Books, Glee and other unrelated stuff

I love to read. You probably figured that out already from previous posts. My daughter loves to read too. She's 10 and reads at a 12th grade level. Very cool, that. And when her new teacher asked her just before school started if she read over the summer she of course answered, "Yes." He asked her what she'd been reading and she told him "Oz books." She's totally in to the Oz series by the amazing Frank L. Baum.

Recently her teacher surprised her, by checking out a new Wizard of Oz graphic novel at the local library and letting her read it. Very cool, that as well! She devoured it, and is now reading Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (the author of Ella Enchanted). Who knows what she will be reading next!

Anyhoo. Glee. I'm a bit disappointed, because they teased us with competition for Rachel and then got rid of her. Boooo! I wanted Rachel to have the competition. I don't like her. She's a snot and really, I would love to see Mercedes and Kurt get more front time. And I'm sorry, but the whole boob job story line was just over the top. I think I laughed more at Jane Lynch's "Don't be a Sue" advert than I did over Glee tonight :(

And speaking of high school... I totally felt like I was back in high school yesterday thanks to 3 co-workers. Two of them are dating, and I think the third is jealous, so she told the girl half of the couple something about the boy half of the couple and now they aren't friends anymore. Yeah, how old are you all?? I'm just waiting for the first time they all 3 work together again, sheesh.

The crappy unnamed cable company is about to get the boot. We switched the phone already, internet changes tomorrow and hopefully the DirecTv folks will show up soon with our dish and then I will have We tv and get to watch My Fair wedding every week on Sundays, lol.

Ok, enough random babbling. Night!

World of Warcraft Cataclysm expansion

So I finally got my Beta key and between hubby and I, spent a few hours in the game last night.

Originally they said there would be NO huge equipment upgrade, like from original to BC. Really?? 'Cause there sure as heck is.
First green quest reward item I saw was better than a lot of Tier 10 gear. Not that a single bloody piece of equipment for my Balance druid has been offered. Everything is geared to kitties.

I like being able to fly everywhere.

But I don't particularly like that they've put in flight paths everywhere in the old world. WoW in easy mode...

They originally said that it would take as long to go from 80-85 as it took to go from 70-80. Really? 'Cause I'm about to hit 81 after only a few hours of play. Sorry, but 20k+ exp for a quest is tooooooo much. At this rate, I will have no reason to go to the other new areas, I'll hit 85 in Hyjal. Hmmm. At least with Wrath I went to most areas before I hit 80. I've got most of the quest acheivements, except for Icecrown because I was 80 before I ever really spent any time there.

It's pretty. The new underwater zone is lovely. But annoying as hell when trying to get into buildings.

So far, the bad is outweighing the good for me and I'm not seeing a lot to tempt players who have grown bored and left the game to come back, let alone drop another $50 on the expansion. People like me, lol. I'll play the beta, because it's free and different. But grinding levels still bores me and unless the new instance/raid content is really good (not too easy/not too hard) I just don't see myself playing for long.

Is it Friday yet??

Today was just one of those days. I am sooooooooo tired. I went in at 8 AM and clocked out at 6:20 PM. I did manage to get a 15 minute break and a 30 minute lunch, but the rest of the day was just non-stop. And no one had anything easy, lol.

All I can say is thank goodness I dawdled this morning and had to drive to work. I think if I had gotten off work and had to walk home I'd have cried. Or called the hubby and made him come get me ;)

I just want to go to bed now. Night, night.

Fun!

At work we have a regular client who owns a cute little boutique. Every time she comes in she's wearing a different necklace. I finally asked her about them and she told me I had to come in and look because she has a ton of them, and proceeded to pop out the middle of her necklace. It's a magnet. A Magnabilities to be exact.

So today I went over and looked at her stock and got me a nice chain and pendant and 4 inserts for it. Now I want to get just the round pendant too, lol.

