for another day. I need to do some outside work first.

I'm learning how to jump stories from A1 this week. My biggest concern, though, is when I actually have to choose what stories go out front. Local stories won't be a problem, because Jim & Kurt will tell me what I'm getting. It's the nation & world that concerns me! I'm pretty sure my opinion of what's important isn't the same as a lot of other people's opinions. Again I say bleh.

Fat Mojo is demanding attention, and I'm the only one awake, so I must go now.

*BURN UPDATE* I'm pretty sure my last observation was a combination of poor lighting and imagination, because it's back to being pretty clear. Stupid thing.

As nice as it's been to have an extra day off the last two weeks, there is one good thing about the holidays being over...I may actually know what day it is at some point in the coming week. I'm not making any promises, but it could happen.

I am currently reading "Lord of the Rings" and I must say, it's pretty damn good. So far the movie seems to have stuck to the book for the most part, but Scott says that will change. That's OK though. Not everything in a book works on film.

I'm trying to get myself psyched up again to try my hand at making the Barbie doll dresses. I'm going to have to go wander through eBay again and tell myself, "You could do so much better!" Then I'll sell my stuff on eBay and get some extra money to buy the Arwen & Aragorn Barbie gift set. Or I could make sure Dave orders it now for my birthday, and use that extra money for some other frivolous thing. We'll see...it all depends on if I actually get motivated!

I have some other crafty ideas, but I'm keeping them to myself until I do something about it...so you may never hear of this again!

*BURN UPDATE* Pink line is still there. It may be my imagination, or poor lighting, but it looks slightly fainter.

Just read MB's blog, and I'm so glad to know I'm not a freak, because I too cried while watching "Return of the King." There were a few parts that got me, but I think the main one was when...oh, maybe I shouldn't say, in case people haven't seen it yet. I'll just say it's toward the end and involves Frodo. I haven't read the books, so I had no idea what was going to happen. We rented "Fellowship of the Ring" and "Two Towers" last week, and I had to know what happened, so we went to the movies on Christmas. Plus, I wanted to see Aragorn on the big screen... And one of the previews was for "Prisoner of Azkaban," so it was a kick-ass evening.

We had a very nice Christmas, aside from the migraine Santa brought me on Christmas Eve. As soon as we got to my grandparents' house I had to lie down with an ice pack on my forehead. Dave says I was in hiding for about two hours. I think I almost froze my left eye, but that's OK. I'm sending a big shout out to everyone who came in to check on me, and to myself for not puking on Grandpa & Ruth's bed.

On Christmas Day, we made our very first turkey, and it was go-od! Nothing like the one in "Christmas Vacation," which Dave was a little worried about. Sugar Puddin' started going nuts before it was even in the oven, which is always amusing. She got her little bit of Christmas turkey, and didn't even puke it up like she's been known to do when she eats meat too fast. Silly kitty!

One of the presents I got from "the cats" was Simpson's Road Rage for the gamecube. It's great, because you're supposed to drive like you're drunk! Sometimes you get a bonus if you destroy enough stuff, and they say some hi-larious things when you crash or run over people. Imagine Homer saying "I'm not a very good driver" in a low voice or shouting "I have no insurance!" or Mayor Quimby saying "You drive worse than cousin Teddy!" (For those of you who aren't familiar with the Simpsons, Quimby sounds very Kennedy-esque) We've been cracking ourselves up since Thursday.

That's all for now. Buh-bye!

*BURN UPDATE* Yup, still there.

Damn, but I ramble. They should have word limits, or something.

Look out mom, there's bad words in this one...

