NEW WORD FOR SATURDAY!!!

Just wanted to point out that we have a new word for this week, chosen by one AlienCG over at Swamp Gas & Moonlit Reflections.  The word is - DISC.  Run tell dat! 

Edit: I noticed that Alien actually wrote DISK, rather thann DISC. Not sure it matters significantly. So, uh. DISC / DISK :-)

Some Days You'll Eat the Bear

Happy Hump Day!  Aw, that never grows old, does it?  Anyhow, it is not only Hump Day, it is also Choose and Defend Wednesday.  Yay!  I know a lot of my Choose and Defends have to do with food.  I can't really help it.  Food is one thing we can all claim to know something about and everyone has an opinion about what they eat.  So there is my Defense of this week's Choose and Defend :-)  See how that works?  And that brings me to my question for you -  which do you prefer, given the choice (and money is no object) for a nice meal?

Cooking

OR

Eating Out

 I know you want to tell me all about it, so go ahead!  Choose and Defend!

P.S.- If you haven't yet choosen a contestant to support in Dancing with the Stars, please see last week's Choose and Defend Wednesday post and get in on the game.  There could be a sweet $25 gift card in it for you.

Shout Out

Just wanted to give a big shout out to my phone. Without it, I'd be single. With it, my long distance relationship sometimes feels managable. Thanks, Phone!

This Musical Message is For I Won't Quit

Finished Them Off At the Very First Crack

Welcome to Saturday Scavenger Shots...a bit late.  This is the first chance I've had to post today.  One of those days that just got past me somehow.  But I've had this post on my mind!  After all, I was the one who chose the word - PLANT.  Well, here...take a look:

First, I thought of PLANT in maybe the most traditional way...vegetation.  I live in a apartment, so have no garden of my own.  When I walk out my front door and look down over the front railing, this is the PLANT life that I see.  It is simple, ground cover stuff, but nice!

 

 

Having no garden is really no excuse for not nurturing PLANTs though.  As you can see, one of my downstairs neighbors has quite a little grove going.  He uses those big Rubbermaid containers, along with more traditional pots, and has some sorts of trees and things like strawberries and tomatoes and lawd knows what.  He doesn't let a little thing like not having a plot of dirt stop him.  Obviously PLANTing PLANTs is important to him!

 Pictured here is my couch.  When I took the photo first thing this morning Handsome Lad was still asleep on it.  He is not PLANT, nor mineral,  but rather, animal :-)  Anyway, what I had in mind was my own relationship to my couch...the way I PLANT myself on it after a long day at work...and just veg out.  It all works out theme-wise, don't you think?

So, head on down to the Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Credenza PLANT, clock in late (like me) and do whatever it is you do there!  Cause this here PLANT is calling out like Audrey II..."Feed me, Seymour!"  And we do not want to ignore this PLANT.

Tagging for next week...AlienCG.  What'll it be?

Friday 5 - Unreasonable

I didn't do a Friday 5 last week, but after I saw Tara's this week I decided to mosey on over there and participate.  When I got there, though, all ready to do this week's theme of "March", I became somehow enthralled with last week's theme of "Unreasonable".  Can't imagine why.  Anyway, it's my blog and I do what I want!  haha!  So here goes -

1.What’s something you have an unreasonable fear of?  I don't know...to me my fears seem perfectly reasonable.  Heights can be dangerous.  Most insects are perfectly harmless, but not all of them!  It is reasonable to fear pain.  I do have a weird sort of fear of the way trees and things are just black silhouettes at sunrise or sunset.  It is a pretty time, yet I get uneasy for some reason.  That seems a bit unreasonable.

2.What’s something you have an unreasonable fondness for?  My kids have a laugh that I can be brought to tears of laughter with a video or photo of animals doing people things. It is embarrassing, seems like a rather fey sort of thing to find charming, but when I watched the What if Cats Had Thumbs video (for example) I was a goner.  

3.What’s something you have an unreasonable disliking for?  Like my fears, my dislikes feel reasonable to me!  Well, maybe my dislike of "big" voices, like Celine Dion and Mariah Carrey is somewhat unreasonable.  When I hear those sorts of singers I just cringe.  No real reason for that, is there.

4.Who’s most likely to bring out the unreasonable in you?  Probably DR.  He is very patient with me, but I can feel how unreasonable I'm being sometimes when I'm talking to him or sort of stalking him around the internet. My crazy lonely bag lady thoughts get the better of me sometimes.   Wow, kind of hate myself right now...

