STOP IT!

Not. Cool.

Ice Road SUV-ers

Dan and I occasionally stumble on an Ice Road Truckers marathon on the History channel and when we do, we usually end up watching. No clue why the show is so fascinating, but it is. However, in the future, I think I would prefer to see such driving conditions limited to television screen viewing. Not windshield viewing.

Because this is what we woke up to on Christmas eve.

So it started then and never really stopped. Even on our drive to my parents' later that afternoon. In fact, these were some of the better driving conditions we experienced.

Yay! We can see the road again!

Fortunately, Dan's an experienced snow driver so we were able to make it where others... just weren't so lucky. In fact, we passed a stopped line of about eight cars to tackle this monster hill.

On the way up and over, we passed two vehicles that had someone pushing. And see the headlights in that picture? Those were from a duley driving in reverse up the hill, towing a little Ford. That guy was having way too much fun doing that.

About the time we got to my parents' town, though, the snow had finally stopped.

But it managed to dump between four and seven inches of that stupid white stuff everywhere (depending on what news reports you listened to). My parents' house ended up closer to the four side of the equation and that was plenty, thank you. In fact, it guaranteed that we had plenty of the white stuff left over on Christmas day - my first white Christmas since moving to Texas in 1989 (we've had a white Christmas eve before but it had all melted by the next day). The wind had also been blowing during all the snowing so we were left with some pretty big drifts, too. This one was hanging off of the roof of my parents' porch.

All of this is something I might have enjoyed ten years ago, but now I just feel like I'm ready for summer. And the fact that there is still snow in my backyard's more shady areas? Is simply not cool.

Oh yeah. And Christmas happened.

St. Louis-ness-es

Last week, Dan and I were in St. Louis vising family and I'm just now getting around to editing the pictures and posting - but at least it only took me one week, right? The purpose of the trip was, of course, to visit family. But we also got some more tourist-y activities in there.

First off, Leah had found The London Tea Room so we went there for some goodies. Sadly, I was more into "ooo, tea!" than picture-taking, so this is pretty much all I've got.

My Cuppa

I got a pot of English Breakfast Blend, Dan got a pot of (really yummy) Earl Grey and Leah got a pot of Monk's Blend. I also brought home almost a pound dry tea. Yay!

Another fun event: Blues hockey!

This was Leah's first game, but she got all decked out, too, to support the home team.

We had really good seats, too. This picture was taken with no zoom or cropping!

Seven Rows Away!

And lookie there! Who's that? That's right, number 27 is former Duck Dustin Penner!

Hi Penner!

The game was pretty good - Leah even saw her first live hockey fight.

Fighting? Or Hugging?

Though ultimately the Blues decided that they were enough in the lead that they didn't need to actually play the third period so the Oilers came back and beat them. With a stick.

Oh well, a good time was still had by all! (Except for maybe the Blues).

And then Dan got to do something he's wanted to do for a while now...

Tour the Schlafly Brewery.

Where They Make Beer

The brewery wasn't big but it was pretty neat. And Dan restrained from trying to convince them to tap into one of their holding tanks, so good for him. But maybe that was because there was a small tasting after the tour.

Ah, Beer

Dan and Leah got more enjoyment out of the five beers we sampled, but I tried my darnedest!

Oh well. If I had actually liked one of the beers, we might have had to get some for me and I'm not sure if we could have fit much more than the case and a half we came home with anyway.

I Wasn't Prepared For This

Confession: I fear the cold.

It scares me. It makes me want to curl up under a blanket while wearing a sweater and fleece pants and not come out until Spring. It gets cold enough and I have the desire to start crying at the unjustness of it all. No. Really.

So when winter attacks us with its evil, I can't just jump right into it. I have to build up to the cold. Prepare myself mentally over the course of weeks so I don't just start crying the moment I am faced with weather below 55 degrees.

Needless to say, with weather in the mid-70s until just a week or so ago, I had not had time to prepare for seeing something like this out of my window:

There are no words to express my horror.

So Classy

The fan on one of Dan's computers went out. He ordered a new fan but he had to do something while waiting for it to come in so his computer wouldn't overheat.

His solution?

Yes, that is a cardboard box with a hole cut in it for a small directional fan.

Pure class.

Costco Will Take Over the World

I'm halfway tempted to make a Costco tag for my blog.

Anyway, found something interesting at Costco when we went this weekend.

Kirkland Signature Beer

That's right. Costco beer. Once we got it, Dan's comment was "I feel like I just bought a pair of Kirkland jeans."

But aside from Kirkland jeans, Costco brand stuff seems to be pretty cool. So we had hope.

Dan decided to bust one out today for a test taste.

Survey says...?

Apparently, buying Costco beer is pretty much like buying Costco jeans.

Oh well. I suppose Costco's plans for world domination will not be accomplished through beer.

The Coolness that is Costco... in Japan

Back in May, Miho and Kei came to visit (refresher here and here). While they here, Dan and I took them to our favorite store on earth: Costco.

Well, I just got some pictures from Miho last month... of Costco. Not our Costco, though. The Costco is Saitama, Japan. How cool is that?

Miho at Costco.
Just one or two more bikes than in the US, yes?

Kei waiting in line for membership

I find it hilarious that the section descriptions on the wall are in English

Bits from Miho's email to me:

First thing we did was to line up for 30 minutes to get the membership card. To deal with many applicants, they were doing registration at a parking space.

Inside of the store was very similar to ones in US. Some goods are from Japan, but I think 3/4 of goods are from US. I found Karkland Multi Vitamin which I bought in TX... But the bottle size was a half of what I got, with almost same price.

This time we went by train, so could not shop a lot. If we have a car, we'd definately go there every weekend.

Yes, conversion!

Dan and I are like little Costco missionaries, spreading the word of buying in bulk.

Dell Sucks, Part 298

My laptop is broken.

Again.

In Pieces

Fun, huh?

In theory it will be fixed tomorrow.

But then that was the theory today, too.

