This gives all new meaning to "'JOHNny-on-the-spot"

So did y'all read the story about the senator from Idaho nailed for lewd conduct in a public bathroom? Seems he solicited an undercover police officer for sex by using a series of secret hand signals and foot taps under the stall door. What the hell?

First off .... WHO KNEW about all these secret signals? Have I ever been solicited in a public restroom and been too oblivious to know it?? I know, I know ....probably not. But if not, HOW COME? What's wrong with me?!! I can channel "sexy bitch" upon occasion. Of course, I've never felt that it was channeled while in the midst of using the toilet.

Which leads me to......

Since when does nothing say sexy like someone sitting on the crapper!?!!!!! WHAT. THE. HELL?!!!! Yuck. Yuck. And more yuck! The senator eyes this guy sitting on the toilet and thinks "hmmm, yeahhh, I've gotta get me some of that!"?! Obviously, the senator and I have different ideas of what constitutes "sexy"! I think I'll stick with my image of a HottieHot without shirt scrubbing my kitchen floor for "sexy", thankyouverymuch!

Furthermore, just who did that undercover cop piss off to get assigned that crappy duty??? (haha! I used both "piss" and "crappy" AND, come to think of it, "duty" (get it ... "doody")! How awesome am I?? .... hehehe). But seriously ...... you couldn't pay me enough! I try to spend as little time in public restrooms as it is .... but to just have to sit there and see, hear, and (by far the worst) smell folks just using the restroom. Oh HELL NO. I can't count the number of showers it would take to wash the horrors of that away at the end of each work day! I'd go broke just trying to pay my water bill!

And finally, senator, apparently there have been "closet gay" rumors following you since your college years. Now you get arrested for this lewd conduct charge. And worse, you plead guilty to it (HMMMMM). I'm not SAYIN' you're gay .... but you certainly seem to be "merry", "happy", "sprite", "jolly", etc to me. Just sayin' is all. You're 62 .... don't you think it is about time you just own it? There's nothing wrong with it. I'm sure it would ultimately relieve a lot of stress you must have trying to hide it. But more importantly, it would help me out! Because that would be one less person I know is having sex in icky public bathrooms, bare skin probably touching stall walls and possibly toilets!!! (*shudder*) ARGH!!!

(Good lord, where are my antibacterial wipes????)

"I got Kat class and I got Kat style"

AWESOME concert on Sunday night. Four bands for a whopping $9.71! Can you BELIEVE that?!!! And just look at this band line-up: Gin Blossoms, Stray Cats, The Pretenders, and ZZ Top! It was just amazing!

First off, T2 and I have general admission tickets which are for the grassy area in the back of this amphitheater. But we plop our blanket down towards the front of this grass area only to find that we....

a) can't see the band (this is the Gin Blossoms performing my favorite "Hey Jealousy" (no, no ... I SWEAR) ... but my video aiming was off because I couldn't SEE them due to distance, metal bars, and viewing from bright sunlight into shade):



but(t) (ha!) b) unfortunately, CAN clearly see this:

And this was after he had pulled his pants up! Bleck!

So after the Gin Blossoms finish, I notice the chick in front of us clamber over the wall separating us "Lawn Peon" Concert-Goers with the "Actually Have a Reserved Seat" Concert-Goers so that she could better take a picture of the Stray Cat stage setup, which was currently taking place. Then she clambers back. But all I'm thinkin' is .... "hey, no-one stopped the chicky from clambering over to the reserved seats ... so what's to stop T2 and I from doing the same ... only, we don't clamber back!?".

So that's what we did. We looked right, we looked left, we left the blanket on the grass as a viable "ahhhhh shucks, we was just going up there to take a picture" cover story in case we needed it, and we were off! Man, I tell ya ... stuff so dorky like that and yet it gets my heart a'poundin', I tell ya! (I'm such a goody-goody!).

Anyway, SUCCESS! No sirens blaring, no armed po-po coming to whisk us off to jail. Bupkus! So we casually (yet probably very obviously) meandered down to a section of empty seats and plopped into two! Whoo hooo!

And shortly thereafter, our view went to this!

Not as close as I'd like to have been .... but hella better!!! And not one butt crack in sight!

And the Stray Cats were AWESOME! They were the band I was looking forward to seeing the most as I've never seen them before! And who didn't love "The Stray Cat Strut" back in the day! Whoo hooo!

Here's a couple of mini-videos for your viewing pleasure. They don't quite capture the energy as I would have liked .... but you get the gist:






Man, the sound! The energy! That Lee Rocker on slap bass! HOLY MOLY! Sign me up each and every time these guys come to town! Too much fun!

