My sister's freshman orientation was Tuesday. Bekah is officially on board the "I am never attending another freshman orientation, even if it's for my own kids" train. Yay Bek!

(And don't be swayed by that stupid camera icon in the video window if it's still there!! The video's up, it's just... pretending to be down...)


So while Bekah was off touring the campus and doing all that... stuff... my mom and I had some *grand adventures* (read: played Sudoku and napped on a bench in the Union) of our own. Actually- we were able to go out and enjoy a nice, longish walk through the neighborhood, which was fun. Hot, though. Man...

So good for you for attending all of the sessions, my Rose. Sorry your mom and sister had to counter you with a li'l hooky. For whatever it's worth, I have no doubt we were just as bored, if not more so, than you were.

See? Doesn't that just make it all better?!

...or at least that's what her ex-boyfriend would have you believe. *fumes silently*

I just told my sister that I un-friended her ex on Facebook because, you know, he and I were only really "friends" there so we could exchange jokes and one-liners about my sister-- all nice stuff, mind you-- but I thought that now since they're broken up there's not really much reason for me to have him on my list anymore. He was never unkind to me or anything, just didn't really know him, blah blah blah.

So then she tells me she took him off her list on Facebook too but how he keeps friend requesting her anyway after having told her she's "a pathetic slut," among other things, and bad-mouthing her to her friends who he's met along the way.

What a douche.

She told me some other just kinda lame-ass, inconsiderate things he did (*she* dumped *him*, surprise surprise) and some of the stuff he's saying about her (all of it untrue but very enticing in gossip circles) and she's really cool about it, but this guy is such an OC supporting cast wannabe I can hardly believe it. Seriously: guy's a jerk.

This is what happens when guys have mostly female friends (which he does). Does your guy have mostly female friends? Be worried. Not that he'll cheat on you with them, but that the constant proximity to feminine brands of passive aggression and self-centeredness will turn him into a douche. A "won't help you with driving directions when you're in an unfamiliar area and he can't be bothered to stop chatting up your girlfriends," "won't take you home in time for your curfew," "won't get you back home when you have things to do early the next morning and finals to study for," "won't leave the house after you keep asking him to and after your dad comes out to make him leave," "he's'a smack talk you to your friends" douche. Because that's what high school girls are like. And that's what guys are like who hang out with too many girls like that.

And he's trying to friend her.

*shakes head*

Idiot.

She said she told some of her friends who are friends with him also about the way he's been talking to and about her and she said most of them ignored her because, "LOL idc it's just my flist LOL."

The world is full of assholes. That's all there is to it.

************************************

I'm at home now watching "Once Upon A Mattress" over a slice of reheated frozen pizza. Yum yum yum...

The pizza's almost as good as it was last night. Ain't life grand?

As for "Mattress"... I figure I keep hearing people who've done the show talk about it and I was curious what all the fuss was about. And boy if renting it for free from the library don't beat the heck out of spending $15 to see some crummy, two-bit production at a community theatre nobody quite knows how to get to, I don't know what does!! ;D

And can you believe Tracey Ullman was FORTY-FIVE when they filmed this latest version?!

And now, my sisters and me:

Weekend Schmeekend

Saturday: Awesome storms. Absolutely awesome. And unlike many parts of the country I can say that and *mean* it and *enjoy* it because I wasn't getting flooded out of any place at any point.

I did wonder for a brief period of time on Saturday afternoon/evening if I ought to mosey on down to the parking garage under my building for fear of being too near a window when a tree branch came crashing into my home, but as it stands that didn't happen, so all is well.

Went to Fave Local Townie Bar on Saturday night with friends and the place was only "pleasantly full" instead of "annoyingly packed" due to the large number of people who usually drive out from Milwaukee who apparently decided it wasn't worth the risk to take the 25 minute drive out to the 'sha just for some decent drink prices and an overly crowded dance floor.

Woo hoo!

I have a response vid I want to make today about "things I love." (Thanks jallen285!) Here's hoping I get to it because it's silly-ish but fun. Then rehearsal at 7. Slightly less worried about the show, but still a bit paranoid. But what's keeping me busy during the day is that while searching for a new job I'm going to be helping my dad get some stuff started up so he can keep busy and working and all that. Don't know how it'll play out yet, but we'll get it all figured out.

