Fan, as in fanatic

I haven't touched the camera all week. Shocking, right? And I can't say I didn't go anywhere or that the kids weren't being cute. I just didn't reach for it at all this week. I also haven't been online much this week. That is, I would turn on the computer and the messengers, check e-mail and blogs, and then I'd wander off. If I IM'd ya, you were one of a small number this week. My attention span was just not meant for my toys this week. Okay, except for in small spurts, like updating and personalizing my theme for Windows 7. :D Which is probably because I'm obsessed...

Let's see, it's been over a month since I watched Avatar (2009) at the movies with Dad. I freaking LOVE that movie. And I'm dying to see it again. Like, as if I'd never seen it before, dying to see it. I dunno what I was looking for, but one day I wound up finding and downloading an Avatar theme for Windows 7. :D So now, every other day I go and look for more pics to add to the desktop background folder. So every half hour, I get a new shot of the move or a promotional poster/wallpaper image. :) So, I guess I'm a bit obsessed. :P

Mom and I were going to venture to a movie theatre to watch it. I set aside some money for it, so she wouldn't have to worry about that. But each time we plan it, it falls through. Of course, it doesn't help that the show times aren't workday friendly. She gets off at 4pm and the show times are 3something, 7pm, and 1030pm (way too late for a two and a half hour movie on a work day :P ). We plan for the 7pm, but if work was long, hard, and or tiring, it seems kinda late. Work days are understandable. But last weekend she just didn't want to leave the house. Bleh. And I helped her make the bed the night before so she wouldn't be tired out after changing sheets in the morning. Anywho, it's been doing good at the box office. But I know they can't keep movies forever. Soon enough it will have so few show times, we'll be lucky if we can go on a weekend.

And then I start wondering well who do I want this for? In the beginning, it was because I wanted her to see this awesome movie on a big screen and for her to finally leave the house other than for simple necesity (appointment, market, pharmacy, etc,..). To finally get out there and conquer whatever is holding her hostage since we lost Josh. I mean even if we don't see Avatar, I still want her to get out there. She works from home, she has me and Dad for running errands, and Nana brings over stuff whereas Mom used to go pick it up. So, I dunno who screams the loudest in my head. The daughter who wants her mom to get out and live again or the fan geek who's DYING to see the movie again. Either way, each no or cancellating is starting to frustrate me. She says she wants to see movies. She says "how come you guys didn't invite me" after we went the one time. But she doesn't want to go when oppertunity presents itself.

Anywho... it's past 2am now. I have dishes, litter clean up, and bedtime routine. Tomorrow morning, Mom is scheduled to FINALLY take care of her teeth at the dentist. That is if she doesn't cancel AGAIN. No, no, last time wasn't her fault. Well, last two times. Last weekend or something, dentist had some sort of emergency, so when she called to cancel, they spoke first. :P And Tuesday, she thought she could get out early, but alas, work said no. Now, off to get clean and get ready (including packing "toys" to entertain me in waiting room). And hopefully, Nana won't drive me nuts.

Fun and Games

Ever snce we set up the new play zone for the furrballs, Pixie has sorta staked her claim on it. She'll even try to keep him out. Well it worked. He started to avoid it all together. Poor Boobooboy...and he was so excited when it came out of the package. So I found a way to get him back in. :)

Both Oreo and Pixie LOVE bouncy balls. You know, those little bouncing balls or super balls? I rarely bring them out because they usually get lost under furniture. But the cubes and the tumbler (tent looking portion) all require the cat to go through a circle opening, so there's a barrier that'd prevent the balls from rolling out. So I put one ball in the tumbler and one in a cube. Both babies LOVED it. After playing, Oreo even took to just sitting in the tumbler. :) It was so funny, too. He'd bat at the ball. It'd roll around. He'd try and catch it as it bounced around in there. Then he'd bat at it again. And every now and then the dangling strings would hit his head and he'd stop to bat at those, too! :P The cycle would go round and round. And he and Pix would play so hard, that they'd move the whole thing all over the place without ever leaving their respective bouncy ball chambers.

And here they are playing together. :D Adorable, right?

We trimmed Pixie's claws the other day, and boy did that make a huge change! Mom's been so worrid that Pix was sick cuz she wasn't playing and she was so whiny. But man, she's been running all over the place now! It's not the first time we've done it, but as Mom dreads accidently clipping too close to sensitive parts of the claw she puts it off so long. Poor girl had curled claws that probably hurt to run on. Oreo's quick(?) is longer than Pixie's so, Mom's gonna wait til we get those emery boards for cats.

