This blog is to help her get to Disneyland.
You guys, how awesome would it be if we could help raise enough money to send Aaron to Disneyland? You realize that every little bit helps, I hope – if you can spare some money, pleasepleaseplease go donate!
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I sent out this card recently to someone, but I had to scan it first because it made me laugh (one of the things I like about going to Maine is that we almost always go to this little shop in Bath called Magnolia and they have THE most awesome cards.)
Front:
Inside:
The Mik Wright cards always crack me UP.
And on a side note, I just went over to Fred’s computer to scan that card because the printer/ scanner is hooked up to his computer (I have a black and white printer, which makes more sense, because I print out WAY more stuff than he does). I scanned the front and the inside, and used his Gmail account to send it to myself.
As soon as I sent it to myself, I turned around, walked to my computer, sat down, clicked on Gmail… and was SURPRISED to see an email from him in my inbox.
You know. The email I’d sent myself not ten seconds before?
I think I need more sleep.
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It’s Friday, so let the comment-answering extravaganza begin!
On November 10th we’ll be going to see Phantom of the Opera in Chicago. Will we come away from it singing like a bunch of loons?
You very well might. I find that even if I see a musical that I don’t absolutely love, I still end up humming songs from it for a week or so afterward. I like Phantom of the Opera, but it’s not one of my favorites – my favorites being Jesus Christ Superstar and Les Miserables – but still I was all “Think of me! Think of me fondly, when we’ve said goodbyyyyyyye!” all over the place after we saw it in Birmingham a few years ago. And I’ve only seen Hairspray twice – once on stage, once at the movies – but from time to time I’ll belt out a line or two of “Good Morning, Baltimooooooooooore!” Musicals fuck with your head, man.
Speaking of Phantom, has Fred and/or you ever seen the youtube mixing of Phantom and Star Wars?
I had already seen it, and I’m SURE Fred’s already seen it (he’s probably the one who sent me the link in the first place), but in the interest of sharing:
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I have not one but -two- indoor / outdoor thermometers. Actually more weather station type deals that have lots of other information on them as well. My house faces North so the back is on the South and it is always warmer as it gets full sun while the front is pretty much in the shade. I have one sensor north and the other south and it’s interesting to check the temperatures as they are almost never the same. Also another thing I have noticed is when the Weather Channel says it’s 101 my thermometer usually says 95 or 96. If mine says 100 or over it’s hot! Makes you wonder where they put the “official” thermometer.
The thermometer I have is supposed to be expandable, so I could buy a couple more sensors for various outdoor spots, and I haven’t bought them yet – but I really want to! For one, how hot DOES it get in the garage during the day? And how much warmer IS it in the sun than in the shade? This is stuff I’m really interested in knowing!
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I’m so glad you spell out “Mister” in Mister Boogers because “Mr. Boogers” is just wrong, isn’t it? Still the best picture ever!
I’d like to take credit for that, but a couple of years ago Fred insisted that I spell it out when referring to Mister Boogers, and now it just doesn’t look right to me otherwise!
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Warning: Weeds spoilers in this section.Questions for Friday (about “Weeds,” of course, because I can’t stop obsessing): Do you think Agent Wonder Bread is REALLY dead? And doesn’t that Deschanel sister (Zooey?) have some of the craziest twirling eyes ever?
I suspect that we’re supposed to think he’s really dead, but he’ll pop back up mid-season to give us all a jolt. If he IS still alive, I really hope they show how the hell he got away – those guys really had him dead to rights, it would have taken some ninja moves on his part to get away. Martin Donovan has a little of the psycho about him, doesn’t he? (Also, I adore the nickname Agent Wonder Bread. It makes me giggle.)
Speaking of Martin Donovan, am I the only one who sees the resemblance here?
Zooey Deschanel has such crazy twirling eyes that it makes me a little dizzy to look at her. Crazy and twirly in a fun way, though. I bet she (or at least her character) would be fun to hang out with – you’d get into a lot of trouble, but MAN the stories you’d have afterward!
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I seem to remember you dealing with one of your cats who would always pee over the side of the litter box, and I’m facing the same problem now. Almost every day when I go in to scoop the litter, there is a puddle of pee outside of, or underneath, one or both of the litter boxes. The fuckers. 🙂 I’m thinking about getting a couple of boxes with covers on them (you know what I mean – they have the opening in the front, but the sides and back are solid), but wondered how you dealt with it. Do those work? Or did something else work for you?