Damn baby, whad-joo do to yo hair? (a la seance scene in "Ghost") I ripped it out in chunks 'cause this week frigging sucked! I don't even know where to start; I should have blogged more this week. Guess I suck too. Anyway, we'll start with Tuesday. Took the car to the dealer (big mistake) to get the heater fixed and see about getting the windows (I just typed winders in case you were wondering...random redneckness) fixed because the front two are screwed. Driver's side will go up and down, but there's a funny grinding noise once it gets to a certain point, and when I close the door something inside the door bangs. Passenger's side will go down but not up. Fast-forward to Wednesday, when they tell us it will be almost $1,000 to fix everything. Buh-bye. Just fix the heater, you money-sucking whores. Thanks. Pick up the car Thursday, the passenger side window (dammit, did it again!) is not closed all the way so there's a lovely whistling as I'm driving and I HATE that. They've shoved some cardboard in at the bottom of the window, presumably to keep it from sliding open, but it didn't work. It moved, and now there's a little gap letting all the snow in. I will be taking the car back to the dealer and demanding that they at least return the window to the position it was in when I first took the car in. Mr. Findlay Ford/Lincoln/Mercury fat cat better hope I don't ever run into him.

So I get home from the dealer, watch some soaps, try to get hold of someone at the Western Reserve museum (I was going to do a story on a nifty exhibit there), then prepare to head to the mall to get a wedding gift for a friend of Dave's. I was also going to get a dress for the wedding, because I got my Christmas bonus Wednesday. I call the happy bank 800 number to check the balance on the checking account, and learned that I really fucked up. We had less than $150 in our account - after my paycheck was deposited, which was almost $600 - and we had four insufficient funds charges of almost $30 each. I was in total shock! I've never done anything like that before, and I still can't figure out how it happened. So then I freaked out and curled up in bed and cried for about an hour. Freaked Dave out when he got home. I felt and still feel like an ass, but sometimes when you start a cry-fest, you start thinking about other things and cry more and you just can't stop.

Luckily Dave got paid Friday, so it's all OK now.

On a lighter note, another dilemma this week was what do you get a millionaire for a wedding gift? He doesn't need your money or a gift card, and anything they need he can buy. I trudged through the mall Friday, and found the holiday kiosk of an area family-owned gift basket business, and they made up a basket with a wedding time capsule. I think it's pretty nifty myself. My parents got us one of those when we got married, and it was fun to put stuff in there. Trouble is, we're not going to the wedding now 'cause it's today in Cleveland, and we're afraid a big ol' lake-effect storm might blow in. It's a little snowy here in O-hi-o. So no wedding, and no museum trip, so no fun staff-written travel story for next week's paper. Thank god for the Associated Press.

I'm thinking after a fun-filled day of cleaning we may rent the first "Lord of the Rings" movie. They seem interesting, and everyone seems to be crazy about them, so I think I'll give it a shot.

A nice thing happened this week though. I found out that I amuse at least one person other than my friends and family, who have to at least pretend I amuse them. The good RevSpork discovered this here ass, and linked it on his page! Woo-hoo! I'm going to have to return the favor, whenever I get around to making changes on my page.

*BURN UPDATE* General consensus in the Haus-hold says that bitch is gonna scar. I can't believe I'm so estupido!

Ever wonder what Harry Potter would be like drunk? Well, come watch me play "Harry Potter" on our new Gamecube thingy. Watch as Harry the Alcoholic runs into walls! Watch as Harry the Alcoholic runs into people! Watch as Harry the Alcoholic runs into furniture! Some of you may know about the 17-F-er OSU game...well I put that to shame in a matter of a couple hours. But I am determined to figure this game out, no matter how long it takes. I'm just glad we forgot to buy a memory card.

Obviously I'm not a whiz with the video games - at least not the story-type games. Give me a puzzle game, I'm good to go, though. Just makes me think of the good old days, when Nintendo first came out. For a while, all we had was Mario, Duck Hunt and a track & field thing with a mat that you ran in place on. Then there was Tetris, and my beloved Bubble Bobble. That game kicked ass!

