January 31, 2005.

Amy. 1.) WHAT’S THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF MUSIC FILES ON YOUR COMPUTER? 1.55 GB in my “My Music” folder. Is that a lot? 2.)WHAT WAS THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT? Kenny Chesney, When the Sun Goes Down. 3.) WHAT WAS THE LAST SONG LISTENED TO BEFORE GETTING THIS MESSAGE? Fall to Pieces, by Velvet Revolver. 4.) WRITE DOWN FIVE SONGS YOU OFTEN LISTEN TO OR THAT MEAN A LOT TO YOU. 1. Beloved Wife – Natalie Merchant. 2. Angry All the Time – Tim McGraw 3. Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson 4. Black – Pearl Jam 5. El Cerrito Place – Charlie Robison 5.) WHO ARE YOU GONNA PASS THIS STICK TO (THREE PERSONS) AND WHY? 1. Nance 2. Mo 3. Everyone! ‘Cause I’ll be interested to see their answers, of course, that’s why! Amy was curious as to whether I spend as much money on music as I do on books. I don’t, really, because I tend to download the songs I like online (LEGALLY, at iTunes, usually) rather than spend the money to buy an entire album full of songs that I might not like. I spend, at the most, five dollars a month on music, though that varies. I spent about fifteen dollars of my birthday money on iTunes downloads. (Thus the reason I was sitting here listening to I Fall to Pieces by Velvet Revolver!)

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From muh comments: Robyn, do you or anyone else know about the cat net like tunnels that one poster mentioned?? (in this comment: How about one of those netlike cat tunnels for outdoors? I’ve seen those, and they are not too expensive. You could attach it temporarily to the cat-door, so the cats could go outside, lie in the sun, whatever…and then come back indoors. Then you could detach the netting till the next day.) I have two cats and one of them is always trying to escape… I’d love to have one of those thingies if its like I imagine it to be…. I don’t know where to find them, but I know I saw them somewhere… once upon a time. But I don’t remember when or where I saw ’em. I glanced at the usual pet store pages but didn’t see anything. Can anyone help out, here? Hook a sister up! Edited to add: Nevermind! Grace posted a comment that answered the question. FYI – the cat fence is at catfence.com. Tunnels (portable outdoor enclosures) are at drsfostersmith.com although you may be able to find them cheaper with a search. When I lived in Huntsville the Neighborhood Nazis didn’t so much care if changes to your house (fence, paint, etc.) couldn’t be seen from the street. In Houston they do care vary much – so anyone who’s wanting to do the fence thing should probably check with their POA. (Thanks, Grace!)
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Oh, and thanks for the suggestions on what to do about That Damn Booger-Bean. I quite like the idea of tying him out on a long leash, but only because imagining him getting all caught up in his leash and leaping about like a little Beanie Frog makes me giggle. We had thought about putting a really tall fence right around where the cat door comes out – like the fences you see dog runs made out of? – but Fred would have to mow around it, and he wasn’t looking forward to that. We do think we’ve come up with a good solution, but we’ll have to see if it works. I’ll tell y’all more about that idea once it’s up and running, assuming that it works.
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Thanks, also, for all the beef stew recipes, y’all! I got a ton of them. I made one this weekend, a recipe I got from reader Renate that was easy as hell and damn yummy, too. Fred wasn’t looking forward to the beef stew at ALL (because he’s a bastard), but he liked it a lot (even more once he’d added a great big dash of tabasco – I swear, the man would eat a turd as long as you put a bunch of tabasco on top of it!). Next time I make it, though, I think I’m going to cut the veggies a little bigger and cook it a little longer, just because the carrots I sliced up were so skinny that I had a hard time getting the carrot pieces on my spoon. And I love me some cooked carrots, yes indeedy. The meat was perfectly tender, though. Stew was a perfect meal to have yesterday, since it was cold and rainy and icky out.
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Speaking of carrots (like I did in the previous paragraph), here’s a carrot story for you. When I was in (I think) fourth grade, we were allowed to bring a snack to school to eat in class mid-morning. It had to be a healthy snack, though – no cookies or Twinkies or anything. (BASTARDS. Ha. Like my mother would have let me take a cookie to school for a snack, anyway. Sh’yeah!) I always took carrots, because I have always loved the hell out of carrots. So one day at snack time I turned to my friend, whose name I cannot recall. She had brought a tomato for her snack (yes, a tomato. I don’t know, don’t ask me.) and she was about to bite into it like it was an apple until I said “Hey! That looks like a BUTT!”, because it was creased just so, so that it looked, well, like two butt cheeks. She was so grossed out by the thought that she couldn’t eat her tomato and went and threw it away. She got me back, though. After she’d tossed her tomato, she said “Oh yeah? Well, that carrot looks like A BOY’S THINGY!” I couldn’t eat carrots for a good two years after that.
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Hey, can you eat raw kale? I mean, is it okay to, or will it make me spend all night in the bathroom afterward? I had Fred get some kale when he got groceries on Saturday. I found a simple recipe on how to cook kale, but there’s so much of it that I thought I might like to toss some in my salad to add a little extra flavor. Thoughts, opinions, suggestions?
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Check out this smiley that Georgina made for me, based on the picture I put up last week:
For comparison purposes:
Well done, Georgina! (She made it here. Go make your own!)
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I bet when we’re not around, they actually SNUGGLE.
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