Nanners and Noodles

2011-11-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

Day one of my 20 days of working out - walked 6.12 miles! Part of the walking was at the lovely Huntington Gardens, where I took my mom for a holiday tea this afternoon.

2011-11-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I did, but ate too much, so I'm signing up to do the holiday exercise challenge at iowagirleats.com and exercise 20 times between now and Christmas! (Starting tomorrow!)

2011-11-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Today I took a very big step and bought new kitchen appliances. Keep in mind that my dishwasher hasn't worked for over a year, my oven only occasionally will light, and my refrigerator is leaking, so this is a very over due step. I'm excited, but slightly nauseous over spending a substantial amount of money, but it will make Thanksgiving (and Christman, and day to day living), a lot easier!

2011-11-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

Decided to do a post about my weekend.

In the last year, I've tried to get out and enjoy all that Southern California has to offer. I realized that I had memberships in New York City Museums, but hadn't visited many local offerings. So, in the last year, I've visited LACMA, the Huntington (twice), the Norton Simon, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the San Diego Zoo.

I've also enjoyed going to ballet and theater at the Music Center. I've learned to take the Blue Line downtown, and to go early enough to enjoy lunch at Kendall's or Pinot on the Plaza. Yesterday was Kendall's, including some really good sorbet (pictured).

I went to see Vigil, starring Olympia Dukakis. It was quite good. An older lady, living alone receives a visitor, her long lost nephew who's come believing she'll die any day. A year later, he's still there.

Today woke up to rain, and decided it was a good day for cooking. Baked Oatmeal for breakfast, Snickers Peanut Butter Brownies (pictured), Trader Joe's tacos for lunch, and Potato Soup with a side of roasted brussel sprouts for dinner. Fortunately, my brother and my neighbors were available to help me eat all this!

Otherwise, did some chores, and hung out with my little buddy, Samantha. Cold today, so we brought out our sweaters.

2011-06-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

Over a year and a half since I posted!

Not sure I can remember how to post photos, but we'll see how this goes . . .

Travels - had a fantastic time in March on an extended wolf watching expedition in Yellowstone with Nathan and Linda from wolftracker.com.

Went to NYC for my 50th birthday, and had a grand time! Saw The Book of Mormon and How to Succeed in Business, had a cocktail at 21, dined at Bar Americain and the Trustees Dining room at the Met, and saw the Cherry Blossoms in Prospect Park at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

Still knitting a lot, and my "stash" has reached a ridiculous level . . .

Hope all is well with the rest of you!

2009-10-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

Wow - it's been about a month, since my last post!

Ok, time does fly by, but this is what I've been up to. Sam and I dogsat for Louie and Lola, the rat terriers who live next door. Lola, or Tripod, as I like to call her, had recently had hip surgery, so was carried around a lot of the time. Sam was exhausted by all the fun!

I finally finished a baby blanket for a cousin who is due in a month or so. Here's the blanket! I mailed it off today, and now I need to get knittin' quickly to make something for my other's cousin daughter who is about two already. In the mean time, I'm knitting more socks. Glad that summer is over - life at the beach is so much nicer in the fall, winter and spring. With football season here, I've been visiting the local pub to put my picks in the pool. I've come to like the pickled eggs they serve (perfect with a cold beer), so I made some of my own. And they turned out really good!

Was accosted on the street this morning by my former dry cleaner. He came running after me to ask why I hadn't been in for a very long time. At first I hemmed and hawed, but when he asked if he did something wrong, I told him. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when I took in a hand knit sweater I'd made, that had pretty expensive buttons attached, and it came back with one button missing. He said I should have brought the sweater back and told him what happened, I pointed out that I had done just that, and got only a shrug of his shoulders in response. So now, that he lost my business, he went on and on about how he'd pay for the button.

The thing is that I had problems with these folks before - taking in a jacket with a gold pin still attached, and having it come back without the pin. Again, when I asked about it, they gave me the Sgt. Schultz. Another time I'd taken in pants and immediately after, remembered that there was 20 bucks in a pocket. Rather than go back, I waited to see what they would do. When I went back in, not only was the money not mentioned, but he pulled out some paper work that he wanted me to look at and give him free legal advice.

Given that he is but one of 3 dry cleaners in walking distance from my house, I'm not sure why he thought I'd keep coming back? Because I did, I guess is the answer. But three strikes, and you're out.

2009-09-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

Meet the Boys - Calvin and Hobbes! They are green rumped parrotlets that were bred in Florida.

That's Calvin facing the camera and also snacking! C&H arrived on a Delta flight on Friday evening, and we've been getting to know each other. They are about 8 weeks old, and very comical. They are inseparable, but also bicker just a bit like brothers. We're trying out various fruits and vegies and so far, peas and apples are preferred to bananas. If you talk to Hobbes, he bobs and chirps back. Calvin is so far more comfortable with sitting on my finger and taking food from me.

Sam is uninterested in them, which is helpful, especially when they are out of the cage. They love all their toys, and have lovely little chirps. I'm having a blast with them so far.

2009-09-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

This is my mom's dog, Matty. Matty is, indisputably, the love of her life. Poor Matty had a rough start - my friend Shana, who works with a bunch of dog rescue groups, found a shivering little animal near a friend's house in Long Beach. The then mostly hairless little thing was Matty. She's about 8 lbs., and has bad back legs, but has a lot of spunk. With much trepidation on my mom's part, she left Matty with Sam and I for a few days while she went to Vegas. Of course, everything was fine, and Sam was a very good natured, co-hostess.

Sam and I weren't walking a whole lot with Matty in tow, so when she went home, we went for a long walk on Sunday. Sam enjoyed the nice weather!

I'm very excited for the start of the NFL season! Love chilly Sundays, knitting on the couch, watching football, and of course, football pools! Yay, Autumn! When it finally gets here . . . we've been experiencing very hot weather, and many parts of Los Angeles are experiencing dangerous and destructive fires. With cooler weather on the way, hopefully, the situation will get under control.

2009-08-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did something that I have always wanted to do - took a day off from work and went to a ball game - the Angels playing the Detroit Tigers! My neighbor Christina was game, and we headed out to Angels stadium. Fortunately, our tickets were in the shade - when we got back to my car about 4 pm, it was still 104 degrees in Anaheim. The hot dog was yummy, and the beer was cold. I even bought a souvenir - a Torii Hunter t-shirt, which will now limit my ability to make fun of grown men wearing jerseys. It was a GREAT way to spend an afternoon, and the Angels won 4-2.

I've been trying to organize and de-clutter my home, one little nook or cranny at a time. One benefit of this is finding books I bought a while ago, and forgot about. One of these is Queen of Babble.

First, let me acknowledge that chick lit (besides Bridget Jones' Diary and Waiting to Exhale), is not generally my genre of choice, but so far, at least, Queen of Babble is well written and entertaining.

To offset this estrogen rush, on my iPod I'm listening to Double Indemnity, classic noir. It's impossible to listen to the book without picturing the film version with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. In fact, I recently saw that movie on the Turner Classic Movies station. It's a short and sweet listen, and I'm enjoying it alot.

TCM is currently my favorite TV station. All summer they are devoting each day to a certain actor or actess. Last Sunday was a day devoted to Angela Lansbury. I loved getting to see Gaslight, Death on the Nile and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

How is your week going?

2009-08-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Took advantage of the nice weather yesterday evening by spending some quality time with Samantha. We had a rousing game of squeaky toy fetch.

Then we wrassled. ( I won).

Then had a lovely five mile walk along Bolsa Chica at Sunset.

Oh, and another book I've recently read, that I totally recommend, is When Skateboards Will Be Free - A Memoir of a Political Childhood by Said Sayrafiezadeh.

While images of athletic and Hollywood celebrity decorated the rooms of his classmates, the walls of Said's youth were adorned with fierce glares from heavily-bearded revolutionaries. As the son of an Iranian father and Jewish-American mother--two souls united by a commitment to an impending socialist revolution--young Said spent his childhood working to make the comrades proud. He hawked the movement's rag, embraced a moniker of "the little revolutionary," and even embarked on a confusing trip to Cuba to spark his political awareness. (He was appalled by the lack of sanitary bathrooms).

When Skateboards Will Be Free describes a politically-charged childhood with an innocence that forces smiles in unexpected places and reveals the heartache of a home soaked in idealism. They weren't poor because they had to be poor, they were poor by choice. Said's father deserted the family when he was young, but his mother continued to carry a torch for this man she never divorced. He, of course, enjoyed a string of idealistic young babes, while she awaited his rare communications. She was an educated woman, (her brother, Mark Harris, wrote Bang the Drum Slowly), who chose to live in dilapidated apartments with her son in Pittsburgh and NYC, while they waited for the revolution.

The arrival of a socialist state not only promised to bring skateboards in bubblegum-bright colors to the masses; it also pledged to repair the rifts within Said's own home.

It's a memoir worth reading, even though I found it on an Oprah book list.

2009-08-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

Today's lunch? A yummy Caprese sandwich.

I've been very bad about blogging lately. Partly because I've become a bit addicted to twitter and facebook. And even more so since I found out I can play Scrabble on facebook and on my iPhone. I am currently getting my rear end kicked hard by a couple friends.

I also took some time and knit a few hats to be donated to a shelter in NYC that serves homeless teens.

Oh, and I bought a ukelele this past Saturday. I played in the 4th grade. Well, we all did. And then gave a concert that I'm confident was fantastic. So, i bought a ukelele and a song and chord book and I may take some lessons.

The other big news is that with the passing of the late, great, Freddy the parrotlet, I decided to adopt a couple baby boy parrotlets. Thanks to LA, they have been given the names Calvin and Hobbes, and they should be home with me soon.

Reading wise, I just finished listening to all six Harry Potter books on my iPod - thoroughly enjoyed re-reading the series, this time audibly.

How are you doing????

2009-07-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

OWIM! (Oh well, it's Monday)

Had a nice weekend. Finished a pair of socks, that I'm wearing today. Went on a nice long walk with Sam, and enjoyed BBQing with the neighbors yesterday.

I've been re-reading the Harry Potter series, this time as an audiobook. I'm up to book four, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The books translate really well into audio. I've also just started reading the last book in Maggie's Southern Reading Challenge, the Help.

Got the AC fixed on my car, last week, which is a welcome relief!

I'm going to be adopting two baby Green Rump parrotlet brothers in about a month. So far, the most likely names are Calvin and Hobbes, or Stanley and Charlie.

Any suggestions?

What are you up to these days?

2009-07-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos!

How has everyone been? Last week was the pits, but hoping this week will be better.

Monday - horrible work project, completed.

Tuesday - went to DDS for cleaning, left with appointment for wisdom tooth extraction next week

Wednesday - Freddy the parrotlet got sick and died within 15 hours

Thursday - Woke up at 4 am, took advantage by watching live British Open coverage. Kept up this trend for next 3 days, too. Found someone with worse week than me - the guy who jumped off the building next door, and lived.

Friday was fun - went to Stitch and Pitch at Dodger Stadium. We travelled there on a bus with a bunch of other knitters. Yes, you really do knit at the game. Drank beer, ate a hot dog and nachos, and realized that LA Raider fans are still around, they are just dressed now in Dodger blue.

Saturday - went to see Harry Potter. I liked it!

Sunday - took Sam to dog beach! it was a lovely day.

.She likes to sniff other dogs, and meet the people, but doesn't play a lot, and won't go near the water. She did find a nice Dalmatian to chase around the beach, though!

Fingers crossed that this week will be better!

2009-07-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic fourth! Noodles and I did. We got up early so we could beat the heat, and walked five miles down Bolsa Chica way.

(Bolsa Chica is a state park that brought in thousands of dollars in income to the state just this past weekend. Nevertheless, our esteemed governator plans to close state parks to save the minute part of the budget they represent (not to mention that they also generate income).)

But I digress. We had so much fun, and it was such a gorgeous day, so I loaded up Sam into the bike basket and we rode five miles along the beach. (That is the good news. The bad news is that I woke up at 2 am with my both quads so cramped up I could not move my legs.)

Hung out with the neighbors and ate and drank way too much!

Oh, and I also went and saw Public Enemies over the weekend. Loved the movie, and loved the soundtrack so much that I downloaded it last night on iTunes and on to my iPod. That's the good news. The bad news is that some electrical leprechaun snuck into my house again and discombobulated my iPod overnight, so now it will no longer charge or recognizes any outlet for charging it.

This is on the heels of my HP Notebook coming down last Thursday with a Windows Vista glitch - I get an endless loop message "configuring updates 3 of 3 0% do not turn off your computer."

Apparently, this is not uncommon, but I've been unable to fix it with any proposed solutions I've found on the web. Right now, "open window, toss out computer" seems like the best advice.

Work is slower, but boring.

The dog and I are getting fat.

The bird is good.

The mice and rats are winning the war.

And this is my current knitting project - Birdwalk Sock in progress

How was your 4th?

2009-07-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

Had a FANTASTIC time in NYC!

Saw the frog exhibition at the Museum of Natural History

Drank wine and ate cheese at the Boathouse

Enjoyed Blithe Spirit

Finally got to try the Magnolia Bakery's cupcakes

Saw Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

Went to the zoo (sleeping red panda)

Drank and ate too much

And toured the museums.

