Snarky and Lovable!

I stumbled on a lovely snarky blog, The Photo Meme Hall of Shame, dedicated to outing the worst in photo memes. I laughed until my jaws hurt and took a vow to never again post the same photo to two memes at once!

Just to give you an example, may I quote this post:

But when the mighty Photo Friday unleashes a topic as loosely defined as last week's Amber, apparently anything goes.

Shameful submissions were found. Many. Oh so very many... but it's clear that any color between canary yellow and maroon constitutes Amber. Maybe it's a question of screen calibration, or maybe the public school system's art program has let us down once again.

Who watches the watcher, we always say. Well, now we know who posts on the post-er!

Well, That Stinks.

Stoney just got home and we did an extensive search for the decomposing lizard. With Cleopatra's help, I might add. No luck. (Despite her sniffer and feline exuberance to be "helping" us.)

We did find other potential sources for the stench, but nothing concrete. I'll take the recycling bin out for a good wash tomorrow, for a starter, but I don't think that's really the culprit.

The smell has dissipated somewhat, but it's still there, hovering in my nostrils as I walk through the room. As happened once before, Mr. Lizard's scent will probably hang in the air for a day or two more and then, months down the road, we'll find his mummified remains, roll our eyes and say "our cats!".

In the meantime, I look like some kind of bandit in my own home, covering my mouth and nose every time I pass through.

You'd think the lizards would eventually figure out what happened to Uncle Stanley and start moving a little further away from the Cat Castle, wouldn't you? Worse part of it is, Lizard Season is just beginning.

Unlike last Lizard Season, though, our bedroom door is closed to the cats, so I won't wake up to Czarina bringing me a Lizard Prize (not once, but twice) and loosing it on the bed (not once, but twice). Our cats!

What's up with me: Taking a goof off break to surf and blog. Still working on my huge house re-organization project.

It's a forced break, actually, because I think Czari has lost a lizard in the breakfast room and it's, um, stinking. She's our big lizard hunter (ever tell you about the time we found the decomposing tail in our bed???) and sometimes she looses them. "Lizard? Lizard? Lizard! Where you go? Mama! I lost lizard again!" Ah, no worries kitty, we'll find lizard in a day or two. And sure enough. . . *gags* I noticed the start of a smell in there yesterday and today it's a full fledged stench that's rolling into the kitchen. Stoney will be home in less than three hours; good; this is a his job. Don't look down your nose at me, ladies, my man deals with cadavers and other stinky things at work, he can handle a dead lizard. I, on the other hand, just can't. Sure, if I HAD to, I guess I could. But, isn't that one of the reasons I/y'all got married? His jobs, her jobs. . . Come on, admit it--you've got the same stuff at your house. I feed the cats, he does the cat poo. Fine by me. Dead lizards are a "man job" in my house. I ain't ashamed of that!

Changing the subject, we saw more coons last night! Two sets of them, in fact. AND A FOX! No joke! The first noise I heard was a fox stealing the meat pizza off the bird food table. Imagine that! I was stunned! Then, our portly couple came and started eating the cheese pizza and watching us watch them. We were being thoroughly amused (I woke Stoney up for the occasion), when some shadows caught the corner of my eye and I just knew it was babies. Our portly couple scooted off and a mom with three kits came and finished off the leftovers. It was so much fun. The babies were pretty clumsy at time, which as a hoot, and mom was quite thin and hungry, which was not. We watched in amazement, though. They sure were cute!

Okay, let's see if I can stand the funk in there enough to move some things around. Then again, I may just call it a wasted day and start a game. Who knows. I'm lazy like that.

I'm reading: Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones (yes, I'm still on her books; good fun stuff for kids and adults!) and Come to the Quiet by John Michael Talbot.

Just finished reading: the very enjoyable, easy to read Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. I've overheard on twitter (over-read, should I say?) that the book ending and the movie ending are different. Having never seen the movie, I can't say, but I did enjoy Finney's style enough to want to read others. I like a creepy book from time to time. :D

Stoney is: Playing the Game of Life with his bosses granddaughter. Bwahahaha.

Latest movie watched: Baby Einstein: Numbers Nursery--J. spent the day with me on Thursday and we watched this. Normally, I'm totally against TV for kids (I'm a kill your TV person, by the way), but the Baby Einstein stuff isn't half bad. We use them sometimes in our classrooms, too. He enjoyed this one and repeated the numbers. I like how it focused JUST on the number one for a while, then JUST one the number two, instead of going 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 over and over again. It was easier for him, with his disability, to grasp the number one when he had time to hear it again and again. Pretty good stuff. No plot, barely any dialog, just bright colors, word repetition, kid-attracting images and good music. I like.

