Some [expletive deleted] searched for “naked photos of 8-10 year old girls” and got to my page. You sick freak.

IP address: 24.26.61.#
Using roadrunner internet service
Location: Bradenton Florida
Using Windows XP and Internet Explorer 7.0

So… anyone know how I forward this info to the appropriate authorities?

We got one a couple of weeks ago, and I have *got* to respond. I’m going to try snail mail, since Martha has now sent me two snail letters (including pictures of us on our cruise and at dinner when they came through here last year). In case y’all have no clue who Hank and Martha are, they are one of the two couples we ate dinner with on our honeymoon cruise. We had so much fun with them and really want to cruise with them again someday. The other couple was nice, but they didn’t talk much.

Anyway, they invited us on the cruise they have coming up this year. We would love to go, but with the move and all that, we’re going to have to wait until we’re settled in before we do any more cruises. Someday I want to rope them into doing an Alaskan cruise with us. And maybe Hawaii — Susan’s Hawaiian cruise looked like so much fun. And I’m pretty sure we’ve agreed more Caribbean cruises are in our future. Um, yeah, the Disney cruise was awesome. And so were our dinner mates.

So my step-sister Megan got a staph infection last week (at least they’re treating it as such). They treated it, and everything was supposed to be fine. But a very tender body part, where the infection first showed up, got worse again yesterday, and my mom took her to the hospital so they could cut the body part open and drain the abcess that the infection had formed, because if it bursts and drains out inside her body, it’s very dangerous. She’s doing ok now, though she made the mistake of looking at what came out of the abcess, and it made her sick. My mom: “I told you not to look!”

Then there’s my cousin BaLinda’s youngest daughter Cassidy (I don’t remember her exact age, but she’s definitely under five — I think three). She also had a staph infection several months ago. And now she has something going on. Very high fever, which they’ve been able to bring down, but it keeps going back up. It’s over 104, not yet to 105. They were getting nowhere at the Podunk hospital, so they moved her to Lubbock yesterday. The Podunk doctors say it’s definitely something in her blood, they just can’t find what. They’re worried about leukemia and meningitis, but the lab found nothing. It could also be autoimmune (JRA can be accompanied by high fevers), I doubt they tested her for those, even though she had an infection six months ago (and those are big autoimmune triggers). Lubbock was pleased with all the tests the pediatrician in Podunk had run (my Crazy Aunt Wanda says he’s really good), but they didn’t re-run the tests! Even if he ran all the right tests, that doesn’t mean the blood lab is infallible. So far, her fever has not broken, and it’s been several days.

Frank’s dad has been undergoing chemo for amyloidosis. His protein counts improved at first, but then they went back up again. So he is moving on to the next treatment.

My sister’s cancer may have come back. She had bad cells again at her three-month checkup. They froze her cervix again, and now it’s wait-and-see for another three months.

Bikermommy seems to be recovering just fine from her gall bladder removal. That makes an aunt, a cousin, a mom and a grandfather who have had their gall bladders removed. I’d like to hold on to mine.

I am much improved. After my confusing weight spike, the weight is coming back down again. Poo is normalizing (you wanted to know). I have no complaints.

I’m so glad we moved the Pier 1 entertainment center into the livingroom. Every time we watch TV or I close the entertainment center or give myself some other reason to glance at it, I am reminded of what a great deal we got. $800 entertainment center for $400, and by the time they added tax and I used my saved up gift cards, we paid less than $200 of our own money. Yes, the gift cards were money, but other people paid for those. ;-)

What else could we have gotten for $200? We could have bought a Bush entertainment center, and I’ve had several Bush furniture items over the years, but this is sturdier, nicer, and way cooler-looking than any other piece of furniture I’ve owned. Ok, I love our couches, too, but the entertainment center is so sleek.

