2003-09-19

this test and see how long you’re going to live! Fred’s supposed to kick off around the age of 85, and I’ll be following him at the age of 86. Since he’s a year older than me, that’ll give me two years to theatrically take to my bed and waste away. Sounds about right.

* * *
I love this 50 States project. I sent in a picture from Maine and one from Alabama. I need to look through my picture folders and find a Tennessee and a Florida. The Montana picture just blows me away and makes me want to pack up and move there NOW.
* * *
Remember the creepy zombie eyes from Monday? Sadly, they’re much less creepy and zombie-like today.
There’s still some red and yellow, but it’s not nearly as bad as Monday. I kinda miss my zombie eyes. Not enough to go through the whole thing again though, believe you me. Oh man, check out the grays on my head.
I had a hair appointment two weeks ago, but I ended up canceling it because sitting around having my hair done for almost two hours just bores the shit out of me. I didn’t realize the roots were getting so bad, though, so I bought a box of L’Oreal Medium Golden Brown, and I’m going to make Fred help me color my hair this weekend. Yes, I need help, because I have difficulty coloring my own hair. This surprises you?
* * *
I’m fairly sure that Fred has set up a spycam somewhere in the house – maybe even in multiple locations. Every day I head out to the garage and set up my weights or my stuff to do a FIRM video, and without fail, every single time I’m about to begin lifting weights or turn on the video, the phone rings. I stop what I’m doing and run in to answer the phone, because you never know when it’s going to be an emergency call from the school, or something big is going on that he wants to tell me about. Me (gasping for air): Hello? Fred: Hey. Whatchoo doing? I thought about not answering the phone, but I don’t think I’m capable of such an action. Maybe I need to turn it off so I can’t hear it from the garage. He’s obviously moved the spycam from it’s position by the bathroom, because he used to call EVERY single time I was in the bathroom or about to step into the shower, but he hasn’t done that in a while. Oh, wait. He called as I was about to step into the shower this morning. I guess there must be two spycams – one in the bathroom, one in the garage. Bastard.
* * *
I’m sad to say that our days of Nekkid! German! Men! are coming to a close, because I’m all tapped out on pictures. If I get any more in the future, I’ll be sure to share. Today, two pictures! One almost normal, the other much less so. And we bid adieu to our favorite naked German, AKT.
Goldi poses in his favorite white sweatpants. Such a nice boy. AKT does “pensive.” (click on the picture for the uncensored version)
* * *
How come Steak-Out sends packets of saltines with their salads? Do people generally eat crackers with salad? Am I missing out because I’m not a saltines lover? Do saltines just add that certain je ne sais quoi to salads, or what? And am I a freak for wanting a sirloin chef salad from Steak-Out for lunch when I could have had anything in the whole wide world? DAMN that’s a good salad.
* * *
Possible Survivor spoilers below; skip to the next section if you haven’t seen it yet.
Survivor ROCKED last night, didn’t it? I spent the first five or ten minutes giggling because I knew what was going to happen at the beginning. I’ve already taken a liking to Rupert (how could you not?) and the uber-geeky Ryan S, not to mention Sandra. At this point, Drake seems to have their shit together far more than Morgan (I mean, god in heaven. They had MONEY LEFT OVER, how stupid can you possibly be?), and when Rupert stole the shoes from Morgan, who were total dumbasses to leave their stuff unguarded, I about fell off the couch. Mark Burnett had to be cackling with glee when he saw that. I’m not sure whether I like Osten or not, but there’s no denying he has the best body of any of them, and it was nice of Mark Burnett to give us some eye candy. Fred thinks Tijuana looks a lot like Heidi from last season. I think that Nicole is a dead ringer for Lindsey from Survivor: Africa. And did I mention that I loved loved LOVED the beginning?
* * *
Spanky gives The Momma a disgusted look. Spanky’s big pink lips crack me up. This is Tubby yawning… This is Tubby “Meh”ing. Kind of hard to tell the difference, isn’t it?
]]>