Kind of a complicated arrangement, but everything works out. Sometimes it works out to where you're brought so low in the process that you almost can't fathom the losses, but it does work out. And I'm not afraid.

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

I'm at my parents' house watching Deadliest Catch. Patches is resting by my feet with her head on my knee (I'm sitting cross-legged), I'm full of pizza, Bekah's at work at her new job at the mall, David is out with his girlfriend picking up his motorcycle from... somewhere... and I just may swear off of crab forever after watching this show.

I'm starting my job search in earnest tomorrow. It's kind of exciting, but a little intimidating.

Intimidating like-- well like when you were given an assignment in school to write a paper about anything, provided that it was at least a certain length when you were finished. I can take a job where I do anything, provided that I earn at least a certain amount.

Aaahhh!! Too open-ended!!

Patches has shifted with me. She's now resting her head on my ankle. I love having a dog around.

Rehearsals for "Wait Until Dark" start tomorrow night at Bucketworks. Don't know what time yet, though. Hm. The show will be good, I think. I only know who four of the cast members are (including myself), but as long as we do our thing and we do it well, and as long as Mark Hooker has enough of a hand in it (it seems it's being guest directed...), it'll be good.

Is crab really tasty enough to warrant people subjecting themselves to jobs like the ones in this show? Mercy mercy me...

My sister's high school graduation ceremony was today. Yay Bekah Rose! Mimi was in town for it so my folks and David and Mimi and I went there this afternoon to watch.

It's only the second high school graduation I've ever attended, the other being my own. I think it's pretty safe to say that after today I will do everything in my power to never attend another high school graduation ceremony unless one of the people receiving a diploma that day was birthed from mine own loins.

It wasn't horrible or anything, it was just really long and really boring. One of the guys gave a fun speech, but the rest were just-- ugh. Lamentable. Who's the speech teacher these days and why haven't they been fired?

A lot of "mortarboards worn on the back of the head" amongst the lady types this afternoon. If there's one thing dippier looking than wearing a graduation cap, it's wearing a graduation cap on the back of your head. Especially with that *receding neck* pose you have to maintain to keep the cap from sliding off in spite of your best efforts to bobby pin it in place. Two girls lost theirs while walking across the stage to receive their diplomas because of this dippierness.

*chuckles* I am so glad I don't have to wear one of those ever again!

The stuff with the fam was fun. That Bekah's a sweet girl. I like her. I took a bunch of video clips throughout the afternoon, but then my battery died around the time the ceremony itself ended so I missed a lot.

One of the things I missed catching-- but it's just as well because had I caught it on tape, even on accident, it would have been creepy and icky and weird and there's no way I would have posted it anyway-- was this girl who came to the ceremony who was wearing shorts that were so tight and so short that in the five feet from her car door to the side walk she had to pull her shorts out of... um... out of her... yeah... four times. Four. Times. In five feet. And of course she was in a brightly colored top and high heels so you just can't help but notice her. She couldn't even walk straight in those things, even after her shoes were off. It was like they'd given her a mad case of thigh-chafe or something.

Oh my gosh. Too funny.

Seriously, dear heart: You have great legs and a tight butt- which won't last as long as you'd like but by golly you've got it now so enjoy it! Dress as sexily as you want, but at least have the sense to do so in clothing that doesn't have the option of being removed via your throat. There were plenty of lovely, Cosmo Girl! examples of alternatives at the ceremony today. I'm sure with a little creativity you'll be able to come up with something.

I'd post the video here, but what ends up happening when I do that is that no one rates them or leaves comments on the video's page on YouTube- they just leave them all here- and that leaves the video's YouTube page looking abandoned and lonely. So to watch the vid, click here.

I'd give you Bekah's YouTube username so you could harass her while you're there, but I'm not sure that she's even on YouTube, so phooey on that plan. My mom's got an account though (but no videos). Isn't that cute?!

Also, I apologize for the chunk from 3:28 to 4:14 where the class treasurer talks about one of the two student gifts. I left it in for my sis (whose speech in DELIGHTFULLY short). So uh, sorry about that part. :P

Aren't you glad we're done with high school? Oh Lordy...

**********************************************

For thisangelhurts:

See?! You must go. Must. www.Polyvore.com.