And that is only the tip of the iceberg! There are so many great things to do and see, and I truly had a wonderful time!

2009-06-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

And tomorrow, she's off! To the Big Apple, that is. I'm very excited to go. Planned outings include going to see Blithe Spirit and Billy Elliot, and meeting up with Auburn Kat. Other likely sightseeing includes the frog exhibition at the Natural History Museum, followed by a visit to the Shake Shack and some local yarn shops, the Met, MOMA, and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Can't wait to see how my friends the Polar Bears are doing at the Central Park Zoo, and whether they still serve good Pinot Grigio at the Boathouse.

Not sure if I can blog from my iPhone, but I'll post pictures when I get back, and will definitely be posting photos in the mean time on facebook and twitter!

Hope everyone else has a good week . . .

2009-06-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

THIS is the face of the great mouse hunter . . .
When I got up to get a cup of coffee at 0-dark-thirty this week, what did I find waiting for me on the kitchen rug? A dead mouse left for me by Miss Noodles.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Although my father died in 1977 and my grandfather in 1985, I have not been relieved of celebrating this Hallmark Holiday. Since my mother's birthday is June 19, the family always does a combined mom's birthday/father's day for my brother celebration. So, although I'm working most of the weekend, I'm also having a BBQ this afternoon. As usual, the family has requested that we BBQ filet mignons. I don't really mind buying 50 dollars worth of meat, but no one bothers to tell me who all is coming to the BBQ. This leaves me to guess how many steaks to buy. I had scheduled the BBQ for 4 pm, so that I could work earlier in the day. I discovered Thursday night that my mom had changed the time to 3 pm, so that my niece - who works at 5 pm, and who no one told me was coming - can attend. . . . sigh . . .

Any ways, the cake is in the oven, and dinner should be pretty easy to prepare.

I have a stressful Monday and Tuesday ahead of me, but then . . . I leave on Thursday for 5 days in NYC. I plan to spend a good part of it drunk in Central Park.

2009-06-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

My second book for Maggie's Southern Reading Challenge is The Legal Limit by Martin Clark.

In The Legal Limit, the main character, Mason Hunt, is a young attorney who finds his ascent from a miserable childhood with an abusive father to career success undermined by his complex relationship with his older brother, Gates, a former high school football hero turned bad. Mason knows Gates is poison but cannot forget the debt he owes his brother for protecting him from their abusive father. The inevitable trouble comes one drunken night while Mason is still in law school, when the Hunt boys, still in their early 20s, find themselves cornered by a drunken redneck on a deserted country road. Gates shoots and kills the man, and Mason takes the lead to protect Gates from the repercussions of his crime. (Apparently, this story is based on an actual crime from the 1980s).

While Gates’ life continues to spiral downward, Mason goes on to marry a beautiful artist and work as the district attorney in his home town of Stuart, in Patrick County. Unwilling to ever take responsibility for his actions, Hunt's wild ways land him in jail on a 44-year sentence for drug trafficking. He comes to resent his younger brother's refusal to use his power to spring him. Fraternal bitterness leads to blackmail, leaving Mason "morally hog-tied, an accessory after the fact, the entire damnable bundle laid at his feet by someone he loved dearly."

The theme of The Legal Limit deals more with good v. bad/moral vs. immoral, than with legal vs. illegal. The characters are complex - none are all good, or all bad. For most, right and wrong are situational determinations based on what will benefit that character the most at that time. On a side note, one character’s closeted homosexuality is awkwardly dealt with.

I liked this book, and Clark writes a good thriller, but the ending was a bit anti-climactic, and seemed to me to be a bit of a cop out. Clark may be on his way to being the next Grisham (and by that I mean Grisham in his heyday, not the watered down version we get today), but he’s not quite there yet. Nevertheless, I’ll definitely pick up his next book.

2009-06-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

My last haiku was also for Maggie’s Southern Reading challenge, and she’s challenged us again this year, so here goes:

The Robber Bridegroom
Comes a' courtin', but will she
Fall in love in time?

2009-06-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

We're in the midst of a good case of June gloom here in So Cal, with a bit of rain last week and overall, cool temperatures.

But don't tell Samantha that. I'm pretty swamped at work, but did get out last weekend for a couple five mile walks with Miss Noodles. Even though she is a mix of Basenji (African hunting dog) and Chihuahua (perro de Mexico), she apparently is not built to stand the heat. (And by heat, I mean lovely temperatures in the low '70s).She was fading quickly on our walk home, so we stopped periodically for rests in the shade. The walk took a bit longer than I had planned on, but a good time was had by all . . . or at least by me.

My pink calla lilies are back, which always makes me happy, and my monarch butterfly plant is in bloom.

I went on a cooking binge over the weekend - Slow Cooker Soft Taco Stack, Mediteranean soup, chicken and broccoli couscous, curry chicken salad, and a fritatta. Yes, I did share them all with my brother.

I finally watched True Blood - the first season. I enjoyed the Sookie Stackhouse book - Dead Until Dark - that it's based upon. In fact, that was the first book I read for Maggie's Southern Reading Challenge two years ago. You can read my review here .

Been reading alot, knitting a little, and trying to keep up with work deadlines. What have you been up to?

2009-05-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

Had a fabulous time in Maui - enjoyed some pretty sunsets, lovely snorkeling, long walks, and even did a jigsaw puzzle.
Stayed pretty much on California time, so I was up early to head out for a 5 mile walk while it was still cool. Read and listened to lots of books - The Robber Bridegroom, Aunts aren't Gentlemen - audio, A Gentleman of Leisure - audio, If Death Ever Slept - audio, Murder on the Orient Express - audio, Five Little Pigs - audio, The Legal Limit, and Fleshmarket alley - audio.

Drank a lot of pinot grigio, and ate too many times at Longhis and Kimo's. Oh, and the local gourmet market - the Honolua Store - that also serves really good meals that all the workingmen come for - had a great variety of goat cheeses from the local Surfing Goat Dairy.

Sam had a bit of a rough time being alone while I was on vacation without Hanna for the first time, but we spent all day together today.

Tomorrow back to work . . . and back on the diet!

How have you been?

2009-05-31T18:04:00.001-07:00

My first book for Maggie’s Southern Reading Challenge is the Robber Bridegroom - my first experience with Eudora Welty, and it was not at all what I expected. I expected a more serious author - and maybe she is in her other works, but in the Robber Bridegroom she's created a delightfully unbelievable, far-fetched and bizarre "tall tale."

Many of the elements of a fairy tale are there– Salome, the ugly and wicked stepmother, Rosamond, the beautiful daughter, Clement, the naive and loving father, and Jamie, the handsome hero. The story takes place along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi with "Red Indians", robbers and a few real life American characters (Mike Fink, the Harp Brothers), filling up the bad guy roles. Rosamond's adoring father, Clement Musgrove, is a wealthy planter who meets Jamie at an inn, where he is saved from a savage death at the hands of Fink, and unwittingly brings his disruptive presence into the Musgrove family.

Many deaths, lies, misunderstandings and berry stains later, Rosamond and Jamie do live happily ever after. . . and Rosamond even starts telling the truth. . . well mostly the truth, "it was all true but the blue canopy".

I enjoyed this book a lot, and will definitely look for some more Welty to read.

2009-05-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

Maui on the 23rd, Maui on the 23rd . . . this is the chant that keeps me going for the next 12 days . . .

My gladiolas are rocking the garden! This is my first stalk of flowers, and it looks like I'll have lots more.

Tuesday nights have become standard lately, watching American Idol and tweeting the performances with LA, Ryan and Kookla on Twitter. Added bonus? Picking out which cliches will be cues to drink! Tonight I enjoyed a lovely glass of Merlot. I'm rooting for Adam, the ummm, flamboyant singer from San Diego. This dude can sing. Second choice, Kris. Run screaming from the room if he wins? Danny Gokey.

Work is busy, but that's good. It allows me to keep the economy recovering by buying lots of sock yarn. I'm pretty much obsessed these days with knitting and wearing cool, hand knit socks. In my defense, I'd like to point out the following - they are comfie and unique, and allow me to wear comfie clogs. The last time I wore heels was to a wedding a few weeks back.

Book wise, I'm enjoying listening to the Jeeves and Wooster books on my iPod, and I'm listening to another good thriller from Joseph Finder - Killer Instinct.

What's going on with everyone else?

2009-05-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Last week was hellish, and I'm still busy, but on a slightly less insane level. This past weekend was nice and relaxing - I parked my car Friday evening and didn't use it again until Monday morning. Sam and I went for a couple long walks and I became enamored with all the pelicans along the coast that were diving for fish. With only my iPhone, I couldn't do much for photos, but here there are a few of them scouting out the coast. They are very big birds, and when they dive bomb from high above the surf it is a sight to see.
Pleased with my finished socks, and I plan to wear them today!My garden is going through its spring growth, and I love it. As you can see, I prefer the overgrown look, but the yellow and green variegated pointy leaved plant is a monarch butterfly plant that should grow to be quite large. I'm pleased to see it poking through the nasturtiums.How is your week shaping up?

2009-05-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

For the third summer, I'll be participating in Maggie's Southern Reading Challenge. My books for this year are:

The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty
The Legal Limit by Martin Clark
The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

One in paperback, and two on my iPhone Kindle. Let the reading begin!

2009-04-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, to me!

Somehow birthdays lose their appeal after the first 21, but today I am 39 again, plus 9. Unfortunately, I will spend it in at work, where I expect to be pretty swamped all week.

Fortunately, I have a couple upcoming vacations - Maui the end of May, and NYC the end of June. It looks unlikely that my niece will be coming to Maui, since she got a new job. That is good news, but her plane ticket is non -refundable. Still, I'll have to spend some time on the phone with United and see if I can get some sort of credit for it.

This past weekend, I dog sat Louie and Lola, the next door neighbor rat terriers.

If you've never slept with 3 dogs under the covers with you, it is best described as warm, but rather squirmy.

As you can see, Sam is thrilled to have company.If you're wondering where my bedspread went, it was in the wash after Louie threw up on it after apparently eating a rock. Lola is tiny, but she gives as good as she gets. Her and Louie would wrestle non-stop, and run through the house in a blur. Louie can get Lola's entire head in his mouth, but doesn't use this to an unfair advantage.

I've been trying to finish up some unfinished knit projects - UFOs - and did finish up a sock this weekend.

Alright, I'm off to start my birthday by drinking more coffee, and reading a chapter or two of the Turnaround by George Pelecanos in the bath tub.

2009-04-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

My favorite rose bush has its first bloom. The scent is lovely.

Yesterday I got a telephone call from a lady who used three names and was calling on behalf of Alzheimer's Research. After I quickly informed her that while I support their work, I never give money in response to telephone solicitations, my standard and accurate line, she GLEEFULLY informed me she was not calling to ask for money. She was calling to ask if I would send out pre-written letters to friends and family asking THEM to donate money.

I don't mind fundraising. In my most successful effort, I raised $2,600 for breast cancer research. The difference is that I was asking people for money while I was walking 60 miles to earn their support. On what basis would I be asking friends and family to donate money to Alzheimer's Research? Because I'm special? Because Ms. Three Names wants someone else to do her job for her?

This reminds me of the letter I've received the last few years around the holidays from a woman I went to school with, with whom I had a falling out 20 years ago, with whom I have not spoken in 20 years, soliciting donations for a law school scholarship - in her name. Why would I give her money, so that she can make some semi-magnanimous gesture and pretend that she is generous?

Or the time I received an invitation to a bridal shower being (allegedly) thrown by the bride's mom and sister, only to learn that I and the other bridesmaids were expected to supply the food. (We did bring food, but also smuggled in bottles of champagne, which got mom in trouble with the senior center where the shower was held).

Ok, so basically I'm in a bad mood this week because while I thought I had paid my property taxes a day early, I had actually paid them 4 days late, and now owe a $341 late fee. Maybe I should be soliciting donations to pay for that.

2009-04-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

I have a bunch of amaryllis coming in bloom, and my bird feeders remain popular. Some how I caught this bird in flight, and I'm happy that I did.

This weekend I finished up this Noro Striped Scarf, and I'm happy with it. (Granted, I won't be able to wear it for 6 - 9 months). My goal for the next month is to finish up some "UFO"s, or unfinished knitting projects. This includes 2 pairs of socks, a Noro sweater, a Quant head band and sewing up 3 sweaters that are largely completed knitting wise.

I also finished reading The Downhill Lie by Carl Hiassen, and laughed out loud. The book chronicles his return to golfing after 30 years. If you like Hiassen, and if you have ever golfed, you'll love this book. I'm also reading "Are you There, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea" by Chelsea Handler. Chelsea's book is a series of somewhat ribald short stories about her family and sexual escapades. Maybe I just have too many formerly slutty friends, who all have better stories than the ones recounted here. The book is somewhat amusing, but not laugh out loud funny.

Sam and I went for our first lengthy walk in a month yesterday. I held up better than Sam, (I pretty much had to carry her the last block home), but we both took a nice nap after lunch.

I'm dogsitting the neighbors' two rat terriers this weekend - one year old Louie, and six month old Lola, or "Monkey Girl" as I prefer to call her. Expect Sam to be in a bad mood, and me to hope that one or both of them can rid me of the one remaining rat that keeps terrorizing my back deck.