Basically, my webcam and USB drives were having issues. Dell sent out a new webcam and motherboard. The motherboard didn't work. They sent out a new one. We don't know if this one works because other issues popped up. (Dan speculates the first replacement motherboard was bad and maybe shorted the processor or something). So now Dell is sending out a new motherboard (what number is that? 8? 10?), a new webcam, a new processor, new RAM, a new LCD bezel (or something), and new wires. I think that's it.

Right now I'm writing this post on Dan's old laptop... which now runs Linux. Ugh.

My laptop cannot be fixed quickly enough.

Chloe With a View

It's been several days since Chloe had her surgery and she's doing great. The first couple of days you could tell when she needed her pain medication but now she seems pretty great. She was even playing with the tennis ball yesterday so yay!

You can see her little incision below. Dan calls her little shaved spot around it her window.

The little white spots in the shaved area are tiny scars. Dan and I can't figure out what they are from though. Maybe other kitties clawing her back end as she's running away (because they do tend to pick on her)? Or maybe something that happened when she was a stray? No clue.

Anyway, under the incision on the surface, Chloe has two other layers of stitches - one in the muscle to close the hole in it that the fat herniated through and then through the layer of fat in between the muscle and skin. Because of this layering, we'll probably be able to feel the scarring once it has healed but that's okay. We prefer non-herniated Chloes, even if they have scars.

What Am I?

Last Sunday, Dan and I had a visitor. He was huddled up against the house next to the front door, I assume trying to stay warm since it was one of the first cold nights we'd had.

I wanted to bring him inside but I'm pretty sure the cats would have tried to eat him. So I put a little box with a face cloth in it and poked the little visitor into it so he could stay warm.

But the question is: what the heck is it?

???

It's obviously a rodent of some sort so I'm thinking mouse? But his nose seems short so I'm not 100%.

I feel kind of dumb saying that, but hey maybe it is a mouse with a good plastic surgeon which is leading to my confusion...

Chloe Status

Chloe was dropped off at the vet at a little before eight this morning. She should have surgery some time around lunch today and should be done by three and ready to go home by four.

So prayer and happy thoughts to the Chloe today, yeah? And watch this space for updates!

12:00pm Update:
Well, this isn't really an update. But it is lunch time so I thought I'd put something up as I anxiously wait. Haven't heard anything yet. I hope to know something in the next couple hours!

12:40pm Update:
Just got a call from the vet - Chloe's blood work is good. One kidney level is .1 high but the other one is fine so it is probably related to her being a little dehydrated from having to fast. So now she's off to get her teeth cleaned and the bump checked out and removed!

2:20pm Update:
YAY! Just got a call from the vet. Chloe is awake and did great. Her teeth were fine and the bump was fat! The vet said that the fat had kind of herniated through her muscles in that area. But since it is just fat we don't have to worry about any scary cancer or weirdness or anything. Yay! I'll get to pick her up after work today and I can't wait!

5:40pm Update:
Chloe is at home, safe and sound! And quite a bit high from pain meds. She's got an incision about an inch or so on her right hip where they took out the fat hernia and two layers of sutures underneath. Once she's not as high and wriggly, I'll see if I can grab a shot of her little shaved and cut hip.

Until then:

Chloe in a Box (on the way home)

Fat Hernia - Ew!

Cocoa Infection

Cocoa went to the vet last week with the very beginning of a UTI. So she got an antibiotic shot and is much happier.

Unlike at the actual vet, where she wasn't happy at all.

She likes to hide when at the vet so she spent the whole trip on my lap under a towel. And we had to stay there 3 hours because she didn't have enough pee for them to test, so they pumped her full of fluids and waited for her bladder to get full.

She was not pleased.

But they finally got enough to test and yep, infection. So she got a shot and we got to go home so she's been (hopefully) healing this past week.

We haven't been able to retest her pee yet to make sure the UTI is gone - I tried all day yesterday but she just refuses to pee if she's put into the guest bathroom, especially when the litter box in there is filled with non-absorbent plastic pellets.

Not sure what we are going to do about that because it would be good to have her retested to make sure she's a-okay, but I don't think either of us are up to a repeat of the multi-hour vet adventure that was last Monday.

It's a vet-themed time of life.

Bumpectomy

Chloe is scheduled for a lumpectomy - or as we've been calling it, a bumpectomy (because bumps are less scary than lumps) - Thursday for a spot on her back right hip.

She fits in the tiniest places - if they are a box.

We are expecting it to be a fibrous mass from either a vaccination or a previous injury that has developed into a constant irritation. It's not fast growing (might not even be growing - we've been watching it for a number of years and I think just recently it has gotten a little bigger... maybe) so chances are good it is pretty unserious.

But still - surgery Thursday. Send the little Squeaker your love!

Food-ness and Other Updates

It's been about a week since I posted which isn't that horrible, but I'll admit, I haven't exactly been posting information-filled posts lately. So I'm going to attempt to make up for that with this post. By the way, I'm pretty sure it is going to be food themed.

For My Viewing Pleasure
What exactly have I been up to lately? Honestly? Not that much. I've been cooking a bit. I've been grocery shopping a bit. I've been watching Project Runway a bit... Thrilling, isn't it?

Randomly, can I just say how much I enjoy Project Runway? I started watching it last season when the only thing on one weekend was a marathon. And I got hooked. I just watched season two this week. Actually, I started it Tuesday and finished it Wednesday. Not my smartest move since finishing it Wednesday night meant I ended up going to bed after 1. But I couldn't not finish it. So yeah.

Not that you particularly care about my TV viewing (though if you did, I'd share that I find Glee fun/funny but PR makes me happy). In all honesty, I'm really not watching that much TV. Though hockey is finally here so that should change. Go Ducks! The Blues' first game was Friday (they won) and the Ducks yesterday (they lost). But still, hockey - very exciting!

But on to more exciting stuff: food!

I Heart Food
Can I say that I just love Central Market? Flitting around their produce department is kind of like a kid being let loose in a candy store. Except I'm getting old and the candies are all fruits and stuff. But yeah.

I keep finding weird stuff at Central Market that I just have to try so I get some and bring it home then search through the Joy of Cooking to see what on earth I'm going to do with it.

For instance, I got an eggplant a few weeks ago. No clue what to do with it. But there was a recipe for Baked Eggplant in the Joy of Cooking. So sure, why not?

