Seven.Caged.Tigers

So I survived Christmas with a lot of food, many gifts, and a cold. At least I hope it’s a cold. My mom ended up with the flu and was told by the doctor he was glad she came in when she did because any later and he’d have sent her to the hospital.

Nice.

As for the “take” thus far I ended up with three shirts (two sweaters and lovely red shirt) from Gap (go figure), a lovely purple glass mosaic candle holder, a pair of diamond earrings, LOTR The Two Towers (Deluxe of course), Clinique stuff, house stuff (spatulas, potholder, and other stuff I needed), and a whole bunch of other stuff. My parents like spoiling their kids and kids-in-law. I’ve got another Christmas on Monday so we’ll see what comes out of that!

JT and I also had a reception to attend last night for his sister. It was a lovely time. Good food and good drink. Although I think exhaustion caught up with me. Plus, I’ve been sneezing (a rarity) and this morning woke up with a completely clogged nose. Sick, sick, sick. Just what I need.

BTW, New Picture From Florida:

It’s that time again. The time of year I should be relaxing while not at work. But alas–the great Xmas has just begun. It’s go-go-go all of the time. Drive from one side of the state to the other and back again. This weekend was spent at my parents’ house. It was a great time. There were some 17 people who spent the night at their house (it’s not exactly a mansion) and the number included aunts, uncles, cousins and the like. We ate good food, exchanged presents, and just spent time together.

Yes. If you haven’t yet guessed my family is freakishly close. It’s always a good time. My dear husband has fortunately adjusted to the freakishly close nature of my family quite well. It helps that my cousin’s kids are in utter and complete love with him. One of them told my aunt (his grandmother) that he had a big friend. His big friend is Jeremy…awwww…how very sweet.

He’s going to eventually be a very good dad. And darn it all we’re doing everything we can to make that happen which seems to have come down to surgery. Poor guy

Today is the only day I’m working this week. Then I’m off until the fifth of January. That’s about TWO WEEKS OF VACATION! I CAN’T WAIT!

I’m still getting used to this whole new look. I’ve been RATHER lazy in keeping this site pretty and have finally come to the conclusion I needed a new look. Hopefully I’ll get off my duff and get MT going soon so as to not have to deal with ye olde Blogger for much longer.

Um. Yeah. And it’s the holidays and I’m busy. I’ll try to update periodically but most certainly I’ll be busy eating, opening presents, and travelling from one side of Michigan to another and back again. It really is ANYTHING but relaxing. I had somebody tell me that when you have kids (and that’s a whole other ordeal I’m coming to find out) you don’t want to leave during the holidays. I’m hoping that is true…it really would be WONDERFUL to have some actual relaxation time instead of the go-go-going way of the Christmas season.

In any case, tonight JT and I are headed up north my my parent’s house to spend the night. We’ll also spend tomorrow night, but will instead be joined by like twenty folks. It’s going to be INSANE. But it should be fun. JT’s got a little buddy or two that think he’s the bee’s knees.

Not for me, mind you, but for this damn Blog. I’ve not really been kind to it lately but I’ve shed a few other burdens and have instead decided to concentrate more on my deal ol’ 7CT. Hopefully, no offense Mr. Blogger, soon I’ll FINALLY get Movable Type working. That would be incredibly nice since I’m sick to death of Blog.

Then again, in doing this major revision of the site it’s come to my attention that there are a ton of new features that have been added since the last time I really poked around Blogger. How do you like the new titles? Pretty, eh? I think it makes for a more interesting read.

Hopefully the brown and light blue isn’t too troubling on the eyes. And if it is? Well, I don’t really care. Deal with it.

Last night my house smelled worse than I could have possibly imagined. And, I guess, it really wasn’t my fault for once (uhhh…that sounded wrong). Anyway, on Monday night I cooked corned beef for dinner last night. I charged Jeremy with cutting up the carrots, potatos, and celery. He did that all well and heck the meal was delicious. Boy do I love me some salty, cured meat.

Anyway, after dinner was done Jeremy retired to his hole in the basement to play with his computer. Then I hear a yelp “OH MY GOD, COME HERE!” I dropped whatever it was I was doing and ran into the basement thinking that there was something wrong. He had a screwed up look on his face and remarked at how bad the basement smelled. He thought it was a cat butt. I agreed.

That was until I turned around and looked at our washing machine which was (get ready to be grossed out) covered in sewage. That’s right. We had a bit of a clog.

Turns out that while JT did indeed clean the veggies well he probably shouldn’t have shoved ALL of the skins and the like down the sink at the same time. Needless to say, he managed to plug the drain and thus our sewer backed up. All over the place. It was horrible. I helped him to test lines and stuff but overall I couldn’t stomach the stench. He was able to fix the problem with some work (and he’s no plumber) and subsequently I made him clean it all up. I insisted on the use of bleach.

It was really THAT bad. He got everything cleaned up and I did a load of laundry (he was still wearing his work pants and shirt when he took to plumbing). Just thinking about this whole mess makes me queasy. Seriously. How many more times can I say that this was a VERY wrong experience. JT managed to snake out the drain pretty well and it shouldn’t clog back up. But he put the yuckiness into the garbage bin. I already told him that it’s going to be a long time before I take garbage out again since I know full well about how bad that crap (literally here people) smells.

GACK!

So much stuff I forgot to talk about yesterday! My parents visited on Saturday and treated JT and I to dinner at Benihana. I love that place. It’s yummy. I warned them it is expensive, but worth the cash. I watched as my father sat in open-mouth amazement at the guy making our food.

It really was yummy and I had a lobster and steak meal. Two of my favorite foods in the world.