It's hotter 'n hell here in the OC today, and my car AC is largely on the fritz. Something else to add to my to do list, and asap.

2009-04-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

TGIF!

The garden continues to come back, with a pretty, orange rose

and my bouganvillea.

We're slowly making progress with Freddy; however, he still won't let my hand any where near him, so as you might guess, we're not bonding while he rides around on my finger or shoulder. My bevy of parrotlet and parrot books are not much help except to advise being patient instead of sticking your hand in and making a grab for him. (No sh*t, Sherlock, thanks).

I fill his dishes with a fabulously nutritious mix of enriched pellets (which the books recommend should be 60-70% of his diet), dried fruit and mixed seed mix. Freddy picks through this, and eats sunflower seeds. Keep in mind, I'm supposed to limit his intake of sunflower seeds because they are high fat and not particularly nutritious.

Sigh . . . I've kept him alive for four months, he's not obese, nor are his feathers falling out, so I figure it must be working out some how despite my ineptness.

Since I really enjoyed Nick Hornby's High Fidelity and About a Boy, I picked up To be Good. In To be Good, the narrator of the story, Kate, has a tough time adjusting when David, her angry, negative, sarcastic husband is transformed by a guru into someone who is too good to be true, and definitely, to good to live with. David unilaterally donates the kids' computer to a shelter where it is needed. As they're sitting down to a Sunday roast beef dinner with Kate's parents, David is moved to pack up the entire meal and take it to the park to feed the homeless. (Kate convinces him to just take them lasagne after the meal.)

Kate is struggling with her inner self; she considers herself to be a good person (she's a physician working in England), but where do you draw the line? Can you be too good?

I like Hornby's writing, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this is resolved.

2009-04-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Some helpful tax tips courtesy of The Onion:

When beginning your tax forms, make sure to do that thing where you make your calculator read "BOOBS" upside down right away so you don't get sidetracked later.*

Pay your owed taxes in pennies. That will get you on the Yahoo! News front page, and it will most certainly make the IRS feel foolish.

Not putting that little dash through all of your sevens will result in a prison term of up to three years.

You will save significant time between now and the filing deadline if you complete all of your forms in a blind, sweaty panic 12 minutes before they are due.

If you are Yngwie Malmsteen, you can write off your subscription to Guitar World.

Screw over the IRS and save time and money by making less than $8,950 a year.

Be courteous and include a sheet of scratch paper with your forms for the IRS to do math on.

It's not widely publicized, but now that all taxpayers are part owners of Merrill Lynch, you can use their bathrooms.

*psst - I can spell out my last name upside down on a calculator, too!

2009-04-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

Spring flowers are back . . .

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We did brunch at a local restaurant, and I ate and drank way too much. On a lighter note, my brother's girlfriend's 7 year old son did manage to vomit between the salads and the entrees!

Upon returning home, I hung out with Sam, worked on my Noro Striped Scarf, and watched the Masters and Angels baseball. You'll note Sam's new collar and matching leash.

Have you seen the Obamas' new dog, Bo? The wingnuts are complaining that he is too "girlie" of a dog. I'm not sure a canine companion for the Obamas 7 and 10 year old daughters can actually be too "girlie", but if the GOP wants to play "quienes mas macho" over White House pets, I'll put Bo and Buddy (Clinton's chocolate Labrador), up against Barney (W's Scottie), and Millie (George Sr.'s springer spaniel).

In another case of they just can't win, Dow Chemical and other chemical companies are complaining that Michelle Obama is giving people the wrong idea about chemicals by striving to keep her new White House garden organic.

Dear Dow -

You do realize that this is a home vegetable and herb garden and not 1000 acres of corn? And that it will be tended by the family and by local school children? Ok, just checking.

Thanks, Diane

p.s. lady bugs are a wonderful, natural way to control aphids.

This week promises to be busy, in part because I was working at half speed last week. Did manage a couple of decent walks with Sam this weekend, and I'm feeling pretty good today. Hope your week is shaping up to be a good one!

2009-04-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

TGIF!

First week back at work has been a bit rough. I can hang in there until the afternoon, when I suddenly find that I am dead tired. I pack up for home, bringing some work with me, but all I'm capable of doing is lying flat on my back. I've managed to knit a bit, and twit a bit, but that's it.

Came home last night to find TWO mourning doves in the house. They were fairly friendly little buggers, but one of the two was hard to catch and release. Mourning doves really are the dumbest animals on the planet, so opening wide doors and windows adjacent to their location is generally not enough to chase them back out again. The also are surprisingly resilient, even when they keep crashing themselves into walls, ceilings and windows. Here one perches on the hood above the stove.

Sad news this week for Angels fans - rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver a few hours after his first start of the season. Adam over at The Hater Nation raised an interesting point - even though Adenhart's life was cut short, even at age 22 he had realized his dream of being a major league pitcher.

If you were able to choose the manner of your own natural death, what would it be?

I read a few years ago about an old duffer who shot his first hole in one, and then promptly dropped dead on the golf course. I wouldn't mind being 86 and still out with my old lady friends playing a round of golf. If it was my time to pass, dropping dead after hitting a hole in one isn't too bad a way to go. Granted, you would miss the bragging opportunity, but you know there are some golfers in the after life who would be willing to listen to your tale. And you'd get out of buying everyone a drink in the clubhouse . . .

2009-04-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

Another day, another scarf . . .

The weather in so cal may not call for a lot of scarf wearing, but I will be prepared!

The Angels won their home opener against the A's, but I refuse to be too optimistic. 40 years as a Halo fan has taught me to expect the worst. I do look forward to my first cold beer and hot dog at the Big A, though.

I did manage to drink a couple cold beers with my neighbors. It was a gathering of beer drinkers and their dogs. TJ with Joey, the rough coated Jack Russell, Al with Harley the smooth coated Jack Russell, Christina and Ken with Louie and Lola the rat terriers, and me with Sam.

It's a different read for me, but I'm reading Boys will be Boys by Jeff Pearlman. The book is subtitled "The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys." Here's my 10 second review:

Jimmy Jones - a-hole
Troy Aikman - dull as dirt, but a pretty classy guy
Charles Haley - should be a registered sex offender
Emmitt Smith - not nearly as charming as he seemed on Dancing with the Stars
Michael Irvin - parties like it's 1999 - every day of the week, but shows up for work the next day

Pearlman writes well, so the book is pretty entertaining, but I'm not sure I'd want a son of mine to grow up to be a pro athlete.

Tired out early the first day back at work, but I'm hanging in there a bit better today . . .

2009-04-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a good week of recuperation. I haven't even checked my work email accounts for ultimate relaxation, but back to work this Monday.

I made this scarf with yarn my neighbor brought by, and also have some lovely sock yarn from LA. Everyone has been really helpful and kind.

Finally really back on my feet. Today, Sam and I went did some errands - car wash, gas, pedicure - and then came home to enjoy a gorgeous day. Made some scones from a recipe on the back of the self-rising flour bag, but added some orange zest and craisins. Success! They are really, really good.

Sam and I are sitting on the back deck, soaking in the sun, knitting and listening to Exit Music by Ian Rankin. Now that I'm off the pain pills, am thinking about enjoying a nice glass of pinot grigio. . . .

Here are some things I've learned this week -

there is a James Bond movie on some channel, every day
there is an episode of Murder She Wrote on every day
there are a million Encore channels, and they show a lot of good movies
afternoon naps can be very refreshing
Sammy is a good sick bed companion
your heart rate will go down 30-40 bpm when you get to go home from the hospital
your blood pressure will go down 20 points when you get to go home from the hospital
it means everything to have good health
I need to lower my cholesterol
it's difficult but worthwhile to learn to accept help from others
the latest MC Beaton Hamish Macbeth novel is a good one
I don't know where I put the books I bought at Barnes and Noble
Twitter is addictive and silly

How have you been????

2009-03-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I added plants to my garden that are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. This morning I checked on my garden (needs water!), and spotted two striped caterpillars on the milkweed . . . that look just like this monarch butterfly caterpillar. I should have a couple cocoons soon, and then . . . butterflies! I'm thrilled.

My goals for today are simple - try to get the magic marker off my belly where the doctor put his initials to insure he cut into the correct side of my body.

Goal for the week - finish my Gathered Knot pullover.

Ah, the simple things . . .

2009-03-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

Surgery went really well, and I'm now home and recuperating. Every body has been so kind and helpful and I'm grateful to have such a great group of friends and family!

I'm off work this week, so plenty of time to recuperate, read, knit and be insanely bored.

Thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts and deeds!

2009-03-25T08:15:00.001-07:00

My new cheery slippers for the hospital.

So, tomorrow is the big day. Check in at 5:30 am, surgery at 7:30 am. Today is clear liquids only, so I'm trying to look at the weight loss aspect of surgery as a real positive.

Work is more or less wrapped up to withstand my absence for a few days, and I am trying not to FREAK OUT. Everybody has been more than kind and helpful, offering to do anything they can to make this easier for me.

I should be discharged Saturday or Sunday - I'm shooting for Saturday.

So, wish me luck and keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

2009-03-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the four year anniversary of Samantha Jane Noodles coming to live with Hanna and me. She was being thrown out on her ear by my (evil) ex-sister in law, who had also kicked my brother out of the house - albeit for good reason. He was in re-hab, and she decided to rid herself of a house full of pets. I thought I'd find a new home for Sam, but she and Hanna ended up as friends, so we kept her.

It took her awhile to come out of her shell, and get used to meeting new people and dogs, and spending time in loud places. Poor thing also used to get car sick. Once she got more confident around Hanna, she'd torment her whenever opportunity knocked, and Hanna good naturedly ignored her. I could tell when Hanna wasn't feeling well, because during those times, Noodles would leave her be.

I wasn't sure how she'd react to Hanna's passing, but she has really blossomed as an only dog. She's a good walking buddy, tolerates riding in the bike basket, puts up with being dragged to bars and restaurants, and keeps me toasty at night.

Glad to have met you, Sammy!

2009-03-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is St. Paddy's day. I'll be searching for something green that is also appropriate for court. Yep, a scarf it likely will be. If I get out in time, I might head over to the OC Fairgrounds to see if I can get tickets for Obama's town hall on Wednesday. Given the chance, I'll express my deep disappointment with his Interior Secretary's rubber stamping of Bush's 11th hour de-listing of wolves as a protected species. In reality, if they call on me I'll likely respond like I did in 1983 when I met Billy Idol and basically mumble and drool on myself.*

Watched Dancing with the Stars for the first time in awhile. Shawn the 17 year old gymnast is cute as a bug's ear. Denise Richards might be the least likable contestant they've ever had. Belinda Carlisle has plastic surgery'd herself into Priscilla Presley territory. This is what happens when you go from being a punk princess to a Republican housewife.

I'm in two NCAA pools - one with Auburn Kat and another with the Hater Nation. Every year, I swear I'll watch at least one game before the tourney, but another year has passed.

The jasmine on my deck smells divine, and almost offsets the great mouse war taking place there every morning betwen 4 and 6 am. My own version of mouse west side story - the jets vs. the sharks/gray mouse vs. black mouse. If they break out in song, I'll try to get a video.

Books -

The Instance of the Fingerpost - historical fiction set in the 1600s in Oxford

Every Last Drop - the most recent Joe Pitt vampire tale. Joe survives a year in exile in the Bronx to head back to Manhattan

Dating Dead Men - another Wollie tale from Harley Jane Kozak - good natured fun

Exit Music - a John Rebus mystery set in Edinburgh. When they mention pubs that my friends and I frequented in 1982, I positively squeal with delight

Through the Woods - an Inspector Morse tale. I've seen all the tv shows over and over, and have read a couple of the books.

Boys will be Boys - the glory days and party nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty - a sports tale is not my regular reading, but Jeff Pearlman writes well and the characters are colorful. Any book that starts out with Michael Irvin stabbing a team mate in the neck has potential to entertain

I've mentioned before that given my natural inclinations, and if there were no such thing as social pressure and the danger of being sent away for my own good, I'd dress like the love child of a parrot on acid and Carmen Miranda. I mostly keep it under control, but here is the yarn for my Color on Color scarf. Yes, there are 47 different colors of yarn there.

Hopefully, I can transform this bag of yarn into this -
Wish me luck!

*(In my defense, Billy Idol in 1983 was the most spectacularly beautiful person I've ever seen - prettier by far than Morgan Fairchild and Sandra Bullock, who are also amazing in person. He had skin and cheek bones that any woman would kill for).

2009-03-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Another day, another bird pooping in my front room.

Finished listening to John Grisham's The Associate. I admit I liked it, but that is kind of like admitting to liking Velveeta cheese. Grisham can write a good, tense novel, but there was no meat on this story's bones. No real danger, no real action, no real intrigue.

I'm on my third Joe Pitt vampire story - Half the Blood in Brooklyn. So far in this book, we've been re-introduced to Sela, the pre-op tranny vampire, and met Stretch, the midget carnival performer vampire, and Chaim, the leader of the Jewish vampires of Brooklyn. This is my sixth book by Charlie Huston in about a month. I do enjoy his dark humor . . .

Spent 25 minutes on hold with B of A trying to find out how much interest I earned on an account last year . . . only to learn it was less than 5 bucks, and need not be declared on my tax returns.