2003-09-18

Cricket. 1. Are you a good bitch or a bad bitch? (There’s a pronounced difference, as all true bitches would know.) I’m a good bitch, of course. Except when I’m being a bad bitch. All good bitches have their bad bitch moments, but usually they’re few (pms) and far (pms) between. 2. How long did you live in Canada? As a Canadian myself – one that only acknowledges Southern Ontario as being Canada – what was it like living in Labrador? I was pretty young – about 2 years old – but we probably only lived in Labrador 1 – 2 years. And all I remember is that it was reallly collllllld. Which is probably why I tend to think of Canada as a frozen wasteland. 3. How do you feel about telling people that you met your husband online? Does the stigma that tends to come with that bother you? I’m fine with telling people that we met online, though I don’t volunteer the information unless asked. Meeting the love of your life online is more common these days than it was 7 years ago (but even then it wasn’t completely unheard of), and if someone’s weirded out by the fact that we met online, I can always point to the fact that (as of next month) we’ve been happily married for 5 years and are still going strong. 4. Does Fred like cats or is this a one-sided furbaby romance? Fred loves cats as much as I do, thank god! In fact he said earlier today that the house seems empty with only (!) 4 cats. 5. I lived in New England for 2 years but never made it to Maine. Did I miss anything? You did! It’s gorgeous there, it has it’s own feel – when I’m in Maine, I’m very conscious of the fact that I’m not in one of the other New England states. I love it there, and you must visit it! All of you! Chop-chop! 6. You watch Spike TV, the new channel for men. We have it too. What do you think of it? There are certain shows I like – I definitely want to see how Joe Schmo turnes out! – but there’s this awful dubbed show with people running goofy obstacle courses. Fred LOVES it and must ALWAYS stop and watch it, but I loathe it and have to run from the room. So I’d say so-so on the Spike TV. 7. Do you have a favorite cat? If so, why? Miz Poo is my favorite. She knows it, all the boy cats know it, and everyone in the house knows it. She’s my bayyyyyyyybeeee, and always has been more needy and cuddly than the boy cats. The boys will let themselves be held for a minute or two, but they’re like “Oh, enough of THAT!” and will run off. Miz Poo will pretty much let you hug and cuddle her 24 hours a day. 8. My job consists of baby-sitting a three year old 20 hours a day. Sometimes my being a “stay at home” drives me insane. Do you sometimes wish you worked outside the home? Almost never. On the rare occasion that I wish I had a job to go to and keep me busy, I remember how much I like doing what I want to do when I want to, and I stop thinking about looking for a job. Of course, I have a lot more autonomy than you do, since I don’t need to worry about a three year-old! 🙂 9. Do you miss the north? I miss it an awful lot sometimes. I know that I’ll never drag Fred to Maine when we retire, though, so I have to be happy with my yearly visits. 10. What does the spud call Fred? Does she ever see the sperm donor? She calls him Fred. (Heh – did anyone else get a flash of “My name is Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump”?) We talked about having her call him “Dad” (she calls her father “Daddy”) or “Pop”, but she seemed most comfortable with “Fred.” She talks to her father on the phone about once a week, and spends time with him in the summer. They have a pretty good relationship, but it’s less father-daughter and more two equals who like to goof off and hang out and fart at each other. (Okay. I’m assuming about the farting, but it’s a pretty solid assumption.) Most of her father-daughter experiences come from Fred’s direction, which is not a dis at her father – there’s only so much parenting you can do with a phone call a week and a visit in the summer. I’m just glad we’ve got Fred to do the dad stuff.

* * *
Kat, didn’t you say your order was for a blond? Meet Dirk. Dirk would like you to admire his unicorn tattoo while he sizzles and fries in the hot German sun. Dirk is a happy, happy man. Dirk is very close to orange. Perhaps you can introduce him to sunblock?
* * *
The birds are very, very happy that a car ended up in our back yard last week. Why? Because although the fence that belongs to us is already fixed, there’s a section of fence dividing our yard from the neighbor’s yard that belongs to them that isn’t replaced yet. I think they’re probably going to go through their homeowner’s insurance to have it fixed, and since we all know that insurance companies are lightning-quick to act when you’re slow on a payment but molasses-slow when it might cost them some money, I suspect it’s going to be a while. Here’s a shot of the happy, happy birds.
It’s like that out there ALL DAY LONG, and we’re going through bird seed at a frightening speed (poet. knowit.). Miz Poo sits on one of the boxes by the window and watches sadly. Except when the squirrel – who’s getting a bit tubby – moseys down from his tree to partake of the sunflower seeds. Then she chatters sadly. Poor Miz Poo.
]]>

2003-09-17

Sum up your thoughts about me in one word and leave it in a comment. Then post this in your journal to find out what everyone else thinks of you. Please remember – ONE word. “Freakass freak” is two words.