5.Who’s the least unreasonable person you know?  Probably my old and currently filling in boss, Smiley.  She can be a little high strung, but is also very willing to see the best in things and compromise.  I appreciate that in the workplace...and everywhere else for that matter.

Ha!  How did I look at this and think it would be fun?  It nearly ruined me!  Oh well, might as well speak the truth here...because if not here, where?  Please feel free to play along in comments or on your blog.  I'm sure you want to now :-)

Also, please visit my Wednesday Choose and Defend post, if you haven't yet picked a horse in the Dancing with the Stars race.  There could be a reward in it for you!  (Bribery works, right?)  Also, also, please come back tomorrow for Saturday Scavenger Shots.  What will I possibly put up for PLANT?  I still don't know!  You should probably come find out....

Let's All Be Winners!

Hi.  I think you know what's coming.  And I'm sorry, I am.  But I get such pleasure out of involving others in my sick, twisted viewing habits.  For this Wednesday Choose and Defend, please take a look at the worthy opponents pictured below and tell me who you think will take home the coveted Mirrorball Trophy.  The winner(s) get a $25 Target gift card!  You know you want one!  I mean, Churlita and AlienCG both eventually got theirs from the Fall season...and NoRegrets would have, if she had wanted it!  So, do me a solid..Choose and Defend! 



Chelsea Kane - Disney Starlet

Chris Jericho - WWE Wrestler

Hines Ward - Wide Receiver, Pittsburgh Steelers

Kendra Wilkinson - Reality TV Star

Kirstie Alley - Actress / Perpetual Dieter

Petra Nemcova - Supermodel

"Psycho" Mike Catherwood - DJ at KROQ

Ralph Macchio - Actor / Karate Kid

Romeo Miller - Rapper / Singer (formerly known as Lil Romeo)

Sugar Ray Leonard - Champion Boxer

Wendy Williams - Talk Show Host

Okay, so picture each of these people dancing ballroom.  Who will be victorious?  Choose and Defend!  It's fun!  Yay!!!



This Week's Word - Again, Not Bird :-)

Thanks to 3GirlKnight for the tag.  This week's word is - PLANT.  I had to double check at Alien's blog to make sure it hadn't been used...and it hasn't!  Not to say that none of those themes can ever be revisited.  That might actually be quite nice.  But in any event, an all new word - PLANT.

                                Have fun! 

This Musical Message is For the Smoking Man

You Better Make Your Face Up In Your Favorite Disguise

This week's Saturday Scavenger Shots word was chosen by 3GirlKnight over at By God's Good Grace.  The word is RUN.  It feels particularly appropriate to me right now, as I feel like I've been constantly on the go lately.  I'm tired and know I need something to rejuvenate me, but I'm not sure what.  Until I figure it out, guess I'll keep RUNning.  I should probably consider doing it literally, as well as figuratively.  Here is my photo of someone who loves to RUN -

I think I posted this picture before. 

Here is Handsome Lad mid-RUN at one of his Cross Country meets in the fall. 

He has just begun Track, for the spring, but I have no photos yet. 

RUN, Handsome Lad, RUN! 

Looking forward to seeing some other posts for RUN...and seeing who 3GirlKnight will tag next.

Hope you guys are having a grand weekend.  Don't RUN too far...I like having you around :-)

The Beautiful People

Happy Wednesday!  Are you ready to Choose and Defend?  I sure hope so... 

Okay, I just finished reading Patton Oswalt's book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland.  I like Oswalt's stand up a lot, as well as his fine comedic acting skills.  This book was quite funny and random.  I especially liked the essay relating to the title of the book.  He asserts that during the teen years, some people begin to sort of view their life in one of three ways...1) As a zombie story, 2) As a spaceship story, or 3) As a wasteland story.  In each scenario there is some kind of alienation, but different kinds.  I won't go on and on about it...I'm sure you get the idea.   

In any event, I thought I would ask you what the central theme of your story is, if you must choose one of these -

Zombie

Spaceship

OR

Wasteland

Go ahead...think of your disaffected youth.  Or imagine your disaffected youth, if you were less of an oddball.  Now...Choose and Defend!  

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day.  3.14.  Every year, this makes me giggle and makes me want some actual pie.  Any day is good for pie, but today you could feel like it has some deeper meaning in your life :-) 

Fortunately, Milly and I are taking our friend Ceku out for dinner tonight for her birthday.  She chose Moffats, home of the most delicious chicken pot pie I've ever had.  Not that I'm a connoisseur or anything...but they are very, very good. 

