Eye liner

My niece's cat

I've never seen a ring around just one eye like this. Then again, I don't see many white-faced cats. In the middle ages or in ancient Egypt, this cat may have been considered an omen. Hopefully a good omen.

It was a great week-end with plenty of friends and family. But WAY too much food. I remember saying "Eat light, we eat again in just 4 hours!"

Work is crazy with the beginning of the school year.

Now the sub woofer on my computer system blew a fuse. I am so glad I thought of the fuse. That will cost just a couple of dollars to replace. I pulled the fuse out and it is burnt black. I was pulling cables out and getting them all organized and I thought to myself 'here I am again, messing with electrical stuff!' Yikes!


I need to have sound so I can hear all the funny videos and enjoy the clips folks send my way. A couple of cute ones I saw over the week-end are 'machine-gun kitty' and 'surprised kitty'. Both found on Youtube. Both of them showed up first when I typed them into the search feature on Youtube. If you like cats, you should check them out.

On my daily walk

And I thought walking under a ladder was bad luck. Just happened to look up while walking the dogs on Saturday and this is what I saw. Not real close to my house, but just around the corner. I took the dogs home, got my camera and came back for a shot. Still shooting with my daughter's camera, so I don't have it mastered, yet.

I like that my daughters' camera has the "shaky hand" feature, but if you want to zoom in real close you lose that ability. I zoomed this one and I got a slight blur with the pic. They look like mud wasps to me.

Jive Talkin'

For my friend's birthday bash she requested a little disco music. I found some. I don't have much of that flavor of music in my stash. Maybe five songs or so from (please let us forget) that era.

Had a wonderful day with friends at the camp grounds yesterday. Could not have asked for a more pleasant day. It was beautiful outside. Just beautiful.

Driving around on the golf cart we drooled over the camp sites that were for sale. So nice! So shady. Not many were lakeside, and some were downright shabby. Ah, well.

We will survive! We did survive the disco craze. LOL!

Number 3 bites the dust

I found the batteries and disposed of them properly. Just like the package said. Dispose of properly. Good girl. This happened a few days ago, not recently. This remote I used just to turn the TV on and off anyway. My cable remote can do it (although I never can remember what button turns the TV off and what button turns the digital cable box off and I always get the wrong one). And of course, I can get up and push the button on the TV unit itself. Heh, heh.

My niece came in last evening to take a shower. She is moving into a new apartment and does not have hot water, yet. She was driving a huge U-Haul truck. I have to get a picture of her little self inside the drivers seat. I hope to do that today before she has to return it. It is funny looking.

The boxer was sick

As far as I can tell he got into my raffia in my craft stuff. Once outside, he ate grass like it was going out of style. I sat outside with him for about an hour until I finally had to go back inside and clean up his mess from where we didn't make it outside in time for the first wave of sickness.

And darn it! I have been so disciplined in putting the remote controls up at night. Sigh. It is the cable remote again. It is only chewed a bit on the end. It might still work okay. Calgon? Where's the Calgon? Take me away!

FYI: I have a blog that I follow that had to shut down and re-open a new one. Seems she reached her limit of photos she can post on the blog. Yikes! I'll have to look into this.

Some man

My mom told the story with a sense of humor. This man knocked on our door when I was three and my older brother would have been five. We ran to the kitchen "Mommy! There's some man at the door." My Mom went to the door. My dad had come home from the workhouse.

Tuna Noodle Casserole (cheat version)

One time a few years back I was in a hurry to fix dinner. My daughter and niece were hungry and I didn't take the time to add bread crumbs and bake the tuna noodle casserole like you are supposed to do. I layered noodles, peas, tuna and cheese and zapped it in the microwave.

They loved it! They raved about it.

I have fixed it that way ever since.

The above dish has mushrooms added to it. Not my daughter's favorite, but I liked it just fine.