Next up ...... The Pretenders. But while the roadies were busy changing out bands, T2 and I figure we should probably go rescue the blanket. So we walk out of the amphitheater as if we are ticket holders, then headed back into the general admission lawn section. The blanket was still there ... whew .... but extra security personnel were also stationed around (boo!)

Sneaking Back Into The Reserved Seating Area Take #1: We roll the blanket up as small as possible (not easy with an extra thick wool blanket) because we know that walking into the reserved seat area with a big ole blanket full of wet blades of grass ... looks a mite suspicious! Wait til Security Guard #1 is looking the other way, hop over the wall, and head down the ramp. Unfortunately, as we turn the corner we find Security Guard #2 right there and looking right at us. So without missing a beat we casually change direction and head right on out the doors of the amphitheater as if that was our plan all along. Foiled!

Sneaking Back Into The Reserved Seating Area Take #2: We mull a few minutes outside the doors deciding how we want to handle this when ... shazam .... Security Guard #2 walks out and away from her guard post. One quick glance at each other and T2 and I rush back in and safely back into two other empty reserved seats! WHEW! Time to sit back and enjoy!

Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders. Well, I'd like to tell you that they rocked the house and all .... but I have to admit that I didn't really pay much attention. There was a cutie-patootey single man sitting in front of us who seemed very content to chat with us the whole time. I can tell you he had beautiful eyes and a nice ass ..... but I can't tell you which songs The Pretenders played. Oops!

OH, but once I found out that Cutie-Patootey-Boy travels 45 out of 52 weeks of the year, doesn't really have a "home" since he travels so much (ie he couch-surfs), and still seemed hung up on his ex (the big 'red flag').... I did manage to refocus on the stage and snap this picture of The Pretenders for you.......

Chrissie had some pretty swanky boots! (umm, you can't really see them in this picture so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it! :))

Anyway, last, but certainly not least ....it was time for ZZ Top! Now, I'd seen ZZ once before .... but it was eons ago back in Cali and I went to the concert with my best friend at the time Viki, our good-looking coworker Art, Art's barrel-chested Navy Seal buddy, and about 4 other of the Navy Seal buddy's Navy Seal buddies. Uh yeah ........ can you say "heaven"?? So I KNOW my ticket stub says "ZZ Top" .... but to this day I have NO idea who the opening bands were or what songs were played! (The only song titles which come to mind anytime I think back on that concert are: "Flex for me, baby, one more time" and "Good God that tight t-shirt shows those rippling pec muscles to perfection!". ZZ Top songs?? No?!) Anyway, lordy, lordy, that was one helluva concert regardless of any bands playing music at all!!

This time though .... I had the chance to take a listen. And they are just too cool for words! An absolutely phenomenal show! Here's a couple of pics. (Sorry they are so blurry but I still haven't mastered taking photos while bouncing up and down in time with the music! ;))

These guys are just a hoot! And the guitar playing was amazing!! I took more video!

[dagnabit!!! Neither this new Blogger video thingamabob nor YouTube will run this video! WTF?! It meets their file size guidelines! @$#^&*($@%#@!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FINE!

Sorry, folks, here's what it went like:

She's got leeeegsss, [*insert cool guitar rift*]
She knows how to use them [*insert cool guitar rift*]
She never beeeegsss, ....

(not the same??. Sigh. Oh well. I tried.)]

For one of the songs, ZZ Top brought out both Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats and Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders for a group jam. Here's a quick peek!

[See above. (grumble, grumble, grumble). I will try these video uploads later and see if the persnickety video uploaders are then in a better mood. F!]

All in all .... a fantabulous time! Thanks T2! I make the motion that all future concerts involve all fab bands instead of one good band and a couple of crappy opening bands. And that they all be less than $10! Can I get a "hell yeah"?! :)

My Little Helper

So one morning before work I walk into my spare bedroom (aka The Office) to find Emma lazily laying in the middle of the floor next to a live spider! She spots me and half-heartedly reaches out a paw toward Charlotte (I'm assuming that's the name she would have chosen for her new friend) as if to say "oh crap, I'm supposed to be killing this thing"!!

Of course, the attempt was so half-hearted that the paw reach towards said spider was barely perceptible. She then drew her paw back and continued to just gaze off into LaLa Land.

Which left me to have to quickly find Spider Extracting Equipment (in this case, a nearby flower vase and an envelope) and scoop up said spider and take it outside. All the while mumbling under my breath something along the lines of "damn worthless cat".

So to restore my faith in Catmanity, the same morning CJ steps up to help me wrap a gift for a coworker. Ah, I loves me that kitty! Look how cute!