I really took a trip down toy memory lane when I read MB's blog. She mentioned FashionPlates and Lite Brite, and I was gone. Kids were so much more easily amused when I was little...slap a few pieces of plastic with raised pictures on them in a slot, put a piece of paper over it, rub the crayon over it and Voila! You're a fashion designer! For those of you too young or old to know of the FashionPlates, or for those of you of the wrong gender, I'll explain. There were tons of plastic "plates" with a different third of an outfit on it - I think that's how it went anyway, maybe it was halves. Anyway, you mix and match the pieces to create an outfit, and put the pieces into the holder. Like I said before, the outfits are raised up so that when you put the paper on top and rub the big crayon over it, you ended up with a picture of your new fashion design. Then you could color it in.

So compare nice simple toys like that to today's toys, and there's no comparison. Ours were better.

Back to the present. It started snowing while we were at dinner. I was not happy. We went and priced our new toy at Wal-Mart, and then went to Meijer, where we bought our new toy. After we left Meijer, I realized we should have bought more juice, so we decided to stop at Kroger. As I was turning onto a little side road to go to Kroger, we had some major fishtailing and almost hit another car. Not fun. But we got our juice and made the trip home safely with no other near misses.

BTW, I want everyone to know that I am highly upset because Meijer (or at least Findlay's Meijer) no longer has the Meijer-brand lotion tissues. The other brands suck - one uses too much lotion and leaves your face and hands greasy, another one doesn't even feel like there's any lotion in it. Meijer's was just right. How Goldilocks. Doesn't Meijer care about people with evil colds that cause sore noses?? Perhaps I'll ask Dave to check BG's Meijer on Monday. I'm in crisis!

Well, enough rambling. I've got to go scoop the poop before Sugar flings something out for me.

*BURN UPDATE* Still a pink line. I'm seriously wondering if it's going to scar. How stupid would that be?

Well, I got my big fat Mojo blanket the other night. And last night. And the big fat Mojo blanket's newest thing is to lay on my back and try to get his whole face in my left ear. It's quite tickly. His other new thing is when Dave is rubbing the Mojo belly, Mojo pets Dave's arm and hand. I have yet to witness this, but I'm pretty sure it'll look as odd as it sounds.

A wise woman (MB) once told me in an e-mail "Colds may suck, but Jebus doesn't." I whole-heartedly agreed, until Jebus almost brought the Christmas tree crashing down. She came flying into the living room, came to a stop, jumped sideways into the bottom branches of the tree - as in hitting the tree with her side - and then ran under the swaying tree. What the hell? She is such a schitz when that tree is up; she likes to chew on the branches, and I think there must be some crazy-ass chemical on them or something.

Sadly, those are pretty much the highlights of the last couple days. Oh, we did discover that we have not "lost" a friend of ours; he's still in BG, hasn't been shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan, thank God. That made for a good day.

Other than that, nothing. Sorry.

*BURN UPDATE* Still a pink line.

Had a bit of a sore throat Monday night/Tuesday morning when I went to bed. Woke up with a worse sore throat and some serious nausea from the snot drainage. I think it's safe to say I have a full-fledged cold, as I've been doing a lot of sneezing, and I currently have one-nostril breathing. This sucks.

So, the whole system crashed at work tonight (Tuesday night). We're talking newsroom and production. Totally crapped out. We got the paper out, but just barely. It was damn close, too. Didn't get everything posted to the Internet (no news, not all the obits) but that'll be taken care of today. People will be bombarded with e-mails, I'm sure, from people bitching because we didn't update blah blah blah. I say "Shut the hell up and get a subscription to the physical paper you morons!"

I'm freezing. I need a big fat Mojo blanket.

*BURN UPDATE* No more funky Band-aid skin, and the burn is still a nice shiny pink line. I wish it would go away.

FYI, spell check wanted to change newsroom to mushroom; would that make us smurfs?

Made it back from Athens alive. I probably should have mentioned that I don't take 23 or I-270 to get there, since that whole sniper thing is going on in Columbus right now. Sorry to anyone who was worried. Anyway, we had a lovely but short visit. Ate good food, played cards and Uno Attack, made the dogs wear a fez, did some shopping.

