Various Thoughts

.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.
Sometimes, when I'm driving and listening to NPR, I start debating with people who call in to the talk shows. I realize no one can hear me. Passing motorists probably think I'm a nut. And yet, it somehow leaves me feeling as if I have accomplished something.
.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.
I hate cheap candles that don't have any scent at all. Especially when they claim to have a scent. The only thing they're good for is returning to the manufacturer and shoving into his various orifices while you shout "Can you smell it now? How about NOW?"
.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.
If you put a ketchup packet in the freezer, it works well for headaches. No, you don't eat it. You hold the packet against your forehead or temple, and the coldness helps ease the pain.
.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.
I think bananas would taste better if they were blue.
.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.
My cold/virus/evil-gypsy-curse is finally starting to ease up. I still have a lot of snot, but it's winding down. I can taste and smell things again. My throat doesn't hurt now, although my voice still has some gravelly rough moments. If I want to give this to all my enemies, I'd better hurry up and sneeze on them soon, or I'll heal up and lose my chance.
I seem to have misplaced my enemies list.
You weren't on it, were you?
.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.

Manic Monday: Nuts

I WANT TO TRY THESE!!!

I love "Dave's Insanity Sauce". It's wonderfully good and hot.
So I can only imagine what his nuts taste like.
Wait.... that didn't come out right....

.
And, be sure to visit Jantics today, because you will learn a valuable lesson: Stay away from other people's nuts, because you never know who else has licked them.
.

Note to self: Buy bigger scoop

For the last day of doodle week, the theme is "Pride".

My cats probably have times when they think they're in charge.
(Perhaps always).
And that's ok with me, because hey, somebody's gotta have enough energy around here to take charge. I just hope they know that if they're going to be the boss, they have to pay the bills.
I'm not too proud to let them do that.
..

Special offer: If you will pay my bills, I will scoop your poop too.

.

Don't forget to give me your password

Today's doodle theme is "Envy".

I love my new computer. I've had it for a few months now, and it works wonderfully. So now I don't have to envy you, sitting there at home with your cool up-to-date machines.
Well, I take that back.
There's still one thing I can envy.
You see, I'm still on dial-up.
Yes. I'll pause for a second while you all pity me.
(Hey, I said "pity", not "snicker".)
Anyway, it would be cool if you would have mercy on me and let me live with you so I can use your high-speed internet while you're busy doing other stuff.
..
Additional Janna news:
Yesterday I mentioned that I am sick, and I lost my voice.
You will all (maybe) be thrilled to hear that I found it. It was on the bottom shelf of the freezer.
It's always in the last place you look.
Nevertheless, rest assured that I am still coughing, sneezing, wheezing, blowing my nose, and horking up snot. My voice has that stereotypical "Oh, doe, I'b got a code" sound.
While driving home this evening, I spontaneously made up a parody of Elvis's "I'm All Shook Up", called "I'm All Stuffed Up."
I sang it (In true Elvis style) while hurrying home in a desperate attempt to make it to the bathroom in time.
By the way...
There comes a time in every woman's life, perhaps around the age of, oh, I don't know, 38 or so, when maybe she is sick and sniffling and sneezing and horking up snot, when she will inevitably hear herself think these words:
"Ohmygod, I just coughed so hard that I peed my pants".
.

And don't forget to glare at yourself menacingly

Today's doodle theme is "wrath".

..

Note: if you happen to be in the mood for an additional dose of Janna, you can always visit my monthly post over at the Stache. This time, I did a list of ten things I try not to think about in the middle of the night.

Additional note: My throat has hurt for the past three days, and when I woke up Wednesday morning, I discovered that I lost my voice. So now's the perfect time for you to yell at me, because I won't be able to yell back. Unless a scratchy whisper is considered yelling.
.

Note to self: wake up eventually

Day #4 of doodle week.
Today's theme is "sloth".
.

.

Feel free to throw cash in my general direction

The theme for day #3 of Doodle Week is "greed".
.

.

Coffee, anyone?

Today is Manic Monday, with "formula" as the theme word.
It's also day #2 of Doodle Week, with "gluttony" as the theme word.
So I'm going to try to do both in the same post.
Call it efficiency, ingenuity, or laziness. Pick one.

