Who knew it was raspberry jam?

Movie theatre conversation #1:

Outside the theatre- watching zillions of pasty-faced guys roaming unchecked through the parking lot. Mr. Phancy approaches.

Me: Thank god you're here. It's feepin' freezing, and I am one of approximately three women here.

Mr. Phancy: I don't think any of these guys have seen an actual woman in awhile.

Me: I don't think they think of me as a woman- I think I would be designated as a "female entity."

Movie Theatre Conversation #2

The part where they are hauling Princess Vespa's 8 piece luggage set, complete with matching steamer trunk, through the desert.

Bill Pullman: (OK, I'm paraphrasing) "What on earth is in this trunk?!" *Pulls out enormous hairdryer* "GAH!!"

Mr. Phancy: This so reminds me of you. I can totally see you insisting on hauling matched luggage through the desert.

Me: Thanks a lot!

Mr. Phancy: ...except your trunk would contain several hundred pairs of sparkly platform shoes.

What can I say- the man has known me since we were fourteen years old.

Funny, you don't look Druish.

Yes, my few and loyal readers, it is almost 7PM, and I am getting ready to go to Clovis (Clovis! Clovis! Land where the rednecks roam free and drive their Chevy pickup trucks and drink Budweiser with much enthusiasm!) to go see Spaceballs on the big screen.

Feel free to envy me.

I am considering wearing Wranglers. Not only would this be an ironic gesture, it may also reduce the likelihood that the good people of Clovis will try to burn me as a witch.

Now, where did I put that NRA bumper sticker?

Overheard, Chez Moi

"Pretty Biiiiird....Good Boy Good BOY! HellooooooOOoOooooo! What? Huh? Oh. Wheeeee! Wheeeee! Peep peep peep. Kitty kittykitty...C'mere! Woooo! Wahoooooo! *SCREECH* Oh NO!Hahahahahaaaaaa...cluck cluck cluck...*kissy noises*Meeeeow, mew mew, gooooood Boooooooooy....."

Repeat, ad infinitum, until I LOSE MY MIND.

24 hours until Disneyland. Then I have jury duty on Monday. Hopefully, they'll balance each other out.

Chair Dancing Unlimited...

So, today I found 005:Out of 5- Themed Mixes. 10 different people take a theme= this week's is dance music- and they pick their fave song in that category, and thus a mix is born.

The best part? You can download it, although I am actually streaming as I type. Fun stuff!

Tonight is Stitch N' Bitch, and so I am gearing up. I've taken a few days off from knitting,and I am currently an active sufferer of SSS, which is "Second Sock Syundrome" for those of you out there who are "Knuggles" (That's a non-knitter). I knit the first sock- however, finishing its twin is an insurmountable task that just might cause me to go blind with irritation.

I actually got lunch at Mimi's with hubby and a friend today, and I think I am officially sick of the place. Let's face it, I probably go there at least once a week- it's nearby, and whatever mood I am in, they have something. Although- WTF is up with them putting Craisins and those yucky pink tomatoes on everything?

Craisins are the frooo-it of the de-ville. Seriously. I have proof. I admit it- am not a dried fruit aficianado. I do occasionally use dried apricots in my lentil soup recipe, but they re-hydrate duting the cooking process, and then basically dissolve, so I feel that they don't count. At this point, importation and refrigeration techniques having advanced as they have, dried fruit is now an unnecessary abomination, and should be done away with. Come on people- Prunes. Why is this necessary?!

I also got a good dose of common sense about the joys and sorrows of being fat. Which is something I really needed to hear, especially after the infamous Baskin Robbins incident.

I could add a couple positives: I've had people tell me (more than once) that I was wonderful to hug. Of course, that could be because of the boobs, but hey, they're part of the deal. Then of course there was the whole "Goddess" episode (see Fat Flashback #2 in here somewhere).

The negatives- The link mentions people assuming that you're pregnant- I have never gotten that one (luckily). The one that I have gotten that wasn't mentioned- Men approaching me at clubs/the gym/grocery shopping, and when I turned them down for one reason or another-(Usually sheer aggressiveness or unbridled obnoxiousness) calling me a "fat bitch". Like that's the worst thing they can possibly say. My general response was usually, "That's right- Fat bitch who TURNED YOU DOWN." Then they would slink off into the underbrush like a wounded hyena.

So- I feel that I should clarify. While the weight battle goes on, I am going to continue being healthy about it, and "getting skinny" isn't really part of the equation. Thank God.