Anywho... it's past midnight and I still have to put clean sheets on my bed and wash dishes...  Toodles!

Million Miles a Minute

Do you ever notice how fast your train of thought can go? You'll start at thought A and end up at thought Z and only vaguely remember how ya got there? :P

I was in the shower, and that's where I like to think under the relaxing hot water, when I was on one of those fast trains of thought. I started humming, because I also like to sing in the shower, and then I thought about copying my CDs to the computer for my iPod. That got me thinking about converting the rest of the CDs I already copied from Chrissi. Which reminded me about how I only have a trial version of Easy CD-DA Extractor (my fave CD/DVD burner/ripper/converter). Then I remembered my friend Lep was gonna try and get a crack for me to keep the program. And I started thinking about how much a program was worth and if 40 bucks was worth it (the cost to keep it). And then if I did keep it, boy would that be alot of work to upload all my CDs. How much space on my iPod would I use up? Oh, yeah, I still haven't re-added all my songs to iTunes' Library to sync my iPod. Gotta fix file info errors on the songs first. Lotta work there.... Then I started to think about a new RP thing I was gonna do with my friend. And how fun it was gonna be to create a new chara. And then finding pics for her for the RP forum. Oh, gotta find a pic hosting acct to use for her......

I had to stop myself at that point, because all the while I was humming and the music must have reminded me where this train began. It had all happened so fast and yet I still forgot what I had been thinking about in the beginning. :P

Anywho.... Dad came over this morning to show off his new cell phones. And let me tell ya, they look pretty spiffy. Okay the font size was WAY too small in some things. But still. He was having trouble with them last night, and so he brought in the manuals. See him playing with his phone? :D LOVE YOU DADDY! I still like my Razr, but maybe, when we catch up on bills, I'll look into an upgrade. I'd have to go to a store and see them, though. Cell phone shopping is so hard for me. It's gotta be something I can read. It's gotta have a proper backlight so I can see the damn thing in any lighting, which is one thing my Razr does not have.... Can't see a thing in sunlight. And of course, I like the simplicity of my Razr. It's easy to use and personalize. My silver Razr will do me another year, so I'm in no rush to replace it. I used to be so excited to get new phones. But now I think it's just the allure of another new toy that appeals to me, not a need as it's been in the past. You could have an arm full of new toys, but when someone shows ya another you still go "oh that looks like fun!" :P I'm guilty of it. But no, I do not need a new phone. Heck, I just made Razr spiffier by using Opera Mini on it to get online for real! Not this mobile version of sites crap. :P

This is Oreo's FAVORITE spot in the house. Night or day, we'll find him looking outside. He'll whine if the windoes aren't open. He'll whine if the counters are too crowded to allow him to jump up. He's so funny. And it's all his own. Pixie never jumps onto the counter. It's a useful space, but we're not allowed to put anything on there, cuz that's Oreo's window. Oy. :P

The furrballs continue to enjoy their new toy. I think Pixie loves it more than Oreo. But that's probably because Pix hardly lets him in to allow him to enjoy it. :P

Anywho... I'm hungry, so I'ma go.

Target Tornado Tuesday?

We had a tornado watch yesterday! :o Tornado! This is a coastal city, for crying out loud. And apparently I slept through it! It rained HARD, and that I heard when I was in bed yesterday afternoon. But I missed the tornado warnings. And I guess it rained so hard, parts of the city got some flooding. Intersections where the hilly streets meet.... Some people had to wade out of the water. And some cars got stuck. :P

It's funny. It will rain sooo hard, then stop and the winds will carry away the clouds as if nothing happened. :) Which worked for me, it allowed Dad and I to go run errands and keep dry. :D We robbed the bank. I lost him twice at a pharmacy/store, and then we headed for our Target Tuesday fun.