* * *
Fred called from work this morning to let me know that Strong Funds has been up to some unethical shenanigans, and that Morningstar and Motley Fool were strongly suggesting avoidance of Strong Funds. You know, Strong Funds. Where Fred has his retirement account, we have the spud’s college fund, and we have an additional investing fund. “Hey!” I said. “Maybe we could lose all our money! That would make this month even BETTER!” So, we’re pulling out of Strong, even though the customer service rep Fred spoke to claimed that it was nothing but a bunch of lies. “Well, Morningstar highly recommends pulling out,” Fred pointed out. “You know, Morningstar. Whom you guys LOVE to quote in all your literature.” The rep had nothing to say to that.
* * *
I watched Madonna on Oprah yesterday. I’m not a big Madonna fan, but it was a fairly interesting interview. Oprah pointed out – and I agree – that Madonna seems calmer and more centered these days than she used to. I think she needs to keep the platinum blond hair, too. She looked great. Speaking of TV shows, we only got a chance to watch the first 10 minutes of Joe Schmo last night and taped the rest (we had to pick the spud up from her youth group at the church), but after reading Mo’s post on the subject, I’m definitely dying to know what happened! But don’t tell me, ’cause we’re going to watch it tonight. Oh, and SURVIVOR STARTS TOMORROW NIGHT! WHEE! Thanks so much to reader Alice, who emailed to remind me. For some reason I had thought that it started next week, and I would have been SO pissed if I’d missed the first show. Luckily, I won’t! I still think we need TiVo.
* * *
Okay, no nekkidness in our German Man picture today – I’m saving the last AKT picture for Friday – but note that yesterday we had a Phil Collins/ Kevin Spacey/ Dave Matthews lookalike today we have…
Bill Murray!
Oh, and someone pointed out in yesterday’s comments that the guy in yesterday’s picture appeared to be wearing panties. Which reminded me of when my nephew Brian was small and he’d be running around the apartment nekkid, and Debbie would say “Brian, come put your panties on!” Our friend Liz would have the biggest fit about that, yelling “They’re not PANTIES! They’re underwear! If you keep calling them PANTIES, he’s going to grow up to be gay!” Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. I’m just hoping that Brian grows up to be really famous so I can sell the picture of him at the age of two wearing a pair of the spud’s pink tights, one of Debbie’s bras, and a pair of cowboy boots to the tabloids for BIG bucks.
* * *
Also, for those of you who think that Fred should make a movie of himself scaring me so that I scream, this is what that movie would sound like: “::gasp!:: GodDAMN you scared the shit out of me! ::smack::”
* * * Spot’s such a sweetheart. Even though he was chasing Spanky around trying to kick his ass last night. I’m sure Spanky needed his ass kicked.
]]>

2003-09-16

Operation OFB. And at no point did anyone see my eyes, make the sign of the cross and then scurry away, looking fearfully over their shoulder at me. I’m a little saddened by that, actually.