Baked Eggplant, slightly adapted

It was good. I've even made it again.

Pepino Melon
This melon was a random CM purchase because it just looked to wacky not to get. It's not that large - about the size of an apple - and it has stripes. What's not to love?

This is a Pepino Melon

Okay, well, I don't so much love the taste. It's not bad. Just weird. It tastes like a cucumber that has an apple grandmother. With a little texture of a great-grandpa pear.

Don't get me wrong, I like cucumbers. But can't just sit there and eat them. The must be in something or garnish or something. Something must be done to give them more tastes. That's kind of what's going on with this melon. It's got a more fibrous texture (thanks great-grandpa pear) with a little additional tart/sweet (grandma apple) to make it something other than a funny colored cucumber.

Ultimately, I think this needs to be chopped up and put in a salad or used to flavor a slaw or something. It's just a bit unexciting all by its lonesome.

Black Garlic
Ah, Central Market's marketing works. I decided to give black (fermented) garlic a shot.

Black Garlic
(not my picture)

So far I haven't done anything with it other than eat a small clove but I have plans. Unfortunately, those plans keep changing so I've not quite settled on one, but it looks like a topping or sauce for noodles might be the winner.

I'm actually pretty excited to cook with it. It's very different. It tastes a bit like Hoisin sauce, probably because of the strong garlic flavor Hoisin sauce tends to have. Texture wise, the cloves are a bit like dried plums - a little sticky/juicy but overall firm and held together. It's smoother, though, and consistent throughout. It's got a sweet taste of mellowed garlic (though still a lot of garlic - but not overpoweringly garlic like raw or dried garlic)and soy sauce and maybe a little sugar. Which is what makes me think it will go well with noodles.

Corn
The only food right now not on my happy list is corn. Looks like I'm allergic to it. Seriously.

I knew I was allergic to xanthan gum. Mom and I (finally) figured out what was causing all my headaches after I ate in her gluten-free household when my throat started swelling just a wee bit after I ate a cake with lots of xanthan gum in it. I cut xanthan gum out of my diet and the number of headaches and migraines I end up with drastically reduced.

Then I start eating less processed foods for a bit and I start having issues when I do eat those processed foods. Was it because of the processing or was it because of the wheat? Maybe I had Celiac? (At the time, I hadn't found a non-processed bread so I ended up unintentionally avoiding wheat - except for when I ate something processed like a box meal or fast food). Well, finally finding a good bread and not reacting to that pretty much ruled wheat out as the problem for me. So it must be just overly processed stuff, right?

Well, sort of.

A lot of people (apparently) that are allergic to xanthan gum are also allergic to corn to varying degrees. So I decided to test out that theory. At this point, I'm pretty much reacting to anything corn or with a corn-derived product in it except MAYBE cornstarch.

Corn is not my friend. This makes me sad because I like corn. But corn does not like me. Corn is mean to me.

On the plus side (sort of), knowing I need to eliminate corn and corn-derived products from my diet pretty much guarantees I'm sticking to my low-processed, natural diet. Because everything freakin' has corn in it.

Seriously. Check out some ingredients list and see all the corn. Ascorbic acid, high fructose corn syrup (also known as glucose-fructose), sorbitol, MSG, mono- and di-glycerides, dextrin, maltodextrin, xanthan gum... all of these things are corn-derived. So basically, chances are good that if I don't make it from scratch or find it in the expensive "natural" or "organic" section of the grocery store, it's got something it in I'm most likely to react to.

Celiac Goodness
Okay, so avoiding corn has made me a picky grocery shopper. But the good news is, I still get to eat bread. Yay!

There is a gene study being done by the University of California on Celiac disease. My mom (having Celiac) was involved and, when they got another round of grants, volunteered me to take part as well. It's nothing big - I just get tested for Celiac disease through blood tests and then they also check to see if I carry the two genes they have identified as being Celiac-related.

Well, it will be almost a year before I get the results of the gene test back but I did get the blood test back. Negative! YAY!

I had been tested before, but it is nice to have it in black and white that wheat is still my friend.

As for the gene test, my mom tested positive for one of the genes and my dad tested negative for both. With that combo, I think it works out to be less than a 5% chance I'll have one of the genes. Fingers crossed!

Kitties
I don't think I can have a post this freakin' long and not mention the kitties. Though everyone is doing well and there's been nothing really going on with the little furry beasts so I don't have that much news to share. So instead, I will share cuteness.

Cute Chloe Lips

Cocoa is trying very hard to ensure that the box side stays pushed out.

Puuuuuuuush

Collapsed boxes aren't comfy to sleep in.

I appreciate the irony of this picture.

Sammy

Should it tickle me so much?

And that's pretty much it, there's my catch-up, I'm-sorry-I'm-a-boring-updater post.

Makes random YouTube videos almost preferable, doesn't it?

Miscellaneous Sharing

The other day I took a picture of a bug with my phone (it was huge and attacking me - I had to have proof so my whining email to Dan had solid evidence) and I remembered that I had taken some pictures on our Georgia trip with my phone. Nothing overly spectacular but I wanted to share.

I don't think I got any pictures of the super-cool Whale Shark beasties that the Georgia Aquarium is so famous for. Or if I did, I don't think it was as clear as this one.

Land, I mean, Whale Shark

It's hard to tell scale in this picture, but these puppies are pretty big! And, I thought, pretty cool.

Of course, I can't talk about coolness at the Georgia Aquarium without mentioning the jellies.

Jellies

They were just amazing. I could have watched them for hours.

And lastly, this one is just kind of mind boggling to me. I've never seen it before and it certainly caught my eye.

Wha???

Yeah, that's sweet tea flavored vodka. I didn't get any (though I thought about) because it sorta scared me. But now I think I'm going to have to get some. Just because it is so weird.

Mushroom-cation

The Vogel pictures are up in an album here. Yay! I've also got some highlights posted of our trip below. I can't believe how many things I consider "highlights". Too bad I don't get paid by the picture for this blog. Actually, too bad I don't get paid for this blog.

Nah. Then it'd be work and not near as fun.