I'm listening to: John Lennon's "And So This is Christmas" thanks to my random media player. :D ("Happy Christmas, Kyoko." "Happy Christmas, Julian.") It was just followed by a live version of Jimi Hendrix doing "Like a Rolling Stone"! I love the shuffle feature on my computer!!

Quote of the day: "John had an incredible sense of humor, and we did these things not with incredible seriousness. Tongue in cheek, you know." Yoko Ono (interview)


The weather is: Hot hot hot. I don't do hot.

It Is!

It IS raccoons that are eating our left-overs! We just saw them, two of them, munching away at stale tortillas and plump as porkers. They watched us watching them until they finally waddled off. Pretty cool, even if they are thieves. :P

Our Garbage Disposal

We feed our stale grain products to the birds and started to notice that anything left over night disappeared LONG before morning, usually sometime after midnight-2 a.m. So. .. we started leaving out yucky left-over food, too, thinking maybe we were feeding some starving local dog--or just a greedy coon or lazy possum. Looks like it's most likely a raccoon. :D This fella stepped in some cat litter, wet from the rain, and left us a lovely print (and probably cussed us all the way home).



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Tuesday Challenge: Speed

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Shutterday: Danger!/Unique’s Photo Challenge: The Blues

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Photo Friday: Active/Moody Monday: Active

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Happy Father's Day

Thanks Daddy! XOXO

Rejoice!

A new Tolkien! Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah! It came out two months ago, and I'm just now running across it, but thank goodness I have!

To quote the Amazon article:

Adam Tolkien on The Children of Húrin

How did a lifetime of stories become The Children of Húrin? In an essay on the making of the book, Adam Tolkien, grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien (and French translator of his History of Middle-earth), explains that the Húrin legends made up the third "Great Tale" of his grandfather's Middle-earth writing, and he describes how his father, Christopher Tolkien, painstakingly collected the pieces of the legend into a complete story told only in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien. "For anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings," he writes, The Children of Húrin "allows them to take a step back into a larger world, an ancient land of heroes and vagabonds, honour and jeopardy, hope and tragedy."

I'm so super excited! I can't wait to tell Stoney--anyone who would slog through The Silmarillion (I've only read bits) will go even more gaga than me over this new Tolkien delight.

Look at these illustrations! Wonder if they are in the regular edition, or just the deluxe ? My guess is it's just the deluxe, and wow, it looks awesome!




I placed a hold for it at my county library. The county has 10 copies all of which are checked out; I am number FIFTY in the holds line. Geez Louise! We'll end up buying it anyway, so it might have to be sooner rather than later!

Thursday Challenge: People

For the Thursday Challenge: People--one of my favorite people, J., playing shy at lunch.




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Flippin' Sweet!

Gosh! It's Napoleon Dynamite quiz time. Lucky!

You scored as Napoleon Dynamite, You scored as Napoleon Dynamite! Though not always popular, you can bring smiles to peoples' faces. You're funny even when you don't try to be. You're interested in fine arts such as dancing and drawing, etc. When life gets you down, remember to listen to your heart.

Napoleon Dynamite		71%
Deb		71%
Kip Dynamite		63%
Pedro Sanchez		42%
Uncle Rico		29%
Summer Wheatly/Trisha		21%
Grandma Dynamite		21%
Don/Randy		17%

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you? Gosh!
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Get out your pencils. . .

. . . it's quiz time.


Okay. . . . When the other choices were things like menthol or peanut butter, marmite or death, I was chicken. *sigh*

Hmmm... Tastes like Chicken. Am I chicken? Am I a frog? Am I human? All unfamiliar meats taste like chicken, and that's what I am, an unfamiliar meat. What Flavour Are You?

Good thing that tie breaker question went for Blade; I don't see myself as the Hulk at ALL!

You scored as Blade, Blade has gained many of the traditional powers of the vampire without developing their weaknesses. He has superhuman strength, senses and stamina, plus an accelerated healing factor.Blade is a master martial artist proficient in practically every form of weaponry known to man. His particular specialty is the use of edged weapons, be they teakwood daggers or swords.