Appointment with my CPA tomorrow morning, and other than that, it's almost . . . TGIF the 13th!

2009-03-11T08:43:00.001-07:00

Per the request of flix and sage - -

Zucchini Cakes with Parmesan Cheese and Diavolo Sauce

Makes 2 Servings

Diavolo Sauce (make first)
1/4 cup each diced onion and red bell pepper
1 ½ tsp olive oil
1 ½ tsp tomato paste
1 tsp minced garlic
½ dry white wine
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
1 ½ tsp white wine vinegar
½ tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Saute onion and pepper in oil in sauce pan for 3 mins. Add tomato paste and garlic; cook for 1 minute. Stir in wine, tomatoes, vinegar and pepper flakes. Simmer for five minutes. Keep sauce warm until ready to serve.

Zucchini Cakes

2 cups shredded zucchini
1/4 cup shredded onion
½ cup panko bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp olive oil

shredded parmesan cheese

Shred zucchini using the large wholes of a box grater. Shred down each side until you reach the seeds, then turn. Spin shredded zucchini and onion in a salad spinner to remove excess liquid.

Transfer vegetables to a large bowl; stir in panko bread crumbs. Whisk egg, salt and baking powder together in a small bowl; stir into zucchini mixture.

Heat oil in nonstick pan over medium heat. When oil is hot drop mounds of batter into skillet using a 1/3 cup measure. Fry cakes until golden, about 4 minutes per side.

To serve, divide diavolo sauce onto two plates, top with cakes, and garnish with parmesan cheese.

2009-03-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Daylight Savings Time has me all out of sorts - don't know if I'm coming or going. I think its effects are worse since they've moved it up from late April to early March. Even so, we prepared for the time change by sleeping in on Saturday morning.

A better sign of spring is that my garden is starting to recover. It looks like I'll have a bumper crop of gladiolas, and I have my first hibiscus flower of the season.

Friday night I hooked up with LA and my neighbor to attend a wine tasting and show and tell at our local yarn shop. After that, dinner at a great fish place and a bit more wine.

Thanks to the hot tip from LA, I dvr'd Letterman all last week because U2 was on every night. I don't get to see Letterman too often, but I did enjoy it, although the dvr would cut off in the middle of U2's song every night. . . . sigh . . . not sure if I'm sold on their new album yet.

I found a new, gritty vampire series - the Joe Pitt Vampire books by Charlie Huston. The story is that Pitt caught the virus from a strange man in the bathroom at CBGBs in NYC in the '70s, and has been part of the vampire sub-culture since then. In the books, Manhattan is divided into various vampire territories, controlled by rival vampire gangs/groups. Pitt is an independent walking the line trying to keep on the right side of the rival groups, while keeping himself "alive."

Found a new favorite recipe - zucchini cakes with parmesan chees and diavolo sauce - yummy!

Not much else going on . . . how was your weekend?

2009-03-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

It was a lovely weekend here in Mayberry by the Sea. Having worked out the details of a big deal on Friday, I left work a bit early, and Sam and I headed over to our favorite outdoor cafe on the waterfront.

One advantage of sharing coconut shrimp with Sam is that the tails don't go to waste.

Saturday we took off and ran some errands.

We went to Petco for a new tank for Splish, (now 12), a bead store for some strings of pearls to use in jewelry making, and the grocery store.

Having been lazy yesterday, today we headed out early for a five mile walk, and since it was in the high '70s today, we stopped a couple of times to rest in the shade.

When we got home from our walk, I pumped up the bike tires, loaded Sam (for the first time), into the basket on the Jessica Fletcher, and we went for a bike ride.It was a tad awkward loading her in and out of the basket, but Sam did great! I lined it with a towel, and she didn't stress and was a brave buckaroo, kicking back and checking out everyone heading down to the beach for the day. Maybe next week we'll ride down to dog beach.

Took it easy this afternoon, and did a bit of shopping online. I love all the handmade things you can get on etsy.com - today I bought 2 hand dyed scarves for 10 dollars each from an artist in Australia. Shipping will be 5 dollars for both, but it's still a helluva deal.

How was your weekend?

2009-02-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

First the good news. I think I managed to kill another mouse.

Now the bad news? I'm pretty sure it died in my walls. My advice? Dont come to dinner at my house any time soon.

I'm pretty sure a big ole monkey at work that has been keeping me up at nights has been lifted . . . I'll know for certain by tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow would have been the big girl - Hanna Banana Louise's - 9th birthday. I miss you Nanners!

2009-02-23T12:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Edit for turning me onto Charlie Huston's Henry Thompson trilogy: Caught Stealing, Six Bad Things and A Dangerous Man. I've read the first two, and have really enjoyed them. "Hank" was a burned out former athlete bartending in NYC, when his neighbor asks him to watch his cat. Next thing, Hank has been beat to within an inch of his life by 2 tough guys, and his life unravels from there.

The writing style is noir - fast paced and witty, and even as Hank gets dragged into doing many, many bad things, you can't help but like and root for him.

Other weekend highlights include: knitting myself a hat, working on my sweater (which fits really well now that I removed the five extra inches of fabric from the back), and visiting a local nursery.

I bought three new plants, all attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds, and planted them around the house. The nursery is always filled with Monarch butterflies, and I hope to attract a few to my neck of the woods. I do have some concern that the 50 birds that live around my house may eat all the caterpillars before they ever get a chance to cocoon, but such is the cycle of life.

I came home Friday night to find a dead mouse in my kitchen, so apparently, some of the poison is getting to where it needs to be. I also came in to my kitchen on Saturday night to find a mouse eating the dog's food out of her bowl. My favorite though is when I can hear the mice bickering with each other.

Didn't watch the Oscars, but I'm glad Heath Ledger won. I'm so behind on movie watching that Dark Knight was the only film relevant to the Oscars that I've seen.

2009-02-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

So, I bought myself a few things for Valentine's Day, with the emphasis on "pretty" - a pretty photo album with an embroidered cover, a pretty pair of hand painted reading glasses, a book of brightly colored pretty quilts to make, and the fabric to make this one - - the Garden Rainbow Quilt:

I had a nice Valentine's Day - lunch with Edit and LA, and then Sam and I stopped in the local pub for wine, beef jerky and some good local music.

Sunday was a lazy day, and our neighbor came by for a few hours of knitting on Sunday afternoon

Man, was it pouring hard this morning. Stayed in, watched videos from Netflix and Graboid, actually got some work done, actually got some knitting done, got some cooking done, and spent time with my little buddy.

It's going to be a busy week . . .

How was your weekend?

2009-02-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

I think I'm pretty critter friendly. I re-habbed and released Elmo, a mouse that Hanna caught a few years ago and tried to turn into a squeaky toy, and I fed and cared for Buddy, the baby starling, until I could get him to a wildlife rehab person.

But the mice living at my house are just laughing at me.

I get up about 4 am, woken by the noise of the mouse party going on outside my bedroom door. I turn on the light on the back deck, only to piss off the three mice that I actually saw. Apparently, they like to climb up into this metal, 3 dimensional sculpture on the back wall of the deck. This makes alot of noise. When the lights went on, one mouse emerged, gave me a dirty look, and dropped to the ground. I could hear another mouse in the sculpture, and a third mouse dropped into a potted plant and started squeaking at me.

That's right, I was being sassed by a small, black mouse. Frankly, I don't think I have to tolerate backtalk.

I think they are immune to the poison I've put out (and that they seem to eat), and not all of of them are dumb enough to enter the Victor Electronic tunnel of death.

Sam aspires to be the great mouse hunter, but without much (or any), success. Could a cat be in my future? Or will I just then venture into the world of Tom and Jerry?

And we know who always won that battle . . .

2009-02-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

Wild Kingdom comes back to Casa Diane

Long time readers of Nanners and Noodles (hi, la!), will recognize the Victor" Electronic Rat Trap. Cold weather has been driving the beasties into the house, and the last 2 nights have resulted in 2 less mouses in the world. What I can't manage to eliminate is the rat that I can hear out on the deck at night . . .

Oh, and when I got home Monday night and opened the front door, I was greeted by a mourning dove in my living room. I did manage a successful catch and release.

I know I get cranky with work stress, but these are the news stories that are bugging me . . .

The Michael Phelps pot story. He's a college age guy who has devoted years to training. Does anyone really begrudge him a toke or two? C'mon now.

The crazy octuplet lady. The doctor who implanted 8 embryos should lose his license. Humans aren't meant to have litters.

On the good news side of things . . .

I'm making progress on my sweater

AND I'M GOING TO MAUI THE END OF MAY!!!!!!

And I'll go to the islands at least 14 lbs. less than last year!

And I got word today that I got a really good result for a client!

2009-02-10T11:48:00.001-08:00

GOOD NEWS IN THE MIDST OF BAD . . .

Koala rescued from Australia's wildfire wasteland

By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 40 mins ago

SYDNEY – It was a chance encounter in the charred landscape of Australia's deadly wildfires: A koala sips water from a bottle offered by a firefighter.

David Tree noticed the koala moving gingerly on scorched paws as his fire patrol passed. Clearly in pain, the animal stopped when it saw Tree.

"It was amazing, he turned around, sat on his bum and sort of looked at me with (a look) like, put me out of my misery," Tree told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I yelled out for a bottle of water. I unscrewed the bottle, tipped it up on his lips and he just took it naturally.
"He kept reaching for the bottle, almost like a baby."

The team called animal welfare officers to pick up the koala Sunday, the day after deadly firestorms swept southern Victoria state.

...

The koala was in pain but recovering with antibiotics, Jenny Shaw of the Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter told Melbourne's The Herald Sun newspaper.

...

Despite her gender, the now famous koala is nicknamed Sam.

2009-02-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a good weekend.

Both my mom and I worry that my brother doesn't eat right, so I've been doing some cooking and sharing it with him. Today's recipes were awesome: Moroccan Chick Pea Chili; Slow Cooker Angel Chicken; and Toffee Blond Brownies. I'd recommend any and all of them!

Remember that gray sweater that I should have done by now?

Well, Friday I had to unravel the entire sweater (except for the sleeve), and start over again. Knitters know this as "frogging;" because you have to rip-it, rip-it (ribbet, ribbet). I went to my local yarn store to pick up some yarn to use to teach a gal at work how to knit a scarf. Her mom is bravely battling cancer, and her sister will pass soon (she has Down's Syndrome and a lot of health problems), and she needs something to help relieve the stress. Even when I have to frog 3 weeks of work, I still love knitting, and I hope she will too.

Of course, while I was there, I bought some gorgeous yarn for myself too . . .

The weather has been hit or miss all weekend, but we finally got in a long walk today. Here, Sam wonders how she can catch the seagull flying above her.

How was your weekend?

2009-02-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

I saw this on Auburn Kat's Blog and thought that it would be fun to fill out. I've bolded the things that I have done.... and placed italics on those I haven't done, but would like to!

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo --- Even though it was with a couple of other kids in elementary school, I'm counting it=)

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child - have not, but who knows what life will bring my way?

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon - How 'bout I shoot for a 10k first?

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community - no, but I have seen a Shaker community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa - going to Botswana is high on my list of things to do

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced together a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. See the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

82. Read the entire Bible - I keep starting the "Bible in One Year" that divides the Bible in 365 parts, each consisting of Old Testament, New Testament, psalms and proverbs, but I have yet to get past January. Genesis is kind of dreary . . . begat, begat, begat

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

91Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a lawsuit

98. Owned a cellphone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day

2009-02-05T16:25:00.000-08:00

So - I had a busy morning working at home, and didn't head out for a walk with Sam until nearly noon. We get way down in Bolsa Chica a couple miles from home, and it starts to rain. We take cover at a closed snack shack, and are soon joined by a strange man wearing a back pack and carrying his sleeping bag in a bucket.

He claimed he was a life guard for 26 years and that he could still swim out to the oil platforms -with me on his back. He also mentioned that whenever it starts to rain, he returns to his home in Monterrey. Apparently, he travels on a special coach that can go from Long Beach to Monterrey in 2 hours.

I could deal with all this - although I was sort of ignoring him and checking email, except to tell him that the closest beer store was about a mile away - but then he told me he had just washed his beard this morning, and wanted me to smell it.

We gave up waiting out the rain, and got soaked walking home.

There is nothing Sam hates more (ok, maybe except getting her nails clipped and going to the Vet's), than being in the rain. Here she tries to recover from the trauma of getting wet.

Here is my project for the latest Knitters for Obama service project. As you may know, our president has called for Americans to re-dedicate themselves to serving others. We're knitting (and crocheting, sewing, quilting) for the Mattaponi native american tribe in Virginia. I'll be knitting in a 2 year old size. Even better, this is yarn and a pattern I already had in my stash.

I'm still working, but it's mindless stuff, so I'm also enjoying a Harp beer - cheers, all!

