Sassymonkey, have you seen the Featherbook in person? Has anyone seen it in person? I know a kid or two who would probably really like this. And it makes me wonder if we could make our own Featherbook.
Technorati Tags: featherbook, birds, mcgill
What the heck? Who said my life could get really complicated and really busy and really wild right now? I did not give permission for that to happen.
There are 8 days til Blogher. A couple of weeks til little kids come home. A couple of weeks til Michelle’s friend from Jersey comes to visit. A month before school starts. A month before E’s birthday. Six weeks til Chuck, Jenn and TW’s birthday.
My calendar looks like someone vomited "to do lists" all over it. I am never going to get everything done so I am giving up trying. If it gets done, great. If not, who cares. I can’t deal with the stress anymore so I’m banishing stressful situations from my life. Now.
Pooof. No more stress. Wow, that was easy.
Daily Dose of Life Read More »
Someone tell me why Vanity Fair is on my Summer Reading Challenge? Because a little more than halfway through it, I’m feeling like I’d rather go back to The Moonstone. Seriously, why do people enjoy this book? Why is it on that really interesting Lifetime Reading List? Why is it on all sorts of “great books” lists?
Someone give me a nudge, say something positive about this book. Pretty Please.
Technorati Tags: vanityfair, classics, thackery, summerreadingchallenge
Vanity Fair – Page 395 Read More »
It is my pleasure to introduce you (or re-introduce you) to one of my partners in Health & Wellness – The very awesome and very amazing Amanda!
I wasn’t really going to participate in the whole BlogMe thing, I’m seriously swamped at work and at home and it seemed like way too much work for me. But then Amanda emailed me and asked if I wanted to join her and how do you say no to Amanda? You just don’t. She’s too nice and too cool (the tattoos, have you seen the tattoos???) and I’m really very glad she is back at Blogher so heck yea I’m playing! The interview is ON!
Are you and your blogging persona the same person?
I’ve been blogging on and off since 2002, and always used my given first name in my blogs until I started on the most recent one. The decision to use a pseudonym at "The Cat Lady" was sort of a random one, but I did want the tone of the new blog to be totally different from "cancer. it’s not just an astrological sign anymore." I felt that changing my blogging persona would help to signify that this is a new me, a new life, and a new beginning. I chose Pussy Galore because it fit with the cat theme, and was Eric’s favorite Bond girl. He used to do a wickedly funny Sean Connery impersonation and would walk around our apartment, talking to the cats as Bond. It was hilarious, and I thought that the name would be a good way to pay homage to his sense of humor.
Who do you read every day, rain or shine?
Everyone on all three blogrolls (two at the old site and one at the new site). A lot of my favorite cancer bloggers are no longer writing, but I still check in every once in a while to see if there’s updates. My favorite-favorites are Debutaunt, dooce, Blogography and Troll Baby. I’m always looking for a good laugh and those four seem to deliver pretty reliably.
What is your favorite thing that you wrote?
Wow. As much as I wish that I never had to write it, the post that I wrote to Eric after he died wasn’t really my favorite post, but was incredibly cathartic and it was comforting to think that those words could reach him through the internet ether. I’m actually sort of a dork in person, and not so good at expressing myself verbally, so the best "I Love Yous" from me have always come in written form.
Have you ever anonymously posted on a site to flame them?
No, not really…although I did anonymously IM someone once to flame them. Back when I was an undergrad, my college had installed e-mail kiosks around campus that didn’t require a log-in. There was an ex-boyfriend of a good friend of mine who was seriously harassing her, and she was at wit’s end. I had his IM name and created an anonymous account to message him and basically scare the crap out of him. It probably wasn’t the most responsible decision, but felt incredibly vindicating and it worked…he was scared and started to let her be…
If you had a super power, what would it be?
Time travel. I’d go back to May 2004-February 2005, and live those months over and over again in slow motion. Eric and I were newlyweds, living in a tiny apartment above Pearl Harbor, and having the time of our lives.
This is Amanda’s second tattoo – the English translation of the text is "The Fighters" and she got it during the transplant last fall.
Now I’m going to tell you what my favorite post of Amanda’s is – it’s probably not her favorite but it is mine because this is honesty, this is naked blogging, this is real. I have a lot of respect for "real". All of Amanda’s Blogher posts are worth reading, so go read them, too.
You can read my interview at Amanda’s Blog.
Daily Dose of Blogher – BlogMe! Read More »
Lest you think I’m throwing everything away, selling everything or donating it all to charity, here’s a photo of one box of junk that isn’t leaving the house. It is, however, getting boxed up and put in a closet or the garage. I can’t be expected to get rid of all of my toys and all of my junk at once, right?