It's tracksuit time!

Officially. Those of you who know me, this is your warning. Anyone who makes a reference to J-Lo will be shot without mercy. I will be wearing the green one, the turquoise one, the red one, the black one, the navy one, and yes, the orchid-colored one. Possibly even the magenta one. Fortunately, not all at the same time.

And yes, Dave, I will wear them with heels.

And no, none of them say "Juicy" across the ass. I feel a. My ass needs to ornamentation- it can stand on its own, and b. If you're going to stitch "Juicy" on your ass, you may as well tattoo "Hooker" or "Desperate for Attention from Random Lech- Really, I'm not Kidding- no seriously, Try me, I'm FREE" on your forehead.

There is a very cranky green bird on my shoulder, who is trying to test my pain and annoyance levels by alternately biting me on the ear, and then retreating either to that spot on my back that I can't reach, or the top of my head, where he gets tangled in my hair. When I finally grab him, he takes off flapping onto the floor, which luckily scares the bejeezus out of the cat. (Who is either a pacifist, a wuss, or just really, really lazy). Then I try putting the bird back in his cage and he screams and screams and screams.

I keep thinking,"This is what motherhood must be like..." However. I didn't have to incubate him for 9 months, and he's probably never going to wreck my car or bring home trampy obnoxious girlfriends wearing plasic miniskirts. Hm. On the other hand, while he will probably outlive me, he's certainly not going to be able to support me and stick me in a nursing home in my declining years.

Actually, I'm not sure if that's a negative, either.

Yawn...

It's been a lazy Friday- mostly cleaning. I am excited that I got some new movies today from Netflix- and also bummed, because they haven't posted the movie that I returned yesterday. They are slacking. Bastards.

In other news, I am still putting together the new entertainment center, and cataloguing all the nicks and scratches that I am going to need to touch up on that sucker. Bah!

It's a busy couple of weeks coming up- I think I mentioned that I finally did submit my passport paperwork, ironically on the last possible day before I would have to pay the extra 60 bucks or so to get it expedited.

In this picture, I don't look laminated- I look puffy, royally pissed off, and possibly drunk. The puffy was because I hadn't slept the night before. The pissed is due to my erstwhile Postal Employee Photographer's insistence that I pull my hair back to expose my ears.

My naturally poofy hair doesn't do that without being restrained in a ponytail- seriously. I tried tucking it behind my ears twice, and then beeyotch snapped the photo- like, 1/4 of one ear is showing, and just to be truly evil, she lowered the camera below my chin level, because my face is not round enough already. God, I hate the post office. ROWR!

Anyway, I am just relieved that's off my plate.

I am going to a Halloween party tomorrow night, Disneyland an a Bauhaus concert next weekend, and then I have a couple weeks to hang before the visit to my sister in S.F. And then my birthday, Thanksgiving, and PARIS- I leave eeeeeeeeeearly on Dec. 2nd.

I have been knitting a ton, lately, and I am wanting to cook and bake almost constantly. I want my new oven! It should be here in another week or so. Hopefully. Oh lordie, looking at the paragraph above- I am going to need to start shopping for the holidays ASAP.

File under WTF?

Upon reviewing the hits I got in the last week or so-

Evidently, my blog is the second thing that comes up on MSN if you search for "doing housework nude".

Hey, I think that's hilarious. Talk amongst yourselves!

Compliments and other random happenings

It was a good day today. Or yesterday as it happens...it's around 3AM right now, and I think it's safe to say that my sleep schedule is officially messed up.

I spent last night rearranging our copious collection of DVD's and VHS tapes (yup, still got those) into our newly acquired entertainment center. They are alphabetized and everything- we'll see how long it lasts. Yes, I am amazed that we had room for all of them! There are 263 DVD's at last count, and I haven't tallied the VHS tapes yet- an educated guess would be close to 500 movies.

Can you tell both Alan and I are media-philes? This goes without mentioning the obscene amount of books and music we also have. However- surprisingly little overlap when we got married and merged our lives and our collections.

The movies- I have a ton of 80's john-hughes kinda stuff, classics (Gone With The Wind et al), comedies (romantic and otherwise) musicals, some chick flicks, and a bunch of foreign films. He has anything to do with action/adventure, sci-fi, war, or the mafia. Plus My Best Friend's Wedding. ( I was stunned when I saw that one, I can tell you- sandwiched right between Men In Black and Platoon.)

