Blogging: Why Bother?

I first started blogging because of Marie. She is one of my favorite people, and her gray matter sparkles and scintillates...honestly. One of the first things I noticed about her when I met her was all the glitter and sparks pouring out her ears.

And Marie started a blog. I started to read it. And I learned all sorts of things about Marie that I didn't know before, and I loved her all the more for it.

So I thought, if this is a way to get to know people better and in different ways than you otherwise would, I'm signing up. I think that's pretty cool.

Of course, I don't know if me blogging really meets that aim for anyone—I have no idea why you people come and read anything here at all, to tell you the truth. And lately—well, I haven't been all that inspired to blog at all. I've been doing other things. I haven't even read any blogs lately (which is super-lame, considering how many wonderful people I'm letting myself get out-of-touch with...just sad. I've got about 200+ unread entries on google reader nagging at me).

I need to inspire myself to get back into this a bit. So, I'm going to let you, the unfortunate reader who has stumbled onto this blog, to choose a post topic. I'll let the first three commenters (if there are any) decide whether you want to read a post about:

• my family
• a roadtrip
• an elevator story
  
• my religious problem
• chocolate
• or anything you want me to write about?
  

Thanks. And now, my latest obsession. Click to listen:

Fairy Tale Christmas

There are a few things that I have learned are not real. The Easter Bunny. The Great Pumpkin. Unicorns. Fairies, elves, and flying reindeer with glowing red noses. Things that make for pretty stories but that you never will encounter in real life.

I thought that snowflakes were one of these myths and legends perpetuated to make people feel just a little better about snow. After all, snowflakes don't look like this, now do they?

Our house is currently under three feet of snow, and a huge storm is expected to bring many more inches tomorrow. It's been snowing all day today, too, but not very seriously. The clouds are just stretching and warming up for the big day tomorrow. But as I was out attacking the glacier that is in our driveway, I noticed this snow looked a little different than any I had seen before. Sorta like instant potato flakes*. Then I looked a little closer.

Holy cow of the ancient milk goddess! THEY REALLY DO EXIST!

Look at these! I was afraid I wasn't going to get a good picture--but LOOK! You can see them in all their six-pointed wonder and delicate gorgeousosity! Here's a long shot:

And a close-up:
Did you SEE THEM?

And they made the teensy little tree we have out front look fabulous, too:

Close-up of tree branch:
Now it makes me wonder--what else is out there that I've taken for granted** is just a nice story we tell to make children's lives a little brighter? If I hear a prowler tomorrow night banging around in the house and attack him with the baseball bat that is under the bed, will I end up apologizing profusely to the Man in Red? Will he throw coal at me? Will he whip out his reindeer whip and go all manga on me?

Hmm. Merry Christmas to you!


*Which I never, EVER use. Oh no. I boil all my potatoes and mash them by hand. I grow the potatoes before I cook them, too. I have a potato field in my back yard, and a potato cellar in the garage.
**Another example of this is windshield washer fluid. It's something that I've always taken for granted, and believed would be there every time I pressed the button. However, it turns out if it gets cold enough, the stuff freezes. I had no idea. Apparently you are supposed to change the windshield washer fluid to a winter formula. Who would've guessed? (Also, if anyone has some really good tips about how to thaw out a washer fluid reservoir that is frozen solid, please let me know, 'kay?)

Blog-Hopping: An Off-Color Adventure

We've all done this: you get on the Internet with the simple intention of checking your email, and an hour later you find yourself about twenty clicks away looking at a YouTube movie of a cat playing the piano. Or something else much more disturbing, like a piano playing a cat.

This is the story of what I was doing last night. My intentions were simple enough--just five minutes to check on a blog or two I haven't been to in awhile--then I was going to go do the dishes, like I was supposed to've done right after dinner.

Anyway, Millie posted this fabulous Eric Snider link where he mocks Twilight*. Absolutely great stuff. Very funny. It had been awhile since I've read any Eric Snider, so I spent a few minutes poking around his blog, and found a link where a few people were mocking snippets from "Police Beat" in the Daily Universe. (If any of you are graduates of BYU and remember the Daily Universe, this may bring back fond memories.) I greatly enjoyed reading it, but it does start to get a little off-color. (I was not offended, but that doesn't mean much. My favorite bit by far was "Long Juan Silver." Just thinking about it right now is making me choke a little.)

Then I started snooping around that blog, and I found this. And laughed. (By now, my sides are hurting.) After you've clicked on that link, click here for some pictures of the...er...completed recipe. Oh, heavens.

And from there, I found yet another link to here (this one has its own pictures). Worse and worse, but I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard.

And then I went to bed. Right after I hurriedly scrubbed dishes and threw them in the dishwasher, that is.