Anyway, on with the pictures!

Our vacation this year was to Vogel State Park in North Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains. This means we had some great scenery. Like mountains. See:

Vogel State Park's Lake Trahlyta taken from the Dam

We didn't do extensive hiking or interacting with nature (neither Dan nor I are big "nature" people) but we did do some, including a shortish 1 mile hike around the lake, including a little detour to see the waterfall created by the dam runoff.

Dam Waterfall

And, of course, there were lots of gorgeous flowers around that we could see, even without being super nature explorers.

Flower Type Unknown

In fact, the entire area where the cabins were located were covered in magnolia trees.

Magnolia

If only we had been there when they were all in bloom!

But there were plenty of other lovlies in bloom. Though I'll admit, I have no clue what most of them were!

Another Unknown Flower

But there was even more nature around that just flowers. There were flying things, too. And some of them were nice enough to pose on the flowers for me. How sweet!

Bee!

And go me, I did not freak out with these fuzzy bees flying around. Yellow jackets or dirt dobbers are another story. But fuzzy bees are cute.

Of course, no one freaks out with butterflies or moths. Okay, I have freaked out because of a moth, but I was eight and it was very traumatic but we won't get into that here.

Butterfly!

We did get a little nature-y in some of our extracurricular activities. In fact, we did some real hiking at one point. I might even say that my calves are still the tiniest bit sore from this hiking (done the day before we left), but that might make me sound like a wuss so I won't.

The real hiking was done at Amicalola Falls, the tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi. "Cascading", of course, being the key word. And woodsy. So to see the whole thing, you had to walk. Fortunately, my parents weren't stupid, I mean daring enough to do the hike (though Dad did do from the reflecting pool to the waterfall base and back), so Dan and I started at the top of the falls and hiked all the way down to the reflecting pool where my parents picked us up. Which was the only reason we did it. There was NO WAY I was hiking back up. You'll see why in a picture or two.

Here are Dan and I at the top of the falls. At this point, we had already walked from the reflecting pool up to almost 2/3 of the way to the fall's base but then wussed out.

At the top of Amicalola Falls

But with the siren song of a downhill hike, we started off on the first 425 steps down to the base of the falls.

Stairs to the Fall's Base

This is just a portion of the stairs. They kept going and going and going. Oddly enough, we didn't run into anyone going up them. Hmm. Wonder why?

But the hike down the stairs was totally worth it to see the base of Amicalola.

Amicalola Falls

Now, I don't think hiking down the stairs and back up would have been worth it, at least not from the top. But from the reflecting pool up totally would have been.

The way down from the base to the reflecting pool was nice, too, even though it included another 170-some stairs. Lots of lovely scenery as we followed the water down.

On the way down

And finally we ended up back at the reflecting pool about 40 minutes after the start of our journey.

Reflecting Pool

Neat, huh?

But don't think that we were all healthy and nature-hikers the whole trip or anything. There was a family reunion and LOTS of food. And one night we even roasted marshmallows!

Mmmm!

Sure, we roasted them over charcoal leftover from cooking some veggies, but it worked out rather well!

All in all, a great vacation that, aside from some killer humidity on the last day, I would love all over again!

At this point you may be asking yourself, "I thought this was supposed to be some mushroom-centric vacation?" Ah, but wait. I've saved the best till last!

MUSHROOMS!

Now, I know zip about mushrooms except they grow in damp places and taste good on a pizza. And before this trip I didn't know there were so many freakin' types! My mom even read that there are mushroom appreciation societies. Dude, if I lived in an icky humid place, I would totally belong to one. Mushrooms are so cool!

There were a lot of these mushrooms around, but this one the only one that came with a snail.

I almost thought this one was a cherry tomato someone had thrown off the trail. But nope - mushroom!

I half expected these guys to break out into a little Russian dance a la Fantasia.

I'm not sure if these qualify as mushrooms, but they kind of seemed like it. I mean, based on how they were growing and where. But their shape...? Who knows!

So there is our vacation now, from beginning to end with a nice side of mushrooms. Whew. That was a lot of work. I think I need a vacation!

Aquarium Videos

Yay! I've learned a new video editing software! YAY! I have videos! And YAY! I even managed to do all that and a Costco trip! YAY!

This first video is of one of the manta rays in the big tank and then the jellyfish. Which I don't think are really jellyfish. Or maybe yes, they are called jellyfish. I admit, I was too enthralled to read the nearby signs. Anyway, a minute long.

This next one is an electric elephantnose fish. Check out that little trunk! (Super-short video of about 15 seconds!)

Next up: Vogel pics! This time I mean it!

Georgia Aquarium

Okay, so this is taking longer than just a "little bit", but it is getting done. I've finally got the Georgia Aquarium pictures up in an album, which you can see here. There are just over 100 pics of all the delightful aquatic goodness we saw at the aquarium but here are a few, *ahem* okay - some, highlights.

First: Fishies!

Colorful Tropical Fishies

I just love the bright colors of these guys. So pretty! Makes me want a saltwater fish tank.

And more fishies! These are a bit bigger.

View into the REALLY big aquarium

Hmm, or maybe I should get an aquarium like this one. Though this one had whale sharks and manta rays and other huge fishies, so yeah, maybe not.

Of course, there was more than just fish tanks... There were two smaller tanks (I could totally fit one of them in the house... somewhere) that had octopus in them.

Octopus

I was somewhat enthralled by them. The way they moved was fascinating. I have video of it, too. So cool. It made my word of the day "undulating".

Not quite undulating in their movements, the starfish were pretty cool, especially since they liked showing off their little feet by pressing up on the glass.

Starfish

Their little tube-tacular feet were very busy! And allowed them to move surprisingly fast!

These next guys didn't move fast. In fact, while I was watching them, they didn't really move at all except for some little antenna-like things around their mouths(?) that made them look like they were rubbing little hands in evil delight.

Spider Crab!

He seems like he as a very pressing question to ask.

Now, this is something I definitely don't have room for in my house.

Beluga Whale

At first glance, these guys seemed fat. But watching them for a while I began to notice that the bulges of blubber were actually bulges of muscle. There stomach muscles were especially freakish. But freakish in a good way.

