Happy Halloween, y'all!

A couple of cute cartoons for your Halloween enjoyment!

Sorry, the math geek in me loves this one! ;)

HA! Do ya get it?!! "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater"!

hee hee hee ... this one is my favorite

Happy Halloween, Everybody!

I see Little People

And I'm sure I'm going to hell for saying that. :)

But it's true.

My friend S and I took a trip out to Roloff Farms on Saturday. Do y'all know who the Roloffs are? They have that TLC (The Learning Channel) reality show called "Little People, Big World".

For those of you unfamiliar, the Roloffs are a family consisting of Little People and Average Sized People. Matt (the dad) and Amy (the mom) are Little People. There are four kids. Jeremy and Zach .....16 year old twin boys. (Jeremy is Average Sized and Zach is a Little Person.) Molly the younger daughter (Average Sized) and Jacob the youngest son (also Average Sized).

Anyway, the family is local to Portland, Oregon. And each October I guess they open their farm up for the public to come out and check out their big Pumpkin Patch.

Here's a picture of Amy. S and I took a picture with her but because when I looked at the picture I Also Saw Big* People (that would be me) ... I'm leaving you with nothing but Amy ....and my shoulder (on the left side) for scale! ;) (love you, Photo Editing Software!)

*note to self .... taking a picture with a Little Person and with a guy who weighs maybe 100 pounds soaking wet is NOT good for ones self-esteem. Just sayin'! :)

Here's a sign on the property warning that you may be captured on camera. I did see them filming Matt but that was in the distance and I made sure to stay out of camera range. (who me? Camera-phobic?? :))

And you can also tour other areas on the farm where Matt has spent years building things such as a Western Town.....

a barrel of bras?? :)

....a pirate ship, ......

arrrrrrr!

....a three story tree house....

first two levels

............... which no self-respecting bigger,older woman should try climbing (especially trying to hold the purse in one hand) ... just sayin'.......

The Rope Ladder of PleaseGodDon'tLetAnyoneBeVideoingThis!!!

...... and a castle!

I'm tellin' ya ... this place is a kid's paradise! Pretty awesome!

They also had a tractor-pulled hayride (that's Zach driving the tractor)....

.... and a Pumpkin Catapult.

The catapult was awesome! Those pumpkins went a-flyin'! Reminded me of that Northern Exposure episode where they catapulted that body (does anyone remember that show?!! I'm datin' myself, aren't I?? :))

[Bad news on the catapult though. I heard this morning that there was an accident with it later that day and the youngest son Jacob and another gentleman (perhaps the one pictured here?) were seriously injured. So I'm sending good thoughts that they get released from the hospital soon and all is well.]

And in the western town, lo and behold, I spotted yarn!!! So I HAD TO stop and checked it out of course!

Little did I know that this lady spinning the wool is Matt's mom. So we stopped and chatted with her and Jeremy (also pictured) for awhile. (Jeremy, btw, is going to be quite The Lady Killer. Mark my word, peeps .... there will be posters of him plastered to many a teenage girl's bedroom walls. I know these things! ;))

Anyway, I was asking about the filming and Matt's mom said that the crew is there 10 hours a day, 5 days a week!!!! Holy Cow!!!!! But Jeremy interjected that if the family really wants a day off that they can request one. Or if a special event is going on, that the crew may film a little of it but then leave to give the family some privacy.

Also, Jeremy was saying that he wanted viewers to focus on the music that TLC lays down on top of the film. He said it is interesting how the music can really intensify what is just a normal sibling squabble or whathaveya.

AND ... they were talking about the amount of email that they get. Matt's mom said that Matt gets a new email every four seconds (I think) and Jeremy said he gets approximately two a minute! YIKES! And this is a show that is not a big hit or anything (in fact, I'm guessin' most of you have never seen it.) Can you imagine how it must be for actors in shows or movies which are hugely popular!?! That would be insane!

Anyway, they were all really down to earth. And all very sweet. So check out the show if you get the chance. And send best wishes for the two injured on Saturday.

[update 10/31/2006 2:35 PM: Looks like The Oregonian posted an article about this incident with the pumpkin catapult. Plus some other interesting tidbits on disgruntled neighbors and celebrity stalkers]

Say what?!