Horrible people in our county. And not just the people burning cars. Check out the comments. lilsunshine is a nice example. No compassion, just “Oh great. They’ll probably just leave the cars where they are.” Forget that these people just lost their cars and could have lost their homes and their lives. And the comments are all about code enforcement and basically calling people who live in Palm Bay trash just because they don’t live in Melbourne Beach. Snobbery in its most refined state. Newsflash, Melbourne Beach: even with your big mansions on zero lot lines, you still have ugly cabbage palms all along A1A and ugly ceramic tile roofs, so your community is as ugly as any other around here. Had it been your cars set on fire, I suppose you would have been victims, but since the city these people live in is not up to your standards of wealth, the people deserved it. Nice.

And some people actually wonder why I try to avoid people when I can.

Dull, nagging headache today. I’m taking a nap so I can feel better in time for The Office, Smallville, and CSI tonight. At least we got some things done this morning, and the house still looks good. Which reminds me. I owe y’all pictures.

We’re going to bring her in tonight. She’ll be closed off in a bedroom for a few days until the kitties get over it, but at least she won’t have to sleep outside anymore. We put preventatives on the other kitties and the dog and gave Rowdi her her heartworm pill tonight. Not taking any chances.

Today I went outside and picked her up to see if she would tolerate being held. I sat down on one of the patio chairs with her, and she climbed up and put her paws on my chest. And started purring like a motor and drooling all over me. Is that normal? Cats drooling?

Another time I went out there, I picked her up again, and she climbed up over my shoulder and hung her head over my shoulder. It was so cute.

She’s such a sweet kitty.

Whenever Tammi starts talking about how much she loves her Direct TV (and how lost she was without it when she first moved to Paradise), I get to reminisce about the year the Stars won the Stanley Cup. Why should direct satellite TV make me think of hockey, you ask? Because see, I watched the Stanley Cup playoffs that year with a huge group of people… at the house of some of my dearest friends… and they had a DirecTV satellite dish. And any time I think of that room, any time I’ve been in that room, I think of watching the Stars win the Cup with twenty-five other people, me listening to Ralph Strangis and Darryl Reaugh on my walkman so I wouldn’t have to listen to the lousily biased ABC sportscasters. I also think of CSI and Tivo, because they’re the first people I ever knew to have an actual brand-name Tivo, and the first Tivo’d show I watched with them was CSI. Funny how memories are triggered. I love that room. Good times.

I may have told y’all this story before, but I love it, so you can hear it again. Game Six was so tense, and they were in triple overtime. I had made my star-shaped cookies, iced green and gold with the players’ names and numbers (they were awesome cookies, btw). We were all well fed. And we were on the edge of our seats / floor spaces – we were all just plastered to the TV in the wee hours of the morning. Well, Perry’s TV, like I said, was hooked up to satellite, so I was getting the commentary in my ears about a second before we saw it on the TV. I would start screaming and whooping, and everyone else would just follow my lead, because they knew that meant something good was about to happen. I tried to hold it in so they could feel it when they saw it, but sometimes it was just too much to handle. Such as… when Brett Hull tipped in the winning puck, the goal that won the cup (and Buffalo Sabres fans still can’t quit whining about that legal goal). I just couldn’t handle it. I heard Ralphie yell, “THEY SCOOORRRRE!!!” and I was off the floor, practically in the air, screaming my head off. And the men turned to look at my face to see if it was real, and their eyes got huge, and they turned back to the TV just in time to see the puck cross the goal line and all the Stars pour out of the bench onto the ice.

We celebrated (and I cried like the girl that I am) for such a long time.

You don’t get many moments like that. When it’s your team, and your friends are loving life just as much as you are.

Man, I love hockey. Have I mentioned that I can’t wait for hockey?

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,
15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”

19 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.”
21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.
23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

During the Bionic Woman premiere tonight, they had a commercial where those newscasters come on with “tonight at eleven” snippets.

“Tonight at eleven, why an Orlando police officer says he had no choice but to shoot and kill a pit bull.” They never say “dog,” do they? Unless it’s a non-”aggressive” breed. Putzes.