When people who you know have nothing to gain from feeding you a line of bullshit about something feed you a line of bullshit, who are they trying to convince? Especially when it's not terribly harmful bullshit so what was the point in the first place? Especially when it's their own hole they're digging?

Been a rough week. Can't get into it too much here 'cause it's work related and all that. The end o' the tale, however, lands firmly in the "Ruth is working on her resume and actively seeking employment which she will interview for having driven to said interview in a car fueled by gas funded by unemployment insurance payments" camp.

:P

So what do I want to be when I grow up if I'm not gonna be a roofer?

:(

It's become increasingly lonely here as of late at the ol' apartamento. It's the job thing. It's family stuff. It's hard. Everyone's depressed. I keep daydreaming about meeting Bill Gates at the grocery store and helping him track down all of the apples (get it?) that have spilled from his grocery bag and rolled all over the parking lot and to thank me he gives me a million dollar tip and I take it to the bank and put it in the work account and the only thing I ask of my dad back at the office is that we hire a full-time IT person/CAD monkey.

My resume is stupid. And full of how-to notes. And three pages long. Because it's full of how-to notes.

Do I *have* to write a resume? Can't I just show up outside of some company's building and walk in and ask if I can try out whatever it is they do and if I can do it I'm hired? Someplace that'll keep me in my apartment. Someplace that'll give me health insurance. And days off. And a drawer for my pens and not just a place to set my pen cup.

Time to shower and then go to bed. I keep trying to force myself to stay up as long as possible so that when I finally crawl under the covers I'll fall asleep right away and not lay there thinking and thinking and stressing and thinking... but I'm out of things to do. I don't want to be online (shocker, I know), none of my books is that appealing to me right  now, everything's clean enough that I can't be bothered to mess with it, and every time I go to do something that requires a light being turned on or hot water being used (as Silly Strawberry bubble bath isn't nearly as much fun without it) I freak out and turn everything off because I'm so afraid my work endeavors will fail again and I'll be paying for that energy usage with unemployment checks all summer and Lord knows those things don't go far enough.

I didn't cause anything to fail. There's nothing I could have done. All I can do now is keep working, be there, keep my head up and my mind focused and eat during the day and get sleep at night and maybe take a walk tomorrow afternoon.

I'm so sad right now but crying just takes so much effort I can't be bothered to begin. :S

Watching Joyeux Noel and indulging the faux-Swede in me by munchin' on some Anna's ginger cookies. They remind me of Christmases at Grandma and Grandpa's house on the island; of the dining room table filled with bowls of various doughs and batters and sprinkles and powdered sugar, and the rolls of wax paper, and cookie cutters, and pans with rusted edges, and the kitchen hot from the oven, and classical music coming in from the living room, and Grandma bustling around keeping everything moving along while showing Bekah and me how to make all different kinds of traditional Swedish cookies and treats.

I don't really know what I am other than German, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the Swedes. :)

Got a call from In Tandem yesterday about volunteering this week for the UPAF thing at State Fair, and about volunteering to usher for "Mass Appeal." I'll have to check to see when I'm free for that. I like volunteering for them. And seeing the show for free? Well that's nice too! ;)

In an interesting and cheering turn of events, Jane also called to let me know I'm one of the folks they're going to be calling about auditioning for one of their shows next spring. I think it goes up in April. Or maybe it's that the audition is in April. Whatever-- very neat. :D

I just hope it doesn't overlap with the things I'm interested in trying out for at Sunset and Civic. I know the competition will be pretty tough for the In Tandem show so it's not really that likely to come about, but still, if it does work out I'd hate to see it replace the opportunity to work with two other theatres I've so enjoyed working with. Especially with the rough time Sunset is having. I don't want to miss out on a chance to work there one last time (if that's what it comes to for them), even though the In Tandem show would pay.

A lot.

I wish I spoke French. I'm watching an interview with the J.N. director and the sound of his language is just fascinating.

Why do we fight? How do you convince people with fact, with honesty, that they ought to go shoot someone? I call we swich to hand-to-hand combat between the people running the countries that are fighting. Maybe give 'em a month to train, first. You know: give the old white guys at least somewhat of a chance so things are a bit more even (otherwise it's just no fun to watch), and then put 'em in the ring and say 'All right, you guys duke it out. We're gonna go have a sandwich. And we want this figured out by the time we get back. You don't *have* to fight, you can talk, too. Just, you know, figure it out. We'll have dessert after our sandwiches; give ya' a little extra time...'