2009-02-03T21:17:00.000-08:00

These are the things I'm totally diggin' these days -

lots of flowers growing along the path in Bolsa Chica, like these daisies
Coffee Mate's Italian Sweet Cream creamer
my new coffee maker with the insulated pot that keeps coffee hot and so much more tasty than keeping the pot warm on a hot plate
Graboid.com - I can download episodes of my favorite BBC tv shows that haven't been released yet in the US, and recent movies, like Quantum of Solace
going for long walks with a book on tape playing on my iPhone and with my little buddy Sam
that both Sam and I are slimming down
eReader that lets me read books in the dark in the morning while I'm drinking my yummy coffee and still snuggling under the covers
that Freddy is eating his seed mix, even if he still treats his highly nutritious pellet mix with disdain
recent home improvements that make such a huge difference
that Psych, Burn Notice and Flight of the Conchords are back on tv
that I know I am blessed in so many different ways

What are you diggin' these days?

2009-02-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

BRUUUUUCE!!!!

Springsteen and the E Street Band did a great job at half time! I first saw Bruce and the E Street Band in 1982, and they still have the same energy and enthusiasm.

The Steelers are winning, in part due to a great end of half play by Steelers' linebacker James Harrison, who intercepted a Kurt Warner pass, so I'm able to enjoy the game . . . for now.

Before the game, they showed part of an interview with President Obama. He enthusiastically announced his support for the Steelers, pointing out that Steelers owner Dan Rooney "didn't just endorse me. That guy was going to steel plants, campaigning for me." He also mentioned that Steelers great Jerome Bettis was out at rallies for Obama with his "terrible towel."

It's been a good weekend - yesterday Sam and I did our five mile walk, then drove out to the Inland Empire to visit my mom, and go to dinner. As a general rule, the term "sophisticated" and the IE never appear on the same page, but there is a great wine bar/restaurant in Wildomar called D’Canters. Great food, a nice wine selection of wines by the glass, including maybe 5 from local Temecula wineries, and jazz in the evenings.

So today, to walk off the good food and wine, Sam and I did our longest walk together to date - 7 miles. We were walking the same route along Bolsa Chica as the last 7 miles of the Huntington Beach Marathon. By the time we joined the group, it was definitely the tail end of the runners, but I have great admiration for anyone who attempts a marathon.

My sweater is zooming along, half a sleeve, the body, and most of the left front. This may be fastest knitted sweater I ever made.

Back to work tomorrow, and . . .

GO STEELERS!!!!

2009-01-30T11:42:00.001-08:00

I'm "working" at home today, (ok, sort of), and taking care of a few things. A local guy is replacing the old, rotting wood on my front porch. Here's the new wood.

When you live in a 60 year old beach house, you basically end up replacing it one board at a time, and the new wood on the porch is a big improvement.

I'm totally digging the cable pattern on this sweater, and how fast it is coming together.

While the rest of the country is buried in snow and ice, I had to take my car in today to get the AC fixed. It's 80 degrees today, (so the paint on the porch is drying really fast), and I'm heading out to my mom's tomorrow where it will be even hotter. Sam and I had breakfast near the mechanic's, then walked home.

I think I'll try to hitch a ride back . . . Sam is beat.

This weekend I'll be . . . making Valentines. I'm participating in a Valentine's Day card exchange on Knitters for Obama, and for some reason I thought I'd get on the home made card band wagon. Here's the thing though - this group is full of a lot of very creative and talented people. My cards look like a 3rd grader made them . . .

It's the thought that counts, right?

It's Super Bowl weekend, and I'm not all that interested. I hope the Steelers win, mostly because (1) I sort of like the Steelers; and (2) I don't like Kurt Warner and the Cardinals. Neither is enough to get me excited for the game. On the other hand, I'm loathe to ignore an excuse to drink a couple beers.

What do you have planned?

p.s. Since Sam is none to fired up for a walk back to the mechanic,

I'm inordinately proud of myself for deciding to take the bus instead of bumming a ride . . .

2009-01-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon, Sam and I went walking along the beach, and here Sam gets the chance to chase some birds. The weekend before was 80 degrees and the beach was packed with women in bikinis . . . this past weekend, not so much.

I'm zooming along with my sweater, (that's Sammy Sosa's nose in the bottom left),

and I'm trying to figure out why Freddy likes to sleep inside the metal ring at the top of his macrame ladder.

Flight of the Conchords is back on HBO. If you don't get HBO, hunt down this show on iTunes, or anywhere you can. The first season was jolly, and the second season is off to a rip-roaring start. I don't recall when I've laughed out loud so much in a room by myself as when I watched this past week's show. It's nothing more than silly, dead pan humor from a very talented cast. It's freakin' brilliant.

At the other end of the spectrum, I stumbled upon a few minutes of the Bus edition of "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels" today on tv. . . . I don't know how to say this in non-offensive language, so here goes. If you looked up "dumb whores" in the dictionary, there would be a photo of the entire cast. Better yet, look up "drunken dumb whores", and you'll find their biographies. I've never actually looked up "dumb whores" in the dictionary, but I have looked up (and used), "slattern."

I think it's important to expand one's vocabulary. This past week I incorporated (and used properly), "poppycock" in a legal brief. My next goal is to use the word "gobsmacked."

What are your vocabulary goals?

2009-01-23T08:05:00.000-08:00

The rain they've been predicting all week has finally come to So Cal, but earlier this week, we were still experienceing spectacular sunsets.

This week has been interesting. Work has been stressful, and my evenings are filled with knitting, hanging out with Sam and Freddy, (who now eats from his seed mix! Way to go Freddy!), and watching videos on Graboid.com. Check it out. I was able to download videos of episodes from a couple of my favorite British TV shows that are not yet available in the United States. Graboid offers some viewing for free, and then different priced plans.

I am making progress with my sweater; since it's knit in the round, it's delightfully mindless and quick.

On the bad news side of things, it looks like I'm going to have some surgery in late March that will require a hospital stay and some recovery time off work. My primary concern is that I'll be healed in time to go to Maui the last week of May. I've never had a hospital stay, and only had minor surgery on an out-patient basis.

I am not happy about this news.

2009-01-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

President Barack Hussein Obama

p.s. Great speech!

2009-01-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

I dvr'd the Obama We Are One Inaugral Celebration . . . . and it rocks!

National anthem performed by a military man opens the party.

Denzel Washington opens up the festivities invoking the memory of Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson (I saw him once in the Forum Club, he's a very handsome man).

The Boss, backed by a kick ass choir, rips through the Rising. Malia Obama snaps photos from the side of the stage.

Laura Linney and MLK III talk about FDR and JFK.

Mary J. Blige tears the roof off the place (ok, they are outside already) with Lean on Me

Jamie Foxx and Steve Carell, an odd coupling, talk about change, including Foxx's impersonation of Obama

Soul singer Bettye LaVette duets with Jon Bon Jovi. Bettye has an incredible voice, but Jon holds his own. (note to self - download some of her tunes off of iTunes)

Tom Hanks reads a very serious speech from Lincoln, accompanied by sort of overwraught music. Or he read a speech in a very serious, overwraught manner. Lighten up, guys! It's a party!

Marisa Tomei is quoting Ronald Reagan (?)

James Taylor is singing Shower the People you Love with Love, and wearing a Russian peasant hat. But here comes John Legend and Jennifer Nettles (note to self, google Jennifer Nettles). There are also two unidentified back up singers. Everyone is in fine voice. I just noticed how handsome John Legend is.

Joe Biden speaks about the dignity of work. I don't disagree, but I'd still like to win the lottery.

John Mellencamp sings Pink Houses, which is my favorite Mellencamp song.

Queen Latifah better not be wearing real fur on that collar. (PETA?) But her story about Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt and racism is a good one.

Josh Groban - the guy who made my new favorite Xmas album - sings My Country Tis of Thee - accompanied by Heather Hadley and the Gay Men's Chorus.

George Lopez and Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle - wtf?). Kal is a good speaker, or maybe I'm still remembering Tom Hanks. Obama's niece is sound asleep.

Herbie Hancock, Will.i.am and Sheryl Crow doing One Love. Little Sasha Obama does not appear to have developed an appreciation (yet) for the great Bob Marley. Sheryl Crow is well into her 40s and looks phenomenal.
Tiger Woods? I thought he was a republican? He talks about the military. Someone should have told Tiger this was a Nike commercial so that he'd unstiff a bit. He introduces the US Naval Academy Glee Club, singing with somebody Fleming, who apparently is an opera singer. She could be singing without a mike and we still wouldn't be able to hear the glee club.
Jack Black - amazingly dressed up, along with Rosario Dawson, talking about various presidents saving parts of the country for national parks - Lincoln, who saved Yosemite, and Teddy Roosevelt expanding Yellowstone and doubling the number of National Parks. Too bad Bush just signed an executive order that could desecrate the Grand Canyon.
Garth Brooks! American Pie! Obama sings along. Garth needs to move on to relaxed fit jeans. Garth sings Shout! An odd choice, but he pulls it off. I'm always pleasantly surprised when a country singer is a liberal.
Ashley Judd and Forrest Whitaker. Both are moving and emotional. I love Ashley for proudly marching in pro-choice gatherings wearing a t-shirt that says "This is what a feminist looks like."
Usher, Shakira and Stevie Wonder doing Higher Ground. Usher exhorts the crowd to stand up, oddly enough since no one besides the Obama and Biden families have seats, and they are already standing and rocking out, except the niece who is still asleep. Here's hoping Shakira belly dances a bit.
Samuel L. Jackson - who knows what he's going to say, but who's going to disagree. He pays tribute to Rosa Parks and MLK Jr.
U2!!!!!!! Knitters for Obama were all aflutter because Bono is wearing fingerless gloves. I've never seen the boys so happy. I think the Edge is wearing a new watch cap to celebrate the occasion. Bono does an Israeli/Palestinian shout out he probably didn't clear with the handlers first. The niece is awake! Bono is one of the few performers to address Obama (or O'Bama) and Biden directly. Seriously, I've been following U2 for 30 years, and have seen them live probably 10 times, and never seen them so giddy.
Barack Obama!!!! Ok, I love this dude, but he's kind of being a downer. Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam are in the back slitting their wrists. Wait! He's getting to the uplifing part. He leaves the stage and Malia tells him "it was good."
The legendary Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen do Woody Guthrie's This Land Is My Land, along with Pete's grandson. Pete is playing the banjo, and wearing a knitted cap that has the knitting community all aflutter.
Beyonce is wearing ridiculous shoes, but sings the hell out of America the Beautiful. Malia takes photos.
Malia gets a kiss from Denzel. I hope she's not planning to wash that cheek.

Sigh . . .

2009-01-19T12:45:00.001-08:00

Things are quiet at the office today, and I've been able to take advantage of that by doing some time consuming, but boring, tasks.

I spent my lunch break working on the crossword, and as you can see from the stains, eating turkey chili. Having lined myself with paper towels, I didn't get any of the chili on my shirt, or new sweater. Will miracles never cease?

Sam and I walked 5 miles on both Saturday and Sunday, and were both pretty beat by yesterday afternoon.

I was similarly positioned, albeit on the love seat.

2009-01-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

I don't want anyone to get too excited, but we are making progress with Freddy. I bought some new food bowls that I've placed at (what seems to me to be) better locations in his cage, and Freddy has tried out some sunflower seeds and other goodies from his seed mix. As of yet, I don't think he's eaten any of his nutritious pellets that are supposed to be the primary staple of his diet. Baby steps.

Today's fresh fruit is pineapple!

My latest iTunes appplication purchase ($9.99! which is pretty high for the apps), is iBird Western that is supposed to allow you to identify over 700 birds of the western states, and even plays the songs and calls. The graphics are very good.

I'm pretty sure this is a house finch.

I finished up this sweater this weekend, using yarn that I bought in NYC last June. This yarn is Aruacania, which is infamous for having a pretty wide color variance between skeins, but I swear the color changes aren't so obvious when you're wearing the sweater. Particularly, if you avoid standing still in bright sunlight. You can try to avoid this by using two skeins at a time and alternating rows, and maybe I'll try that trick next time. It fits well, and it's pretty, and is almost the same color as the last sweater I finished. Perhaps it's time to mix up my color palette. Yesterday I started another sweater, which hopefully will come out looking like this

It's another gorgeous day here, and we'll be off for a long walk in a bit. That is, if I can get Noodles up and out of bed. It didn't take long for us to give up rising with the sun in Hanna's absence . . . .

Happy Sunday, all!

2009-01-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

Sudafed is my friend . . .

While the rest of the country is trying to stay warm, Californians are trying to stop sneezing, and to start breathing again. The warm temperatures and Santa Ana winds play havoc with everybody's sinuses . . . which translates for me into an excuse to eat nothing but spicy foods.

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen . . . for the millions of people out there like me that spend most of their TV viewing time watching re-runs of Murder She Wrote, you'll be excited to learn that Angela Lansbury is returning to Broadway in a revival of Blithe Spirits. Needless to say, I'm already planning a trip to NYC. And yes, I am serious.

Speaking of sinuses, here is my dilemma. On days when my nose is feeling iffy, one remedy I regularly employ is to put about a 1/2 jar worth of Vick's Vapor Rub up each nostril. While it really does help, it also tends to make me look as if I perpetually have a snotty nose. Is it worth the trade off? So far, I say yes. If I found out a great guy declined to ask me to dinner on account of my pseudo boogers, I may have to re-think this remedy.