So, just cook the noodles as the package instructs. Layer noodles, peas, tuna and cheese. I use sweet baby peas and Velveeta cheese. The above dish has regular tuna (usually I use the albacore or chunk white) packed in water. I use Light 'n Fluffy extra wide egg noodles. I butter the casserole dish and sometimes add pats of butter in the layers. Sometimes I add a little milk so it is not dry. It usually is not dry.

Come to find out the girls hated it when the noodles get hard and crunchy. I don't like it baked anymore and I never did like the bread crumbs either.

This recipe is really quick. Ten minutes to boil the noodles, five minutes to layer and five minutes in the microwave. I open the cans of tuna and peas while the noodles are boiling and slice the cheese. I also butter the casserole dish while waiting for the noodles.

It is creamy and it is rich.

Well...

Remember the TV show Bewitched, where Samantha would do something and Darrin would look at her and she would just say "Well...?" It was one of those moments.

It all started when I forgot to call my pharmacy prescription in. Really! I usually phone them in or send them in via the web page. I forgot. So I dropped it off and had to wait for it.

I said to myself "I'm going over to the electrical department and am going to learn me something!" Well, I learned something alright - but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Or should I say, I RE-learned me something. Heh, heh.

I am extremely fortunate that the outlet (and the plug) were the only things damaged. And, my err... ego. A bit.

I read the back of the package. We have been using the outlet adapters for a few years, but I always said to myself 'One day, I am going to ground those suckers.'

Well...

I figure you just have to unscrew the middle screw and re-screw it back in over the little loop on the adapter plug. I said to myself 'Okay, I can do this!' Famous last words, huh?

Me sitting cross legged directly in front of an outlet with a screwdriver. An outlet that had not had the faceplate removed in seven years when the walls were last painted. A screw that would not line up for me and I tilted it.

I remember sparks. They looked like fireworks. I remember a popping sound. I don't remember seeing any smoke. I remember I threw the screw driver. I remember some funny sound came out of my mouth. I DID NOT cuss. I do know the dogs ran and peeked around the corner for a long time before they came back out.

Now, I usually know better than to play with electricity. I've said this before in my blog, especially when I am at work. It scares the bejesus out of me. Sigh. I really thought I could do this little thing. I usually don't mess with it.

Hmm... on second thought (actually eleventh and twelfth thought) maybe you don't remove the faceplate. Oh, dear.

Anyway.... does anybody know the name of a good electrician? Ha, ha! I had one guy in here when I first moved to the house, the previous owner had recommended him. Then in another conversation she said "I hope he got away from those drugs." That was all for that electrician.

I thought something was up when he came to my house and he pulled his van up halfway down the alley. I was waiting for him so I went out to talk to him and he quickly rolled his window down and said "I'm just finishing my sandwich!" I thought to myself "No, you are finishing a joint!"

I've been associated and around enough party smokers to know one when I see one.

So, I won't be calling him back. I don't think he is in business anymore. Surprise! In all fairness, he did a good job, though.

Now, for the movie department. By all means skip "After.Life". Good grief! I really like L Neeson, but this was horrible! Unless you are a guy and like to watch C Ricci writhe around naked on a cold autopsy table. Yuck! Not my cup of tea. But, I did kind of like the bobble-head doll. Freak that I am. LOL!

Wee little thing

See? The fan I replaced yesterday was just a wee little thing. The non-working one sure made a lot of noise though. The room (which actually WAS air conditioned) was vibrating with the racket.

I did forget to take my camera. Ah, well.

Adding a little color

I was able to re-load the anti-virus software back onto my PC. It was a lot easier than I thought. I've done it so many times now, I guess I am getting pretty good at it. No problems at all.

My next step was to add pretty and inspiring wall paper to my desktop. I love finding new pics to add and I have some old faves. The one above is a new one. I center it so that my icons show up. Right now I only have a handful of icons on the desktop. Like moving into a new house, the furniture is sparse and the area is clean and uncluttered. As time goes on my desktop will look like a small hydrogen bomb went off as my house does.