Music- I like rock from the fifties, swing from the forties to present, Industrial, Dance/Techno, Alt-rock, and New Wave. He likes pop, country, and classical. We're both into soundtracks and compilations, for reasons that should be obvious by now.

Although, I am noticing that some of my edgier CD's have been mysteriously making their way into his truck, and that the Mariah Carey CD's have mysteriously disappeared, so I suspect that I am a good influence.

Like I mentioned, tonight was good. Met up with my buddy, discussed the inexplicable fact that we've known one another half our lives and that it was my good fortune to be one of the first people he met when he'd just arrived with his family from Canada. By some miracle, he ended up sitting in front of me in freshman English.

I just remember my 14-year-old incredulity when he told me that his family didn't have a television- they'd made a deal where they went out to the movies as a family once a week instead.

So- that was nice. And I wore my new coat/jacket/sweater for the first time, and got complimented by the waitress and by my buddy- so I got to say "Thanks...I made it myself!!"

He also had work-related tale of woe that was similar to mine- and is now lucky enough to be happily working in the family business.

The longer I am around, the more I realize that the more competent you are, the more you get dumped on- and the more likely it is that the slackers and brownnosers get promoted above you, so they can recline on their bed of slack and delegate even more crap down to you until you eventually have to quit or eat your own head to keep from exploding in a cloud of wrath. It's kinda sad, really.

So! We had salads, then went to Bev-mo and checked out the wide variety of exotic sodas and British candy selection. Does it get anymore freaking wholesome than that?

We make great pets...

Testing, 1,2,3.....

Since I already have a parrot, two dogs, and an enormously fat feline....

I obviously needed a purple hedgehog. Voila- Hermione! (What a perfect little hedgie name...) If you click on her, she will jump and do tricks (also, she is mercifully silent!)

adopt your own virtual pet!

Here's some pictures of the real-life aminals that share our household:

Vegas,
Tiramisu,
Bear & Bosco

Oh- and did I mention? We bought our midnight showing Harry Potter tickets, people!

Yes, I am a dork. But surrounded by other dorks, it's not as noticeable.

Ohmigod ohmigod...

S'been a week. What can I say?

I got in touch with an old friend a few days ago, so I am currently in negotiations as to when we get to have dinner and catch up. It's been a year or so, which is entirely my fault, and I have been missing him a great deal.

Besides, it'll be great to give the waitress at Masala, my fave Indian restaurant, something to talk about. So far I've gone there with at least three guy friends, not to mention my usual female partner in crime. Alan, the hubby, has yet to make an appearance. Since he works swings, and I only eat dinner there- well. Do the math.

My insane green parrot and I are currently listening to a "new" radio station for the Fresno area- Jack, 105.9. While it's nothing like the old station that was there when I was in high school (The EDGE! FOREVER!) it's on heavy rotation chez moi. Nice blend of rock, with some pop and an occasional disco song. They've played Billy Idol, the Divinyls, Rod Stewart, and a bunch of newer stuff in the last hour.

Anyway, Vegas (the parrot) definitely likes it- he's going "Wooooo! WoOOOOOOOOoooOooooOOoo!" and swinging on his favorite toy with the bell on the end. Yes, it's hilarious.

I spent tonight with my family. My sister was in town for her high school reunion, and we dragged out her old yearbooks and looked at all the insane stuff that was written in there. Dad made spaghetti, and we just hung out.

It was great. They were all determined to go to Baskin Robbins, so my mom, sister and I ended up going. They all got sundaes, and I was fairly good, and got a one scoop Daiquiri Ice.

Here's where I need to say, I hate buying and eating ice cream in a public place. Something wretched always seems to happen to me. I can get a junior scoop of sugar-free vanilla, and seriously, some moron will emerge from the woodwork and make some comment about my weight, I swear to god.

Anyway, we're standing there waiting to pay, and what I am assuming is a family walks in. A dad, his teenage daughter, and two boys who looked to be about 15- prime idiot age. I am guessing they're his son and a friend. One (the son)has his arm in a sling.

So they're crowding in behind me. I am literally squeezed up against the ice cream counter, trying to give them more room, but they keep pushing. The dad asks his kid, one of the boys, "What are you getting?" And then heads to the other side of the counter to check out the other flavors.

The kid is standing right up near me, and says, "I don't know yet" in a loud voice, and then mutters to his buddy, "Because this b*tch's fat ass is blocking my view." They dissolve into giggles.

