Cool Stuff

Tina has Chiasso listed under her want list. Lynn suggested I get something there for my new house. So I finally went and looked. Ach, I drooled all over my keyboard. They have the coolest stuff. All that form follows function Alessi type design. I love the bright blues and greens and plasticiness.

I want to fill my house with it. Above we have rabbit timers, sugar dispensers, fish dental floss dispensers, bunny toothpick holders, salt and peper shakers, snowman ice bucket, pepper grinders, a scale and bear nail clippers. *sigh*

I trooped upstairs for a flu shot today. I was doing pretty well until Joel said "ooooooweeee, my arm sure is sore from that flu shot"

Now my arm hurts.

The Plan

Ok here is how things are going to shake out. First the house, then a new bunny, then a hamster to keep the bunny entertained and then a dog to watch over everyone.

Oh yes a dog. The highly anticipated, often discussed dog. Aaron wants a puppy. I would like to rescue a dog someone has given up. The thing we both agree on is it will be a Basset Hound.

The ABC Basset Hound Recue Inc. sounds like a good idea.

House Pictures

Finally... here are pictures of the new house, on Ofoto. Some are dark, as they were taken after work.

You also have to ignore the present owners furniture and blechy blue carpet.

I am becoming more and more excited.

Scarves

It seems like everyone is in a knitting frenzy. Squibnocket and NotMartha have been posting about it all month. Since I had decided to handmake the majority of this years Christmas gifts, I thought knitted scarves would be the way to go.

After several frustrating hours and a carsick tummy I gave up trying to knit during the car ride home. I decided to go the way of the lazy gals knitting... crocheting. I got some super soft 'n thick chenille yarn and started a big fluffy scarf. So much easier... and quick! I have finished one and am almost done with a second!

I can't show it or speak of the other handmade delights I am working on due to the fact most of the gifts recipients read this blog. I will post some pics after the holidays.. Martha-style.

Rainbow

I added the rainbow picture to Saturday's post. Go back and look. Mmmm nice.

Stayin' Alive

During this trip home my mom finally got my sister to fork over my prized Sesame Street Fever record album. It has Grover posing as John Travolta. Ernie, Bert and the Cookie Monster pose as the Gibbs brothers. It's so cool! My dad even gave me his old record player too. I have been wanting this record back for ages and Emily wouldn't give it up. I would like to get my Chipmunk Punk back next.

Between this and the haircut incident on Saturday.. it wasn't a good weekend for my sister.

Turkey Leftovers

I am so excited for my turkey sandwich at lunch. Remember the episode of "Friends" where Ross goes nutty because someone at work ate the leftover turkey sandwhich Monica made him? He had been looking forward to that sandwich all day. I am at that level.

Sunday: Rainbow

On the ride back to Rochester the setting sun cast a deep red light across the river and trees next to us.

Aaron: "Do you wanna stop and take a picture?"
Jenny: "Nahhh the camera is in the trunk"
Aaron: "Are you sure?"
Jenny: "Yeah as soon as we get turned around I am sure the sun will be gone."
We drive a little further.
Aaron: "Sure is nice. Last chance..."
Jenny: "Turn around!"

After a scramble to get the camera out of the trunk and time to turm around back to the spot, the sun had almost set. The trees weren't the same firey red as I saw before, but there was a big rainbow, so I took pictures of that.

I brought the wrong memory card to work, so I will have to post the picture of it tomorrow.

Saturday: Haircut

My sister asked me to cut her hair today. heh heh. I guess I took off a little more than she expected. She yelped when she looked in the mirror. heh heh.

Baby Goats

My grandfather got my uncle three baby goats at the animal auction. (I am home for Thanksgiving) At fourteen bucks a piece I think they were a bargain!

They are so little and cute. They bleat and hop around while my uncle tries to feed them. You can tell they are hungry but he has to tackle them and hold them under his arm while he works the baby bottle into their mouths. The slurp away as happy as can be, but they forget quickly and the next time he offers them the bottle they jump and run away. Silly goats.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a pom pom turkey I made at work.

Gobble gobble.

Hope everyone enjoys their holiday.

Blogger Sleuth

A couple months ago, I noticed that my hits had gone down drastically. I had no idea why. Last week while I was emailing the creator of BlogBack, he mentioned that Blogger sometimes messes with your template code... by adding &&&'s. This wasn't my problem with comments, but when I went into my template I noticed that there were a ton of &'s in my tracker code. I deleted them.

It seemed as though every time I edited my template, Blogger added another line of &'s. Monday when I checked my hits, they had jumped up to four times the usual amount. That was the same day I deleted the &'s.

Bizzare but true.

Good to go

I had the house inspected yesterday and I am happy to report that it is pest free. The roof is older than we thought but the furnace is way newer than we thought. There is new plumbing and new electric. It is a sturdy little house.