But the best thing is, she has waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more inserts than are available online! (Of which I actually have a small part in the making of, but I'm sworn to secrecy and can't say anymore, haha)

So if you ever happen to be near Centerra, pop into MAXimum Boutique and take a look.

Up until now

I haven't really been interested in using Facebook to reconnect with folks from high school. But today, just for the heck of it, I searched the name of one of my best friends in high school. And I found her. We were best buds until our junior year when I moved away and we lost touch. Now I just have to see if she accepts my friend request. It would be fun to reconnect and catch up a bit.

But I'm still not adding my maiden name to my profile. It's fine if I search people out, but I don't want anyone finding me, hahahaha.

I want to bake this weekend

I don't know why. Maybe it was the chill in the air this morning as I went to work, bringing fall closer, while still holding on to summer during the day. I want to bake a pie of some sort (Well, really I want to bake something pumpkin-y, but my hubby hates anything pumpkin, so I will make something else we can all eat, though it is getting to be time for pumpkin butter again, yum!).

I think it's time for a strawberry pie. I haven't made one in years and it was always my favorite treat when my mother made it. I'm going to cheat and buy a pie crust, purely because I don't have any flour and I can't be bothered to buy any (I don't bake enough to use it before Christmas). Go figure, I will buy corn starch, but not flour...

Anyhoo, here's my family recipe for strawberry pie. I like this pie because it doesn't have the gelatin that so many berry pies have.

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. butter

Directions

Arrange half of strawberries in baked pastry shell. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and with some of the juice from the berries. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into strawberry mixture, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, add lemon juice and butter, stir well. Pour mixture over berries in baked pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving. Eat alone or serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Note: I've found that you need extra cornstarch at higher alitudes or you end up with strawberry soup!

Enjoy!

Edited to add: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Pie crust, baked it and the damned thing slid down in the pie plate. So I baked the other crust, taking care to make sure the dough was stretched and fluted well. Same damned thing. I hate wasting time and money. This is the first time I have ever had a blind baked crust do that, too. I am way peeved :(

Why cable sucks

I went to pay my bill online last night and about peed my pants. $326! WTF?? Why is everything listed under misc. charges?? So I call cable provider and ask what the heck is going on? Why has my bill increased from $90/mo. to $114? And why am I paying for HD when I can't actually receive HD tv? And WHAT THE HELL ARE ALL THE MISC. CHARGES??

After going 'round and 'round for ages, I've decided that the cable company sucks eggs. When we moved, they screwed up our service transfer, and it took hours to get it straightened out over the phone and they hung up on me several times. I let them get away with it that time, because it was easier than switching. But this just takes the cake.

Awfully convenient that my "promotional price" ran out right after we moved. And sadly, the $114 is the cheapest offer they can give me (which after taxes and stuff is actually closer to $150!). Really? 'Cause I still see a bundle advertised for $89.99. So I told them I would be calling DirecTV and she got all, "Oh hold on a second. Do you mind if I put you on hold and see what we can do?"

She came back with, "Well, we could give you a free HD receiver, but the $114 is the best deal we have." Thanks for your time, but I'll be calling DirecTV. I've already contacted the property service we use and the dish is no problem so it's time to call. It's past time.

First it was the trampoline,

then it was dodgeball and tag. Now they are taking away swingsets at elementary schools.

We've become such a litigious society that kids can't even play on the swings anymore! This is getting absolutely ridiculous. I've said it before and I will say it again. Soon recess will be nothing more than children lined up outside (not touching anything or anyone, 'cause they might get hurt) for 5 minutes each day.

How is it the school's fault that your kid decided to play Superman and launch himself from the swing? Are teachers supposed to be mind readers now too? And does your backyard swing set have a "safe" surface for your kid to land on?

Hell, when I was a kid the school playground equipment was surrounded by gravel. Hurt like hell to land on and gave beautiful road rash. But how was it any worse than the rock hard ground around my swing set at home? The squishy rubber surfaces or sand that most play areas have now is brilliant, and if your kid didn't try to fly, maybe he'd have landed on it.