It's easy to be gluttonous about delicious things, like pizza or tacos or chocolate.
Some things, however, aren't quite as popular in the "cravings" department.
Have you ever noticed that no one ever has "gluttony" moments with health food? Nobody ever says "Wow, I totally pigged out on wheat germ and bean sprouts last night."

Things I have never tasted:

1. Baby Formula.
Really, I'm not sure I even had this when I was actually a baby. My first words upon being born were "So, does Pizza Hut deliver here?" (After all, it WAS the "delivery room").

2. Luwak Coffee
I first learned about this while reading a Dave Barry book, and have since seen it mentioned in other sources as well. Here's how it works: There's an animal called a luwak, which eats coffee beans. Eventually it poops the beans out. People gather the poop, save the beans, and roast them just like regular coffee. People really drink this. (Read about it here and here.) Here's a company that sells it. You can buy the actual poop at $60.00 for half a pound, and you have to clean it off and roast it yourself. Or you can get them to clean it all off and roast it for you, at which point it costs $240.00 per pound.

3. Haggis
It would be funny if the Scottish people actually invented this just to play a practical joke on unsuspecting tourists. ("Ay, MacDuff, what d'ye say we stuff that sheep's stomach with oatmeal an' see if the Americans will eat it?")

4. Squid Ink
Some cultures actually eat this. On purpose. It was common to see it used on Iron Chef.

5. SuperGlue
Hey, at least it wasn't pooped out by a luwak.
.

It's Doodle Week again!

Another Doodle Week has begun.
Apparently this time the themes are based on the seven deadly sins.
Here's the schedule, if you'd like to check it out.

Today's theme is LUST.
Now, this is a pretty fun theme. However, instead of going for the obvious post about Johnny Depp, I thought I'd mention my lust for acquiring fountain pens. I've already blogged about it a few times... here and here and especially here.
Sadly, I'm too poor to own any really valuable ones. Still, I have a small collection of low and mid-range ones. Good high-quality fountain pens can easily cost hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars.
I know. It's insane.
Still, I love them.

Last year while I was visiting Morgen, I brought a pen catalog with me. I lustily remarked on how gorgeous all the obscenely expensive pens were.
That's when Morgen started calling the catalogs my "pen porn". :)
..

Would it hang upside down?

You all know I tend to keep stuff in my bra, right?
Cell phone, ketchup, Excedrin, bottles of steak sauce....
The usual stuff.
But here, I am proud to say, is something that's never been in my bra.
That's right.
I have never reached into my bra and found a live bat.
Yet.
Of course, I'm only 38, so I guess there's still time.
.

Meloncutter

Those of you who read Meloncutter's blog are probably aware of this post, where he said rather abruptly that he would need to give up blogging for awhile. His post sounded rather dire, so I e-mailed him to make sure everything was ok.
I just got his reply.
He said he's physically ok, but is going through a very stressful experience. He explained it all to me, and I agree, it's pretty rough.
In his e-mail, he said: "It would be ok for you to let the readers know that I am going to live and that you contacted me. I could imagine some of them are worried. I was not in a good state of mind when I posted that."
So, here I am, telling you all that. :)
He says he thinks he might be able to return in a month or two.
Here's hoping it's sooner. Blogging is good for the soul.
Hang in there, Meloncutter.

And, for that matter, here's a hug for all the rest of you who are going through rough times too.
.

Wouldn't it be great if....

.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.

It would be great if used tea bags turned out to be secret devices that would let us hear what animals are thinking. Because then it would be fun to recycle them (the tea bags, not the animals). We could sew them into large quilts and sell them to people on the street who always wondered what their miniature poodles are really trying to say.

.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.

And wouldn't it be great if there were magnets that could pick up french fries? It would make it SO much easier to steal fries from the person next to you when they weren't looking.
Not that I would ever do that to you, of course.
(Ooooh, look over THERE for a moment! What's that?)

.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.

It would also be excellent if there was a converter box that could transform cat hair into a reliable high-speed Internet connection.

.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.

My imaginary Jannaverse garden

Awhile back, Morgen blogged about a plant called "Mrs. Willmott's Ghost."
I liked the idea of a plant having such a strange name, and it inspired me to create some new bizarre plant names of my own. Of course, it goes without saying that I wouldn't be able to keep these alive any better than any other plant I've tried.

