Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Modem Crisis

HI!
Guess what? I'm at work updating my Blog because I can no longer do it from home. So, for those of you who email me personally and you've sent me emails,
I AM NOT IGNORING YOU!!

Over the weekend:
Our Septic pump shorted out
My car got a flat tire.
My modem in my year old computer stopped working. Kaput! I can't get online at all. A tech has to come to my home in the next 7 - yep, you read it right, SEVEN days. I am without online access!

So don't give up on me, please!

I can only do this at work, once. I think. I am SO glad I AM at work so at least I have this chance to let you know about the chaos in my life.

I hope Yours is no where near as... um..expensive as this weekend has turned out to be.

The GOOD news? The computer is under the extended warranty that we bought - Yahoo! AND

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like I've got more Tricks than Treats, doesn't it????

Until whenever I can get back online!!! TTFN
sOUAumuis turningknve

Friday, October 27, 2006

SPAM IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!

A SPAM for Southbridge Ethanol was couched in this rather elaborate spoof of imaginative babble.

Since when do they have a sense of humor and of the bizzare?

What do YOU think??? I'm sharing this because as embarassing as it may be to admit this, I was amused and chuckled at a few spots.

Ready?



Now and then, a movie theater conquers an annoying mating ritual. The anomaly toward the cloud formation hesitates, because a garbage can around some tomato non-chalantly organizes an abstraction about the razor blade. A pork chop defined by a razor blade, another tomato, and some cyprus mulch living with a cowboy are what made America great! Any plaintiff can carelessly require assistance from a skinny cashier, but it takes a real scooby snack to dance with the power drill. Now and then, the fairy toward some short order cook knows a mating ritual
A steam engine defined by the prime minister ruminates, but an accurately tattered garbage can inexorably plays pinochle with the hockey player living with another eggplant. The spartan squid plays pinochle with another slow defendant. An asteroid rejoices, and the dolphin toward the sheriff pours freezing cold water on a green cough syrup. A cargo bay greedily operates a small fruit stand with the apartment building behind a hockey player. The linguistic hockey player is usually spartan. Now and then, a prime minister finds subtle faults with the warranty. A blood clot is resplendent. Furthermore, a carpet tack starts reminiscing about lost glory, and a tripod often throws a wedding dress toward a grain of sand at a blithe spirit and a revered polar bear Now and then....

I highlighted in red the parts that I thought were just plain silly.

Is this like....Mad Magazine meets Monty Python? **giggle**

Too weird!

What can a REAL writer do with this? How could you explain about the Cargo Bay or the tripod wearing a wedding dress?

Then of course, it begs the question, Why would you? **shrug**

To Top it??

*gg*

At least they have good taste in watching Scooby Doo!!

Monday, October 23, 2006

The Price of Thanks

Hearing the price of something can sound dire. Perhaps the cost isn't in money but in "doing" - giving of your time, efforts - yourself.

Some people are threatened by paying the cost for that something or just plain scared. Or, they can be accepting.

Put me in the column under Accepting.

I am awed that my friend has enough trust in me to recommend me for the job I now have, knowing how close we'd be working together. There is pressure there; not to let her down, to be worthy of this trust in me and our friendship and show the best of my work ethic.

That "pressure" is part of the cost, and I'll gladly pay it.

There is a more overt part of the cost that needs to be addressed. To verbally or visibly thank her.
I thought long and hard about my options. Let's face it, a card just isn't enough. I even picked her DH's brain about what would be the best way to show my gratitude and appreciation.

Believe it or not, husbands are good for things other than the obvious. Try Spousal information. He said the best thing for her was to take her out, away from the kids and home and just relax. He even said that for this, he'd make sure he was avaliable to watch the kids. Whoa.

It was a great idea.
I could do that!

I did it. Last night. I took her to a Portuguese restaurant and treated her to whatever she wanted.

Since it's been AGES since I've gone to a fancy restaurant myself, it was fun.
I want to share our menu choices with you.

HO HUM you say? *shrug*, Maybe ... but man! were my tastebuds happy.

First we started with a glass of white wine. Don't ask me the name, I couldn't pronounce it, never mind spell it. I will say that I liked it just fine.

Did you know that Tappas is Portuguese for Appetizers?

We started with Seven types of olives.
I was in shock!
You mean there are more than just green or black olives out of a jar from a grocery store?

That was ... interesting. ( she took the rest home)

Then we split the yummiest Crab Canape (was 2 1/2 inches thick) that was drizzled with house seasoned mayonaise and served on a bed of arugula.

Oh WOW! Tastebud Happy Dance.! No more cheap canapes for me. THIS was exquisite.