Mini Tupperware

Here is the real reason why I love Tupperware parties. Winning the little Tupperware prizes.

Teeny little Tupperware container magnet and keychain.

So cute. For a tiny little meal.

What a busy weekend.

I solved my little comments problem. I upgraded my Netscape 4.7 to 6.2. It was touch and go there for awhile but the installation and subsequent troubleshooting *only* took the morning.

Sunday: Tupperware and a house to put it in

Midst all the Harry Potter and Deep Fried Turkey this weekend, I was meeting with my realtor, Eileen and looking at a house (pictured here). Saturday, I made an offer. Sunday, the owner countered and I accepted. I'm a homeowner! It all went very quickly. I am very excited. The daydreams and plans for interior decorating and home improvement may now proceed.

In the evening Tina and I cohosted a Tupperware Party. As I looked through the catalogue I thought... "hmmm where would I put this Rock and Serve set? Oh yeah! In my NEW kitchen! Better order some more. " And the best thing was, as a co-host I got one product free and one half off. The only thing better than Tupperware is free Tupperware!

Saturday:Pre-Thanksgiving White Trash Deep Fried Turkey Party

Matt completely filled his loft with hungry lookers on as he deep fried a 22 lb turkey to crispy tastiness. It was a scary thing when the oil bubbled and overflowed as he lowered the turkey into the fryer. It was volcano-like. I especially found the box o' peanut oil that Matt had to buy for the event frightening.

The turkey was great, the stuffing was great, the many kinds sweet potatoes was great, and the dirt dessert was really great. But what really topped off the evening was when everyone was sitting shoulder to shoulder on Matt's floor digging into their overflowing plates. There were smiles all around. And that is what Thanksgiving is all about.

I made an Ofoto album of this memorable event.

Harry Potter and Jack Astor

There were 18 of us around a table at Jack Astor's for Tina's Birthday this evening. Someone at the table got pasta, thus enabling all of us to get the hot garlic cheese buns. Lordy those were good. But the highlight of the meal was Tina crawling up on a chair gripping a plate of birthday cake as all the servers surrounded her singing at the top of their lungs. I don't know if her smile was one of joy or "I'm gonna kill you guys".

Good thing for us Matt ordered our Harry Potter tickets on fandango.com. Even though we rushed directly to the theatre, the place was mobbed. The movie? ... practically follows the book chapter by chapter. Good... long... but good. I want an owl now.

Stor Troopers

Since I have been working on my character illustrations at work I have been searching the web for icon-type characters. Last year Stor Troopers were all the rage with anyone with a website. I could never get the little app to load.

Lo and behold today it worked! I was able to build my little Jenny Trooper. Scary thing is I think it really looks like me. I would totally wear an alien t-shirt and I dress mostly in black and grey.

I am a year late... but there I am.

Some can comment, some cannot

After going to the maker of BlogBack for help, I discovered that my comments are working on IE but not Netscape. Why? I dunno.

Happy happy birthday... Happy happy birthday.

Happy Birthday today to Tina! We have some stuff planned for tonight that she has sort of an idea of... but hopefully we will be able to surprise her a little. And in honor of Tina... a top ten list... Top Ten Things About Tina!

Tina... could you use your birthday cake wish to get my comments back?

Icons

I have been working on illustrations for a "Digital Camera Basics" web page at work. Looking over my shoulder Tina noticed that the main character looked rather like myself. I then had to do a character for her too. Before I knew it all my friends were in the illustrations. Tina posted hers on her blog page and Matt came looking for a file of his so I imagine his will show up soon.

The two here are Aaron and I.

Ewwwwww

Beth (? I don't have a web site link for her) sent me this link regarding Mikey J. Sad sad sad.

Sickly

After denying it for a day, I will now confess I am sick. It is not allergies, it is not tiredness... I have a cold. There I said it. My head feels like the huge walking nose in the cold medicine commercials. That is me the giant walking nose to the left.

I feel rotten. I am going home to roll up in a quilt and sip hot tea. I have to be well by Tina's birthday.

My comments seem to be fried.

Mikey J

For some unknown reason, Aaron really likes Michael Jackson. Mikey J, he calls him. He freely admits the guy is a freak of nature, yet he is all set to watch the MJ special on tv tonight.

We all liked MJ at some point. But then... and I can't even pinpoint exactly when it happened, then he got WEIRD. Why does he look like that?!

People usually snicker when I tell them Aaron still likes him. But I have also noticed that no matter how much they make fun, when one of his songs come on the radio they all start tapping their feet. Recently Alien Ant Farm used "Smooth Criminal" and Moby remixed "Beat It". Is he having some sort of resurgence?

Freakish or not, I imagine that is what I will be forced to watch on tv tonight.

