At the Movies

Sat through commercials for:

Coke
Fruit of the Loom underwear featuring a song by Vince Gill and the FOTL Apple man
Will Rogers Institute featuring Geena Davis
Mountain Dew
The National Guard
On the Lot TV show
Madmen HBO series
ABC Fall series called Pushing Daisies
A local college


and previews for:

Bee Movie
The Golden Compass
Steve Carell in Get Smart
Underdog
Some end-of-the-world movie whose Title I've forgotten

after all of that we got to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. BP and I enjoyed it. LP sat behind us and said he fell asleep.
I thought it was very dark---but the book was dark too--what with all the teenaged angst. It was well directed and I thought Imelda Staunton as the sinister and sadistic Delores Umbrage was just wonderful. My only complaint: Too little of the magnificent Maggie Smith. I just adore her.

Pittsburgh

Schell’s going to the beach. Next, Tree will go on her adventure. Where do I get to go this Monday and Tuesday? Pittsburgh—that’s where. I’m going for a business meeting. I got the itinerary today and Monday night we’re going to a Pittsburgh Pirates game. Oh, yay. I don’t like sports but it’s kind of a “have to” thing. So give me reasons why to be interested in a baseball game.

(Did you notice--when I don't have a lot to post, I post it using a BIG FONT.)

Is the landlord a Christian?

On a post on the main Comments page Jilly mentioned that she was a landlord. I am too. I rent out the houseI lived in before I got married. (Jilly, it's in the rental agreement that the renter pay all utilities except Sewage Wastewater. I pay that because the city could put a lien against the house if that one isn't paid.)

My present tenant moved out--That's a long teary story and she still owes me over $200. Anyway the guy I pay to do handy work over there was on the property when a middle-ages couple came up to him and started asking about renting the house--how many bedrooms, square footage, does it have central air, etc. Here's the topper: "Is the landlord a Christian? Does she go to church?"
When the handyman relayed their question to me, I said "What the hell? You should have told them 'Yeah, she goes to church. She's the High Priestess in the local White Witch Coven'."

I wouldn't rent to them if they paid me double rent each month. This is America. I can remember when a person wouldn't think of asking another a question like that. Stuff like that is private.

Dead: Charles Lane 1905-2007

Charles Lane, character actor, dead at age 102. I blogged about him a few years ago. He's been in It's A Wonderful Life. Countless TV episodes like I Love Lucy, Petticoat Junction, The Andy Griffith Show.

Obit

Trivia:

He was born in San Francisco and was one of the last survivors of the great 1906 earthquake.

Can you imagine living that long of a life and doing something you loved for a living? What a lucky man he was! He was one of my favorite character actors.

meme, don't look!

Can you spot the new gnome?

Of Bras and Elephants

It was time. I needed new bras. I hate buying bras, but I bought three Lily of France bras yesterday. I also bought two new pairs of dress pants I can wear to work and about ten new shirts—everything was on sale. I don’t buy a lot of clothes for myself, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I couldn’t figure out how to make bird feeders from my old bras, so I threw them in the trash.

When we had the cookout last week, my oldest sister brought me a cook book that had been put together by local people to raise money for the Special Olympics in Indiana. Although I love to cook and I like to read cook books, I rarely use the recipes in them. I’m more of a recipe inventor than a recipe follower.

Anyway, I was reading the recipes when I came upon this one:


Elephant Stew

1 elephant
1,000 tsp. salt
950 to 1,000 cups of brown gravy
2 rabbits (optional)

Cut elephant into bite size pieces, this should take about two months.
Cover with brown gravy. Cook at 450 degrees over open fire for about 4 weeks.
This will serve about 3,800 people. If more people are expected, the two rabbits may be added but do this only if necessary as most people do not want to find a hare in their stew.


You can thank a woman named Sue Crawford from Union City, Indiana for that recipe

7-07-07

It's 7-7-07.

Do you feel lucky?

Well, do you , Punk?

Me? I'm buying a Hoosier Lottery Raffle ticket. It's the best odds of winning (Austin Powers' Dr. Evil voice here) ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Only 325,000 tickets will be sold. There will be two million dollar prizes, 5 $100,000 prizes, and 770 $1000 prizes.

If anyone wants to send me good vibes, email me at emmabookshelf@aol.com sometime today, and if I win one of the million dollar prizes, you will receive a personal check from me in the amount of one thousand dollars. Yippie kaiaay. I will post the raffle number here later.

Nesta Miss Kiki Marie

Thanks, Clanky

I emailed my husband that weird boob picture Clanks posted on her blog with "Be thankful I don't have boobs like this." He emailed me back, "NEVER send me anything like that again!"

haha

Happy 4th of July, too!

For those of your faithful readers you’ll remember that I make Nesta aka Kiki Marie the cat sleep on the enclosed porch. She’s very comfortable out there, but BP and LP have whined at me for a year and a half to let her stay in the house at night. Well, since the cat is almost two years old, they finally wore me down and I let them give it a try.

Me: But if that cat jumps on me or our bed during the night---out she goes!

They---BP, LP and Nesta-- all agreed.

The first night around 3 am she jumped on me about three times and scared the shit out of me.

Me: Don! Take the cat OUT!

He did.

Since that first night things have improved. She’s only jumped on me once and started playing with/batting at my hair

Me: Don! Take the cat OUT!


Lately she knows what time I wake up, so at 6 am she’ll come and sit by the bed and meow or bat at my hand if it happens to be hanging over the bed.