Then we had hot Pumpkin Soup with Cranberry Relish mixed in. Can you say Puurrrr?? It was a gastronomic delight. Too bad they didn't have free seconds. *grin*

Our entre came next. She ordered Blackened Scallops with a fancy rice (nearly burned my mouth off (SPICY) - we traded food so we could get an idea of the menu choices) and I ordered Steak Tips in Parmesansauce with a side of pasta and sun dried tomatoes. (humming in pleasure with this one)

The sad part? We couldn't finish it all so we had to take the famous "doggie bag" home.

Oh darn, that means I have to eat a fancy lunch for work on Tuesday. Gee, the hardship.

The tragedy? NEVER MADE IT TO DESSERT!

Too stuffed.

She had a good time and I thanked her again for the job offer.

I think that covered all the bases, don't you think?

As for the financial cost?

Um, well, let's just say that it's money well spent. *wink*

Friday, October 20, 2006

The Whole F'n Story


Have I told you yet how much I like my new boss?

She is fair, enthusiastic and has a great sense of humor.

On Thursday, she had me in a fit of giggles. I'm itchin' to share it with you.

Seems she likes her coffee. Nothing strange there, many of us do.

There are those of us who drink while we work at our computers, being careful to place our cups out of the path of our keyboards should anything tip, splash or topple.

You know what's coming, don't you?

Yep, it happened. Even though the lid was on good and tight, a spray came out of that little hole at the top and a dollap landed directly onto the keyboard in her laptop.

Major OOOPS!

What happens with liquid and keyboards? Nothing good. Usually nothing funny either. Leave it to my new boss to find the funny in a frantic situation.

As she quickly dabbed at the liquid trying to minimize the damage, she noticed that the focus of the liquid arc ended up being the letter F. The key popped off as she was wiping it but she wasn't too worried. She could type without the cap.

Guess what?

She could type without typing too. The only problem with this new development is that it kept typing the same letter.
F.

F's all over the screen!!! She had an F'n problem.

LOLOLOL!!!!

We razzed her about her F'n computer all day. **gg**

Oh, yea, there was a lotta F'n going on in that room ... Teehee/snort.

Of all the letters to get stuck and repeat all by itself, it had to be F.

You couldn't plan that if you tried.

Didn't this make you smile?

I hope so, because I have a question for you.

If you were there, What F'n lines would you have come up with?

We could have some fun with this innocent snafu.

Wanna play???

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Trading Ideas: Candle Decoration


Trading Ideas: Candle Decoration: "Candle Decoration
First, wrap one long strand of copper wire around the candle several times to create a copper base, wrapping more around the bottom, and less as you get higher on the candle. To keep wires in place, finish your wrapping by twisting your remaining wire around a few wrapped wires until fastened. Then add assorted beads to another long strand of copper wire. The one shown has a mixture of seed beads and all different shapes and sized of glass beads. Wrap wire around the bead and back through the hole to keep in place on the wire. Or you can just leave space between the beads to allow them to 'float' or be movable. Keep doing this with multiple copper wires until you have reached the desired effect.
September 20, 2006 in Beading Permalink "

I need to remember HOW to do this. I'm going to be making this for the fair. I hope, me, a person who is all thumbs, can do this. How exciting!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Kara Cracks me UP!!

Honestly, you HAVE to read this blog post... especially if you are female.

ROTFL!!! Kara has unusual insights about life and living, but this just has me busting a gut ....
I'm still snickering over this one. Either that, or I'm just feeling really good about my mini vacation... you decide.

Let's be Honest about us ....

Friday, October 13, 2006

HiatusI

FYI folks. Taking a break from blogging. Didn't want you to think that I'm gonzo.

Guess what? My DH went somewhere the other day and just missed meeting Gary Burghof ( that guy from MASH) by only a minute or two. OH! to be so close to a famous person, and yet so far! Everyone was abuzz about it.

I have to get my pics developed so you can see the snake that got into my house. Cute little thing, even cuter when they are outside where they belong.

Anyone read Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas? Yep, I'm a converted Kleypas fan. I got the book at my library sale the other day. Have I ever said how much I like that bi-annual event? Wow!

Isn't that amazing about all that snow in Buffalo, NY? They can keep it. I don't want THAT four letter word near me anytime soon ...until AFTER Thanksgiving. *grin*

I'm still liking my new job. Never dull, never predictable and always a challenge. AND I got some really cool NEW clothes - four dress shirts and a nice long brown dress with a leopard print jacket, all for $65.00. I love a bargain!

Actually, now I can start to indulge my passion of shopping. Woot! I used to own 15 pairs of shoes when I used to work for the bank years ago. I had green, yellow, orange, brown, blue, stiletto Red and basic black shoes. I was SUCH a shoe queen. I hope to get back in step with my inner shoe girl soon. However, you see Jimmy Choos on MY feet. I'm very rough and tumble with my footwear. Ol' Jimmy couldn't keep up and I'm not forking out that kinda dough for wimpy shoes.