Greg the Bunny

I just discovered that one of the back up shows for Fox is "Greg the Bunny"... "Greg, a wide-eyed innocent bunny puppet, has fallen into the world of the fictitious children's show "Sweetknuckle Junction," which is populated by neurotic puppets and the humans who both love and abuse them. Mixing both live action and puppetry, Greg the Bunny is an inventive half-hour comedy based on a series of short films."

Sounds interesting. It's a good cast with Seth Green (the luckiest guy in showbiz) and Eugene Levy (hysterical in Best in Show). Well... and it has a bunny in it.

More Tupperware

Tina and I are co-hosting a Tupperware Party on Sunday. We are having it at her house and I am making the grub. I keep hinting to our friends how nice it would be to pack their sandwich in a Tupperware box rather than a nasty old zip lock bag. The more stuff they buy, the more stuff we can get!

And you can never have too much Tupperware.

I gotta say... I feel badly for the loved ones of the victims of today's crash. The victims of a terrorist crash seem to get so much more sympathy. As soon as we discovered that the crash was probably an accident there was a huge sigh and we went back to our daily routine. Sort of how the plane that crashed in the middle of a Pennslyvania field doesn't get a fraction of the coverage as the ones that took out a building. It doesn't matter how the people died, they are still dead because of something that happened that shouldn't have. But then again people die everyday, nameless, without note. I guess this incident just made me feel like we were being told... "Whew! ... it was just an accident... don't worry... no big deal... forget about it... mechanical error...."

Will I ever want to fly again?

Sunday: Rocket Dogs

I didn't think I could carry on without the JCrew clogs. Then I started getting comments on how uncomfortable they were. I solved the problem today by getting a pair of Black Suede Fleece Lined Rocket Dog Clogs.

One web site described them as..."jumbo gum rubber soles with nubbies... warm fleecey lining ... totally toastie ... perfect for those cold sloshy walks to class ... perfectly warm & cozy".

They are super warm and snuggly. Like wearing slippers to work.

Saturday: Visit to the Library

I have rediscovered the library. I first had to pay off a $12 fine from 1998, but now I am checking out dvd's of old Hitchcock movies and Martha Stewart Holiday books. I wish the library near me was bigger. Like the huge old libraries in movies where you can hide between rows of shelves at a heavy wooden table lit by a brass lamp with a green lampshade.

My library is one floor and over run by children trying to get on the internet.

Charlie Brown

Speaking of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving", I saw that you can get it and "It's the Great Pumpkin", and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in a boxed CD set. A must have. I also want the New Years, Valentines and Easter Charlie Brown specials too, but they aren't on DVD yet, only VHS.

Combining a childhood icon and holidays, it can't get any better in my book.

Turkey Turkey

I am so excited for Matt's Redneck/White Trash Deep Fried Turkey Party. I always thought the Turducken was kinda gross, but I am all for something that is deep fried. Just like the Krispy Kreme Wall of Glaze, you really can't go wrong. Anything deep fried or sent through a Wall of Glaze is bound to be good.

Besides, as Matt pointed out, Martha deep fried a turkey (see pic). I was rather surprised to see she didn't paint that nasty rusty propane tank a nice shade of robin's egg blue, but there she is with her Turkey Fryer.

The excitment is catching... Cindy posted a link to someone's Turkey Frying Photo Album. I think in my mind this isn't so much a redneck party as it is a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Remember that episode where all the kids in the neighborhood come and Snoopy serves popcorn and toast? At any rate, I am still trying to come up with a dish that involves Velveeta or Jello to take to the party.

Must See TV

I have encountered a television dilemna. Tonight is the first episode of The Tick. I love the Tick. I loved the comic books and the cartoon. The lines such as "Quit yanking my food chain!", "I'm about to write you a reality check." and "You don't eat crackers in the bed of your future, you get all... scratchy!" are priceless.

But there is a problem. While a brand new episode of Family Guy and then The Tick air at 8 on Fox, Survivor will be on CBS and Friends and Will and Grace will be on NBC! What to do!?

Aaron will have to tape Survivor, I will tape Family Guy and The Tick and we will watch Friends and Will and Grace.

Now does everyone understand why I CANNOT have cable?!

Yum Pop

Last week I got my "Miso Happy" t-shirt from Yum Pop. I like it immensely. I am also eyeing the snow bunny t-shirts too. The one with the panda hitting the bunny with a snowball cracks me up.

NotMartha has been searching for a knitting pattern for a hat with ears. Both Tina and I love hats with ears, and almost bought kid sized Halloween ones at the Gap. I have vowed to dress my children (when I have them...or one) as critters until they are ready for college.

When I was in Toronto I got a knit cap with little kitty ears. I can't find anything like that online, but NotMartha might be interested in the kitty and bear hooded fleece sweatshirts Yum Pop has.