Mmmm... sandwich... Gotta go!

************************************************

Why have a sandwich when you can have mac 'n' cheese?

Watching March of the Penguins with Alfred. He's into penguins. penguins 'n' narwhals, but penguins mostly.

I'm with Alfred-- Penguins are pretty cool. We learned about them in fourth grade. With Miss D. Good times.

Too bad we don't do our best "mate attracting" when our bellies are so full they're distended. Lucky penguins...

In other news, my YouTube videos have been watched a cumulative total of 1,996 times. Weird, no? They're long, rambly, and about nothing of any relevance or import. At all. Ever. 1,996. And I haven't posted a new one in over 3 months, so the timing is weird, too.

I'd still be posting if I had a better recording program. I don't know how to record video using my built-in webcam. *sigh* I know... I know... I'm an idiot... I just haven't really done much looking around for programs I can use, and the only thing I've already got on hand is the program that goes with my crappy Logitech cam that I bought last fall and refuse to use.

Man... these penguins are kinda sweet and romantic... And those two are totally gettin' it on... I should probably cover Alfred's eyes for this part. :P Gotta go!

Merry Christmas Everybody!!

Went with the fam to Mimi's in Chicago tonight. My Aunt Sharon was there-- haven't seen her in ages. Apparently some people deal with divorce by losing a ton of weight and developing healthier hair, skin, and nails. Good to know. Bill and his kids were there, too. Good times. They're getting so big! Paul is in 6th grade now which is almost unbelievable. He brought his saxophone and played a few Christmas songs for us-- I'm sure he just loved that part of the evening...-- and Laura brought pics of her and her boyfriend at homecoming. She's a senior in high school this year. How freakin' crazy is that when the little cousins graduate from high school?

Dinner was delicious, though I did end up getting sick about half way through. Don't know what I ate but I ended up spending half of dinner in the bathroom, then half of present opening time in the bathroom as well. I sped through my gifts so I could duck out and lay down in Mim's bed. What the heck, man??

Best gifts of Mim's: a green suede jacket, a wooden penguin in a scarf and holding a small Christmas tree, two movie passes, and a brick of home made fudge.

Sharon got a matching penguin (hers is holding a Christmas present) and was as excited as me to finally have Christmas decorations now that she and I both are living alone and starting fresh with buying things like holiday decor. Bill suggested I find a boyfriend to move in with me. Amused that he waited to say that until my folks weren't around, I just grinned and said that idea sounded much better than just getting a cat for company. I'm just not ready to be "that girl." Not that having one makes you a "that girl" by default. Just in my family where we have had several "that girl"s, one of whom died an 80-something year old virgin just a couple of years back. Imagine my delight at being called by her name at family functions.

No really. It's hilarious.

:P

She actually was an incredibly cool woman. Kind of bossy in her later years, but I'll grant her a pass on that. You learn to take care of yourself and run your own life by yourself for that long, there's a good chance that however you're telling people to do probably really is the best way to do it. If you've ever seen my cell phone when it's open you'll see the display name is always Dor in Wonderland. That's what I call myself. Her name was Dorothy. :)

We drove back home fairly early-ish from Mimi's since Bill had to get his kids back to their mom and Mimi was driving up to Dave and Dolly's in Mukwonago tonight after dinner. When we were almost here we voted to open one present a piece. But then Bekah and I decided one present a piece just isn't enough, so we passed out all of them and insisted we go through them all tonight. Woot for daughterly persuasion.

Best gifts of home time: Um... Man... a lot of them were great... Well let's see: I got 4 green bath towels and two green hand towels (I asked for towels because mine are mostly unusable as they leave so much lint on you after you use them that you have to get back in the shower to rinse it all off), three kitchen towels (because I only had two and they're almost completely non-absorbent), grass scented fabric refresher, a little bathtub with bath gel and a scrub brush in it, a hard camera case, something from my brother and his girlfriend which I am not allowed to open until I'm with both of them, a set of two microwave dish things for making one baked potato at a time, a book of "Incredibly Easy!" cookie recipes, and a George Foreman grill that has 4 different "griddle" types so you can make waffles, grill meat and veggies, etc. It's red and big and very awesome. :)

Also, Santa may or may not have just put Christmas Activity Pads in everyone's stockings, fancy schmancy lip stuff in the girls' stockings, and a "Yorkie" candy bar bearing the words "Not for Girls!" in David's stocking.