That's what I've got right now, but again, check out the album for other nifty pics. I've also got a few videos that I want to share - of an elephant nose fish, jelly fish and manta ray - but that's going to take a little bit longer. And I'll be learning a new video editing software when I do it so that might make it take a bit longer.

Next up: Vogel pictures!

While You Are Waiting

I'm working on my vacation pictures right now. But I took over 400 so it's taking a little bit. I'm going to put the bulk of them up in our online album but I know that will take a bit (did I mention I took over 400 pictures?) and, quite frankly, I've forgotten how to upload them so I will need to pester Dan about it. But I do want to post some of the best ones on my blog here (so no one has to wade through hundreds of pictures to find something interesting) and that's what I'm working on. But yeah, it will take a little bit of time.

And because of that, I'm offering two things to tide you over (though only one related). First: for the little bit of time you must continue to wait, I offer a Little Bit.

Bitty Box 3?

Bitty likes small boxes. And box-like things, apparently. This is a shallow basket currently sitting on the plant stand. It used to hold face cloths in the bathroom but is looking for a new home. It was being temporarily used on the plant stand as a catch-all (which is why Bitty is cuddling with my old cell phone), but after this picture, it has been emptied out to make sure Bitty has enough room if she wants to use it again. Though I haven't seen her up there yet so maybe cuddling with the cell phone was a big selling point.

Second: this one is a bit more related to the whole vacation thing. After we arrived in Atlanta, we went to the Georgia Aquarium (way cool, by the way) where, like a theme park or cruise, they take your picture upon entering.

Yay! Fish!

This is the pic they took of our little group. The large fish over Dan are whale sharks, huge beasties that is pretty much GA's biggest deal.

So there you go. A good 30 seconds of entertainment while you wait the hours it will take me to get my vacation pictures all straight.

But to whet your excitment even more, I have unofficially dubbed our Georgia trip as The Year of the Mushroom. Ooooo.

You can't wait now, can you?

I Live

Quick post - yes, I'm still alive. Went on vacation to north Georgia and just got back yesterday. Hopefully this weekend I'll put pics up. It was pretty much the vacation of the mushrooms.

Oh, and the fish.

And the 97% humidity, but no pictures of that (unless you count my hair).

For the record, 97% humidity when it isn't raining? Sucks.

But the vacation was great so it's all good. And I'll post about it some time soon even!

Busy Busy

Lately, I've been in the mood for a change.

Typically this means Dan ends up moving furniture around. This time has been no different. Well, it has been a little different. This time in addition to the furniture moving we bought chairs.

I have no 'Before' pictures of our living room (sadly), so the 'After' is all you get.

New chairs for both of us (that almost match even - I'm still on the search for some throw pillows that will tie stuff together... poor throw pillows, they have sort of a big job) and the couch has been moved to the other wall.

The kitty pictures above the fireplace have been moved (they were outdated - no Cocoa or Sammy and Nibby was still there). We did put up a better picture of Nibby to the right of the fireplace. To the right of the TV (not shown) is a still somewhat empty corner. I have a couple of pictures to put up there, just need the frame. What can I say? It's a process.

Out to the kitchen. Ignore the vacuum - with all the moving around and prior ant infestation, it is sort of living in the middle of the house for now. I have high hopes to return it to the closet soon (two days hopefully?). The kitty jungle gym is on the very left and I think they are enjoying being in the middle of the action instead of tucked in the corner. (Speaking of kitty stuff, this picture makes me realize that, crap, we have a lot of kitty paraphernalia in front of the fireplace!)

Anyway, so that's the living room switcharoo. I've also been doing a lot to the guest room. Dan's lucked out though - I moved all that furniture. There's still a decent bit of junk on the bed. Once that stuff finds a new home, pictures will be shared.

Yay change!

Purple Potato Eater

Tonight, I made a beef stew. I used the recipe in The Joy of Cooking, my go-to food book. I think it turned out really nice. And as an added bonus, I used the purple potatoes that I blogged about a few days ago.

And dude, they are purple on the inside! Like, seriously, truly purple.

When they say purple, they mean it!

Seriously, how did I not know these lovely purple beasties were out there?

And, not only are they pretty, they taste good! It's pretty much like a normal potato - though it might have a slight hint of sweet potato. In my stew, they are super creamy. Very good.

Speaking of my stew, I'm going to share a pic because I can.

Beef Stew

It's nummy. I used white wine too (we had an old bottle) so that adds a little something extra. Mostly, I think I'm cool for making this because the directions say to season the meat then dredge it with flour. Now, normally, my cooking style is more along the lines of throw it in a pot and hope nothing burns to the bottom (I'm getting better!) but with this, I did season the meat and dredge it through flour. And nothing burned! Go me!

In my defense, I'm a relatively new cook. I tend to excel at simple soups and stews (and they turn out pretty good), so this was the most complex stew I've made. And all fresh! Nothing canned or processed. Go me!

Oh, I do tend to do pretty good following a recipe but most of the time don't have everything needed for a recipe so I just make something up. And it is usually good. But I look forward to becoming more experienced and maybe a little fancier in my cooking.

And using lots more purple potatoes!

Too Much Fun

Yesterday I had way too much fun.

Dan and I went to Central Market which is my new favorite store (sorry Costco!). The reason Central Market is now the best store ever in my mind boils down to one thing: their produce section.

So. Freakin. Cool.

It had varieties I had never heard of. Some of the weird things that were too tempting for me not to get were Santa Claus melons, red pears, honeydew peaches (or something like that) and purple potatoes.

Purple potato

I'm pretty sure this means I'm a giant dork, but dude. Purple. Potato. And it's so pretty!

I can't wait to try the Santa Claus melon, too. It is supposed to have a "crunchy texture and creamy taste".

So yeah, Central Market rocks.

The Events of Last Thursday

I'm having way too much fun recording the kitties. But sometimes I get a little something extra along with my kitty cuteness.

Here's what happened last Thursday morning.

This Is The Face Of...

