Do my stuff!

Cool concept found via Hippie Spelunker : a website where you can post the chores you want done, how much you're willing to pay for the service, and get an "assistant" to do it! Want someone to pick up your drycleaning, make dinner, or clean your fish tank?

Check out http://www.domystuff.com/.

Another one bites the dust

One of my very old favourites, Strip mining for whimsy, died an unheralded (in my mind, at least) death in March. How could I not have visited Joshua, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, for all that time?

Joshua once told the scariest goddamned ghost story I'd ever read or heard in my life. His archives are still up, so I think you might want to root around in, maybe, 2005 or maybe 2004, and you'll find it. SCARY, I tell you.

I can't believe he shut down his site in March and I missed it. He's just one of those things you almost take for granted, things that will always be there. Then they go away, and you wonder what happened.

Godspeed, Josh! I did love ya, in my own quiet and irregular way.

Rain rain

Bloody hell, why can't we ever get more than three days of sun in a row? Sunday it rained and stormed; Monday was crappy; Tuesday was gorgeous and warm. Today, it's raining again and we're supposed to get thunderstorms this afternoon.

As long as there is thunder and lightning, I'm okay with rain.

Not much on the agenda today. Right now I'm listening to rose cousins sing Dance If You Want To, which is very pretty and just right for a gloomy day. I need more music. Everything I own I've owned forever, and some days I get sick of opera. Today is a folk music kind of day.

I got this picture from Rose's MySpace. She's from Halifax. Oh Canada!

photo by Jon Strymish (taken at MFA in Boston)

Fiddleheads! Lovely curly fiddleheads!

I bought a bunch of veggies today. How I love summer veggies! But the broccoli and cauliflower are still being imported, apparently, because the prices are outrageous. You won't catch me paying $5.00 for one.

Instead, I got baby cukes, fiddleheads, celery, sweet peppers and new russet potatoes.

I also bought pansies -- my very favouritest flower in the world, along with gerberas. My planters are (allegedly) being picked up by B. at rom's today and I hope to have them stocked with pansies and hanging on the porch railings this evening.

I want herbs, too. Parsley, oregano, basil... But I am not sure where to put them, if my planters occupy all the available railing space. I will think of something.

Summer truly begins, in my head, when I buy my first flowers.

I missed Earth Day this year

I was trying to figure out how I missed Earth Day, then I realized that I had just moved a couple of days before it. So I guess I was a little busy.

Anyhoo, I saw Orlando Bloom on Ellen last week. My, he is a wee thing, isn't he? And Bloom said that being part of the solution to climate change is not an all-or-nothing deal, not strictly black and white.

He said, you can drive that big gas-guzzling SUV, sure! But you can compensate in other areas, such as using energy-efficient light bulbs or being careful about water consumption.

I agree. Everyone can easily make at least one small gesture toward the environment, such as putting up a clothesline (Chunks!) or turning off the water while they brush their teeth.

Here is a gratuitous picture of Mr. Bloom:

This appeared in L'Uomo Vogue.

I don't know why I'm on about the environment; I suppose it's because I just emptied my recycling and my composting into the bins just now. I'm happy to be able to compost at last! Now I just have to drill it into the Teen's head. So far, I've been fishing banana peels, etc., from the regular garbage.

Several bloggers in various parts of the world are complaining about mosquitoes of late. Seems to be a pretty heavy year for them, here included.

If you have a lawn or garden or need to control pests, check out this website http://www.extremelygreen.com/ which sells organic products.

Toddler drowns while mother on MySpace

Further proof that the Internet can be detrimental to family life.

Sad story here.

Tagged again

StaceyG, who will forever remain Tigger in my heart, has tagged me for a meme. It's kinda an all-over-the-map meme but, you know, whatever.


1. What were you doing 10 years ago? I was doing pretty much what I am doing today, except there was drinking involved then.

2. What were you doing 1 year ago? I was helping rom celebrate her birthday, which is today. Remind me to call her.

3. 5 snacks you enjoy: Fritos corn chips (original), raw veggies but only if there's dip involved, spring vegetable Cup-a-Soup, hummus, toasted tomato sandwich

4. 5 songs to which you know all the lyrics: Bohemian Rhapsody, Fields of Gold, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Little Girl Blue (Quebec singer Coral Egan's version is the best), I don't know, I know the lyrics to a ton of songs!

5. 5 things you would do if you were a millionaire: pay off debts, finish driving lessons, buy car, buy house, trip to Scotland

6. 5 bad habits: smoking, babbling at my cats, doing things automatically for my son, and I can't think of two others

7. 5 things you like doing: blogging, watching movies, cooking, writing, reading

8. 5 things you would never wear again: "again" being the operative word? I can't think of anything.

9. 5 favorite toys: my Acer, satellite receiver, my cats, my Olympus camera, I can't think of a fifth

I ain't gonna tag nobody. If you feel like playing along, go ahead!

Becoming blasé

So I'm about as settled at the motel as I can be, if you call "settled" not having a kitchen table. With large boxes still in the living room.