OK, so I am there with my family. They haven't heard it. I don't think I was meant to hear it either. I can tell their older sister has though, and to give her credit, she looks ashamed, and goes off to stand with her dad, who isn't exactly svelte either, by the way.

There have been a lot of times when I just wouldn't say anything. I know the little idiot was just showing off for his friend, but I just saw red, and I snapped.

I deliberately turned around and gave them the hairy eyeball until they stopped laughing, then hissed, "Fuck off, or me and my fat ass will break your other arm for you."

Hostile and wrong? Yes. I sort of feel guilty about it. But! They immediately shut up and went over to the other side of the ice cream store. So maybe it was worth it. The punchline is that my mom and sister didn't know what was going on until we got back into the car.

Don't even think about it....

spraycan2
Originally uploaded by jenna_sais_quoi.

*SNAP* Too late! Thanks, Dave. The moment is now captured on film. No make up, irritated expression, threatening posture. (Still, it's kinda funny.)

Actually, it's pretty cool, because I basically painted 90 percent of a humongoid entertainment center alll by myself today. Hubby did the heavy lifting, and tried to keep me from freaking out when the wind blew dust or the tarp right into my wet paint.

The project took allllll daaaaay. I still have dark brown paint on my arms, which doesn't appear to be coming off anytime soon. But, the living room now looks fabbity fab (pictures forthcoming- I say that a lot, don't I?) And the biggie- there will soon be enough room in the garage so I can park my car insuide, and it won't be sitting outdoors getting filthy all the damn time.

Other than that- just hung out this evening, and relaxed. It's been a productive couple of days- I also fuinished re-plastering the long wall in our living room, so we'll be getting color on the walls soon- I can't wait!

Ahem. Bitterness.

So....

There's not a lot I can say here. Suffice it to say that we ended up going out to Logan's with my brother and sister-in-law. We had a great time, (I love them!) But...Yeah. I will NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT GETTING CARDED AGAIN. Because my husband (who has gray hair, people! Gray HAIR!) and my S.I.L. got carded. I didn't.

OK, they are both younger than me. But still.

That was minor though, compared to the comment that made me realize that my in-laws have been conveniently forgetting my birthday for the last two years, but seem to remember hubby's brother's wife's birthday just fine- she mentioned that they were going over to the house to pick up her "birthday check". I haven't gotten a card from these people- for my birthday, or for that matter, for our last two anniversaries.

I didn't say anything about it, much like I didn't mention it when my S.I.L unconsciously repeated an insult re: my wedding pictures- made by my mother-in-law. Because I didn't want to make my brother and sister-in-law or my husband feel uncomfortable.

I feel selfish for letting it bother me, but...well, it's kind of upsetting.

Sleep is for the weak.

Once again, I am up at an asinine hour, playing on my computer for no good reason. The man is snoring away, and I should be cleaning in anticipation of my erstwhile Father-In-Law, who is coming to check out the new/old car tomorrow.

Instead, I am, as previously mentioned, playing. Muuahahahhaaaaaaa!

I still haven't taken Halloween pics. I still hnaven't taken knitting pics. But I did....are you ready? get my BIRTH CERTIFICATE today. So I can go get the stuff for the passport tomorrow.

I am seriously excited beyond all belief.

I also managed to get some Indian Food today. Oh, and I watched Highlander.

Is it peculiar that the waitress at the Indian restaurant freaks out when I come in with someone new? She asked about my usual Partner in Indian Food- I think she was afraid that she was eaten by wild boars or something. She actually said, "What happened to your friend?!" I indicated my new dining partner and said, "Well...um, I have more than ONE friend, you know." *cough*cough*

If I ever actually bring the hubby in there, she'll probably die of shock. In the meantime, she'll have to think that I'm having a thing with my neighbor Dave.

As for Highlander- OK, I had to see it...because of THIS. There can be Only One! (Unfortunately, I think there were two sequels..."There can be Only Three?")

So, I was under the impression that I had seen Highlander at a high-school era slumber party, but after seeing it again, I realized that I had fallen asleep from psychotic boredom 20 minutes in, and when I woke up, I probably actually caught the last half of "A Room With a View." Nude male full-frontal frolicking in the woods! Merchant & Ivory! I seem to recall a lot of giggling. And rewinding. And more giggling. Then I probably fell asleep again.