Kids do stupid things. They can't help it (they have no impulse control), it's their job to be stupid and learn from their mistakes. Quit molly-coddling your kids, let them learn and teach them responsibility for their own actions. But most of all...

Parents, let your kids be kids, quit trying to make a fast buck from their childhood.

It is Autumn yet??

The Back to School season at work is officially over, as school is back in session. We had a few cooler days last week, then WHAM! Back to 90+ temps. No wonder I have a wicked sinus infection, my body doesn't know what season it is in.

I really enjoyed the cooler temps. I even worked out homes indoors for my outdoors plants. Little Miss I. will be getting decorations on the top of her dresser this winter in the form of my geraniums. The other little plants will join the other few plants in the kitchen by the sink.

I wish the ledge by the window was just a little wider, so my plants would fit on there when the blind is down. Oh well. At least I can actually have plants in plain view now, since I have no cat to eat them any longer. (I still miss him dreadfully, but there are a few advantages. No cat on the counters, no cat eating anything and everything you turn your back on for two seconds....)

But I digress... Cooler weather, I'm ready for you! It will be lovely to be able to walk to and from work. To leave the windows open and get some fresh air. And even more lovely to be able to go for a walk around the lake without melting! And I am just ready for the colors of fall. I can't wait to see what the lake looks like as all the foliage changes. I think it will be great to sit out on the deck in the evenings and read or just watch the birds. Right now I am limited to early in the morning before it starts getting too hot and at night the mosquitoes come out in squadrons!

Ah Autumn, come home soon! ;)

Open mouth insert foot?

Today at work I had to print out some images for a regular customer. Some of them were these cute little animals, totally perfect for a young kiddo or baby. So I made the comment, "Oh these are sooooo cute. I don't have a kiddo young enough to appreciate them but..." And she blurts out, "Neither do I. Mine's dead" And I must have just stood there gaping like a landed fish as she continued, "His birthday's tomorrow and I'm just a mess!"

And of course I just keep saying, "Oh I am so sorry, I'm soooo sorry."

Anything you say and do on Facebook

may be used against you. Maybe not in a court of law, but in life. Think before you post, people!

For instance, when I came home for lunch last week I noticed a coworker had posted to FB. I added my two cents and didn't think much about it. I didn't think to look at the time the original post came in. Until 2 minutes after I posted my comment she replied. Interesting. Since at both the time of the original post and the reply (and 11 more replies to various other people) she was at work. And supposed to be WORKING.

One of the comments was from another coworker, who was on his lunch break when I got back. It says, "Wow, I didn't know you got Facebook in the cash office." She didn't get the point and just replied, "I get everything sent to my phone."

And the most brilliant thing? When she got called on the carpet about texting and using FB at work, she flat out frickin' LIED. Said she never used FB at work. I beg to differ honey... And I've got the screen shot to prove it.

Then today I got a text from my boss asking me to call ASAP. She wanted to me to look at FB and look at a coworker's profile because he'd unfriended her and then called in sick this morning. She could access his girlfriend's profile (one of my employees), and her post was about how excited she was that they were going camping today. Hmmm. So the boss lady was wondering if he'd posted anything. And also wondering if the gf would show up for work today. Sheesh.

Anyway. The kiddo has a friend over, so I had better go see what they are up to. Ciao!

Family day out

Yesterday we screwed up the hubby's schedule and dragged him off to Elitch Gardens for a family fun day before the kiddo goes back to school.

It was hideously expensive. They raked you over the coals on everything they possibly could. Parking? $12. Locker rental? Another $12. And they were absolutely fanatical about not bringing in outside food or drinks. If you brought a bag in you had to have it searched. Any food or drink had to be handed over and thrown away. Although they did let us keep our water bottles. You know, I could understand if you were bringing in a picnic lunch for the whole family, but one little bag of chips isn't going to kill the park. And when you charge $8.50 for a soda, can you blame people for wanting to bring something in with them??

