Seven.Caged.Tigers

Growing up, I believe my family had a box full of these. They were never used and basically stashed in the back of a closet (my sister’s I think). I don’t recally how bad the recipes were, but if this Mackerelly is any indication…well…they were rather “different.”

You are Mackerelly!! You feel obligated to create
new words just to define yourself as
different… I mean diff-tacular. Just
remember… ORIGINAL doesn’t necessarily mean
GOOD.

What Weight Watchers recipe card from 1974 are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The man (aka JT for you newbies) and I met at a Bar & Grill last night with a few folks we know. We sat down, had a few drinks (not too many as we were both charged with driving vehicles home), ate a few appetizers, and talked. Fortunately not about politics as is on the tip of so many wagging tongues these days. The place we went is actually covered with pictures of dogs. People give the staff photos of their loved dogs (not cats–kind of sucks for this feline family) and they put them on the walls. It really is very friendly.

I honestly really needed the break badly. Work has been a bit challenging these past few days. While I’m not going to let everybody share in the joy, I will say I would just prefer it to be tonight right now as it will be the much needed weekend. I’m taking deep breaths in the meantime.

I’m also seriously thinking of redesigning this site. It happens just twice (or so) a year and it’s about time. If anybody has any suggestions or would like to volunteer to do it, I’d be more than receptive–I’d be absolutely giddy with girlhood-like glee. I’d like something red or orange or brown or yellow or all four. Just something a little less green. Maybe not exactly a fall theme, but “fall-like.”

Eh. Oh well. I’ll continue poking at old designs for now to see what I come up with. It’s likely to be very little of any good.

I’m really not *that* vain. It’s important to be somewhat vain, but I have never been one to really dress up, do my makeup, or pay close attention to my hair. I wear decent clothes, but am not a trend-whore. I tend to stick to cotton and solid colors.

In any case, I decided yesterday to do something truly crazy. I went to a real salon and got my hair cut and colored. I for the past five or six years have stuck to Fantastic Sam’s and Grondin’s for my hair care. I don’t ever get my hair colored in any salon (I buy boxes for my color) and never really have liked paying much more than $15 for any haircut. That of course leads to boring hair. I always ask for something different–it always ends up being some version of the blunt bob I already had.

Well, this time around I went to a place called Michele’s Salon and Day Spa the next town over. Their prices are rather, uh, outrageous to say the least but I figured after all this time I deserved something special. I got it. My hair is cut short and stacked in the back and longer around the face. It’s nicely layered (she used scissors–not a damn razor) and perfectly suited to my literally baby-fine hair. As far as color goes I left it up to the hair lady’s disgression. She chose a warm medium-brown with reddish undertones. She put a slightly darker color around my face and underneath. Finally, it was topped off with blonde “cutting” around the face (that was her terminology, not mine). It’s fantastic and gorgeous and I might just have to be uber-vain and take a picture of myself to show everybody.

I spent good money–really good money. But for once I actually LIKE what they did to my hair rather than being merely “okay” with the results. I hope I return to this salon but we’ll see–I’m not sure if I can stomach those costs all too often. A $40 haircut is much different in so many ways than a $15 one.

And I cannot believe I just wrote an entire (long) entry about my hair and the guilt trip I put on myself about spending money on my looks. Bad me.

Since there are a whole bunch of new readers thanks to a certain addictive site, it’s about time I say a little about myself (yes, I know, I’ve been online in this very form since about 2000).

My name is Shelly. I’m 27 years old and hail from the great (cough-cough) state of Michigan. Actually, to clarify, I’m almost 28 (happy Birthday to me on December and I’ve lived in many places in Michigan–grew up in Gladwin, went to college and graduated from Lake Superior State University in 1999 (Sault Ste. Marie), went to college and graduated from Michigan State University in 2001 (East Lansing), and finally settled in Metro Detroit where I still live.