* * *
If you read the pet store kitties page, you might remember Puzzle, whom I saw for the first time last Thursday. She was sick and on medication for an upper respiratory infection, and she vomited while I was there. Last night, due to complications from the infection, Puzzle died. There’s a raging case of Upper Respiratory Infection going through the set of cats at the pet store, so they’ve suspended adoptions for at least the rest of the week. I sure hope the rest of the kitties end up okay. Keep them in your thoughts, won’t you?
* * *
Man, this whole running-a-business thing is strictly FOR THE FUCKING BIRDS. For sales inside Alabama, we have to collect sales tax. Now, can we just send the whole 8% sales tax to the state of Alabama and go about our happy fucking lives? Well, NO. No, we send 4% to the state, 2.5% to the county, and 1.5% to the city. A HUGE pain in the fucking ass, and what’s worse is that it all has to be postmarked by the 20th, and I still don’t have a county or city account number because I am a HUGE stupidass who didn’t want to deal with it all, and now I’m all running around like a chicken with it’s stupidass head cut off. Don’t you want me running YOUR company?
* * *
Fred put up more pictures from Friday night, if you haven’t already checked them out, they’re here. You’ll also note that our fence (the part on the right on the last picture belongs to the neighbors) is already repaired. Fred called them yesterday morning, and the guy was done by the time Fred got home from work. Too fucking cool.
* * *
Oh, but all y’all want is the nekkid (or half-nekkid) German Men, isn’t it? We’re taking a break from AKT today, because I only have one more of him, and I want y’all to appreciate the magic that is AKT. Today we have Achiim. Achiim thought it would be a good idea to toss on some snow-white undies and get comfy on the bed with his mouse.
(That’s just part of his email address I’ve blurred out) Is it just me, or does he bear a striking resemblance to Phil Collins?
* * * The Hummingbirds – a story in pictures (and also some text)
Hummingbird 1 enjoys the yummy sugar water provided by we wonderful And3rsons. Hummingbird 2 swoops in and chases Hummingbird 1 away. Hummingbird 2 partakes of the sugar water. Hummingbird 1 sneaks back in and slurps down some sugar water as fast as he can, his little tail end wiggling the entire time.
* * *
We briefly had a digital camcorder, before we realized that what we’d wanted was another model. But before we sent it back to exchange it for the other model, we made a quick little movie of the spud. See it here. It’s a Windows Media movie. We saved it as an .mpg, which took up way more room than we wanted. And if you’re going to be all stalker-like and watch it over and over again, please download it to your hard drive so you don’t eat up my bandwidth. Thanks! ]]>

2003-09-15

back a $5,000 tip HE left and leave $300 in it’s place WHEN IT WASN’T HER MONEY is maybe not the gal for him. People and US will be having a field day with this, you know they will. And lastly, maybe someone should tell Jennifer Lopez that she doesn’t have to marry every guy she dates. She doesn’t seem to understand that.