Anyway, Frank turns to me and says, “Um… I’m guessing he was attacking someone. What else is he gonna say? ‘The dog was about to set off a bomb, we had no choice.’”

Remember my story about the staff leasing company that I audited? (Again, that’s not a link to the actual company I audited). The nightmare client who did not want to acknowledge the women in the room? That one. I did actually find what the company did interesting, however poorly it was run. I had worked for temp agencies before and had gotten several jobs through headhunters, so I thought it must be something along the same lines. It was entirely different.

At first I was shocked and appalled to learn that what the staff leasing company did was basically buy the employees (as much as you can do that) of their clients and then lease them back at a premium to the clients. It’s actually more of a co-employer relationship, since the employees still do the work for the clients but are *administrated* by the leasing company. It’s a roundabout way of saying that they become part of the client’s HR department – administering payroll and benefits, filing taxes and other forms with the government. I asked Sarah H, “Who would do that? Pay a premium for your own employees?” We asked the partner, and basically, the PEO companies (professional employer organization companies) are paid fees to administer everything, but the clients get to eliminate a lot of their HR costs, and both companies come out ahead.

That made sense. Their accounting books? Not so much.

I made a most yummy tomato soup from scratch for lunch today. Well, I didn’t crack open a coconut and get the milk out or anything, but I also didn’t open a can of Campbells (completely off-limits — even their tomato soup contains wheat), and I didn’t even use a gluten-free soup base. I found a recipe on allrecipes and changed it up a lot. So here you go.

what you need:

5 or 6 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced tiny
about 1 cup coconut milk (not lite — lite is less creamy)
about 1 cup chicken broth, more if the soup gets too thick
2 or 3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
2 slices of yellow onion, diced fine
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
8 whole cloves (you can use equivalent of ground cloves, I probably will grind mine next time)
8 whole peppercorns (I used white and black, though next time I’ll probably grind those, too)
2 tbsp gluten-free all-purpose flour (or white flour for you gluten eaters)
salt to taste

what you do:

Toss the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and chicken broth into a deep skillet or dutch oven. Cook for a few minutes and add the coconut milk. Bring all of it to a boil and boil for about 20 minutes. Stir frequently. After the soup is boiling, add the basil, cloves, and peppercorns. Next time I make this, I will probably use 1/8 tsp or so of ground cloves to get more flavor out of them. Keep stirring and add the salt until it is to your liking. Taste often to make sure it is yummy. While it is boiling, use a potato masher to get your tomato bits even smaller. You can run everything through a food grinder to get rid of the pieces and bits of everything, but we loved this chunky. After the soup has boiled for 20 minutes, turn it down to a simmer and whisk in the flour.

Note: the basil was a little strong at first, so I kept adding salt, a little at a time (I do NOT like things oversalted), and eventually the flavor balance was perfect. Serve with warm GF bread for sopping or a nice caesar salad (hold the croutons or make from GF bread). ;-)

Back when I first got a satellite dish (and I always had them, for one reason or another until I moved to Florida), I naturally thought that if you could get your “cable” through satellite service, you could also get your “cable modem” through satellite service. I was so happy, because I figured even if the monthly bill for TV and internet were not cheaper, I would at least save on installation fees over getting satellite TV and a cable modem. I didn’t actually have a cable modem at the time (dialup days, baby), but I was hoping against hope that satellite internet would be barely more than dialup – after all, the dish is already there, right? Yeah, it works that way ever.

I was sorely disappointed when I learned that my dish company was not also a satellite internet provider. My opinion was if they could make the TV go through the air, certainly they could make the internet go through the air, and it should have been available because I wanted it. Of course, this was way back when we had to hike uphill both ways just to get to the satellite box (i.e., the little dishes were still very new, and they were only then starting to *think* about satellite internet service). I don’t know what the storm situation is like in Idaho (my care about the weather there is that Idaho has four seasons –- it’s all I require of the seasons, really — that they exist), but knowing that satellite internet is a reality now, dishes are worth considering again (after we’re out of Hot Humid Hurricane Central, where even the underground cable goes out during bad thunderstorms). That will also be helpful if we end up outside the city where they haven’t run cable lines.

