Something Squirrelly this Way Comes

So I drove to Ohio Thursday after being electrocuted for 20 minutes in PT. My nephew is such a CUTIE!!! Had another dream, similar to the last one but involving ninjas and a Mob "family". Will explain later, too much fun here with the family. Maybe in the middle of the night (when not a creature is stirring, not even a nephew) and I'm in the throws of insomnia, I'll post something new. Or at least write something new :)

The last couple nights I've been having serious insomnia problems. Hence the postings in the early morning hours. I've been an insomniac for ages now (over a year) but it has been getting better. Usually I wake up a lot (seven, eight, ten times a night is not uncommon...where a 'night' equals about six hours) but the last week I've not been falling asleep until 3.30 or 4.30 in the morning (still waking up a lot). This is when being unemployed is actually a good thing.

So during my extreme insomnia this last week I've been having odd dreams. I've been re-reading the book The Eyes of The Dragon by Stephen King. It's one of his fantasy ones - castles, kings, evil sorcerer, good son, bad son, etc. My dreams have been taking place in this castle, with these characters and others (my friends, family, people I know in my dreams but whom I have no idea who they are) with weird interactions. Basically the book plot is ongoing with my modern day shenanigans intermixed.

Most recent dream had some friends and I knocking about the castle looking for secret passages, whilst it snowed (inside the castle), a hurricane raged outside and a leprechaun danced and cavorted about playing the flute. Only the modern day folks were impacted by the storms, little pockets of fair weather surrounded the story people. Everybody ignored the leprechaun, to his chagrin.

Everything is done to the commercial jingle "Super Skirty". It is driving me insane, hearing this 'song' over and over and I mutter about wishing for "real music" which causes the leprechaun to bounce about more and play even louder. We still ignore him and his face turns red and steam starts coming from his ears but he continues to ping pong about - picture Yoda in Episode II light saber fight with the traitor guy (no clue what his name is) - only replace the light saber with a flute and add steam.

Cell phones ringing, tvs blaring, computers connecting to the internet (modem sounds) all make up the background noises. Unfortunately I can still hear "It's super skirt, super flirt. That's super skirty! Yooowwwww (oww? now??)" The electrical devices are suprisingly unaffected by the snow, despite the drifts getting ever higher. There's no real beginning or ending to the dream. Just us walking about, pushing stones, twisting sconces, tilting pictures, etc. looking for passageways.

I think the dream means that I've been watching too much tv lately. Speaking of which, the Lost and Alias season finales were tonight. Both were fairly predictable - especially with the 'previews' that ABC has been showing since last Weds. Don't want to spoil it for anyone (yall like how I pretend that I have this huge readership? *grin*) but I gotta say the last five minutes of Alias .. HOLY FREAKING HECK!!!!! Depending how it turns out (season premier this fall) it may make up for last weeks "episode".

As I've mentioned before, I live in an apartment complex. One of my neighbors got a dog a couple months back. I found this out when I heard him outside yelling for the dog "Killer!! No! Killllleerrrr come here! Killller!!!" much whistling and clapping "Killer! Here boy!!" Then his girlfriend/wife/roommate joined in with the yelling, whistling and clapping. This goes on for a week or two before I finally see the pooch. It's a little white dog, about the size of a cat. I find this extremely entertaining. This little bitty dog is named 'Killer'. People amuse me something fierce.

I meet the puppy a few weeks later and find out it's a Jack Russell Terrier. You know, an Eddie dog (from Frasier). He's a cutie (the pooch that is, I couldn't pick the neighbor or his girlfriend/wife/roommate out of a line up), very sweet and afffectionate. I play innocent and ask the dog's name, wanting to see how my neighbor would fess up to naming this adorable happy sweet puppy 'Killer'. To my dismay, my neighbor tells me that the dog's name is 'Willy'. I get in my car and drive away and then have to stop and laugh and laugh and laugh at myself. Apparently my windows DO have some insulation in them. Enough for me to mistake 'Willy' for 'Killer'.