Continuing on I am the eldest of two sister. My younger sister Cheryl lives in London, England (not Ontario) with her husband Robin. I have a husband, three cats, and zero kids (not by choice). I’m a computer nerd at a massive, reputable state University. Hubby is an Engineer (we started dating at LSSU in 1997) and I’ll call him JT here but in the “real world” his name is Jeremy. His fantastic little side company Turtlehut provides hosting for this site and my other two RockReviews.net and EpinionsMusicSource.com (EMS for short). We own a cute 100-year-old yellow bungalow in a quaint old-fashioned village. We are both democrats and atheists–probably the only ones of both on our street.

My interests are rather simple. I adore reading and most specifically I’ve always enjoyed horror (Clive Barker, Robert McCammon, Stephen King, and a number of other authors really do it for me). In addition, I’m a freak for Post-Apocalyptic Fiction and have a collection of nearly 70 titles. Speaking of PA (Post-Apocalyptic for reference) I will continue to refuse any suggestions to read the Left Behind crapola. Remember I’m an atheist–any religious propaganda will be shot down immediately.

Speaking of my opinions, I’m fully of them. One of my bachelor’s degrees is in Political Science which means I do have something to say about just about everything. I am anti-war, anti-hate, pro-choice, pro-gay rights, and pro-socialism. If you’ve got any questions regarding my polical beliefs just read this little blog. It’ll tell you. If you are a religious right-wing conservative we aren’t going to get along politically but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like you socially. You’ll just have to deal with my exceptionally leftist ways.

As far as other interests go, I’m a massive music fan (as evidenced by the aformentioned RockReviews.net). Being that I am also more than a little Obsessive Compulsive, I have my nearly 1000 CDs (not burned–original–not that I have any problem with such things, I just like to support art in general) in alpha order in wallets which makes for an incredibly difficult chore in re-alphabetizing everything. I adore all things rock, indie-pop, Brit-pop, alt, trip-hop and the like. Don’t get me started on how crappy the likes of Britney are. I avoid music on MTV (though not reality shows, another one of my soft spots) at all costs. It’s largely mainstream crap–give ‘em enough money and vurp up a hit. My favorite bands include The Eels, Stone Temple Pilots (yes–this “favorite” should be archived), nine inch nails, Jim White, Morcheeba, White Zombie, U2, and so many others. If you check that site above just look for the five star reviews. Oh yeah. And if you can’t tell, I do like writing.

Err…what else. Not much. I’ve compiled a list of some of my posts so you can easily find out more about me/my opinions/nothing much at all. Click. Enjoy & thanks for stopping. If I’ve annoyed you tell me so or just move on. However I’m not about to apologize:

Life With Cancer
Confessions of an Intrepid Nail-Biter
Memories of Grandpa
18 and Life (this is a fictional story)

Dig through the archives & you’ll find more like this.

I feel like a pimp–but a trendy one at that. Blog Explosion is the newest “cool” thing out there. Basically, it’s a free site that you sign up for and for every two blogs you visit you get one person back. AND if you get people to jump on board beneath you, you also earn referral credits for each person that visits their site.

So be a pal. I don’t suck THAT bad. Join. K?

By the way, it does work.

I guess this proves exactly how disinterested I am in the whole Halloween thing. I should be a Martini. Go figure. I guess my disinterest began when I was about 10 years old. I didn’t want to carve pumpkins because a) they stink and b) it’s gross. I stopped trick-or-treating when I was 11 or 12 probably. I did dress up a few times in college (no real effort here, people–I was a prostitute wearing some of my own personal skimpy clothes and cheap thigh highs). Mostly I just preferred to drink on Halloween in college. More recently I dressed up as anti-Shelly once.

Now, we barely do anything for Halloween. JT and I hand out candy. We live in the actual village which means all the wealthy brats from out in the subdivisions converge upon us. It’s always fun when they want candy we don’t have. In any case, we hand candy out–usually about 10lbs. This year we are carving two pumpkins (YUCK) as a means to stop brats from stepping on our lilies. We’re actually turning two buckets over the top of the lilies on either side of our stoop and putting the lit pumpkins on top of them. That should do the trick.

