February 2006

Daily Dose of Life – Plans Update

3 Comments / 101 Things /

Another month has passed so it’s time for my 101 Things in 1001 Days update.  Not a ton of progress but some – and I got close in others, which was interesting (and umm enjoyable, too)…

I need to work on that whole reading classics thing.  Michelle seems to be set on Bleak House, I hate Dickens but I suppose this would be as good a place as any to start. 

The Blogrolls got a facelift yesterday and they’re going to stay this way through the summer – the New Finds will change and I’m sure my Technorati Favorites will change as well.  (50 is not enough – I need 100!)  If you were on my Blogroll, it’s likely that you’re still on my Technorati list.  I think I’ll add my aggregator list as well for the truly curious…

I really need to clean out the spurls.  That’s so time consuming.  I need a full day for that and I have no idea where I’ll find a full day.

I think RJ has finally picked out a color for her walls – in fact I’m so sure of it that I’m going to go and buy the darn paint so she can’t change her mind for the zillionth time.  Then we can get her walls painted, bookshelves decorated and get a nice new dresser in there to replace the antique. 

E learned lanyards more quickly than just about any child I have ever attempted to teach lanyards too.  I expected her to pick it up quickly but not quite that quickly.  I’ll give it a go with RJ in a couple of weeks.

I actually SAVED money this month.  Not a lot but some.  Even with Michelle’s huge birthday shopping spree. 

WLC templates has been an interesting exercise in futility.  I started.  Changed my mind about the process and never got back to it.  Thought about it some more on Sunday and attempted to write a plan of attack and scrapped that too.  Keeping good records for performance appraisals has also been in issue.  Someone else has data I need with which to do this and those folks aren’t being forthcoming with that data.  I need a new plan of attack for that too.  Or maybe I should give up and just keep winging it each quarter, it’s not like anyone notices or anyone I work with has a better process than that.  😉

Not a bad month – all things considered.  Let’s see how we do in March, shall we?

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Daily Dose of Stuff – Monday

7 Comments / Day to Day, Memes and Quizzes /

Lee has created a new meme!  I have brilliant (and weird) friends, don’t I?  Welcome to what is this doing in my house, monday!  This is the second week and my first entry.  Enjoy!  Join the fun and talk about weird stuff that is in YOUR house…

Feb_002_1

This little piece of art (you should definitely click) has been in our home since shortly after we moved in together, in 2002.  We picked it up at a "rummage sale" to support the at that time NEW PRIDE Center.  This was a really horrible excuse for a rummage sale.  There was absolutely NOTHING worth having.  There wasn’t much to choose from, for that matter.  Apparently gay folks and their supporters aren’t good at donating rummage stuff.  Rather than leave empty handed, I convinced TW that we needed this truly HORRIBLE picture.  TW giggled and agreed.  The folks running the rummage sale giggled and agreed.  I forked over my $20 bucks and we giggled all of the way home.

We wondered what exactly the artist had intended us to see in the picture.  A woman? cut out reproductive organs?  Heck, I saw a coatimundi in it but at that time nobody had seen Survivor Panama so I was the only one who knew what a coatimundi was.  What do YOU think this is suppose to be a painting of?

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Daily Dose of Food – Pot Luck

2 Comments / Foodie /

TW has been telling me for more than a week… "Don’t let me forget the cheese and crackers.  Preferably one of the cheeses listed on the jar of ginger stuff"  or "Don’t let me forget the potluck on Monday."  I have an email sitting at the top of my inbox, where it has been for a week, with that first quote in it.  Today, during synchro, she asked me not to let her forget the potluck.  She hasn’t forgotten, neither have I.

Well the potluck is tomorrow.  Love the Irish – a combo Valentine’s Day/St Patrick celebration.  We didn’t forget but we also have not actually purchased cheese – or crackers.  The first problem I had was that I didn’t know what "the jar of ginger stuff" was.  Without knowing that, I couldn’t know what kind of cheese to get, could I?  So I didn’t. 

