Because I don’t have a whole lot to say today, here are some links I’ve recently fallen in love with.
1. Crunchy Betty. I happened across her blog from another blog – I truly don’t know which – and the first post I read of hers was this one, regarding the Marie Claire “OMG FAT PEOPLE EWWWW!” brouhaha. (You can read more about the Marie Claire bullshit here at Big Fat Deal, or Google it up, I know a lot of blogs have covered it in one form or another. My opinion is that it’s a desperate cry for attention on Marie Claire’s part (“Write something controversial! Sales are slipping!”) and it doesn’t make me sad that I canceled my subscription to MC a few years ago because aside from being a completely obvious bid for attention, the article is poorly written WHY IS NO ONE POINTING OUT HOW TERRIBLY WRITTEN THE GODDAMN THING IS, and I’m surely not missing anything from not reading the magazine).
I liked what I read, so I looked around on her blog, and holy crap. I LOVE THIS WOMAN. She tells you how to cover up any, uh, bathroom smells (TRY IT I SWEAR TO GOD IT REALLY WORKS!), she’s doing the No ‘Poo thing (I am seriously tempted in trying this, but I am skeered), she makes her own deodorant, she tested homemade glass cleaner to find the best recipe, tells you how to make your own hand sanitizer, and tells you how to make the best homemade bathroom cleaner! I’d tell you more, but why would I? Get your ass over there and see this fabulous woman for yourself! Did I mention that I love her?
2. Zenni Optical. I don’t know how I stumbled across this site, because it’s been in my bookmarks list for months. MONTHS, I say. You should see my bookmarks list, it is absolutely ridiculous. I come across a site I might want to check out again in the future, and so I bookmark it, and do I ever go back and look at it again? I do not – I just do a fresh Google search. Then every few months I clear out my bookmarks list, and I think “Why the fuck did I bookmark this?” three thousand times. Anyway. So I’ve been wearing these ugly, unflattering glasses for about three years now, because (a) they cost $150+ and (b) I didn’t want to deal with getting another pair. So when I saw that the glasses at Zenni Optical are dirt cheap, I figured I’d give it a try, if they didn’t work for me, I’d only be out a little money, and I’d tell y’all that they suck.
They don’t suck. I ordered the glasses – these, to be exact – and they fit really well, they’re comfortable, and what’s best is that they aren’t scratched, and I can see better out of them than I could out of my old glasses. The bad part – which is not the fault of Zenni Optical but rather my inability to figure out what glasses would look good on me – is that they are horribly unflattering. But I don’t care because did I mention they were dirt cheap, they fit well, they work great, and besides, I wear contacts all day long and only wear glasses for about two hours right before bed.
Note, though, that if you’re blind like me (my prescription is something ridiculous like -6.50) that there’s an additional charge – I think it was $19.95 extra. Also, you’ll need someone to help you figure out your pupillary distance (a painless maneuver that involves you looking straight ahead and someone else holding up a ruler to figure out how far apart your pupils are and then mockingly calling you ““Marty Feldman”).
3. Recently on Facebook, Lori mentioned Pioneer Woman’s Crash Hot Potatoes and said they were amazing. Naturally, I had to give them a try, so on Friday I bought potatoes. And then on Saturday I bought chives to put on them. I intended to make them to go with Sunday dinner. Come dinnertime, I looked at the recipe and realized I needed to boil them first. Since it was practically dinnertime, I put them off for another night. Last night, I boiled them, I mashed them (with a glass, since apparently I don’t have a potato masher. What the hell?!), and then I could not find my fucking chives ANYWHERE. I still don’t know where the fuck they are. Did you take my chives? Since I didn’t have any other fresh herbs on hand, I just brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. I baked them for 20 minutes, sprinkled shredded parmesan (not the powdered stuff) on top, and put ’em back in the oven ’til the cheese melted.
HOLY GOD were they good. And really, once you have your shit together, SUPER easy to make. We’re having them again tonight (well, leftovers from last night, really, which I will warm in the oven) and I think they’ve become an instant favorite in our house.
