It takes a natural disaster to bring this family together

Last time I talked to my grandmother before Katrina arrived on land: July 4, 2005.

Last time I talked to my cousin Laura before Katrina devastated the area where she was doing her graduate studies: December 25, 2004.

Last time I talked to my cousin Jessica before Katrina went through the path that I thought she was taking to drive my cousin Laura: also December 25, 2004.

Last time I talked to my mom before Katrina just missed her on the gulf coast of Florida which was devastated last year: I don't even remember, sometime this summer...

I talked to my gram on Friday to ask about my cousins then talked to everyone else today. My grandmother lives in the Northeast and is the matriarch so always knows the status of all family members across the globe, hence my call to her about my cousins instead of calling my aunt or uncle. I do try my hardest to find the good in the very worst of situations, and this is what I am taking away - reconnection with family.

PS - If you have money to spare, that's what is needed now.

• For the people: American Red Cross
  
• For the animals: American Humane Association

There's nothing funny or smart to say...

...when people are still waiting to hear from their loved ones who lived in the path of Katrina. Natural disaster happens, but we always think/hope it doesn't happen to us.

BTW, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. My husband is convinced it's just stress.

Maman might be right

I searched Google for diabetes symptoms and found this list from the American Diabetes Association:

• Frequent urination
  
• Excessive thirst
  
• Extreme hunger
  
• Unusual weight loss
  
• Increased fatigue
  
• Irritability
  
• Blurry vision

In my mind, I have all of these. So, I took the short test online and:


No one in my family has it, but I'll be sure to get the test done at my next visit. And, I will call my doctor tomorrow, really!

I'm not sure why, but...

I've lost so much weight this summer (without trying) that I weigh the same as on my wedding day. I should probably report that to my doctor. I've never had an easy time losing weight. Hmm.

Rock that shit homie*

So, I am driving my co-workers (one male, one female) from H-E-L-L back to our office at 6ish tonight and I have the radio tuned to a top 40 station with a "hip hop" song playing. I'd call it more hip pop, but whatever. Male co-worker asks me if I like hip hop and I say I do. He tells me that he recently was at a high school event where "the kids were scratching, do you know what that is?" and I'm thinking "yah, I know what scratching used to be, but maybe it's been reinvented into something new" and then he tells me "it's where they play a record and - " *hand movement back and forth to signal air scratching* I...look at him and think, "where the hell have you been for the last 20 years?" but I just smile and say, "oh, neat!"

Is scratching not commonly known? Granted, he grew up in Kansas, but...um...I think people in Kansas know what scratching is too. Right?? (And, just for the sake of anyone who doesn't know what it is but would like to, here's Scratching 101.)

*De La Soul as hip hop:

Cool breeze
Rock that shit homie
Rock
Lyte as a
Rock
A a a a a as a rock
Cool breeze
Rockin' it rockin' it
Rock
You gotta rock it
Keep on rockin'
Rock's the best
Rockin' music
Cool breeze
The king
Of rock'n'roll
Rock rock
This world for you
King Adrock
Rock those bells
I want
Body body rock body body rock
You are now rockin' with the best
I put this together to
Rock the house
Michael?
"I wanna"
Rock!
"With you"

Overstating the obvious

12:45pm EST
If you live in New Orleans you should be evacuated by now. That includes you, Laura Jean. Get out.



Katrina is a category 5 hurricane and is heading straight for you, with projected 28 ft. waves. I realize that a similar scenario occurred last year and New Orleans was spared while Alabama was ravaged, but why be stupid and tempt fate?

9:45pm EST
Katrina is getting much, much closer:


Moxiegrrrl linked to a page of New Orleans webcams. There are a few webcams still working (as of this moment):

• NOLA BeadCAM
  
• NOLA (French) QuarterCAM

(Another webcam actually has a "recorded" message saying the webcam is down because of Katrina.)

P'nut + Poppy + Oregano = Spork

what kitchen utensil are YOU?

(Just like P'nut! Ooh, and now Oregano too!!)

Spectacular garden

I was a little disappointed that we didn't have many good garden photos for you today, but then we went out to a restaurant that had some nice landscaping and to the perennial greenhouse to window shop. The only picture in the garden set that is from our garden is the strawberry, but we hope to own some of the other flowers in this set sometime this week.



By the way, the hibiscus pictured as well as each of the other hibiscuses in the set is the size of my hand. Really.

namesake, take 2

fly-by

Hail to the cheesy chef

Get your position here

(Merci, Cyli!)

Update: I'm annoyed. OrderOfSuccession seems to be down, which makes the image not appear.