Dad bought toys for the babies. :) And oh boy did they love it! Mom opened them up after Dinner, and Oreo and Pixie immediately had to inspect it. :D Brats didn't say thank you though. I velcro'd them together and this is the end result. I call it their Maze. I may change it up later. And there's room and velcro left over to add as desired. :) But for now, it's lots of fun. I think Pixie thinks it's all hers though. She won't let him in since the first time he went in and tried to get her. :P No pic with him in it yet, but here's a pic with her in it:

I swear she's not glaring, it's just the camera flash caught her eyes! :P

Anywho.... I've blogged all the things that popped into my head, but I kept putting it off to post.... Well not ALL the things, but, I think four blogs? in one day is enough. :P And I should have gone to bed HOURS ago.... So, Dad, if you're reading this, I will not be getting up at noon. :P UPS will just have to keep Mom's work mug...

Lights Out!

Sunday afternoon began our week of water. Rain at last. Finally it feels like proper winter weather. Well as proper as we get here in Cali. Though at least our usual January heat wave wasn't as warm as usual, or didn't feel as warm. Anywho, back to the rain. With the rain came the chilly winds that attempt to huff and puff and blow the rain in. :P

Monday, we had a fun windy rain storm hit. It wasn't that hard. I mean it wasn't scary hard. Just, nice, stay indoors weather. :P Which works for us, as I was sleeping or trying to and Mom was busy working from home. But a little past 11am the winds and or rain got so bad that the power in our are got knocked out. No big deal. Power flickers off and than on again every now and then. But this time it didn't flicker back on. Well, it tried to. When we turned on lights to test it, we saw some red light, as if the bulb's light was dimmed too low. And Mom's monitor kept going on and off, not enough power to sustain it, I guess. So, Mom "gets off work early" and just keeps reporting to them every half hour on the status of our power.

Blackouts are no fun. Due to the rain, the skies were so very dark and ugly, allowing very little light in even for middle of the day. With some light, we could try and entertain ourselves reading. But, Mom in particular, we are used to our electronics. Mom's always got the TV on, unless she sets a sleep timer at night. No couputers, so she can't work and I can't do well net stuff. No TV or stereos for noise. I tried reading, but the utter quiet of the whole house made it difficult to enjoy. It's one thing to have quiet because I got the house to myself, another when there's no choice.

Before I went back to sleep and about half an hour or so, Nana came by. I still can't believe she was out driving in that weather, But she came with a gifft. A cake. Itt's a deliscious carrot cake. She didn't stay long as she left her hubby in the car.

I have no idea what kind of night we would have had if not for Dad. With no power and the daylight quickly fading, Mom pulled out all the candles she could find, leaving hot wax drippings all over the place. :P With no power, there would be no use of the microwave, toaster oven, or standard toaster. And we couldn't open the Fridge too often or let whatever cold out and unable to maintain the cold. The stove is only partially electric (the electricity was only used to spark the gas into starting). Dinner options were limited to what was in the pantry/cupboard. No going in and out of the fridge.

Dad saved us. :) The three of us enjoyed a nice meal by candlelight, with nothing but conversation to keep us entertained. It was nice. :D I mean not that we don't talk other times, but the TV is usually on too.

Mom heard the recording say we'd get power again at  130 AM! But thank goodness, that was an overestimation. Power came back on at 630pm ish. Yay! Cable net was still out, but meh, it eventually came back on.

Alas, no pictures of this day... Like the giant "candle" made by several little ones melting together and hardening in the shape of the plate they were on. :P Or of our candlelit dinner. :P

Since I had no net and I was recording, I watched Slumdog Millionaire (2008). The idea was, I'd watch it and return it to Dad. The subtitles on bright/light backgrounds made it difficult to read, but the movie was good. I was sort of shocked at how Jamal grew up. But I was glad towards the end, And I loved the music! Anywho, I shouldn't have showed Mom, cuz she said she'll watch it. Yeah, right. So, it's sitting on her dresser waiting to be watched.

Her Birthday

Sunday was my Mom's birthday. There was nothing special planned, as she never did care too much about celebrating (and she still can't celebrate anything yet). While Mom insisted I go play with Dad, I wasn't going to leave her alone on her birthday. Oh, excuse me. She and I don't have birthdaays anymore... just anniversaries of a specific birthday. I refuse to hit 30, so I this year I will celebrate my anniversady of my 29th birthday, and Mom will hence forward have anniversaries for her 39th birthday. :P

As it was Sunday, she was fine entertaining herself for most of the day with marathons they usually show. I told her to call me if she wanted to watch a movie together, but that didn't happen. I made her a "cake" out of Reese's Minature Cups and a Charms Blow Pop. Why it didn't occur to me to take a pic, I dunno. Oh probably because I had enough trouble trying to make it stay, let alone set it down again to try and get my camera.