The good news is, a good time was had by all. I had a rough moment on the first ride we headed for (The Sidewinder). I have a dreadful fear of heights and to get to the ride you have to go up a ton of stairs. I got about halfway up and finally told my family I couldn't do it and had to go back down. I was still shaky when they finally got back to the ground.

It did manage to go on a few roller coasters (The Mind Eraser and Twister II). Honestly, it was not fear of the ride that got me on the Sidewinder, it was purely the stairs and the obvious height. All of the rest of the rides started out only a bit above ground. ;)

The poor kiddo had a bit of a rough day. On the Mind Eraser she managed to get smacked in the eye and came off crying. And her tummy didn't care for a lot of the rides (it held up though, lol). But she really liked the Boomerang.

My favorite rides were the wet ones, lol. I've always loved the log ride best (it's Shipwreck Falls at Elitch's) and I was really looking forward to cooling off in Disaster Canyon. What I didn't expect was to flat out get SOAKED! We made it through Disaster Canyon mostly dry and thought we were going to get off easy. Then we rounded another corner and there were sprinkler set up that literally half drown you as you go under them! After that we decided since we were already wet to head for Shipwreck Falls. And that was another soaker. If the huge splash didn't get you, the water from the splash that poured down off the walkway over the ride sure did! then you pretty much had to run for it to avoid getting hit by the splash from the next lot as you left the ride, lol.

So here's my public service announcement. Don't wear denim on the water rides at Elitch's! It stays wet forever!

Around 3:30 PM the clouds started rolling in and we knew we were going to get a storm. The last ride we went on was the Twister II, an old fashioned style wooden roller coaster. The kiddo and I went first and hubby got stuck waiting for the next go. I think this was actually my favorite ride of all. Hubby actually ended up in the last lot that went before they closed all the rides that were 100' or taller due to lightening.

That was when we decided to join the mass exodus and head for home. Hubby was really tired by then, since he's used to sleeping during the day.

So of course we hit the start of rush hour in Denver. And then the rain just poured down making the drive really scary at times. But we got home safe and sound, a lot poorer than when we left, but quite happy and tired :) The perfect end to the summer holiday.

Kids!

They make me crazy. Or at least my own kid does. Just took her school clothes shopping (Old Navy had $10 jeans, and we had a coupon for Kohls). Thank goodness she's not brand conscious (yet) and actually thinks her mom has good taste. But when we got home, instead of saying thanks she stuffed a dirty shirt in my face and said, "Smell this!" Argh!

But aside from that, it was actually a good morning. Got her 2 pairs of jeans, and a cute little outfit for under $50. Add that to the shirt we got last week and she's got several "new" outfits for school (although she's switching schools, so technically everything is new to the kids there, lol).

But I have to say, I cringe at most of the styles out there for girls this year because they are such throw backs to the 80s! T-shirts with vests over them, flouncy mini dresses. Next the big hair will come back, lol.

Lunch time

I sneaked home for lunch today. Just because I CAN ;) I only live a few minutes away from work, so it's easy. And I really felt like I needed more coffee (the headache I had agreed). So here I am, swigging down the coffee, trying not to burn my tongue on my sesame chicken, and playing on the internet.

Scared the poor kiddo when I came in though, lol.

eReaders

I love to read. I can easily go through several books in a week. Because of this, I love my local libraries. No way could I support my habit if I had to buy everything. Which to me is a huge downfall of the electronic readers.

Yes, they are portable. But so is a book. Yes, you can easily carry more than one with you at a time and you can download more where ever you are. Ok, so I can see the benefit of that, especially if I were taking a trip overseas. But in most cases, books are small enough that I can pack one or two with me. And most woman have purses the size of small houses, they could fit an entire library in there (j/k).

The thing I see as the biggest drawback to an ereader, aside from cost, is the fact that you can't take it everywhere (no matter what they say). I just don't see myself taking an ereader in the bath, for instance. No more than I would take a TV or a toaster.