1. Dirty Toe-Berry
2. Butler's Armpit
3. Whining Toddler (Great name for an annoying weed!)
4. Sailor's Morning Breath
5. Prickly Conscience
6. Shredded Grasshopper
7. Blushing Buttcheek
8. Midnight Sushi Palette
9. Mr. Belly's Ancient Chicken
10. Tropical ice hamster (This could also double as a frozen drink)
11. Bambi's Road Map
12. Belcher's Reflection
13. Drunken Ostrich Blossom
.

Wordless Wednesday

(source)
.

At least the room smelled nice afterward

Once you spend three days trying to talk to a can of air freshener, you realize they have a very hard time getting past the topic of "sssssssss".
..

Manic Monday Carnival

Welcome!

This is the very first Carnival I've ever hosted, so keep that in mind if things end up going horribly, terribly wrong.
Try not to worry about that for right now, though.

Go ahead and help yourself to the snacks I've provided. There are Doritos, mini egg rolls with dipping sauce, pizza rolls, chocolate covered cherries, dark chocolate truffles, blueberry pie, lemon bars, and wild berry dream cake. For the health-conscious amongst us, I've provided fresh sweet red apples, watermelon, and a tray of vegetables with some french onion dip and some spinach dip.

All set? If enough people show up, maybe we'll send out for pizza.
Find a cozy spot to sit down and make yourself comfy.

Here we go!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~

First, we have Marilyn, over at More Random Than Average. She decided to submit her "Rip" post. This post made me laugh out loud, because it taught me what the letters "R.I.P." really stand for. Note: This post was written by Marilyn's dog, Mini. (Clearly, Marilyn does an excellent job of home-schooling everyone in her family, pets included.)
Click here to read Marilyn's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Next, there's Barb, over at Will Think 4 Wine! She's decided to share the post she wrote when the theme was "Under". Lots of things happen under the sun, and some of it isn't always worthwhile. On the other hand, sometimes you get things to actually grow in your garden, like when her dad got a lovely batch of green beans.
Click here to read Barb's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Morgen, our usual Manic Monday host over at It's A Blog Eat Blog World, submitted this post from the week when "lick" was the theme. It never fails to amuse me when Morgen tells this story. He grew up between "Big Bone Lick" and "Beaver Lick", Kentucky. Oh, yes he did. :) Read the post and he will tell you alllll about it.
Click here to read Morgen's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Then, we have Mary (also known as "The Teach"), over at Work Of The Poet. She chose to submit her "pride" post. She didn't stick to just one meaning of the word; instead the post is full of variety. Want to see what Bono looked like back in 1984? How much do you know about Jane Austen's most famous novel? Go take a look!
Click here to read Mary's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Bitter Betty at The Winter Of Our Discontent has decided to share her "night" post! It's all about M. Night Shyamalan! I have to admit, I wasn't all that familiar with his work (other than The Village). But after reading her post, I'm interested in checking out some more of his movies. Especially Lady In The Water.
Click here to read Bitter Betty's post!


~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Now we'll pause for a brief intermission while I announce the arrival of a freshly-baked pumpkin pie, as well as a batch of BBQ meatballs and some crab-stuffed mushrooms. Oh, look, there seems to be a double chocolate layer cake as well!
Ok... everyone fill up your plates and then settle down while we continue the carnival.

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Next, we've got Jamie, at Duward Discussion! She chose "play" as her theme to share with us. We get a mini-lesson on Shakespeare that explains the meaning of the phrase "The play's the thing!" And there's also a nice commentary on how the realm of theater can sometimes mirror real life as well.
Click here to read Jamie's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Our next carnival participant is Tiel Aisha Ansari, from Knocking From Inside. She has a lovely post from the week when the theme was "one thousand". She has a really good fiction story here, about a mirror that broke into a thousand pieces. And each piece talks. This is really an excellent story. I especially love the ending.
Click here to read Tiel Aisha Ansari's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Hey, look, it's Travis from Trav's Thoughts! He also picked "one thousand" as his theme. I love this post because it has some wonderful poetry Travis wrote. It's beautiful and bittersweet at the same time. And there are pictures to match each stanza. I'm glad he picked this post for the carnival. :)
Click here to read Travis's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
And then there's Tish, also known as Crazy Working Mom. She just had a baby recently, so she's gotta be extra busy. Yet she still took the time to send in her contribution to the carnival. She chose her "iron" post. I honestly had no idea how to "season" a cast iron skillet, nor did I know you should never clean it with soap and water! Silly me! :)
Click here to read Tish's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~

Hey, who ate all the pizza rolls?
Where did the plates go?
Will someone please pass the Doritos?
You, over there, please don't feed spinach dip to the cats. They'll just throw it up later.
Anyway, back to the carnival...