Update 2: Yay, back up! I think I'll take a picture and post that so the image will stay even if the OoS site is down.

twisted

That's Sweden's twisting tower. Not just art, a fully functioning apartment building. Luxury apartments. Huh.

little black dress

Remember that time I bought a black dress at the sports store? Here it is:



It's on a plastic clothes hanger, and it's wrinkled (hasn't been to the dry cleaner's yet), but it's still bumble-bee cute. I still can't tell if Stacy and Clinton would think it's age appropriate...

Super Allie!

Mama's girl

Cat nap

Today's the big day!

Don't waste your time refreshing my blog, it won't be updated until late this evening. I hope everyone has a fantabulous weekend. I'll be thinking of you while I'm at work tomorrow, too. Ugh. :)

Meme in the mist

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?
The English countryside, or the Irish countryside, or the Scottish countryside, or the Italian countryside, or the French countryside, or the Belgian countryside.

2. FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?
Still that Old Navy brown courduroy skirt. I can't wear it right now because either a mosquito attack or an allergic reaction to some component of the epidural caused me to scratch my legs raw. Disgusting.

3. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT?
Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
When carpooling - ~7:15 ; when not carpooling - ~6:30

5. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE?
Fridge

6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Saxophone

7. FAVORITE COLOR?
Green in theory, blue to wear

8. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV?
Um. This is a boy question.

9. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK?
Where the Wild Things Are

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
Fall - foliage and the tolerable weather outside

11. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Teleporting

12. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?
No tattoo

13. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
Define juggle.

14. NAME ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD TALK TO.
Anu (where are you??)

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DAY?
Of the week: Saturday ; Of the year: Tie between December 25 and my birthday

16. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR?
A blanket to cover over my laptop when I have to leave it in the car to go run errands.

17. WHICH DO YOU PREFER SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?
Hamburger. Fishy sushi is yucky.

18. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT?
Olive Garden black tie mousse cake

19. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?
Mac and cheese made from scratch or tacos or a really great beef stew from Bon Appétit

Stolen from Bearette24. (Sorry about your name being next to all that meat. Oh, the irony...)

Mish mash

AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

I keep losing my Sharpie!!! I need my Sharpie! No, your Sharpie won't do. Only my Sharpie will work for the task at hand! ARGH! (But, at least I didn't lose my Sharpee. Perspective.)

Update: Not only is my Sharpie missing, but I broke my own cardinal rule - I tried to print before saving a Word document. Word crapped out. It said it would recover my document, but it didn't. Friggit/dy.

Update 2: Sharpie located. You wanna know where it was, don't you? It's embarrassing. It was sitting in the drawer. With the scissors. Under the letters from Jürgen and his mommy, and Kim, and the cards we keep on hand to send to Roger in Iraq. Oh, happy place.

Update 3: Document recreated without further incident, other than me swearing.

When the ones you love go missing

So, I've read around the web that Olivia Newton-John's "special friend" (aka boyfriend) has been missing for 7 weeks now. Last known whereabouts were on the open sea. Boat found, belongings found, special friend not found.

When someone who is constantly in my life (in person or electronically) suddenly vanishes off the face of my planet, I assume the worst. Dead. Bloody in a ditch somewhere. Held captive. Et cetera. Am I the only one? I know parents worry about their kids when they miss curfew, but my worry seems possibly like a chemical imbalance. I saw my husband pass by as I was turning out of the grocery store parking lot on a non-carpool day. When I got home he was not there. I was half-way on the fence of "oh, I just missed seeing him turn into the gas station" and "OH MY GOD, HE'S BEEN KILLED IN A CAR CRASH!" I really wish I wouldn't do that. It's very unsettling, and not at all helpful to anyone...

pocket monsters

So, does anybody else wear pants with pockets and occasionally feel movement in your pockets even when there's absolutely nothing inside of them? That freaks me out...

Cat. I'm a kitty cat!

Okay, work is stressful but I'm not dead, so when I saw Mel's post of this movie I could not help but laugh hysterically. Thanks, Mel. :) :) Totally SFW, but your boss might tell you to turn it down for crying out loud...?

Warning: If you are drinking a beverage, put it down before viewing the movie.

Is it that obvious?

My client just told me to tell my husband to pick me up early from work so I could go home and have a glass of wine and play with the cats. I'm tapped out of happy-face.

WHysteria and pace

Big project dropped.


Fuzzy, but decidedly stick-figurish


No comments allowed about the hangnail or lack of manicure
(we don't do those here :P )


Since I was feeling self-conscious when Hubby asked how I am supposed to remove the tat, I scratched my skin raw to remove it in the shower this morning.