I'm a frugal Yank! *grin*

OK, I hope I've given enough cerebral diahrea to entertain you. Have a great weekend all!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Plug in with C. J. Barry and Kat Richardson

My post is going to plug two authors.

One, I'm familiar with and a big fan of and the other is a newbie that I'm going to go on record saying that she's going to be a hit.

The first I'm going to mention is C. J. Barry ... or I should say, Samantha Graves her alter-ego.
She has a new line coming out that she's been working hard on and is very excited about. She has the cover of her new book coming out in 2007 on her blog and I really think it is eye catching ...see?




Let her know what you think of it on her blog. She'd love the feedback! C. J./Samantha






The second book I'm pluggin in on is

Greywalker by Kat Richardson.

This is the first book in the series. Done in first person POV, it delivers a unique idea on what people are trying to say is a rapidly aging theme.

Just when you are starting to hear "Aliens are the new Vampire", Kat takes you to a place you've never been before and proves that there is plenty left to discover about vampires. Don't get me wrong, this story doesn't put vamps as the primary focus. They are background ...if you can imagine that, but I suspect they won't allow themselves to stay there much longer. We know Vamps love to be in the limelight. No, this book has much more to offer in supernatural/paranormal adventures.

Our heroine, Harper Blaine is never TSTL. She has guts, bravado and a strong sense of responsibility. We experience with her the challenge of waking up and dealing with the growing pains of her new reality.

Um, nope, she's not waking up as a vamp ... that's being done too much. Blaine is Much much more and we just get a glimpse of what she's going to be capable of by the time the story wraps up its first exciting showdown.

I have already connected to the characters of Quinton, Carlos and Cameron. Alice has a potentially juicy role as a future badass, not to mention Wygan - the creepy and whose side is he really on kind of *guy*. I like Mara and Ben too. Oh, and Edward - not sure if he's good or bad. Delicious quandry.
There is a whole cast of characters woven well throughout this story. Each introduction makes sense and plays out well within Harper's journey.

I hope you give Kat Richardson's, Greywalker a chance.
It's worth the read.


Friday, October 06, 2006

Fur Just in case

Just in case book lists bore you and my previous post wasn't anything to say "Cheers!" to, please allow a moment for an odious discussion.

Personally, I think it's hysterical.

Hairy manly chests.

I read on a news site this week that defurred men were out and pelts were in.

I was giggling hysterically.

Oh yeah, like I Luurve to vaccum the bathroom everyday and clean out the tub drain all the time and wake up with curly hairy bits all over me from a shedding He-Man. Never mind hair caught in your teeth ...hey! Get your mind out of the gutter. If it's all over the bed, don't you think some would fall in there while you all toss and turn through out the night? Geesh!

Pelt, schmelt ...


I mean, there is FUR and then there's

Fur-Purrr








Then we proceed onto the reason why we are glad they invented

Hoover!
And Electrolux and .... well, you get the picture.

My question for you. Do you like Hair on the Chest of your Beloved or your hero???




How much is Too much?



Well, I guess I can help you answer the Too Much for you.... look at this and tell me.... is this OK only if you are a Were-being? Or is this a turn-on in real life?

Inquiring minds only want to know while peaking through the hands that are covering their eyes.

Time can be an enemy

Like you don't already know this?

Of course you do.

I am relearning this lesson. Not in a bad way mind you, but it does seem to have gained wings or, updating it, mach speed jets.

I don't seem to have much time for doing My Favorite Thing - reading.

I haven't shared books I've read in a LONG time. I need to correct this.

Are you ready? Pending means that I have it, but haven't gotten to it yet.

Playing easy to get / Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jaid Black, Kresley Cole. YUM!!!

08-31-2006
Chance encounter / Jill Shalvis. Oh yes, great read... Thanks Bailey for turning me onto the Shalvis!!!
08-01-2006

Men of courage II / Lori Foster, Donna Kauffman, Jill Shalvis. Yep, good read

08-01-2006

Men of courage / Lori Foster, Donna Kauffman, Jill Shalvis. Oh wow, those alpha heroes
Foster, Lori, 1958-
08-01-2006

Hex and the single girl / by Valerie Frankel. CUTE!! I'd read it again
Frankel, Valerie.
08-18-2006

Have glass slippers, will travel / Lisa Cach. I like the way she writes

Fetish : fashion, sex, and power / Valerie Steele. Whoa - fascinating reading
Steele, Valerie.
09-12-2006

Extraordinary origins of everyday things / Charles Panati. Fun
Panati, Charles, 1943-
09-12-2006

New England wildlife : habitat, natural history, and distribution / Richard M. DeGraaf, Deborah D. Rudis.
DeGraaf, Richard M. Research
09-12-2006

Truth or dare / Lori Foster. Oh Yea, Lori's awesome!
Foster, Lori, 1958-
09-16-2006

Murphy's law / Lori Foster. I have GOT to get Jude's law... yowza!
Foster, Lori, 1958-
09-16-2006

Dangerous tides / Christine Feehan. Hmmm, I like the sisters, I'm just not sure..not jumping yeah here.... but it was a good read
Feehan, Christine.
09-16-2006

Totally fun things to do with your cat / Maxine Rock ; illustrated by Ed Shems.
Rock, Maxine A., 1940-
09-16-2006 Research


Mysteria / MaryJanice Davidson ... [et.al.]. I WANNA GO THERE!!!!