I just read 18 email digests for work.  With each closed digest, I saw that "Don’t let me forget…" email and I asked her several times what she planned to do about it.  Her first response can’t be blogged ’cause I pledged no profanity on this blog.  Her second response was "Do we have any cream cheese?"  Huh?  We went from "preferably one of the cheeses listed on the jar of ginger stuff" to "cream cheese"???  Whatever.  We might have cream cheese.  But we don’t have crackers.  Unless cheese-nips count.  And I don’t think they do. 

She heads to the kitchen and brings me back the "jar of ginger stuff".  It’s a jar of ginger stuff.  From the Ginger People (I really like their crystalized ginger pieces) and it does list cream cheese as an option.  It also lists oatmeal.  We have oatmeal.  She could make everyone bowls of oatmeal!  That works, right?  She laughs but says no.

She does not want to get back in the car.  I, in case you haven’t guessed, am not volunteering.  So now here is her potluck contribution… Gummi Candies.  In weird shapes, like hamburger shapes and stuff like that.  She bought them when we went for our IKEA/Michelle birthday trip to Atlanta and when I said "why are you buying that?" she ignored me – only to discover when we got home that not a living soul in this house (except her) will eat those things.  Now she wants to take them to potluck.  At work.  With a bunch of home economists. 

I live with strange people.  And I am still not volunteering to drive to the grocery store tonight.  Or in the morning.  She can take the Gummis. 

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Daily Dose of Questions – Search

Questions and Answers /

Answers to those arriving here via search…

To the person in Chili looking for dingbats car, I have it and you can pick it up anytime.  If you’re planning on driving it to South America well ummm good luck.  I can include a phone number for a mechanic if you like.

To the person in the UK looking for empty Voss Water bottles.  I’ve got them, quite a few of them, but first I want to know why you want them.  Are you like TW? Do you have some plot to use an as seen on TV bottle cutter to make weird stuff that you don’t need from them?

Does a toilet trained dog mean stubborn?  Ummm no, I believe it is the other way around. 

To anyone looking for cupcake toppers, (and there are an awful lot of you) – good luck!  I am considering opening a cupcake topper store, I’ll get back to you if I find the time and energy to do so. 

To "mom ran over a…" just know you aren’t alone.  Moms seem to run over everything from lemons to peacocks to homeless men.  The search results for "mom ran over a…" are incredible.

And those of you looking for advice regarding sons and skirts… bless your sweet hearts.  Here’s my advice…. Be supportive.  Kids wear all sorts of weird clothes.  They’re trying to find themselves.  Sometimes it takes a skirt for a boy to find himself, or to find herself.  Your son is still your child and will always be your child.  Sometimes they decide skirts are no longer for them, just like girls sometimes make this decision.  Sometimes they find that skirts are exactly who they are and that’s good.  Knowing who you are in this world is difficult enough – imagine having to "be" a boy and wear a skirt in order to find out.  Thank (insert deity) I didn’t have to do such a thing.  Thank goodness you probably didn’t either.  Sons who find themselves when they put on a skirt are incredibly strong people.  Support them.  Applaud their strength and their courage.  And if you really still need help with this – dtanton at gmail dot com works.

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Daily Dose of Denise – Evil

3 Comments / Memes and Quizzes, Personality /

Darn. I thought I was more evil than this. I did have some trouble in a couple of places. Is calling someone the C word bad? I mean I’ve reclaimed it so it’s not a bad word. And corrupting a minor – what exactly is considered corruption? Lav – were you a minor? And did I corrupt you? I think you were the youngest of the group, right? Karen – you weren’t a minor either, right?


You Are 42% Evil


You are evil, but you haven’t yet mastered the dark side.
Fear not though – you are on your way to world domination.




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Daily Dose of Art – Supa!

4 Comments / Community Chest, Friends & Family /

TW and I met Supafine in the Blogher chatroom last summer.  None of us were able to attend.  All of us were grouchy about it.  This year, we are all attending!  Yea us!  The reason I’m talking about this right now is because Supafine is supa! and fine!  She sent TW a present! 

Supa had a little fun gamey contest awhile back and the winners got art!  Photos taken by the talented mommy of Owen, Ms Supa fine!  I entered because TW needed art from Supa — art from Baltimore (I’m sure it was the cheese that won it for us).  Art arrived yesterday.  TW is happy and she rambled about Baltimore because that’s what TW does.  She started to ramble about Supa’s niceness and poof she was off.