CJ: "I'll hold, you tape!"

Faith restored! How could it not be with that face?!

I can't make this stuff up!

Y'all .... seriously! I'm just minding my own business and stumble across this headline......

Dwarf's penis stuck to vacuum

Now, I immediately think of T1 (don't ask) so I read the article to find out if it is T1-Worthy.

Folks, it is BEYOND T1-Worthy. Because, at first I'm thinkin', "okay, the guy is trying something out at home. Pretty dang weird but what are ya gonna do?".

But THEN! But THEN! I open the article and read THIS!

"A DWARF performer at the Edinburgh fringe festival had to be rushed to hospital after his penis got stuck to a vacuum cleaner during an act that went horribly awry."

Dude was on stage doing this?!!!! And they're saying that the "act went horribly awry"!!! Y'all .... the act ITSELF is horribly awry! WTF?!

Either this is true Bizarro World .... or I need to get out more!

Here's the full article for those interested........

I tell ya .... it's a crazy world. Makes you wonder what the other acts at this "fringe" festival were, doesn't it?! (it doesn't? Oh, never mind then!)

You might want to be sitting down for this .... I'm going to talk knitting!

I KNOW! Shocker, right?! I'm actually KNITTING ... and have pictures to prove it! Whoo hoo!

But first, I was so impressed with myself last night when I figured out (with the help of the wondrous internets) how to wind yarn into a pull skein. See, I started with this:

Lorna Hand-Dyed - Swirl Chunky

And ended with this! YAY me!

So I tried it out .... and found that the yarn would only pull from the center for about one yard .... then it just was NOT pulling out any more! I mean, I was grabbing it with two hands and pulling while practically bracing my feet up against the yarn ball. To absolutely NO avail. That yarn was just not budging. So I decided to use it as an outter pull yarn ball instead and deal with the massive internal tangle when I get to it! :) (y'all can just call me "Scarlett O'Hara'!)

I was reading Crazy Aunt Purl's site yesterday and remembered her post about the Magic Scarf. I figured this yarn was PERFECT for it so I decided to give it a go. The only difference being that my OCD-self wouldn't allow for squares being 5 stitches wide by 10 rows in length (5x10=rectangle not a square!) so I altered my pattern to only 5 rows before the switch. And this is what I have so far ..... I like it!

Cool basketweave! It IS magic!!!! :)

I also added the 3 rows of garter stitch at the beginning to keep the scarf edge straight. Seems to be working! Of course, I don't know that mine will be 9 FEET LONG as Purl's was! In fact, I'm guessin' it will probably be "Until I Get To The Massive Internal Yarn Tangle" Long, I'm thinkin!

Just a guess ... but if I was a bettin' woman that's where I'd put my money!! ;)

The Birthday Boy!!!

This is baby Q, y'all! Is he not the cutest??!!!!!!

Ah, I just adore him! And hopefully will get to see him soon! YAY!!!!

Experiences still on my To-Do List

My list to date. Some of these items will simply take time and effort on my part; others will take money .... and some of them will out and out take a miracle! :)

But in all cases, the first step is simply a matter of knowing what you want! So, what's on YOUR list??

• Ride in a military-style jet (like with The Blue Angels)
• Volunteer to help baby turtles make it safely from nest to sea
• Watch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field
• Attend Mardi Gras in New Orleans
  
• Spend the night in the Lincoln Bedroom. Preferably with company. Of the opposite sex. (if I'm going to get a night in the Lincoln Bedroom ... I might as well "go for the gold" so to speak. ;))
• Swim with dolphins
• See the Taj Mahal
• Explore areas of the South Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Bora Bora, etc) at my leisure
  
• [Done!] Travel to Boston to see my favorite piece of artwork (Renoir's 'Dance of the Bougival')
• See an active volcano
  
• Drive a sports car (preferably a Ferrari) really fast ... like on the highways outside Las Vegas
• Meet Ellen DeGeneres and make her laugh
• Vacation at a dude ranch
  
• Enjoy front row at a Bruce Springsteen concert!!!!!!!
• Attend a space shuttle launch
• See Petra in Jordan (maybe while wearing an Indiana Jones hat! ;))
  
• Learn to scuba dive
  
• Celebrate New Year's Eve at least once in Times Square, NYC
• Travel to Greece
• Be blessed by the pope
• Watch a tennis match at Wimbledon
• Be a "trainer for a day" (if not make a career of it) of dolphins and sea lions
  
• Attend the Academy Awards
• [Done!] Reread the "Little House on the Prairie" book series
  