4. 20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from around the World. I was looking for the correct spelling of l’appel du vide (French, which translates to “The call of the void”), which is the instinctive urge to jump from high places. This is NOT an instinctive urge that I myself have ever felt, but Fred’s mentioned it to me before and KATG listeners, correct me if I’m wrong – hasn’t Keith mentioned it also? I don’t feel the urge to jump from high places; rather, a little voice in the back of my head says “Wouldn’t it suck if you went stumbling over the side of that mountain (or wherever) right now?” I guess rather than the instinctive urge to jump, I feel the instinctive fear of high places, or maybe the instinctive knowledge that life’s a bitch and if anyone suddenly went windmilling over the side of the mountain (or wherever), it’d be ME.
My favorite from that list: Tingo: “the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.” I find it highly amusing that there needs to be a word for such a thing.
5. I grabbed this picture off someone’s Facebook post (I don’t remember who, or I’d credit them) and sent it to Fred, saying “This is you” because it made me laugh and laugh. That’s Fred – he just wants to be left the hell alone, damnit!
6. I sent Fred the link to this video and said “This would your reaction if I told you we were going to Disneyland!” What can I say? He’s a homebody.
Now tell me what links/ pictures/ videos you‘ve fallen in love with lately.
These two, I’m telling you – wherever I am, there they are. If I’m in front of the computer, they’re in the bed to my right. If I’m in the kitchen, they’re sitting at my feet howling about how they’re pretty sure they’re starving to death. If I’m on the couch watching TV, they’re sitting on me, sound asleep. They are just the sweetest little monkeys!
Starsky does not care for the vacuum cleaner.
Note that first Hutch sinks his front paws into my foot to push himself along the floor, then he pushes his back claws into my foot to propel himself along further, and THEN he grabs for the camera. Why actually get UP and walk over to the camera when you can sink your sharp little claws into my foot?
The Reacher creature, in the back yard. All the Bookworms love to run over and flop at my feet.
And asleep atop the canning cabinet in the dining room.
Sleepin’ Sugarbutt. About 50% of the time he’s flopped out on his back in Fred’s computer chair. 25% of the time he’s in the back yard watching for squirrels. The rest of the time is spent eating, using the litter box, smacking at kittens who get too close, and making sure there’s not another place to sleep that’s more comfortable than on his back in Fred’s chair.
Previously
2009: We actually left the house after dark on Saturday AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW THE EARTH REMAINED ON ITS AXIS.
2008: No entry.
2007: Stupid bossy car.
2006: “Damn pansy-ass city folk.”
2005: as a customer and a HUMAN, I outrank the computer, and I’d like a little RESPECT, thank you.
2004: All this cleaning is making me lightheaded.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: Little things make me happy.
1999: Guest entry by Fred.
I love Zenni Optical. I have bought at least 6 or 7 pairs of glasses for my daughter. The only time I had an issue was when i ordered during the Chinese new year and it took a while to get them.
Was measuring your pupillary distance pretty easy? I keep trying to talk the husband into measuring mine so I can order super-cheap prescription sunglasses from Zenni or 39dollarglasses or someplace, but he is resisting for some reason. I was thinking of buying a pair of cheap-ass reading glasses and having him just mark on them with a sharpie so I can measure myself since he’s being all weird about it. (Not my clever suggestion–I read it somewhere.)
That potato recipe looks awesome. They should be in my belly. Mine will have garlic and dill.
Yeah, it was pretty easy – though if your husband is anything like Fred, he’s nervous he’ll mess it up. I know Fred was worried he would, but I figured if he messed it up, we wouldn’t be out much money!
Yes, measuring it was easy. I used a non-permanent marker on my regular glasses, even, and did it myself. I just marked and measured about 10 times, then I had Ed do it once, all the numbers were very close, I used the average.