This is the face of bladder infection:

Poor Big Girl

Yes, everyone give Ashes a nice e-cuddle. She's not feeling 100%. She's got a pretty bad bladder infection. We went to the vet today and she got an antibiotic shot that will last for two weeks and therefore hopefully take care of the problem.

This may or may not have any relation to her constantly higher-than-normal kidney levels but at this point, I don't think it benefits us to find out. We can assume her levels are high (as they have been at every check up in the past 6 years) but even if they are high, she doesn't like (and thus won't eat) the kidney-health kitty food. And Dan and I agree that we'd rather her eat her not-healthy food instead of stare at healthy food.

Mentally, I'm kind of preparing myself for Ashes to pass away with kidney failure sometime sort of soon-ish. Sometimes I start thinking about this and it leads me to not feeding her the "junk food" (Whiskas Tuna in Sauce - total crap as far as ingredients go but apparently tastes great) and then she starts to lose weight. She was at nine pounds today and should be closer to ten for her breed. So back on the junk food she goes! She was very happy when we got back from the vet and I gave her a pouch of it. She almost dances while waiting for it. So cute.

Anyway, I'm glad that Ashes has a bladder infection for the sole reason that if it was kitty incontinence, she was going to have to wear diapers and that's just not dignified. (I did have some picked out, just in case, that I found here and here). I still kind of want to buy some. But maybe I'll make Bitty wear them. Because I'm mean like that.

Yay!

Just a quick update to say the AC is back working (yay!) as are my laptop's USB ports (yay!).

As far as the laptop goes, as many issues as we've had with it, I've gotten to know Dell support pretty well. I have to say, their online tech chat is very helpful. Go them!

And speaking of awesomeness - yay for the repair company that came out to our house at 9:30pm to fix our AC - and didn't charge us through the nose for fixing our AC. Yay!

Yays all around!

And now...

And now my computer's USB drives refuse to recognize anything.

Seriously. Did I mention I was sick of all this?

BTW, the AC is still broken but a repairman is moments away.

I really hope we don't need parts.

Have I mentioned it is 87 degrees in the house? No? It is.

Our AC Isn't Working.

It's blowing, but it's blowing warm air.

Seriously.

I've had enough of this.

I Shot The Turkey! (But I Didn't Shoot the Deputy)

This year for Father's Day, Dan and I went to Graham to spend Saturday night and Sunday with my dad. It was food- and fun-filled. Part of the fun bit was on Sunday after church when we went to the Graham Rifle and Pistol Club.

We went to go check out Dad's newest gun, a .223 rifle.

Dad educating Dan on the finer points of lining up the scope.

Everyone did a good job and it was lots of fun. We were also the only ones out there, so that was nice.

A short video of Dad shooting the rifle... sadly, the true loudness of it isn't translated onto film.

But the truly cool bit of the day (in my opinion, which in this blog, is the only one that counts), is that I shot the turkey.

Posing With My "Kill"

That's right. I shot the turkey. The turkey that was over four hundred yards away (it's actually 385 meters or 421 yards). Over four hundred yards. That's really far. How far? Well, here's a shot of the range as seen from the turkey's position.

Can you see the covered area where we were shooting from? It's right there in the middle of the shot. See? Long ways!

In case you are wondering, I shot the turkey towards the tail feathers a bit. You can see where I hit in this next picture - it's the only fresh silver mark on it (the others are old shots that have been painted over).

Yeah, so it's not in the exact center of the turkey. But, dude. I. Shot. The turkey.

%&@*!^#

I don't know how people go days without power. Last night was not cool. Dan and I resorted to playing Monopoly (he totally kicked my ass).

Power returned just before four this morning, putting the outage at about a total of ten hours.

It's a Girl!

Eddie, our lovely Qualex service guy (Qualex is the company Dell contracts for their on-site service) stopped by today to take the pink parts off my old laptop and put them on my boy blue laptop. So now the boy laptop is a girl laptop. Yay! No more manly blue!

Part of me is worried that something with think pinkness will make this new laptop go bad. Fingers crossed! I hope everything stays happy because I am glad to have my pinkess back.

BTW, Dan found a nifty site, The Pink Laptop Blog. Right up my alley, yes?

Computer Sex Change

Ah, Dell.

So, Dell is supposed to be replacing my issue-laden pinkeness with new pinkness, right? And they sent me a blue laptop instead of a pink one three weeks ago, right? Dan called, said, uh this isn't pink, they had us send it back, they put in an order for a pink one and we waited.

And waited.

Dan called again. Apparently, they can't send out any pink ones so the correct order hadn't been able to be processed so they did nothing, just let the order sit there. Once they were reminded that, you know, we are still having issues over here, thank you! they sent us another blue one and said they'd dispatch the pink parts out to have someone replace them on-site.

So we get the blue one in. Dan calls about getting the pink parts. And is told that they don't have any in stock and don't know when they'll get any so I'm stuck with blue.

My pretty girlie pink laptop is now a boy.

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails...

Don't get me wrong, when the light hits it just right, it is a very pretty blue as you can see in the above picture. But more often than not, the light isn't hitting it just right and it is a boring, manly, so-dark-navy-it-is-almost-black blue.

Dell sucks.

The only plus on this is that I gained 90 gig of hard drive space with the new blue laptop. So that's good.

But I want pink, dammit.

Stupid Dell.

Anyone have a Sony or Lenovo? Do they make pink laptops? Because, yeah, Dell's getting ready to go on my list of sucky computer vendors just like Gateway did. Though Gateway gained a listing due to the utter crap they turned out in laptop form. Dell's nomination is for their stupid customer service that doesn't know what is going on and can't get me a freakin' pink laptop. And that's ignoring the replacement of the three motherboards, two video cards, RAM, a keyboard... and a partridge in a pear tree.

Entertain me?

The internet is no longer able to entertain me. What's up with that? Seriously, this is how I feel.

Miho and Kei, Part II

Later than promised, but here is the second set of pictures from Miho & Kei's visit to Texas. So here are Saturday's pictures of our trip to Waco and the Dr Pepper museum (we sure go there often, don't we?).