Two more neat shots, à mon avis:

Ironic.

Stress balls just remind me that I'm stressed.

Don't cry for me, Argentina

It's entirely likely that you won't see much of me until next Friday since this is the heavy time at work. But, please come visit the blog and read my archives, or check back, because sometimes I'll put down very important projects to post pics.

I have a neat "bush" to photograph and post later today. I stole a sample of it from outside of one of the buildings at work. We believe it is a Chinese Wisteria, but you can judge for yourself. And, remember, "PEACE BEGINS WITH U" (which is currently tattooed on the back of my right hand, a sticker from a resource training session).

Update: Forgot to take the bush home, so brought the camera to work today. Took a pic, too busy to resize, upload, and post. Tonight. Tonight.

Nauseous

Recently I taught Roger's wife how to post to his blog so that she could take on most of the publishing responsibilities. Today I was confused when I got to work and people were hounding me about "an arm" and "Roger's cafeteria". I emailed his wife asking WTF and she explained that there was a new blog entry. The word "arm" is in the post's title. It can't get any better from there. It doesn't. A shell hit his mess hall, and a man who was doing the behind-the-scenes work lost an arm. I feel like throwing up. This is way too real.

Comments are now a PITA, but pitas are tasty!

Hi all, the spambots have found me. I don't want to go to Haloscan and lose all my old comments, so instead I have enabled a feature that forces you to type in garbled words in order to post. Thanks to the unknown blogger who had this feature enabled so that I knew Blogger was now offering it! :)

The birthday party!

I present to you a small set of photos from the party. (Sorry, but the others are for my work blog.)


The kid cake - vanilla ice cream with a little chocolate topping :)


The adult cake! Oreo crust, Java Chip ice cream, fudge topping, nummy to my tummy!

Adventures in mini-world

I was at a double birthday party today. Well, okay, a triple - the son of one of our best couple friends, and the twin daughters of one of our other best couple friends. We had a blast. I'll share some pics in a bit, but I want to do a few garden pics first. Click any of the images to see the giganormous high-quality version, since they're infinitely more beau-ti-ful.


I am not sure what this is. If you know, could you leave me a comment? It was found in a bark mulch flower bed that has also had slime mold problems, so my husband believes it is a fungus.

Update: BrStarr has informed me that this is bird's nest fungus.


Your average honey bee, feasting on a tasty cone.


A furry bee? I've never seen this type of bee before. Anyone know what it is? It reminds me of Snuffy from Seasame Street. :)


Purdy :)


I went outside to grab something from the car at the party (and, to have a quiet moment which I sometimes need in group settings) and found this great photo op. I had to move a kid-size basketball hoop stand out of the way to make the picture perfect. Hope my friends don't mind! :)


That's our cabbage, and in the background that's our squash! We brought our friends a big bag of veggies since we have too many. The other veggies not pictured are tomatoes and cucmbers. By now we've had to pull the bean and broc plants because they've gone by. Still waiting on potatoes, green peppers, and mature radishes.


The sunflower from Friday is finally open! Yippy!

Who am I kidding?

I'm not reading Harry Potter. I read books 1-3 feverishly. Then, 4 and 5 were ...scanned through rather than read word-for-word. Book 6 is just really big and I've already read the ending, so I'm taking a pause on it. I'll read it someday, just not now. So, Lifeguard it is. And, my frister (that's a friend who's [like] a sister, right?) over at Jürgen Nation gave me a great reading list to add to a bunch of books I know I want to read. Time for a trip to the library! ;)

Who said splogs were no good?!

You just cannot convince me that a blog whose primary link is to a site that gives you letters from the Tooth Fairy is not entertaining. Actually, I'm not even sure that's the "right" link because I navigated away from the site before I had a chance to process what my eyes had just read. So, here's another one just for kicks.

For LaToyia

One week after the ex-boyfriend of Tamika Huston led police to her remains, the body of pregnant LaToyia Figueroa has been located.



The suspected killer is LaToyia's ex-boyfriend. Another sad day...

JAMES FREY!

I swear I'm like a little puppy who focuses on a squeaky toy for 3.5 seconds, then on a bee for 1.5 more, then ...well, ya know, let's just say I don't stay mad long.

Instead of continuing to trash talk Blogger's silliness, I shall instead share James Frey's blog with you. He is the man, the legend who lived through addiction and came out for the better on the other end to write two books about his experience. His second book, My Friend Leonard, is my favorite book of all time. I cried so hard during the ending that I was shaking uncontrollably. I miss that book, miss being inside that experience, miss reading James Frey material. And, now, I don't have to miss James! I am so excited!!! Thanks to Jürgen Nation. :)

Blogger is no longer free.