Rescued kitteh needs a name! You go halp!

Oh, and my suggestions are Hermione or Swampkitty. Or Audrey II.

BTW, if we keep Omenkitty, I’ve told Frank she needs a name change.

UPDATE: I’ve already started calling her Ravenclaw. Because she’s black and has claws.

We took her to the vet. Unlike Sydney and Minerva, she did not freak out when we got there (Sydney becomes irrationally angry every time she smells another cat). She didn’t love the car, but she didn’t start to hyperventilate like Sydney sometimes does.

She did great with everything. They trimmed her claws, she was fine. Took blood for the leukemia and FIV tests, she did fine. Fecal? Not so fine. But as soon as they brought her back to the exam room, she was purring and happy again. And then Dr. Young came in. She loved all over him, and then he started poking and prodding and messing with her stomach… I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen a cat’s tail go between its legs before. Or maybe it’s because he was calling her “Booger” the whole time. Poor thing, called nose mucus when she’s being violated.

Dr. Young said the scar on her side is some kind of wound, probably not a cut, more like a scrape or a scratch or a bite, and it is healing well. She has flea dirt and a few active wounds and scabs, so we’re giving her flea preventative. No ear mites, but the Revolution prevents fleas, worms, ear mites, heartworms. And the vet put her on an antibiotic to help with the scar and the scabs. Blood tests came back good, and we’ll have fecal results tomorrow. And booster shots in two weeks.

Dr. Young felt all around her stomach for a spay scar and thought he might feel a faint one, but by now it would be hard to tell anyway. She is at least four years old, so anywhere from four to ten. He said wait and see, and we’ll know if she goes into heat, because she’ll yowl a lot. All of our cats have been spayed young, so we don’t know. She did yowl with fervor when Dr. Young was messing with her stomach.

And right now, she’s on the screened-in patio while we figure out what to do with her. She’s so sweet, we just want her to go to a good home. If we end up keeping her, we’ll integrate her slowly, and hopefully everyone will be used to everyone when we move. She has her own litter box (she hasn’t used it yet, but she also hasn’t used the porch), a small perch that she can crawl inside for shade and shelter, food, and water. Sydney is still upset, but she’s getting better, and she’s not mad at us or Minerva anymore. Minerva and Rowdi are fine, though Minerva’s a little cautious.

I guess we’ll see what happens.

In the Snark Raving Mad! banner, Cadet Happy photoshopped me as Starbuck, Claire the Cheerleader, Poh-ler Abdul, Chloe, and Pam from “The Office.” I hope y’all noticed that I put “raving” right under the picture of me as Poh-ler. Anyway, don’t I look great with dark hair? I keep asking Frank if I can dye my hair dark, and he says no. He likes me blonde. And in case you haven’t seen it, this is my sidebar picture.

I can recite the intro to ALIAS if you’d like.

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

This is for my blogdaughter Gradual Dazzle.

We had this little visitor show up a few weeks ago. Squirrels aren’t my favorite wildlife, but they are wildlife, so I started snapping pictures. I thought he was so funny, crawling around on our porch screen… until I realized that those streaks running down the screen were squirrel pee. Bad squirrel peed on our screen!

I was appalled. And now you can be too.

Frank has given in and started calling her that as well. Of course, when he called and made the appointment with the vet today, he told them to just put down “Omen.” That doesn’t make us sound the slightest bit ooky, does it?

