Monthly Archive for November, 2004

I told Kris on Thanksgiving that I wished we’d never had the idea of GJ buying a house close to us.

I dreamt on Sunday night that the house sold. I drove by it this morning to see if there was a sign saying as much, but there wasn’t.

GJ called Amber today to see if they could make an appointment on Friday for Doug to see the house. Amber told her the house already sold.

I’m glad it’s over. It felt like a lost cause weeks ago, but as long as the house was available, the dream wouldn’t leave. And now it’s gone.

by
LBC
on 30Nov04
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I’ve been burgled.

As of Friday morning, my car was still full of camping gear from our trip to Buck’s Pocket plus the bin of baby clothes. I’d taken out the clothes to wash them, but before I made it back to the car to unload the sleeping bags, Kris got back from an errand and yadda, yadda, yadda, the car remained unlocked until Sunday.

Before church, I got out all the stuff that my Dad had lent to us for camping� air mattress, fleecy things, backpack. I was unloading the backpack of our belongings when I looked at the console where my cd cases go.

Empty.

I came back inside and asked Kris to call Brad and see if he was playing a joke on me. I mean, the digital camera was there in the backpack, and 20 more cds were in an organizer in the backseat� surely a thief would have taken more, right?

Brad didn’t do it. Somebody stole about half a dozen of my cds.

I know it’s not too bad, considering. I mean, the cds are nothing to replace compared to the camera. And Jaimie once had three times as many cds stolen. But still, the feeling. The violation.

These I know are missing:
No Doubt’s The Singles 1992 - 2003
Liz Phair’s self-titled album
Nelly Furtado’s Folklore
Case for the Don Chaffer album that’s still in the cd player, may or may not have contained some other album.
The case for a worship album called Fragrant Oil that actually contained a bootleg copy of The Strokes.

And a coupon for a free rental at the new Blockbuster.

by
LBC
on 29Nov04
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I asked my grandmother what I could bring to Thanksgiving dinner and she delegated the Green Bean Casserole to me. Cindy called and asked if she could cook something in our oven, as she needed to make two dishes and their oven only holds one. (We hope to buy them a new stove while they are gone for the holidays.)

So yesterday morning, we had a dish of GB casserole and a dish of lasagna baking at the same time. Mmm, the lasagna smelled so good. What? Cindy’s Italian, so when Brad’s family asked her to bring something, it was lasagna.

After lunch, Kris and I headed over to my parents’ house to go through all my toys and baby clothes in the attic. No less than seven bags of clothes, and we only took with us anything that screamed Adorably 80s in hopes that we have a girl of our own someday. (A few of the retro tees would work for boys, too.)

I have so many toys. Barbie, Jem, She-Ra, My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Care Bears, Maxi, Monchichi, Strawberry Shortcake, Cabbage Patch… None of them really go for too much on e-Bay, so would the effort of setting up auctions be worth the money?

We ended the day by watching Moonstruck. What? I woke up with a Nic Cage craving.

by
LBC
on 26Nov04
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I’m so excited that I learned how to fade out a song on my new computer. Since 2001, I was using a bootleg copy of Nero to burn cds. It was just the right blend of drag and drop and special editing (fade out, cross fade, etc.) for my tastes. But it was an older version and won’t work in Windows XP.

Burning cds with iTunes was alright once I figured out how to get rid of the 2 second gap between songs, but for the last mix I was working on, I sorely needed the ability to fade out or at least cross fade. (iTunes has the option to cross fade while you listen to playlists, but I couldn’t find a way to keep the crossfade once you burn the playlist to a cd).

Enter Screenblast. It came with the computer and came riding to my rescue last night.

That’s it; I’m gonna suck it up and buy the $40 iLink cable so I can use my computer for video as well as sound editing. You win this round, Sony.

by
LBC
on 24Nov04
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Easy Breezy Cheesy Potato Casserole

Ingredients:
• 1 package frozen hashbrowns (I prefer the cubed variety)
• 1 can Cream of Something Soup (I use Mushroom)
• 1 container French Onion Dip
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Half-sleeve of Ritz crackers (totally try the new Garlic Butter ones)

Prep:
Send husband to store for ingredients; do not specify that the french onion dip is the kind you get on the “cold stuff” aisle and not the kind you make from a mix. When husband brings home French Onion Dip Mix and no sour cream, call Liz and ask if she has any of the sour cream left that you brought over last week to go with the excellent chili Chris made. Dump contents of mix into half empty 24 oz. tub of sour cream, add 2 tablespoons of milk that expired the previous day.

