Today has been less than glamorous. I awoke to find that my darling cat, who had snuggled with me allll night, had diarrhea on the couch. From doing a mini-CSI I determined she had been asleep and her ass exploded, launching her off the couch and spraying both the couch and the floor with cat shit. By the time I found the crime scene it had dried to a crust impervious to anything but scalding water and elbow grease.

It were nasty.

Then the boy had nearly the same thing. Much less tragic results. But Damn! Cut me a break!

There has been a stray calico slinking around the property. She finally located Hudson's food bowl and nailed down his feed schedule cause she was out there scarfing down his breakfast. I felt bad chasing her away since she looked skin and bones (literally, you could nearly see her spine)so let her eat his breakfast. I caught her eating his second breakfast later on. 0.o I have no idea where she put it. Poor Hudson. He's a lover not a fighter. He tried to get her away but she was all "Nuh Uh Bitch!" and stood her ground. She never approached him, just glided past his pretty lack guard.

http://j.photos.cx/The_Poughkeepsie_Tapes-f1c.gif

Part 1 here:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...ideoid=49992196

Part 2:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...ideoid=49992777

Reminder: I need to watch this later

Happy Captain Picard Day Bitches!!

Why is it called the terrible two's? There was no such thing in my house. There is such a thing as the hellacious three's. It was so bad the other day I muttered that I would actually sell him to any Gypsies that might be buying. It was so bad that I saw my future, My future with a 14 year old. I mean really, he was a pair of skinny jeans and some ironed hair away. Well..maybe with more poop in his drawers.


A lot more poop.

Just when it warms up and is gorgeous outside..I'm sick as a dog. Horrible cough, congestion and full-on Suck.

In other news: Saturday we go back to upstate NY to continue looking for a new house! I really really hope I feel better by then.

Potty training continues. He's nervous of any toilet he's not familiar with. Not really sure how to combat that other than by bootstrapping my way through with lots of changes of clothes.

We've had a Pee Pee success!!!


Now to see if it will last! I have Thomas the train underpants lined up for William and Elmo underwear lined up for Bear. Right now going commando is working.

update: he just blamed Bear for farting.

William is really good on the phone, which is a pleasant change from most toddler's heavy breathing act. My dad is in the Hospital again and william talked to him on the phone. It was very sweet, he asked if "Popi was feeling better?" and "Did he need a bandage?" awww.

Are you tired of fascist cooking shows like Rachel Ray and Emeril? Think freshness dates are ploys by the corporations to get you to buy more food you don't need? Then here is the chef for you.

Hot dogs for beginners.


hot dog intermediate class. Capitalists!!!!


Hot dogs advanced class and global warming. Truly a masterpiece.




This guy is a goddam Buddah.

Corn Maque Choux
from The Prudhomme Family Cookbook

1 stick unsalted butter
7 cups fresh corn cut off the cobb (that's about 17 8" ears) or frozen corn (I use this)
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large bay leaf
2 egg yolks beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar.

In a heavy 5 1/2 quart saucepan or dutch oven, combine the butter, corn, onions, bell pepper, stock, paprika, salt, red and black pepper, and bay leaf. Place over high heat and cook until butter is melted and liquid comes to a boil, stirring and scrapping the pan bottom occasionally.

Stir well, then cover pan, and cook about 4 minutes without stirring. Remove cover and stir and scrape pan bottom well. continue cooking uncovered about 5 minutes, stirring and scraping only after a very thin brown crust develops and starts sticking on the pan bottom, then scrape well. (with frozen corn the crust is hard to develop. I rarely get it.)

Remove bay leaf. continue cooking on high until mixture is fairly dry and sticking excessively (about 12 min) stirring and scraping as needed. reduce heat to very low.

In a small bowl, stir the milk and yolks together until frothy, then immediately gradually add the mixture to the corn. Stir briskly so the eggs won't scramble. Afterward, increase the heat back up to high and bring mixture back to a boil. stir and scrape occasionally.

Now stir in the sugar, cover the pan, reduce heat to medium low and cook until the flavors marry and the corn is cooked(about 20 mins). Stir and scrape only enough to make sure the mixture doesn't scorch.

remove from heat and enjoy!

William made a valentine card for his dad at the library yesterday. It has an overabundance of sticky foam hearts and other glittery stickers including pink flowers and daisies. Ever since he gave it to Phil he's been asking to peel the stickers off it. Apparently he took matters into his own hands when we wouldn't comply.

I had to change him a while ago and found his tummy was covered in valentine stickers. But the real kicker was when he rolled over to try and struggle away from me..

There on his tush was a single sticker: a pink flower :3

When I was growing up in Middle-sized town, Kentucky USA, I despised Monster trucks as part and parcel of the red neck aesthetic that was omnipresent at the time.

When I was in my late 20's up till we had William, Monster trucks were enjoyed ironically. I supported the theory that any truck after Big foot was just an overly engineered armature that had little resemblance to the "jacked up stock truck with huge fucking tires on it" of the old days.

And now William enjoys Monster trucks for the fact that they are big trucks that squish cars.

And I'll be damned if I'm not enjoying them for the same reason.


Oh yeah..and when a wheel comes off. That's really cool to.