So I found myself on an online Australian news site yesterday (oddly, I don't recall how I got there .... send mental help!) and became transfixed by some of their headlines.

For instance, for this first one I thought that perhaps the Riot Minister literally fell on a sword and wondered how the hell he did that. Was it an accident? Was it on purpose?

Riot minister falls on his sword

And I just HAD to know ... so I read the article. Only to find out .... no sword. (yes, I AM a real blonde ... why do you ask?? :))

So I moved on .... and saw this:

Parents dob in thugs who filmed girl's assault

And thought ... "dob in"?? Is that a typo?! ... do they mean "do in"?? Or is it really "dob"?? So I read that one too. (fyi: it was really "dob"! :))

And how about this one:

Digital stoush: Angry Burgess fires off a salvo to Kirk

I clicked on that article but it just didn't look interesting enough so I moved on .... (heh)

Or this?

Diggers in Iraq 'home within 18 months'

("Diggers" equals "Soldiers"? Yes????)

This one I really liked. "Car rebirthing"! HA!

Chinese student charged over car rebirthing

Yep. Just a plethora of fun stuff to read.

Odd though. Through all the articles I read I never found anything about "putting shrimp on the barbie"! Huh. :)

AGAIN with The Dots!

AND with the Frosting Malfunction! (HEY! It could happen two weeks in a row! Ya-huh! Ya-HUHHHH! ;))

Anyway, I kinda cheated with regard to the frosting this week. I mean, my intentions were good, don't think they weren't ... but things just sorta well .... happened.

Like with my first batch of frosting that I was going to use to frost the cake. I tried using half a stick of butter instead of just straight shortening. But, APPARENTLY, butter needs to be completely softened before trying to whip it up with other ingredients. Else you get little tiny bits of non-blended butter in your icing (who knew??? :)). So Little Butter Bitted Frosting combined with having to try icing the cake using a butter knife (could NOT find my spatula for the life of me!) equates to a very crummily (and quite "crumbily") frosted cake.

So.

That meant I had to make TWO MORE batches of frosting ... STILL. AND again ice the cake.

Which did not make Kat a happy Cake Decorator. (especially when pms'ing. (yes, STILL!))

So I figured "screw that!" ... I'll just buy a can of Wilton's ready made frosting ... ice the cake with that ... then only have to make ONE other batch to take to class for the actual Decorating Of The Cake.

So I did.

Which is all good (especially having found the spatula the next morning (IN PLAIN SIGHT, mind you!)) except that the canned frosting does not do that Magical Hardening Thingamabob which makes De-Wrinkling The Iced Cake a breeze. The frosting was mega-soft (fairly yummy though). So the cake was iced with many wrinkles and even some crumbs.

Luckily, The PMS kept me from caring! ;)

BUT THEN, The PMS also kept me from reading the list of which types of frosting we needed to bring to class. I thought "medium consistency".

I thought wrong.

Hence the frosting was veddy, veddy soft and the petals of my roses all kinda globbed all over each other during The Making Of The Frosting Roses in class.

And so we got this, as my last cake of Wilton's Cake Decorating Class - Course #1*!

Not The Best ...(I CAN do better) ... but still quite yummy. And that's REALLY the important part, right??! :)

*of which I am an Official Graduate .... certificate and all! Thankyouverymuch! :)!

Sorry folks!

Still playing with the templates. Just not finding anything I like. I'll settle on something at some point! I swear!

But must leave my office right now. The fire alarms have been going off (man, it takes you RIGHT back to grade school and everyone lining up to exit the building for all those fire drills!). Anyway, I hear there is no REAL fire (just smoke) in the office on our floor so our company has decided not to leave. So I've just sat here typing away while the alarms have blared.

BUT.

Someone just announced that the fire department has arrrived!

That's right ..... fire alarm blaring?! Smoke billowing about?? I ain't leaving.

But what's that?? ... did I hear you say that there are firemen wandering about out there??! Okay, okay ... twist my arm, would ya?! I'll go! SHEESH!

But only for safety's sake, of course! :)

Welcome to the new blog format!

It's a miracle!!! But I DO believe the changeover to the new Blogger occurred without loss of life or limb. Or , perhaps more importantly, without loss of blog posts! :)

I am digging the new Blogger. Some great features which make adding/editing features in the template pretty dang snazzy! A few quirks I've found that I'd like to find solutions for ......But I've done enough for the day.