The Hulk		60%
Blade		60%
Wolverine		50%
Spider-Man		50%
Mister Fantastic		25%
The Thing		20%
Captain America		15%
Iron Man		0%

What Marvel Hero would you be (Version 2)?
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Mentally instable, eh? Well, I can't argue TOO much with that analysis.
You scored as Venom, As Venom: the symbiote further enhances Gargan's superhuman attributes including his agility and strength (enabling him to lift 45 tons optimally), and granting him the ability to cling to almost any surface, block Spider-Man's spider-sense, and enable him to blend in with the background.Vemon (Mac Gargan) has the intellectual skills of an average detective, though he is mentally unstable.

Venom		85%
Winter Soldier		80%
Doctor Doom		65%
Green Goblin		55%
Juggernaut		30%
Magneto		20%

What Marvel Villain would you be?
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No comments from the peanut gallery, okay?!
You scored as Angel, Angel: Angels are the guardians of all things, from the smallest ant to the tallest tree. They give inspiration, love, hope, and positive emotion. They live among humans without being seen. They are the good in all things, and if you feel alone, don't fear. They are always watching. Often times they merely stand by, whispering into the ears of those who feel lost. They would love nothing more then to reveal themselves, but in today's society, this would bring havoc and many unneeded questions. Give thanks to all things beautiful, for you are an Angel.

Angel		75%
Mermaid		50%
Faerie		50%
WereWolf		42%
Demon		33%
Dragon		25%

What Mythological Creature are you? (Cool Pics!)
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Again, you can all keep your thoughts to yourselves. . .
You scored as Goofy, Your alter ego is Goofy! You are fun and great to be around, and you are always willing to help others. You arn't worried about embarrassing yourself, so you are one who is more willing to try new things.

Goofy		88%
Donald Duck		88%
Peter Pan		69%
The Beast		69%
Sleeping Beauty		69%
Pinocchio		50%
Cinderella		50%
Ariel		50%
Cruella De Ville		25%
Snow White		13%

Which Disney Character is your Alter Ego?
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Neville IS the Shizznit!

While browsing for the appropriate apparel for the Book 7 festivities, my husband found this one for me. I LOVE Neville; he IS the Shizznit! I just might have to get it, to show my support for my birthday-buddy and my second favorite character. (Something good better happen to him, or I will NOT be held responsible for the vitreous email that leaves my fingertips en route to the author!)


Once he showed me that, I had to start exploring too and spent an enjoyable hour perusing Cafe Press for Rowling-wear. Given my love of bats, I may have to purchase one of these Ballycastle Bats tees, or the Butterbeer tee (the Ballycastle mascot, Barty, is used in their ads).





Continuing my browsing, I ran across this little number. In case I've caught you without your glasses, it reads, "If you were Severus Snape, I wouldn't be wearing these." Bwahahaha.


This one made me laugh right out loud.


This one is a gem too:


I'm still not certain, lots more looking to do; besides we might go in costume. But, if we do go with tees, this one is at the top of my list thus far.

The Pirate and the Pixie

Yesterday was a super busy day! We drove to Asheville, where Stoney got his incredibly fantastic tattoo done yesterday. The amazing artist, Mark Ledford of Liquid Dragon Studios, put a lot of time drawing just the right look for him, sending him sketches by email and making to Stoney's specifications. And when it came to putting the ink on skin, well. . . . look at the results! Even on day two it looks breath taking. The photo, of course, can't do it justice because the 3D aspect is somewhat lost through the lens. Looking it this, don't you want him to ink you too? I DO!



While he spent 3 1/2 hours being made even more piratical, I spent 3 hours being beautified myself by another amazing artist, Stephen Veltman. I told him what I had in mind, showed him a few photos and was literally blown away by the results. This man is a genius. Drop everything, make an appointment with him and find a way to Asheville ladies and gents! I haven't felt this good about myself since I got my super cool glasses last year!



The color is so awesome; it sort of sparkles and it's different depending on the light. (Examples provided below>) I love it even more with every glance in the mirror! And the cut--I've never been able to get my curls in this shape. I'm just awed! (If I use anymore exclampation points this post, I'll be in danger of having some sort of Gilberthorping named after me!)











I've wanted this done for years and I'm SO super glad I waited until I found Stephen! Seriously folks, this man is way too good to be plying his art in my hometown, so make your way to him post haste! And no, you don't have to get your hair green, sheesh. He can do the dull stuff too. . . *rolls eyes and sticks out tongue*



On a side note, while I was being turned into a Pixie, a bouncy teenager with pretty strawberry blond hair down her back came in and had it all chopped off into an adorable bob cut. But the hair cut wasn't her real reason--she donated all 10 inches to Locks for Love! I don't expect to ever have that much hair, so I admire the ladies that do this, like this teen, my cousin and my aunt. You gals ROCK!