Since getting my twisted paper blinds, which I love to death, I have, paradoxically, become much more at ease with the blinds open. Now that I know (at least by sight)most the people who walk past the windows, I don't care. I don't even bother looking up from the computer most times.

When I sit outside, reading, it's a different story. Everyone who walks by stops to talk, or fondle Mikey, who's usually lolling in the grass close by.

If dogs are a chick magnet for guys, I'm thinking my cat is a guy magnet, except that it's all the wrong kinda guys.

I was reading a good crime novel the other day, courtesy of Cassie-b who sent it in the mail, and one of the dudes (the wheezing one) slouched over and asked if I "liked that sort of thing."

"You mean reading? Yes, I do. Don't you?" I replied.

"I can't read. I didn't get past third grade."

M'kay.

Then there's this sweet elderly gent who is missing four fingers on his left hand. I'll have to ask him how that happened.

Finally, there's this other guy who's seriously pissing me off. He spends most of his time sawing or sanding pieces of wood for something he's building. And he does it behind the dumpsters, right across the laneway from my living room windows. Like, a dozen feet away.

I've already said I hate the sounds of motors. So a couple of weeks ago, when he started up his frikkin power saw around 6:00 PM, I went over to see him. Politely, I said, "Will you be doing that for very long?" He stopped, apologized profusely, and we spent a minute or so politely begging each other forgiveness, I for stopping his work, he for the noise.

Well.

It appears that he's mad at me. In French, they say "en tabarnak." Which is more than mad, it's more like furious.

Really?

All this week he's been sanding and grinding and whirring. And I've had to close my windows more than once because of it.

Which is not making me happy.

He's mad at ME because I object to his industrial noises?

Just you wait.

Contest!

Kat has a contest!

Only a couple of hours to go before she shuts the doors.

You could win a book or a DVD.

You know Kat is a cheap witch generally so this contest is a way to get the best of her.

She is not cheap, just ADD.
Actually, she is none of those things.
Kat is kewl.

7 weird things

That Grrl, Laura, did me the favour of tagging me for this meme.

Seven weird things about me.

1) I worry about my heart.
2) I have a visceral reaction to noise.
3) My hearing is very sharp. (See 2)
4) I have a hard time saying no.
5) I am terrible at math.
6) But I can remember numbers like crazy.
7) I like Big Macs.

Now I tag people:
Kat (http://www.mysinglemomlife.com/blog/index.php)
DSB (http://www.devilishsouthernbelle.blogspot.com)
Jeni (http://oldavonladysorders.blogspot.com/)
Manic Witch (http://manicwitch.blogspot.com/)
Aza (http://phantasmagoricaldreams.blogspot.com/)

Tag! Deal with it, ladies. I hate being tagged but we all know we love to talk about ousselfs.

Early link love

I usually do (did!) link love on Saturdays, but tonight I am feeling a bit wired and I want to direct the ladies to Flack and Proud, a self-professed corporate slacker.

Dude's in his 40s and married, mit dog, but/and he's a fun read with wicked little sense of humour.

I am just a few weeks late or a few days early with the link love, depending on how you view this stuff.

Flavor Flack!

Is it stalking?

If someone calls you up to six times a day, and sometimes every 5 minutes, and either leaves no message half the time or leaves a message the other half, is this stalking?

This guy's not a stalker, but it's starting to feel like I'm being stalked. It creeps me out that he won't just leave one message and then wait for me to call back.

This is not proper, old-fashioned telephone etiquette.

Ends of seasons, ends of series

I was just catching up over at Colleen's blog, where she's talking about some of her favourite reality shows coming to an end.

It is that time of year, isn't it. How depressing. A whole summer of nuttin' ahead.

So it got me thinking about the shocking twist in The Sopranos, a series that has been fantastic but is at last coming to an end. How I loved Tony, flaws and all... until he snuffed his nephew Chris after their car accident!

I mean, how downright soulless can you be?

Now, as far as I'm concerned, Tony can go ahead and die anytime. Now, one of his family members can outfit him with a pair of cement boots, and I will not shed a tear. Nuh-uh.

There are times when you root for the bad guy, but not this time.

Must.Think.of.Something

It's 2:00 PM, it's sunny, and I'm finished work for the day!

It's at times like this I wonder why I think I want or need a part-time office or waitressing job.

I must be crazy.

I need days like this to remind me why being self-employed is so cool.

Computer wonky

After a myriad odd bits of behaviour over the past few weeks, my computer has stopped reading my memory card.

I wanted to post a picture of a figurine, the origin of which I am trying to establish.

I know the thing is at least 50 years old, but my Internet searches are turning up zilch.

I wonder if I should stick it on eBay and see what happens?

Open the door and...

This morning I opened the front door and...

GAH! A tiny little spider scuttled fron the door frame, closely followed by a big FAT BROWN spider which went straight to the shoe rack.

No, not just the shoe rack... next to it, where there are other things sitting there, like the small bamboo blind leaning in the corner. Waiting to be installed.