• See the "sun rise" over earth from up in space.
• See the Great Pyramid and Sphinx in Egypt
  
• Learn to play the violin
• Go check out Miami at least once
  
• Explore Machu Picchu
• See the Northern Lights
• Take an eco-tour to the Galapagos Islands
• Shop the Mall of America
• Go whale watching and actually see whales! ;)
• Travel to all seven continents (so far I've been to three: North America, Europe and Asia. Still to do: Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and South America (some folks count North and South America as one ... I don't)
  
• Party in Rio De Janeiro (and maybe even see Christ the Redeemer while there! ;))
• Become a member of Mensa
  
• Take a swamp tour to see the gators
  
• View Mount Rushmore
  
• Photo-safari in Africa and see "the big 5"
• INSPIRE!
• See Niagara Falls
  
• Travel to Ireland
• Watch the sun set with the locals in the Florida Keys
  
• Marry the man of my dreams
• Stay at a (purposely) underwater hotel (perhaps at the soon-to-be new one in Dubai?)
  
• Visit Easter Island
  
• Pay homage to Elvis at Graceland
• Learn the bloody metric system!
• [Done!] Watch a Red Sox game at Fenway Park
  
• Cruise the Nile River
• Help build a house or school
  
• Take an Alaskan cruise
• Become a great photographer
• Learn to speak Spanish at least semi-fluently
• See Emperor and King Penguins in Antarctica
• Relax in Belize

.... to name just a few! ;)

I'm sure this list will continually be revamped as other ideas pop into my head. So tell me, how clearly does this list reveal my level of insanity??! ;)

[last updated: February 13, 2009]

It's NOT a pumpkin!!!

This post goes out to T1! Holla, T1!!!

Just wanted to let you know that the gift I knitted for baby's Q's 1st birthday and sent to you this week is NOT a pumpkin! No really, I swear!! Perhaps taking on a new project after having not knit in so long was not the best of plans!

Oh and ... the colors ... yeahhhhhh, those are supposed to be Bronco colors. I KNOW ... crazy, right? ... who knew that "rust" and "bright orange" were not the same color! Not Q's crazy auntie Kat.

Sigh.

So .... sorry. But here's the good news with regard to his gift:

1) it doesn't make noise
2) it doesn't make a mess (L- still sorry about those bathtime paints! Who knew??! :))
3) we live 3000 miles apart so you can just toss it yet just tell me he plays with it all the time.

See? ... all good! :)

At any rate, happy bday to Q tomorrow! Wish I was there to eat cake too (errr, I mean "see him"!!!)

p.s. in case you need ANOTHER hint as to what I was actually trying to knit .... it is one of the patterns in that book I gave you for your birthday. No, no really ... I SWEAR! THAT'S what I was trying to make! Crazy, right? :)

p.p.s I'm only not saying what it is SUPPOSED to be in this here blog post in case T1 hasn't opened it yet. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!

The Frayfields vs The McBrides

Concert updates! Get yer concert updates here!

Okay, so I joined some folks in watching The Fray perform out at McMennamin's Edgefield last week. They did a great job! I love when a band actually sounds like their album. You've all been to a concert, right, where you're thinking "what is this, some person doing a crappy karaoke rendition of this band's stuff?". But no, The Fray, sounded great live! YAY, The Fray!!

The bad news was that this venue is way on the other side of town. WAYYYYY on the other side of town! And concerts there start at 6:30pm! On Thursday nights!! Which makes for the bumper-to-bumper commute from hell to get there right smack dab during rush hour traffic. Which really sucks because all the seating is general admission out on a huge lawn, so the later you get there, the further away from the stage you end up sitting.

Now I knew there was no hope for me getting out there early after work to save spots for us, BUT ... a friend planned to be off work at 4pm and head right over there. Unfortunately, he forgot his tickets and had to go back and get them. So we ended rolling in at exactly the same time .... and long story short, we were at the back of the bus, so to speak!

In all actuality, it was nice to sit and relax and listen to a concert instead of being up amongst the hubbub vying to get the best picture angle (you know me and the stalking!)! Since this was the best I could do picture-wise, ....

Who dat??!!

.....I was able to just sit, chat and relax instead! Which was all good .... being that I'm not fanatical over The Fray. (had the band been say ... Bon Jovi! ... I'd been tossin' bodies to get them out of my way so I could get up front and personal. Ahem!)

So all in all, a wonderfully relaxing evening.

.............................................................

Next up was Martina McBride.