Czech Stop

Czech Stop Bakery

Dr Pepper Museum

Dan, Me, Miho & Kei

At the Soda Fountain

Waco Suspension Bridge - The First Bridge Across the Brazos

Dan

Team Roping at Kei's First Rodeo

More roping

Airport Farewell

And a good time was had by all!

(BTW, I was watching playoff hockey (Pens vs Canes) while getting these pics ready. Let me tell ya, there's nothing like hearing White Stripe's Seven Nation Army done by a pipe organ. No really).

Hug Me!

Guess what time it is?

Mudbug Madness!

In honor of the upcoming festival, I drew this in my journal today.

Upsies?

Miho and Kei, Part I

Guess who was here last weekend? Miho and Kei! (You can see Kei's blog here. I've known Miho for more than half my life. Seriously! She's one of my oldest friends. And she and her hubby came to Texas and visited some of her old host families and some friends. And we made the list of people they saw - yay!

So Thursday I joined them in Graham with my parents and we all went to Albany and Abilene. Then Friday they came home with us and did some of that oh-so-important foreign shopping. Then Saturday we went off to Waco and then the rodeo in Fort Worth.

All in all it was a great time - lots and lots of fun. And I required lots and lots of sleep to catch up afterward!

Anyway, I've got some of the pictures up and ready but not all, so here are some pictures from Thursday and Friday with Saturday pictures coming in the next few days.

Thursday

Miho at the Labyrinth in Albany

Lunch at Chili's

Miho and Kei Making Music at The Grace Museum's Wall of Sound Sculpture

Dubbed (by myself) "The Disapproving Hippo"

Friday

Making Sure Miho & Kei Get Some Tex-Mex

Shopping, American-Style, aka In Bulk

That's all for now (unless you have me friended on FaceBook, I'll be putting up more on there soon). I'll post Saturday's goodies (hopefully) soon!

Dell Drama #242

So, my computer is overheating. The touchpad can get so hot that it is uncomfortable to use. And the bottom is even hotter.

Dan talked to Dell and since it has had such problem lately they are sending a new one. Not brand new - refurbished - but as Dan said, so many parts of my computer have been replaced, it's already a refurb.

Well, they sent a new one. But it was blue.

Pink, blue. Yeah, I can see why they didn't notice that it was wrong.

Wait.

No, they suck.

It's a Miracle!

So, it's just after 8am on a weekend and I've been up for an hour now.

Amazing, isn't it???

Yesterday I got a new alarm that allows me to wake to my iPod. So instead of waking up to an annoying radio station (the kitties had chewed my old antenna so very few stations could come in anything close to clearly) that I wanted to turn off the second I heard it, I ended up grooving to my "Poppy" playlist and, even though I didn't need to actually get up (I was just testing the alarm), I found myself reluctant to turn off the alarm and go back to sleep.

So I got up. And then when Dan's alarm started going off, I turned it off and made him some masala chai, traditional-style (using a 50/50 mix of milk and water to brew the tea and adding extra sugar). It was gooooooood.

Adagio's Masala Chai

And now Dan thinks I'm crazy, but at least he thinks I'm a sweet crazy.

I Feel Like a Bat...

...or some other nocturnal creature. Something cuter, maybe.

Why do I feel like some nocturnal (and hopefully cute) creature you ask? Because I am wandering around in the dark. I even have the brightness on my laptop turned all the way down so I can stand to look at it. I'm being annoyed greatly by the overcast light coming in from our kitchen window. It is on the verge of being painfully bright.

But that's the good news, because a few hours ago, it was painfully bright. And I'm able to move around, too, which is something else I couldn't do without pain a few hours ago.

I just experienced one of the top four worst migraines I've ever had.

I was thinking about it and I can count on one hand the really bad migraines I have had. I remember them clearly. I mean, yeah, I'm prone to them, but most of the time they are triggered by blood sugar fluctuations and, while bad, I can deal. But not all of them.

The first bad migraine I had, I was staying with a friend in Louisiana. It was the first and only migraine that's ever caused me to throw up. Of course, after throwing up, I felt so much better - there are times I wish my migraine would make me throw up just to get that almost instant relief.

I remember my second really bad migraine - sophomore year of college. Even the dark screen saver from my laptop lighting the room was too bright for me to deal with. I remember trying to get close enough to shut the lid - that was painful.

Number three was in Louisiana again, at Mudbug Madness, a few years ago now I guess. I hurt so bad, my mom took me back to the hotel room and got a ice-filled ziploc baggie for my head. I remember waking up damp (condensation from the baggie as the ice melted), my brain feeling frozen and feeling sooooo much better.

And then there was yesterday. Started in the morning but I could handle it until yesterday evening. Then it hurt to move or do much of anything. Five painkillers and the pain was numbed enough for me to be able to think straight, but not much else. And the migraine was still there this morning. Four painkillers later and now I'm sort of floating through the hangover-like aftereffects of a bad migraine. This one was the longest bad one I've ever had.

I'm just glad I'm feeling so much better - even if I can't turn on a light yet.

And I know you just loved reading all that about my migraines but I don't care, so there. I have nothing else to do. I can't even watch TV, it is too bright. So my laptop is it since it has adjustable brightness. But at least you got to see a pictures of an adorable sugar glider so it wasn't a total loss, right?

Preparing for the Kitty Litter Apocolypse

Okay, so Dan and I have no problem shopping in bulk or stockpiling things that we know we are going to use.

With that in mind, I also want to share that we've stocked up on litter before. When Dan worked at the grocery store, they had a sale on Fresh Step (the brand we used then) for like three or four dollars off a package, limit two. So Dan would pick up two when he left the store after work and then he'd pick up another two at the store of the same chain that he passed on his way home. So for the time the sale was running, he'd bring home four containers of litter a day. (I don't think we had to buy litter for about 6 months after that).

Well, we've done something similar. Costco has some litter that is really cheap and it is good - smells nice, clumps well and, most importantly, Ashes likes it (she's picky about her litter - if she doesn't like it, she will poop elsewhere so her approval is vital).

Anyway, Costco has a tendency to stock something for a bit and then once the pallet they have runs out we never see it again. So with this in mind, we stocked up a little on the litter this weekend.

This is what over 700 pounds of litter looks like

Seriously.

We are insane.