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~

Instead of sending a post she wrote herself, Ivana decided to send one written by another blogger instead. She wanted to include Sarge Charlie's "quake" post. Sarge explains that when 70,000 pounds of bombs are dropped from an airplane, it really makes the earth quake! He also mentions being in an earthquake in 1970, which just happens to be the year I was born. (I'm sure it was just a coincidence).
Click here to read Sarge Charlie's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Now it's time for Desert Songbird, who chose to share the post she did for the "faith" theme. Here we've got a lovely mini-story about a lady who goes to a bar and orders a "stoli and cranberry"... and finds something she wasn't expecting.
Click here to read Desert Songbird's post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Next there's Neila, from Blog That Mommy! She picked the post from "play" week. This is quite an eye-opener. At least it was for me. Those of you with kids may find this post brings flashbacks (or uncontrolled twitching). It's all about a hideous tantrum her kids decided to have in the store one day. Loud, screaming, throwing themselves onto the floor... OMG.
Click here to read Neila's post!
Note: This reminds me of a story my mom tells about my childhood. Apparently one day when I was very young I had a tantrum in a store. She spanked my butt right then and there. No ifs, ands, or buts (Ha! butts! Get it?) Anyway, she said that was the last tantrum I ever had in a store. I had learned my lesson. I don't remember that day in the store at all, so obviously it didn't scar me for life. I just like to hear mom tell the story. She tells it really well. :)

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Wait, I totally almost forgot to include my OWN contribution to the carnival. I guess one of my favorites I've done here at the Jannaverse is this post I did back on October 15, 2007, when the theme word was "bat". Here I share all I know about sports. It, uh, might not all be accurate, and I might have made some of it up. Maybe.
Click here to read my post!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~
Last-minute entry: Head on over to "Mother's Got A Dot Com" for this post which deals with the "one thousand" theme. Guess who lived a thousand years ago? That's right! Vikings! Check out this post to learn a bit about those blond-haired guys with the round shields and cool-looking ships.
Click here to read the post at Mother's Got A Dot Com!

~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~.~*-*~

I hope you enjoyed the carnival. Hopefully you found the posts delightful, the food tasty, and the company pleasant.
Please ignore any cat hair you might have found on the furniture.
Oh, and if you need to use the bathroom, it's down the hallway. Second door to your left.
.

Get ready for the carnival on Monday!

As all the Manic Monday Minions should know by now, there's going to be a carnival on Monday while Morgen is away on his beach babe blogger bash.
(Wow, look at all the alliteration I just did in that sentence...)

Anyway, I've been chosen to host the carnival. Imagine that! :)

This means that if you're a participant in Manic Monday, all you have to do is send me the link to a Manic Monday post you did. Doesn't matter whether it was one you just typed last week or last year. Just sort through your blog and pick one you especially liked.
I'll be including all those posts here on Monday, so you can browse through them and read what the other Manic Monday Minions have been saying all this time.

So far, the following people have sent me posts for the carnival:

Marilyn
Barb (WillThink4Wine)
Morgen
Mary (The Teach)
Winter of Discontent
Jamie
Tiel Aisha Ansari
Travis
Crazy Working Mom
Ivana

If you sent me something, but don't see your name on that list, I didn't get it. Please re-send it to me at my gmail address. (jannaverse at gmail dot com). I'm using that address instead of my usual one, because my ISP has been bouncing things back to some people.

I'll probably put up the post early (Sunday evening), just so you can have more time to come read through everything.

See you then!
.

Guess what!

You know I have three blogs: Jannaverse, Jantrails, and Jantics, right? Well, guess what....

Jantics is now on its own domain!
It's now officially "Jantics dot com"!
Pretty cool, huh?

It’s still on WordPress, which means I still get humbling reminders of my woeful inadequacies with HTML and CSS.

Please (pretty please) update your blogrolls from the old address to the new one.
And come visit me at Jantics.com! :)

I have Steve (from band and ABC group) to thank for this. (Thanks, Steve!!)

