Random Goat-Getters and Heart-Warmers
1. I have to hide the bread in the oven now because that’s the only place the cats can’t break into. They love bread, and the three of them can devour an entire loaf. Wednesday night, I bought a loaf of bread and hid it in the oven. The cats won’t get this one, by golly, mainly because I forgot the bread was in there tonight, and I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees. The slices were soldered together by the plastic on the top and sides, and the plastic on the bottom of the loaf melted and made little sizzly-spots on the oven floor. I scraped it all out and put a meat loaf in there to bake, for tomorrow. Now the whole house smells like baking meat loaf, melting plastic, and burning bread. Yum.
2. Belle drove over and met me at Marsh that Wednesday night, because she loves me and knew I’d buy her a few groceries wanted to be with me for a little while. She’s so much fun to shop with because she has something witty/pithy/hilarious to say about almost everything on the shelves. She had me in stitches over her “Mom, I wonder why the Political Correctness Police haven’t gone after the pickle people for their Sweet Midgets.”
I was thinking about this tonight at WalMart; we stopped there for toothpaste and ended up buying out the store. As I walked down the pickle aisle, internally giggling over the sweet midgets from the night before, I saw one. Well, I can’t actually vouch for the “sweet” part, but he was definitely a. . .well, let’s just not go there, ‘k? I had to push my cart a few aisles over to toilet paper and Drano before I could let go and laugh out loud, though. I do not fear the Political Correctness Police, but I know for a fact that they are a humorless, brainless, and clueless crew, with absolutely no concept of context. Such people are one of the main dangers on this planet.
3. Belle brought over her DVD’s of “Psych” and I’m loving them. It’s the sweet “I can fix that” guy from Holes, and some new guy who is like an even cuter Ben Stiller.
4. Call me silly and tell me I’m overreacting, and you’ll be correct, but I can’t help but be very upset over what a few people are still saying about these two posts. They are in the blogospheric minority but you know how it is: a few negative things can overshadow a lot of positive ones. I had no idea I was such a dreadful person. A certain blogger put my link on his blog and sent his minions here; they are not careful readers and misinterpreted me completely and drastically. My e-mail runneth over. Several of you dear people went over there and put in a good word for me, and I appreciate that VERY much, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I vowed that I would not stoop to his level and put HIS link here, but I also vowed that if I got one. more. hateful. comment, I’d do it. Well, I got it. Now I don’t know what to do. If I put his link here, some of you might go over to his blog and comment, and he will twist your words, too. I don’t want that to happen to any of you. It’s bad enough that he and his friends don’t know how to take things in context, and are not careful readers, where I am concerned, but it would be far worse if any of YOU were attacked, mentioned by name, and linked to, as well.
Maybe it’s best to just let it ride. Maybe they’ll get tired of me soon.
5. We have sugar-free Fudgies in the garage freezer, but I’m too tired to walk all that way.
6. Would anyone care to come over for meat loaf tomorrow? I’ll scrape all the melted plastic off the bottom of the pan.
7. I wish my cd burner had un-corrupted drivers. I owe some cd’s to people.
8. Someone we all know is getting married. If you go to his blog, he’ll tell you all about it. I can’t tell you who yet because I promised I wouldn’t. But he’s spilled the beans now so if you know where to go, you’ll find out the good stuff. I’m so happy for him!
9. My MIL took us out for pizza tonight and everyone in the place watched in awe as six very large, very loud people tried to fit into a booth that was meant to hold four normal-size people. Everyone in the place heard these six people gripe loudly because one of their menus had a coffee stain on it. Everyone in the place watched these six people elbow and shove each other, trying to fit into the booth better. Everyone in the place heard these six people complain loudly when the high-school-age waiter told them the restaurant did not serve beer, just coke products. And everyone watched and no doubt had to sit on their hands to hold back the applause as all six of these very large people removed themselves from the booth (like corks from a bottle, it was!) and filed out the door in a huff. When the door hit the last one on the backside, everybody in the place burst out laughing.
10. I don’t like having to hide things in the oven. If it’s out of sight, I tend to forget it exists. When I opened the oven door to remove the ruined bread tonight, I also had to remove half a cherry pie Hub had put in there to keep the cats away from it. Fortunately, it was covered with foil, so it’s still all right.
