Flippy - I Rant, You Read

Saturday, July 18, 2009

late morning

When I grow up, I want to be just like this lady…

I would love to have a job that meant I was rescuing animals for a living.  Imagine how nice it would be to let your cat roam around outside safely, where there weren’t any cars or predators, or even filthy driveways to roll around on.  We can’t, with a good conscience, allow any of our cats outside because of how close we live to a large & busy street.  We know that when the cats are scared, they are afraid of not only scary people/things, but us, too.  They actually run away from us.  So, we’ve had to take out the doggie door, since the cats had started thinking it was a kitty door, too.  Maybe, someday, we could add some ginormous cat fencing around our outside walls, so the cats could go laze in the sun, instead of lazing on the stove, right after it was used.  They have an amazing tolerance for heat.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

mid-afternoon

Help Animals & Honor a cool chick - Edith Layton Memorial giveaway, auction and fundraiser

Shamelessly & lovingly copied from the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog.  In memory of Edith Layton, Jane and I are hosting a fundraiser/auction/giveaway to benefit the North Shore Animal League. Layton’s daughter Susie Felber told me that while her mother was very quiet about her battle with ovarian cancer, she was not at all shy about “her insane love of animals,” and so the family decided any memorial contributions should be directed to the NSAL.  With some help from friends and authors, we’re putting together a three part effort.

If you like romance novels, saving animals, remembering cool people in a way that would make them happy, please click on the above paragraph to find out how you can win some books, donate to the North Shore Animal League (or pet charity of your choice) in Edith Layton’s name, and find out how you can win the eBay auction for the upcoming bound anthology, Must Love Hellhounds, by, among others, Charlaine Harris (whose anthology contribution is the next installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series, on which HBO’s True Blood is based), a gift basket by the author of Dark Slayer, and a bound galley of Nora Roberts’ next book.  I think Edith Layton would be thrilled that the North Shore Animal League is benefitting from the auction & raffle by those who loved and admired her.  I think it’ll also help the Felber family, knowing that even though their mom is gone, her legacy of loving & supporting the North Shore Animal League lives on.

So, go check out the full details at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.  And while you’re there, check out the site (and check out Dear Author, too, because they’re in on this SBTB) because it’s pretty entertaining, even for a non-romance novel reader like myself.  Since I’ve never really given any romance novels a shot since perhaps reading one Harlequin romance novel as a kid, I figure I could honor Edith’s memory by checking out one of her novels.  I know that her kids are awesome writers, so it stands to reason, their mom was, too.  Plus, if I love it, it gives me LOTS of new books to read, because the woman was prolific.  When she wasn’t helping save animals and spending time with her grandkids, she must’ve been writing constantly.

Friday, May 29, 2009

terribly early in the morning

My Unlucky Lucky Day aka The ClunkClunkClunk-er

Today was an unlucky lucky day.  On the way home from the doctor’s office, on the freeway, I suddenly heard loud clunking from under the hood on the passenger side of the car.  It sounded like rocks.  Ugh.  I immediately got off the freeway at the next off-ramp, and of course got stuck at a long light (clunkclunkclunk), then pulled into the Trader Joe’s parking lot, figuring that at least it was a familiar place.  It’s already been a very, very long week, as some of you may already know.  I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep because I’ve been keeping normal people’s daytime hours, yet I’ve still mostly been going to bed at our usual 4-6am time because I just feel better when it’s nighttime.  Maybe moreso because it’s been so darned hot here.  So, anyway, I’m tired and I’ve had lots of important appointments to keep.  I didn’t really need car problems on top of everything else, although, really, who does?

I confess to being the stereotypical woman who doesn’t know much about car engines.  I hate dirty hands, so engines just aren’t my thing.  I mean, I know the basics, and what color drips to worry about and stuff like that.  I do not, however, know how to diagnose any engine problems.  None of the all-important dash messages came on, the car wasn’t running overly hot, but I do know that my transmission isn’t in the greatest shape.  I have to let the engine warm up a bit before I can back out of the garage, or the car just doesn’t move, even if I pump the gas pedal.  I was really worried that the transmission was done.  I opened up the hood (naturally, it was a really hot day and kind of humid & I wasn’t dressed for sunning myself) and took a peek, just in case it was something obvious, like a bag of rocks imbued with the spirit of Mexican Jumping Beans.  There was a big scratch across the top of the battery and what looked like black dust on top of the battery.  So I thought, “Weird and bad battery problems?”, but I couldn’t figure out why it would make that clunkclunkclunk noise.  I learned nothing after my first peek.  Then, I started the engine with the hood open and went to take a look.  It couldn’t have been much more obvious if a message scrolled across my hood telling me what the problem was - my belt broke.  The noise was it being flung around and around, whipping the battery.  Yikes!  I knew then that I was in trouble and wasn’t going to be able to just hop back into the car and drive off.

I then did what anyone 44 year old woman with car problems does - I called my daddy.  Unfortunately, after I was at my parents’ house and left for the doctor’s office, they left to go out to eat.  Strike one!  I called Leigh-Ann, not that there was anything that she could do from home, but I wanted to both gripe and let her know that I didn’t know when I was going to make it home.  However, we have all of our ringers turned off and the answering machine volume turned off as well.  She’d have to be looking at the phone to see it light up in order to know that I called.  When I got home, I found out that she’d checked the machine, but right before I’d called.  Strike two!  Then, a nice young man in a beat up truck stopped in front of my car and asked if I needed help.  He said that he had car repair tools with him, but when I told him it was the belt, he couldn’t help because he didn’t have a stash of serpentine belts in his truck.  He apologized.  I thanked him for stopping, and off he went.  Strike three!

