Monthly Archive for December, 2005

Illustration Friday

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Flavor-saver
Flavor-saver,
originally uploaded by DameCatoe.

Whoa, does 2005, like, end this weekend? Weird.

We’ll be ringing in the new year at Zach & Kristie’s Alabaster abode. Er, abode in Alabaster.

Goodbye, Year of the Move and of Going Through Boxes/Bins/Bags. I think the year is best summed up with the top Cryptozoology Stories of 2005, don’t you?

The last couple of years, I’ve sort of done a list of shout-outs to pop culture I enjoyed over the year. Well, let this year go down as the one where all my favorite albums were mix cds I made myself and where as of right now, Kris and I have seen 5 of the 14 movies currently showing at the local movieplex. That, you guys, is an unheard of phenomenon for us.

See you in ‘06.

by
LBC
on 30Dec05
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Techno-sucky

In 1998, on Christmas vacation between semesters at JSU, I went to GeoCities and “homesteaded” a site. (I thought that, being a graphic desinger, I might need to know a thing or two about this whole HTML medium.)

And so when this time of year rolls around, I usually get the itch to learn something new webwise. Last year, for instance, I registered this blog. I had hoped to merge it with LauraCatoe.com, but my hosting service doesn’t allow that.

This year, I decided to look into Technorati. I’ve seen the term online here and there for awhile now, but I’d never bothered to find out what it was. Until this week. I followed a link from Tomato Nation and looked around.

Basically, it’s a search engine for blogs. Like, if you want to search for The Chronicles of Narnia but you don’t want to find the books on Amazon or the movie’s website, you want to see what bloggers are saying.

Eh. Can’t I do that within Blogger?

But then I noticed that I could add a specific search box to my blog. Like “search this blog” and a text field to pop in my sidebar over there. Well, that sounded pretty nifty. What if I wanted to find out how many times I’ve ranted about Frodo and didn’t want to go over to Google to create an Advanced Search? Sign me up!

So I did. And put my little search box in my sidebar. Typed “Frodo.” Hit Enter.

Got taken to a Technorati page informing me there are no posts with the term “frodo” on this blog.

So much for that.

by
LBC
on 29Dec05
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Food journey

Shayla posted last week about 5 foods she hates. In that vein, here are 5 foods I learned to eat. (I was quite the picky eater as a child, but I don’t think that term applies to me anymore.)

#1) Turnip Greens
Blech. I mean, look at them. I tried them once and they tasted like hot Raisin Bran. Very weird. But one night I went to David Finlayson’s house to take some pix of him and Jose and dinner was on. He said that Glory canned turnip greens are the best, and I have to agree, because I’ve eaten them ever since.

#2) Raw veggies (broccoli, cauliflower & carrots to be exact)
My parents threw a shindig for me when I graduated college; Vicki Bynum was in charge of the food. There were leftovers and me, Scott, Jaimie, Jimmy and Liz sat around my parent’s kitchen table eating them. I made myself eat some raw vegetables. (That didn’t go over well with my digestive tract.) But now I nosh on them whenever there’s a party tray.

#3) Salad
Oi, I hated salad. Rabbit food. But long ago, when Lorna was in Boston going to school, we’d host “Buffyfests” when she came home. And then Tiffany Holliday wanted to catch up on the show (and Amanda, too?). So for weeks in the summer of 2000, Liz and I hosted weekly “Buffyfests” to catch-up the newcomers and as an excuse to make party food. Mostly the infamous Little Sandwiches, but one week Liz tricked me and forced me to eat salad. Now I can even eat it without salad dressing.

#3a) Cucumber
I never eat this by itself, but I love it in salads.

#4) Fish
The only “fish” I ate as a kid was fried popcorn shrimp. Neither my parents or my grandparents ever fixed it or ordered it at restaurants. But when Kris and I started dating, he’d order it and one day I asked to try a bite. Now I’m all about tuna steak, mahi mahi, tilapia, grouper, catfish… don’t like salmon much, though.

#5) Unsweet tea
When I went to the beach with Kris’ fam last year, I was the only one of the lot drinking real sugar drinks. There wasn’t even any real sugar to go in the coffee in the morning. I hate artificial sweeteners. So I learned to drink unsweet tea. Now the “nectar of the gods” will make me sick.

Stuff I genuinely tried to like, but cannot muster a liking for: raw tomatoes and black olives. Yuck.

by
LBC
on 28Dec05
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Holiday red

Red is the hooded pea coat Kris’ mom got for me.
Red is the bottle of perfume from Kris.
Red was the Merlot from Mike and Raygen.
Red are the goblets of GJ’s holiday place setting.
Red are the cinnamon candies I used to decorate Gingerbread men.
Red were the containers that I filled with Holiday Trail Mix.*

Wow, but we did bake this year. Tree bark, buffalo chicken cheese balls, sun-dried tomato gouda cheese balls, gingerbread cookies, poppyseed pastry puffs (yeah, I’m leaving those to Rhonda), orange candy slices dipped in dark chocolate, chocolate cherry cheesecake (my first cheesecake!), molasses carrots, roast beast, garlic mashed potatoes and a humble side of green beans.