Speaking of neighbors, a friend sent me a link to a random guy's webpage dedicated to the ...antics of his neighbor. It's actually pretty amusing.

I had planned on writing about the Full Moon tonight (Diviniation Moon) until I was reminded of a baking incident from Christmas 2002. Others might remember this better as I had completely forgotten about it. Anyway, the incident...

I wasn't able to go home and several friends were in the same situation so we all gathered at a friend's house. I had decided to make a pumpkin pie to bring. I was using one of those Pillsbury crusts that are in a box in the freezer section. They're folded in half, twice, and all you do is take one out and flatten it, smoothing down the crease, and place in pie pan. Well I didn't have a glass pie plate so I used a aluminum foil pie pan. This is fine, I've done this before no problem. I smooth out the crust and place it in the pie pan, which is sitting on a cookie sheet, ready to go in the oven. However, pie crust is deep dish but I don't have a deep dish pan, so there's a lot of excess crust hanging over the sides, which I'll crimp up after the filling is added.

I whipped up the pumpkin filling (Libby's pumpkin essence in a can where you add the spices as I like my pies spicer than the premixed canned pie variety) and filled up the pie pan. I had extra filling because canned pumpkin was for deep dish or two small pies. I didn't want to make two pies, so I put the extra filling in a glass container. I then took the time to prettily crimp the crust since I had so much and I wanted it to look nice. Placed glass container with extra filling on the cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet in the oven.

Not really sure how much time had passed (more than 15) when I hear this ..sound from the kitchen. I go investigate and see nothing amiss. Then I get this sinking feeling in my stomach and open the oven door, pumpkin pie guts and crust everywhere. All over the cookie sheet, sides, bottom and roof of the oven. Little glass container was surrounded in a sea of pumpkin pie with crust islands and the aluminum pan was ...askew with little pie filling remaining and the crust all heaved about.

I made the mistake of calling my folks (who were at my brother and sis-in-law's place) to see if they might know what the heck happened (my mom's a good cook and my dad, brother and sis-in-law are chemists). I realized the error of my ways when I heard the howls of laughter through the phone line.

"Hey, is mom there? I've got a pie question."
"Yeah sure, here she is."
"Umm mom, any idea why a pumpkin pie would explode? Cause mine did."
Silence...
"Mom?"
Laughter "Your pumpkin pie ..Exploded?!" more laughter
Background voice "her pie exploded?!!" Lots of background laughter and another voice calls to the peeps not by the phone "Her pumpkin pie exploded!!"
"Yes, my pie exploded" I sigh to my mom. "Any idea why?"

After I repeat and confirm to bascially everyone there what happened, we determine that there was a piece of ice between the crust and the aluminum pan. And since the frozen crust sat in the aluminum pan, on the cookie sheet, whilst I was mixing the ingredients, the pans had time to chill nicely. The ice melting caused a little puddle of water, which turned to steam, which built up pressure. So when the pans ...adjusted to heat (which was more ..violent than usual due to the chilling time they had had), they apparently sproinged (not sure the proper terminology or how to describe it) at the same time, releasing the steam, causing the crust to spring up resulting in projectile pie filling and crust. Rather like an explosion or a volcano.

I leave the pie in there to finish baking, though I turn the heat down and have to guess when the filling would be done since it was spread out thinly over every surface. Plus I didn't want the pie guts to catch fire. Cleanup wasn't too bad since everything was crispy and flaked off pretty well. Though my place did smell of burnt pumpkin for awhile. I swear I'm not a bad cook! I just sometimes have ...issues.

Needless to say, I didn't take the pie to my friend's house. I did call ahead and ask if she wanted me to bring something else since my pie "didn't turn out very well". She said no, everything was covered. I did fess up to my friends about what had happened. And yes, much laughter ensued.

Oh, the pie did taste good! It just wasn't pretty...