Spanky is a rat bastard who pees over the side of the litter box, but he’s a model And3rson cat in all other regards, so I let him live. For the longest time I was dealing with the issue by putting the litter box in a bigger plastic box. The bigger plastic box had a “doorway” cut into it so that the cats could get to the litter box. Every morning when I’d clean out the litter box, I’d spray cleaning stuff on the bottom of the bigger plastic box and wipe up the pee. This, as you can imagine, got kind of old, so I bought a big covered litter box. Spanky will pee up the back of the inside of the litter box (I have NO idea what his issue is, goddamn cat) and I was having a problem with the pee dripping through the crack where the top and bottom of the litter box meet until I thought to start laying a single sheet of paper towel there. Now, he pees up the back of the litter box, the paper towel absorbs it, no pee gets outside the litter box, and we’re all happy. I just throw the paper towel away when I clean out the litter box in the morning, and replace it.
(If any of this doesn’t make sense, let me know and I’ll take pictures for you!)
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I don’t SKIP showers. I just don’t take them every day.
Whatever you say, Stanky.
I KID! Obviously, I kid. I don’t think I particularly need to take a shower every morning, but I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t.
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Big Love spoilers in this section!So now that Big Love is over for the season, what do you think is going to happen in the next one? I am so hooked on that show, and I can’t wait! I asked my husband if he wanted more than one wife, and he gave me this look and said, “Enough problems come with having one wife. I don’t need any more!” Then, of course, he said he loves me. I don’t remember, but did you ever ask Fred his feelings on polygamy?
Big Love has me SO STRESSED OUT! The first season, it was all about hush-hush, keep it quiet, no one can know we’re polygamists, don’t tell anyone! And now Barb’s running around telling every damn body about it, what the FUCK?! Isn’t it still supposed to be a secret? Bill still owns the big wholesome family store and if the news reports that he’s a polygamist, won’t his business suffer and won’t there be a problem? Why’s everyone running around spreading the news? That makes me nervous!
God knows what the next season is going to bring – I want to see what happens with Barb’s kids, now that they’re old enough to make their own decisions. It’s obvious Barb doesn’t want her kids to live “The Principle”, but how does she handle the hypocrisy of that?
I cannot EVEN believe Roman got arrested and that slimebag Alby got away with it. The actor who play Alby must be one hell of an actor, because he absolutely gives me the willies.
I don’t know that I’ve ever asked Fred about his feelings on polygamy before, so I just now called and read your question to him. When I read what your husband said to you, he laughed and said “My feelings are: what HE said!” (And like most things, Fred doesn’t give a shit if other people practice it, but he’s not interested in it personally. Which is a good thing ’cause he knows I don’t share my toys well with others.)
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“the usual underwear.” Okay, this begs the question, do you change your underwear? The usual underwear implies that you have just one pair. (*seriously big grin!*)
No, smartass, I just didn’t want to have to do the “beige panties and beige Olga’s Perfect Fit Bra” description because it is SO BORING. I think next time I’m going to claim to be wearing a Victoria’s Secret thong and Victoria’s Secret push-up bra (under my t-shirt and shorts) just to see if anyone’s paying attention.
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Is Fred jealous of Stinkerbelle’s apparent crush on Tommy? Since Fred was allowed to bring a new kitten into your household, will you be doing the same also? Billy Bumbler is so cute 😉 he looks like Sugarbutt.
Fred’s not so much jealous of Stinkerbelle’s crush on Tommy – Tommy’s one of Fred favorites, too – as annoyed that he can’t get her to snuggle with him the way she snuggles – or wants to, anyway – with Tommy. She’s still so skittish that if we approach her, she’s just as apt to run away from us as let us pet her. If you approach her slowly enough, she’ll let you pet her, and might even insist that you scratch her ears, but that doesn’t happen a lot. Obviously she’s very much improved over how she was when we first got her, but I suspect that she’s always going to be skittish. Spot’s in his teen years, and he still runs off if we walk in his direction (unless, of course, we have food).
There are no plans to bring another kitten into the house on a permanent basis, but I do like having the “Oh, you HAD to have Stinkerbelle!” to hold over Fred’s head in the future, in case I need it.
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Is it wrong to find a serial killer so attractive, do you think? Heh.
Nah. Everyone loves a bad boy. At least he’s using his psychopathic nature for the common good!
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Do you give your cats baths? Why or why not? If so, how often do you bathe them? (Just curious)
The only time I’ve – we’ve – ever given a cat a bath it’s because he got into something (usually of a fecal nature) and can’t seem to clean it off himself. Examples: Fancypants, being a long-hair, once got poop stuck in his fur, and we had to give him a bath (and that, believe you me, was a real TREAT). Sugarbutt, when he was a kitten and having his poop issues, had to have a bath almost every day for the first few weeks. Other than that, I don’t really remember any cat-bathing. I know there are people who bathe their cats on a regular basis, but I was always told that cats keep themselves clean and don’t need to be bathed. So far as I can tell, they do a pretty good job of keeping clean, so I’ve never felt the need to bathe them. Which is FINE with me – cats don’t much care for being bathed, surprisingly enough.