So it saddens me to see "The death of books is coming" articles. So Amazon reported that Kindle books sold more copies than hard back books for the first time. That could be a price thing again. Kindle versions usually are cheaper than hard backs. Or maybe its that people have stopped buying hard backs because of the expense. If I can't get a book at the library I wait for the paperback version to come out. And then I hit the used bookstore ;) Even before money was so tight, there were only ever a few authors that I had to have their newest books the moment they came out. Sadly, most of those authors have so disappointed on their last few books that I'll never buy one of their books again. It's the library or nothing. (*cough*laurellkhamilton*cough*)

Hell, maybe that's why the sale of hard backs is down. The quality of books is down! One long time favorite author's latest book turned into a political tome, used to ram her opinions down the readers' throats rather than anything resembling a plot.

I've returned several long awaited books to the library recently having skimmed through them, rather than actually reading them, because they just didn't hold my interest. That's the problem with series, I guess. After a while they just become repetitive or change so much that you don't recognize the main characters. Or my favorite, when one book contradicts all previously established background. I understand that when you've written hundreds of books it's hard to keep every detail straight, but you can bet your readers will ;) (There's a mystery series that springs to mind. One of my favorite authors in fact, but it killed me. In one book she states that a certain killer from a previous book is going on trial, yet in that book she killed the killer off, lol)

Mac v. PC

Southpark style ;)



Pretty amusing, unless of course you're a Mac user. Then you have no sense of humor at all about your computer because Macs are soooo superior. *Cough*

BTW, I have nothing against Macs, just most of the snobs that use them. I'm sorry, but when I actually had a couple tell me that they waited until after dark to go shopping for a netbook so their friends wouldn't see them bring a PC home, I decided that elitism sucks...

I bought a PC because it suited my needs and the price was right. If I needed to run a lot of graphic design programs or edit a lot of video, then I would probably shell out the extra money for a Mac. It's all about my computer needs, not which brand I have to buy. There's also the simple fact that it's a hell of a lot simpler to find someone to fix a PC than it is to find someone to repair a Mac. And yes, despite what the elitists say, Macs crash too! I know, since we get asked fairly frequently if we work on them. ;)

As usual

the sequel stinks in comparison to the original, Get Shorty, but Be Cool did have one redeeming quality... Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock. He was the only reason I ever went along to the pay per view events that my hubby's friends used to hold. I never appreciated just how amusing wrestling was like they did, but I certainly appreciated a bare-chested Rock ;)

I think you have to have a sense of humor to be a "professional" wrestler, but it's very obvious Dwayne has more than his share, lol. (You only have to watch the Hannah Montana episode where they stick dangling earrings on him and cake on the make up to see that) and of course there's his "music video" from Be Cool.


But aside from Dwayne, the movie stunk. I loved Get Shorty. It's one of my favorite movies. I loved the cast and the plot. Be Cool lost most of that cast and replaced them with other not so fun characters (Vince Vauhgn and Uma Thurman, ick.) and a really thin plot. Blech.

Woot!

The last box has been dealt with and I even cleaned house on Sunday. Now if I can just get some of the pictures up and the ones that we aren't putting up, tucked away. (Some of my older pictures just don't go with the current decor. The walls in the living room and master bedroom are sage green. My old master bedroom was done in blues so the pictures I have just look hideous, lol).

I want to buy a decorative clock for the living room. There's a niche above the fireplace that needs something in it to make the fireplace the focal point. Right now the TV is the focal point, not so much what I want.

I've discovered that even though the condo is smaller than the house we were living in, the only space we lost was a spare bedroom. We actually gained cabinet space and drawer space in the kitchen, even though we lost an island. I actually have two cabinets with nothing in them at the moment (3 if you count the weird cabinet that goes all the way back into the corner, but only has a little skinny door. If anything fell over into the corner I would never get it back out again!).