Tonight, President Bush gives his farewell (and none too soon), address to the nation:

Bush and his loyal backers (read: Dick Cheney), see his record this way: He kept the country safe from attack after terrorism redefined his presidency, cut taxes, freed the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, reformed education, oversaw 52 straight months of job growth, acted decisively when the economy tanked, stuck to principle no matter what his poll numbers, retooled the military and improved federal crisis management after the worst U.S. natural disaster happened on his watch.

To his critics, (read: everybody not named Cheney, Dick), Bush wasted the world's goodwill after the Sept. 11 attacks, got the nation into a catastrophic and avoidable Iraq war, presided over a staggering 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008, ran up debt, reacted slowly to Hurricane Katrina, did more dividing than uniting and refused to listen to the will of the people.

I'm going with door number 2. And don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out.

2009-01-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

LIFE IS GOOD!

Sam enjoys the sunny weather during our walk along Bolsa Chica today by rolling all over a worm that she found in the grass . . .

Although I had to work for a couple of hours today, overall I had a good weekend. Sam and I went to lunch yesterday at Henneseys in Seal Beach. I wasn't sure how Sam would deal with being slightly separated from me, with her leash tied to a railing, and her sitting on the sidewalk. Turns out she was quite content sitting there, and greeting all the passersby.

A fella we know and his big white male pit bull stopped by, and every little kid who went by stopped to pet her. It was pretty funny to see that 90 percent of people passing by talk to a dog sitting there by herself. As I was enjoying my lunch, I noticed Sam lunge at something and turned to see the biggest freakin' (but mellow) rottweiler that I have ever seen. His head was as big as Sam. Good move, Noodles! (Until yesterday, the biggest rotties I'd seen were the muzzled police dogs patrolling the tourist areas in Lima, Peru. They did not appear to be mellow).

We went on our long walk kind of late, and this was the sunset on the way home yesterday.

I know it's only been two weeks, but we are making progress with Freddy. I've now seen him drink water, and yesterday he ate some of the fresh orange slice I put in his cage. To be a successful parrotlet parent, I'm supposed to be encouraging him to eat an impossibly complex and diverse diet. A certain percentage of pellets, a smaller percentage of seed mix, augmented with treats like millet seed sprays and fresh fruits and vegies. He has two dishes - that go untouched - containing the pellets and seed mix, but so far, his diet is 99.9% millet seed and .1 % fresh orange.

Last night I met some friends at a local bar to listen to some music and to dance a bit. It was fun! Made a yummy frittata recipe from a recipe by Rachael Ray, had lunch with my niece, watched (most of) the crappy Chargers game, and now I'm watching Nero Wolfe dvd and knitting a sweater with the yarn I bought in NYC last June.

Back to work tomorrow . . . hope you had a good weekend, too.

2009-01-09T12:00:00.001-08:00

Sam makes her "scary face" as we wrestle . . .

TGIF! The weather is supposed to be high '70s at the beach this weekend, and I plan to get out and enjoy the outdoors, with some long walks or hikes along the coast and in the wetlands.

I have bought 4 books on parrots/parrotlets and I have no idea how to get Freddy to eat something besides his millet seed sprays. According to all 4 books, this means I am a failure as a parrotlet owner. I can't confirm that he ever drinks water, but I assume he'd be dead if the answer is no.

There is a picture in one book of a parrotlet identical to Freddy, and the author says it is a female. I'm not convinced, but his/her full name may be Winifred, rather than Frederic.

I have been in a bad mood for most of the week, primarily at work, but I did snap at my brother a couple of times. I have no particular excuse for this behavior.

My good moods have existed while I've been at home with Sam and Freddy, watching Midsomer Murder DVDs, knitting, reading and drinking wine - if only this would pay the bills.

My brother is going to install some additional lighting in my front room so that I can read or knit or see my hand in front of my face more than a few hours a day.

The kids and I have been spending alot of time in my bedroom because it's easy to heat, and Freddy is there and we're still working on taming him. Sam and I sit in a chair next to his cage while I talk to him, and Freddy eats - you guessed it - millet seed.

I've been reading alot of books - the Hamish Macbeth series by MC Beaton and the Detective Rebus seried by Ian Rankin - set in Scotland. I really, really want to go on a trip to the West Scotland Highlands next summer.

Any fans of "The Wire" won't be surprised by this news item: "BALTIMORE – Mayor Sheila Dixon was indicted Friday on charges that she accepted illegal gifts during her time as mayor and City Council president, including travel, fur coats and gift cards intended for the poor that she allegedly used instead for a holiday shopping spree."

I'm a big fan of "Dexter", and knew that the actor who plays Dexter has been dating the actress who plays his sister. They recently married, but when I saw this photo of the happy couple, all I could think of was, "guess he's not a boob man."

That is all.

2009-01-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

As I noted below, dealing with Dell is always a challenge. The good news is that I am not the victim of identity theft. Here's the story.

A few years back, I bought my mother a wireless capable laptop from Dell, which she wanted, but never even took out of the box. Eventually, the laptop was re-gifted to my brother - the aforementioned "Thomas". Tom recently contacted Dell to order some accessories for the computer, and he, of course, gave them his contact information. Dell, however, not to be foiled by updated information, keeps notifying me regarding the delivery, since I was the original purchaser of the computer . . . five years ago.

Thanks, Dell!

2009-01-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

Technology is NOT my friend . . .

On my way to work I drove through the Bank of America ATM to deposit a rent check. It has one of those fancy-schmancy ATMs that read the check, and that does not require an envelope. Imagine my surprise when it took the check, but told me it couldn't process my deposit, nor could it return the check. Thoughtfully, a phone number was provided.

I drove to the front of the bank and went on inside. Checking the computer, the teller could confirm that they had no record of me making a deposit. Turns out that the check fell through some crevice, and had to be fished out of the back of the ATM. It all turned out ok, but what would have happened if the bank had been closed when I made the deposit?

Over the weekend, I received an electronic phone message from Dell, notifying me that my order would be delayed and would ship on January 9. Only problem? I didn't place an order with Dell. I cancelled my account with Dell about 3 years ago, after I learned that there is no possible way to reach a Dell representative by phone who can assist you with any problem. My fear was that I'd been the victim of identity theft. I sent Dell an email, and left a voice mail message with their delayed shipping department.

After receiving a response to my email, (which failed to address my concerns), I called the phone number provided. I did eventually reach a person in India, who, when I explained my concerns, transferred me to another extension, where I was informed by a recording that the system was down, and to call back in a few hours.

This morning I got another phone call - electronic - from Dell. This one asked me to confirm that I was "Thomas" and gave me the option of saying they had called the wrong number.

What are the odds that this has been resolved?

2009-01-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

Saddleback Mountain in the distance viewed across PCH and the Bolsa Chica wetlands. I took this on our 6 mile (!) walk today.

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed having long weekends the past two weeks, and am NOT looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I've spent the extra time walking alot with Sam, reading alot, and doing a fair amount of knitting. I've even done some cleaning and organizing. Needless to say, my eating habits have not been all that great lately, so after eating "Chernobyl" hot wings and drinking cold schooners of beer yesterday, I'm trying to move back towards healthier eating for 2009.

Freddy is getting used to his new home, and is losing some of his fear of me. I can put my hand in his cage to change his millet seed or his water, and he won't scamper to the back of the cage. He won't let me bring it too close to him yet though.

I took down the tree and the decorations, and my other must do for today is to clean the fish tank. DONE!

I was on pins and needles, but the Chargers managed to pull off a big victory over the Colts yesterday, and move on to the next round of the playoffs!

And what are you up to today?

2008-12-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

My New Year's Resolutions:

1. Drive Less! Walk, ride my bike and take public transportation more!

2. Plant more trees and flowers, especially native vegetation.

3. Take a class or two. Especially, photography, tap dance, and something in an area that could be a future career, like library science or teaching.

4. Work less at night, and on weekends. Keep my home and work offices neater and better organized.

5. Stop sweating the small stuff, and remember that most everything is small stuff.

6. Do my best, but remember, that even doing your best does not always mean you'll come out on top.

7. Be less judgmental, and kinder to all those I encounter in life.

8. Be open to new friendships and to love.

9. Maintain a healthy life style and weight.

10. Drink better wine!

Any others I should add to the list????

Late additions -

11. Be creative! Write, knitting and other needle crafts, make jewelry, sew, work with mosaics.

12. Tame Freddy!

2008-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

The last few years I've kept a list of all the books I read each year. My list for 2008:

The Forgotten 500 – audio

Almost Moon

Plum Lucky – audio

Old Wounds

Justice Hall – audio

Last Car to Elysian Fields – audio

Three Cups of Tea – audio

Death Notes

Hornet Flight – audio

Reservation Road – audio

The October Circle

The Adventure of the Priory School - audio

A Thousand Splendid Suns – audio

The Colony – audio

Plum Lovin’ – audio

The Lost Luggage Porter

Call for the Dead – audio

Casino Royale – audio

The Haunting of Hill House – audio

Heart of Darkness – audio

The Journey of Crazy Horse - audio

No Immunity – audio

Mean Six

Bootlegger’s Daughter – audio

And Four To Go – audio

Seven Up – audio

The Book Thief – audio

A Little Trouble with the Facts

Hard Eight – audio

To the Nines – audio

A Dirty Job – audio

Paula Spencer

Brother Fish – audio

Atonement – audio

Death Comes for the Fat Man

A Spot of Bother

Please Pass the Guilt – audio

Prisoner of Birth – audio

Friend of the Devil – audio

Dead Until Dark

The Old Silent

King Dork

Getting Stoned With Savages

Dust

Ten Big Ones – audio

Death of a Traveling Man – audio

Eleven on Top – audio

Twelve Sharp – audio

Lean Mean Thirteen – audio

Fearless Fourteen – audio

For Your Eyes Only – audio

Plot it Yourself – audio

When You Are Engulfed in Flames - audio

Thirteen Moons – audio

One for the Money

Chasing Darkness – audio

The Mark – audio

Two for the Dough

Swan Peak – audio

Three to Get Deadly

The Unfinished Clue - audio

High Five

Mudbound

A Cat Among the Pigeons - audio

Tarzan of the Apes

Hell Hole - audio

The Ghost - audio

Dead as a Doornail - audio

Dead Ex

Dumb Witness - audio

Twilight - audio

The Hollow - audio

Poirot Investigates - audio

The Secret of Chimneys - audio

Caribbean Mystery

The Miracle at Speedy Motors

Nemesis

Full House - audio

Blood Trail - audio

Youth in Revolt

The Monkey Wrench Gang

Dating Is Murder

Taken at the Flood

Winterkill - audio

Black Like Me - audio

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Dead Man’s Mirror - audio

Visions of Sugar Plums - audio

The Deadly Dance - audio

Bloodsucking Fiends - audio

What the Dead Know - audio

Father Hunt - audio

The Price of Butcher’s Meat

Lullaby Town - audio

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - audio

The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday - audio

A Most Wanted Man

The Brass Verdict - audio

The World According to Bertie

The Raven in the Foregate - audio

The Dragon’s Teeth - audio

Walking it Off

To Be a Villain - audio

Death of a Scriptwriter - audio

Home - audio

Corduroy Mansions - audio

The Private Patient

The Overlook

The Naming of the Dead - audio

The Bone Garden

Three Act Tragedy - audio

Real Murders

I read alot of Janet Evanovich, and alot of Agatha Christie. I read some books that made me laugh out loud like King Dork, and some that made me think about history, like the Colony and the Journey of Crazy Horse. Overall, a good year of reading!

I love the eReader on my iPhone. I can lay in bed on a cold, dark morning and still read in the quiet.

2008-12-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

I think it's best to start 2009 with a clean slate, so I have a confession to make. Last night I watched 5 straight episodes of Season 4 of Project Runway. When I turned on the TV, it was already on BravoTV, and was an episode in which the designers made prom dresses for some snotty teenage girls from a Catholic School in New Jersey.

While I appreciate that the judges feel that they should be frank in their criticisms of the designers, I'm dying to know who thought it would be a good idea to have the teenagers stand there while the judges discussed how awful they looked in the dresses that they will presumably be wearing on a date:

"She looks totally washed out in that color"

"She looks like she's 45 in that style"

"The shape is not flattering to her figure."

Good times.

2008-12-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

Louie ate baby Jesus . . .

In Louie's defense, the nativity scene is very tiny, and is made out of baked dough. Louie's mom came over yesterday afternoon for knitting and Pinot Grigio drinking. A very nice way to spend a couple of hours.

I'm at work today, one of the few, and trying to figure out how early I can bolt out of here to head home and hang with Sam and Freddy.

Ah, the holidays . . .

2008-12-28T10:31:00.000-08:00

Hard to tell, but we are making progress with Freddy. I can sit near his cage without him getting riled up, but so far, putting my hand (or a camera), in the cage is a no go. But you can see how pretty he is! The bits of blue on his head, wings and tail are signs that he is, indeed, a he.

He loves his millet treats, but so far, doesn't seem too interested in his high priced pellet formula or fortified seed mix. I'll pick him up some apples at the store.

Sam and I did five mile walks both Friday and Saturday, and we're trying to get pumped up to do it again.

Other than walking and doing a bit of grocery shopping, my big plans include acclimating Freddy, watching football, reading and/or knitting.

I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday.

2008-12-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

Meet Freddy!I've been thinking for awhile about adding a bird to the family, and today, we brought home Freddy, the Pacific Parrotlet.