May make some other adjustments as the week progresses, with regard to color and categories and whatnot.

But in the meantime, feel free to surf-away .... while at work even!!!! :)

Oh, one more thing!

I see that Blogger has a new beta site which offers up more features! (like categorizing! WHOO HOOOO!).

So, if I want to switch mine over.

However .... (isn't there always a "however"!!! :)) .... when I looked into it a couple of evenings ago, Blogger threw up all kinds of "are you sure you want to do this?! No, no ... REALLY ... are you SURE????" messages .... so I've the feeling it may not be as easy as one may like. AND .. all the warnings seem to indicate that once I click 'yes' ... ain't no going back.

Soooo ... I'd like to say it's been nice knowing you all ................. hehehe. No, no .... I WILL still have a site come Monday. (*fingers and toes crossed*).

BUT ... I just wanted to give y'all a heads up JUST IN CASE! (oh me of little faith! ;)).

Also, they have new templates to choose from. And since I've been getting complaints ... errr, HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS! ;) ... from folks who say that the bright pink background on my site makes it difficult for them to surreptitiously surf at work .... I may change that out as well.

So here's hoping that:

A) I have time to work on it this weekend
B) all my past entries transfer over (please, Blogger-Gods, don't lose my stuff!) [this one really is BY FAR the most important]
C) it looks all nice and pretty when I'm done (I think I tried changing the template once before and all the fonts and such went cockeyed! OY!)
D) they have the categorizing working! (can't wait! I will have a Knitting one, a Craigslist Bashing one, a Cake Decorating one, a Concert Roundup one, a Travel one, a Dating Sucks one .... and? and? and? (whoo hooo!!!!!!))

So wish me luck!!! :) And I hope to catch y'all on the flip side!

Hold on to your britches....

..... there be knittin' going on! (HOLY COW, right?!)

But yes, folks! There has been KNITTING! Whodathunkit?

Here is a fun little scarf I knit up real quick for a friend's daughter. I used Fun Fur Stripes yarn and held two pieces together (each starting on a different color stripe) for the funky, fuzzy effect.

I also made a similar funky scarf for my niece's birthday bunny which I finally* finished.

Well, I say "finished" but OBVIOUSLY I still need to stitch in the eyes and nose. (Hmmmmm. Perhaps I should be calling this her 'Early Christmas Present' what with it already being several weeks late for her birthday (oops ... bad aunt!) and ..... even if/when I finish the bunny face ... who KNOWS when I'll actually get it mailed! Yeah, yeah ... an "early Christmas present" .... that's the ticket!! :) (sorry, little K!))

Speaking of Fun Fur, folks! Michaels is having a mega sale on it this week! Only $2 a skein! So if you like to add in some Fun Fur (or many other kinds of fun, cheap yarn) every once in awhile .... run-DON'T WALK to your nearest Michaels! I wouldn't be surprised if the sale ends Saturday! Just sayin' is all!

*please remind me that when I do these bunnies using DPNs instead of circular needles that I have to adjust which needle I start the head on by 1. Because this is the SECOND time now that I've gotten to the top of the head only to realize that it is 1/4 off! ARGH! So I have to frog the head and do it again. This is why this bunny is (super) late .... I hate redoing things (which also explains why it took me several weeks to repaint my bedroom (the color didn't come out right the first time)! I HATE ME THE REDO!)

Sometimes there is such a thing as TOO much customer service

So I know I was bitchin' a bit the other day about poor customer service because I was trapped in the bowels of the Whole Foods parking garage for hours*! But call me picky, call me 'The Customer Service Nazi', call me pms'ing ;), WHATEVER .... but TOO much customer service can equate to poor customer service as well.

How's that, you ask?

Well, let me explain about my jaunt to the Miller Paint store.

I love me the Miller Paint store, don't get me wrong. They make me oh-so-happy with their huge display of Devine Paint colors, my all-time favorite paint brand. And the workerbees there are always helpful and cheery enough as well.

But Miller has this policy of physically carrying out the order to the customer's car for them. Always. Which, when you've got two or more gallons of paint to lug out to your car, can be MUCH appreciated, don't get me wrong. Even say, one gallon of paint and maybe a couple of paint rollers.