Fortunately, I was playing a game that allowed for four strikes.  I looked around forlornly, wondering what the heck I was gonna do.  But, aha!, a Checker Auto Parts store was across the street.  Phew!  But, I had no idea how much it was going to cost, and things have been tight around here, to say the least.  But, the belt was only $35.  Sure, it’s probably a buck’s worth of rubber, but at least it wasn’t a transmission…this time.  Once again, though, I’m stereotypically helpless after I buy a part that involves more than adding wiper fluid or checking the oil.  I asked the guys at Checker if they knew who could put the belt on.  They told me to go across the street, to Purrfect Auto, and to ask for Nick.  In all the times we’ve gone to Trader Joe’s over the years we’ve lived here, I have never seen Purrfect Auto, even though I have to drive by it each time we leave TJ’s.  To be fair to myself, there are really tall trees in front of it, and it’s attached to the back of a Kmart, so I just assumed the whole building was Kmart’s.  I asked for Nick, Nick told me to talk to Rico, the manager.  The manager called over the first guy I’d talk to, to find Nick.  He told him where my car was (a few hundred feet away, easily seen from the auto repair shop), and the manager told me what to pay the guy (too much for the amount of work, but well worth it to be able to get home), the guy drove me to my car, got out, burned his hands on the, uh, thingie where the belt goes, but managed to get it on right.  Told me to start up the car, watched it for a minute to make sure it was on right…and I was done.  From the time my car fell apart on the freeway to the time I was back on my way, was about 25 minutes.  I thanked the guy profusely, then drove back to the auto parts place and thanked those guys profusely, then drove home feeling somewhat grateful.  I realized that I was a little more stressed than I thought because as I got closer to home, my neck muscles started to really hurt.  This could’ve happened so many other places; in fact, just about any other place that I can think of on my way home would’ve been a worse place.  Phew!

Stay tuned for what my doctor thinks about me being accused of being a “drug addict”.  You probably won’t enjoy it as much as I did, but let’s just say that I had no qualms telling him about the accusations because I wasn’t the slightest bit worried about what he would think.  He’s seen me once a month, without fail, for 2.5 years - who else, besides Leigh-Ann and the pharmacy, has seen me 30 times in the past two and half years?  No one.  The pharmacy that I’ve been using since they opened (before my back surgery, so it was at least four years ago) also had a little something to say about the accusations.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

evening

Wishes for a very happy birthday

I just wanted to wish my friend, Nancy, a very happy birthday.  Not only does she have a fabulous name, but she’s a terrific friend.  The world of mommybloggers has given me, a childless homo, some of the most amazing friends.  I’m so grateful to have been able to make lifelong friendships through the oddest of ways.  I wish I was able to spend more real life time with Nancy & Helly, but I know that their friendship isn’t any less because it’s more pixels than, er, cells, I guess.  Plus, I got my very first 100% on the “How well do you know Nancy” quiz, after sinking as low as 14% for another friend named Nancy.  I’m so proud!  Anyway, happy birthday, Nancy.  We’re both really grateful for your friendship and hope that you have a terrific birthday.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

early afternoon

Another Trader Joe’s Favorite

I’ve already professed my love for Trader Joe’s chocolate croissants and spicy spinach flatbread pizzas.  I could live on those two things alone, but now I’ve found another new love - Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette w/ Jalapeno & Fresh Cilantro.  I love Chinese chicken salads and all sorts of noodly things, but I have a major hatred for ginger.  I can’t even count the number of soy sauces or asian dressings I’ve tried, only to hate them because they were overpowered by the evil ginger.  But the Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette doesn’t have any ginger and it’s just perfection.  Leigh-Ann made a cucumber salad from it a few weeks ago, and for the last couple of days I’ve been eating a bag o’ lettuce with the dressing on it.  I’m not even ashamed to admit that I ran my finger along the bottom of the bowl to eat up the extra vinaigrette.  It’s just that good.  My regular ol’ daily use camera died on me for some reason (I charge it and it seems fine, but then the lens remains popped out and won’t go back in after it’s used once), so I can’t post a picture of the dressing yet.  Also, my pro account expired at Flickr a couple of days ago, so if you notice any blog entries with missing pictures, that’s the reason.  It only lets you see the most recent 200 pictures…and I have thousands in my account.  So, hey, please buy the massage chair from us, so my blog works right again, okay?  Win, win - you get a great chair and I pay some bills and “splurge” on a Flickr account, so I can see my pictures again.  Or, get some cat food coupons and treat your kitties to the awesomeness of Merrick cat food.  For awhile, many moons ago, our little dogs ate the Merrick dog food (even when we made really good money from teh internets, it was still too expensive to feed to the big dogs - it would’ve been giving them each a $15 meal every single day, ten times what it costs for the little dogs), and they loooooved it.  I loved it, too, because it smelled yummy and looked all healthy ‘n’ stuff w/ visible whole blueberries and other such goodies.

I digress.  If you like Asian dressings, you should try the Trader Joe’s Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette.  It’s unbelievably delicious.  Oh, and if you like fruit rolls (the 100% fruit ones) and aren’t particular about what flavor you get, TJ’s Fruit Ends & Pieces are terrific.  They hand cut each fruit bar, so they have uneven bits left that they sell in a bag.  The bag is assorted flavors/shapes and they mostly all taste the same to me, but the non-specific flavor is fine with me because whatever flavor it is, I like it.  The best part is how much you save by buying the bag versus the bars.  The bars are 50 or 60 cents each, and the bagful is only $2.99.  By weight, the cost is a fourth or fifth of what it would cost to buy the bars separately.