I have this recipe called "Frozen Raspberry Fool" and whenever I make it I'm reminded of Mr. T.'s famous line from the A-Team, "I pity the foo'!". Which, in this case, the fool is me. No matter how many times I make this, I inherently get out the blender instead of the food processor. It doesn't work in the blender, folks. At least not in My blender. Even adding the cream early doesn't help (I've tried it). The last time I made it (last weekend) I had just realized that I was using the blender instead of the food processor when the phone rang. And, like a fool, I answered it and continued my Fool preparations.

I'm listening to my friend as she tells me about her trials and tribulations with George (lawn mower), the phone cradled between my head and shoulder. I'm not really paying attention to what I'm doing, just dumping blender contents into food processor and scraping out with spatula. The phone starts to slide off my shoulder and in my haste to stop the slide, I drop my spatula. Raspberries and cream splatter everywhere when the spatula hits the counter and bounces. I mutter under my breath and go to put the lid on the food processor and notice that I hadn't inserted the blade. So now I've got raspberries and cream that I have to move about so that I can insert the blade. *sigh* I start to maneuver the Fool around to insert the blade and the phone starts to slip once more. I give up and tell my friend "Sorry, I'm having issues. Good luck with the spark plug changing of George."

By the time I finish, I have raspberry fool all over the counter, in the black hole (space between stove and counter), the floor, my shirt, the phone and my glasses. At least I didn't sneeze and send confectioner's sugar everywhere. I didn't notice until this morning that I had managed to get raspberry fool on my ceiling. I'm blaming it all on that flippin spatula!

Here's the recipe. It's a creamy, smooth, sweet raspberry frozen dessert - except for the raspberry seeds. If you want it tarter use less sugar. I usually just eyeball the amounts myself. Don't forget the extract! But most of all use a food processor and don't answer the phone when making it!! ;)

Frozen Raspberry Fool

12 oz frozen, unsweetened raspberries
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In food processor, process frozen raspberries until finely shaved (scrape down the sides occasionally). With machine running, add sugar, cream and extract. Process 1 minute or until just blended. Serve immediately and garnish with fresh raspberries and mint sprigs.

Makes 4 servings
160 calories, 1 g protein, 15 g carbohydrates, 11 g fat, 7 g saturated fats, 41 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 11 mg sodium.

A friend sent me a link for an amusing translation into Snoop speak. I'll give you an example. Here's a poem I posted earlier (May 16) translated into Snoop Speak..

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into da silent land;
When yo' ass can no mo' hold me by da hand,
Nor I half turn go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no mo' day by day
Yo' ass tell me of izzle future that yo' ass plann'd:
Only remember me; yo' ass understand
It will be late counsel then or pray.
Yet if yo' ass should forget me fo' a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if da darkness 'n corruption leave
A vestige of da thoughts that once I had,
Better by far yo' ass should forget 'n smile
Than that yo' ass should remember 'n be sad n' shit.


Definitely gives it a whole new spin, know what I'm sayin'? ;)

Lovely storms today!!! Pouring rain, some gusty winds even a little thunder! Totally made my day! Granted the swirly margaritas at dinner tonight didn't hurt things either :) We had two pitchers of margaritas (half regular frozen 'rita swirled with frozen raspberry 'rita). The second pitcher hadn't been swirled as much and there was a mound of regular 'rita at the top. The three of us all wanted to scoop out some of it and we did, with our forks. Yes, we were drinking margaritas with a fork. Funny stuff. Funnier still that the idea occurred to all three of us at the same time. Course it might have been the first pitcher talking... Maybe ;)

Oh, toilet update. So, apparently, I don't have any duct tape (I know, brave of me to admit that!) and my needle nose pliers are MIA. I couldn't find my packing tape either so I was stuck with scotch tape. It's temporarily rigged until maintenance comes. Course, I first have to Call them *grin* A water saving tip for those of us without water efficient toilets, stick a waterproof gallon container (full of water) in the tank.