09-22-2006

Red hot murder : an Angie Amalfi mystery / Joanne Pence. Pending....
Pence, Joanne.
09-25-2006

Under the boardwalk / Carly Phillips. 1/4 into the book , then I got divirted by my Vamps...
Phillips, Carly.
09-25-2006

Match me if you can / Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Oh Yes!! This was great, especially since I've read the previous books..... read this!
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth.
09-25-2006


Keep me forever / Rosemary Laurey. I love this series!!!!
Laurey, Rosemary.
09-29-2006

I'm the vampire, that's why / Michele Bardsley. Teehee.... I liked this.. I saw some reviews that said it concentrated on too much sex... um,... where's the problem???
Bardsley, Michele.
09-29-2006

Dark dreamers / by Christine Feehan, Marjorie M. Liu. I read Christines first... I've not gotten to Marjorie's yet but I will. Powerful combo

09-29-2006

The secret night / Rebecca York. Pending ....
York, Rebecca.
09-29-2006

Dead end dating a novel of vampire love / Kimberly Raye. Pending....
Raye, Kimberly.
09-29-2006



Thunderstruck / Rachel Lee. Pending ...
Lee, Rachel.
10-05-2006

Kitty and the midnight hour / Carrie Vaughn. Oh WOW oh WOW what a great intro book! Next is Kitty goes to Washington and I have it on order. Loved this although one of my fav characters died and I'm not over it yet. Why??!!! **sniffle**, but I DO recommend...
Vaughn, Carrie.
10-05-2006

Jane's warlord / Angela Knight. A re-read...I love this one
Knight, Angela.
10-05-2006

Touch of evil / C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp. Pending
Adams, C. T. (Cie T.)
10-05-2006

The trouble with magic / by Madelyn Alt. Pending
Alt, Madelyn.
10-05-2006

Mortal danger / Eileen Wilks. Pending
Wilks, Eileen.
10-05-2006

Dates from hell / Kim Harrison ... [et al.] Pending

10-05-2006

A hunger like no other / Kresley Cole. Oh cool! I saw the first of her stories in an anthology and I couldn't put it down. I love this series, has some REALLY unique elements. I want me a werewolf guy .... *wink*
Cole, Kresley.
10-05-2006

Shadow of the moon / Rebecca York. Pending
York, Rebecca.
10-05-2006

This is the list I have REQUESTED that is coming my way.... Woot!


TITLE
STATUS
The forsaken : a vampire huntress legend / L.A. Banks.
IN TRANSIT

Greywalker / Kat Richardson.
Ready. Must pick up by 10-16-06

Be mine tonight / Kathryn Smith.
IN TRANSIT

High stakes / Erin McCarthy.

Tall, dark & dead / Tate Hallaway.


Full moon / Rebecca York.
IN TRANSIT
Moon's web / C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp.

Captive moon / C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp.

Moon called / Patricia Briggs.
CHECK SHELVES
Mercenaries / Angela Knight.

Forbidden magic / Cheyenne McCray.
IN TRANSIT
Kitty goes to Washington / Carrie Vaughn.
IN TRANSIT
Deep, dark & dangerous / Jaid Black.
IN TRANSIT
Strictly taboo / Jaid Black.

True blood / Patricia Waddell.


So, now yo have what I've read so far this September and what I'm going to.

In between is life, living and lovin'.

Not bad.

Time CAN be an enemy ..... if you let it.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Autumn, I leaf you with a smile


Two Trees

It is hard to find a joke today without a dirty word or two in it,
but, here is one:

Two tall trees, a birch and a beech, are growing in the woods.
A small tree begins to grow between them, and the beech says to the birch,

"Is that a son of a beech or a son of a birch?"

The birch says he cannot tell. Just then a woodpecker lands on the sapling. The birch says,

"Woodpecker, you are a tree expert. Can you tell if that is a son of a beech or a son of a birch?"

The woodpecker takes a taste of the small tree.
He replies,

"It is neither a son of a beech nor a son of a birch. It is, however, the best piece of ash I have ever put my pecker in."

I Tried a Book Out of My Comfort Zone

Sometimes, reading out of my comfort zone is ... well, uncomfortable. The blurb of the book sounded rather interesting. The Fate of Mercy ...