I started watching "From Earth to the Moon" (1998). Twelve episodes in that series. I watched four of them that day and four more over the next two days. It is a goood series about the incredible journey we took to get ourselves on the moon. It's amazing. I'm completely hooked. Cheering when they succede and crying when they fail.It's amazing how much work went into getting us to the moon. And while I realize it may not all be 100% factual, I am still learning alot about the space program's history.

There was an emotional moment for Mom. The moment I knew would happen and why I insisted on staying home with her. It was brief, and probably thanks to the cats, we soon found something to smile and laugh about.

Later, I tried to take cute pics of my babies, but they were uncooperative. But here's a couple shots anyway:

Oreo looks almost evil here. But then  if Mom was holding me up like that, maybe my eyes would glow too. :P

After I made the couch (futon) wannabe look nice, Miss Pixaling had to got and make herself comfortable, pushing pillows over or just claiming them as hers and sitting on them or using them. :P

This wasn't the first shot, so she looks groggy because, she was sleeping but the flash woke her. :P Whoops?

Le Sigh...

I'm not doing very well with this picture a day thing. I either take LOTS of (good and bad) pics on one day or none at all for several days. And the rate third option is taking one or two bad shots I can't use. Maybe when the weather is dryer, I can go outside and take more pics then. Until then, I'm afraid, I take alot of pics of my furry babies.

Friday, I tried to take a pic of the new stray we feed. Praline, formerly called Pecan, is still too skiddish for me to attempt taking a pic of him/her outside, so I had to take the pic through the screen door. IF I can see the cat, the image is on the dark side. IF I use the flash to prevent that, I see more light reflected off the black screen/security door. Oh well. Maybe later when Praline trusts me more.

Saturday, since Mom STILL has yet to got to the dentist, family dinner nights with Dad are limited to what kind of food. Lately, the easy choice is Mexican. It's a good thing I like their carne asada burritos or I'd be getting sick of the place. :P Maybe next time she asks for Messican, I'll ask Dad if he knows any other good places to try. After dinner, I TRIED to get a pic of Dad to put up here. But alas, most of the shots came out blurry. Even the one that with the funny face (that Mom said all he needed was a Fu Manchu mustache) didn't come out clear. Ah well.

I did get some pics on Sunday...

Should I be worried?

I thiefed this from Mellie. :P And I swear I won't turn this blog into a collection of quizes and forwards, but c'mon, it's about cats!

How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You

I don't think it's Picie... She's still learning the game... But Oreo... Hmmm.....  -looks at her sleeping angel (in the closet, mind you) and wonders if he's dreaming of new ways to attack-

His cat bed is in the closet, cuz that's where he keeps going to sleep. :P

New (to me) Toys Are Fun :P

Yay for more crap we don't need. Nana has been emptying out my Aunt Fita's (Mom's aunt and Nana's older sister) house, since April when she passed away. And little by little knickknacks and dishes and various other items are finding their way to our place. We already brought home some lovely glass dishes for daily use, but Nana thought we might like a complete China set. WHY, I don't know. I mean we never even bother bringing out the Christmas set of dishes. When would we possibly pull out the "China"? One of those dinner parties, we ALWAYS have? -rolls eyes- Bleh, just more stuff I had to find room for in one of our limited storage spaces. But I managed it, so that's all that matters. Anywho, moving boxes was Monday's joy. I loaded up Nana's car with our boxes (and some of hers) and helped her unload at her house before she brought me home. So, at least I could help her do that.

Tuesday was Target Tuesday, and unfortunately, the trip was all for our stuff and not Dad's fun movie buying. :P  But thanks to Daddy, we were able to get some much needed supplies. :D And later that night I unpacked the boxes from Monday's outing. So the above pic was taken on Tuesday. (I completely forgot about the camera on Monday!) As well as a few pics of my silly little girl and her silly box loving fun. She always looks at  me like "whaaaaat?", whenever I catch her in boxes. :P