* * *
So. I bet MY weekend was more exciting than YOURS. Friday night, 10:30ish, I was sound asleep. I heard a very very loud noise and jumped out of bed and fumbled with my nightgown. Any other time, I can just pick it up off the floor and put it over my head without any fumbling, but this time I was so freaked out that I ended up putting it on inside-out and backwards. I was fairly certain that the noise had come from inside the house, and thought for sure that one of the cats had knocked over one of the big bookcases somehow. I went out into the hallway, and Fred opened his door. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” I said, surprised that he was so calm. “I think it was an accident up at the end of the street,” he said. Then he stopped and looked at me. “Wait, you heard that?” “Yeah, it was loud as hell!” I said. “Then it must have been on the back side of the house,” he realized, and we went back into my bedroom. We looked out the window. “There’s a truck by the side of the road,” I pointed out. “Maybe he hit a dog.” “Oh my god! There’s someone in our back yard!” Fred said. “Call 911!” “What?” I said, wondering why I’d need to call 911 if someone was walking around our back yard. Fred was in the closet getting dressed, and he yelled “You don’t see them, they’re upside down in the corner of the yard near the neighbors! CALL 911!” Which is when I saw a car sitting on it’s side next to the fence that separates our yard from our next-door neighbors. I called 911, and while I won’t recount the entire conversation, I will say that I’m pretty useless in an emergency. The 911 operator wanted to know where we lived, and I told her, but then told her that the ambulance needed to come to the busy street running alongside the back of our yard, and I got confused and switched street names, and so on. It finally occurred to me that I needed to go out into the yard to see what was going on, and I went downstairs, dodging really freaked out kitties on the way, shut the window so the cats couldn’t go outside, and then went out into the back yard. Fred and another man – the one who owned the truck that was by the side of the road, which I’d seen from our bedroom window – were standing by the car, bending over a man who was laying on his stomach on the lawn. I was certain that he had to be either dead or dying, and I could not force myself to go any closer than the middle of the lawn. The 911 operator transferred me to the ambulance service, and the operator there asked me questions that I had to ask Fred – is he breathing? is he conscious?, and the like. When she finally started asking how to get to the house, I got confused and ended up handing the phone to Fred, and then retreated to the edge of the patio. Moments later, the police and ambulance were there (I make fun of the fact that we live in YuppieTown, but we’re very close to the police and fire stations, for which I was very grateful Friday night), and only a few minutes later they had the guy on a stretcher and out of there. The police began asking the witness (the guy in the white truck) what had happened, and Fred turned and realized that I was still in my nightgown, and suggested that I go get dressed. I did as quickly as possible, and went back out. We spent the next hour and a half or so talking to the police and our neighbors, and watching the tow truck pull the car out. Fred took a ton of pictures as well (AFTER they took the guy away), and to see his side of the story and some pictures, you can go here and here. I believe he’s going to put up more pictures later today, as well. Fred called today to find out the guy’s name and where they took him, and then called the hospital to find out his condition. They’d never admitted him to the hospital, which probably means that they treated and released him, which just amazes me. (And to be sure he hadn’t died on the way to the hospital, I checked the obituaries for the weekend and today, and my heart almost stopped when I saw that two people with his last name had died over the weekend, but they were both elderly women.) Because he had no insurance and the owner of the car had no insurance, we will be paying for the repair of our part of the fence ourselves. No, we won’t turn it over to our homeowner’s insurance so that they can go after him, because as a result our insurance would go up, and the repair to the fence would cost less than our deductible anyway. No, we won’t be suing him for the costs of the repair to the fence, because it wouldn’t be worth our time to do so and we are very sue-averse, not to mention the fact that we can afford the repair to the fence (which we know because we’ve already got an estimate). We’re only relieved that it didn’t end up worse than it did. Once we got back to bed – sometime after midnight – I tossed and turned and slept horribly. Saturday – once Fred and the spud got the back yard cleaned up – we fell into our usual pattern of watching a crappy movie and hanging around the house. Saturday night, Fred’s parents came over to watch The Blue Collar Comedy Tour with us. Fred’s seen it twice, and knew that his father would enjoy it a great deal. They came over and inspected the back yard, and then we sat down to watch the movie. Fred had a big bowl of popcorn for a snack, and I debated about what to have for a snack. I thought about skipping the snack for once, but my stomach was rumbling, and I decided on a bowl of almonds. About halfway through the movie, my stomach started feeling slightly sour, and I debated going upstairs to get a Maalox, but decided to wait until the movie was over. Fred’s parents left a few minutes before 9, and I turned to look at him. The “sour” feeling had increased quite a bit, and I was on the edge of feeling nauseous. “Do we have any Maalox down here?” I asked him. “No, just upstairs. Why?” “I’m starting to feel nauseous,” I said. “Could you grab me one?” “You wouldn’t rather take Pepto?” he asked. “No,” I said, the thought of drinking that peppermint-flavored crap making me feel even more nauseous. He went up and changed into his comfortable hanging-around-the-house clothes and brought a Maalox back down with him. I chewed it and then got a Diet Coke to sip while we sat in the living room and watched TV. As we sat and watched, the nausea only increased, and soon it reached that level where you know that there’s no forcing it back. I ran for the bathroom and couldn’t even get on my knees in front of the toilet before I was throwing up everything I’d eaten that day. And might I just say that beef burritos, while yummy going down, are NOT what you want to have coming back up. And also, I am a very very loud vomit-er. Fred stood outside the bathroom door and when it was silent asked “Can I do anything?” To which I responded by vomiting yet again. After I was done and had cleaned up what hadn’t made it into the toilet, I went back out into the living room. I felt much better, though a bit shaky, and we decided to go upstairs and watch TV in bed. As we lay there, I began to feel crappier and crappier, and exactly an hour after I’d vomited the first time, I went for a second round. Between 9 pm and 3:30 am, I vomited violently every 30 – 50 minutes, and GODDAMN it hurts when you have nothing in your stomach and your body is insisting that there’s still something you need to get rid of. Fred ran out for ginger ale and rubbed my back and then finally went to bed around 11:00, since there was really nothing he could do for me. They aren’t kidding when they call it “praying to the porcelain god”, are they. Folks, I thought I was gonna DIE. Every time I vomited, I went back into the bedroom, sipped ginger ale until I couldn’t stand it anymore – because it hurts less to barf when there’s something TO barf – and then dozed for almost exactly 30 minutes, when my stomach would start hurting again, and I’d sit up and wait to see if it would go away (dreamer!) or get worse. When the whole thing ended, I fell asleep and slept hard. When I woke up Sunday morning, my eyes were swollen and full of burst blood vessels.
(click on either picture to see the full-sized version) Today, my eyelids are less swollen, but my eyes look creepier.
I tried to put my contacts on this morning, but my eyes are too swollen for me to wear them comfortably, so I’m wearing glasses. I was a little worried that lifting weights would put pressure on my eyes (they ache when I bend over), but weight lifting went fine. Now if my eyes would only go back to normal so that I don’t frighten small children…
* * *
Oh, please. I know why you’re really here. You’re really here for the Nekkid German Men! AKT decided to go simple for this one. I think the boots and socks are definitely a nice touch. And laying in a backhoe – well, really. Nothing says sexy like that! Also, the first hint of a smile from AKT. Almost looks like a nice guy, doesn’t he?
(click on the picture to see the full-sized version)
* * *
How can this possibly be comfortable?
]]>