But y'all, my purchase this week was THIS:

That's right. I had a whopping THREE four-ounce packets of sample paint. All three I can easily scoop up in my hand and shove into my purse. I don't NEED (nor want) that order carried out to my car for me. I feel like an idiot. And hate the pressure of making small talk along the way.

So when Miller Workerbee (MW) was finishing ringing me up at the register, I plotted to thwart the He Will Carry It For Me plan by grabbing up these packets before he had the chance. But these MWs are wiley creatures, don't think they aren't, and seem to be on-guard for those of us who attempt to grab our order and leave. Truly, their timing is impeccable. Because just as I was handed my receipt signaling the end of the transaction, and just as I reached simultaneously with my other hand to grab at my sample packets, MW deftly (and with lightening speed, I might add) grabbed them first and started heading around the counter and to the door.

And this guy was tall. So I practically had to jog to keep up with him. He who KNEW I preferred to carry my own because he kept rebuffing (in a very polite manner, and always with a smile) any and all attempts for me to gain custody of these packets and go.

I felt like I was a kid in grade school being picked on by the school bully. Or, errr, being that I don't recall ever being picked on by a school bully, let's go with being picked on by older siblings (you know who you are!). Ya know, the older and taller sisters who would grab something of yours and hold it over your head as you made vain leaps at it, always ending 6 inches too low because you weren't quite as tall as them yet?

But I swear no polite attempt from me was getting me those sample packets before we were carside. None whatsoever.

Because I traipsed after him, occasionally reaching for the packets while vainly interjecting, "okay, thank you so much, I've got it from here". "Yes, the rain HAS been shocking ... thank you so much, I can take it from here...".

At the end of the counter, I tried.

When we reached the door, I tried.

To no avail.

Until finally, head hung in defeat, I just trudged after him til we reached my car, then stood, head still hanging, with arm outstretched, for the Transfer of The Paint Order.

Sigh.

Y'all. Seriously. It was THREE FRICKIN' LITTLE PACKETS OF PAINT!!

Don't get me wrong. I think it is honorable that you, Oh Paint Which Is Miller, strive to achieve excellent customer service by going above and beyond what other paint stores will do for you. But really. Can't we just carry out our own order if that's what makes us happy??? Perhaps a little flexibility in this policy is in order?

Because I know that I would certainly appreciate the Carry My Own option. And I'm guessin' there are many a burly men who would feel the same way. Just sayin'.

[End of rant**]

*FINE! It was only like 10 minutes. But is SEEMED like hours!!!
**hmmm, I'm thinkin' maybe I should go scrounge up some chocolate to counter these pms "everyone SUCKS" thoughts! Whatdaya think?! :)]

A Frosting Malfunction

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it, peeps! :)

This week we learned how to create The Shell (y'all will recognize it when you see the edging on my cake this week), the second part of how to create the classic Icing Rose (the final part we learn next class. So stay tuned next week for a beautifully rose covered cake!!! (heh heh)), and a clown.

What's that?... a CLOWN you say?! Yep, a clown.

Kinda like this ... only with a plastic head you can purchase from the craft store.

And because I wasn't feeling a Clown Cake, when my Clown Attempts turned out to be beautifully melted Clown Puddles due to melty frosting, I decided "SCREW IT! I don't want no stinkin' clown ANYWAY!!"!

So I went with beautifully Melted Colored Dots instead ... because it's MY cake ... and I love me the dots! :)

Catfish-ing

I say "baitless fishing" because this cat toy .... errr, FISHING POLE ...USED to have many feathers attached to it. Now ... nary a one.

I'd say it was The Mystery of The Century .... but I'd be lying.

Missing feathers* .... Many kitty teeth marks. Hmmmm. Should we call in CSI??

Now y'all, just for the record, I was GOING to throw this Now Ghetto Cat Toy out. But Miss Emma ... she LOVES it. She wants to pet it and love it and hug on it and "tell me the story about the rabbits, George" on it. So I didn't have the heart to throw it out. Sigh.

*though where the feathers ARE IS a mystery. Though I'm thinkin' one I would rather not ponder too much. If'n you know what I mean!

Let us out! Let us out!!!

So I went to a Whole Foods store downtown at lunch yesterday.