So enjoy this special day by eating some delicious pie and reflecting on the wonder of the circular.

Pi.  An irrational number for a completely rational world....sigh.

This Musical Message is For Giving Up the Fight

Tied Up in Sorrow

Velkommen to Saturday Scavenger Shots, with me, laura b!  This week's word was chosen by my blog sistah, Tara @ Eclectic Spaghetti.  The word she chose?  EMOTION.  This is so wide open.  Certainly for most photos that I've ever taken, I can still look at them and feel a combination of the EMOTIONs I felt at the time, taking the picture, along with the EMOTIONs  I feel now, looking at the picture from some distance.  I wasn't sure what to show you here.  Finally, I decided to go with this picture from about a year and a half ago.

When I look at this picture I think back and can see that DR looks happy.  I know I felt happy.  My EMOTION when I saw this picture (of which come to think of it, I was not actually the photographer!) was quite purely happiness and a feeling of safety. 

Now when I look a it my EMOTIONs are more complicated.  It still makes me happy to see DR in that time and place...but I also feel other things, such as confusion and pain.  Lots of EMOTION here, for sure. 

Wow, well.  Hope that wasn't too EMOTIONal for you guys.  I am sometimes fully at the mercy of EMOTION and it isn't necessarily a pretty thing. 

Tara has tagged our buddy, 3GirlKnight to choose the next word.  Looking forward, as always, to seeing...What.  Comes.  Next.

Friday 5 - A Little Drizzle

The Friday 5 meme comes to us weekly from a Hawaiian blogger.  Not too surprisingly, he was a bit preoccupied today, what with the tsunami warnings and all...still, here it is!  Also participating in this meme is Tara @ Eclectic Spaghetti, so check her out!  Feel free to play along in comments or on your blog.  This one is delicious!

1.What’s your favorite thing to put chocolate syrup on?  Any kind of ice cream, but my special favorite is mint chocolate chip with chocolate syrup. Mmmmmmmm....

2.What’s the best thing to sprinkle cinnamon on?  I like cinnamon on applesauce.  For a special treat, I make myself some cinnamon sugar toast.  Mmmmmmmm....

3.What’s something that is made superb by a few drops of hot sauce?  Most Mexican food is already hot sauced up...sometimes it needs more.  And I sometimes put a few drops of hot sauce or crushed red pepper into pasta sauce too.  Mmmmmmm...

4.What’s something you do with honey?  That's a rather personal question!  Oh wait...no, it isn't.  Um, okay then...I like honey in tea and on toast or biscuits.  Mmmmmmm....

5.Besides a sandwich, what’s something you put peanut butter on?  I like peanut butter on celery.  I also like dipping apple slices in peanut butter.  Mmmmmmm....

Mmmmmmmm.....

See how tasty this Friday 5 turned out to be?  Had me purring like a greedy kitty.  haha!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Please stop back in and check out Saturday Scavenger Shots, with the theme - EMOTION.  And please send good thoughts and maybe a little donation, if you can, to the people of Japan.

I'm Okay Alone, But You've Got Something I Need

Welcome to another Choose and Defend Wednesday.  The weeks just keep flying by.  I think it is time to slow down for a minute and do something fun.  A group date, if you will.  What would you like to do?  Our choices are -

Bowling

OR

Roller Skating

You know the rules...Choose.  Simple enough.  Then Defend.  Sometimes more difficult, but you can do it!  Can't wait to see where we end up going on our blog buddy group date! 

This Musical Message is For the Aerial View

No Way I'm Disco Dancing

All is VANITY.  I'm not sure what I was thinking when I chose this week's Saturday Scavenger Shots word.  It just sort of came to me as an interesting idea to explore.  It was tough though!  I pretty much stumped my own self :-)  Here is what I have cobbled together -

The peacock is sometimes thought of as a symbol of VANITY. 

This is a photo from a long time ago, when I first started working at APL.  It is funny that

peacocks roam the streets of the city where I live and the city where I work...and nowhere in

between, as far as I know.  I guess I am somehow meant to be around all of that VANITY.

Sometimes a VANITY is simply a piece of furniture.  More like a dressing table type of thing. 

I don't have one of those.  This is an approximation of a physical vanity, in the restroom at
work.  Hey, this isn't the first photo I've snapped in the bathroom!  Anyway...the bonus is you
get me, full of VANITY for no good reason.  Actually, I am not full of VANITY as a rule. 