2003-09-12

Englands Daily Mail reported Wednesday that Lopez is forcing Affleck to sign a no-cheating pre-nupital agreement. In the event that Affleck is unfaithful, Lopez could go after half his money. Man. They’re not even married and she’s worried about him cheating on her? How insecure do you have to be? All a pre-nup like that means is that if he cheats on her, he’s going to be extra careful about it. I’m pretty much of the mind that if a man is really determined to cheat, there’s not anything you can do to stop him. You can only control how you react to it – do you stick around and work through it, or do you cut off his penis and toss it in a field on your way out of town?

* * *
Honestly, I had no idea that the nekkid German guy was going to be such a hit! What above the Bumsen is up with that? Y’all are pervs, which is probably why I love you so. The same guy actually sent another picture – I think he sent 3 in all – so for your viewing pleasure, here’s AKT, the artistic version:
(click on the picture for the uncensored version) I’m not quite sure what’s going on in this picture – is he pretending to be dead? Or is he playing the part of Sleeping Beauty? The lilies are a lovely touch, though, the color contrasting nicely with the black, uh, suit thing that he’s wearing. And also, note the way his penis casually dangles out. Very artistic. A+ (plus! plus! plus!) for this one.
* * *
Pet store kitties are hither.
* * *
1. Is the name you have now the same name that’s on your birth certificate? If not, what’s changed? The same first and middle name, yes. The last name has changed a few times. 2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be? When I was a kid, I wanted desperately to be a Kimberly, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to appreciate my name, and I couldn’t imagine being anything other than Robyn. I’m not crazy about my middle name (Leslie), but I don’t know what I’d change it too. Maybe Ann? Leigh? Marie? Maybe no middle name at all. I like my last name, though. 3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?) Well, I was GOING to be Kimberly, but at some point before I was born, my parents were kicking around different names just for the hell of it, and my uncle said “Robin. I like Robin.”, and they decided they did as well, and changed the “I” to “Y” to make it a little different. 4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why? I don’t have much of a love or hate reaction to names. I really like my brother Tracy’s middle name, and I’ve always liked the names Jeffrey and Christopher (if the spud had been a boy, she was going to be Jeffrey) for boys, and I’ve grown to like the name Molly for a girl. Did I ever mention that before Fred and I met in person we’d decided that the names of our children would be Seth Forrest and Samantha Jayne? 5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com accurate? How or how isn’t it? My analysis states: As Robyn you are rather serious-minded, responsible, and stable. I don’t know how serious-minded I am, but responsible and stable are pretty true. You have the gift of tact and diplomacy, and possess a charming, easy-going nature which endears you to others. Tact and diplomacy? I don’t think so. Well, when I put my mind to it, maybe so. I also don’t think I’m terribly charming (she said charmingly), but I’m definitely easy-going. You have a serious desire to understand the heart and mind of everyone, and could be very effective in a career or in volunteer work where you are handling people and serving in a humanitarian way. I do have the desire to understand the heart and mind (and motivation) of everyone, but I don’t know that I could work around people all the time, because people can be mighty fucking annoying. Heh. This name also gives you a love of home and family, and as a parent you would likely be fair and understanding. As a parent I’m probably a little too understanding at times and have some difficulty being the “bad guy”. The rest is true, I think. You remember the thoughtful little expressions of affection and appreciation that mean so much to others, and you have the ability to create a warm and loving environment. Hm. Maybe. However, you tend to put things off and avoid facing issues because of a lack of confidence and uncertainty. You often need encouragement from someone before you can come to a decision. Oh boy, ain’t THAT the truth!
* * *
The sunset, from our back yard. “Meh–yawwwwwwn” (I just never get tired of taking Yawning/ Bitching Tubby pictures)
]]>

2003-09-10

Babelfish), and he came to bitchypoo.com and did some looking around, and saw a picture of himself with his penis dangling out and mocking text around the picture, he would probably feel very bad. And so I thought to myself “Shall I put the picture up for one day? Or perhaps shall I put up a different picture each day and take it down at the end of the day? Because certainly I would feel bad if AKT knew that I was mocking him.” I continued thinking, very hard, about the whole subject, and then I came to a simple conclusion! “Fuck it!” I said.