While Wednesday was far from uneventful, I did neglect the camera again. Boy, this pic a day thing is hard. :P Dad came over with some yummy KFC. Whoever was working that night filled our bucket of chicken with whatever. :P It was an unintended mixed bucket of chicken, but it was all so deliscious so aside from laughing there were no complaints. And! Dad bought me a bigger flash drive so I could move the rest of my files off the old computer! :D I spent ALL night doing that... Well, it wouldn't have taken so long, if I'd kept my eye on things better. But it's hard to watch a serious movie like The Pianist (2002) and pause every five to twenty minutes to upload/download files. By the way, it was a goood movie if sad, which how could it NOT be a sad movie. Oh, oh, also, after Dad left and before I began file moving, Mom and I finished the movie we started Tuesday night. Stardust (2007) was a FUN movie! Totally a keeper. :D

Today, well mentally today (as I haven't gone to bed yet) a.k.a. Thursday, Mom had a doctor's appointment. I like those. I usually go to keep her company on the longish drive, and as it's such a long drive, I READ. :D But alas, it was an in and out trip. So I think I was in the waiting room less than even five minutes. Ah well. I did manage to read 25ish pages there and back, which for me isn't bad. I cooked dinner, and by cook I mean heated up a prepared meal on a frying pan for less than 15 minutes. All the same, a second night of hot food was good. :D After dinner I got busy. Laundry, moved the old computer to its new home.... And took lots of pics! :D

Pixie was being especially goofy by climbing inside the bag the paper towels came in. Mind you, this bag has been on the floor for Oreo to chew on for weeks. But she decides she's going to play in it, because NOW it's in the living room instead of Mom's room. Wow, that bag has a tail! :P Oreo ran off before I could include him in the shot, but for a while he was staring at her, like "you are so weird."

I can't tell you how many tries it took to get this one. The flash kept being reflected off the plastic or her head was hidden or she looked away.... All and all, I am glad I kept trying, cuz she looks so cute. :P Funny, funny little girl. :) But she is my baby. And the silly little girl stayed in there for such a long time too! Mom was even worried that she'd gotten herself stuck. But no... She turned around in it quite a few times to get a better look at her surroundings. :P

At some point, Oreo got interested in her again. Cuz he was staring at Pix in the bag for a while. I asked Mom what she thought he was thinking. "What are you doing?" or "You are so weird." And she said he was probably trying to figure out how to keep her in the bag. And then I looked back at him and had to agree with her. :P He was probably plotting to pounce on her. He does that alot. Just sits and stares at her while she's just laying there and then boom! And the wrestling match begins. :P Great fun until they start yelling or whining too loudly. Then, Mom and I get nervouse they're hurting one another so we'll stop them.

Oh, oh,.... As I've gotten the hang of the camera more, I took a better pic of my new compy. :D So here it is:

Cranford

I do believe I spent the majority of my waking hours in Cranford (based on Elizabeth Gaskell's books). :P Masterpiece Classics  (part of the old Masterpiece Theatre) started it's new season tonight with Return to Cranford, a continuation of the "Cranford" (2007 TV mini series) , starring Judi Dench. I love just about all those classic Masterpiece movies and mini series'. I'd already seen the first part last year, but there's alot of characters, so I wanted a refresher.

Masterpiece started putting up it's movies online. And while I missed the TV re-airing, I DID catch the three part (five hour) mini series at the website before they expired tonight at midnight (EST), And man did it look awesome on my new screen! And considering I watched two of the parts (three hours total) right after each other with several pauses, I am happy to say my baby didn't get laggy at any point! :D

At 2:30am, instead of hurrying to do the dishes, I watched part one (two hours). Then, after I woke and showered, I watched part two and three. I barely finished those around 6pm. And then Return to Crandford, part one (hour and a half), was on TV at 9pm. So, that's a whole LOT of time spent in Cranford. :D Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.


As I am trying to get used to Josh's camera and I liked Mellie's pic-a-day idea (yes, yes, I know ya got it from faceywaceyplace), I think I'll put up at least one pic a day up, too. They may not always be interesting to everyone else, but I like them. :P

Today's:  Pixie lazing under her box. Why she likes to be under or in cardboard boxes I don't know. But she does it all the time. When she runs out from under it too quickly, it falls (well her big butt probably taps it and makes it fall :P ). So, Mom and I will prop it up for her every now and then. The secod her "cave" is ready, she runs underneath it. :P My little weirdo.

It's weirdly strange, and strangely weird.