In large casserole dish, dump hashbrowns, cream of whatever soup, french onion dip and stir. The hashbros will still be frozen, so you may need to jab at them with the fork/spoon you’re stirring with. It is totally appropriate to mock the hashbros with “Die, die, die!” at this point.

Sprinkle all of the cheese over the top. Other recipes may tell you 1 cup of cheese will do it, but you and I both know that is simply not enough cheese.

Crush the half-sleeve’s worth of Ritz and sprinkle over the cheese layer. (Mmm, cheese layer.)

Cooking instructions:
Take assembled casserole to work; store in refrigerator until you won’t be bothering a co-worker watching game shows when you go to put it in the oven. Place in oven that’s already baking a dish at 400 degrees. Burn your right hand while doing so, and curse softly (your choice of expletive). Turn heat down to 350. Check on progress every 20 mintutes, notice that someone else has turned heat down to 325. Proceed to first aid cabinet and rummage for burn relief gel.

After about 35-40 minutes, allow co-worker to remove casserole from oven for you, cause you are now afraid to do so after having burned your wittle hand. Loser.

Receive compliments from webmaster, executive editor and the publisher.

Serves:
6 upstairs employees, 6 downstairs employees

by
LBC
on 23Nov04
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This was a weekend of milestones.

I tried waxing my legs. I don’t recommend it.

I led worship for the first time in years. My fingers literally forgot what they were supposed to do, but my heart remembered.

Jill turned 20.

Chris made steak sandwiches on sourdough bread. (Sourdough bread, people!)

Jimmy made sure all occupants of the duplii are jacked in with lightning fast internet speeds, which included digging a trench between the units and a shameful amount of innuendo.

Kris jacked up our kitchen floor via the basement, a project that has been looming on the To-Do list since January.

Lesser weekend events (kilometer stones, if you will) included napping through the Alabama/Auburn game, working on Christmas art projects, noshing on a glorious cheese tray and the necessity for Jaimie to relinquish an e-mail address she’s possessed since Al Gore invented the internet.

by
LBC
on 22Nov04
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We missed last week’s Joan of Arcadia because I accidentally set the tape for 2005. In preparation for tonight’s episode, I went to TWOP yesterday to get the recap.

Let me say that I am so glad we missed the episode and that I read that recap while I was home by myself. If I’m watching something sad, I hate to break down and cry if there are others in the room. If I’m alone, I will weep if the occasion calls for it.

Dude, I was just reading what happened and I bawled. Like had to remove my glasses and get a wad of tissue.

The Good Lord was equally kind in letting me experience I Will Remember You and Hero while by myself. Social waterworks were unavoidable during Big Fish and Pieces of April.

by
LBC
on 19Nov04
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So far, the only thing I’m not loving about my new cell phone is that is has AOL instant messenger on it, but that’s just because I loathe AOL.

There are about a dozen different rings I can choose on the cell phone itself, but why do that when I can connect to the “T-zone” and buy a “HiFi Ringer” or a “MegaTone”?

There were several contenders in the HiFi Ringer (actual 15-20 second clips of songs) category. A little Flaming Lips? Beck? Switchfoot? No, no, Cake, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Instead, I decided that a MegaTone (more like a MIDI) was the way to go. But still, with the options! Oh, the 80s alternative section alone! Eurythmics, The Clash, Tears for Fears, the Psychedelic Furs…

I went with “Mad World” from Donnie Darko. You can bet that 20 seconds after I hear my phone ring, I’m singing in my head “the dreams where I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.”

It’s a mad world. Or, as another song goes, a mad, mad, mad, mad world. :)

by
LBC
on 18Nov04
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Trail mix nirvana: we bought a bag of dried pineapple, papaya and mango awhile back. We were snacking on it at Buck’s Pocket and Kris mentioned that his old roomie Stephen used to make his own trail mix. (Cause if you make your own, you can use real M&M’s and not that faker chocolate that only true chocaholics like Jimmy can tolerate.) Last night, I found a can of almonds and macadamia nuts. Add those sweet little “melt in your mouth and not in your hand” morsels and voila!

Or, as in the last Anita Blake book, Viola! I finished it yesterday. Cookie said she read the first one and couldn’t get into it. But she added that if I told her it was worth sticking with the series, she’d try.

Readers, if I have given the impression that the Anita Blake books are worth reading, I have given the wrong impression. If you want to read them as a lark because you think you might enjoy their groan-worthiness, then by all means proceed to the Rainbow City Library.