In a way, The Jannaverse is also on its own domain, sort of. If you type "Jannaverse.com" into your browser, it will re-route back to my "real" URL here at Blogger.
And I have Whall to thank for that. (Thanks, Whall!!)

Group hug!
.

Follow me follow me folllloooowww me!

Yay! The "follow" thing appeared on my Blogger dashboard today.
They've been slowly releasing it to a few blogs at a time. Morgen had it WEEKS ago. And it's just now appearing on mine.
I dunno why they didn't just release it to everyone all at once. They're owned by Google; I thought they could walk on water and heal arthritis and leprosy and athlete's foot while flawlessly separating conjoined twins all at the same time.
Mine is not to question why, I suppose.
Anyway, cool! If you have a Blogger/Blogspot account, you can now become one of my "followers"! (See the sidebar widget, beneath the clock, where it says "Follow This Blog"? Click on that.)


Of course, it will only work if you have a Blogger/Blogspot account. If your blog is from elsewhere, then you can show your appreciation in other ways, like sending tea or chocolate or fifty dollar bills. I'm sure we can work something out.
.

Various Thoughts

1) It is a lot easier to carve a meatball than a pumpkin. Though sometimes the facial expressions don't come out quite right.

2) I wish there was deodorant that smelled like grapefruit.

3) Earlier today, while waiting for Excedrin to get rid of my headache, I closed my eyes and rocked back and forth in the fetal position while humming the theme to an old Meow Mix commercial.

4) I wish we could skip summer, and go directly from spring into autumn.

5) I'm not wearing any pants right now.

6) In case someday there is a trivia competition which asks the question "What did Janna have for dinner on the evening of August 29th, 2008," the answer is nachos.
.

It's a twitterrific life

It's been awhile since I've posted a retrospective of my Twitters, so today I'll do that.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter by clicking here, or just by reading the Twitter update section of my sidebar here at the Jannaverse.

Without further ado, here are some Twitters I've posted lately:

My cat keeps meowing non-stop. He's probably trying to tell me there is a big hairy madman with an axe lurking out on the porch. Sigh. 10:39 PM July 13, 2008

My nails are painted red with yellow polka dots. Just thought you should know. 06:28 PM July 14, 2008

Yet another day of terrible Internet connections. Multi-hours of trying unsuccessfully to connect, over and over and over. Finally I'm here. 12:48 AM July 15, 2008

Did I mention I hope my ISP falls in a pit of quicksand with a decomposing rhinoceros? After receiving numerous paper cuts? While hung over? 12:50 AM July 15, 2008

This is my 123rd Twitter! Let's celebrate! I'll go get the moose costumes and the cornflakes. Can you bring some aspirin? 11:36 AM July 15, 2008

I hate mosquitoes. Nasty miniature vampires who drink my blood and become immortal. At least until I smash them. 02:59 AM July 20, 2008

I am covered in mosquito bites. In a few hours I will go out to scratch myself in public! Come watch! 09:06 PM July 20, 2008

What? It's dark already? Where did the time go? Where have I been? Who are you? 09:11 PM July 20, 2008

In the war between summertime cat turds and Febreeze, let it hereby be known that Febreeze runs away shrieking like a wuss. 05:03 PM July 21, 2008

Thinking of dropping off the face of the earth. I hear they have good tacos there. Who wants all my worldly possessions? 07:54 PM July 21, 2008
.
Bonus! Anyone who shoots me within the next 10 minutes gets a free toaster! 01:33 AM July 22, 2008

Quick! Someone send me a blender! I need to drown myself in strawberry daquiris! 12:07 AM July 24, 2008

Listening to the BBC and making secret plans to invent a matter transference device so I can beam myself over to London. Got a screwdriver? 12:12 AM July 24, 2008
.

Greeting cards that haven't been made yet

1. Congratulations on NOT annoying me today! Whoops... never mind.

2. Thank you for wearing pants so tight that I could count the change in your pocket.

3. My condolences on your appalling foot odor.

4. Sorry I accidentally burped in the middle of our first kiss.

5. Congratulations on going 100 days in a row without disciplining any of your unruly kids! At this rate they'll grow up to be jailbait in no time!