Tomorrow we're heading to Rockford to spend the afternoon visiting my dad's mother in the hospital (she just went in last Saturday night with some major heart condition; they didn't think she'd survive the night...) and then having dinner at his sister Laura and her husband Nils's house. I hope we're not doing presents there. I'd rather have their time and company than their gifts. We don't get to see them as often as we do my mom's side of the family. It always feels like any time spent opening gifts is together-time wasted. :P

And I don't mean that in a, you know, in a magnanimous, saintly way. I *love* getting Christmas presents almost as much as I love giving 'em and I'll admit it right off!! But when we're there it's-- I 'unno. I'd just rather hang out than get stuff.

But Christmas is about more than just getting stuff and eating 'til you get sick (or just eating hardly anything and getting sick regardless).

It's also about sleeping.

A lot.

So Merry Christmas and sweet dreams to you all.

And if you don't like what you got you can come over and hang out at my place and we can grill stuff while refreshing our fabric. It'll be great.

I'm spending the weekend at my parents' house. It's been great!

I came over for a pot roast lunch after doing some quick shopping with my Mom and sister, and then Bekah came with me to my place to pack up my Christmas gifts for everybody and bring 'em all back to the house.

Now we're watching "The Office" while Bekah mixes cinnamon butter and mom talks to the dog. It's so... nice. And warm. And cozy.

Patches keeps coming over to snuggle up on me. She padded up to Alfred earlier and started sniffing his face, and then I called her over to sit by me and she curled up on top of my hands. So freakin' cute! And she just got a hair cut and they put these little red bows with white polka dots in her... hair? They're on hair bands in her fur on her ears. Y'know... pigtails... Whatever.

We're watching the health care plan episode. It's painful. We just redid our health care plan at work and... ouch. Yep. Ouch. So close to home it's almost unwatchable.

Here comes the dog-- gotta go!

***************************************

This is our world. Worse: This is our country. These are the boys that the boys dating your future daughters will be learning from, looking up to.

Dear God...

6 times in a row tonight when I hit my StumbleUpon button I was taken to pictures of naked women, both solo and otherwise engaged with additional naked women.

The heck?

So, like, when I have my Stumble set to "ALL" does that actually stand for "Alluring Lickable Lesbians" or something? And here I thought "ALL" meant I'd be Stumbling through the great wide wides of the world wide web. But no. I'll be Stumbling through some giggler's idea of a joke. Interesting.

Got some more birthday/Christmas shopping done. Funny how you can do so much and still not have a gift for everyone on your list. My list is mighty short this year. For a number of reasons. Chief among them that I know I will still be down to the wire on getting gifts so I figure I'm more likely to get gifts for the people I really *need* to get gifts for if I know I don't have to worry about another 20 people's names jotted down after theirs. In fact, I can only think of 10 people that I'm buying for this year. That's not bad.

Seeing Kurt in "Best Christmas Pageant" tomorrow night with Nikki. Um-- what time does that start, anyway? 7:30? Meet you there at 7:15? At 7 because seating is general admission? Who even knows.

I keep thinking today is Thursday. It hasn't been some super hectic, busy, stressful week, so why the heck do I feel like it's been so long that it should be over by now?


**********************************

Love to give advice? Great!

I'm going to be purchasing a new laptop some time next year. February or March or so.

I'm going PC, so while I know a few of you would love to douse me with Mac praise-- no thanks this time. ;)

I need something to use for the usual stuff-- word processing, email, digital photo editing, blah blah blah. I'm also looking for a built-in webcam and mic because it'd be so nice to not have to lug around extra equipment to plug in. I mean- I know that an external cam will be a much better one than whatever comes built-in, but still: whatever comes built in will still be better than the crappy cam I have right now.

So I'm starting from scratch. I'm open to whatever. And I'm looking at stores and websites and all that for myself, but for a lot of what I'd base my purchase on, I see where one is better than another in some area or other, I just don't know how good different levels are, where things rank in importance...