Don't forget! U2 on Good Morning America Friday, May 20 between 7.30 and 8.30 and Saturday May 21!!!!

I'm a big fan of Alias (my friends and family would roll their eyes at that understatement). I've seen every episode at least once, most more than once. Imagine my delight when I learned that tonight's episode would be two hours! Two continous hours of all new Alias! Yay! No. It was more like one regular episode and half another one. If they didn't have enough 'acceptable' footage for an entire second hour of Alias WHY DID THEY SCHEDULE IT?????? Grrrrrrrrr. Easily could have cut out superfluous stuff to make it a regular one hour episode. I swear I was ready to Turn Off the TV during the last 45 minutes of the second hour!! There was Literally more commercial air time than actual episode air time. I timed it. Especially in the last half hour. Nearly 20 minutes of commercials in the last 30 minutes. Is this how ABC wants to treat their loyal viewers?? I DON'T GIVE A RATS HAIRY BEHIND about Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!! Yet it felt like I saw more commercials for those shows than I did of Alias - the show that was Supposedly on!! GAH!!! So if anyone reading this happens to be someone affiliated with ABC or Alias - What the flying freaking heck is the deal??!!!!!!!!!! If this is how the show is going to be from now on, I'd rather yall just cancel it!

There endeth my Alias rant.

Just wanted to give yall a heads up that I added some new links and removed some others. First four are links to musician's web sites (without music, life would be very boring), middle part are assorted environmental causes/issues/what have yous and bottom three are links to other blogs. It's not at all obvious that I'm a big supporter of environmental issues, now is it? ;)

Now I must go find duct tape, pliers and patience so that I can do a patch job on my toilet until the maintenance guys can get here and really fix it. Apartment living is So Much Fun! (yes, that was sarcasm)

OH! I also fixed it so that anyone can comment now. Ya don't have to be a blogger anymore. Though, it's fun to read others' blogs. Especially if they're as oddball left field random like mine *grin*

Forgot about this until I read a comment on the Cumulonimbus Corner and it triggered my memory.

So whilst out getting coffee (okay a caramel frappacino) and a paper on Sunday, I saw this SUV with StormStudy.com on the side. My first thought was "lucky jerk" (okay so 'jerk' wasn't the word that came to mind but I don't think I should say b&$t&rd on here and I'm not fond of spelling words with symbols to disguise them). Some other lady had already cornered the guy and was grilling him about what he did. He was doing his best to be gracious and still get on his way, but the lady didn't want to let him leave until her curiousity was satisfied. I had anchored my paper down (driving with the windows down to enjoy the morning) and was contemplating going over and pestering the guy myself when he managed to ease himself into his truck. Which was better as I was running late. It seemed pretty important at the time but apparently it wasn't important enough to stick with me. Maybe the glorious day (late afternoon storms baby!) washed it away.

Here are some poems by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). Her brother, Dante Rossetti (1828-1882), is the more well known of the two. I discovered Christina's poetry when I was a freshman in college. My roomie was a voice and political science major (odd combination, I know). One of her choral pieces was an adaptation of a poem. Anyway, the poems. First is the one oft heard at funerals, second is one of my favorites and third is the poem that became a choral piece.

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.


Hope

Hope is like a harebell trembling from its birth,
Love is like a rose the joy of all the earth;
Faith is like a lily lifted high and white,
Love is like a lovely rose the world's delight;
Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth,
But the rose with all its thorns excels them both.


Echo

Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.

Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter-sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brim-full of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago.


Okay, okay another one of my faves..tho the short (and most well known) version.

Mirage

The hope I dreamed of was a dream,
Was but a dream; and now I wake,
Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old,
For a dream's sake.

I hang my harp upon a tree,
A weeping willow in a lake;
I hang my silent harp there, wrung and snapped
For a dream's sake.

Lie still, lie still, my breaking heart;
My silent heart, lie still and break:
Life, and the world, and mine own self, are changed
For a dream's sake.