And now I'd better post this and run off to the kitchen, because I'm already a half hour late starting dinner. (How does that happen? Blasted Internet. Wait--maybe I should just look on ebay for just a minute and see if anyone happens to be selling some self-discipline...)

*For you Twilight fanatics: Elastic posted something awhile back, too, which I enjoyed very much as well: a mock trailer for Twilight. If you haven't seen it yet, now is the time.

gratitude

I've got an awful lot to be grateful for. For example, did you know that chocolate did not EXIST in the solid bar form prior to 1830? That's right. People just drank it, like coffee. Sad.

I am also extremely grateful for electricity, which makes other wonderful things such as central heat, air conditioning, refrigerators, and computers possible. I mean, where would I be without my electric throw wrapped around me as I type this? And microwaves make hot chocolate just about instant, which is a wonderful thing on a chilly night like this. (It's been below freezing.)

Also, deodorant and toothpaste. Need I say more? Yes. I am grateful for soap. Scented, bubbly soap that does not smell like lard or ash (which is what soap used to be made of...though I don't know if I believe it...)

I'm grateful for great big things, things like health--mine and other family members--and the Gospel, and family, and people who set a world's record by making a gigantic cookie.

I'm grateful for silly things, like knock-knock jokes and presidential elections.

And I'm grateful for you. Thanks for stopping by. Here, some more of what I'm grateful for: my digital camera and the beautiful world we live in:




































Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Primary Presentation Was Today

Yup. It sure was. This was my son's first time participating. Well, "participating" doesn't seem to be the right word. He did go up. Eventually. After I asked him, "Do you want to walk up, or do you want me to carry you?" (I carried him up there.) And once he was up there, I had to stay nearby to keep him from bolting. He didn't sing. He sat when he was supposed to stand, and stood when he was supposed to sit, and he really really worked on giving the crustiest looks possible while he pouted during the songs. He had one line, something like: "I will follow Jesus because I love Him," which he mumbled as grouchily as he possibly could into the microphone. It was, of course, completely unintelligible. A little bit later, he found that one of his fingernails was coming off (he's a nail picker and can't leave them alone). It just happened to be his middle finger. So he said, as is his habit, "Mom, I got a fingernail goin' on!" and waved his finger in the air to show me--and flipped off the entire congregation. I sneaked a little closer and removed the fingernail. Five minutes and some picking later, he did it again. Same finger, same obscenity. And then it was over. I'm just happy he went up there and participated at all! And I just hope that his participation in today's program made some people's sacrament meeting just a little more entertaining.

Happy Halloween!!!!

I had so many posts planned. I'm not getting any of them done.

Sad, isn't it?

But--I managed to pull myself together for a few minutes and slammed a few things together really quick before my diseased brain noticed what my fingers were doing. So, for your Halloween enjoyment, Some Stuff:

Recently my son has discovered Garfield, and for some reason, he's taken a shine to 'im. So here are two haunted house scavenger hunt games, and they have the warm (and slightly sticky) seal of approval from a 4-year-old:

(Click on the picture to follow the link.)

(...and here's PART TWO):



Does anyone have a favorite movie they like to watch around this time of year? I prefer spooky over gore, and thought-provoking over...well...cheesy dialogue. Here is one of my favs (and it's R, FYI):



Here's a little movie that involves Death and a Kitty. (What's with all the cats around here, anyway?) I liked it. And I promise it has a happy ending:



And the last one is another fun little game that answers the question: What happens if you steal a vampire's teddy bear?



Happy Halloween!!

AROOO! ( <-- that's me howling)

First of all,



Many of you blog readers have left comments, sent emails, actually called my house, left more emails with your phone numbers in them and some unsubtle hints for me to call you, left other comments, left messages on my answering machine, sent roses and chocolate,* sent wonderful Halloween SOCKS and assorted goodies,** etc.

And here I sit, not one phone call made, not one email returned...well, I may have returned an email to somebody at some point...but not one thank-you note sent.

I'm sorry about that. It's not that I don't love you, it's just that I currently am covered in fur, and the long fangs make it hard to speak intelligibly. And the long claws make it hard to type or dial the phone. I really am trying to pull my head out of my nether-regions, but I think it's gonna take a little more time (it is much more difficult to pull your head out if the long bushy tail gets in the way, you see). I'm okay. Or I will be. Sooner or later. When the medication kicks in. Or when the moon falls out of the sky and stops doing this to me.

Sigh.

The worst bit is that this screwed up my Halloween blog party...oh well. I have to say that I have sent out...5 or 6? packages to people, and I'm not sending any more, so I guess the contests are closed. But I'm still leaving up the links because I like them.

I'll see you soon.

Thanks,
weenie

*Not really, but I wouldn't put it past some of you.
**This part is actually true. It even came with a note written on HAUNTED PAISLEY...oooOOOooo! Man, that paisley was scary.