We’re still not keeping her, but we have decided to feed her so she’ll stick around our house long enough for us to take her to the vet. Her scar is starting to turn yellow, so we’re worried about it. Frank put out a bowl of food (which she’s already finished, so she was definitely not going home for food) and a bowl of water for her. Right after he put out the water, I saw her run over to the bunker and take a poo. I thought that was so funny. “Haha! Omenkitty’s pooing in the bunker!” Frank’s response: “Oh! We’re supposed to bring a fecal sample for tomorrow!” He ran out to get it, but alas. Omenkitty is a much better poo hider than Minerva (who has no paw-poo coordination). Frank couldn’t find the poo. Too bad for Omenkitty, because that means they’ll forcibly take it from her. We’re going to have her checked for diseases, worms, vaccinations, indoor plumbing, fleas, and Omenbabies (or is it Omenkittykitties?), have her scar checked, have her treated for whatever ails her, and find her a home. We figure someone will more likely take her if she’s all fixed up.

Ever since Frank fed her, she’s been sleeping on the small bit of concrete where he left the food. Yeah, I’m guessing we’ll be able to find her tomorrow.

We both feel terrible about not keeping her. I’m worried about the cross-country trip, the balance with the other two kitties, and having to train Rowdi to leave yet another kitty alone. And Frank said, “Once you have three kitties… you’re getting into ‘weird’ territory.” Yeah, pretty much. I’d start to feel like I should make sure my succession planning is all in perfect order… Of course, that’s a no brainer even without being dubbed a “cat lady.”

Snark Raving Mad! is up and running. Snarking will begin this afternoon.

And I would appreciate it if y’all would be so kind as to link it, blogroll it, tell all your friends about it. It’s going to be the best TV blog ever! Starring the lovely and talented SarahK (that’s me) and Cadet Happy.

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
24Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,
25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.

very emphatically: GO COWBOYS!

This is Omencat, so named by Frank because she’s all black (except that teeny white spot on her head), and I told Frank that it was a good omen. Not that I believe in omens. I call her Omenkitty, because it sounds less dark than Omencat.

She has been hanging around our house for a few days. Frank won’t stop petting her, even though I’m sure she’s going to give him fleas. We’re not feeding her. But she has decided that she’s attached to us. No one in the neighborhood has seen her before, and we’re pretty certain she was dropped off here by her evil owners. She has no collar, no identification. We don’t know if she’s microchipped, but I’m guessing not, because no one has come looking for her.

She has a poochy belly, so she’s either pregnant or spayed — our cats both got the poochy bellies after they were spayed. She scratches a lot, so I’m pretty sure she’s got a nice case of fleas. She also has a scar on her side, and we don’t know how she got it.

Omenkitty is so friendly. She keeps trying to come into our house, but we cannot take her in. First, our cats go hissing/spitting/swatting mad when we pet her and then they sniff our hands. Then they start fighting with each other, thinking each other is an unknown kitty. It’s Sydney who starts it — she loves only Minerva, and she tolerates Rowdi. Minerva is fine until Sydney starts up, and then she starts getting ticked off at Sydney, too. They’re like junior high girls. YOU’VE BEEN AROUND ANOTHER CAT? I HATE YOU! Second reason we can’t take her, it’s going to be hard enough getting a rent house with two fully-clawed kitties and a 60-lb. dog (several of the houses say no pets, some say dogs only, and some say cats only). Three fully clawed cats and a 60-lb. dog? Really hard. Plus, we are going to have our hands full driving three animals cross-country. Four would cause a meltdown, I’m sure.

But I really want to find her a great home. :-)

Omenkitty walks right up to Rowdi and tolerates her very well until Rowdi starts fixating on sniffing her butt. Then she swats her. She still walks right up to Rowdi the next time she sees her. So I think she’d be great with people, cats, and dogs.

I guess it’s possible that she’s feral, but are feral cats usually so attention-starved? She follows Frank everywhere when he goes outside, same with me. She sleeps on our front porch in the evenings. And when she’s not at our house, she goes to the neighbors and starts rubbing up against them for pets.

So. Who wants to adopt Omenkitty? You can rename her.

So the girl from High School Musical, Vanessa Hudgins or somesuch, was on the Tyra Banks show (goodness, no, I didn’t see it, they were talking about it on “The Soup”). Tyra asked her about the girls who have been through so many drug rehabs that they think Promises is that nice little timeshare they have in Malibu. And of course, she said she thinks it’s stupid for them to get in trouble like that all the time, but then again, she’s “a private person.”