I would *love* to keep the purchase price under a grand, and I already have Microsoft Office 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 8.0 so I don't need to worry about the cost of any of that being a factor this time around.

Oh! And storage space. This time around I'm looking for a beast of a hard drive. I also want to pick up an external hard drive where I can back everything up and store it separately away from my laptop. Because I'm paranoid.

:)

Who's the girl that looks like The Cheat?


Happy Grategiving Everybody!

"Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane."
Philip K. Dick

City turned in our permit late blah blah blah power company can't come out now until tomorrow to okay us to have our electricity turned on. We've been in since 11/1. Tomorrow is now 11/8. Um...

We have a phone line and a fax line, but our internet won't be activated until Monday. We bought a vacuum cleaner yesterday. Can't plug it in to clean. Bought a copier today. Can't plug it in to make a copy of the receipt to send in the mail-in rebate. Bought bathroom and glass cleaner today. Can't turn on the lights to see in the bathrooms. It's hard getting stuff done with your resources all spread out and not regularly available. :P

I had to use the bathroom this morning at the office so my dad gave me his cell phone since his display screen is larger than the screen on mine and he hung out at the other end of the office so I could keep the bathroom door open and have his cell as a flashlight for added visibility. Not, uh-- not like I'm gonna forget where things are or how they work, y'understand. I was afraid of bugs coming out in the darkness and biting me in the butt.

Naturally.

In other news: the video blogs of my time here in Dallas are... well I think "going well" might not be the best way to put it. Just "going" might suffice. And there seems to be a pretty fair handful of people actually watching them, though goodness only knows who the heck they are. I mean-- how do you rack up 154 views of blog entries about being bored in a dark apartment with no one for company but your dad and a stuffed walrus? Who cares?!

And I know that's not 154 different people. But crikey-- that's an average of 22 views per video. And if each person watches only once (if you watch one you'll see why even "once" is kinda pushing it on the fascinatingometer) that's still 22 very bored people. I mean, I put 'em up there for friends to see what I'm up to, but-- well I don't *have* 22 friends!! Who are these strangers?!

If you know any of these people, you should help 'em out. Maybe take 'em out for a pizza and a movie. Get 'em out of the house, away from the computer for a bit. You know. Remind them there's a world out there.

Also, apparently my brother got a hair cut.











And then the bonus shot-- the picture my bro somehow managed to get of himself sneezing while attempting to take a picture of his new *do*:

I love this kid. I really do.

The show last night had its ups and its downs, but mostly ups. Basically. I'd be interested to hear your take on it, Mr. oceandoot. I think tickets have been reduced to $15, and it opens tonight at 8 at the Brumder and runs through the next two weekends. (I *heart* Matthew as Phillip and Gloria as Jenny. Odd couple, but *perfect* for this script.)

It's my dad's birthday today. I brought in bagels and cream cheese and juice for everybody, and now after one bagel and a cup of juice I'm officially stuffed to the gills. Ugh.

World's Tiniest Baby

When she was born, 15 weeks premature and weighing ten and a half ounces, her father's confidence was about the only thing on Kimberly Mueller's side.  With a survival chance of less than 1,000 to one, every day she has got through since then is a triumph. Six months later, Kimberly has finally been allowed to go home to her parents in Hanover.

This is troubling. There is officially no hope. Phooey. :P

Cuddle parties??

I'm leaving for Michigan around 4 am tomorrow with my parents. We're attending my cousin Jill's wedding tomorrow afternoon, going up on a roof in Kalamazoo on Sunday, and then returning home Sunday night. He's like an old sea dog, my dad is. He can't look at a commercial roof but that there's a longing there to climb up on top of it and have a look around. *sigh* What a weirdo. What a charming, darling, lovely weirdo. Happy Birthday, dad. I love you.


I like the Midwest. I really do.

And I like today.

I *heart* Pandora.

Current Music: Dinah Washington - Sings Bessie Smith - Send Me to the 'lectric Chair

Judge you wanna hear my plea
Before you open up your court
But I don't want no sympathy
'Cause I done cut my good man's throat

Judge, judge, please mister judge,
Send me to the 'lectric chair
Judge, judge, good mister judge,
Let me go away from here

I wanna take a journey
To the devil down below
I done killed my man
I wanna reap just what I sow

So I think something in the chemical makeup of my nylons is degrading because I just went to fix my shirt from where it was tucking in to part of my skirt and felt this dust on my skin. I looked and there's this fine, reddish brown powder all the way around my waist under the top elastic portion of my new nylons. Jigga-what?