Um- anyway, Highlander is still boring. Although the fact that a French guy plays the Scottish guy, and Sean Connery plays- a Spanish Egyptian (with a Scottish accent)and that evidently the whole soundtrack was by Queen....Ah, the 80's! At one time, some producer somewhere thought the casting was a stroke of genius.

My buddy and I actually kept awake by making fun of it. (Mature commentary, like: "There can be only one!" and "I can crush a walnut with my butt!") The possibility of all of them just having a "walk-off" came up more than once. Let us not go into the whole multiple disposable blonde frizzy-haired female screamers thing. Feh.

I like the 30 second movie better. Although, my buddy assures me that the TV series was a different story and had a highly attractive (possibly less Cro-Magnon) male lead to boot who had a believable Scottish accent.Humph. How did I miss that?

Is it wrong that I want to set fire to the 8 million pounds of laundry that seems to have heaved itself up onto my living room couch?

Yes, I have finally gone crazy....

Murray 2
Originally uploaded by jenna_sais_quoi.

Guess what I did today?

I was supposed to clean, but uh....instead, I decorated for Halloween.

If you don't know that Halloween is my favorite holiday, consider yourself warned- I don't just put one of those "crashing witch" things on my front door and call it a day.

I actually have three boxes and several more bags, of Halloween decorations.

Anyway, I put a bunch of stuff outside- I am not going to have a party this year, so I am not going to really decorate the inside of the house- and it took me the better part of the morning and afternoon.

Then I surveyed the huge empty patch of dirt that will one day be a patio, right off to the side of the front door. I think I am going to bit the bullet and turn that into a "graveyard"- I'll have Alan cut out gravestones with his reciprocating saw, and then I'll paint them.

Then for some reason, I was going through my Halloween boxes, and found a huge wad of really ugly gauze fabric. I am not sure where it came from, or why on earth I had it, but I guess something clicked- and thus Murray came into being. I think we'll showcase him partying in the "graveyard" on Halloween night.

As an aside, I forgot that I left him sitting in the entryway about an hour ago, and I just glimpsed him out of the corner of my eye- and he scared the bejeezus outta me! Whoops.

Downtime

No more cooking- No MORE!

I did it, though. I will have to take a picture of the inside of my freezer, so you can see what my version of obsessive-compulsive disorder looks like. Seriously, I cooked for two days, and now I know why anorexics cook all the time- it KILLS your appetite. Hopefully I will eventually want to eat the 8 tons of stuff I cooked-

Anyway. Finally got up the guts to get back on the scale this morning, and I'm at 240.6. Which really isn't bad- I haven't been working out or watching myself much for the last two weeks. I need to weigh myself on a regular basis, so I am inspired and don't lose touch with reality.

I did get a workout (in a sense) today- I went outside to sweep down the spiderwebs, and all of a sudden, it was Domestic Goddess part two- I grabbed the garden shears and the loppers and started pruning everything back, I weeded, I poured some decorative bark into my flowerbeds, I swept down the old bird's nests from the top of our entryway, I swept the front walk, I re-twined the vines on y front porch around their trellis, hosed off the doormat, and made a futile attempt to kill the asparagus ferns that are entrenched in our landsaping. Whew!

My across-the-street-neighbor came out towards the end of this and basically laughed at me because I was doing all of this wearing a cute little red Old Navy t-shirt and a black peasant skirt, with black wedge heeled sandals. Whoops- I got carried away.

So- the weight is actually good. I was afraid I had gained back more. We go to pick up my treadmill tomorrow, and I am so busy aroud the house with prjects, I am getting a ton of exercise. After the two days of cooking, my legs literally ached all the way up to my waist- I was on my feet for 2 days! I think I am going to take it easy this eventing, watch some movies, and fold laundry. Yep, that sounds about right.

Cookin' up a storm...

Holy Toledo.

OK, evidently there's some domesticity virus that I caught.

I was online last night, looking at RecipeZaar, which is a resource I haven't accessed in awhile. One of our neighbors had come by and offered up a plethora of reeeeallly ripe fruit- grapes, plums, red pears, and some peaches. So I needed to find something to do with them.

Bring on Nectarine and Plum Crisp, Pear Smoothies, and Peachy Chicken.

That settled, I started window shopping among the recipes, and I am suddenly in the middle of a cooking binge. This is an event that rarely happens, and of course, there are complications: My oven is dead. We've found a new one that we like, but with the weird configuration of our counters, it's is going to mean a lot of carpentry work and probably new counters and flooring. However, with the approaching holiday season, I am wanting to bake stuff. So maybe that will light a fire under us.