Is that what they call them? Hydrogen bombs? Atom bombs? Nuclear blast? I wiki'd them and they are the same. I like that about Wikipedia. Instead of a URL address (such as www.someplace.com) you can just type in 'wiki atom bomb' (without the quotes) and it takes you to the closest subject in Wikipedia that matches atom bomb. Try it. Then try another like 'wiki daniel boone' or 'wiki chernobyl'. I used to sign out encyclopedias at the library (before the world wide web) and read them. I love small blurbs or stories about people, places and things. I love it!

I just tried an experiment. It works with the quotes, too. Yeah, I could read about stuff all day.

Currently I am reading "Jungle Child" by Sabine Kuegler. It is about a girl raised in West Papua in the 70's. I love the biography section of my library. Gosh I'm just full of love today.

And then I go to work. Where's the love NOW?! I'll be in a little school (no air). I am going to try to get there early enough and get my job done before the heat makes it unbearable. A fan has quit in a router and I must replace it. The unit has three fans. The fan is no bigger than a.... a....bar of motel soap. That's it. I couldn't think of anything that size.

And the pups? Hah! I had another remote control chewed beyond repair this morning. They also found a way into the picnic basket with the plastic utensils. All over the floor this morning. The remote - I can survive without it I suppose. It is to the TV, but the cable remote can control it. Or you know, I can walk up to the set and push the buttons. Horrors!

The basket that held all six remotes (don't ask) will have to be placed high on the book case I guess. I was mistaken when I thought that they were safe in a boxed basket. I am vigilant about putting the remotes inside this box every night before I retire. Little wicked devils. I didn't even mumble to them. I just picked everything up and took the batteries out of the now defunct remote and cleaned up the plastic ware on the carpet. My sweeper will love any little tiny plastic pieces left behind.

Maybe I need to go back to caging them at night. Ugh. They are in their cages while I go to work, I just feel sad putting them in there at night, too.

I watched "The Ghost Writer". The wife is the same lady who played the wife of B Willis in the movie The Sixth Sense. Did I like the movie? Not really. Not a big E McGregor fan. I am a P Brosnan fan. I recognized (barely) K Cattrall. I was like 'Is that her?' 'Yes, it is!' I thought the movie was a little silly in places. I was waiting for the servants to knock somebody off, they were so strangely mysterious and creepy. And they gave them the names of Dep and Duc? What is up with that? Oh, and here is a bit of trivia for you. The young lady who is the Island motel receptionist just happens to be the daughter of R Polanski - the director of the movie.

Yep, yep. Onward to the great unknown. I wonder where my camera is? This is prime picture-taking country where I am headed.

Hot August Nights

I really have to get back out there and take more pictures! This one is the big lake near my town and was taken in May of what year? Heck if I can recall. 2008?

Anyway, it's hot around these parts. I hear it's hot around your parts, too. I walk the dogs and I am ready for another shower. I walk the dogs first thing in the morning, at my lunch break, after work and before turning in for the night. Nice. I can't very well jump in the shower each time. Let's just say it is probably a good thing I work in an office all by myself.

I watched the movies "Crazy on the Outside" and "The Bounty Hunter". I could not figure out where I had seen the parole officer in COtO and then I saw where she was the female co-star in the epic failure "Waterworld." And I'm just sayin' we ladies got gypped in TBH. Anist0n got to prance around in a short black mini dress while we got to see Butler in an "god-awful ugly" checkered shirt. What is up with that?! I thought it was a chick flick! And seriously? The rickshaw thing was a little over the top.

I always said that S Bull0ck did not have much acting range, but I am really thinking that Anist0n can only play one type. She looks the same in every.damn.movie! And she plays the same ditsy character. Over and over again - femme fatale. C'mon. Seriously! Just take any of her movies, plug a new guy in and spit them out each year and I don't think that anyone would be the wiser. Let's see some talent. Change the hair. Reach out. Play a real gritty female. Put on weight for a real character. We are sick and tired of blah, blah, blah. Girl loses boy. Girl teases boy. Girl gets boy back. Boring! There are actors and then there are showgirls. Sorry Anist0n. You're just a showgirl.