According to Wikipedia:

Parrotlets are a species of the smallest New World parrots, comprising three genera. One of these genera, Forpus, is growing in popularity within the world of aviculture, raising interest in the group as a whole.

Parrotlets are very small, with a stocky build and a broad tail, much like the lovebird species of East Africa and fig parrot and pygmy parrot species of Australasia. At 4½–5 inches(11-12cm) long, they are the smallest kind of parrot in the world.

One of the most common species kept as pets is the Pacific Parrotlet. The wild type coloring for this species is green, but several color mutations have been discovered through selective breeding. Parrotlets are sexually dimorphic, meaning males can be distinguished from females. Males have markings of cobalt blue on their head, wings and tail. Females generally lack these blue markings

Speech and training

They can learn more than 10–15 words and can "whistle" songs well. They have about the same speaking and whistling capabilities of a cockatiel. They are also very good learners for commands such as "step up", "kiss-kiss", "step down", and other small commands. Some parrotlets can learn advanced tricks, but not as advanced as a Macaw or an African Grey Parrot. Having the ability to speak does not necessarily mean a bird will speak; it depends on the specific bird's personality.

Demeanor

These feisty little birds should not be overlooked in favor of more widely known types of birds; any Parrotlet owner will tell you that these birds possess all the intelligence and attitude of the largest of macaws. These birds are fairly quiet companions, making them ideal for those who live in apartments or condominiums. Males are more likely to talk than female parrotlets.

Aviculture

The most commonly kept parrotlet in aviculture is by far the Pacific Parrotlet, which now has several color mutations such as yellow, blue, lutino and white. The Mexican, Spectacled, and Yellow-Faced are also fairly common pets. Their popularity as pets has grown due to their small size and large personalities. Parrotlets are commonly known as playful birds that enjoy chewing as much as their larger Amazon Parrot counterparts. Being highly intelligent and active parrots, Parrolets must have ample opportunities to play and exercise. Environmental enrichment must be made a part of their lives as to prevent boredom. Parrotlets keep themselves more than occupied when left alone for several hours, so long as they are provided with an array of chewable and destructible toys to play with. However, when their keepers get home, they often greet them with lovely chirps and whistles to let them know they want attention.

Sam and I are doing our best to make Freddy feel welcome. He has a cool new cage, and lots of toys to play with. He definitely needs some taming, but he's an awfully cute little guy.

2008-12-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

After a very busy day yesterday, Sam was forced to endure a bath this morning. Normally, I wouldn't bathe her when it is so cold out, but SOMEONE rolled in poo this morning while we were out for a walk. To get even, she decided she'd lay on my favorite sweater to keep warm after the bath. I added the blanket so that she would stop looking pitiful and shivering.

We would have stayed in bed a bit longer, but a mourning dove managed to find its way into the house, even though the door was only a bit ajar for Sam. Fortunately, when I opened the door all the way, it escaped, unharmed.

Christmas was nice, but I'm glad it's over. I got a really nice new coffee maker from my brother that has a grinder, so I'll be off to buy some good coffee beans today.

The weather was wild yesterday, but it's a pretty day today, and I'm hoping for a nice long walk later.

I hope you all survived Xmas, too!

2008-12-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

It looks like a rainy Christmas Eve is ahead of us, so Sam and I are heading out for a walk while we have the chance. We went to Sports Chalet today and bought an annual pass for the National Forest, so weather permitting, we might go for a hike in the Cleveland National Forest on Friday. The Irish Stew simmering in the crock pot smells wonderful, and I have way too much food for tomorrow.

I wish for you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukah!

2008-12-21T17:06:00.000-08:00

Sam and I did five miles along the coast today, and walked part of it along the beach, when it was a very low tide. It was a lovely day. Not too cold, and not too crowded.

I'm tied for the lead in the pub football pool, so fingers crossed for the last two games. The Chargers beat Tampa Bay and Buffalo beat Denver, so the winner of the AFC West will be determined next week when the Chargers play Denver. Yeah, the Chargers have had a terrible season but I'm thrilled they still have a chance to make the playoffs. Go Bolts!

On the NFC side, I gotta root for the Atlanta Falcons. A year after they were left for dead by the Michael Vick debacle, they are in the playoffs with QB Matt Ryan.

I finally decorated my tree today - two weeks after I bought it. Yep, it's been that kind of month.

Have I mentioned that I've become obsessed with cheese? Goat cheese particularly, followed by brie served with mango chutney. I'd eat it three meals a day, but even I know that's a bit much.

Short work week . . . . yeah, the holidays!

2008-12-21T07:12:00.000-08:00

Is it time to move to a new town when you run into two guys you've dated in the past within 20 minutes?

Yesterday, while my car was being smog-checked, (it passed!), Sam and I walked to a nearby coffee hut to pass the time. I had a white chocolate mocha, Sam had a milkbone, and whined incessantly at the man at the next table who failed to share his bagel with her.

While we were sitting there, I looked up only to see Joe, a guy I dated a few times about 14 years ago. Turned out he wasn't really divorced from his wife . . .

Then, as we were walking back to the mechanic, I saw Bob pull into the parking lot with his dog. Bob and I had a fling about 12 years ago - he's ten years younger than me, and we've stayed friends over the years. I talked to him for a few minutes while the dogs played.

The bottom line? I was glad that I bothered to shower and put on make up before I headed out to the mechanic . . .

2008-12-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas plans are starting to come together -

Christmas eve, my mother and I are going out to dinner at a local restaurant. Then my mom wants to come back to my place to open "a few" gifts. She also plans on having a full gift exchange on Christmas morning. This means that I need to have enough presents for my mom so that she has gifts to open both days. So, this weekend I'll have to pick up a few odds and ends for gifts.

I've decided on the following for Christmas day food - Overnight Caramel French Toast and bacon for breakfast, and slow cooker Irish Stew for later in the day. This way, I can do most of my grocery shopping this weekend.

Work has been horribly busy and stressful, and I'm hoping to have a long weekend, by taking off the 24, 25 and 26.

The good news is that I've been too busy to eat much - dinner this week has been good cheese, bread and a glass of wine - not exactly Jenny Craig cuisine, but it has paid off, and my total weight loss is now . . . 12.4 lbs!

Alright, off to get my car smog checked. Hope you all have good things planned for today,

2008-12-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

More rain today, and I'm happy to have it. These are the reasons I'm always glad to see rain coming down in Southern California:

1. The Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve State Park.

If we get enough rain, I can enjoy this again, in the Spring

2. The Bolsa Chica Wetlands

Rain brings foliage for the bunnies

3. The Cleveland National Forest

Rain brings water to the creeks running through it, and lots of pretty wildflowers

2008-12-15T14:27:00.001-08:00

Man, was it raining cats and dogs this morning. Noodles and I lingered in bed for as long as possible, before heading out for the day. To remind us of nicer weather days, here's a photo of Hanna and me from our recent boating expedition! (Sam is at the end of the red leash in my hand).

2008-12-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

A late season orange rose.

It took more than 3 months, but I finally made it over the hump of 10 lbs., and my weight loss so far is 10.8 lbs.! I can't really complain about how long it took, since I pretty much take the weekends off, and eat what I want.

It's been cold the last two days, or "sweater weather" as we like to call it.

Sam is adjusting well to being the only dog. She went with me again yesterday to the pub for football picks and lunch. The pub doesn't serve lunch, but the local restaurants deliver there. We shared a Chinese Chicken Salad, and I made arrangements with a local construction worker to do some work on my front deck.

Tonight is the season finale of Dexter, and this might be the best season yet. Today is football, doing a bit of work, and maybe decoating the tree.

I hope all of you are having a good weekend too!

2008-12-12T16:58:00.001-08:00

When the tide gets really high in the Harbor, PCH tends to flood. It's only a bit flooded here, but on a good day, I've seen folks kayaking down the street.

This week has been hell, from a work perspective. Every day I've been slammed, yet accomplished none of the things on my list that had to be done. From now until December 23rd will be bad, but I'm hopeful the week between Xmas and New Years may be slightly better.

My plans for the weekend are:

decorate the tree

put up my outdoor lights

walk with Sam

buy Target gift cards for needy kids

get in the NFL pool

knit, (and drink wine), with my neighbor, the mother of Louie, the rat terrier

On a sad note, I picked up Hanna's ashes from the Vet today. Now I have the remains for both Bailey the cat, and Hanna. When I am cremated and made into an Eternal Reef, I'll have their ashes added to mine.

2008-12-10T07:58:00.000-08:00

Coolest thing happened this morning as Sam and I headed out for our walk. The bushes along the side of my house attract scores (literally) of sparrows and finches. Here, some of them sit atop the aloe vera, ready to burrow inside if danger appears. A local hawk has figured this out too, so as we walked by, we came upon the hawk sitting on the trash can, waiting for birds to emerge. The hawk was probably about 6 feet away from us. I've never seen one that close up and it was very cool!

2008-12-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

(The paperwhite bulbs are back in bloom and smell heavenly).

Sam and I celebrated my new weight loss total of 9.8 lbs., by over indulging in good food and drink yesterday. For breakfast we split a breakfast burrito at Nick’s Deli.

We later stopped in the local pub for a beer while we submitted our football pool picks, (my brother won the pool last week, and 250 dollars), did a bunch of Christmas shopping, then went to the place on the Harbor with outdoor seating, so dogs are welcome. Lots of boats were decorated with lights for the holiday parade. There we enjoyed a glass of pinot grigio, a steamed artichoke and some chicken potstickers. No one gave us a second glance since there was a male Scotty named Sam who was actually sitting in a chair at the table with his people, wearing a paper napkin around his neck, and patiently waiting for bites of a hamburger patty.

So, after that day of feasting, today we got up early and walked 4 miles along the coast. Here, Miss Noodles leads the charge.

Today, was more holiday shopping, and and I bought my tree, though it's not getting decorated today.

My present to myself arrived this weekend - a Bose docking station for my iPhone/iPod - that didn't cost me a dime! (I used my American Express Rewards Points). The sound is truly amazing!

Work will be hectic this week, but my house smells like Christmas, and I can listen to good music, so I got that going for me!

How as your weekend?

2008-12-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

So things are a bit quieter around Casa Diane with just Sam and me. Samantha is taking full advantage of the opportunity to sleep in instead of rising with the sun as Hanna insisted. We've been going on some nice long and brisk walks which had gone on the back burner as Hanna's health failed.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and thoughts.

Work is busy, and I also hope to do some holiday shopping this weekend. I also signed up for a card exchange with Knitters for Obama (just 15 members, not all 4000!), and I'd like to get those cards sent out this weekend.

I went on my first holiday dinner this week to the Winery in Tustin, and enjoyed some good company, good wine and good food.

Oh, and the Chargers beat the Raiders, so there's a reason to celebrate.

2008-12-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

Rest in peace, Hanna.

2/26/00 - 12/1/08

2008-12-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

This is the view from my lap for most of the weekend. Louie as close as possible, (he'd be happy to sit on your head if it was only a bit softer), and Samantha far enough away from him that he can't swat at her head to try to get her to play.

I hope everyone had a good weekend; I did. I watched a few movies - Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, (seriously, Spielberg? a freakin' space ship?), Kit Kittridge, (which was surprisingly good, and given it's setting - the depression, sadly applicable today), and Iron Man (love Robert Downey, Jr.; could do without Gwyneth Paltrow).

Yesterday, my niece and I headed into LA to see Spring Awakening at the Ahmanson. I saw it in NYC, but my niece wanted to see it, and we both really enjoyed it. Brief nudity and simulated masturbation made it just scandalous enough to titillate a 19 year old. She couldn't wait to tell her friends all about it.

If anyone knows of any careers with 3 day work weeks and 4 day weekends, please let me know!

2008-11-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

Meet Louie. Louie is the 5 month old rat terrier puppy who lives next door. He adores the girls, so while his people are out of town this weekend, he's bunking with us. He mostly leaves Hanna alone, and doesn't annoy her. On the other hand, he constantly annoys Samantha by trying to get her to play with him. He's a total spaz, really sweet, and kind of confused by the rat terrier living inside the mirror in my bedroom.

Thanksgiving was nice, and the Hanna wine was quite good. I'm off now for a long walk/run to try to get some exercise to work off the sweet potato pie that my Louie's mom brought by.

How was your turkey day?

2008-11-27T07:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! (My turkey should come out looking so good . . .)

Dinner is at my house, so the family and a couple friends should be stopping by today. I have mixed feelings about the holidays this year. The economic crisis has me concerned about spending, Hanna's illness has me in the dumps a bit, and I'm not much in the mood to celebrate, but here we go, ready or not!

I'm grateful to have my health and a job that pays my bills, and the support of friends and family. I'm particularly thankful to those of you in the blogosphere for giving me an outlet to express my ongoing distress over Hanna's condition. I tend not to share my feelings with others in real time, so I have truly appreciated the kind words, thoughts and support from all of you the past few months . . .

So, let's eat, drink and be merry!

In honor of the big girl, today we are drinking Hanna wine!