Well, wait....that's kinda misleading. I ACTUALLY ran an errand to the downtown Powell's Books at lunch. But PARKED in a parking lot beneath the Whole Foods store which was reserved for Whole Foods customers. I mean, Powell's also has a parking structure but it is truly a Death Trap. Or at least a Dented Car Trap. (trust me on this ... even a Powell's employee I was chatting with then was saying he only risked parking in it once ... and has now resorted to riding his bike to work.)

And just so y'all know, I TRIED for street parking but HELLO .... downtown street parking at noon? ... what are the chances?? And I know, I know, I know ..... bad to be parking somewhere without being a customer. So let it be known that on the way back THROUGH the Whole Foods store, I did purchase something. Because I DID need a box of Ginger Snaps. (Or I wanted my parking ticket validated. Whatever. (Semantics, I say! ;)))

The bottom line is .... around 12:35pm I and my car found ourselves waiting in line to pay the attendant to exit the Whole Foods underground parking structure.

Here's the scene:

There are three parking gates (you know what I'm talking about, with the arm blocking the path keeping cars from entering or exiting). The parking gate on the far left is for cars entering the structure and the two other ones are for cars leaving. I was in the right-most lane which, unbeknownst to me...having never parked there before, was the outgoing lane for non-validated parking tickets only. The center lane (ie. the lane to my left) was for everyone who had their tickets validated (oops). But I had a car behind me by the time I saw the sign and was stuck. Ah well.

So anyway, I'm sitting behind one car who is paying with Tollmaster Lady #1. They are taking FOREVER. Tollmaster Lady #1 is looking kinda flustered and has a flurry of button pushing activity going on. She has a Tollmaster Lady #2 crammed in the booth with her who is also looking concerned as TL#1 continues with the flustering (hey, I can make up words if I want to*! It is MY blog!)

So I look over at the other outgoing lane to see if that lane is moving faster. But they've got about FIVE cars lined up in that lane and the driver of the first car is actually out of her car trying to get her ticket to work in that lane's automated ticket reader (no Tollmasters manning that booth). A driver from one of the cars behind her comes up to her and suggests that perhaps she ask for assistance from one of the two TollMasters crammed into Booth #1.

So she does. Only to have TL #2 acknowledge her with a nod of her head but stay firmly planted in the booth overlooking the still flustered, button-pushing and sometimes phone calling TL#1.

I look further to the left and see that there is now quite the line of cars trying to get INTO the structure as well. They are stacked all the way up the drive to get in ... no-one moving AT ALL. And no Tollmasters manning that booth either.

Up beside me someone else walks and says to the Forehead Wrinkled in Angst Tollmasters that really they need to get the problem resolved ... and fast! (I'm sure that was very helpful for them btw, Angry Driver #1)

By now there are, of course, a number of cars behind me, more cars in the other exit lane and cars giving up and turning around to get out of the line attempting to enter the structure.

After much waiting, and a palpable impatience filling the parking structure air, TL#1 takes some keys, walks over to the parking gate keeping the car in front of me trapped, and lifts the gate so that the car in front of me can leave.

"Whoo hooo!", I think. They got smart and are just going to let us out, then deal with the problem. Ya know, for the sake of some decent customer service**!

I think wrong.

As I pull up with much excitement at getting the hell out of this underground hellhole, the gate lowers (argh!!!), trapping me at the booth. I look over and TL#1 says "I'm so sorry about the wait" and reaches for my ticket. I'm thinking, "okay, well great, they must have got it fixed but just had a problem with that guy's ticket which is why they had to let him out manually!".

Wrong-o again.

I knew my "They Got It Fixed" theory was WAY off base as soon as TL#1 inserted my ticket into the booth's ticket reader amid the mumblings of "please god, let it work THIS time ... please god, let it work THIS time". (I kid you not)

Never-ever a good sign, right?!

And so I patiently waited. And after much mechanical ponderings, the ticket machine decided to remain unworking. STILL.

So, as TL#2 picked up the phone to again contact someone who so far has been completely unhelpful, TL#1 continued to jam my ticket into the Defunct Ticket Machine. Knowing this would in all probability NOT SOLVE THE COMPUTER'S PROBLEM, I suggested to TL#1 that perhaps she could just let everyone out? (again, I'm thinking like someone who cares about decent customer support. Call me crazy!)