Of course, this is during the same week in which her own naked photos were the number one story in the news (forget that a nutjob who likes to say “Death to America” for fun is going to be allowed to come here — sounds awful familiar, I wonder if he’ll call our president “Satan” — and not only that, is going to be treated like a diplomat). Did I digress? Anyway, I thought it was highly amusing that miss “private person” is splayed about the internet.

Yes, yes, I know I have a speck or two in my own eye. But I’ve never been photographed nude.

When I was a junior in high school and until sophomore year in college, I had the opportunity to spend one day a week (and then two days a week after about a year) at the house of this wonderful old couple in Fort Worth’s “old money” area. I *lived* for going to their house each week. Not so much because of the mansion — and it was one, I’ll tell you about it in a minute — but because of why I was there. I was there for my love of music, there with other youngsters like me, and it was my first major socialization outside of school and church. I wouldn’t have traded that experience for anything on Earth.

Okay, so this mansion had two sun rooms (one called the back porch, one called the sun room), a formal dining room, a formal living room with baby grand piano (drool), a sitting room with a case of figurines and very expensive trinkets, an elevator, a fully finished basement with even more storage than a couple of packrats like us could use, and I don’t even know what was upstairs. I went up there a couple of times for fittings, but I saw only one of the “smaller” bedrooms, which was at least as big as our current master bedroom. I went to the office one time, and I saw one of the upstairs bathrooms. The master suite? No idea, but I know it took up half of the upper floor.

And then there was the kitchen. Ohhhhh, the kitchen. This was my first time, ever, to see a pot rack hanging over the cooktop island. My first time to actually see a kitchen island, and this island was about twice the size of the ones that come standard today. There were at least two commercial refrigerators, because the owners hosted parties quite often, not to mention all of us kids (there were musical kids in there three days a week during the school year). I’d never seen a fridge with glass doors outside a convenience store before (oh, and these were stainless steel with glass doors). The closest I’ve ever come to that again was several years later when I worked for a Fortune 500 company that I saw one outside a convenience store again (at that job, they provided free cokes for all of the employees, so the break room walls were lined with commercial refrigeration, but those were your standard refrigerators — not the beautiful stainless steel ones). The cabinets in the kitchen — I can’t remember the color, maybe light green? — were painted, and that might have been my first time to see non-white painted cabinets. I don’t remember anything about the countertops. The bar leading to the nook (oh yeah, there was also a nook) was a big hangout spot for us kids (middle school through college age) during breaks — they provided snacks and cokes for each rehearsal. I’m pretty sure they even had one of those commercial ice machines due to the volume of ice they needed for their parties. It was an amazing kitchen. I’d never seen anything like it.

I still think about the house now and then. I used to drive by it after work sometimes on days when I knew there were rehearsals going on, just so I could remember that time in my life. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. And I hope our hypothetical children have something like that to remember more than ten years afterward.

Not from blogging. Just from working on the house. I’ll have pictures for you either later today or tomorrow. It looks great, if I say so myself.

Anyway, I’m working on setting up the TV blog for a little while, and then I’m sure I’ll have stuff to say.

I feel like baking something right now. Free tidbit just for y’all.

And in case I’ve never told y’all this, I’m too dumb to have my own URL(s).

A couple of months ago, I did a search for a URL/URI, whatever the heck they’re supposed to be called, and no, I don’t care which. The URL was not registered — perfectly available. I went to register it this morning and before I did, I put in the URL and noticed that it is now “for sale.” Someone went and bought it up and is now selling it and would like me to call them at one of two long-distance phone numbers, apparently to discuss a price. No thanks. I’ll just go with the .us version, because I refuse to pay extra for the domain because someone decided they’d like to scalp it.

And before y’all get all SarahK-hates-capitalism on me, I’ll just say that I love capitalism, blah blah blah. I just don’t like scummy people.