Because we have a non-functioning oven, I took the Nectarine Crisp to my buddy's to cook, on the proviso that she got a piece. Ad yes, I had some too! I was pretty good though, the rest went to hubby and the neighbors. I know my limitations.

Anyway, while browsing, I started to run into the acronym "OMAC". For the uninitiated, this stands for "Once a Month Cooking". How can this exist?! You guys know, I had to try it. You have a two-day cooking orgy, and then just freeze everything in Ziploc'd portions and thaw it as needed. Only one huge mess to clean up once a month. How did I never think of this? Hell, where do I sign up?!

So....guess what I've been doing today and will be doing continuing through tomorrow? And yes, oh BOY do I miss my oven! I have been trying to convert some of the recipes requiring an oven to stove top, with OK results (as far as I can tell).

Here's the menu so far:

Peach "Dump" Chicken It's a whole lot yummier than it sounds!
Chicken & Barley Stew
Banana Chocolate Chip Bread (Shut up- it's for hubby! I think it'd be delicious with PB...mmmmmmm)
Herbed Chicken w/ Grapes
A-1 Steak
Thai Peanut Chicken
Crock Pot Roast This is in the Crockpot right now, and it smells heavenly......
Cauliflower w/ Bacon
Lentil & Apricot Soup Sounds a trifle odd, but sooo yummy!
Split Pea Soup with Ham (Instead of Ham, I used Turkey bacon)
Italian Spinach
Crockpot Black Bean Salsa Chicken
Crockpot Family Chili
Spaghetti Sauce

So, a whole lot of new stuff, along with some old standards. I have tweaked stuff where it doesn't fit with SBD, so I will actually be eating healthy all month, as long as I eat at home.

OK, gotta go- the stove beckons!

Still alive...

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted! I have a ton going on. It also took me a day or so to get all recovered from Inland Invasion, which was....amazing. AMAZING. My only regret is that we missed the last band to play, which was Cake. We uh, skipped Oasis on purpose- 'nuff said.

So, been working on a variety of projects. Helping get hubby kicking on his new car blog, Rebuilding Clarisse. I have just been helping hhim take more photos and upload them, and am showing him the ins and outs of Blogger.

I have also been taking a stained glass class- I'm taking some pics tonight, they should be uploading sometime tomorrow. I am already very impressed with my new creation, and it's only about a quarter of the way done. Woo!

Let's see, what else- trying to get caught up on housework and laundry, (I know, booooring!) so I decided to procrastinate and sew myself a nifty new apron. Once again, pictures are forthcoming. It's so cute- abstract white roses on a black background, with white & black polka-dot fabric for the ties and trim. I forgot how much closer sewing is to "instant gratification" than knitting. Being able to finish an object bigger than a washcloth in less than two hours just blows my mind.

Dieting isn't really a priority this week, although I have been moving around quite a bit and not really eating anything horrible. My wonderful neighbor brought over some fruit yesterday, so we have a ton of healthy snacks in the house. I haven't weighed in awhile though, so I better do that tomorrow.

Back to the grind...

Oh wow....it's Wednesday.

Let's see....I have been eating pretty much to specs, but I know my portions are evil.

I found these great "ice Cream" bars- "Tofutti Hooray!" bars. Wow. I am managing to keep myself to one a day. They are sugar free, and since they are in some way made of tofu, they seem to have actual nutrients. Either that, or I will wake up tomorrow and realize that it was all a dream or that it's true, and I sold my soul to the devil to procure them or something.

Anyway. Even my husband likes them.

I have been combining two of my current obsessions- knitting and exercise. I managed to design a teeny tiny tote to take with me to the gym. It will handily hold my iPod, all the iPod acessories, keys, a small notepad and pen, and the all important lipgloss. There's also a pocket on the outside for my gym card and a loop at the bottom for my bottled water. I stuck some new pictures of my creation on flickr here.

Can you tell I am just a tad obsesive?

I also took my first stained glass class tonight. I am so excited! I can't wait to get into the more advanced projects. I need to get some basic supplies tomorrow, so I am ready for next week.

I am going to go to the gym tomorrow, to break in my new teeny tiny tote. And also, hopefully prevent any signs of butt enlargement.