6. Thanks for not noticing that I left that huge dent in the side of your car. (Oops, forget I said that).
.

Over at Jantrails today, I have a list of things I've never seen at McDonalds.
.

The formerly blue bird of happiness

For some reason, there is a pile of feathers in my back yard.
I have no idea what kind of bird it is. They're about the same size as chicken feathers, but they're sort of blue and white. The pile is about the size of a large dinner plate.
What's odd is that there are no bones or guts or bloody spots. It's just a pile of feathers, as if some big blue bird suddenly decided to be a nudist.

In retrospect, I suppose it was only a matter of time before birds decided to rebel against the oppressive expectations of a prudish human society.

Yay for naked birds!
.

Manic Monday: Juice

..

.

Healed by a taco

As some of you know, I've been sick for the past week or so.
I dunno what it is. It started out kinda flu-like, but has ended up being a long drawn out period of "ohmygod-I'm-so-tired-I-can-hardly-move". Friday I went to bed at 6 in the afternoon because I just didn't have the energy to stay awake anymore.
I slept for 4 hours, and woke up with a miserable headache.

Morgen e-mailed me to ask if I'd tried Taco Bell's new "Volcano Taco" yet.
I hadn't. Since I was kind of hungry, I decided I might as well make a trip into town and give this item a try.
It is very tasty! Yum! I dunno if I'd call it "hot", though. It's more of a low medium. Still, I was pleased.
And, after I was done, I noticed that all the volcano sauce and fire sauce had loosened up my sinuses a bit.
I blew my nose, and, um, wow.

I've been sitting here for five minutes trying to think of a tactful, polite way to say "It was incredible, a whole TON of snot came out!! It was like a storm surge of snot!"
But since I can't think of any other way to say it, there you go.

The cool thing is that this made my headache go away.
I still feel extremely tired all of the time, but at least my headache is gone and my sinuses are clear.

I highly recommend the volcano taco. Even if you're a total wuss about hot things, I think you'll like these.
.

It's salsa time again

I'm going to be trying another kind of salsa today. It's called "Salsa Diablo" from Desert Pepper.
I got it at my local grocery store for $4.19.

The ingredients are as follows:
Tomato Puree, Tomatoes, New Mexican Hot Red Chile Puree, Green Chile Peppers, Jalapeno peppers, Fresh Onions, Vinegar, Salt, Lemon juice, Garlic, Spices, and Cilantro.

I know, I know, it has onions in it, and I hate onions, but I'm hoping they're not too noticeable. I'm also hoping it actually qualifies as "Hot."

Ready?
Here goes.

(*dipping a tortilla chip*)
(**eating chip**)

Sigh.
Blah. It's not hot, and it doesn't have much flavor. I taste no garlic, no cilantro, and no spices. Just tomatoes and vinegar and maybe a tiny bit of jalapeno.
Very disappointing.
.

And then, sometimes it IS....

.

Bon Voyage

Today is the day Jason leaves for a 4-month trip to Ethiopia. He'll be staying with Chris, hopefully getting some valuable moments of music teaching experience at the International school where Chris works. He hopes to return home shortly before Christmas.

Also, one week from today, Morgen begins his beach-babe vacation over on the East Coast. He'll be gone from 9/11 to 9/22.

Bon voyage, guys. I hope you both have a wonderful time.
I will do my very best not to be insanely jealous. :)
Please come home safely.
..

Wordless Wednesday

.

Where do you keep YOUR spork?

Things I Did On Labor Day:

1) Watched TWC satellite images of Hurricane Gustav

2) Answered Jannaverse blog comments and sent happy loving vibes out to all of you who commented. Each vibe is worth approximately 1/30th of a cent, so you may want to start commenting more often. (That could add up to a penny per month if you comment every day! That's twelve bucks a century! Think of the possibilities!)

3) Listened to NPR and the BBC, sat patiently while they stuffed news into all available bodily cavities.

4) Hummed the theme to Iron Chef, over and over again.

5) Put a spork in my bra

6) Sat in the cemetery and had tea and cookies at sunset. (Very relaxing!)

7) Reflected on the fact that Tuesday (9-2-08) will be our first band rehearsal of the fall season. We've been on break for about a month now, and I've really missed playing music with this group. Hopefully they're excited about seeing me as well. (I'd better take the spork out of my bra before they hug me.)

.(cartoon source: ilikechicken.org)

.