This entry was really for Sunday but once I returned home, I started having dial up issues. So just put yourselves back into the Sunday mind set...

So I’m at a local bookstore that my internet provider lists as a free WiFi access point. They lied. There is a new account to be purchased before one can use their internet. Humbug! Not only that but the lighting is crap. All kinds of glare on the screen no matter how I move. *sigh* Additionally there are no electrical outlets so once my laptop battery dies I’m done for the day here. Thankfully the loud people next to me are packing up to leave. It’s a little blond chippy tutor and her foreign student that’s about twice her age. Something about marketing or broadcast technology. Not really sure. Was too busy trying not to be annoyed by her voice as it’s very nasally and high pitched.

However I will get some writing done on my MayNo novel. I will! I will! I will! Have Word open and am industriously typing away in between grining at Links (and writing this blog entry). Is it wrong of me to be seriously amused by Links – the Microsoft helper critter? Starts out as that stupid paperclip but you can change it to a variety of other icons. I chose the cat. Seriously cute. Maybe I’m in kitty withdrawal since I haven’t had a cat for nearly two years now.

Must end this entry on a happy note so.....a joke! Four men walk into a bar. The fourth one ducks. :)

The newest version of Batman as a cartoon series (that I know of anyway) is called The Batman and airs Saturday mornings. As most U2 fans are aware, The Edge wrote the opening theme song for The Batman. What I noticed this morning is that batman is referred to as The Batman in this series. "The Batman was seen fleeing with Catwoman" "The Batman is the accomplice" Think that's an honorary salute to The Edge for his excellent theme song? Either way, I found it amusing. I typically don't watch any Saturday morning cartoons as the ones I like don't come on until noon. Flippin ABC seems to think that they should alternate Kim Possible with W.I.T.C.H when they should really show Both cartoons Every Saturday. Preferably instead of Lizzie McGuire or Phil of the Future or Even Stevens or just about everything they have for their Sat. morning lineup.

And are they aware that instead of Power Rangers SPD (space patrol delta) it sounds like Power Rangers STD?! What kind of message are they trying to send to the kids who are watching this? When I first heard the song and title announced I was startled, to say the least. STD?? How the heck did they get approval for the Power Rangers to fight STDs as children's programing!?!. Although the way Power Rangers is designed (yes, I have seen entire episodes of several different Pwr Rgr units) it made it sound like the Power Rangers Were the STDs which is glorifying STDs and that's just messed up! No wonder kids are getting squirrellier and squirrellier.

So, as any repeat vistors will see, I've altered my blog layout/design. Still need to fix some of the colors. Links, fonts, etc. I just can't bear to do it right now. If yall have suggestions, feel free to let me know. I may or may not listen to them *grin*

For musings & commentary on life at a bistro, visit the Waiter Rant Blog. I've been reding it off and on for months now. Always get a chuckle out of it. :)

Had a new neighbor move in today. Is it wrong of me to hope that she/he sets up an unsecured wireless network? Would seriously be great for me *grin* Actually surprised that someone moved in that quickly as my old neighbor didn't move out until last Friday. Tho it explains why the maintenance guys were working late (after 8.30 pm) last night. They were painting. I hope the walls were dry in time...

My MayNo novel isn't going very well. Should have just over 22,000 words today and I don't. *sigh* I'd give yall the link to the MayNo boards but you have to be signed up to read them. You can see the public boards here. And no, not telling yall how much (little) I have writen.

Oh, most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOPH! :)

So this is my second attempt at the Pincushion Anyone? entry. First time my browser froze. Tis what I get for not composing in wordpad or word or notepad etc first. And for using IE instead of Mozilla. Although Mozilla has been acting squirrelly ever since I reinstalled my virus/firewall software.. Have I mentioned that I'm computer impaired?