Now I'm not a big country fan (in that I like it but don't listen to it, if'n that makes any sense) and wasn't familiar with Martina's music. But a friend had an extra ticket and when have you ever known me to turn down a free concert!??! :)

And I'm glad I didn't. This chicky can s-i-n-g! Good lordy! I don't think I've ever been at a concert where the performer had to stop after a song and wait for all the applause to die down. (standing ovations to be exact) I mean, sure, sure, at the end and during the encores .... but just mid-concert?! Crazy! The power in her voice and the length of time she can hold notes ... phenomenal! I'd see her again in a heartbeat!

Opening for Martina was another great band, Little Big Town.

They rocked! I really liked one of their songs .... "A Little More You" I think the name is. That was really good live! In fact, both Martina and Little Big Town are FAR better live than they are on cd (I've since heard the same songs on cd). They both know how to infuse energy and fun into their concerts which doesn't quite come across as well on the cd. So give them a gander if they come to your town.

......................................

In non-concert news, the author Jasper Fforde was back in town (*insert much applause*). Y'all, I just think he is just sooo darned cute! Here's a couple of pics for your viewing pleasure.

In fact, the pictures just don't do him justice. You've got to see him speak. So here's a short video I took of him ..... with his accent and mannerisms ... doesn't he just make you think of Hugh Grant???




He does me! I just find him ridiculously charming! Le sigh!

Anyway, that's it for recent concert updates! Hopefully more concert updates later this month!

Maybe it's just me but...

.... am I the only one who found it odd that out of all the places in the world the president of France could have vacationed, he chose to vacation in New Hampshire?? I mean, I don't want to knock New Hampshire or anything, but seriously?!

If you've got a boatload of money and the world as your playground, how far down on your Vacation Destination Choice List is frickin' New Hampshire? I mean, sure, it could and should be there somewhere ... but first? second? twentieth??? Not for me!

Porn for Women

Hee hee. Someone just emailed me this today and I thought I would share! It IS porn for women!!! :)

(click to enlarge ... the captions are priceless!)

Dibs on the shoe shopper! ;)

Experiences I Am Grateful For

• Standing on The Great Wall of China with my mom
  
• Having my name listed in the acknowledgments at the front of a novel
• Viewing NYC from the top of the World Trade Center towers
• Buying a house all on my own
• Taking pictures of Paris from up in the Eiffel Tower
• Growing up getting to play frequently at the Happiest Place On Earth (Disneyland)
• Sitting and looking at the Mona Lisa
• Sunbathing topless on a beach of the French Riviera
• Being gifted with a love song written and recorded for me
• Lettering in varsity
  
• Riding in a horse drawn carriage through Central Park
• Rubbing onto paper a soldier's name off the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC
• Watching the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace
• Seeing the Grand Canyon
• Standing on The Grassy Knoll in Dallas, TX
• Being proposed to
• Standing in awe at Stonehenge
• Seeing a movie at Mann's (Grauman's) Chinese Theater
• Touching Jon Bon Jovi!!
• Taking the Chunnel under the English Channel
• Standing at Shakespeare's grave
• Walking hand-in-hand along the Champs Elysees
• Being thanked in the acknowledgment section on a cd
• Browsing the shops along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills
• Skydiving
• Strolling Les Rambles in Barcelona, Spain
• Being in 4 states at one time (4 Corners)
• Gazing up in amazement at the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel
• Cruising down the Yangtze River
• Riding a gondola in Venice, Italy with the man I loved
• Exploring the Kennedy Space Center
• Watching Old Faithful erupt
• Leaning with the Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Being an extra in a movie
• Attending an Olympic event (1984 in Los Angeles)
• Riding the train from NYC to Los Angeles
• Shopping Harrods in London
• Hiking to the top of Multnomah Falls in Oregon
• Spending time wandering and photographing Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny
• Snorkeling alongside sea turtles in Maui
• Being tipped by another player for rolling such a great round of dice at a craps table
• Visiting the house of Anne Franke in Amsterdam
• Seeing the Hollywood Sign
• Having my fortune told by Madame Marie in Asbury Park, NJ (a'la Bruce Springsteen)
• Sitting in the bleachers for a ballgame at Yankee Stadium
• Making strangers laugh so hard they've cried
• Touching the Berlin Wall
• Walking on the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, AZ
• Touring Hearst Castle
• Receiving tossed strings of beads in New Orleans
• Getting kicked off the train in Spain due to a sudden rail strike
• Looking over the harbor from inside the crown of the Statue of Liberty
• Hiking in the Swiss Alps
• Piloting a boat on Lake Tahoe, NV
  