But I did take a shot or two, to ensure I wouldn't look too gross here....oh, VANITY!

I hope those of you participating enjoyed exploring VANITY.  If you aren't playing, consider it!  It's fun :-)  Now for the tag....Tara, mistress of Eclectic Spaghetti, you're it!!!

Friday 5 - There's a Wriday on Your Friday

Starting this post with a brag...I won MrManuel's contest on Facebook and he is sending me a FREE 5x7 print of a February photo!  If you want to see the photo I chose, it is right HERE.  I'm very excited.  Thanks, Manuel!!!

 I almost wasn't going to post today, but I like the cut of this Friday 5's jib :-)  Since Wednesday was Dr. Seuss' birthday, the creator of Friday 5 decided to ask some questions inspired by his books -

 1. Dr. Seuss’s first published book was And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. What’s the most interesting thing you’ve witnessed on your street?  Nothing that exciting seems to happen on my current street.  I hear more things than I see.  Something about the buildings and the cul-de-sac seems to cause sound to really carry.  In general, not a great thing, but it can be kind of funny sometimes.

2. In The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, a boy removes his hat to pay respect to the passing king, but each hat is somehow replaced by a bigger, fancier hat. If you’re a hat person, what’s your current favorite? If not, under what circumstances did you last wear a hat?  I am not a hat person.  The last thing I wore that would even resemble a hat is when I wore my pirate bandanna at Halloween.

3. In If I Ran the Zoo…, a boy fantasizes about how fantastic the zoo would be under his administration. What’s your local zoo like, and how do you like it? My local zoo would be the Los Angeles Zoo.  I tend towards mixed feelings about zoo, but I am currently reading a book called Sailing with Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos by Jeffrey P. Bonner, that is quite interesting and makes a good case for the importance zoos can have for animal populations if they are meticulously run.  The LA Zoo is very nice and fun to visit very occasionally.

4. In Green Eggs and Ham, the main character refuses to taste a certain dish until, just to get Sam to leave him alone, he gives in and discovers that he likes it. When did something like this happen to you?  I would be hard pressed to remember finding I liked something I thought I didn't like.  Maybe ketchup...for the longest time, I'd order even burgers without it.  Then I realized it wasn't bad on a burger.  I still don't love it enough to soak my fries in it, but it's a'ight :-)

5. The Foot Book contains a lesson about judging others based on their feet. Feet seem to be something people have widely polar opinions about! How do you feel about feet, and can you think of someone in your life who has especially nice feet?  I guess I am fairly foot neutral.  I don't have a "thing" for feet, but I also don't find feet at all gross.  I love my grandbabies' cute little feet!

  
Thanks for participating! I meant what I said and I said what I meant: may you have a great weekend, one hundred percent!  I didn't say that, the scrivener did...cute, right?  But seriously, I hope you do have a wonderful weekend.  Post your own Friday 5 on your blog or in comments here, if you'd like.  Or just comment...I LOVE comments.  Some other things you can do if you want - 1. Make your voice heard in this week's Choose and Defend Wednesday.  2. Post a photo for the Saturday Scavenger Hunt.  The word is - VANITY.  And...that's alls I gots.  laura b. OUT!!!

Some Cute Boys and One Cute Girl

Yesterday was Read Across America.  As we do each year,

we had the fire fighters come to read some stories and, more importantly,

show off their fire trucks and fancy equipment! 

You know I love fire fighters...enough said...

here are a couple of badly taken photos for you:

This guy, Nguyen, is in training to be a Paramedic / Fire Fighter. 

He was very young and sweet and adorable.

Say hello to Fire Fighter Harvey.  The kids (and, okay, the moms) loved him.

Aw!  This one's for those of you who like something sweet after your beefcake. 

 Love Bug and Little Prince had a good time climbing around the trucks.

Hope you enjoyed this year's Special Fire Fighters Edition of Fresh Hell :-)  If you haven't all ready, I encourage you to step down to yesterday's post and play some Choose and Defend.  Thanks!

The Way They Crunch. The Way They Dip.

Let's make this week's Choose and Defend Wednesday delicious, okay?  I must be feeling snacky!  Since you all dropped in, I've brought out the tortilla chips.  You're welcome!  Now...what shall we use to make them more interesting and tasty?  You know the rules...Choose one of the two available options...Defend said choice with vigor.   Easy, right?  Here goes -

Guacamole

OR

Salsa

Are you hungry?  Which will it be?  Choose and Defend!!!