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Wha?

I got a hit for someone searching for "Orlando Bloom briefs". Now, ladies, I gotta tell you, Orlando's briefs are not here for two reasons. A) He was wearin' 'em when he left and B) he's not my type. No, really, he's not. If I were in Middle Earth, I'd be admiring the Rohan. If I were sailing the Caribbean. . .well, heck, I've dug Johnny Depp since the 80's fer crying out loud. If this were Troy, I'd be, I'd be. .. I'd probably be hot and cranky and be wanting to go home. So, sorry, no Orlando, briefs or otherwise, here.

Of course, if John Lennon were to have resurrected and come by. . . Or even Rudolph Valentino. . . Yes, I'm a Rudy fan girl. So shoot me. But, lucky for Stoney, they are both dead. (And I admire Yoko too much to tease about her husband too very much.)


Yep, both Stoney's main rivals are dead--and his only other rival, Severus Snape, (and I'm NOT talking about the movie version; don't even go there cuz you don't want a lecture about how Alan Rickman's a fine actor but is NOT Snape and never will be for a multitude of reasons, yadda yadda ya) is fictional, so he's pretty well safe there, too.




Unlike me. I still have to worry about him running away with Slim. Sigh.

Grumble

I'm glad, glad I tell you, that Deb's blog has a comment verification stage where one has to type in random letters and numbers. I mean, without that, who KNOWS what type of people would be posting who KNOWS what type of comments about beetle parts. Besides, when I owned my domain and had my blog there, I felt like I spent more time clearing up bot-spam than I did actually blogging.

But . . . but . . . but . . . *insert sputter here* WHY does it always have to give me a "q" or a "g" to start off with? Does it just KNOW I have a hard time with those two letters? Give me all the 2's and Z's and S's you want, but. . . not the Q's and G's! For some reason, my brain tends to mix 'em up in a situation like that.

(Like yellow when I'm playing a board game--NEVER make me have the yellow playing piece; I'll have everyone else's piece all over the board thinking it's mine. I simply can't seem to recognize yellow in a situation like that and ESPECIALLY if red is the only color on the board. I dunno why, but I think it might be an Asperger's Spectrum thing, though I only brush the spectrum and can't use that for an excuse for everything.)

So, it seems like Deb's blog is always having to graciously give me a second chance to leave a comment. How many second chances will I get? Will there come a time that it decides I'm a spammer for real and blocks me off? Or is it some sort of devious test that I keep failing? Do I need to study more, cramming with flashcards of typeset Q and G? Or should I just shut the heck up and go to bed?

Unique's Photo Challenge: Diagonal

for Unique's Photo Challenge: Diagonal

JorjDotOrg PhotoHunt

I just discovered JorjDotOrg's PhotoHunt. It's a weekly photo scavenger hunt, divided into 8 week "seasons". Looks like fun. This is week 8 of this season, so I'm going to try to remember to check it out next week for the start of the new season so I can participate. I love photos, I love a scavenger hunt, so. . . seems a given I'd dig this, eh?

Tuesday Challenge: Night

For this week's Tuesday Challenge: Night.

Scrambled Word Record

I just did the best possible at Scrambled Word today! Five clicks (the minimum) and I solved it. Go Me! Today's average was 27.7 clicks, so I'm feeling pretty cocky at the moment. =D

Super Snoozer

What's up with me: Would you believe a slept through the alarm for about an hour this morning?! It was set for 10:30 and when I heard it I got up, went into the bathroom and hit the snooze. When it went off again, it was 11:49. Somewhere in there, I lost an hour!

I must have slept through it at some point? For a whole hour? That horrid grinding that sounds as if it's warning of approaching enemy planes. I slept through that for an hour?!

Granted, the alarm is in the bathroom, and we sleep with the bedroom door shut, but that's just the way Stoney and I do the alarm business. If we don't have to actually get out of bed to cut it off, we just hit the snooze and keep sleeping. As you can see, I'll get up and hit the snooze! Heck, I'll do that every nine minutes four or five times.

Yes, I'll get out of bed, open the bedroom door, close the bedroom door (can't let the cats in the bedroom; they might eat the hamster that lives in there with us) walk a few steps down the hall to the bathroom, turn on the light, hit the snooze, turn off the light, stumble back to the bedroom door, open and shut it and go back to bed for nine minutes. Times four. I'm a WHOLE lot better now that I sleep with a CPAP and am not so dead tired all the time; today, for instance, I only hit the snooze once.