The master closet is big enough to use as a craft room (my old kitchen table in in there at the moment!), or even put a bed in for the kiddo should we have visitors. it's absolutely HUGE! You get to it through the bath, so there's a little nook with shelves for linens and towels. So nice to have the towels right there!

And my bathtub! Oh I get tears of joy when I think of the tub in the master bath. After 2 1/2 years of a hideously uncomfortable tub in the hall bathroom at the old house (there was an odd ledge that hit right in mid-back. Ouch.) the new tub is heaven! It's larger and deeper than most kid's wading pools and comfy enough that I can quite happily take a book in there and read in the bath for hours *grin* And conveniently, water is the one utility we don't pay!

There are actually cabinets, and even drawers in the master bath. I can keep the toilet paper right there instead of in the hall closet, where I kept the towels and linens as well. And I finally have a place to keep all the junk that one has in a bathroom. There are even *gasp* towel racks!!! (The master bath in the old house didn't have a single towel rack!)

I find that the longer we are here, the more I realize how much I actually disliked that house. (I said from the day we moved in that it was obvious it was owned by a single male, just by looking at the master bath. It was small, only had a shower and had NO storage what so ever). The layout of the house was odd as well. The layout here makes much better use of the space we have and the rooms feel larger, yet more cozy (that's the paint I think, no stark white paint in this condo, except for the kiddo's room).

And you can't beat the view from the back deck. I our last two houses we rarely sat outside, though at one point we ate dinner outside on the deck of the first place a lot the first summer, until the weather got unbearably hot, then never got back into the habit. In the last house I don't think I ever sat out on the patio.

Here though, we sit outside every morning and have breakfast and watch the lake with its ospreys in the nest, pelicans and geese, while listening to the red winged blackbirds calling (talk about a sound that brings back wonderful childhood memories!). We even saw 2 Great Horned owls one morning.

The other night we sat out there and heard coyotes yipping and howling. It truly is lovely and makes all the trips up and down the stairs while moving worth while!

Anyhoo. I will try and take some pictures and post them soon, since I need to send some to my mother anyway, haha.

PS. Speaking of pictures, my external hard drive just gave up the ghost. It has every photo we've ever taken on it. My boss is going to try to recover them for me, but it's maybe a 10% chance. But I don't have $1000 to send it off for data recovery. So keep your fingers crossed for us that it works, please!

A soggy 4th

was very, very wet! We spent a lovely morning and early afternoon just puttering about, the kiddo and I went to the bookstore and then we grabbed the hubby and went out for a late lunch, early dinner. Then the wind came. I had to move my poor plants down so they were out of the direct line, it was so bad. Finally, clouds that had been threatening all day opened up and poured. I had to tell the kiddo that if the rain kept up we weren't going to the fireworks.

Even then, I thought maybe we could find a spot to park and watch from the car so around 8:30pm we set off. We got to the golf course and parking nearby was nearly empty and the rain slowed to a slight trickle, so I pulled in with the though of just standing in the parking lot to watch. Then the rain started again and I told the disappointed kiddo it was time to head home.

We got stuck at a stop light while the police let massive crowds of people cross the street and I thought I heard an officer yell, "If you're here for the fireworks, go home!" But he never said they'd been canceled and between the radio, the rain and the windshield wipers I wasn't positive that's what he said.

So we drove home disappointed.

The good news was that they rescheduled the fireworks for the 5th and we all got to go see them. And it was a really good show. Short, less than 30 minutes, but the fireworks were different and fun. My favorite was a purple spiral, followed closely by the fountains that literally hung in the air for ages and slowly trailed into the lake (which reflected all the colors beautifully, I wish I'd had my camera and tripod, but I'd never have done it justice!).

The bad news was that traffic was an absolute bitch going home. I've never lived on this end of town before, and apparently most of the fireworks viewing population lives over this way as well! Next year we are taking back roads home lol. Anyway, hope y'all had a nice holiday!

Thank you

Thanks to y'all for your sympathy and kind words.

It's been a crazy week, trying to get ready to move (Tomorrow!) And of course there's today...



;)