I don't like rocking the boat, I really don't, but I just did a technorati search because I was curious about my traffic spike and found a great blog for many reasons that is having a hard time with Blogger without explanation. He has waged an anti-Blogger campaign. I was perfectly happy with Blogger until they started this petty "your blog isn't good enough to live in this neighborhood" shit. I'm not saying that I'll leave Blogger, but I am saying I hope they hurry up and realize how upsetting this new feature they didn't even bother to mention on the Blogger start page is, like it's hidden so that if your blog disappears they can blame it on "the fine print". Disgusting... Ugh.

Death by caffeine

Moxie's NSFW site has a post about Energy Fiend's Death by Caffeine. Just choose your favorite beverage, type in your weight, and click the Kill Me button to learn how many of your favorite tasty beverage it would take to kill you. This is a good time to have some extra meat on your bones.

My favorite is Coke Classic, and it takes more drinks that I could ever even imagine to kill me, thankfully. "Value size" fountain soda Coke, here I come!

Time for a Poppy poll

To the best bloggers and bloggies on the planet, if you saw someone wearing this shirt:



Would you(?):

a) Move Bitch
b) kick some ass and take some names
c) stand still and make the real bitch move
d) have your bodyguard handle the situation
e) move out of the way as you yell a slew of obscenities only a mother could be proud of
f) chuckle and move on
g) think nothing of it
h) ask where the shirt was purchased so you can get one for yourself
i) ask for an autograph
j) invite the bitch to lunch
k) other (please specify what the other is)

Let me know if you answered the poll before or after you check in with LA to see which "celeb" this is. I'm so excited to hear everyone's answers! And, just so you know, my answer: c and j. (Yes, it's okay to give combo answers.)

Bugs on...

...a sunflower


Click to see larger image

...chicken!


Click to see larger image

Stunning

Image credit: NASA/LMSAL
Often times when I visit Tom's Astronomy Blog my breath is taken away from me, I am in awe, my eyes are bulging from my head, and I experience the ultimate quiet excitement. I'm a closet space freak. I don't know much about space, other than that it is beautiful and spectacular. Tom posted the above pic to talk about forecasting solar weather, but I was so enraptured by the image that the words were a blur to me.

A stroll through the "park"

Here are some pics of work, which might make it clear why I enjoy working here:















PS - I stole that leaf so that no one would trample it and so that I could enjoy its beauty every day.

This is not a splog

Leave it toBryan to come up with the word of the year: splog (a spam blog). I have been entertained by a splog or two while hitting the Next Blog button, but I have never revisited a splog of my own (intentional) volition.

Do you know the magic number?

Please do not post your actual number, but a show of hands - do you know your social security number (or your country's equivalent) without looking at the card? I know mine because it was drilled into my head during university. Because of the propensity for identity theft in America, schools are changing to other numbering systems than SSN's. I'm just curious what people's answers are, because I was watching a sitcom in which the female lead supposedly doesn't know her SSN without looking it up. She's 41 in the show. I'm 10+ years out of university and I can rattle off my number as quickly as I can rattle off my name.

Update: Last night while I was under sedation (don't bother asking) I realized I am not yet 10 years out of university, I am 10+ years out of high school, only 8+ years out of university... Well, ya know, when you get to be my age you forget the little details. ;)

Power Ranger demise

From Daily Dish:

'MIGHTY MORPHIN' MURDERS?

Former child actor Skylar Deleon, who starred in hit TV series "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers," has been accused of brutally murdering a Californian couple by tying them to an anchor and throwing them overboard a yacht.
Deleon, 26, and wife Jennifer, 24, have been ordered to stand trial for the murders of Thomas Hawks and his wife, Jackie, last November in an alleged plot to steal their 55-foot luxury yacht.

The Orange County Superior Court heard Wednesday that the pair posed as interested buyers and demanded a test run off Newport Beach where they attacked the elderly pair with a stun gun before handcuffing and blindfolding them.

They were then allegedly tied to the boat's 66-pound anchor and thrown overboard where they drowned.

Police were alerted to the murder by fellow accomplice Alonso Machain who claims Deleon delayed the planned killings by a week after discovering that Hawks, a retired probation officer from Arizona, was a larger man than first expected.

Matt Murphy, the Deputy District Attorney, says, "It is haunting to think these nice, loving people were trying to hold their breaths as they sank to the bottom of the ocean.

"This is as cold-blooded as it gets."

