A Rose by any other name?

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess-Palatine Ann the Essential of Helions Bumpstead Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Farmer's Almanac? or Catomac

A lot of people supposedly depend on the Farmer's Almanac to tell what the weather will be like. I don't. I have a cat. A cat will tell you what the weather is like if you just know how to "read" it. If the cat is curled up on the bed with his entire face hidden in his paws and tail - turn up the thermostat. If the cat is stretched out on the bed with his feet in the air and his tail stretched out - turn up the air conditioner. If the cat waits patiently by the door for it to open and then runs down the hall to his litter box instead - plug in the car. If the cat mopes around the house because it's too cold to go out - either bundle up twice or go back to bed with a good book. It's Saturday - I'm going back to bed.

RSS

Does anyone use an RSS feed? If so, which one and do you recommend it?

Final Fantasy XII

WARNING!!! THIS POSTING CONTAINS A RANT!

I was reading the paper yesterday and someone was badmouthing video games and said that they were mindless and stupid and kids were better off not playing them at all. I agree that kids need balance of social play, physical play with lots of work thrown in, but really I couldn't help but think that the person making the comment had never played a video game, or had played and lost badly! I've been playing video games off and on for about 7 or 8 years and I really enjoy it. Right now I'm playing FF XII and it is anything but mindless. It has a very complicated battle system that takes a lot of strategy and you really need patience and perseverence to win even one battle. I've joined an online forum of other people who play the game to ask for advice and even given some advice if I could. It is a social community, based on only one thing, but it does use my communication skills. I've seen people be very kind to others they don't even know and to offer advice on writing skills if the question wasn't clearly stated. It is a moderated forum and very civil in content.

I'm not saying that all video games are created equal or that all games are for kids. I am going to say that people who are writing laws and giving opinions should specify which game they find stupid and mindless and they should speak with some personal experience if they are going to offer opinions. {end of rant}

Froggy Doo?

Raise your hand if you remember Froggy Doo. Did you know that someone is making a movie about the summer that Froggy Doo was "kidnapped?" The movie is called A Plumm Summer. This post isn't a review for the movie, but if you look at the picture you can see why I think of Froggy Doo every time I switch glasses. Yes, I've reached the stage in life where I need more than one pair of glasses. The little glasses on the table are the my new bifocals. I can read OK when wearing them as long as I am sitting at a table or desk. Who sits at a table or desk to read the latest thriller? Not me. I kick back in my recliner near the window and read until I fall asleep. With the bifocals I have so much trouble reading that I usually give in and play my DS. So I've given in and switch to the big, ugly pair of "reading glasses when I want to finish a few chapters. Whose going to complain? Froggy Doo? Hah! Fooled him, he can't see at all without my glasses.

Furnace - Round 2

Well, the inevitable happened and the furnace broke down again. Luckily we had the new part and after a few hours of fussing with it, it looks like Bill's got it going again.

A Christmas Image

Irony or . . . . poetic justice?

So my husband's birthday was on Wednesday and as it turned out I had to be at work really late on Wednesday. So as a kind of birthday present I took a personal day off on Thursday to do something special. We hadn't decided what to do yet. Maybe go Christmas shopping on a weekday and avoid the holiday crowds, maybe work on a project that keeps getting put off. Or if the unexpected happened we'd be setting up a new computer.

About 4:00 pm on Wednesday, while still at work we found out about a couple of semi trucks that had jacknifed on the road between work and home and the road was closed. No problem, I just took the back road and got home a little later than expected. No problem, I had the next day off, right? Well, about an hour before going to bed on Wedesday night, we turned the heat down. At bedtime, however the furnace was still blowing away and turning it down even more made no difference., it was still uncomfortably warm. It turned out that the only way to turn the furnace off was to turn off the breaker.

So, the special day turned into a day where my husband spent the day testing various things and doing internet research to figure out what was wrong with the furnace. Thankfully, we've had an unusually warm spell and could leave the furnace off most of the day. I spent the day reading, playing my video game and baking some "birthday brownies."

Irony or . . . . .poetic justice?

Midland??

According the the quiz (click on the title) I have a midland accent. The first time I took it I had a Boston accent. That didn't seem right to me so I took it again and changed one answer and voila, it's midland. What's yours?

Celestial Journeys

Click on the title above to visit a new family blog about ???????

DSL

I've joined the DSL generation. The phone company dropped off the DSL connector or whatever it is and I've got my laptop plugged in to do this. It is a very much faster connection, but I'm not used to the flat keyboard and I keep hitting the wrong keys, so I won't write any more. I've been able to see the video on Nathan's blog and pictures load much faster so I may use more pix from now on. I've got the laptop on the same comptuter table as the old comptuer is on and I keep reaching for the mouse and moving it around only the cursor stays in the same place. . . on the laptop that is. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow to show you what I mean.