Steve brought in five tall, iced something- or-others with whipped cream on top from Starbucks for the folks who were in the office this morning. I haven't had Starbucks in ages-- boy did that hit the spot. Aaaaand: We're taking on two new guys today and one tomorrow, and we took on 6 on Monday and we've got two or three new  women starting on Monday. Woohoo! We're huge!! =D

Current Music: Memphis Slim - The Folkway Years 1959-1973 - Just a Dream

Had lunch with the whole family plus Mimi yesterday. Great to have her and Bekah back. We went to Louise's and boy do I love me some organic baby spinach and gorgonzola cheese salad. Mm-mm-mm. I may be going home for dinner tonight with the girls since dad (and David??) are up at the Wisconsin Rapids office today and tomorrow. Mimi's headed back down to Chicago with mom and Bekah on Sunday.

I love my family, and I'm blessed to have 'em and I know it. Gotta remember that...

I've also gotta get a haircut. I look like an abandoned llahsa apso.

I'm about an hour and a half through the second disc of Angels in America. Emma Thompson is both weird and wonderful in it, and Al Pacino deserves every accolade he got for his performance. He's evil and creepy and scary and gross. Meryl Streep is creepy too, but in that "Mormon mom" way because, well, she's a creepy Mormon mom. Not that all Mormon's or all mom's are creepy. She's just-- nevermind.

******************

I also *heart* FoxNews.com...

Arkansas Couple Has 17th Child, Still Want More

LITTLE ROCK —  An Arkansas couple had a baby daughter Thursday — their 17th child and seventh girl — and the pair say they're still not ready to give it a rest... Jennifer joins the fast-growing Duggar brood, who live in a 7,000-square-foot home in Tontitown. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are taught at home. The oldest is 19 and the youngest, before Jennifer, is almost 2 years old.

Jennifer joins siblings: Joshua, 19; John David, 17; Janna, 17; Jill, 16; Jessa, 14; Jinger, 13; Joseph, 12; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 9; Jedidiah, 8; Jeremiah, 8; Jason 7; James 6; Justin, 4; Jackson, 3; Johannah, almost 2...

The Duggars have been featured on several programs on cable television's Discovery Health Network. The next special, the Duggar Family Album, is scheduled to air next month, Jim Bob Duggar said. Among the "fun facts" listed on Discovery Health's Web page devoted to the Duggars: A baby has been born in every month except June; the Duggars have gone through an estimated 90,000 diapers, and Michelle has been pregnant for 126 months — or 10.5 years — of her life.

Hollywood Minister Guilty of Dealing Pot in Church

LOS ANGELES —  A minister with mail order credentials was found guilty Thursday of distributing marijuana through his Hollywood church.

The Rev. Craig X Rubin, 41, the leader of the 420 Temple who has appeared in episodes of the Showtime comedy "Weeds," faces up to four years, eight months in prison for possessing marijuana for sale, said Jane Robison, a district attorney's spokeswoman.

Rubin and some 400 members of his church believe marijuana is a religious sacrament and burn and smoke pot during services. He said he won't appeal his conviction.

Man Pulls 12-Year-Old's Head From Cougar's Jaws

CLINTON, British Columbia —  Mark Patterson kicked, choked and wrestled a cougar to rescue a 12-year-old boy from the jaws of the big cat at a resort camp in south-central British Columbia.

Patterson's quick action was credited with saving Colton Reeb who was on a camping trip near Clinton, northwest of Kamloops, when he was attacked by the mountain lion on Wednesday. The cougar pounced on Reeb while he was walking to a bathroom close to the Kelly Lake Vacation Lodge. Patterson, who owns the lodge, jumped in to rescue the 12-year-old boy, a family friend.

"The cat had Colton's head in its mouth ... blood was squirting out everywhere," Patterson said.

Patterson said five soccer kicks to the cat's head were not enough to wrench the boy's head from the animal's mouth. So he put a chokehold on the cougar "and squeezed as hard as I could, and he finally let go." Patterson then wrestled with the 70-pound male cougar, which broke free, fixing him with an evil glare and growl, he said.