I woke up a little late, got ready, washed a few dishes, and still had time left over to read. Would have had more time, but someone wouldn't hang up the phone. :P

Dad figured out that the digital camera I'm using has memory cards compatible with the ports on the new computer, making the need for a USB adapter/cord unnecessary. So now I can start using Josh's camera. Which is good.. cuz my cell phone camera takes crappy pics. :P

While out and about we saw California really does let anyone behind the wheel:

We stopped at two Target stores today and it's not even Tuesday! Found Dad's movie. See it pays to ask for help sometimes. :P We also looked at digital cameras (for him... and in case I can't get the hang of or like using Josh's camera). Those touch screens are fun to play with. :P

Went to Denny's and stuffed our faces... I learned a valuable lesson... When ordering nachos, small garden salad plus full plate of nachos is ALOT of food....  The meal was deliscious but filling. I suppose it didn't help that I had two glasses of lemon water.

Dad and I watched 9 (2009) back at his place. Well I say watched... We half watched maybe? What with all the silliness of trying to pin each other's hand down or poking each other, I'm sure we missed bits of the movie. :P It was a bit of a strange movie. It was alright, but strange. :P I think it had the shortest cast list I've ever seen. :P What with there being only 9 creations, the scientist, and a couple of other one-liner extras and two of the creations didn't speak. :P

Since Dad's Rental Shop was kinda behind on putting away the new releases, I helped Dad put his most recent... 70ish... movies away. :P And then I checked some movies out. :D Which I hope to finish watching within the week, so I can borrow more next week! :P

We came home sometime after 8pm. Dad hooked up his speakers he used with his old TV to my computer, so now i can hear better. :D Yay! And then since Mom made beans while I was out, Dad and I had bean burritos for dindin.. Yum. I think it was a nice end to a fun day. :)

Here's a pic of Oreo... with a plastic bag he's about to chew on. :P

K... Now it is 1:30am... and I was sleepy two hours ago. :P But of course, I have dishes to wash.... Have I mentioned, I miss my dishwasher?

Shattered

This morning while watching the ending of The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) and then the ending of Sense and Sensibility (1995) on Cable, I took down decorations. (I love old movies and Jane Austin movies I can't get enough of.) It would have taken me less than two hours, but I was interrupted by two things...well four things.... I had to stop to wash the kids' dishes and feed three hungry kitties, including the stray. And then there was that mishap.... >.<

We've had these long stemmed candle holders for I don't know how many years. The survived countless years of coming out of Christmas boxes, and their individual box. The survived three moves that way. They survived five years sitting on top of a TV, which was probably not smart given the small space and easy access to knock it off. They survived five years coming off that TV to be packed up. They however did NOT survive being tapped by an ornament in the packing up stage of taking down Christmas.

I took everything down. I piled it on the dining table, like I always do. I packed away things little by little. The only things remaining were the breakables, which I save for last usually due to the fact that all of them have individual boxes and I want to be careful not to break anything. >.<

The table was nearly cleared off. I grabbed a small music box ornament and accidently tapped the medium sized glass. It fell right over and the top simply shattered. >.< It kills me every time when my beautiful decorations get broken. After some moaning and groaning and ignoring Mother's STUPID comment about my always making too much noise while she was working, I finally swept up the glass. There was some on the floor, but most of it was on the table top. It took most of an hour to finally clean off that table. It didn't help that there was gold glitter from the leaves faking me out thinking I kept missing glass.

So, yeah. I'm pretty bummed about that. I'm sure I'll figure a new arrangement next year. But it will be sad to pull out that box and know one glass is missing. Just like it was sad the year I broke the snowman candle holder. Bleh...

Pffft...

I was productive yesterday. I didn't do all that I told myself to do, but I was productive. Cleaned the kitchen (which I will have to do again in a lil bit), cleaned the bathroom (well mostly, didn't mop or anything), did laundry, threw out some old left overs, and took the trash out. Go me. But I have not yet taken down Christmas....

Actually, I started to and will most likely finish the job even though it's 4am now. I started by taking off the snowman chair back covers and Santa "pillow" covers (they were also chair back covers, but they're rather small). I had intended to wash them all tonight while doing laundry. Anyway, I did that last night and Mom noticed.

Mom: "Taking down Christmas?"
Me: (well duh) "Yeah."
Mom: "Good."