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I think you should put a couple of jars of your canned goods on Ebay! I am sure a couple of your readers would bid on them! I know I would – I would love some fresh canned salsa – or jalapeno or whatever you are willing to put on there!!!! Pleazze think about it?!?!
The problem with selling canned goods on eBay is that (1) Then I have to worry about shipping glass jars through the mail, and doesn’t THAT sound like fun, (2) This is my first year of canning, and I fear that round about mid-December, everything I’ve canned will decide I did it WRONG and will begin botulism-izing, (3) I know Fred likes the salsa I make, but not everyone would, and (4) If I go selling that stuff on eBay, what are we supposed to eat this winter? (However, I might end up with so much jalapeno jelly that I’ll give a few jars away. Stay tuned on that.)
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Clearly you do not have enough cat beds in your house. I can still see several feet of free space in those pictures. Oh the shame you must feel!
You have no idea how hard it is for me NOT to buy a couple more cat beds every single time I go into the pet store. I don’t because, honestly, there’s just nowhere else to put the damn things! I think we probably have at least two cat beds for every damn cat in the house, and the ungrateful bastards never have to go more than two feet to find a place to sleep.
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I have a question for your next question day. (I thought of it because you mentioned loose skin now that you’ve lost weight.) Are you going to have a tummy tuck or any other plastic surgery? The reason I wonder is because I had a tummy tuck almost a year ago and prior to that when I was doing all my research and looking at MILLIONS of before and after pictures, all I heard was how painful the surgery was going to be. I heard over and over that a tummy tuck was one of the most painful surgeries there is.
I am absolutely going to get, at the very least, a tummy tuck. I’d prefer to actually get a lower-body lift (that’s where they cut all the way around so you end up with a sexy belt-like scar), but we’ll have to see how much that’ll cost versus the “after” shots I see. In addition to a tummy tuck (or lower body lift), I am absolutely going to get a breast lift (NOT implants – I’ve had big boobs my entire life and I am OVER them, thanks) and a chin.. tuck? Whatever the hell they have to do to get rid of my damn wattle, that’s what I want.
Those are the plastic surgeries I’m absolutely going to be getting. In addition, I might get a thigh lift and an upper arm lift, but I don’t know that I’ve heard one single person say that they were glad they got a thigh lift, so I’m not married to the idea. And while I’d like to get an upper arm lift, I’m not married to that, either. I don’t wear sleeveless shirts, and I doubt that even if I did have an upper arm lift I’d suddenly start, so why bother?
We’ll see.
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Rescue Me spoilers in this section.In any event, anyone who loves him [Denis Leary] and that show [Rescue Me], is aces with me. So…what did you think of the season finale?
These season finales are going to be the death of me. At least there was no cliff-hanger like in previous seasons, but seeing Tommy sitting at the ball game with his dead father made me tear up like a motherfucker.
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Dear Robyn,
You never answer any of my questions and it’s starting to hurt my feelings. And don’t say it’s because I never submit any. That’s no excuse!
Love,
Catie
And I was TOTALLY going to come up with answers to Catie’s unasked questions, but then Elayne jumped in with:
Catie,
Never fear, I will answer your questions!
Yes, four, Nebraska, NEVER (you pervert), and orange.
And really, what could I possibly add to that? I myself would have said Oklahoma, but that’s really a subjective question anyway, and there’s not really a wrong answer.
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Are you doing anything for Halloween? Do you celebrate it? What’s your favorite costume?
I’m doing nothing for Halloween except buying candy, turning the front porch light on, and seeing if anyone shows up. There aren’t a lot of kids around here so I’m going to suspect that no one’s going to ring the doorbell, but we’ll see. My favorite Halloween costume would have to be one of these:
That’s me on the left, the spud on the right.
Oh, you know what? One year I celebrated Halloween by getting married, so you’d think that Halloween would be a big day o’ celebratin’ for us, but not so much. We’re boring stick-in-the-mud homebodies, so no big fancy dinners out or anything. I might get out of cooking that day, though, if I’m lucky!
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1. Have you read the new Charlaine Harris/ Sookie Stackhouse (too lazy to look up the title) book yet? If so what do you think of the series at this point?
I just finished reading All Together Dead the other night, actually – stayed up ’til after 1 am to get to the end. I still like the series, but this last book (WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS) kind of tested me a bit. There are times when I couldn’t remember who the fuck was who; when there are so many characters in a book and it’s hard to keep them straight, it makes the story less enjoyable because you’re spending so much time trying to remember who’s who. And at this point, it seems like we’re headed for Sookie to become a vampire, maybe bit-by-bit but I think that’s going to be the final result. I will, of course, keep reading, because I want to know what happens!