But the point to all this rambling is that I lost an hour somewhere. Guess I must've slept through the original alarm, because I'm usually more alert for the snooze alarms. That would explain why two of the cats were waiting at the door when I opened it. Their poor little ears!

Stoney is: Just finished up his lunch at work and is getting super dooper excited about tomorrow--we're headed to Asheville for the day and he's getting his much anticipated tattoo! The amazing artist (Mark Ledford of Liquid Dragon Studios, where I got my piercings) has put a lot of time drawing just the right look from Stoney, sending him sketches by email and making to Stoney's specifications. It looks amazing on paper and I can't wait to see how the final art looks on him! (Matter of a fact, it looks so awesome and Mark is so fabulous that I'm thinking of having him design me a simple bat and moon tattoo, myself!)

I'm listening to: Yes, Marley again. What can I say, I'm a Marley addict!

Quote of the day: "Well behaved women seldom make history." Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Lively Up Yourself!

What's up with me: Having a late night nosh of ice cream and preparing to take my paladin out for some death and destruction until I'm too sleepy to game. This weekend was a wash due to a headache that started late Friday and didn't stop until late last night, so I've got a lot of playing to catch up on.

I'm reading: The Wedding by Imraan Coovadia. Still reading Come to the Quiet by John Michael Talbot as this will take a while. I've put Sharon McCrumb's Ghost Riders on hold for a bit. I was too eager to read more of Diana Wynne Jones (which I did and will, when more comes in to the library for me), to focus on it.


Just finished reading: The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones I really like her and this is my favorite so far!


Stoney is: Sleeping soundly and safely. Now that he uses the CPAP, I don't have to worry about him dying in his sleep! :D

Latest movie watched: Howl's Moving Castle, which was good, but the book was a bijillon times better, of course. (Yes, this is the same thing, copied and pasted, since I started doing this. Shows how many movies we watch, eh?)

I'm listening to: Marley again--the killer, long version of Lively Up Yourself.

Quote of the day: "Four score and seven years ago my grandfather looked out of the window of his train and saw the most beautiful woman in the world." from The Wedding by Imraan Coovadia

Set Puzzle

Deb has me hooked on doing three daily puzzles, the Set Puzzle, the Secret Word and the Scrambled Word. The last two I'm decent at, seeing as how they are words. The Set Puzzle though, is a huge challenge to me.

When I first started it, I couldn't always finish it, but my times were usually between 5-9 minutes. Of late, playing very regularly, I've gotten to an average of 2 minutes, 30 seconds.

Today, however. . . it was MUCH easier than normal and I scored a lightening fast 1 minute, 14 seconds! I'm still astounded--I even beat Deb!

Fun with Rice and Beans

J. spent the day with me. :D We had a great time! This afternoon he got some sensory input with one of his favorite activities--dry rice and beans. I just love this kiddo!





I'm hopeful that he'll stay some more this summer. He had a good time, with the exception of being a bit afraid of my cats, and I liked getting to work a little extra with him, one on one.

Wednesday? What a funny looking word.

What's up with me: Trying to prepare a wee bit for a special visitor tomorrow. :D One of the kids from my preschool class (and yes, IF I had a favorite, this would be the one), is going to spend the day with me. His family needs a break occasionally (given that he is a 4 year old special needs kiddo, gee, I wonder why?) So, I'm planning a long, busy and quite interesting day. I'm excited! I've missed this little guy. I teared up putting him on the bus the last day of school. Maybe I can get a few photos without showing his face so I can show him off. He has around 13 words, one of which is his version of my name. Notice the swollen head? Along with words like Mama, pizza, more, toast, hi, and bye is my name!

I'm reading: Come to the Quiet by John Michael Talbot and Ghost Riders by Sharon McCrumb. It's about one of my childhood heroes, Zeb Vance, whose birthplace was just a few miles away from my growing-up-place.


Just finished reading: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

Stoney is: On his way home. Huzzah!

Latest movie watched: Howl's Moving Castle, which was good, but the book was a bijillon times better, of course. (Yes, this is the same thing, copied and pasted, since I started doing this. Shows how many movies we watch, eh?)

I'm listening to: Some AWESOME surf music by the Route 66 Killers, a newish band Stoney heard about recently; he ordered their cd and we're really digging it!

Quote of the day: "A lysander no golva," Jerome Jamison. (Title of my latest spam.)

The weather is: 84, sunny and oppresively hot when I was trying to clean out the car.