So anyway, Supa is cool.  Owen is adorable and I’m hoping the next time she has a contest she’ll give him away.  (Cheese is the always the winning answer with Supafine contests, I’m a shooo in to win!)  Go look at her photos of Owen.  (The videos of Owen are even cuter than the photos) Go read her blog.  You could click her donation button too – Blogher trips aren’t cheap, folks.  Really – go visit her and tell her how terrific she is.  (she has this great idea for a Baby Einstein Drinking Game – anyone want to fund that project? It’s a winner! Great investment opportunity…)

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Rococo

2006, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I finally finally finally finished Rococo. I didn’t think I’d make it. I almost put it in the “to be returned to the library” stack unfinished. I stuck with it because TW said she liked it. I stuck with it because I have always enjoyed Adriana Trigiani’s books. I stuck with it because surely it would get better.

And it did. Eventually. Sort of.

I think the male lead character was the problem. I love Trigiani’s female characters but I did not love the male lead. Toot – loved her! Chris and Amalah – loved them. Capri and Aurelia – loved them. Eydie – loved her and would love to date her (well I would if I wasn’t in a relationship). Bartolomeo (lead character)- didn’t love him, didn’t care a thing about him. The supporting male characters – loved them, too. The main character, ummm, no. Boring.

One other problem – I’m having issues with ottomans now. They seem to be everywhere. How did that happen? Were they always there and I just never noticed before The House of B and his ottoman fetish?

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Daily Dose of Music – Catie Curtis

GLBT, Sights & Sounds /

We FINALLY saw Catie Curtis perform.  FINALLY.  TW has been talking about going to see one of her shows for YEARS but she’s either not in the south when we can go or we can’t go when she is down here. 

It’s weird.  TW has always been the one to say she wanted to see her but when pressed, TW doesn’t really KNOW much of her music.  I, on the otherhand, have never been all that anxious to juggle schedules and drive a couple of hundred miles to see her but I’m the one who knows all of her songs.  I think I also enjoyed the show more than TW did… even though she sang Elizabeth, which is one of TW’s favorites but not one of mine.

From things I’ve read about Catie Curtis, I had some concerns that her show would be "too political" particularly in terms of lesbian mommyhood politics.  It wasn’t.  She wasn’t.  She rambled about her kids in the typical mommy rambling way not the I’m a dyke and I’m a mom and do you have a problem with that sort of way.  Very "normal" stuff.  Cute stuff.  Talking about being primary mom, not having star status over the summer, her daughter singing "Milk & Water" instead of "What’s the Matter" and the baby practicing her animal sounds.  Just nice mommy stuff. 

The crowd at Cafe Eleven was well-behaved – apparently this wasn’t the case when Melissa played there awhile back.  (typical rowdy cats in heat and drunk dyke behavior that Melissa too often attracts – maybe if she really DID stop singing DRIVE at her shows she’d attract less of that???)   Very crowded show.  Opener, Anastasia, was cute but not great, she reminded us of a "Tiffany" aka Michelle type kid – young, somebody’s youngest child, struggling to sort herself out but not work too hard at it because the world should just KNOW who she is and that’s that.  Young.

I’ve got a fairly decent boot recording of the show but it is HUGE and I don’t have time to edit it so I can get it uploaded.  The iRiver did an ok job of it and maybe in my next life I’ll find time to split it up and edit out the part where I was in the bathroom with Catie Curtis – thinking I had it on pause when in fact it ummm recorded the entire pre-show bathroom visit!

Speaking of pre-show bathroom visit, during the show Catie talks about how tough it can be in a small venue with a shared bathroom.  The artist can overhear things about herself that she doesn’t want to hear… for instance playing at a UU Coffeehouse show she overheard one young woman who was less than excited to be seeing her play – she thought she was ordering Dar Williams tickets but hit the wrong button and "oh well, at least these tickets were less expensive!".  Catie didn’t hear that sort of thing in this pre-schow bathroom visit… and if she happens to peek in here she might like to know that TW and I paid less for our Dar Williams tickets, we drove a much shorter distance too.  Catie was worth the extra price and the extra drive.

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