Friday night, JT and I filled in for a euchre group at my cousin’s house. She and her family live about 15 miles from my home. The first time (this summer) we filled in she warned me it was VERY casual. This time around it was more of the same…and, err, more. I ended up being DD and JT ended up sleeping on the couch for much of the night–at least until he threw up.

Like I said, VERY casual stuff. I think we only got through five hands of euchre all night.

Um. Yeah. And. Uh. That’s about it. JT’s got some good stuff going on for him. He’s got an interview on Thursday for another company. My hope is that he likes it, they like him, and that they give him a reasonable wage/salary which is something he currently isn’t getting from his employer. Cross your fingers for him!

While I do feel on one level that I should be jumping up and down out of happiness and relief for my country, I am also disheartened. Saddam Hussein is a bad guy with whom the Bush family has had ties for years and years and years–long before big Bush went to war with him. Now he’s captured. Now the world is all puppies and roses…

Or not.

See. We didn’t go to war to get Hussein. We went to war “because of the impending threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction.” They’ve never been found and probably never existed. So now little GW has decent approval ratings. I suspect the euphoria is only going to last a week before people return to their senses and realize that things aren’t nearly as happy as they seem.

I’m a very happy and sad girl at the same time thinking intensely about Dude Where’s My Country by Michael Moore.

Boy am I glad it’s Friday.

JT and I spent much of last night cleaning house. Actually pretty much ALL night we were awake. We ended up finishing the kitchen and dining room–two areas (or one depending on your criteria for “areas”) which prove quite a challenge. I also cleaned the bathroom (which needed it bad). Next on to setting up the X-Mas tree (that’s tonight) and then cleaning the back den/family room/living room. Our front one is already spiffed up.

I hate cleaning, but it’s made a whole lot more palatable when I get help…

I’m sitting here laughing my bum off. It seems that one blonde, scantily clad Stacy Ferguson who starred on Kids Incorporated and then went on to be a part of the singing group Wild Orchid has returned to music. But now, she’s all “street” with her brown hair and piercings. Funny what a mere year can do to a person’s image. Stacy Ferguson is now “Fergie” of Black Eyed Peas.

I guess there went any illusion of credibility. Ha.

Here’s two images:

(Before)
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(After)
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Geez. She’s so tough. I’m scared…woooo…

For more “fun” imagery of Ms. Stacy, check out this link to the Epinions Music Source message board: EMS Board Click-Click

Congrats to my college friend Jennie (and her hubby Ray) who just had their first child together. He was born (gasp!) on my birthday and his name is Kaden Ryu. The pictures are gorgeous. He’s gonna be a special little fellow.

Last night, I went into the local Blockbuster to pick up two cartoons for work today. We’re having this ’study break’ thing and my part is to entertain the college students. So I got episodes of Justice League and Batman. Anyway, the guy behind the Blockbuster counter was one of those annoying “I know it all about movies…” He complimented me first on my taste with the cartoons and then on my feature-length taste (I rented City of Lost Children). In any case, he just wouldn’t let me go…

He kept on asking what my favorite films are and then bragged mercilessly about his 3,000 film collection. Blech. I hate those folks. I was like: “I have about 150 movies.” He tried to woo me with his knowledge proclaiming his appreciation for Requiem for a Dream and Donnie Darko. Those are two films I own and love. And then I mentioned my adoration for Clive Barker and he was like “Lord of Illusions” and “Nightbreed” were good. Yeah, whatever dude.

The birthday went well. JT and I went out to eat with his parents and grandfather to celebrate in the event. It was lovely, as the restaurant (Stillwater Grill) is always perfect. I gnoshed on ribeye steak. Boy do I like me some beef. The pendant looked wonderful all day, unfortunately Sara the beast-cat decided that it was food. She tends to gnaw on things around your neck, so I had to promptly remove her from sight so as to not feed her jewels.

Um. Yeah. I also got a big ol’ Amazon order in the mail. I bought SIX (yes, count them 1-2-3-4-5-6) Philip K. Dick books. They are in no particular order of importance: Valis, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Counter-Clock World, Now Wait for Last Year, The World Jones Made, and A Maze of Death. I’m really quite excited though getting these books make me realize there are a whole bunch others I want: The Man Who Japed, The Penultimate Truth, The Penultimate Truth, A Scanner Darkly, and Confessions of a Crap Artist are but a few.

Yes, I’m what they call an addict. To books. I find a writer I love and can’t help but buy every last thing they’ve ever written. Philip K. Dick is my new love. Go check him out…if you dare.

Happy birthday to me!!!!

I’m 27 years old today. I think I was actually born some time around 11am, but I don’t know for sure. I could actually be REALLY wrong. In any case, it’s my birthday. And for the first time ever, my husband has gotten me jewelry. He got me a garnet pendant. It’s beautiful. Exactly what I want. I can almost imagine him walking into Marshall Fields and grunting and pointing at the first thing that caught my eye. He wasn’t even sure if it was a ruby or garnet. That’s how much he paid attention.

Oh. And I’m getting more than a little pissed off at a site I frequent. It seems that pretty much everybody is being ignored by the people who have the power TO ignore. It’s not right either…

I had a nice, long coversation with my best friend Kristin last night. It was really very nice to talk to her as we don’t get to nearly often enough. Physically, we’re seperated by miles (fewer than my other friends) but emotionally we’re still on the same wavelength. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve known someone for TWENTY years!

In any case, it kind of looks like I’ll be headed back to Florida in about April (or so). Not to the Keys, mind you, but to Jacksonville and Orlando and stuff. We hope to make it a week but we’ll see I’m ready to have a girl’s week out…and come to think of it, I’ve never been on a “real” vacation with anybody aside from my husband and my family.

It should be a blast.