"I growled back at him and said, 'I'm ready to go."'

The cougar finally slinked away as Patterson's wife stood nearby armed with a meat cleaver...

I go to my folks' place a lot for lunch these days since my mom's home for the summer. She makes us sandwiches and we sit around chatting with the dog and-- that is: we sit around chatting, and the dog is with us...-- and drinking lemonade on the side porch and it's just-- it's so... it's nice. It's simple and it's calming and it's nice. I love her. :)

She's about a quarter of the way through Deathly Hallows right now and she's loving it. She's supposed to be working on this big project for one of her masters classes and apparently it's boring and she needs like 30 first hand sources except that they all say the exact same thing so it's hard to really *use* most of them. Just skip it, ma. Go back to Harry Potter.

I miss the good old days of grade school papers where you only needed 3 or 4 sources, and the dictionary and the Bible both counted. Maybe she should try that approach, see where it takes her.

Ramen for dinner. It's been years. Literally years. Ramen and a Coke. I feel like one great big ball of sodium. Bleaugh.

Bleaughy but also delicious.

*****************

Ha! Oh man-- can you imagine what would happen if any one of our *major* political figures in this country said something like this?! Oh man-- hahahahaha.... Too stinkin' funny, man. No no- YOU da' clown, Hu!

Hm.

Video on "too much choice."

Ma 'n' Pa Graves are in town. My mom 'n' pop are grilling out with them and the Wernings and I'm invited. And this is good. Because I have no real food.

Dad: I got your mom flowers and lunch meat for Valentine’s Day.

Me: I want flowers and lunch meat for Valentine’s Day!

Dad: I think that combination only comes after years of Valentining.

Me: I don’t think there’s anyone out there for me, dad.

Dad: Have you searched the prisons?

Got a call from my dad with two new tasks for work...

Dad: (drawing things to a close). Well, your mother and I used to love you.
Me: Yeah?
Dad: Now we just love Bekah.
Me: I figured.
Dad: We even used to love... what was your brother's name?
Me: Daniel?
Dad: Yeah, we used to love him too. Until he moved out and went to college.
Me: Well, I still love ol'-- ol' whatshisname. He can move in with me when he's out of college. He can come live in my house in the English countryside where we can be neighbors with the Weasleys.
Dad: You're not like those poeple, Ruth. What are those claymation people called?
Me: Wallace and Grommit?
Dad: Yeah that's it. You're more like a Grommit.
Me: Thanks dad.
Dad: No problem.

Direct quotes from the State of Wisconsin Notary Public Application PDF:

"Notary applicant's rap sheet stretches from here to tomorrow."
"Surety company agent signed the bond form with invisible ink."
"Applicant sent in a bond that was older than dirt."
"Applicant didn't realize it takes two to tango on an oath of office."
"The notarial office doesn't know how to tango."

Also, I just reread one of my past entires tagged "work" and now my heart rate is all... all... well it's up. Why can't we just "Not Work"? Why isn't that an option?

Well, I'm updating from Wisconsin and it. is. grand.

Got in Saturday afternoon, chilled with the fam, saw Holiday at Sunset, stopped by In Tandem to see Lex, had a Strongbow at the HOG, slept a couple hours, took off for Washington Island at 5:15 Sunday morning, slept the whole way up and on the ferry. Marvelous.

Stayed at a cousin's house ont he Island, had Swedish pancakes better than any you've ever even had the opportunity to try, had pizzas, roasts, walked on the icy lake in 13 degree weather with a windchill that'd freeze your tongue in your mouth, visited the places my dad used to live, saw all the sites, watched my little cousin's dance recital, came home Tuesday afternoon. Woot.

Showered, changed, went Christmas shopping. Knew where I was going on every street, knew their names, where they started and began. Found great bargains, found great gifts, hit the Chancery for a wrap and something called Rum Love. Drove home, relaxed by the fireplace, went to bed by 11. Magical.

Got up today at 9, had one of dad's swiss cheese omelettes, deleted most of my 200+ new emails, visited LJ, am rushing upstairs to dress to leave with mom and James for a day of... I dunno. Stuff. Followed by an evening of family stuff as we work around 5 drivers with 1 vehicle.

I LOVE BEING HOME WITH MY FAMILY!!