I bought a bunch of xbox 360 games with my Christmas monies and have so far been incredibly happy with my purchases.

I got Left 4 dead and although was sort of lost for a while by the time I'd gotten to the first safe room had more or less figured out what was going on. Sometimes you just need to be a 6'2" biker covered in Tats killing mutant zombie hordes.

As for the rest of the games I got: I feel like I'm catching up to the early 2000's with everyone else.

My Brother sent me Prince of Persia and I haven't yet played it, but look forward to it.
I also got The Orange Box.

Holy Crap Portal is fun. I don't believe I've ever had that much fun with a puzzle game before. I find it challenging without being too hard and the minimal story is sweetly demented.

Doing Science and having Cake. mmm.

Too be honest I have never played HalfLife and didn't see what the hype was when the second one came out. But I have to say..its kind of a laugh riot. And the frequent auto-saves fit into my busy life schedule :P

I think I'm finally over my cold. I can't believe I've spent most of January ill with one thing or another. grr. And I finally got my hair cut. 11" total. Donated it to Locks of Love. I now sport a much shorter cut, that is still past my jaw. It's taking some getting used to because my hair is now CURLY. Who knew. I may go back to the stylist and have her explain my hair again. But much like a puzzle game..I think I'll get it eventually.

Had a great anniversary. We did quiet things and generally just enjoyed each others company. 11 years..who'd have thunk it?


The only bad thing was: the cold I thought I was getting over? Yeah, that was just the opening salvo. By Sunday I had a low fever and my lungs were slowly being deprived of oxygen. Phil played hero and braved the unplowed streets to get me soup and NyQuil.

I love you Phil.

When I first tried NyQuil it tasted like liquid death. Now it tastes like the sweet syrup of salvation. Mana only wishes it could give such succor.

I'm on the phone and William runs into the kitchen, opens the utensil drawer and grabs a fork. I catch him and tell him he doesn't need a fork, lunch is over.

I get off the phone and start to putter around the kitchen cleaning, when he scampers over again and opens the drawer and grabs a fork. "William where are you going with the fork?" I ask. As he runs off he answers "I gotta get a job done!" o.o

Job?

What job..?

I peek into the living room to find him hunched over a Hot Wheels box (a big one that comes with tracks), stabbing it with the fork until the tines just poke through the cardboard. "There! I gotta job I need to get done!" o.o "Gotta get the tires off!" o.o stab stab, Grunt, poke, shove "There! Got it!"

Apparently he's getting the cars on the box ready for racing by changing out the tires. Who knew.

It was a great Christmas. William is still playing with his new trucks and so forth and that's what I hoped for.

Poor little guy developed some sort of tummy bug though. We didn't discover this until Friday night when we went out to eat at Gippers (a sports bar/pub we like). He hadn't eaten much that day or much the day before so we were pleased that he ate his grilled cheese and a bunch of fries.

He finishes and starts to play with the cars we brought to keep him occupied, and we chat and finish what we had ordered. Then we hear it.

The Burp.

We both look at William and he makes The Burp again. BAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFHHHHHGGG..all over the table. Having nothing else, I cup my hand over/under his mouth to catch it. Being more level headed, Phil grabs the wax paper than had supported our quesadilla and hands it to me, I shove it under our child. He barfs again.

Horror stricken, Phil and I glance around the packed restaurant. No one seems to notice. Thank God.

Now empty, William says in a small voice "I'm sorry, I made a biiiig mess." I hurriedly clean up and stash the barfy napkins on his grilled cheese plate. We both pet him and tell him its ok, everything is alright. And just as suddenly as it started, he was over it and goes back to playing with his cars and flirting with the oblivious waitress.

We stare at each other lost in horror. I had just caught another human being's barf with my hand.

When this happened AGAIN at Chili's the next night we were prepared, and it was less traumatic. But not by much. Phil is getting good at using napkins to hide certain unpleasant things from other diners.

I realize the sample size is small, but in four separate books dealing with archaeologists or paleontologists, they all have a small ranch with horses.

It occurred to me the other day: Who takes care of these horses while they are out finding ancient Incan/Pueblo (cursed) gold or Dinosaur killing meso-virus's?

In the later case I believe the author had an out, an all purpose "ranch hand". But in the former case both arch's are out in the field having a grand old time while their "cutting horse" is back at the ranch doing the ranch business I guess.

I know its not mom and dad. Everyone knows that Paleontologists and Archaeologists are orphans.
We also know its not the love interest. The love interest is always found in the field. Everyone knows that Paleontologists and Archaeologists are most dashing and desirable while sporting stubble and three week old shirts. The love interest is always identified by the cute smudge on her cheek.

Back to the horses! So, I don't know much about horses. But lets say they are like big cats. Would you leave your cat in a field for 3 to 4 months while you were out adventuring? Even if you could put a saddle on it?

Hell no!

The bastards would probably leave dead mice and birds on your back porch and claw..er I mean hoof the screen doors trying to get in, wondering where the hell you were. Plus I'm pretty sure the neighbors would call the ASPCA on your ass when the horses kept coming over to poop in their kids sand box.

I guess what I'm getting at here is these characters seem to be pretty crappy pet owners.

This is just so..so..odd

Its like sneaking off to the basement to watch tv in the 80's.

http://betamaxmas.com/