Sorry, I had my comments down for awhile, the server that hosts BlogBack has been buggy, and you can't load my page when it's having trouble. I hope they get the problem fixed.

Ooooh I just had a bright idea. In true Martha-style, I realized that wine charms might be something one might be able to make themselves as a holiday gift... hmmmm.

Charmed

I was excited to see that Squib had also recieved the Eddie Bauer $15 certificate and made good use of it. In case you were wondering what I got with mine, it was wine charms (left). Not that I have many (any) wine-infused gatherings, but they are so cute and seem like something one simply must have. For those of you who have no idea what these are, they are for your guests to place around the stem of their wine glass during your soirre, so that they know which glass is theirs.

I really wanted the wine charms (right) at Red Envelope. But they were more expensive and they didn't send me a gift certificate! Each of those have a word like "shy" or "chatty", and your guest chooses the charm that suits them. Of course with my luck a fight would break out over who got what charm.

Good Hair Day

I pride myself on carrying everything I might possibly need in my purse. From Shout wipes to nail files. So when I saw that Aveda had a hair styling stick the size of chapstick, I knew it was a must have.

It's called A Little Self Control, and it really works. Now if Aaron would just stop using it for chapstick...

Well, look who's blogging again.

Sunday: free day

Today was a day of free things. Aaron and I met Joel, Lara and Hannah at IHOP and got our meal comped for a 45 minute wait. Then at the mall we used a $15 certificate (on a $16 purchase )that the Eddie Bauer folks had so foolishly sent Aaron. After that I picked up a free pair of underwear at Victoria's Secret with a free coupon they had sent me in the mail. They spent a few minutes trying to sell me something else, but hah hah! Little did they know this was free day!

Two free small fries at Burger King with tickets Aaron got at school, nicely rounded out our day of free. Fries taste much better when they are free.

Saturday: reunion

Thank goodness for the class I went to graduate school with. My high school class is so disorganized we didn't have a ten year reunion this year. But my graduate CGD class (computer graphics design) has got their act together and we had a three year reunion this evening.

Out of the twelve of us, eleven were able to make it back to Rochester to have a get together at Danica's. Granted many of us are still here, I see them everyday at work. Even our two professors JimandBob (they go together) made it. Poor Kristen was stuck in Boston sick, but we talked to her on the phone. After spending two years slaving away with these guys they are like family. We very quickly caught up and chattered the evening away. It was just like being back in the lab again.

Everybody else is doing it, maybe I should too.

Between Sara and Cindy, I feel as though I should read The Lord of the Rings before the movie comes out too.

When I saw the boxed set of all three books with movie scene covers, I really wanted them... so I guess I will be reading the books too.

Just Wrong

On my way into the office I noticed a car in the parking lot that had six Krispy Kreme doughnuts stabbed onto it's radio antennae. I don't know if it was a personal statement or a prank, but either way it was a SHAMEFUL WASTE OF DOUGHNUT!

Reassessment

It's so easy to complain. About the weather, the traffic, nothing being on TV. I know I do my fair share of it. I have nothing to wear, I am tired, my hair looks funny.

Then I read about Squib's e-friend. Koog. Koog is having her fourth major surgery in a year. Bad kidney, bad infection, bad heart valves. It stopped me in my tracks. She writes about it so matter of factly. I lost my favorite lip gloss, she lost a kidney. It put things in a different perspective.

Encouraging thoughts being sent your way Koog.

BlogBack v.1.3

The commenting system BlogBack has been updated. You have to write down the numbers of whichever posts comments you want to save (open a comment and it will have the number "Comments for post: 6791812") Then go to the updated code and replace it in your blog template code and then go to the converter and enter the info for the comments you want to keep. It onl,y took me a few minutes.

Mmmmm Pancakes

An IHOP opened here in Rochester. Oh lordy, what could be better than breakfast any time of the day?!

I love pancakes! The International House of Pancakes offers....Crepe-style Pancakes, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Country Griddle Pancakes, Harvest Grain 'N Nut Pancakes, Buttermilk Pancakes, Potoato Pancakes and Banana Nut Pancakes. I don't know what makes IHOP "International". Do they have them all over the world? It's not like they serve German pancakes or Swedish pancakes. Not that this bothers me, mind you.

I can't wait to go. The most appealing offer looks like the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity® Two eggs, two bacon strips, two pork sausage links and two buttermilk pancakes crowned with your choice of fruit topping (Blueberry Strawberry Cinnamon-Apple) and whipped topping. Yesssssss.

November

I refused to wear my winter coat in the month of October, no matter how frigid it became (and it got quite nippy). Since today was the first day of November, I drug my heavy winter coat out of the closet and headed off to work.

It's sorta warmish today. Figures.