All the defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Here's a link to a more developed article at Daily Dish.

Blogger and GWB are one in the same?!

What the feck?! Bryan has alerted me to a new "feature" which allows you to flag a blog as objectionable so that the blogging police can come rushing with their sirens blazing to investigate my blog. Do they really want to get into that war?!?! People with blogger vendettas are going to use this against their blogenemies. Dur. Stupid. Stupid. STuPId.


Borrowed with requested (sort of) permissions from Brutal Naivety
Does anyone think about things before they implement them?!?! I give "FLAG" 30 days before Blogger is SO overwhelmed by the bureaucracy of it all that they revoke the Flag bouton. Despicable. This could be the one thing that drives me to a new blogging foray. I should have never republished my blog. *grumble*

P.S. - It might be quite humorous if a ton of bloggers marked the Blogger buzz page as offensive. I'm not saying you should go do that, because you can think for yourself. But, maybe they'll get the hint. Of course they're too chicken to republish that blog so that we can see the flag button. Instead you could (but again, I'm not saying you should, I'm saying you could) email them a bunch of times to remind them how much you hate this new feature and why.

Tired.

Not from lack of sleep, not from working too hard. My eyes burn and I want to close them and go to sleep. Instead of doing what I wanted I bought a chocolate mousse from the cafe and ated it. Num. Now I have an empty mousse container and my eyes are still threatening to close. Oh well. :)

Pass the popcorn

The Poppy household is watching Sin City for dinner (with a sesame ginger marinated Angus steak, oven roasted potatoes, and a tomate from the jardin. Yeeeeha!

I'd post the Jessica Alba pic, but it's taking too long for me to find it in my flickr set, so just pretend Jess is lassoing air here.

Update: Finally found that image, under my post called Yummy.

Poppy anemone!

Go ahead, say that three times fast. I had always wondered what this was, even though I bought it and planted it:



Thanks to Breck's, I now know that it's a poppy anemone! No wonder I love this flower so much! :)

cool as a furcumber

This is how Georgie stays cool on hot days, by sticking her head under the kitty chair. Never her behind, though... I haven't quite cracked the code on why that is, since Allie is twice as big and fits entirely under the chair.

(Hey, I just googled "furcumber" and found no references! I just made up a new word! Weeha!)

Best feelings in the world...

Not in any order, although #1 is currently my fave:

1. My schedule is just crazy busy and then everyone cancels and my schedule is all of the sudden completely freed up
   
2. Someone recognizes me on the street and wants to chat about good times rather than work
   
3. I get a letter in the mail from a friend or family member (including my nephew JHC!!! :)
   
4. My husband says that one line from Pulp Fiction to help me to relax
   
5. I take time out of a busy day to snap some pics of the beautiful things surrounding me
   
6. Someone is genuinely grateful after I have helped them
   
7. Someone leaves me a comment on my blog ;)
   
8. Someone does something nice for me "just because"
   
9. I work hard at something and someone praises me for my hard work
   
10. When I get up in the morning and Allie wants the faucet turned on, Ripley wants me to give her and watch her eat Fancy Feast crunchies, and Georgie wants me to play, pet her, or scoop the poopies/watch her use the box (I'll do anything for my kiddos)
    

There are more bests, but those will do for now.

*glug*

That's about it, really.

The apple album everybody had been waiting for...

...until every blogger in the blogosphere posted the shelved album on the blogs so that readers could listen to the album and critique the songs.

Sony is finally getting off their lazy high horse bums and releasing Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine in October. But, now that we've all heard it already, are we still going to buy it?

A brand new reason to get fired.

Oregano posted an article about two women who were fired from their job for speaking Spanish. I was outraged, mentioned that this is a melting pot and why should people be fired for speaking their native tongue(?!?!), but then Oregano made the point that when you're under someone's roof you play by their rules. I'd appreciate it if you could take a moment to read the original post and leave your comment at Café Oregano. He and I are both interested in finding out how the conversation will twist and turn with more points of view presented. So, thanks from me and Oregano! :)

When?

When am I going to get a "job" that allows me to just lounge around poolside with my miniature puppy, a cool bev-er-age, my cell phone glued to my ear, and 7 people attending to my every need? I'm not saying I want this, I'm just wondering when it's my turn to visit the coveted chaise lounge.

Nabbalicious Strawberry Duke

I am convinced that is what Nabby's mom and John Schneider would have named their first born baby if Nabby's mom's mom had just mailed the letter...



And, you know that baby would have been born on Flag Day!! ;)

PS - I loved Strawberry Shortcake and Bo Duke when I was 8, too.