Hung out with Papa and Pammy and puppies for a while before I trekked back home. I thought the Papa was kidnapped when we first got there, because the groceries and mail were still in his truck, but he was nowhere to be found. Ellie and the Budman were gone too, but the puppies were there - seven in the box, one escapee in the kitchen. We made our way out to the barn and found the missing ones. I felt silly, but what are you gonna do?

Those puppies are something else! When I got back from taking Jessica home, all eight of them were out and running around, causing mayhem. One kept following Buddy and nipping at his tail, which he did not enjoy; some liked my jeans and shoestrings; one got hold of a skein of yarn and shook it around until the puppy knocked itself over; one had an identity crisis and was playing with a ball of yarn; and there was much ear-pulling and tumbling all around. Luckily Dad took some video, so I can watch it again next time we're down there.

After that, I met Jen in Marion for dinner. It was so nice to see my Henny Penny! She had to go to Meijer, and I didn't really want to leave yet, so I went with. I actually got some Christmas shopping done.

I took Friday off from work. I wanted to feel semi-productive, so I hauled the Christmas decorations out, and I do mean hauled. They were buried in a closet, and it was damn tough to get them out. We put the tree up, but didn't decorate it until Sunday. I was just too tired!

Saturday I went to lunch and did some more Christmas shopping with Nadia. Much fun was had. I only have a couple more things to get, and then I'm done. Woo-hoo!! When I got back from shopping, Dave and I went out to dinner. I had a headache due to sinus issues and needing to eat, so of course we got to sit right behind the screaming 2-year-old. He was literally screaming into the back of my head. I was pretty happy. After dinner we went to Meijer and got "The Wedding Singer," went home, and watched it. I highly recommend it!

Sunday we decorated the tree, as I said before, and I headed back to work. Oh, I scooped the poop, too. Can't forget that.

Sadly, with those four lovely days off, I did not catch up on sleep. In fact, I think I'm even more behind.

My next mission, and I have no choice but to accept it, is to finish the Christmas cards. Bleh. I love you all, but 80 cards is just too much.

*BURN UPDATE* Band-aid marks are probably visible only to me now. Burn is a lovely shiny pink line. I wonder if I should still be putting my Burn Stuff on it?

Going down to A-town in the morning, with Jessica serving as my road-trip companion and navigator. Should be a fun time, even though I'm getting up at the butt crack of dawn (for me anyway). Because of that, I'm not writing any more so I can try and get a least a few hours of sleep.

*BURN UPDATE* Band-aid marks now very dry, weird skin. Scab almost all gone but there's still a pink line. I hope it doesn't scar.

Bleh. Just spent way too much time fighting with that stupid Web site. Things look way different in the page design program than they do on the actual site.

On the up side, I have some damn funny friends, for which I am grateful. Without them, life would truly be hell. I was going through my ooooold e-mails and found some highly amusing material from Joy, Jen and several others. Also rediscovered the e-mail version of the Reed Street quote boards, which inspired me to add the newest page to the site. I about wet myself going through some of the e-mails.

Dyed my hair Thursday while at Papa & Pammer's house. I was so mad because it doesn't look to me like the hair underneath got any dye, but it turns out it doesn't matter. Apparently no one can even tell it's been dyed!

Dave and I went out and played pool Saturday night. It was fun, until the idiot group showed up. They felt the need to stand way too close to our table, making it not so easy to make shots from that end of the table. I really wanted to ram the stick into them, but I held back. Oh, and the belching brothers were at the table next to us. When you can hear someone belch in Miss Cue's, that's a problem. God, I hate people. (Kurt, if you read this, don't break into "People, people who hate people, are the luckiest people..." the next time I see you)

Finally bought some Christmas presents while I was grocery shopping after work tonight. I hate Christmas shopping. Personally, I think people should be happy if they get a swift kick in the ass, but that's never good enough. Oh well.

*BURN UPDATE* Band-aid marks slowly fading. Worst part of burn still painful, outer parts getting better. It's no longer red and violent-looking. Starting to get a little itchy. How long do you think I can keep this up?