>.<

She never liked Christmas to still be up even past New Year. So if she had said "it's about time" or something, I wouldn't have thought anything of it. I know she didn't like that I decorated and I could be wrong, but the way she said it. It might as well have been "good riddence to bad rubbish" or something equally nasty. Whatever. Anyway. My gung ho to be productive and take it down, left in that moment. Maybe a "screw you" for the tone. I don't know. I'll still take it down of course. I was going to anyway. Because I don't like Christmas up too long. I usually try to take it down the first weekend of the year, but I was otherwise occuppited. :P

Anywho... On a pleasanter note... Debbie, my Mom's cousin, came over for a visit. (Thankfully, she didn't have to go potty, as I was still cleaning it. :P ) She actually stayed and visited for a good long while. It's always fun when she visits, she's so funny and she makes Mom laugh too. We're all reading similar books, so we talked about the different series' for a while. She also shared some of her dating stories and family news. Like I guess a cousin had to have her baby delievered a couple weeks early because she had swine flu. Her sister caught it and gave it to her husband before he took their youngest out of the house. Everyone's fine. But man. The newborn's mother was in the hospital, sedated, for almost a month. She said she didn't remember anything, the delivery, being sick, nothing... :o  That had to be a scary feeling waking from that fog without the baby you were carrying.

I watched He's Just Not That Into You (2009) tonig...er, last night. And man! The lies told to avoid telling the truth. The pathetic phone watching. The over-analyzing every move a guy makes to read into it something that's not there. I may have told some of those consoling lies over the years, but hopefully not too many. I've never been a pathetic phone watcher. And thank God, I don't read too much into what guys do and say, or didn't when I was interacting with guys on a more regular basis. Ugh... The movie was enjoyable, but it did make me cringe for my fellow females.

EEPS! Almost 5am! Serves me right for stopping mid-way to surf the net.. Anywho, off I go to de-decorate... Joy.

Maybe not...

Okay, so I didn't do a whole lot of productive stuff today.... I did finish adding pretty much all my old fave links. The only links I don't have now, are the ones people gave me... Like.. personal IC/OOC blogs (well, not counting those I'm following here and Mellie's blog) and smaller/newer forums people might have been promoting. Ah well. Oh and I still gotta find that one game... the yetti? yeti? That game where ya wack the penguins to see how far they bounce. :P

It's not the best of pictures.. I took it with my cell phone. I'll have to take anouther and see if day lighting is better. But this is my new baby. :D Bubbles screen saver and all! :D ~petpets her new compy~ Isn't it pretty? (well from what ya can see... :P ) It runs so smooth and quick. And it's pretty too! :D I'm thinking about naming it. :P But I can't think of what to call it. :P

Apart from organizing my LONG list of favorites and adding a few more links, I did nothing but play on it the whole time it was on! :D And tomorrow will probably be more of that, as I won't set up the old comp again (to move more files) until I take down Christmas decorations.

Maybe I'll try being productive tomorrow... Or maybe not... :P Oh, wait.. I will be productive tonight...er later this morning... I have to wash a few dishes.. That's productive, right? :P Anywho... Off I go... dishes... kitties to tidy after... and trash duty... hopefully all before 5:30am so I can make that wake up call to Dad with free hands. :P Toodles doodles!

Playing Catch Up... Part 3

January 1st, 2010!!!!
- You know, despite the goal for the day, I still woke up like it was any other day. Well not JUST any other day. Any other Daddy day. :) And even after getting ready, Dad and I started off our day like usual, with breakferast. :) Actually, no. This time we brought in our books to read while waiting for our food. That was actually very nice. Yeah, I'ma dorky reader. Sit me down in a nice enough environment with my book and I'm happy. :P
- We looked at one store, but due to the fact that it was, y'know, a holiday, it was closed. So on to Best Buy we went. I think we spent at least an hour there. Looking at computers that Dad would have liked for himself, and comparing comps that'd be useful for me. Okay, apart from asking if I could have the larger monitor, I wasn't gonna ask for anything beyond your basic comp. Cuz, let's face it, just about anything was better than what I had. And even the basic basic was gonna be more than what I'd need.
- After a while of looking around and then talking to a sales rep, we settled on a computer and package stuff... Grand total was... :o Well, I'm not gonna say, but HUGE thank you, Daddy. I won't be asking for anything for a long long while. I thought computers were getting cheaper... But then, we also got software (Microsoft Office and Anti Virus) and they set it up for me (updates and virus installs) and again, the slightly bigger monitor... It adds up, really quickly, y'know?
- While they worked on the computer, we hung out at Dad's house and watched a movie or two..... Dunno what we watched now though.... All those Christmas movies just blended in all together after a while.
- Picked up the computer and made a quick-ish stop at a market... Always stopping at a market or store....
- On the way home we hit this one lil Messican food place we (Mom, Josh, and I) used to frequent waaaay back when we lived in Anaheim. They made these awesome burritos and taquitos and nachos... Num num numnum....'
- Man, after the long day of fun and thrill of computer shopping and good food.... I was soooo tired at the end of the day... Too tired even to take my new baby out of the boxes!