• Gazing around in awe inside the Library of Congress
• Visiting Pearl Harbor
• Escaping Alcatraz Island
• Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge
• Seeing movie stars out and about in the wilds of Hollywood (and NYC)
• Watching the sun set on Waikiki Beach
• Graduating college with honors
• Climbing to the top of Red Rock Amphitheater in Denver, CO
  
• Riding the bus from all the way across country (California to Massachusetts)
• Seeing the Liberty Bell when it was touring the United States by train
• Eating Belgium Waffles in Belgium
• White water rafting
• Watching a Space Shuttle land
• Having my picture taken with a donkey in Tijuana, Mexico
• Surviving a take-over bank robbery
• Figuring out that over time and various road trips that I have driven the entire length of I5 freeway from the Mexican border to the Canadian border
• Performing on the field of Dodger Stadium
• Being chauffeured around in a Ferrari
• Seeing Michelangelo's statue of "David" in Florence, Italy
• Taking a weedy patch of dead grass and creating a beautiful cottage-style flower garden.
  
• Gambling in Las Vegas
• Touring a Scotch Distillery in Scotland
• Helping to sail a sailboat
• Exploring the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
• Sipping beer in Germany
• Watching the live taping of one of the final episodes of the tv sitcom "Cheers"
• Celebrating the striking of midnight twice the same night on New Year's Eve (two time zones)
• Boogie and body boarding the Southern California beaches
• Seeing a bridge lift for Tower Bridge in London
• Visiting the Colosseum in Rome
• Accidentally stumbling across the most perfect white sandy beach in Oahu
• Eating a Nathan's hot dog in Coney Island, NY with my dad
  
• Sleeping overnight on the sidewalk in order to save a spot to watch the Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA
• Shaking hands with Rob and Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Leslie Nielsen
• Going to the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago
• Successfully knitting a pair of socks (which fit!)
  
• Spelunking
• Getting my kicks driving on Route 66
• Conversing in a mix of English, Spanish and French with a Spaniard in Barcelona in an attempt to find the post office
• Having a wonderful dinner and watching amazing magic at the Magic Castle in Hollywood
• Being in a parade
• Browsing the fabulous Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
• Taking pictures atop Victoria Peak in Hong Kong
• Ringing in a new year making love at midnight to the man I loved
• Flying in a little Cessna plane (and briefly piloting) on a jaunt from Los Angeles to Catalina Island
• Gaining insight into prison life by touring a not-yet-opened (at the time) women's prison in Wilsonville, Oregon
• Touring the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland
• Driving to Canada just to watch a hockey game
• Falling asleep to a show of twinkling lights across Lake Como in Italy
• Midnight forays with my sisters to surreptitiously shake presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.
  
• Bruce Springsteen concerts!
• Seeing the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, China
• Being first place champions of my entire league for high school doubles tennis
• Sipping a beer in the original "Cheers" bar in Boston, Massachusetts
  
• Being in 17 countries (so far) (US, Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, France, Spain, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, China, Hong Kong)

(to be continued! :))

Booooo!

My favorite yarn store in Portland is closing! ARGH!

I swung by on Sunday to buy yarn for two projects I want to start (I know, hello? ... REALLY, there is going to be knitting again? GET OUT!!!! :)) and saw this sign:

I walk in all befuddled.

Me: "uhhh, why does the sign say 'store closing sale'?????"

Salesperson: "yeah, we're closing"

Me: (*blink, blink*)

Me: "but .... whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???"

Salesperson: (*hem, haw*) "oh, several reasons, ya know" (*shuffles off*)

Me: (in head). "wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

But then after looking up and noticing all the yarn...

Me: (in head) "holy shit! All this yarn is 40% off!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!" (*insert happy dance*)

And about $100 later I walked out! YAY for new yarn! (though really, "boo" for store closing!)

So any local Portland knitters who were unaware.... Lint is closing and everything in the store is currently 40% off! And I'm sure the discount will increase as time marches on although the yarn selection will surely decrease as well. So the sooner you get there the better ..... for them and for you! (oh, alright ... for ME too! Because the less yarn there is there, the less I'll be tempted to go back and buy! So help a girl on a budget out, would ya?!! Pretty please? With cherries on top??? :))

p.s. oh, and really, there may be pictures of knitting stuff on this here site again soon!!!!! HOLY COW! I hope you were sitting down for that news cuz that there is quite the shocker I know! So stay tuned! :)

In honor of the new Simpson's movie coming out...

.... here's a photo of CJ and me in our kitchen hoping upon hope that some decent food will magically appear in the fridge!!!! :)

Hee hee hee. I know, I know ... you want to Simpsonize yourself too! So here's the link to the site! Have fun!

Speaking of copying people....