Oh. And I do like some things about the season in general. There are plenty of horror movies on TV (and hopefully soon The Horror Channel), I can drink yummy cider, everything smells (yes smells) like Fall. If not for those things it would be my least favorite time of year. As it stands, I think March qualifies as my least favorite time of year.

You Should Be a Martini for Halloween!

The weekend went MUCH too quickly. JT and I decided at the last moment to go to Buffalo Wild Wings Friday night. There’s a new location in Howell so we thought we’d check it out. As always we drank a little a I (won) played trivia. I love NTN Trivia games quite a bit–especially when I win (I apologize for the immodesty).

Saturday also was pretty quiet. We did some stuff around the house but mostly just lounged around. I spent much of the weekend re-alphabetizing my (our) CD collection. It’s up to nearly 1000 now and to put things back in order (and to feed in newly added titles) is quite a chore. We’re talking hours here folks–but it’s all for a good cause. It soothes the savage OCD beast inside of me.

Sunday also was pretty quiet. JT and I headed to the cider mill (we discovered there is a rather nice one just a mile away from our house–yes we live with blinder on sometimes). We got cider, pumpkins, apples, doughnuts…oh, and Jeremy made a new friend or three. Actually we were standing amongst the pumpkins. I kept on hearing these giggling teenage girls behind us. It sounded as though they were plotting something. Suddenly one of them came up behind us and (ignoring me) asked JT what those “round, orange things are.” I’m not joking. Jeremy was like “uhhh…pumpkins.” I didn’t even acknowledge their presence. They were hitting on my husband. Seriously. They were all of about 15 years old. My hubby is hot, but teenage girls seem to be particularly drawn to him.

After the “hitting on” experience, we observed the girlies for a while. What was REALLY scary was when one of them went up to a guy we’re thinking was her father. He was like 8 years older than us at most. Made me feel old–made JT feel a bit like a dirty old man I’m sure. Ha.

I just got scheduled at the Doc for mine. Indeed–I am in the lucky unlucky few who qualify. I look forward to the jackasses who ask “why do you get yours and I don’t get mine?” To that, I have a good retort:

- did you have non-hodgkin’s t-cell lymphoma?
- are you lacking a kidney?
- do you have thyroid problems?
- do you have severe anemia?

The answer is OBVIOUSLY no to that. I am in the “high risk” category because of chronic health issues–thusly I get a flu shot.

I will admit to never getting one before three or four years ago. Over Christmas I had a little incident with a massively nasty puking variety of the flu. No more of that for me. I can handle other kinds of cold-like flue but not that. I catch just about everything so the flu shot works for this high risk little gal.

I’m officially addicted to America’s Next Top Model. I did see the second season and watched the first most recently when it was re-broadcast, but this one somehow sucked me in. Not sure about why exactly, but I think it has something to do with the cattiness of the whole affair.

So I watched again last night. Wasn’t at all shocked at Jennipher’s departure. Kelle isn’t going to last much longer and I’ve got serious doubts about Anne. In addition, some of the girls looks-wise (this is an industry about looks after all) probably should stick around. Toccara is gorgeous, but she’ll never make it. Also there are some that are just too short. 5′7″ (and even 5′8″) does not a supermodel make–that thusly eliminates Eva off the bat. I think that Amanda is the only one of the shorter girls with any chance–Nicole and Yaya will get the eventual boot. My bets? I guess I’d put money on Amanda or Norelle right now. Not sure why exactly…but that’s where I stand.

And yes. I have an opinion on a particularly vapid reality show. So deal. Tonight I’ll quench my thirst with a little dash of Survivor. That should do me until next week.

Have I ever mentioned how much I like cheese? I could never be a vegan as cheese would be outlawed and thus I would die from the perpetual yearning for the scrumptious curdled milk delicacy.

I like all sorts of cheese. Cheesecake, sharp cheddar, gouda, Swiss, mozzarella, colby, Pinconning (yes…it’s a kind of cheese), smoked, asiago, shredded, American, Muenster, parmesan, pepper jack, Monteray jack, feta, cottage (with pepper, please!) blue, provelone, ricotta, brie…you get the picture. I like it all.