Nah, I said. Sixteen months in teh country inured meh to yas, I said. I mashed that poor big fat arachnid in two smacks of a sandal, and the little spideh, well, he was also gone in a flash.

Bugs.

Recipe contest

Kate at Electric Venom is asking for recipes. She has pretty specific guidelines but also some pretty nifty prizes for her contest, so go check it out.

I submitted a lowly chicken/salsa recipe with no idea of winning. I just want to help this smart, married, tart, mother-of-one blogger to throw together easy dinner things.

She doesn't even have me on her blogroll, and I've been reading her for like, 5 years, so you know this is not a blatant link love thang. I just like Kate.

$65 million-dollar pants

A judge is suing a Korean couple, owners of a dry cleaners, for a pair of pants that went missing.

Story here... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_fe_st/65_million_dollar_pants

And the fund to help with the Chung's defense is here...

It got up and went

My get up and go, that is. Gone.

Today appears to be a day off work (I say "appears" because in this line of business, you never know what will pop up) and I have NO MOTIVATION WHATSOEVER TO DO ANYTHING.

I took out some composting and cleaned the cat boxes, swept the floors, but that's the extent of my productivity.

It's a warm and hazy day, almost a REAL SUMMER DAY. But still I have no inspiration.

I just lined up a ride for tomorrow with a new neighbour, however. We're going to the next other semi-large town -- OK, I guess it's officially a city -- to look at blinds. And to get my stupid cell phones reprogrammed at last; we haven't even used them yet because they gave us the wrong area code!

It's about time that the pace of work slowed down, because there are so many things I should be attending to, and haven't had time.

Update, for those who care: It was one of those days when you really have to force yourself to accomplish tasks, one at a time. Ever have a day like that?

I got quite a bit done, though.

The Belle of May

I managed to translate that poem for the client.

What a relief!

In the end, I worked best under pressure, and got it done with a pretty nice olde englishe flourish, with such words as 'neath.

Monday is shaping up as incredibly busy plus a very grouchy teenager. Thank the universe he has gone out for a few hours.

*grunt*

Mother Teresa of the birds and cats

A lovely little grey cat, very skittish, made my acquaintance tonight -- or should I say, early this morning.

Mikey the Mighty Hunter brought him home.

Second kitty he has led back to the house. The first one was a cute little orange boy. Quite shy. Good for him, because I tend to want to steal orange kittehs.

This latest one is ravenous, I put out a bowl of food (dry!) and he's wolfing it.

I think I mentioned before that I dream often of small animals. Kittens seem to be prominent, but birds are, too.

Animal spirits.

Planning

I forgot to call my brother pmg on his birthday.

And I've been so good about remembering birthdays all year. I plead the fifth (moving day) in this case.

Belated happy birthday, little bro!

Rom's birthday is in a couple of weeks. ::sigh::

I bought some pink pearls on eBay, CHEAP! And I will make her a necklace.

I had planned some other gifts, but the ungrateful wench doesn't deserve them. I think I will give them to other people.

It might be YOU. Be nice to me until May 27th.

A good day, in spite of ...

As I posted on the other blog, I did windows, wiped log walls, and cleaned/polished furniture at rom's today.

She never said a word to me.

But she managed to send me two underhanded little digs through our friend Brian who was with us today, which reinforces my astonishment at the utter negativity of this woman.

The rest of the day was much nicer. I went to Wallymart and bought a pair of cheap sandals. (Then again... what is not cheap at Walmart? How redundant of me.) I also got a really CUTE cheap little bracelet and some cheap Hanes underwear!

As I walked back home I looked, as always, at the rolling fields to the west. Used to be someone's really big farm. Now divvied up for commercial purposes. That always makes me sad. But I also always hope that the farmer(s) got a great big whack of money for the land they sold.

Immediately north of Walmart begins more farmland that has mostly been untouched, and Jersey cows who lounge by the fence, mere feet from the zoom-zoom of the modern auto. I love that.

Speaking of autos, Lachute seems to be a magnet for the vintage car crowd. I've been visiting these parts since 2001 (4 years before moving into rom's house) and I cannot really understand the vintage car population. Unless there's some major annual show? Possible.

I saw a Charger today that made me say "wow!" out loud. And I'm not a Charger kinda girl. This thing was mint. Throaty, but doing the 50 km maximum speed limit (!!).

That's pretty much it for today. I love this second blog, it's sort of my overflow-blog for the extras I forget to say on the main blog.

How did YOU spend your Saturday? What's the weather like? It's still frikkin chilly here. Stupid wind and dampness won't go away.

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Ten things you don't know about me

My SIL tagged me for this meme, so here goes.

1) There's a spot on my scalp where, if I use a hairbrush hard on it, I sneeze.
2) I like the shape of my nose.
3) I could eat lasagna every day.
4) I am partial to men with dark hair and dark eyes.
5) My longest celibate streak was eight years.
6) Water makes me burp.
7) I dream about small animals, usually cats and dogs, almost every night.
8) As a teen, I wanted to be a rock star.
9) I have an uncanny ability for remembering phone numbers.
10) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is my all-time idol.