With a quizzical look and continued jabbings of my ticket into the ticket machine as my unspoken negatory answer from TL#1, I figured "SCREW THE MASSES!!! ... JUST SAVE YOURSELF, KAT ... JUST SAVE YOURSELF!!!!".

So I leaned over again and suggested that perhaps she could just let ME out ... since the machine wasn't working and all and since I didn't owe any money.

But TL#1 looks at my ticket and says "uh-uh ..it says 12:07"

???

Okay.

So I venture to reply .... "but it's validated."

So with a harried glance at the underside of my ticket, an irritated (???) TL#1 caved and grabbed up her keys! Whoo hoooo!

I was free! I was free!!!

Which may or may not be true for the rest of the schmucks who were trapped there. I wonder how long they had to wait?


*oops! That's an actual word. I just checked. Who KNEW?! Moving on! :)
**Because really, did the Tollmasters not realize that keeping all those people trapped there was going to cost more money in returned shopping business losses then they would save by making them pay to get out?? Especially being that most of those folks owed NOTHING! And the ones that did, at a mere rate of $1.25 per hour, owed maybe (AT MOST) $5 EACH??". But that's just logic talking. Crazy me! What was I thinking??

I can't help but giggle

Yep, it's a struggle to keep from giggling aloud every time I look at my first decorated cake!

Here's the cake pic .... please feel free to giggle at it with me!

Lesson #1: "Stars", "Dots", and "Curvy Lines"

(*snicker, snicker*)

Does this bring back memories to anyone else of my class on felting? (more infamously known as "The Sheep Shit Hat Class"??). Because it does to me!!

But in my defense, the cake just looks especially lopsided and such in this picture. I swear it isn't that bad in real life (no, no ... REALLY! :))

The cake decorations on the other hand .... well, for that, sadly, I have no defense! (hehe)

The good news is ... folks here at work didn't seem to care. Because I put the cake out in the break room at 10:07 am looking like this ....

... and, quite literally, by 10:20 am ... the cake looked like this! (not bad for a small office of about 20 people and with no announcement from me that there was cake available!)

Hi there! Welcome to We R Piggies, Inc.

So now if there are no reported food poisonings around here in the next hour or so (*fingers crossed*), I'll consider cake #1 a success! Whoo hoo!

Time to break out the straight jacket

So I had a bizarro dream last night and I'm not sure what it means. Care to help?

First you should know that I labored for hours over making and icing that dang cake last night in anticipation for my cake decorating class tonight. HOURS!

WHO KNEW it could be such a pain in the arse to make icing from scratch! (and hello?! I've never heard of Crisco solid shortening until my teacher suggested it so how was I supposed to know that I have to purchase the PURE WHITE kind ... else my frosting comes out pale yellow (oops!*)). And then to attempt to ice the cake in such a way as to get the icing to sit completely flat, wrinkle-free and crumb-free. (of which it is not, might I add). Yeahhh. Not really my idea of a fun evening.

But I digress. On to the dream!

So in the dream I show up to class and I have completely forgotten my cake! ARGH, right?! I mean, what the hell am I going to decorate? Anyway, everyone else is there with their perfectly iced cakes, ready to get to the lesson. But when one of the chicks hears that I forgot my cake, she, Miss Ever-Prepared, says not to worry because she came overly-prepared for the class. So she reaches into her bag and hands me a perfectly seasoned, scrumiliciously looking, already cooked chicken breast!!!

Y'all ... WTF?!

And if that wasn't crazy enough .... instead of reacting in a "WTF??" manner ... I am actually relieved and grateful for the chicken breast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like it was actually solving all my problems!

Holy hell, y'all! It's time to show me to the looney bin. It's the only way I can explain it!

*I will, of course, be telling folks in class that I MEANT for the icing to be yellow. Plain white icing ... BAH ... how boring!! Yep, I used some of the yellow food coloring to pretty it up some, that's right. (hey, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!!! :))

There is "lucky" and then there is "LUCKY!!!!"

Holy bejeezus .... have y'all seen THIS video???

Thank you, George Clooney!

Look how beautiful this bouquet of flower is! My friend K sent them to me at work as a 'thank you' for helping out on the charity auction. Wasn't that sweet?!

"Please ignore me. Thank you", says Mr. Messy Desk.