I am not saying the girl does not work hard for the money. She definitely works hard to keep that figure/body. Kudos to her. But there comes a time in life when you think one would say to themselves "Is this all there is to me?" A buff body? Is there no brain in here? Can I give something that really makes the audience think and just surprise the bloody hell out of them? Or, am I only in this for the paycheck?

She's back

I got the motherlode back up and running. Good grief! What a hassle. I have to get a battery for this mammoth system and maybe a little better surge protector. Ugh.

I did drool over the new XPS systems, though. I don't know why I keep getting gaming machines when I don't play any games. Weird.

There sure are a lot of updates when you load from an old XP installation disk. LOL!

Now, to get my AV re-installed yet again. I am wondering if Symantec is getting tired of hearing me say "my system crashed" because I keep having to re-install my AV. I have a 3 user license. I'm sure if I do it without tech support it is going to say "You have reached your maximum number of computers". Blah, blah, blah!

Just for kicks, I watched "The Tooth Fairy." I thought it was cute at times. It still did not come close to one of our favorites: "The Rundown."

A puppy tale

I was horrified. I read it in the newspaper. Some jackass threw a puppy out of a moving vehicle on a big open road that is known to be travelled often by semi tractor trailers. I cringed. The guy driving behind had to swerve to miss the puppy. He said he thought they had thrown trash out. Another driver stopped. She was a vet from a nearby city.

The driver of the "red van" did not stop. Nobody was able to get the license plate because of all the commotion. The police were looking for the offending driver(naturally).

My first thought was of a neighbor lady who I saw just two days prior. She had a little black lab puppy she was wanting to get rid of. She had broken her foot and could not take care of him. She lived in the only place on my block that rents to the seedier crowd of people. They only stay a few months and move on.

But, I never saw a red van anywhere near that place.

Until Wednesday evening. I was driving out the back alley and there it was. A red van! Oh no!

What would you do?

While walking the dogs later that evening, I walked past the rented house to look for any signs that the pup was still there. Nobody was out and there was no pup. Sigh. What to do, what to do.

I went back home. Read the paper. It was all a HOAX! The guy said his wife would never let him keep the puppy so he made up the entire story! Arrgghh! The lady vet must have been part of his story? No explanation was given that I saw about her.

Read the resolved story here.

I am so glad I didn't jump to any sudden accusations. I thought them, but I needed proof first. And then that story. I don't know who I want to slap more. Somebody who would throw a dog out of a moving vehicle or the guy that would make the story up and get all the readers in an uproar. The pup was one in a litter of 10. I don't suppose they are going to have any problems getting that set adopted. Most callers only wanted the "discarded" puppy. They were not interested in adopting any of his litter mates. Huh?

Then, there is the lady that left her kids in the vehicle while it was still running with the windows down. They were left alone long enough for a bystander to see this, call the cops and the cops to get there and cite her. She said she was in the store for five minutes. I don't know about you, but I've never seen any cops respond in under five minutes, but I suppose it could happen.

Still at it

This is what greeted me on my living room floor this morning. They are still at it. They will go for weeks (sometimes a whole month) without touching anything and then "bam". There it is. This remote controls my DVD player. Or, it did. It won't be as easy to replace as the cable remote. I think I have a spare universal one around. I hope I have the directions with how to program it. Sigh. I suppose this is their way of telling me they want a Blu Ray with a High-Def system.

Hi!

This is actually two shots glued together. I stood behind each tyke and shot straight down at them as they looked up at me. This produces an upside down tyke photo. I then flipped it around and glued them together to get this sort of fish eye look.

Here are the original shots:

This year

We had half as many as last year. And, can you believe I was not in this photo? LOL! I am not taking the picture (they had a tripod and a timer). I won't go into detail but I missed this photo op. Oh, well.

My group got matching tee shirts (burgundy) this year. Five of my group had already left before this was taken and five are not wearing their tee shirt in this shot. A couple you cannot see their shirts because they are mostly hidden. We had 25 show up this year in our group from our branch of the tree.

I am still SO tired I can't type very much or very long. I have to get more rest.