Anywho, this little blog entry is entirely Elims' fault. For the record, I didn't have a lobotomy because I'm a mental case. I didn't have a lobotomy at all. The back of my head was sawed open and my brain was repositioned in my head - it wasn't cut into. Hence the phrasing "minor brain surgery" in my previous blog. Although some folks would argue that I am a mental case *coughEllieMaecough* at times but I feel that is entirely a reflection on them. I'm totally fine being sporadically crazy *grin* At least she didn't say that I was having "neurotic issues" as she did at a gathering when someone asked if I was coming or not. She meant "neurologic issues" but had one of those blank brain moments - which I term halfheimer's (acquired the word from a college roomie's mom) because the memory loss was only temporary. No derogatory intentions towards folks with Alzheimer's intended.

Oh the surgery was necessary to reduce pressure on my brain and spinal cord and subsequently my nerves which were shooting all kinds of pain, burning, numbness, tingling signals to assorted parts of my body. As I referenced in a previous comment, the incision was closed with soluble stitches/sutures. Incision was something like nine inches long. I can't imagine the number of staples that would be required. Okay, I can cause I had back surgery last November (ruptured two disks in my back - I don't recommend it) and they used staples. Fifteen staples for a four inch incision. So that'd make it about 34 staples in my head. No thanks. Cause yanking those 15 out of my back hurt! Not to mention the 30 circular mini-scars I have now. See why I called this entry Pincushion Anyone? *grin* Yes, yes, more info than any random person wants to know. At least I didn't throw in any of the $10 medical words I could have. Or include photos of both incisions :)

Arugula may not only be a type of lettuce, it is an oft used swear word for me. Other common swearings of mine are: Son of a petri dish! frickin frackin freaking feck! Criminently! Freaking heck! Son of a beehive! Fruit salad! Shhhhhoot to kill! Horse feathers! horseradish! Stupid numbnut, learn to drive ya neenerhead! Bloody Hell! Stupid plonker/wanker/ned.... Okay so those last couple are actually profane across the pond. See UK Slang for definitions.

All the swearing can be placed entirely on the low front heading this way. I've got a built in barometric pressure indicator in my head resulting from minor brain surgery back in 2001. Anyway, my head hurts which raises my ire (ticks me off to be in pain, if that makes any sense), hence the swearing. Plus I'm using dial up after being well and truly spoiled with fast internet having used assorted WiFi spots. I know, I know, Stop whining already. ""

I did make some lovely green tea today. No glass pitcher to make sun tea, so I did it the other old fashioned way - add hot water. Then iced it down and drank. Good stuff. And I managed to Not turn on my AC! Yay me! Just checked the doppler and it's so pretty!!!! Storms heading for me!! Wow! Thunder! Yay! Totally worth the headache when there's a storm.

On a side note, I have copied the code for my blog and will, theoretically, work on it so that I like the layout better. The sidebars are too big, the font is squirelly, and I want a picture! Mayhap one of Bono in his fly shades, Bomb Shelter jacket, Samurai bandana, marching on stage, waving a white flag as he shouts "I speak for the trees! I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues!" while The Edge plays a wicked riff and stomps his foot, Adam grooves with his smirky grin and Larry hammers out the band's rage at the continued lack of heart about environmental causes.

Thanks Melonie for putting the Bono image in my head. Tho I felt the need to expand it :)

Posted by: U2Lorax / 17:07 3 comments

I spent this past weekend at the beach at the wedding of two friends of mine. I rode with my friend E in her 'eep and two other friends (J & M) went in J's civic. We all shared a hotel room on the waterfront in downtown Wilmington. Hotel had these 'swedish memory foam beds' and an entire channel dedicated to the infomercial about the 'miraculous foam beds'. The first room we were in (and basically trashed after 20 mins) had a bum bed. Meaning that when E & M both sat on the bed, the bed broke. Literally. And no they weren't doing anything. The four of us are all female and friends only. Nothing more. Anyway, M calls down to the front desk to say that the bed broke and is now leaning.