Okay, let us remember the premise of the books. Anita Blake raises zombies for a living. She works at Animators, Inc. because when you raise the dead, you are known as an animator. Well, unless you become really powerful — then you’re known as a necromancer. This, of course, happened to Anita. She also works with the Feds as the legal vampire executioner of Missouri. Along the way, since vampire executioners were often called in to work murder cases where vamps were involved, the VEs were given Federal Marshal status. So Ms. Blake is also a Federal Marshal.

And those are just her “day” jobs.

She began dating a werewolf (name of Richard) who happened to be the Ulfric (king) of the local wolf pack (the Thronnos Rokke Clan). By dating him, she became the wolves’ lupa (sort of queen). She can channel the essence of their former lupa (name of Raina), but I cannot remember what lame excuse was given for how in the hell Anita can channel Raina. Oh, and Anita is also known as the “Bolverk” for the clan, which is like a formal punisher title. (Did I mention she kills a lot?)

Alrighty, there is a Master Vampire of St. Louis. His name is Jean-Claude. Anita was also dating him. And then she became his “human servant.” And somehow a triumverate of power was formed between her, Jean-Claude and Richard (because Richard is a wolf, remember and Jean-Claude’s “animal to call” is the wolf).

A little fuzzy on this next part, but somehow Anita becomes a Master Necromancer. She ends up accidentally making a vampire servant (Damian). Wait, I think I’m skipping ahead.

Because of the powerful mojo of whatnot, Anita also has an animal to call. Hers is the leopard. She killed the head leopard in town (can’t blame her — he was trying to rape her) and when she did, she became the de facto Nimir-Ra (leopard queen).

Let’s just hang here a moment and savor how she is the queen of the cats and the puppies and yet totally is not a lycanthrope herself. Done savoring.

Because she is tied to Jean-Claude, she has picked up a little curse of his known as the ardeur. It basically means that he not only has to feed on blood but on sex as well, and so now Anita does, too. What. Ever.

In this book, Anita accidentally forms an additional triumverate of power between her, her vampire servant and her pomme de sang (a wereleopard named Nathaniel who voluntarily lets her feed the ardeur off him). This new triumverate is the excuse for all kinds of new powers. (Like, she can now read vampire’s minds by simply touching them.)

What I want to know is with all her fancy-schmancy new superpowers, when is she gonna heal Asher’s scars he got from being burned with holy water? Wait, did I not mention Asher?

New folk she bedded in this book: Damian, Byron, Requiem, Nathaniel. Wait, better yet — new threesomes (since being with 2 guys “just flat does it” for Anita) she had in this tome: Damian and Nathaniel, Byron and Requiem, Nathaniel and Jason, and yes, at last for those who were no doubt pining for it… Richard and Jean-Claude.

by
LBC
on 17Nov04
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Our camping adventure to Buck’s Pocket was one of eXtreme temperatures,* staggering heights** and undeniable sadness.*** And also, corn fritters and pancakes.

*It was cold. Hoo, it was even colder when the wind kicked up. But Kristie is an excellent pyro, and strategic placement of layers will keep in just enough body heat that you aren’t miserably cold. The warmth that I was able to maintain would not have been possible without dad’s toboggan, Patsy’s thermal leggings, Kris’ sleeping bag and a hike up the mountain.

**No really, it was staggered. Like, with rocks and roots that make a staircase up the mountain. It was an excellent hike, and the view would have been totally worth it, except we had already driven up the mountain and seen the view that morning. But still, we climbed the mountain. My leg muscles are still whimpering in agony.

***At the scenic overlook was this big black dog. He was very kind and very starved and we nearly kidnapped him to take him to people we thought would have pity and feed him. We watched this big black dog (exhausted and with a bit of a limp) get up and trot expectantly to every car that drove up. Was he that hungry? Was he looking for his owners? Oh my God, the sadness that is that dog. If I was a Hobbit, my last name would be Tenderheart.

All in all, the camping went really well. (Until I got sick in the middle of the night and we made the decision to just go home and then got lost three times in the attempt.)

Our Birmingham adventures were equally successful, with admittedly less toboggans and fritters. The hair class was interesting even though I know zilch about cutting hair. The class was held at Vulcan Center, and boy does Vulcan look like one big bobblehead when you’re standing beneath him.

Kris’ new business cards are pretty awesome. Maybe not as awesome as the last ones, but worthy nonetheless. And we got our new cell phones. I’ve been a cell-carrier since 1997, but this is the first phone that I ever got to pick out. I haven’t figured out speed dial yet, but I can play Bejeweled.

by
LBC
on 16Nov04
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