Last night I told BP, “Please tell the cat that I get to sleep in tomorrow, so don’t wake me up so early. Tell her to let me sleep until 8.”

And before I went to bed I picked her up and told her the same thing, “Listen Kiki, I don’t have to work tomorrow so I want to sleep longer. Don’t get me up at 6! Hear me?”

And, by golly, she didn’t disturb me at all. About 8:30 she comes trotting into our bedroom and meowed a wake up call.

She’s the new Kitty Alarm Clock

Freak of nature

On this coneflower clump there is one pure white
flower blooming. See the lower right one? It might not be so noticable in my picture (I'm not a great photog) but trust me, it's white

Morning Pictures

Update

Sorry for the neglect. I have been soooooooo busy at work (yuck). Things should start to slow down a bit in a week or so.

BP did not whack me upside the head with a leg of lamb (so far, anyway.)

It's been raining a lot (but not like it has been in Dallas) so my garden looks good. My sunflowers, lilies, coneflowers, scabiosa, lavender, roses and Shasta daisies are blooming.

Since we're having people over on Sunday, all of Saturday will be spent grocery shopping, cleaning this god forsaken house, doing laundry and cooking. My oldest sister wants to bring strawberry shortcake (and who is going to argue with that??)

Let's see:

1. I despise Ann Coulter.

2. I did not watch Larry King's interview with Paris Hilton. Personally I don't see the appeal of either of those two people. Larry's a lump, and Hilton's a strump.

3. I just got a bill from LP's high school bookstore telling me that I owe $112.47 for two books he either lost or didn't return at the end of the semester. I'm giving him a week to come up with the two books or I'm taking that money out of his bank account. I paid to rent those mofos ONCE--I don't want to pony up money to replace them. Sheesh.

4. BP is working on fixing up our old Honda so the child can use it when he gets his license. BP changed the brakes and is working to fix the air conditioner.

5. I'm expecting $4000 at the end of summer. BP wants to go to Vegas with it, but I want him to renovate our bathroom. Since he'll do the work himself, the money will go farther. I want: New floor tile, new wall tile, new vanity, new light fixtures and fans, new toilet--is that too much to ask?

SATURDAY

I watched Miss Potter this afternoon. It was a lovely little movie starring the crack whore (alledgely!) Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter. Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor costarred. The English Lake District photography was simply magnificent.

It's been raining all day and that's okay with me. We need it. I weeded yesterday and they're still laying in the yard where I tossed them.

We're planning a little get together barbeque here for 4th of July but since the 4th is on a Wednesday--we might move the 4th to , say, Saturday or Sunday. I'm planning just hamburgers and hot dogs with a few salads, chips and stuff like that. BP wants to BBQ lamb on the grill but I think that's a little too much. I want to keep it simple.

I hate work lately. Spidey got rid of her pain-in-the ass work person, but mine is still around unfortunately.

No Update

I'm writing to tell you that there is no update today. Tomorrow's Saturday so I 'll write an update on the No Update then.

However, I did wake up to glorious rain,which w so desparately need. So that's a good thing.

Before work, I'm going to stop at Panera's for coffee. It's Friday and I deserve a treat.

Oh, by the way, as much as I HEART Steve Carell and his career, I'm so tired of seeing those Evan Almighty previews! Thank God that movie opens today! SHEESH--the ad money for that flick must been the combined fortunes of Bill gates and Oprah. Enough already.

Passport

My passport finally arrived (it will mailed in March.) BP's didn't come, neither did LP's, so I'm thinking about jetting to England to:

A) Stop Clanky from tattooing/marring herself, and
B) Visit Meme to see her hairy toe and to buy her a pint.

Sick Day

I called in sick today.

So far I've taken LP to summer school, cleaned the tub, sink and toilet, washed two loads of laundry, Cometed my kitchen sink, threw away four old shampoo bottles that had a third or less of product, watched The Closer I videotaped last night, cuddled the cat, and cleaned and refilled the birdbath.
All that before noon.
I hope I feel better.

Do you clean your own carpets? How much is something like Stanley Steemer to clean one room of carpet?

But I Could Be Wrong

But I Could Be Wrong

Here's a good YouTube video song by the comedian Tim Wilson. Seems like he's as tired of overexposed celebrities as I am!

Thanks to AliasJJ for sending me this video!

Sunday Stuff

1. It's Father's Day. It's been six years since my own father died, and I miss him and his gardening advice and suggestions. He was such a staunch Democrat that I think he and I would have had a good time together making fun of Dubya--now I must carry on by myself with that particular mission. He died a few months before September 11th but, despite having served in WW2 and Korea, he would not have supported the Iraqi war. His view was that America should only enter wars when we had a moral imperative, not because of a suspicion. My Dad would not have agreed to "Shock and Awe." He would have been shocked and appalled.

2. We need rain. Our best chance of getting some is on Tuesday. I will keep fingers, toes and eyes crossed until then.

3. I believe I am having the occasional hot flash. At night it's blanket on, then blanket whipped off, blanket on, blanket whipped off. They happen during the day too. What a drag.

4. Miss Kiki Marie aka Sis aka Cat aka "MOVE!" aka Nesta hunted down a fly yesterday, cornered it against a living room window, caught it and promptly ate it. Maybe she needs more protein in her diet. Why does this cat seem to want to jump out in front of my moving feet, like she's in Parade Lead and get it the way? Maybe Rosa can answer that.

5. I don't want to do even one productive thing today.