They are just GORGEOUS!

Of course, I've had UMPTEEN coworkers stopping by my office to inquire about them. Most trying to get the dirt on whatever man they are assuming I must be hiding up my sleeve. So I've been playing along .... acting all coy and mysterious .... and perhaps mumbling something about "from George Clooney" under my breath. (what? It COULD happen! Yuh-huhhhh.)

I mean, I started out by telling the truth. Really I did! But then 5 words into it (those five words being: "oh, they're from a girlfriend") and I'd start seeing that amused gleam in their eye and the razzing would begin. So now the word is that they are from George Clooney. So shhhhh, don't tell!! I think they're buying it! ;)

Timing is everything

Okay, so I finally decided to step up and take a class I've been interested in for years. Hallelujah!

And I have also finally started a diet this week! I've been meaning to for months!! Whoo hooo! .... YAY ME!

I am kicking ass and taking names, don't you agree? :)

But there is something niggling in the back of my brain. Something which keeps trying to infer that there is some kind of flaw in my Diet Plan. I have pondered it and pondered it but to no avail. Maybe y'all can help?

Here's what I've got:

Sunday: Started diet
Monday: Signed up for cake decorating class (what?)
Tuesday: Took first class and learned that homework each week will be to bake and ice a cake to bring to the next class, making sure to also bring extra icing for in-class decorating. Weekly decorated cakes will then, of course, go home with their creators.

I'm telling you, folks .... there's a flaw in this Diet Plan somewhere but I just can't seem to quite put my finger on it. Oh well. So for my first cake, should I make a chocolate cake with a nice, rich buttercream icing?? I already learned how to add in a delicious Bavarian Cream filling for the middle layer. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Can't wait!

Photo Potpourri

Who knew Portland had a White House?! I KNOWWWW ... neither did I!

But it does .... see?!

I stumbled across this while on another of those historical walks ... this time around the Irvington district. I guess this White House serves as a bed and breakfast. Who. Knew!?!

I tell ya, the crazy things you can find while stumbling around town on foot! ;)

I also stumbled across this ... a mini Doberman Pincher. Is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen??

I'm not even a fan of the small dog (sorry Penny) but this one was just too cute. And y'all ... I never even knew this breed existed!! I really do need to get out more!

Speaking of which, so I popped into a New Seasons Market* the other night because CJ was begging for some turkey and I had none (bad mom). And though CJ is not a big fan of their turkey (I think they just get too fancy with their seasonings**), I chose to go there because I was still not feeling 100% and it was the closest grocery store. So I picked out a couple of already cooked chicken quarters for her from their deli.

But while there, I wandered a bit and decided I REALLY should purchase something else ... ya know, while I was ACTUALLY IN a grocery store. (as y'all know, it's not like my cupboards are brimming over with food at home). But just couldn't find anything to my liking (or that I could justify buying at their prices ;)). So my big purchases ..... the two chicken quarters, two plums and a bottle of wine I could not pass up .... based only on the name. (errr, and that it was on sale!)

But look .... it's called "Herding Cats"! HA! I HAD to have it! Lord knows how it tastes ..... but cute name.

So anyway, my bizarre grouping of purchased items did earn me a "have a nice dinner" from the checkout lady! HAHA! I couldn't even tell her that the chicken was for my cat (I'd already eaten), the wine was for future guests (or just show-n-tell ... whatever) and the plums .... well, the plums are still sitting on my counter. Y'all know.

Also a week or two ago I volunteered with Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital for their Dogtoberfest! They raise money by washing and drying dogs all afternoon for $5 a dog! It was great fun! Some beautiful dogs ... and not so bad dog owners, if I might say! ;) Here's a pic I took of the chaos as I was leaving after my shift ended....

And last but not least, my new purchase for my home! Isn't this picture great! I LUVVVVS it!

Okay, that's the latest. Wish me luck ... I'm starting a class tonight which I've been interested in for awhile ... but been dragging my feet over taking because if I really, truly love it and start pursuing it with a passion ... I could well end up weighing 500 pounds. More tomorrow...... :)

*for those of you not familiar with New Seasons, think many organic foods at high prices ;).
** so, should I be more embarrassed that my cat prefers cheap turkey .... or that I KNOW that my cat prefers cheap turkey????????? :)