And, no. You may not have his email address. (I reserve the right to remove that picture at some random point in the future)
* * *
We watched Joe Shmo again last night and enjoyed it. What really got to me, though, was the ad for next week, wherein Matt and half the cast are crying for some reason. The rest of the cast (the ones who know it’s not a real reality show) were saying things like “This is horrible, we have to stop!”, or something similar. Which makes me wonder what the hell they thought was going to happen – I mean, Matt might be a shmuck, but he’s a real guy they’re messing with. Damn good show, really. And also, we finally saw an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and absolutely LOVED it. We ended up taping the episode of Happy Family we’d been waiting to see, and taped the episode of Queer Eye that was coming on after we went to bed. Damn, DAMN good show. I knew, after seeing all the buzz out there in Blogland that I’d like it, but I always seemed to miss it. God, it was great. While we were watching it, Fred turned to me and said “Anthony would probably have a FIT if he knew we were watching this!” Heh.
* * *
Spanky in a pensive mood. (hee!) Miz Poo, being woken up from her nap. Miz Poo is a wee bit peeved, it would appear.
* * *
Previously 2002: “Stinky?” I said. 2001: I stole this survey from Noreen, but I’ve seen it all over the place recently, and god knows how much I love to be one of the cool kids! 2000: Look! It’s nay-chuh!]]>

2003-09-09

could be removed, and a Staples employee came up beside me. “Can I help you with anything?” he asked. I smiled. “Nope, just trying to decide which one.” He stood in silence for a few minutes while I continued looking at the cheapest keyboard and chanted “Goaway goaway goaway” in my mind. He stepped forward and indicated another keyboard. “This one seems to be our most popular keyboard.” I raised my eyebrows at him and smiled politely, all the while thinking “goooooo awaaaaaaaaaay”, and then he finally said “Well, let me know if you have any questions!”, and he went away. Now, I have probably not mentioned this in the past, but I am very suggestible. I’m a salesman’s wet dream, and so usually if there’s some buying to be done that can potentially become expensive – such as a new washer and dryer – Fred accompanies me so that I won’t be suckered in. I’m not kidding about being very suggestible. If I’m in the grocery store I have to stay out of the shampoo/ hair styling aisle, because if I wander by and glance up and see “Anti-frizz gel!”, I will stop and get stars in my eyes and think “My hair! Is frizzy! And to make it not frizzy, I need anti-frizz gel! I must buy! I must have! This gel will give me beautiful hair!”, and thus the reason I have a drawer full of gels and mousses and finishing cremes and all manners of crap. (What I really need is to shave my head, except that I would then bear a striking resemblance to Pruitt Taylor Vince.) So anyway, after the Staples guy wandered off, I glanced up to be sure he was gone, and then I sidled over to look at the keyboard he’d pointed out. And it was a Logitech! Cordless! Keyboard! And it was only $30! And I went all starry eyed and imagined the many wondrous things I could do with a cordless keyboard, like I could put the keyboard wherever I wanted on the desk, because it would not be TETHERED by a CORD because it was CORDLESS. And if I wanted to, I could LEAN BACK in my chair and PUT MY FEET UP on the desk, and I could PUT THE KEYBOARD ON MY LAP, and Oh! Happy day! Or I could even sit across the room and relax and type away! Without another thought, I bought the fucking thing, and it wasn’t until I was driving home that I realized that my keyboard was sitting in front of the monitor NOT because it was TETHERED by a CORD, but rather because that’s where I LIKED it, and also chances were nil that I would lean BACK in my CHAIR and put my feet on the DESK and my keyboard on my LAP, because if Erin‘s tiny little tummy is a Buddha, then my stomach is the pagoda he sits in, and leaning back with my feet on the desk would render a lap nonexistent. And besides, I’m not really a lean-back-with-feet-on-desk kinda gal. Further, while I certainly COULD sit across the room and relax while type-type-typing, there’d be no mouse usage, because the mouse IS tethered to a cord, but the point there is moot, because while I could relax and type, there’s no way in god’s green earth I could ever SEE what I was typing, because I practically have to sit with my nose to the screen as it is, because that bastard won’t let me buy a big BIG monitor, because he’s mean. (But that’s okay – I get back at him by LOUDLY announcing every time I have to reboot my computer, which is quite frequently lately. Not that that has anything to do with the size of my screen, so let’s move on, shall we?) So basically I paid twice as much for a keyboard as I would have on my own for no good reason, all thanks to that Staples employee, may he rot in hell.