So in honor of my continued addiction to ye olde cholesterol bringer, I dub this day o’ CHEESE!

(ok. I’m done now. return to your scheduled business.)

I was exploring over at MichaelMoore.com (yes, I frequent that site) and stumbled upon a method to check to see if you are registered to vote and to get a sneak peek at your ballot. Since JT doubted whether or not he was registered, I checked his status. He is fortunately registered. In any case, I’d heard from my in-laws that the ballot in Livingston County looks rather conservative.

I didn’t doubt it as my county is NOTORIOUSLY conservative. But I clicked anyway. Boy were my in-laws right. There are ELEVEN tickets that do not offer an option outside of “Republican.” That means nobody else even bothered to run. Not for prosecuting attourney, sheriff, clerk, treasurer, register of deeds, commissioner (x2), supervisor, township clerk, township treasurer, or township trustee (there are FOUR republicans there). It’s the sickest, saddest bastardization of the Democratic process I’ve ever seen.

I live in a large-ish county in a large-ish township. There are nearly 200,000 folks in my county. I’d estimate about 85% are indeed Republicans. Still, if a Democrat would actually run for office in the area somebody could possibly win. Possibly. Longshot, yes, but at least the system would be functioning as it is meant to. Heck, I guarantee that the evil Marriage Amendment (proposal 2) will pass in my county. I’m actually sickened by that thought.

In any case, yeah…I live in a wealthy republican county. And it sucks.

New phone? Maybe! Tonight we are headed (at least according to current plans) to Dearborn to get a new Verizon cellphone. Ours are less than “pimp” in the words of JT’s friends. We’ve had them for two years so it’s definitely time to get new ones. Plus, since we get many models for free and the best models for amazing discounts we have little reason to hold out.

Don’t know what one I’m getting. It all depends on the price. I’m not spending over $100 for a phone (either is JT). We’ll see what we get out of it all. My phone bites–it doesn’t hold a charge any longer. Jeremy’s doesn’t answer properly–it ALWAYS hangs up on folks about 2 minutes into a conversation. Grrr…time for new phones.

I’m in desperate need of a new look. Well, actually not me really but this site. The green just isn’t working for me any more. I’d like something with red, orange, yellow, brown–fall colors in any combination would work.

The problem? I lack the inspiration. I was nearly ready to go with a new look a month or two back but it never panned out. I grew bored with it. My whole “design brain” seems to be broken these days. I guess creativity peters out when there are more solid things on one’s mind. Go figure.

In any case, I’m so desperate that I’ve been digging up and down online to fine a good (free) design. I refuse to pay somebody to do what I already can when I have the impetus to do so. In any case…yes…I’m lazy right now.

However, what I’m not lazy about is my exercize. I’ve been back on my stationary bike riding for between 30 minutes and an hour every night. It is always somewhere between 5 and 10 miles. Though I must admit that my tushie is killing me. Maybe that’s because the bones are sticking out again (like the old day). Probably not as I’m not really losing weight–it’s probably just the inner REALLY SKINNY Shelly trying to rear (ha-ha) her ugly head.

In any case, I need to keep riding and if it wasn’t for X-Men Legends for the PS2 I probably would be completely lost. Games make time go at least three times as fast. Seriously. Try it. It’s the way I stay in shape! Believe it or not…

I decided this weekend that my cats stink. OK. Not entirely stinky, but still–no bath in like two years and some rank odors are likely to crop up now and again. So JT and I gave all three a bath. We started with the stupid one (he was within arm’s reach as we were preparing the tub). Max was actually better than we expected, but truth be told he’s pretty easy to immobilize. Sara was next. She wasn’t so easy. I thought for sure she was going to scratch somebody’s eye out. She didn’t and we survived (JT did end up with a nice scratch from her). Finally it was Dewey’s turn. He was none too happy about the situation and because of his immense size he is rather difficult to control. We completely expected to get bitten (his preferred method of attack) but we were spared.