2. You used to mention driving around to various stores a lot – Sam’s, etc. etc. Do you do less of that now that you are out in Smallville?
I don’t really think I visit those stores any less. I still visit Target every Monday morning after my stint at the pet store, and I often end up stopping by there another time during the week. I still put off going to Sam’s until we’re completely out of something I need. The difference now is that I don’t run to Target at the drop of a hat – it’s more like “I have to go to the pet store, and I need this thing at Target, and since I’ll be going right by it, I should stop by the post office, and then I can swing by Publix and pick up this other thing and let me see if Kohl’s has that thing I was thinking about getting…” and so on. So no more quick runs to Target, but I don’t think I’m there any less than I ever was.
In fact, I need to run to either Kohl’s or Target later because I need to get a blender, and since I’m headed out that way, I might as well swing by the pet store and see who – if anyone – has been adopted, and pick up some cat food because we’re almost out, and I need to pick up cat snacks while I’m at it, and I might as well check the post office box while I’m at it.
And that’s generally how it goes.
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Do you end up paying the vet bills for the foster kitties, or does the shelter do it? I admire you for taking in the homeless, but man, that’s gotta get expensive after awhile.
The shelter pays the vet bills. Fred is a tolerant man, but if I approached him with the idea of not only bringing foster kittens into the house but also paying their vet bills, I suspect he’d have me committed.
Before any shelter cat is adopted out, it’s brought up to date on its shots, it’s spayed or neutered, and it has an ID chip implanted. In addition to that, it seems like 9/10s of all cats turned into the shelter have diarrhea and/ or goopy eyes, and so they need to be treated for that. The adoption fee for the cats is $100, and when I was at the pet store leaving Jake, Roland, and Eddie Dean (last week, before they developed diarrhea and had to come back here), a woman asked how much the adoption fee was. When I told her it was $100, she said “And what does that include?” I said “They’re spayed or neutered, up to date on their shots, and have an ID chip.” She looked at me as if to say “And what else?”, like she thought maybe there was a free year of cat food thrown in for that $100, and I wanted to snap “It includes the CAT, lady! You get a healthy cat who won’t birth you a litter of kittens and if it runs away and someone finds it, they’ll call you! What more do you want for $100?”, but I just smiled and went back to what I was doing.
The $100 adoption fee offsets the cost of all that, but oftentimes I think it probably doesn’t come close to covering the costs of getting the cat healthy. The shelter relies on donations from individuals and businesses to help cover it the rest of the way.
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Fightin’ siblings.
Jake’s got the crazy eyes going on.
He’s a total sweetheart (when he’s not biting my toes, that is).
Trying his paws at mind control. I… want… to… give… him… snacks…
Again with the crazy orangutan arms. Did I get a defective bunch of kittens?
Eddie Dean, pretty boy.
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Tommy tries out his Matrix moves.
Four of the seven (nine).
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Previously2006: Photographic proof that I met a (Not So)Scary Internet Person and lived to tell the tale!
2005: I mean, it’s not bad enough the man has road rage, he’s got to have fucking walking-through-the-house rage too?
2004: “No, this is real time!” Fred sighed.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: Written by hand.
2000: No entry.]]>
Inside:
The Mik Wright cards always crack me UP.
And on a side note, I just went over to Fred’s computer to scan that card because the printer/ scanner is hooked up to his computer (I have a black and white printer, which makes more sense, because I print out WAY more stuff than he does). I scanned the front and the inside, and used his Gmail account to send it to myself.
As soon as I sent it to myself, I turned around, walked to my computer, sat down, clicked on Gmail… and was SURPRISED to see an email from him in my inbox.
You know. The email I’d sent myself not ten seconds before?
I think I need more sleep.
Zooey Deschanel has such crazy twirling eyes that it makes me a little dizzy to look at her. Crazy and twirly in a fun way, though. I bet she (or at least her character) would be fun to hang out with – you’d get into a lot of trouble, but MAN the stories you’d have afterward!
That’s me on the left, the spud on the right.
Oh, you know what? One year I celebrated Halloween by getting married, so you’d think that Halloween would be a big day o’ celebratin’ for us, but not so much. We’re boring stick-in-the-mud homebodies, so no big fancy dinners out or anything. I might get out of cooking that day, though, if I’m lucky!
Fightin’ siblings.
Jake’s got the crazy eyes going on.
He’s a total sweetheart (when he’s not biting my toes, that is).
Trying his paws at mind control. I… want… to… give… him… snacks…
Again with the crazy orangutan arms. Did I get a defective bunch of kittens?
Eddie Dean, pretty boy.
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Tommy tries out his Matrix moves.
Four of the seven (nine).