Stuff that we will make again within the year: the buffalo chicken cheese ball (so we can add ranch dressing next time), the carrots, the roast beef.

Stuff that I doubt we’ll make until next Christmas: gingerbread cookies, holiday trail mix, anything dipped in chocolate

Stuff that I never even got to try before we gave it away: the chocolate orange candy

Stuff that I will make with my leftover baking stuff, once I am not still full of holiday baking: white chocolate cranberry cookies

*HOLIDAY TRAIL MIX

You need:
1 can roasted, salted almonds
1 can whole cashews
1/2 bag white chocolate morsels
1/2 bag dark chocolate morsels
1 or 2 bags dried cranberries
1 6-pack of little raisin boxes

Mix it all together. Fills 4 red “TakeAlong” containers.

by
LBC
on 27Dec05
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Illustration Friday

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Wonder
Wonder,
originally uploaded by DameCatoe.

There was no budget for Christmas presents this year. The cash we usually use (my Christmas money from Mama Juanita), I used as a down payment on my car. I know - selfish!

And then we charged a bunch of stuff on plastic to renovate 204A.

So if you get a Christmas gift from Casa de Catoe, it will be baked, homemade, re-gifted or wrapped inside a “found object.”

However, know that we love you all very much and that anything’s better than a lump of coal.

Merry Christmas, movie house!

by
LBC
on 23Dec05
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If you’re not dieting, diabetic, lactose intolerant, gluten-allergic, kosher-sensitive or a vegetarian, the holiday season is great. Cause there is always a cheese ball or some Cathy Back fudge, Mountainview cookies, Vicki Bynum bread, etc.

Holiday traditions are so fattening.

Except for candlelight services. On Sunday, Vicki made sure to tell me and Kris that the candlelight service would be Wednesday. I’m glad she did, because we rarely make it to a Wednesday night service, so we wouldn’t have known otherwise. Why is it important to make it to the candlelight service? Duh, because there’s fire.

But there was also worship (we arrived late and ended up down front, which always reminds me fondly of House of Blue - all meetings are currently in the 419 side of the church cause the heat at 417 is busted), and Lori and LaShelle (sp?) did a dance? mini-play? interpretive piece? to Debbie singing “Breath of Heaven” (which reminded me fondly of sitting in the den in Southside, listening to Christmas music with the headphones) and then Michael spoke of circumstantial vision (painfully true) and the house lights were cut off and everybody was holding a little white candle, flame dancing as we sang a couple songs.

Not a calorie gained, no trips to the bathroom required, nothing for cavities to work with.

A string of beautiful moments that I wish had more staying power than the voices in my head, the ones that say I am not good enough, that it will be taken away from me, that nobody notices, that I don’t matter that much.

I believe that such beauty is stronger than pain. So why does pain have the staying power?

by
LBC
on 22Dec05
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On Sunday, I wore a hoodie that has one of those little kangaroo pockets. Me and the Mister met the Abercrombies for lunch, and I put my phone in the ‘roo pocket in case GJ called.

After lunch, we all headed back to Casa de Catoe, where Kristie was gonna hang with me and Frodo in the yard* while Kris went to help Zach fill his truck with stuff from the A’s storage building. Having had tea at lunch, I jogged inside to use the potty.

It was a moment of Zen, you guys. Not the pottying, but the perfect way that my phone sailed out of the kangaroo pocket as I lifted the toilet lid. It dove like an Olympic swimmer into the commode pool and swam gracefully to the bottom. It happened so fast, I saw it slow motion.

“Aaaaagggghhhh!!!!!”

There was, of course, nothing to do but push up my sleeve and just grab the phone as quickly as possible. I was quite thankful that it chose to swan dive as I opened the lid instead of, say, as I closed the lid in preparation to flush.

Kris took the phone apart and let it dry overnight. He put it back together Monday and I scrubbed all the nooks and crannies with an antibacterial wipe. I can make and receive calls and check my voicemail, but there is one button (two actually, but one I can work around) that no longer works.

This button is the “Select” button. As in, my phone will say “1 Missed Call” and I would push “Select” and it would tell me who called and maybe even when. Not anymore. The “Menu” button still works, so I can push it and scroll to the Phonebook or Create Text Message. I just can’t Select them.

We’ll see how long I can last like this. In the meantime, if you call me and get my voicemail, don’t be counting on me calling you back simply cause I saw I missed a call from you. Oh yeah, I’ll know somebody called. I just won’t know it was you. And don’t bother texting me, as the only thing I can do with your message is “Delete.”

*Frodo is not taking to the outdoors well at all. It scared the beejeezus outta him on Saturday. Sunday was better, as Kristie can attest. We stayed with him for like an hour, while Satine was the good beeg seester, helping him adjust. But come Monday, when Kris let him go outside with Satine in the morning, in less than a minute he was launching himself so violently at the front door, the Christmas wreath nearly came off. Needy little cat.

by
LBC
on 21Dec05
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That line about Morrissey cracked me up. And then a few weeks later, I wondered if that’s how I’ve been sounding in my blog. (Oh, man, do I sound like Davan?!?) I don’t want to depress anyone, y’know?