Oh- here's something exciting! On Saturday, I am going with friends to see Inland Invasion. If you aren't into alt rock, this will mean little or nothing to you, but if you ARE, here's the high points of the(phenomenal!!!) lineup:

• Beck
  
• Cake
  
• Fishbone
  
• Garbage
  
• Jet
  
• Kasabian
  
• Live
  
• Madness
  
• Oasis
  
• 311
  
• Weezer
  

Yes, I plan to be in a joyful rock-induced coma for most of the day. Hopefully, I can take pictures- I better look into that!

Cue "Twilight Zone" theme music...

Today has just been- a weird day. I am in a major funk. I haven't gone to the gym, so I know that a good part of it is being cooped up. I haven't even dragged my butt over to get my passport stuff.

On a positive note, I did manage to watch A Streetcar Named Desire, and Gone With The Wind while I was knitting and folding laundry. I had never seen Streetcar before. All I have to say is, Marlon Brando...WOW. Since to my generation, the guy was The Godfather....WOW. Sorry, I'm all verklempt.

Other than that- eating slightly better today. I made some chicken soup with spinach and veggies, and have basically been living on that. The leftover dessert is almost gone. I am hoping that hubby will help me dodge the bullet and finish it off for me tonight.

Another positive thing- the first of my circle of friends from college had a baby last week, and she sent me pictures today. Her little boy is the most beautiful, perfect little thing. And I am not one to think that newborns are beautiful, but this little guy is absolutely gorgeous.

I finally caved and got a flickr Pro account, so I have spent most of this afternoon obsessively moving photos around and creating sets. If you'd like to check 'em out, click here! I now have a "pets" set up on there, as well as a set for Clarisse, the new/old car.

We also managed to decide on plates for the old girl- she didn't come with antique Nebraska plates, so she'll have a new identity here in CA. Since "Clarisse" is too long, and "Clarice" is taken, we decided to just go basic: DIVYN'59. Yes, that one was mostly me. : )

Split personality

I have been so, so, very bad re: food today. I don't even care to discuss it.

OK, you talked me into it.

At least there are leftovers, although I don't think I am going to be able to eat most of them without a guilty conscience. I guess I can blame PMS, or I can blame the celebration-worthy day I had! We had appetizers...which were vaguely naughty- and then I got the baked potato with my fairly reasonable dinner, and then I got dessert. To share.

I admit it- we went to Claim Jumpers, and I ordered this concoction that combined eclairs, hot fudge, and vanilla ice cream into ONE dessert. I should have known by the horrified look the waitress gave me when I ordered it. If I had been sharing it with nine people, the portions still would have been generous. The waitress eventually had to bring us a vat/aluminum containment unit to pour it into, and it is now in my freezer, presumably writhing and lying in wait and scheming to throw itself down my alimentary canal while I am sleeping.

So- Reasons to celebrate- My new laptop finally arrived, Hooray!

And also:

We have a new member of the family. She is yet to be named- any suggestions? No, "Christine" isn't quite what we had in mind! UPDATE: We have tenatively decided upon "Clarice". It sounds sort of prissy, yet dangerous, so we think it's perfect for her...

This will give you a vague idea of what our behemoth looks like- except ours is white & turquoise, instead of white & red. The guy who transported it here from Nebraska had just fallen in love with it. He kept patting it affectionately while he unloaded it, like it was a big, faded, slightly rusty, turquoise and white dog that had followed him home.

It was crazy- while it was being unloaded, laboriously started up, and pushed into our garage, half the neighborhood came out to watch the spectacle. Seriously- you just have to stare at this thing. It's so eye-catching, even in its current dilapidated state, that it's ridiculous.

It needs a lot of work and TLC...but I suspect I am gonna love cruising around when it's finally restored. Look at those fins! I am in love. I am voting for this color scheme. I mean, dang! Wouldn't anyone?! My spoilsport husband wants to keep it original, but...after seeing that picture, I am not going to quite nagging about it anytime soon. (Turquoise and Black! Turquoise and Black!)

Anyway, the thing is a boat. You could fit about 4 bodies in the trunk. Not that I plan to, but uh, I'm just sayin'....we could baaaaarely squeak it into the garage. However, the thing needs extensive restoration, and I suspect voles are nesting in the upholstery, so this is going to be a long and exhaustive process. I will say this- there's a ton of chrome, and its in beautiful shape.

Can you tell that we're a tad retro-obsessed? Between this land yacht and our circa 1950's secondary refrigerator, I am willing to bet that we have more genuine American steel in our garage than anyone else in the neighborhood.