I think I have three boxes of Denise toys and Denise junk to "save" and about twice that is leaving the house – one way or another. Sniff, sniff. It’s hard letting go.
What weirdness is in your house? And why is it there?
Technorati Tags: whatisthisdoinginmyhousemonday, junk, memories, toys, clutter
Daily Dose of Stuff – Monday Read More »
Remember when I blogged about how much we enjoyed listening to Percy Jackson – The Lightning Thief? Well something cool happened on my clubmom blog. I posted a list of books we’d read last year, then I noticed quite a few people were coming to my blog looking for lesson plans for The Lightning Thief so I blogged some ideas and some links and guess who stopped by and commented. Nope, not Percy Jackson. Not Rick Riordan, either. Better. Rick Riordan’s WIFE. Everybody knows women are better, anyway, right?
Well she stopped by and she commented and it totally made my day. Go see! If you haven’t read The Lightning Thief, you should. It really was good.
Technorati Tags: thelightningthief, percyjackson, rickriordand
Percy Jackson Redux Read More »
So, guess what! Besides staying away from the beach and cleaning the garage (which isn’t done but we got a lot of it done) and going to the grocery store and Home Deopot – I did something else important. Something I really try hard not to do very often. I cooked. And I almost enjoyed it.
Alanna posted these zucchini boats awhile back and I thought they were beautiful. And, even better, they have feta. I love feta. So I made them. Me.
Yep, I scraped out the inside of the zucchini and I sauteed everything up and I filled the zucchini boats and I put them in the oven. And they were good. I thought they were really good.
I just wish it wasn’t such a pain in the rear to scrape out the darn things. I’d pay someone to do that part. Even if TW does have the cool Dean & DeLuca food carving set thingy.
Try them. And tell me (and Alanna) how you liked them.
Technorati Tags: zucchini, zucchiniboats, recipe
Daily Dose of Food – Zucchini Boats Read More »
So, The Ancient Child. Ummm, Summer Reading Challenge Book. Errr, chosen because it is on that interesting Teacher’s Lifetime Reading List. Hmmm, I feel like I should say something really deep, and moving, and errr whatever.
There were parts of The Ancient Child that I liked very much. I believe those can be found between pages 100 and 200. Before that and after that, I wasn’t feeling it. There were some problems for me. The first 50 pages were confusing, even with the character list in front. The “vision quests” early in the book were confusing. Later they were either better written or I had gotten used to them so it wasn’t as difficult. I liked Grey’s character very much but I was more interested in the Grandmother. I liked Grey’s character except when she was with Billy the Kidd, weird. I didn’t give a damn about Set at all. I found Worcester Meat more interesting.
So, The Ancient Child. I read it. Onto the next Summer Reading Challenge book.
TW is always trying to convince me that we need to take a vacation to Oregon and I always ignore her, laugh at her or glare at her. I’m not interested. Powells or no Powells. This morning, I’ve changed my mind – thanks to Naked Jen.
Nobody ever told me they have Flamingos there. Why didn’t TW mention that in the first place? Next year, I’m there!
Daily Dose of Travel, Oregon & Flamingos Read More »
The stars are all properly aligned today so it is safe, maybe even necessary, for me to answer a question I tend to avoid like the plague. First, about those stars. 1) It’s the heir to the throne’s birthday tomorrow. 2) That millionaire meme says I could be a millionaire 3) I’ve recently discvered a TV show called Windfall. (Look at this, Money Tracker – Windfall, interesting to see the money spent displayed that way, isn’t it? I would like one of these in real life, maybe for certain members of my family? Anyway, the stars are properly aligned and here I go…
What would you do if you (or you and your friends) won the lottery?
Five years ago my immediate answer to this very overused meme question was – give it away. Today, a lot has happened in my world and I’ve had more time to think about this question than I ever wanted and my answer is… give it away.
Well not exactly. First a house and of course the various methods of ensuring the children’s education is covered and a wee bit for a good down payment on a house when they are ready. Paying off the bills. The "duh" stuff. Then, here’s something I hadn’t thought of five years ago… healthcare. Making sure everyone is set for healthcare. Good insurance and enough of a nest egg to deal with the mounting healthcare costs that come up when you least expect it. After that, I’d give it away. All of it. To friends, family and charity.
What would you do? And have you watched this Windfall show? I’m considering breaking my no TV in the summer trend and watching it.
Technorati Tags: windfall, lottery, television
Daily Dose of Television, Luck & Money Read More »