Good News, Bad News, Bad News, Good News

One fish. Two fish. Red fish. Blue fish.

Anyway...

Not a happy camper so forgive the possible lack of coherency to this post.

Went to the doctor today. Thus the title of the post.
Good news: I don't have bronchitis (YAY!)
Bad news: I have a sinus infection (BOO!)
Bad news: I also have ear infections (yes, plural - one per. BOO!)
Good news: The doc agrees with me that we should try to treat without antibiotics since (apparently) my infections aren't all that serious. And since I'm currently allergic to 7 antibiotics (no, really, I am), it'll be good to keep me away from the remaining ones unless there is no other option so I can delay the seemingly inevitable development of an allergy to them.

But yeah, the ear infections thing makes sense. I have been getting a few more headaches lately but I just figured they were stress related and I was grinding my teeth at night. But apparently, it's the infection. Um, infections, rather.

Speaking of headaches, I have a horrid one now. Horrid. Kill me now please. Please? Pretty please?

In other news, the TMFP laptop received motherboard number three today. The control key now works. Always a plus. Now let's see what else goes wrong...

(Current history of replacement - motherboard, video card and screen to stop video card from crashing - worked but ended up with my computer freezing and crashing randomly when not in use - motherboard and memory replaced - problem fixed but the right control button stopped working - replaced the keyboard - control key still not working - replaced motherboard and keyboard - so far, everything is working).

Go Dell!

Sigh. Sarcasm should translate better online.

Must go now. My head has a date with an icepack.

No Control

Yikes, it has been a while since I updated. I wanted to be better about that... and yet. Oh well.

Anyway, computer update: my video card is back and working. And the tech has been out again the replace the motherboard AGAIN and the memory. Because while the video on my computer was back up and running, it was randomly freezing up. But it looks like the last replacement worked so awesome.

But now I have a new problem. Since the last time my computer was taken apart, my right control key has stopped working.

I had no idea how much I used this freakin' key until it stopped worked. Opening tabs in a new link one handed is something I apparently do a lot and when I do it with one hand, I use the right control key. Which, yeah, no longer works. So I've been cursing a lot while surfing the web lately.

On the plus side, my Firefox skin updated and is even pinker than before.

Oh the pinkness

Lord help me if I ever stop enjoying pink. I'll need a new laptop, balance ball, robe, favorite teacup....

Back on topic... Tuesday I should get a new keyboard from Dell (thanks to a very helpful tech that thanked me for being so "perky") and Dan'll replace it. So then my pinkness should be back up and running at 100 percent.

I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Ironically (and this is back off topic), when I was younger, I hated pink. And when I say younger, I mean until like 25. Dan turned me into such a girl.

Dying

Le sigh. Once again my video card in my laptop is dying. Not quite a year ago, the video card in my old laptop died and now the one in my current one is. It was such the freakin' mess getting the video card changed out last time - apparently it is attached to the motherboard and when they replaced the video card and motherboard, the tech didn't hook everything up correctly, making the power button no longer work. So while my computer screen no longer showed off wonky (but pretty) colored stripes, it ended up not showing anything. Because it wouldn't turn on.

So yeah, not all that thrilled about having to that whole process again. And the last tech that came out to fix some scratches on my cover, he wasn't exactly the most appropriate person at work - coworkers commented. So not only do I not look forward to the whole replacement process, two of the three techs I've seen from Dell's subcontractor are ones that I wouldn't want folding my socks, much less taking apart and reassembling my pink baby.

But I'm getting off topic (shocker). My pinkness has a dying video card. And this time the colors aren't near as pretty.

Dying. Again.

Dan's gonna call Dell today to see about getting it fixed. And I'm really hoping we can make them come to the house instead of to my work again, then Dan can supervise. Until then, I am using my computer when it allows me to, you know, actually see stuff on the screen. And when it doesn't, I'm remoting in to it. It's not the ideal set up but at least it means I can still use my computer. When it isn't randomly restarting. Because it does that to.

Yeah. Fun.

Trying To Be Better

Okay, I've really been sucking it up with my blog updates. In my defense, I cannot seem to get fully un-sick (also known in some circles as "well" or "healthy") and that makes me very unmotivated and lethargic and crabby so not only do I not feel like blogging, but you probably don't want to read what I would blog about (it's the perfect recipe for a pissy but pointless rant).

But I'm finally finally finally starting to feel almost non-sick. Almost. So I'm going to endeavor to be more diligent about posting. Not that I think anyone is out there anxiously waiting for another installment of my blog, but whatever.

As for what's been up with me (and Dan and the kitties), sadly, not much. Getting sick, getting better, getting sick again - this seems to be the running theme. I'm pretty much done with winter even though we've had a mild one for the most part. And I'm anxious to pay off the freaking house (anyone want to give me $50k? I'll write you a really nice thank you note, I promise).

Work is the same, pretty much for me and Dan. The kitties are still enjoying their new food and we are enjoying the results (more on that next week at the 6 week mark, hopefully). I did go on a tea purchasing binge... my pantry is oh so full right now. But that's not a bad thing.

But yeah, we're pretty dull right now. But at least the kitties are cute and cuddly.

I'm Melting!!!

We have ice. Not like in the freezer (okay, we have an ice maker so we do have ice there, but that's not the ice I'm talking about), but rather on the roads. And sidewalks. And driveways.

I wasn't able to make it to work yesterday because of ice on the roads and today the ice is much thicker and is everywhere (vs. just on bridges and lighter traveled roads like it was yesterday) so I'm at home again today. But I hold out hope of getting to work later. The sun has been out for two hours now, melting the ice. This is what it looks like after two hours of melting:

Slowly Melting

I took that picture about five minutes ago. That is currently what it looks like after two hours of melting. On the sunny side of our house.

Stuff better melt quick if I'm going to be driving anywhere.

ETA @ 11:30am: Yeah, I tried to go to work a half hour ago (impatient to go and get stuff done) and ended up having a nice long slide on the highway. Actually, the way the slide went, I was lucky it wasn't totally off the highway. After that, I turned around and came home. I do not drive well on ice. No more driving today until it is solidly over 32 degrees.