Thanks for the links-Crunchy Betty sounds particularly interesting and I bet those potatoes would thrill my husband. No links to recommend but have you seen Pirate Radio yet? I LOVED it. I love the British, the 1960’s and the music from that period and Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s acting. It was a fun escape movie with a message but very entertaining. It’s still in the DVR I plan to watch it again-probably more than once. I also recommend Detroit 1-8-7 and Raising Hope as two new good tv shows. I love a good cop show and am not much of a sitcom watcher but Raising Hope is quirky and different. My husband likes it too.
I haven’t seen Pirate Radio – I’ll definitely check it out. 1-8-7, too!
I’ve always been a bit of a homebody and the trait seems to magnify with age. Some of my friends don’t get it and would be bored but for me there truly is no place like home. You couldn’t pay me to go to Disney World either-now Key West I would go back to if I could afford to rent a house again with some family members or close friends. I get much less homesick in a home like set up. I HATE hotel rooms!
Have I gone DEEF?? Where do those kids want to go? I swear I listened to it 5 times and it sounds like they want to go to Dittal … WHAT?!
They want to go to Dick’s – I guess they were under the impression they were going to Dick’s, but then their mom sprung it on them that they were actually going to Disney, and they were all “…But what about Dick?” (Maybe Mom should have invited Dick to go!)
Well, that must be some kinda fantastic Dick.
I used Zenni Optical one time and ordered some super cool rimless transition glasses from them. I used to have long hair that I wore in a ponytail and since I’m only near-sighted (can’t see far away) I would slide them up on top of my head to look at close objects. About 3 months into the new super cool glasses I got them caught in my hair and snapped them at the lens near the holder thingie on the ear piece. I write to them and asked “could you please replace this one lens?” They said “NO, we don’t do special orders” butt butt butt YOU MADE THEM. It would have cost more to renew that one lens locally than it did for the whole pair of glasses. No customer support what so ever. Bite my big fat you know what Zenni.
Now I go to eyebuydirect.com.
Is it wrong to say that I’d give my kids up for adoption if they reacted that way to a surprise trip to Disney World? I think, as a parent, I’d be saying, “I’m done.” 🙂 I can only imagine those parents dropped a load of money on that trip!! I’ll bet the kids went on to have a blast, though. 🙂
I love Zenni Optical! I’m wearing my latest, and favorite, pair of glasses from them right now. Between me and my husband, we’ve ordered 6 or so pairs from them, and they’ve all been good (except for one pair I ordered, which were just meh — the frames are sorta flimsy).
About “l’appel du vide” – I’d never heard the word for it, but I’ve experienced it. And Mimi Smartypants has the best way of summing it (or something like it) up that I’ve ever come across – she says something to the effect of, “It’s not that I really WANT to jump off the building or drive into oncoming traffic or stick my arm into the meat grinder, it’s just that I can’t be absolutely sure that I won’t.”
And once you twig onto that realization of, “If the impulse hit me, I can’t be sure I would resist it,” then the thought is there and it takes over all your brain cells until it does become an impulse, like an itch that will not go away until you give in and scratch it.
Mine almost always manifests as driving into oncoming traffic, or stepping out of the car at 75 mph, or taking 75 pills instead of one – things like that. I’m seldom in high places, so the urge to step off or jump never really arises. And it’s often/easily mistaken for suicidal impulses or thoughts, but I really don’t think it is (I’ve had those too, and they’re completely different, though the end result would be more or less the same) – I honestly think it’s just a really intense variant of the impulse to touch the wall right next to the “WET PAINT” sign, the troublemaking urge to push the button that says “do not touch” or to eat from the ONE tree in the Garden that’s off-limits…
My favorite no-direct-equivalent words are bubuti from Kiribati, and one which I (by coincidence) just used: dubhachas.
Man, I am a total tartler.
Love, Love, Love Zenni! I have measured my PD before too. And I haven’t had a problem. I have ordered 4 pair now. I like them because if I get bored, it’s nothing to order another $8 pair.
I found damnyouautocorrect.com and have scared the baby more than once laughing so loud.
OMG YOU LINKED ME.
*starstruck*
xoxo