No, I’m not preggers. Everyone was asking that. Don’t worry. If I’m ever pregnant, I’ll just pop it out there. “Hey, btw, I’m pregnant.”

So my big announcement is not as exciting as babies being born, but it is, nevertheless, exciting for all you TV addicts out there (like me!).

I’ve just bought the domain for my new TV snark blog. It’s been planned all summer, but I wasn’t allowed to even play with the design or buy the URL until just now (husband’s wishes — like I would get distracted or something). As soon as I have something up over there, I’ll let y’all know so we can all be happy together, and you can start reading a ridiculous amount of TV snark. The best TV snark ever!

I plan to get it rolling this weekend, because DWTS premieres Monday, and Mark Cuban is one of the dancers, and I dislike him gravely after his whole financing Loose Change the movie thing. Yeah, the project was cancelled, but I intend to make him pay for that. Muh ha ha ha.

What’s sad is that I’ll probably have to start watching more shows as y’all demand. Ooh! Good idea! Tell me in the comments what shows you want me to snark. If they’re not already on the list and I think I can stomach watching them (so you know, Big Brother, Real World, and other sucky MTV reality shows are strictly out — I can’t stand to watch people be *that* stupid), I’ll do my best to work them in.

There will be another new blog announcement soon… Dun dun dunnnnnn.

We’ve been very careful with our spending these past few months (not so careful that I’m not drinking the black cherry soda anymore, and not so careful that Frank doesn’t have an overabundance of comic books on his nightstand, but careful-ish). I’ve also carefully tracked anything we’ve put on credit cards. We decided long ago that credit cards are for emergencies only (this emergency being that we must move). Still, even knowing that the spending on home improvements to get the house ready to sell was minimal, I’m afraid to look.

We have spent some money on improvements — it can’t have been that much, considering that we replaced all the light fixtures, painted every room and the garage floor, replaced all the blinds (which were torn up by the kitties), replaced the drip saucers and one burner on the stove, and did some landscaping. (If I were a buyer, I would not have even considered this house in its previous state, golf course view or not.) We didn’t replace the carpet, and it is worn and somewhat stained, but I’m trusting Spot Shot and my trusty steam cleaner to handle the stains this morning. We also didn’t replace the microwave, which makes such a loud clatter when it runs — the new owners can do that themselves.

The only other major expenses were staging expenses and storage for all of our clutter. We bought the new living room furniture, curtains for the den, valances for the kitchen and bathroom, and a few decorations, but we get to take all of those with us, so they don’t count, right?

I’ve been keeping track of the credit cards we used and their balances, but I haven’t yet run the reports to see how much of the expenditures (listen to the former CPA use her big words!) were on furniture and decorations, moving boxes (a necessary expense anyway), storage (the rooms look so much bigger now, and having the house so un-cluttered makes it so much easier to keep clean), and actual home improvement expenses. I think the home improvement will end up being just a small portion of what we’ve spent… but I still don’t want to look. If I don’t look, I can’t prove myself wrong, right?

I’m so ready to be out from under all credit card debt that I’m considering designating them “not even in case of emergencies.”

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to mulch the gardens.

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.
4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.
5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.
7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.
8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.
9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.
11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.
14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.
15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.
16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

Interesting to note:

• This is the genealogy of Christ through Joseph’s line, establishing Jesus as a legal descendant of David.
• Rahab (the harlot who helped Joshua’s men at Jericho) was the mother of Boaz, who was David’s great-grandfather. She is an ancestor of Jesus.
• Hezekiah is an ancestor of Jesus.
• The number of generations from Abraham to Jesus is… 42.

Or Biblical study, as we call it in our house. I haven’t been so motivated to keep up with posting Isaiah passages, probably because of all the prophecies of gloom, doom, and destruction. So I’m going to switch to Matthew. We’ll probably come back to Isaiah later, but for now I’m gonna switch to the gospel. Word.

(Get my pun? Word? Because “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Yeah, I know that’s John 1:1, but we’re gonna talk about Jesus… who is the Word.)