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?

Mmmmm just finished a piece of apple pie from the Thanksgiving feast. I think we usually end up bringing at least half a pie home, and this year was no exception. We have to bring the apple home though, because somebody *cough*Dave*cough* doesn't like pumpkin.

I was going to go shopping with Nadia today, but we're pushing it back to next Saturday. Crazy pregnant lady thought she could do two days of shopping in a row! (Remember Nadia, you told me I could call you that) But that's OK, because I need to clean the apartment. They're coming on Tuesday to inspect our heater, and I don't want to get kicked out for being a fire hazard or something. We have to lock the cats up while they're here, which will be oh so pleasant.

Speaking of the cats, Mojo's newest thing is attacking the flower arrangement next to one of the speakers in the living room. It's been a part of the decor since we found him, but he has apparently only just noticed it. He's such a gem.

And Sugar was up my ass today begging for turkey. We made the mistake a couple years ago of giving her a little bit of our Christmas dinner, and ever since then she begs shamelessly for whatever meat you're eating. She even gets excited over bacon before it's even cooked! She's funny though. She has to lick all the salt off before she'll eat it, and today she licked it right off the little TV tray onto the floor. She got all crazy because it fell too close to my shoe and she didn't think she could get to it. Didn't think of going around to the other side I guess.

*BURN UPDATE* Beckett's bartender's band-aid took more skin. No more band-aids for me. Burn is still nice and red, with a lovely scab. Dave made me get something to put on it, so I got something called "Burn Stuff." They also make "Cut Stuff." The box says "Because burns aren't cuts and cuts aren't burns..." Marketing genius, I tell you. The box should also say "WARNING: Our 'Stuff' smells like ass."

Heading down to Papa & Pammer's sometime today. Gotta finish making part of Kim's birthday present yet, and shower. Good thing I didn't have a hangover when I got up today, or we might have never made it down there.

Went out with a couple of Dave's friends last night, something I rarely get to do since I have to work on Tuesdays - they play pool on Tuesday nights. There's a new place in Bowling Green called Beckett's, where SamB's used to be. A huge improvement on the property, if you ask me.

Had a tremendous time, but lost count on the drinks. But that's OK, because I had a lot of fun. I love pool, but I don't get to play very often, and I suck big time, but that's OK too.

Well, back to the birthday project.

*BURN UPDATE* Band-aid mark almost gone, but burn is still nasty. Managed to scrape it last night while pulling up my sleeve, requiring me to beg a band-aid from the bartender. It hurts.

Have you seen my new shoes? They're not made out of wood! (A little shout out to the Pammer on that one)

I noticed Sunday night at work that I had a hole inside my shoe. Not in the shoe, like you could see it, but in the sole inside the shoe. I was quite distraught. Not just because I really like those shoes, but because I just bought a new pair of shoes like a month ago. As most of you know, I'm not a big fan of spending the money. Don't do shopping sprees, try not to buy too many needless things.

It all started when I went to find my tennis shoes. Summer is over, and I can't run around in my Hirachis anymore. So I dug them out of the closet, and discovered some web-looking things in them. Sounds bad, I know, but I haven't worn them in months! Well, I was afraid that spiders were living in them, so I decided to go buy some new tennis shoes.

Then it hit me. I don't think I've ever bought my own tennis shoes. I may be wrong, I may be forgetting a pair somewhere along the line, but I don't think I am. And chances are if I have bought a pair, the money, in reality, came from mom & dad. So not only have I not had a new pair of tennis shoes in like 10 years, (real tennis shoes, not cheap-ass Keds wannabes), I've never bought them with my very own hard-earned money. WTF?

But hey, I love those shoes! My comfy black sambas with the three white stripes. I had no reason to buy tennis shoes until now. They probably have another 10 years in them, but there's that possible spider thing...

Anyway, off to the mall I went, knowing exactly what I wanted. Shoes just like the old ones, only blue! Just one problem. They don't exist! I don't know what I was thinking. After 10 years they're going to have the exact same little soccer-type shoes on the market? Yeah, right. I may not like change, but the rest of the world sure does. I was not happy.

The other thing that ticked me off was that I was apparently invisible to sales people. I went in three stores, didn't even get a hello. One of the stores I was in, a manly athletic-type place, was truly terrible. I walked the perimeter of the store twice, picked shoes up, went back and forth between a few pairs, and nothing. I was pissed! I wanted to tell them that round people wear tennis shoes too, but instead I glared at them and left.

As I passed a fourth store, I saw my new shoes. Not just like my old ones, but pretty damn close. But I vowed that if I was ignored, there would be no new shoes. Luckily, the girl working said hello as soon as I stepped in. I said hello, and that I was going to buy shoes from her because she was the only one to acknowledge me all day. She probably thought I was nuts, but who cares?

So I got my new blue shoes (had to special order them, no shoes small enough at the store) and they arrived in the mail a week later. I was so excited I had to show everyone at work. Pathetic, yes, but it's a milestone ... or something.

My second pair of new shoes, not such a big deal. Just some lovely leather loafer-type things. I like them, but I've bought work shoes before, so no milestones there.

*BURN UPDATE* Now more red and violent-looking, with a nice little scab where I gouged it. The band-aid mark is fainter, but still visible.