.... Ms C was just in town!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYY! And she made the mistake of showing me the cutest little notepad and telling me where she got it. So now I'VE got one for my purse too!!!! Whoo hoooo!!! (HEY! ... but it's a different color, Ms C, so maybe it's not really copying you at all?!! :))

But here, look, see ... isn't it too cute?!!! (sorry for the crappy pictures!)

And then, and THEN .... we went to a bbq and her friend S made the most delicious mini cheese ravioli pasta salad! And so now I will be copying that TOO!!! (mwaa haa haa haa!)

Oh, oh ... and I copied the rest of the world by buying and reading the new Harry Potter book! I popped into a bookstore Saturday afternoon looking to buy a different book and found a pile of the Harry Potter at 40% off! So I figured, what the hey, since my HP Book Loaner has since moved to North Carolina (bah!). And I had a backup HP Book Loaner (always good to carry a spare) but she got called off to London and I'm not sure if she remembered to pack her ark* before she went so who knows if she would make it back before someone spoiled the book's ending for me.

I think that's it lately with the copying of other people. Let's see, T2 (check), Ms C (check), her friend S (check), Rest Of World (check). Yep! That's it! See?.... not too shabby!

[that's right folks, TWO posts in one day! See, miracles DO happen!!! :)]

*massive flooding there for those of you who didn't get that ark reference!

Pop Quiz!

I won't tell you which of my two cats is the intelligent and fearless one, and which one is afraid of her own shadow (*cough*Emma*cough*). But let's see if you can tell from the following scenario:

I bring home a drinking water fountain* for the cats. Neither has ever seen one before. I assemble it, fill it with water, and plug it in for the first time. I call each cat over:

Reaction of Cat #1:

"Hot damn! Running water in a bowl!!! This is GENIUS!!! Mom, you rock!" (*slurp, slurp, slurp*)

Reaction of Cat #2:

"HOLY F!!!! What the HELL is THAT?!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I know, I know ... it's a tough call. But I have faith in you! ;)

*yep, I have copied you AGAIN, T2! Hopefully you take it as "imitation is a form of flattery" instead of "holy crap, it's time to get a restraining order!!!!!" :)

So yesterday some folks and I took a guided tour of the Oregon Zoo with a Cherokee Indian priestess. As we walked along, the priestess pointed out the significance of certain animals and how their appearance at different times in your life might have a specific spiritual meaning.

It was pretty interesting in that some of the animals did strange things when certain people in our group approached. Like one beaver would not leave one woman alone. Kept following her and putting its nose to the glass wherever she was at. The priestess indicated that the beaver symbolizes a builder and that this person might want to make sure she wasn't building herself into a corner somehow in her life.

Another had a huge swarm of fish pay extra special attention to her. I didn't catch the significance of that.

And another had two monkeys staring and screeching at her. The monkeys indicating foolishness.

And me?? Well, I had a billy goat licking on my hand for quite awhile. Which apparently doesn't have any great spiritual significance .... other than perhaps I was a big salt lick in a past life??

Sigh.

I am, perhaps, not so good at this spiritual stuff. The priestess was speaking about the giraffes having long necks because they are more godlike, closer to god, etc. And I couldn't help but think "or maybe they have long necks because their food source is the leaves off trees!!". Yeah, me and my logical mind are going to hell. Quick, send a hand basket!!!

But until I go to hell ..... I've got pictures (of course!)!!! Here's my favorite! Nothing like being up close and personal with a polar bear!!

And here are a few others:

"I like big butts and I can not lie...."

"Yeah, Kat, you're going to hell." - God-raffe

Hope y'all had a great weekend too! And I wasn't kidding about that hand basket! ;)

An Ellen for your very own!

Get-out!!! I was so excited at lunch today when I was looking to purchase a card for a friend and stumbled across a whole selection of Ellen DeGeneres cards!!! Whoo hooo! Who knew?!!!!! I didn't realize she had a line of cards out! They were so cute! And I'm geeky enough that I stopped and read each and every one!

And though they didn't have one for the topic I needed, there are a bunch of birthday ones I liked. So for those of you with birthdays approaching ... you've been warned!!! ;)

Words of Wisdom

I just heard the greatest quote yesterday and so I thought I would share. The speaker was talking about the "disipline of respect" and said:

"You are the master of your words til you speak them -- then they are the master of you."

How true is that??? I love it!

And another little tidbit I found today, supposedly a quote from Danny Thomas to his daughter Marlo is:

"Put blinders on and run your own race"

Aren't those both great?? Now if only I could learn to live by those words ... ;)

I'll be working on it! :)

Happy Monday!!!