Now all three cats smell lightly of Suave Vanilla Floral shampoo. Their fur is soft and lovely. And all three have now forgiven us. It did however take Dewey quite some time to dry off though I did get a kick out of him shaking off his fur like a dog–obviously instinctual behavior since he was only bathed one other time (when he was a kitten).

As far as the rest of the weekend went, JT and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3) in Novi on Friday night. I wasn’t too social. It happens sometimes. I guess it sucks when people are talking about spending oodles of moolah when you are stuck thinking repeatedly about paying for having a baby the scientific way. JT has yet to tell his friends so I was just stuck sitting there by myself with a horrid bach ache.

On Saturday, we got DVR (finally) for our DirecTV. We tried to get Comcast, but turns out it doens’t exist properly in our area (at least with DVR–which was our reason for even thinking about switching services). So now we have TiVo. It is wonderful thus far–and chock full of superhero cartoons (just as I expected). Later, we worked on a new flowerbed for tulip and crocus bulbs. It’s right along the sidewalk to our front stoop. It should be lovely come spring.

Finally, I gave Jeremy his Christmas present. I realize it was VERY early but I got him something very special and I was relatively sure I couldn’t keep it hidden for another two months. I got him an original animation cel from Batman: The Animated Series. It is the original cel and matching drawing–all original. I had them framed under conservation glass and matted beautifully by a place in Howell. Anyway, the image that follows is a picture of his lovely new Batman cel. I’m certain he loves it.

If this isn’t enough to know what the GOP is trying to drill into everybody’s heads, I don’t know what is:

http://home.earthlink.net/~houval/gopconstrm.mov

Basically, it’s hashed together speeches from the GOP Convention. Different speakers, same words, repeatedly. Interesting but simple stuff. This is Bush Keeping America Scared.

Everything about the whole Alice Cooper - Jason tie in in the 1980’s freaks me out. Alice Cooper was always a little “edgy” in his own ghoulish way. Jason (the baddie from Friday the 13th) carved out his own niche audience with plenty of gore and violent killings. I actually liked both–a little. Fortunately, I don’t remember the Alice Cooper song/video The Man Behind The Mask (here hilariously reviewed by X-Entertainment) which was a tie-in to Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. If I did, well, I’d have nightmares of an entirely different sort.

I just had to share. BTW, X-Entertainment kicks major rump if you didn’t already know that.

Speaking of kicking butt, I’ve been playing yet another video game for a week or so now. X-Men Legends is fantabulous. It’s an action-RPG blended game that includes 15 playable X-Men (Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Jubilee, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Magma, Emma ‘The White Queen’, Beast, Colossus, Professor X, Psylocke, and Gambit). Yes. Fifteen. I’m such a sucker for anything X-Men. Even better it’s an RPG game for PS2. Yeah. I’m a freak.

Long, long weekend. Not because I was bored really, but because a lot of emotional crap is going on. I did manage to go shopping (shoes, clothes, makeup…all the girly stuff sans Victoria’s Secret) with my mother which was nice. But still…I’m entirely too touchy right now to be around many people.

Why? Well, JT had his last appt. yesterday with his urologist doc that did his surgery back six months ago. Turns out that the surgery didn’t work. What does that mean? Well, we can’t have kids the “natural” way. We will have to be pregnant eventually by way of science. So we’ve had to make an appointment back with the fertility specialist (reproductive endocrinologist). It was suggested to JT by his uroloist that right now IUI (basically what we think of as “artificial insemination”) will be the way to go initially.

In a big way this is worse than being told “no, you can’t have kids.” I feel like I’m being strung along or that I’m grasping at straws. Both are likely true, at least in the deepest emotional sense of the phrases. It is another month and a half before we can see the fertility doctor. I guess the procedure is actually relatively common and not too expensive ($600 or so per round). We’re going to pursue it for now. I hope something works out. I really, really do. But something deep down keeps telling me not to hope for too much.

Blech. I feel ill just talking like that. My mind is all swimmy with all sorts of confusing thoughts and ideas–most of which I can’t translate into any kind of words. But we are still going to try to have kids. Try, I guess, is the operative word.