TTF"N

Cranberries on the side.. .once the turkey's gone.

I made a large batch of cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving dinner. I only took a small jar to Billings to eat with the turkey though, so now I have a large jar to myself. I had some of it the other day with french toast. It was surprisingly good with the maple surple mingling with the cranberries. Tonight we had a bowl of soup and a gorilla cheese sandwich and the cranberries made a tasty dipping sauce for the buttery toasted bread and the gooey melted cheese. Anybody have any other tasty ideas for cranberries on the side after the turkey's gone?

ThanksGiving Thoughts

I had the strangest feelings all during ThanksgivingDay this year, and that was before I ate any turkey. I keep feeling that eveything that happened had happened before. Sometimes I was sitting at the kids' table and sometimes I was the mom wondering what my kid was talking about at the kids' table. Sometimes I'd just catch myself from calling one of the nephews by the name of one of my brothers. It was comforting because I now suspect that Thanksgiving DAy dinner will always be a joyous celebration as long as their is family around to celelbrate it. Even those who were eating dinner with other families were present as their stories were told and their names invoked in long standing jokes, or someone would say something and sound just like some other family member.

I was apprehensive that the day would become sad because recent ThanksgivingDays have brought pain and loss. Just last year our mother was in the hospital, in good spirits, surrounded by family and anticipating what the diagnosis of leukemia would mean to her. She knew her faith would be tested and her faith carried her until the end. Just a year ago our brother was still alive and anticipating the coming spring and the graduation of his son. His faith allowed him to enjoy every day of his life that was left to him. It is comforting to know that even in death, we are still a part of the family. Just like thay say, you can pick your friends , but you are part of a family for eternity, like it or not. I like it.

"Tryp" tophan

This is your brain on turkey!

*click on the title for more info on trypto

Soggy Bottoms

Too late I get the information about how to prevent soggy pie crust bottoms. . . . I slept in a little bit this morning and then got up to start my Thanksgiving Day baking. I cooked up some cranberry sauce since I've had cranberries in my freezer for quite a while and frankly, I can eat the whole pot myself between now and the first of Dec., then I cooked up a pumkin pie and since the oven was already hot, I threw in a chocolate pecan pie. I had been planning to take a little break and bake the other pie this afternoon, since I had to run to the bank. (N0ne of that fancy direct deposit for me, thank you very much.) Anyway, the pies are done, I'm on my way back from the bank, listening to NPR. (It's kinda odd that I can listen to NPR in my car but not in my house???) They're talking football on NPR and I'm not really listening when I hear the subject change to pies. I perk up my ears to listen and the guest chef says, ". . . for example pumpkin and pecan pies, since they're both custard pies, you have to precook the crust before you add the filling. Just add a cooked filling to a cooked crust and you won't get that soggy bottom. GREAT! Now he tells me. So if y'all leave your crust on the plate, my feeling won't be hurt. Just remind me next year.

New Look, New Links

Hi, I finally figured out how to add links to my blog. I guess I went overboard, but in case I missed one let me know about it, the missing link I mean. I'm sure the missing link is in our family somewhere

Veteran's Day

Flags, wave 'em if you got 'em.

127 - 50 = 77

127
You scored 127 on Tickle's IQ test.
Your mind's strengths allow you to think ahead of the game — to imagine or anticipate what should come next in just about any situation. Because you're equally skilled in the numerical and verbal universes of the brain, you can draw from multiple sources of information to come up with great ideas. The timelessness of your vision and the balance between your various skills are what make you a Visionary Philosopher. In addition to your strengths in math and linguistics, you have a knack for matching and anticipating patterns. These skills and your uncanny ability to detect the underlying blueprint of most of life's situations add to your Visionary Philosopher mind.

Of course I loose 50 points for spending the better part of an hour in front of the computer taking the test in the first place when I could have been 1. reading a book 2. playing my video game and looking for the 2 missing canine warriors 3. having a bowl of ice cream or 4. getting to bed on time.

PS Did I mention that our school is being visited by OPI as part of an evaluation since our school has failed to meet AYP (No Schools Left Standing) criteria for success? It's showtime!

Do You Want Fries With That?

This is what my cirulation desk looks like in my newly reorganized library. The windows behind the desk open onto the hallway. If you look closely you can see an opening in the side of the counter where the books are returned and a scanner on the top where the books are scanned for check out or check in. Under the black hood is a computer monitor that is recessed into the counter so it is not taking up space on the countertop. Unfortunalty I haven't been checking out too many books yet. I'm working on getting some new books now that the shelves are cleaned up and there is room for them. Hopfully there will be something there to tempt the high school readers.

Storm in a Bucket

Honestly! We give him fresh water every day!

PS The bucket is one we keep on the porch during the day to collect the frost, snow or dew that runs off the roof onto the porch. We don't use the water for anything, we just don't want it to freeze on the porch.