Friday Roundup - with pictures!

So I'm catsitting for my friend T2 and her hubby C and y'all ... T2 is a HOOT!

So they have this humungo entertainment system in their media room (yep, I said "media room" ... how's that for hi-faluten?! :)) and I said I would probably kick it there and watch one of their umpteen movies to spend some time with their cats each time I came over.

So C goes about pulling out all eleventeen hundred remote controls to show me which buttons to push where and in which order so I will know how to watch a dvd when I catsit.

It went something like this:

C: "This remote turns on the receiver....."

Me: (in my head) "receiver?????"

C: "...and on this one you'll want to press 'input' and then choose 4 if you want a dvd or 6 for cable...."

Me: (in my head) "oh god, 'input'?? And then which number was dvd????"

T2: "And this one is for tv volume also."

C: "This is the cable one...."

C: "....And this one controls the dvd ...."

T2: "Here's the actual dvd recorder ... you just put the dvd in here"

Me: "Wait! ... where did you just push to get the dvd to open??"

C: "And this remote works the lights..."

Me: (in my head) (and maybe aloud) "Lights?? GAHHHHHHHH!!!"

Me: "Okay, maybe I'll just bring a book to read instead??" (*whimper*)

At which point T2 said not to worry about it because she'd write up a Remote Control Cheat Sheet for me!

And she did!!! Look how cute!!! She did pictures and everything .... I couldn't stop laughing!!!

Ah too funny ... you've got to love a friend that will still love you even though you are perhaps completely and utterly Electronically Challenged!

Anyway, they also provided me with a fridge full of my favorite drinks in the whole wide world!!!!

Mmmm, mmm, mmm! So sweet! I am so spoiled!

And so I popped over Wednesday to hang with the cats for a bit and I'm happy to report that after a few trials and errors (word of advise: don't let your big fingers accidentally push buttons on the remotes not listed on your cheat sheets. Weird things happen and panic ensues.) ... SUCCESS!

So I watched Smokin' Aces starring Jeremy Pivens (above), Ben Affleck, and Ryan Reynolds (mmm, mmm, mmm ... see below).

And as you can see, one of the cats (Peeps) joined me. A grand time was had by all and I'm pretty sure I was able to turn everything off afterwards!!! (fingers crossed!)

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Speaking of grand times .... Miss CJ has been living it up on the deck lately!

She managed to find a few inches amongst my flower pots to lay and sprawled out in style! I especially like her "bed head" ("deck body"??) in the second one. And the fact that she learned my "if you stand next to something big, you look smaller and more petite" theory in that last one! ;)

After the sun moved off, she chose to steal MY chair instead....

So I annoyed her with endless pictures til she let me sit down too!

Not to be outdone, Emma came outside too and took time to smell the .... well, bamboo?

Oh well, she almost got it right. My "special" child. :)

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To celebrate the 4th, what's more "American" then heading out to a baseball game and downing some hotdogs, nachos, peanuts, and whatever else the food vendors bring your way??!!

That's right ... nuthin! :)

So that's what a couple of friends and I did.

Now Portland doesn't have much in the way of major league sports (I try to overlook the Blazers) but we do have a couple of farm teams .... one hockey and one baseball. The baseball is a Triple A farmteam for the San Diego Padres and they are called the Portland Beavers.

The weather was beautiful on the 4th and the stadium where they play is nice....

......the scoreboard is a hoot (they still do it "manual" so if you click on the picture you can actually see the person sticking their head out through the 10th inning slot to watch if the ump will next call a ball or a strike!)......

......I love the view (most people may find that Oregonian building ugly but I like it)......

.....there be fireworks after the game!!........

.....and the field is full of athletic men in tight pants!!!

Needless to say, I had a great time! ;)

As I hope y'all did!

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In closing, I thought I'd leave you with this Living Will from Maxine! It's a hoot ... I hope everyone enjoys! Have a great weekend ...........and I'll catch you on the flipside!!!

I, MAXINE , being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of pinhead politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it, or lawyers / doctors interested in simply running up the bills. If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to ask for at least one of the following:

A Glass of Scotch
Chocolate
A Margarita
Chocolate
A Bag of M&Ms
A Glass of Scotch
Chocolate
Chicken fried steak
Chocolate
Mexican food
Chocolate
French fries
Chocolate
Pizza
Chocolate
Ice cream
A Pint of Scotch
Chocolate
Chocolate
A Fifth of Scotch
Chocolate

Then it should be presumed that I won't ever get better.
When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my appointed person and attending physicians
to pull the plug, reel in the tubes, let the "fat lady sing". . and call it a day!