M: "Hi yeah, this is room ### and we were getting ready for bed when one of the beds broke. The bed is now leaning."
Front desk: "What would you like us to do about this?"
M: "Well, we'd like a flat sleeping surface so either a new bed or a new room. You can upgrade us to a suite if you want." M laughs at her joke, Front Desk does not.
Front Desk: "We'll move you to the room next door. Bellman will be up with the new keys."
M: "Okay. Thank you!"

After the move to the new room we all settled in and tried to sleep. Okay so E and M had no issues sleeping. J and I got maybe three hours sleep. E has been sick the last couple weeks, stuffed up, congested, etc. Translation: She snored consistently and loudly throughout the night. She also talks and moans in her sleep. Which after several hours of this, can be amusing. Especially when E got the hiccups. I have never heard anyone get the hiccups whilst sleeping and continue to sleep and snore and moan and talk. Basically J and I tossed and turned all night. Around 1.30 we blesedly found a tv station that had white noise. Which helped us get some sleep until M got up at 4.30 to turn off the white noise to which J and I both went "HEY!!!!" and M said "Oh thought the sleep timer thingie didn't work." At which point J and I explained that we put on the white noise so that we could drown out the sounds coming from her bed. Needless to say, in the morning J & I were in dire need of copious amounts of coffee. Granted that's par for the course.

J's cousin had graduated fron UNCW that weekend and J was to meet her grandparents and other assored family members for lunch to celebrate. So the four of us piled into the 'eep and headed off for Wrightsville Beach to drop J off. E, M and I tooled around in the 'eep a bit and then went for lunch at Olympia, a little mediterranean restaurant in Wrightsville Beach. Their hommous was Amazing!!! And the spices on their pita bread. Wow! Seriously, if you're ever in WB go to Olympia for the hommous! The gyros aren't bad either *grin* E, M and I head back to pick J up plus the 2 mai tai's J had injested at lunch with her family. Then we hit the beach for a bit before zooming on back to the hotel for a nap and to prep for the wedding. Let me just say this about our wedding preparation. Four women, one bathroom, definitely need to start getting reading for a 7 pm wedding before 6.15.

We all hope into the 'eep and start zooming back to the beach for the wedding. Did I mention that the top was down and the windows were out? When we he hear sirens behind us. A fire truck. We were in the right hand lane at a red light with a pickup truck in the left lane. We turn the corner so that the fire truck can get by and do a U turn to get to the other side of the street so that we can turn right, back onto the street that we had been on originally. However, due to cars we have to zip into a parking lot and drive over the cement parking block thingies. Thankfully we were in the 'eep so driving over the cement parking dividers wasn't an issue. Then another fire truck buzzes on by, followed by the traffic from the light. So because we were good citizens and obeyed the law, we were three or four cars further back and had lost about five minutes. Which is a big deal when we only had 20 mins left to make a 20 min drive (not including traffic). Needless to say we make up for being good citzens by taking the speed limit under advisement only. So it's looking good for us, like we'll get to the wedding a little early and then we get stopped because the bridge is UP! I take this time to snap some photos of us in the 'eep (M had a black bandana with skulls and crossbones on it on to prvent her hair from flying about and J had a baseball cap on hers). E busts out some leis from her center console and I snap more photos. I also snap one of the bridge being up - to backup our story. Bridge goes down and we're on our way again. We get to the wedding spot at 7.05 and the wedding hasn't started yet. Hooray! E drops us off and goes in search of a parking spot. She ends up parking illegally. No ticket either! Wooo!!
The wedding itself was gorgeous! Weather was Fantastic! Mid-70's, light breeze, bright sunny skies and crashing ocean waves. And the sunset! I hope the photographer got some good shots of it! It was amazing! Bridesmaids were dressed in coral dresses with matching coral flip flops, groomsmen were in tuxes with light sage green accoutrements. Bride was glowing in a white sparkly gown. And that's about all the fashion info I can give yall cause the majority of my wardrobe is jeans and t-shirts.