11. Come on over for dinner. No cats licked the food.
12. The latest Carnival of Education is up and running, and it’s a good one, folks. Please click on over and check it out.
The end. Good night, all.
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Update: Okay, THAT’S IT. Enough is enough. Please don’t feed the fire, but here’s the link.
My Computer Is, One by One, Losing Body Parts and Becoming A Shadow of Its Former Self
Honestly, I really do believe I have the Kiss of Death in my fingertips, for no matter how careful I try to be, every computer I’ve ever had has died a slow, lingering death. Hub says it’s because I’m inadvertently downloading things, but they must be downloading themselves because I’m not doing it. Zappa says my registry has nearly 300 errors in it, in spite of Registry Mechanic that I run faithfully, and which daily assures me I’m clean. But apparently I’m not. . . .
I can’t wipe it myself and re-install XP because my computer no longer recognizes my CD/R drive, and no cd will ‘register’ now. When I look at “My Computer,” there is no cd drive there any more. Nada.
I tried to re-install my CD/R driver, but my computer is a Compaq and even though my CD/R driver is available for download, the disclaimer says to “forget it” if you have a Compaq.
How do I wipe my computer clean (everything’s backed up elsewhere) and re-install XP, with no recognized CD driver on my computer?
I’ve been running on System Restore for a month now, because whenever I turn off my computer, the screen is blank when I turn it back on, and I have to quickly hit System Restore to get anywhere. Therefore, I don’t dare turn it off.
Meanwhile, I guess I’m getting invaded by registry bugs by the hundreds, even though Registry Mechanic swears it’s cleared them all out. I’ve had Spyware Doctor for several years, but it, too, has ceased working and whenever I try to contact them, my old Yahoo account pops up and tries to make me ‘attach’ something but it won’t tell me what and it won’t send any messages without the attachment.
I’ve come to the conclusion that any computer that sits on my desk becomes instantly possessed by Spirits That Mean Harm To Me.
I really don’t go anywhere except my blogrolls, the occasional YouTube, and Google places. I’m not adventurous, internet-wise. I don’t play games except for BookWorm and Snood, both of which are installed on my hard drive.
Any second now, the whole system is going to come crashing down again. AGAIN. Should I give up on this computer and start hanging out at the library? I can use Hub’s, but he needs it in the evening so he can continue to keep the planet safe from alien attack and eternal subjugation. I’ve already lost most of my music, but since I can’t burn cd’s any more, that’s a bit of a moot point, too.
Also, the fan is constantly whirring frantically and loudly, and the bandwidth is usually at 90-100% with programs I don’t recognize. I’m afraid to delete anything because it might be something important.
I’ve been hijacked twice before. Is it happening again?
Does anybody have any advice for me?
We Are Stardust. . . We Are Golden. . . .We Are Whoopsies
Last night, my daughter asked me to drive up to the city to see the 9:30 showing of Stardust. So, of course, I did.
It was fantastic. FANTASTIC. You all simply must drop everything and go to see it before it disappears from the theaters.
I do love a well-written story. I love fairy tales. I love parodies and farces and quirky dialogue. I love romance, and pirates, and hot guys fencing swordfights.
Well-written, well-acted, perfect casting, beautiful to look at, substance behind the beauty, hot guys **. . . . It’s rated PG-13, which I consider a fair rating. Please go to see it, and take your older children with you. Small children might be frightened of the witches’ antics, but older kids who can understand farcical fantasy will think it’s a hoot. If you take your five-year-old, you’re a selfish cheapskate who didn’t want to pay a sitter. Good luck with the kid’s nightmares.
But kids ten or older? They’ll love it. So will you.
My extremely stringent requirement of having a happy ending was also fulfilled. Everyone who deserved to do so, lived happily ever after. Those who didn’t deserve it, did not.
I smiled all the way home.
By the way, you’ll never think of Robert DiNiro the same way again. You’ll love him even more. One of the most brilliant casting decisions EVER.
It was 1:30 a.m. when I got home and even if today was a workday, it would still have been well worth it. Thank you, my darling Belle, for inviting Mommy to go to the movies with you. You told me I’d love that movie and you were, as usual, right spot on.
Stardust. I can’t wait to see it again.
**. . . of which there were many. You don’t need money to window-shop.