2008-11-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

More and more, I only watch tv from the shows recorded on my DVR. It's convenient, and you can fast forward through the commercials. I've moved up to recording an ongoing series, instead of re-entering the info each week. These are the shows I currently regularly record:

30 Rock - I actually watched last week's episode (with Steve Martin), twice, to catch all the funny dialogue
The Office - this show remains one of my favorites
Life on Mars - I loved the BBC version, but this USA version is good too. Sam Tyler wakes up back in 1973, still a cop, but back in his old neighborhood. The music is great!
The Mentalist - I am a huge fan of Aussie Simon Baker, and am pleased that his new show is good. I was worried it'd be a cheap knock off of Psych, but it's been good so far
Dexter - in its 3rd season, and it still hits a home run. Jimmy Smits as a none too ethical DA has been a good edition
Californication - I'm a few weeks behind on this one, but at some point I'll go on a Duchovny bender
Murder She Wrote - yep - re-runs from the '80s. It remains one of my favorite shows
Diagnosis Murder - Dick Van Dyke can do no wrong.

Last year at Christmas, Hanna kept trying to steal a purple stuffed teddy bear that my mother had bought for my niece. So, my mom bought her one of her own. Here she rests on it, after bringing it along on our afternoon walk on Sunday. A golden retriever came by to say hello, but didn't dare try to steal the teddy.

2008-11-22T09:37:00.000-08:00

Here Hanna enjoys a tamale corn husk she found last weekend, or as I like to call it, roughage. Hanna had a bit of a rough week. In one day the side of her lower jaw blew up like the proverbial balloon. We went to the old family vet, who gave us some antibiotics and some pain pills. The swelling went down almost immediately, so she feels much better. On the way home from the vet I wanted to give her a pill right away, so we drove through Carl's Jr. The gal at the window and I decided the best dog friendly order would be a cheeseburger without any condiments. We went for the combo, and split the fries. I got the soda.

After taking a couple weeks off, last week I was back on Jenny Craig, and my total weight loss is now up to 9.2 lbs., and 8.5 inches - whoo hoo!

I'm off to treat myself to a manicure/pedicure, and then to the pub for the football pool.

See ya!

2008-11-19T12:43:00.000-08:00

Man, am I boring lately . . .

Between audible books, regular books and the books on my iPhone, I'm currently "reading" a ridiculous number of books.

"The Price of Butcher's Meat" by Reginald Hill, the latest in his Dalziel/Pascoe series about those 2 Yorkshire police inspectors. So far, the book is set up in an interesting format, with a first person account by Dalziel interspersed with emails being sent by "Charlie" to her sister, who's a nurse in Africa. Odd, but it works.

"The Father Hunt" by Rex Stout, a Nero Wolfe mystery. I was a huge sucker for the Nero Wolfe tv series, starring Timothy Hutton, and the books are almost as satisfactory.

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" by Agatha Christie - a classic Hercule Poirot mystery.

"The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday" by Alexander McCall Smith. His Isabel Dalhousie books are not as satisfying as his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Books, but are still pretty good.
"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

The official website describes it as:

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb.

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. Born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

I'm not too far into this one yet, but I think it will turn out to be as delightful as its description.

I've been pretty exhausted lately between work and not getting much sleep because of Hanna's condition. Most nights we get up a couple of times after going to sleep so Hanna can go outside and relieve herself. Last night, however, she woke me up about midnight to give her some love. I know she wasn't feeling well, so she sat next to the bed and I petted her and scratched her for awhile. She also seems to have developed a fast growing tumor inside her lower lip, although it does not appear to be painful. I don't expect Hanna to make it to Christmas. I just hope and pray I'll know when the bad outweighs the good, and it's time to give her relief. We're not there yet, but that dreaded day is coming.

2008-11-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

One of two ginormous pigeons enjoying the bird bath this morning . . .

The air quality in so cal today is miserable because of all the fires. It's so bad that they cancelled the Pasadena Marathon that was scheduled for today.

I was chatting yesterday with a local fellow who worked the polls on election day and learned that at the end of the day, at each polling place, they post the results of the election at that location. 800 of my neighbors voted (the town population is only about 1300). We voted against Proposition 8 - the proposition to ban gay marriage), and we voted for McCain - but only by 10 votes. This is Orange County where McCain won by a landslide (and Prop Hate passed by a landslide), so I'm pleased to know that my neighbors didn't follow the trend.

My team - the sucky SD Chargers - is playing my neighbor's team - the Pittsburgh Steelers -today, so we may go watch the game at a local bar - loser buys. I best make a quick run to the bank before game time.

2008-11-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

We have an It’s Pat who works on the same floor. It's always slightly unsettling when she comes out of a bathroom stall.

For some inexplicable reason, I always get big ideas about all the homemade holiday gifts I'm going to craft each year. This year, it's homemade soap. It took me awhile to hunt down pure lye to use with the soap making materials, but the experiment begins this weekend. I will likely be distributing these cherished bars of lavender and citrus scented works of art to all available friends and acquaintances, so if la complains about a skin rash in early 2009, you'll know why.

Hanna is hanging in there, even though she is losing interest in her peanut butter bone - a rubber bone with slots at each end that I stuff with baby carrots and peanut butter. This is one of her favorite toys, and customarily, she gets two in the morning and two at night. This morning, after she turned up her nose, Noodles got the extra goodies. Here's Hanna this morning, showing she can still do the regal look.

2008-11-11T13:34:00.000-08:00

Is it wrong that I will probably play hookie from work Friday afternoon to go see the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace? (Ive seen every Bond movie in the theater).

Is it wrong that I've been sharing the cake from the dog cookie store with Nanners and Noodles?

Is it wrong that I've replaced checking polls online every five minutes to checking on the 6 Shibu Ina puppies that have taken the internet by storm? (There are 3 girls and 3 boys, they turn five weeks old today and can be seen here. When they are not all sleeping, they are six total knuckleheads).

Now that I've shared the highlights of my week, what are you doing "wrong" this week?

2008-11-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

My iPhone photo of the Who, not suitable for framing . . .

But you can see that our seats were pretty good. They played at the Nokia Theater, adjacent to the Staples Center in LA. It holds about 7,000 people, is pretty cool inside, and the acoustics are great.

I've seen the Who many times, but this time through LA, they seem to be especially enjoying themselves. Daltrey and Townsend have grown into an old married couple (in the best way), and a calmness and ease has made its way into their relationship. (I contrast this with the Rolling Stones. While Mick may be the best showman around, and the band puts on a fantastic show, it's always clear that Mick and Keith barely tolerate each other.)

They opened with Can't Explain, moved into the Seeker, played some obscure tunes, worked in two songs from Quadrophenia - 5:15 and Love Reign O'er Me, played the CSI hits, and worked in Tommy for the encore - Pinball Wizard and See me, Feel me/Listening to You. They finished the night with just Roger and Pete and Tea and Sympathy.

Both Roger and Pete looked great and fit, and my crush on Roger can continue unabashed from 1975 to the present.

2008-11-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

(My Bird of Paradise is back in bloom.)

It's a cold, windy morning here at Casa Diane. We got up at 5 am, (thanks, Hanna!), but now the house is quiet again, except for the sounds of the wind chimes and Hanna's snores. I'm laying in bed shopping for some songs and audiobooks on iTunes, and the girls are sleeping off their breakfast.

This week, the Hanna World Tour takes us to the dog cookie store for a special cake. I ordered it yesterday, but will pick it up later today.

Tonight I'm off to see the Who at the Nokia theater in downtown LA; this will be my first trip to this venue, but I think we have pretty good seats. (Ok, they look good on the seating chart I pulled up on the computer.)

I haven't been reading much lately, (but am starting to get back into the groove), but I did recently finish The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, a man who spent most of his time in the American Southwest, an early environmentalist, and a man who used the power of the pen to protest the rape of the planet.

Published in 1975, the book is about 4 "environmental warriors" liberating parts of Utah and Arizona from evil road-builders, miners and rednecks. The book fueled a new generation of angry young environmentalists practicing "monkey-wrenching", sabotage for the sake of protecting the wilderness. The four warriors are best described as an eclectic bunch, which keeps the tone light, while still conveying the seriousness of the subject. Brought together on a river rafting trip are an ex-Green Beret, a polygamous jack Mormon, a feminist from the Bronx, and an aging surgeon who's hobby is torching billboards along the highways. As our heroes start to wreak havoc, the establishment they seek to disrupt gives chase, and the book has almost a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid type tone to it.

"Down in the center of the wash below the ridge, the scrapers, the earthmovers and the dump trucks with eighty ton beds unloaded their loads, building up the fill as the machines beyond were deepening the cut. Cut and fill, cut and fill, all afternoon the work went on. The object in mind was a modern high-speed highway for the convenience of the trucking industry, with grades no greater than 8 percent. That was the immediate object. The ideal lay still farther on. The engineers' dream is a model of perfect sphericity, the planet Earth with all irregularities removed, highways merely painted on a surface smooth as glass. Of course the engineers still have a long way to go but they are patient tireless little fellows; they keep hustling on, like termites in a termitorium. It's steady work, and their only natural enemies, they believe, are mechanical breakdown or "down time" for the equipement, and labor troubles, and bad weather, and sometimes faulty preparation by the geologists and surveyors."

"The one enemy the contractor would not and did not think of was the band of four idealists stretched out on their stomachs under the desert sky." (Page 80.)

I enjoyed this book alot, and in a day and age where President Bush is using his last days in office to remove enviromental regulations protecting our air, water and planet, (he just signed an order allowing uranium mining within 3 miles of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, endangering the drinking water for most of the west)*, this book still has relevance. There's been many a time I've driven past the home building on some local wetlands, (which is also disrupting a native american burial site), and have wished I could lob a monkey wrench into their plans.

*Seriously, does W possess even a shred of decency, or does he truly believe that his despicable actions will be smiled upon by St. Peter when he arrives at the Pearly Gates?

**Addendum - it was reported in the Washington Post that the Obama team has already compiled a list of 200 such executive orders signed by Bush to be immediately overturned by Obama, on issues such as the environment, stem cell research and reproductive rights. YES WE CAN!!!

2008-11-05T06:08:00.000-08:00

It's a new day dawning in America, and around the world . . . (taken from my window this morning)
I was first eligible to vote in 1979. In 28 years of voting, only two of the candidates I supported have prevailed - Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. I believe Clinton was a good president, and I hope that Obama will be a great one. I delight in seeing our position in the international community improve. I'm relieved to find a man with a healthy respect for the Constitution in a position to appoint Supreme Court justices. I'm hopeful we'll move towards green energy, and a respect for the planet.

There is no doubt that Obama ran an amazing campaign, and that he energized millions of people to join in the process. I personally participated more in this election than I ever have before. Obama's campaign was a thing of beauty to perceive - organized from the ground up, while fully utilizing the internet and other modern technical advances. I even have an Obama iPhone application that allowed me to access his position on the issues, and alerted me to campaign events in my area.

I also sincerely hope that the Republican party takes a long, hard look at themselves, and decides to get back to its roots, and to move away from the far right. If McCain had run as a moderate, I think he might have prevailed. Instead, he opted to sell his soul to the far right, ran his campaign on hate and fear, and in doing so, he alienated a large part of the country. He also put all his eggs in the "Victory in Iraq" basket, and fumbled with his response to the economic meltdown.

While no one applauds abortion, most Americans do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned - strict anti-abortion propositions were defeated in South Dakota and Colorado, and it appears that a parental notification proposition in California was defeated for the 3rd time in 4 years. I'm disappointed that it appears that Proposition 8 likely passed in California, but I take heart that it passed narrowly.

I've repeatedly blogged about my involvement with Knitters for Obama - now more than 4,000 members strong. We raised over $32,000 for the general election, and delivered more than 2,000 knitted items to homeless veterans around the country. I'm delighted to have been a part of this amazing group.

While I've generally avoided reading the conversation threads at Knitters for McCain (with approximately 600 members), I took a peek this morning and found it disturbing. The primary conversation involved their hope that the Supreme Court will nullify the election because, as everyone knows, Obama is not really an American citizen. (I also read in the Orange County Register that 1/3 of Orange County Republicans believe that Obama is not a citizen). The response to the death of Obama's grandmother was to chastize him for not being the man McCain is, and not suspending his campaign in response to her passing.

I sincerely hope the GOP reclaims its mantle of being in favor of limited government and fiscally conservative - I think those are valid positions that need to be considered for our country to thrive. I hope the GOP disclaims the part of the party running on hate and fear.

2008-11-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

Indeed, I did!

For the first time in nearly 30 years of voting there was a line out the door! My polling location wasn't too bad, but another location about a mile away, had a line down the block! I know there was at least one other like minded person voting about the time that I was, and I was happy to see so many young people there participating in the process.

I was also happy to see that the weather had cleared - when Hanna headed out at 4l45 am to go potty, it was raining pretty hard. Noodles, who is no fool, decided she'd wait for the 7 am potty run.

I'm cautiously optimistic. In 2000 I wondered how I could make it through 4 years of Bush, and in 2004, I wondered how I could make it through 4 more years of Bush. We did make it, but bearing a lot of wounds, and I hope that the healing can begin.

Oh, and I heard Palin on the radio decline to say how she had voted, citing to her right to privacy. Umm, Sarah, that would be the right to privacy upon which Roe v. Wade is based. To overturn Roe, the Supreme Court will have to find that the US Constitution does not contain any right to privacy. Ironic? Hypocritical? Not in Palin's world.