* * *
We just finished off Season 2 of Oz, and WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO WATCH NOW??? Season 3 apparently isn’t out yet, and Himself is not interested in checking out Six Feet Under or Alias, damnit. I wanna know what HAPPENS. (And y’all weren’t kidding about the buttsex revving up once Chris Keller shows up)
* * *
The camera is upstairs and I don’t want to go ALL the way upstairs to retrieve the memory stick, so you’re stuck with a picture of my brother’s dog. Adorable, isn’t she? Also very slobbery. That’s one thing about cats – for the most part, you don’t have to worry about them slobbering on you.
]]>

2003-09-08

* * * So on Friday afternoon, in a bid to get the hell away from the computer, I was sitting on the couch watching “I love the 70s” on VH-1 and reading a magazine. At one point they began discussing The Waltons. Now, I enjoyed The Waltons, although I did not see every show, and I had a wee bit of a crush on, uh, one of them. Maybe Jim-Bob? Or Jason? Ben? One of the redheads, anyway, if that narrows it down, since I’ve always had a bit of a thing for redheads. I even read Spencer’s Mountain, which was probably owned by my brother Tracy – Let me take a moment to say that Tracy used to HATE it when I’d take books from his room and read them without asking permission (which in retrospect was rather rude of me, wasn’t it?). It was Tracy’s copy of Carrie that introduced me to the magic that is Stephen King (HE DOES NOT SUCK, YOU JUST SHUT UP), and also inside that copy of Carrie that my mother wrote “I don’t approve of this, do you?” – and upon which the series was based. But I digress. I was watching “I love the 70s”, and the topic of The Waltons came up, and someone said that the show was about a bunch of hillbillies. And I was aghast. Because believe it or not, it never once occurred to me that the Walton family was comprised of hillbillies. When Fred got home later that afternoon, I said “Did you know that the Waltons were hillbillies?”, and he said “Well, duh. THEY LIVED IN THE MOUNTAINS OF WEST VIRGINIA”, and I said “I never thought of them as being hillbillies, though.” I guess part of it is that the word “hillbilly” sounds so insulting, and the Waltons, they were nice folk who did the best they could with what they had, and so to hear a description that was somewhat insulting bothered me. A freak? Me? I don’t know why I find “hillbilly” so insulting – I certainly don’t find “redneck” insulting at all, and they’re definitely in the same descriptive category. If someone referred to Bo and Luke Duke, those fine young specimans of studliness, as rednecks, I would have no problem with that at ALL, since it is so clearly true. Later that evening we were watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (and if watching that show is wrong, I don’t wanna be right), and I turned to Fred, my brow furrowed, and said worriedly, “But they’re not white trash, right?” At which point he laughed out loud with a mouth full of Ben & Jerry’s, and two peanut butter cup bits went shooting out of his nostrils and bounced across the room.

* * *
Pet store kitty pics are hither.
* * *
I am enjoying the hell out of Dooce‘s archives. Especially this entry, and not even so much because of the entry itself, but because of the second comment, which Ariel posted, and specifically the line My father had to have a talk with me about how “making love is a beautiful thing,” which only made me cry harder., which made me laugh until I cried.
* * *
So while my husband KINDLY pointed out that I was “obsessed with” the zebra’s penis, did he by any chance mention WHO pointed out the zebra’s penis and made a big deal about it? ‘Cause it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t the spud (who said “GROSS!” when she saw it), and there were only three of us in the car. Mmm-hmm.
* * *
The spud recently went around the house, trying desperately to use up her last roll of film left over from her vacation, and so she took many pictures of the cats. She got some pretty good ones, too, so I snatched and scanned them.
It’s a rough life, it really is. Hangin’ out on the stairs being bitchy. Psycho kitty!
]]>