cough, hack, sneeze

Beware, there are germs in the hills. Seriously. My parents came home with some dreaded illness a few weeks ago and now I am following right along. Yuck. My house is a mess, my dogs are stinking, I'm out of clean underwear, and there's so much that I need to do-but I just can't.
I did manage to make this cake.
I totally used the orange dish towel to cover up the floury mess that I made on the stove top. I've also overloaded on the television this week. Dr. Who, Lost, BSG, the Food Network (inspiration for the cake). I hate that I long to watch these programs. I pine to live in a television-free home. I picture myself having a surplus of time that I can spend enriching my life. Crafting, conversation, baking, playing with the animals. Who am I kidding, how will I play xbox or wii without a TV and I'm sorry but Battlestar Galactica and Lost are fraking awesome, not to mention the bloody Doctor! Maybe I can just get rid of cable again. That's a step, right?

I wish I would have made this cake. Maybe next time!

random soundtrack courtesy of iTunes: It hurt so Bad- Susan Tedeschi

#71

Last weekend was our annual trip with Alex's family to Tennessee. We've been going up there for the last few years to spend time with Alex's brothers and their families. They live in MD and VA and we don't see them very much. I had fun, we played games, ate good food, watched movies, and had interesting conversations. I like hearing Dad Said's take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since he is from Jerusalem. I don't know if I necessarily agree with him but he definitely shed some light on the situation for me.

I would like to say that it was a relaxing trip but it really wasn't. Somehow, we had to share a room with our nephew and Alex's little brother, Michael. It was loud, smelly, and kind of awkward. I didn't get a lot of sleep, I crashed yesterday and slept for hours after we got home. Hopefully, we won't have to do that again. I'm not really sure why we were stuck in a room with other peoples children, especially since we don't have a family of our own (pets weren't allowed), but we made the best of it. Alex and I always feel like the adults at the kid table. (At least in his family, everyone acts like children at mine). I used to consider this a bad thing but I'm beginning to think differently.

The cabin had a great view of the Smokey Mountains and it snowed a lot on Monday. It was lovely. I would feel privileged to wake up to that view every morning.

Oh, I just remembered there wasn't any Wi-Fi! Booo!

I am listening to the inauguration on the radio as I am writing this. It feels way more like history-in-the-making listening to it rather than watching it. Besides, this computer at work won't be able to stream the video with out blowing up. The NPR correspondent keeps mentioning Michelle Obama's yellow dress, I guess they are just trying to offer a visual but I can't imagine why someone listening to the event on the radio would really care about such things. I didn't vote for Obama but I do hope that he does a good job. I really wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now. I can't even imagine the stress involved with the escalating conflict in the middle east and the crash of the world's economy. I am surprised that there aren't more presidential suicides. I guess some people are just made for that sort of thing. I'm not one of those folks. I am enjoying the fanfare, though. We really are blessed that power is transferred so peacefully in our country and that no one had to kill W to get him out of office.

I was going to post a pic from my weekend but I haven't unpacked the camera cable yet. I am feeling pretty lazy so I probably won't do it today. I may not upload the photos until February, since I have already used 99% of my 100 MB Flickr limit this month. I really need to stop being such a cheap ass and upgrade to a pro account.

soundtrack for the homebody that doesn't want to leave again anytime soon: Home Again-Carole King

Frustrated, Inc.

This computer is driving me bananas! As I am typing this, windows are popping up, fans are whirling, and my music is skipping. Alex needs to get home soon, I don't know how much more I can take of this. I guess I could charge up the notebook and use that but it's just not the same and I don't have a USB mouse. UGH! Using the touchpad makes me feel like I got my hand cut off or something. Oh no, one of the pop-ups is talking to me! I give up.

worst week ever

This week I went with my Dad to the ER because he is very ill and no one really knows what's going on with him (other than his usual problems), I watched the story of how Rose Tyler "died" on the season two finale of Dr. Who, I discovered that I have cysts on my ovaries and that I am going to have a "procedure" next week to examine them, I had to go to Wal-Mart, and I sliced my hand open with my new super sharp rotary cutter-it won't stop bleeding.

I have this theory that odd years are bad, or at least bad for me. 2007 was pretty awful but 2008 was lots o' fun. 2009 is starting out kinda rough. This odd year theory may be all in my head, it really doesn't work well with all of the 2012 stuff that's out there. I am going to try to disprove my hypothesis starting now.

Oh wait, one of the dogs just pulled an old general tso's chicken container out of the garbage can and made a mess all over the floor.

Okay, odd-years-aren't-bad testing starting over . . .now!


no soundtrack today, iTunes hates me, sigh.

12/31/2008

12/31/2008
Originally uploaded by raae
Happy New Year! I hope your New Year's Eve was more
wholesome and orderly than mine.

I ♥ games

Alex and I played games with the Upstate Boardgamers a few times, we really enjoyed it but life got in the way and we haven't been back for a month or so. We hope to start up again after the new year. Wendy at work told me about a new book store in Greer, The Silver Chair, a while ago and I've been meaning to stop by but again- life in the way as usual. I also picked up a copy of the store's zine The Revenant Culture at O-Cha one day, it peaked my interest even more. They seem to have some pretty good stuff going on, mainly I am referring to a program that they call BookLove and that they are selling board games. It sounds like they are selling GOOD board games and they are in Greer. How awesome is that? They describe BookLove as " . . . basically a book club that smells of leather bindings and community hipness. Subscribe to the program, and every month receive one or two books selected by Joffre and his team. . . to meet your interests and tastes." Doesn't that sound wonderful? I think I need to conquer the bloated mass of books in my bedroom before I add to the queue, but I am going to keep this in mind. I love the smell of leather bindings.

Well, anyway before I scatter my bullets any further, I saw a post that one of the guys from Upstate Boardgamers did an interview for the The Revenant Culture podcast. I liked what he had to say about games and why we play them. I also like the Agricola joke and the use of SAT words like eschaton and zeitgeist. Ah. . .Thank God for spell check!

This has motivated me to 1) finally go to this bookstore and 2) finish reading the rules for 1960

Since I'm thinking about games, I thought I would document that I lost TI3 this weekend. Shaylan won. . .grrrr. I had a good plan, it just took me too long to get my act together. Damn Imperium Rex card! Alex did pretty well too. We did manage to win two games of Last Night on Earth while playing the Heroes. We haven't won with the Heroes ever before. I'm pretty pleased.

Soundtrack for the motivated gamer: White Winter Hymnal-Fleet Foxes and $1000 Wedding-Willie Nelson

Lurking. . .

I have a confession to make, I am a lurker. One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2008 was to stop lurking and start posting. It didn't stick. Recently, my friend Roxanne considered taking a break from posting because she didn't think that anyone was reading, but I was reading! This got me thinking about all of the other people that bring joy to my life through their blogs. I am going to start showing my appreciation, maybe I will even post on a forum! I lurk on some of those too.

The other resolution was to stop cursing. Those who know me, know that didn't stick either. 2009 is right around the corner, I think I will try again.

soundtrack for self-improvement: Pink Moon - Nick Drake