I took a variety of photos with my digital on the way to the wedding and at the reception. I got maybe three at the wedding site before my batteries died. None of the actual ceremony :( E & M drop J and I off at the reception area (Bellamy Hall) and drive back to our hotel to get different shoes, batteries for my camera and to drop off the 'eep. They walk back to the Hall. This way none of us will have to monitor our drinking because we have no car to drive. Reception was great. The Hall is a pretty darn cool place! When I'm not freezing from the AC and in a hurry to leave and thaw out, I'll find the link and add it here. J & I hung out at the reception til 11.30 and then we hitched a ride back to our hotel. She was drunk and tired and my back was killing me. E & M went to a bar with some other friends and got back to the hotel around 2.

Checkout was 11 which was fine as we were meeting friends at IHOP at 11. J & M zipped on home after brunch while E & I took the scenic route, putting us back home about an hour later than J & M.

Overall it was a great weekend. I'm sure I'll think of more to add later but that's it for now. I need to get outside and thaw out. Am at a Panera Bread WiFi and they apparently don't believe in conserving energy and having a pleasant environment. Or maybe this is there way of limiting the time folks spend using their WiFi...

It's May 6 (Happy Birthday Amy!!!) and I'm freezing. Thankfully not in the literal sense. It's 50 degrees Farenheit, wet and breezy. I was just looking at the doppler for Central NC and it looks like the rain is done for the day.. which is good and bad. Good cause I don't like driving in the rain (you hit a puddle, do a 360 on the interstate and hydroplane into the embankment and then tell me you don't get anxious driving in the rain) but bad because the groudwater levels are still low. At least this last rainy bout has been slow and steady. Excellent for reestablishing the groundwater. I swear I was at least student of meteorlogy in a former life :)

Anyways I'm traveling to the beach this weekend for a wedding. Yay Nikki and Scott!!!! Due to my squirrely car, I get to be a passenger in the 'eep! (that's Jeep for all you non-Jeep peeps) I'm the lucky passenger because the 'eep is a stick and I can drive stick (thank you dad!) and the other ladies in our caravan (one other car, two people) cannot. Yes, I know it's horrid to not take one car down since there's just the four of us heading out tonight. Believe me, my environmentalist heart is hurting over this. However, once at the beach we'll actually need two cars plus the only car that could actually hold the four of us and our luggage is my car. Maybe that's why she's acting squirrley! Even with the new battery. Going to replace the spark plugs next weekend and get the brakes looked at (again!) on Monday. Perhaps she is smarter than she lets on...Hmmmmm.

Okay so I've babbled a lot and haven't said much of anything. Am I talented or what? As it is I need to pack and zip over to E & M's place. Now where did I put my suitcase?

I want to give a special shout out and thanks to the WRAL meteorologists (Greg, Mike, Mike, Chris and Elizabeth) for not assuming that their viewers are dimwits and not able to understand some technical jargon and different weather models!

I've had other blogs before but I couldn't tell you where they are or if they still exist. My writing friends have been pestering me to start one here and I finally have. Granted I started this so that I could make comments over at the Cumulonimbus Corner but Shhhhh! don't tell them that! Only time will tell if they actually do migrate over and comment here (I'm thinking no because they are, after all, frustrated writers writing their own blogs).

It's Cinqo de Mayo and I'm tempted to go over to a friend's place and have some yummy margaritas and empanadas. Mmmm margaritas. However, my car is acting squirrley. Maybe she wants some margaritas. You think replacing my clutch fluid with tequila and triple sec will make her happy or piss her off? ;)

As it is I'll be having margaritas this weekend. A friend is getting married at the beach on Saturday (think happy non-rainy thoughts for the evening!) and I'm going down there on Friday with friends. Much drinking and hoopla will ensue.

Once I figure out how to make clicky linky thingies on the side, I'll put up some good ones for yall. Ciao and have a safe 05.05.05!!!