But then I got some e-mails… (no names, cause I didn’t ask permission to post ‘em)

“I am sad at how you miss your Mom. I miss my Dad the same way. If you ever need to vent about it to someone who gets it…”

~ ~ ~

“I’ve been reading your blog this morning. Sometimes I read with joy; other times I cried. At all times, I read with pride. I’m not trying to get sappy here, but I know your mom would be so pleased with you today. She always was and always will be. I hope you know that. Thank you for being true to yourself.”

~ ~ ~

“I appreciate what you are doing on your blog … Keep on writing. It is helpful to many of us who try and stuff or forget our losses; it also helps to know we are not alone in our suffering.”

So, yeah, I have made some people sad. But, I think, in a good way. In a we-are-not-alone-in-our-suffering way.

Sometimes it’s hard to open up and be real. It’s even harder to do so and then the experience be bad. You tell a friend and they don’t care. You tell a parent and they judge. You tell someone who’s supposed to be safe and… they’re not.

You’ll want to bottle it up the next time. Don’t. Find a way to let it out. Cause, baby, it will find a way out. And the longer it takes, the messier it gets.

Man, I went from being all depressing to getting all preachy.

Tomorrow: what I did to my cell phone over the weekend!

by
LBC
on 21Dec05
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I’m not sure if GJ’s getting worse or what. From the time that mom passed away (June 2003) to the time that GJ moved downtown (March 2005), she only fell one time that I know of. It is, of course, totally possible that she fell more than that and just didn’t tell me. (Cause that one time she did tell me, she lied and said it was on the way to the bathroom, when really she was outside in the yard. I don’t know why she initially lied and then later told me the truth.)

But since March, she’s fallen at least three times. It is always in the middle of the night. Once, she just called us and we went over and got her up. The other two times, she called Lifeline and they called Juanita and she called us. Those times, we went over and the fire department showed up and they got her off the floor.

Being 91 and in your underwear, unable to get back in bed after you have crawled there from the bathroom and having three firefighters you don’t know arrive to put you back in bed = no dignity to growing old. I hope when I lose my dignity upon aging (as it seems a given) that I have at least as much of a sense of humor or grace about it as both mom and GJ muster.

This most recent fall was Saturday morning… 4:30am to be exact. We got there shortly before the fire department, with enough time for GJ to ask me “who are you?” Never a good sign, really, but I’m chalking it up to being tired and/or the sleeping pills she takes.

While we were there, one of the firefighters commented to me “she’s not gonna be able to keep living by herself.” Ah, yes. A dilemma, that.

I don’t know what will happen with GJ. But I pray that God’s hand be the guiding force.

by
LBC
on 19Dec05
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Peking-fre’king-ese

Earlier in the year, Kris and I offered to help GJ decorate for Christmas for her birthday (Oct. 31). Because the last thing the woman needs is more crap, even if that crap is a birthday present. In theory, as we decorated, she would decide what decorations she no longer wanted and we would get rid of them.

However, her son Doug hadn’t gotten all his stuff out of her storage room by her birthday, making it impossible to find her Christmas decorations. Instead, the birthday girl had us go with her to Southside to get the remains of her stuff out. Yes, she moved in March with professional movers and come October, there was still two car loads of junk.

The same day, she had Dad and Kris mortar some rock on her fireplace. (Loooong story.) After my car was full of boxes but Kris was still mortaring, I went for a look-see in the studio. I found an old bamboo wall calendar from Golden China. 2001, I think. It had pandas on it. I like pandas, so I tried to cut the calendar part off and re-affix the bamboo. Then I thought “like I need any more junk, either!”

Fast forward to last week, when Les told me that if you go to Golden China, they give you a free bamboo wall calendar. Great! It’s not 100% junk if I actually use it for a year… so Dad and I went for lunch today. As he took me back to my car, I unrolled my wall calendar and just began to laugh. The rueful kind.

The picture is a Pekingese. And for those of you that don’t know, between my mom and GJ, they owned at least a dozen of those dogs over the years. The one GJ still has (Topaz) was one of mom’s dogs.

Given the history (and there is aplenty), there is no way I want that calendar.

“Janis would,” Dad pointed out, ever-so-helpfully.

“I really don’t want to encourage that kind of behavior,” was my response.

But the thing is, at 91, slim indeed are the odds that that woman is gonna change. Become a purger instead of a hoarder. Turn into the cat lady instead of the dog lady. Decide she doesn’t like Laurence Welk.

So what it comes down to is do I withhold the calendar and impose my worldview/belief structure/opinion on her? Or just give her the damn thing cause I think she’ll like it?

Yep. I’m gonna get over myself already and go with option B.

P.S. No time for Illustration Friday today, but know that since the theme is “imagine,” that if I had participated, I was gonna do a John Lennon caricature.

by
LBC
on 16Dec05
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