January 2, 2010
- Busy, busy day... :D That actually got started with a call while I was sleeping from Nana... She wanted to drive Mom to her dentist appointment. :P But A- she wanted to cancel cuz her mouth was still too swollen to open and B- they cancelled on her anyway due to emergency of some sort...
- I took apart (unplugged) my old computer....cleaning it and the desk as I went. Man was everything dusty! I left it on the dining room table, so we had access to it.
- Then the fun began.... I took my new baby out of the boxes and wrappngs and hooked it up. :D I even installed Microsoft Office all by myself. :P
- Unfortunately, I proceded to waste hours on toying with settings.... As in desktop... screen saver.... That kind of silly nonesense. :P
- Dad came over after work to see if he could move my secondary hard drive, the one with the pics, music, and vids on it... Alas, it was the wrong fit. Ah well.. It did seem silly to put such a tiny hard drive next to my now teragig primary drive. :P So I'm moving my stuff over lil by lil.

January 3rd, 2010
- I continued messing with settings and moving files and organizing files, I'd moved, and downloading programs, and .... y'know, typical new comp stuff. :P
- With Dad coming over for din din again, I had to QUICKLY move the computer off the dining table and clean it so we could all enjoy some more tasty messican food. :D
- After dindin, Dad and I ran to the market and Target for some items... Joy. :P Mom and her darn lists. :P
- Daddy thankfully fixed it so I could hear again.. I was scared I'd broken something already. But no, it was probably me accidently checking something that I shouldn't have. Le whoops?

January 4th, 2010
- I did more of that fun organizing and new compy stuff... like starting to add favorite links... That's proving to be an on going job... after this I am SO saving a list of links somewhere.. like in an email again...

January 5th, 2010
- Yesterday, I did more new compy stuff...
- I checked over the household bills, paid one of my own, and AND.... talked to a customer service rep for my cell bill and got it cut more than in half! I rule! :D Made paying some bills much easier. :D
- After the awesomeness, I got ready for Target Tuesday! :D Sady, the trip wasn't what Dad would have liked... Darn them for not putting more movies on sale. :P
- We ran into a co-worker friend of his at a burger joint. It's a small world after all? :P Bah, no way... Dad runs into people he knows ALL the time. :P
- Anywho, we enjoyed a good meal. Mom got chicken cuz she still hasn't gone to the dentist and it's easier for her to eat. :P
- After Dad left, I added TONS of my old favorite links. Almost added them all now... :D But I took some time to just enjoy the new compy too! Like IMing friends. :D

Tomorrow....errr... Today, after I wake up.... I'll probably add the remainder of my fave links.... At some point, I'll move the old comp to the dining table again to move the files.... And oh yes... soon-ish I need to take down Christmas decorations. :P Well.... We'll see how productive I am... Seeing as how it'll be late when I go to bed today. :P And I'm starting to watch tapes of my recorded shows again.... And I make myself do one Sudoku puzzle and read one chapter a day before getting onto the comp.... to keep my brain working. :P So... Wish me luck! :P


NOTE: Editted to note that it was Anti-virus software not Virus software. Better Daddy? :P

Playing Catch Up... Part 2

December 26th, 2009
- The day started pleasant enough... Woke up and it was just another day.
- Asked Dad to come take me to get some water, y'know from those water filtering stores. I prefer he takes me over Mom... She parks in her spot on the driveway, several feet AWAY from the door and with a bad back and arm and shoulder and neck.... Yeah, she can't help me carry the four five-gallon (HEAVY) water bottles inside. So, while I know, Mom needs to start getting out more... I still ask Dad for the help. Thank you, Daddy!
- After Dad went home, I turned on my computer.... Or tried to at least. The darn thing didn't want to cooperate with me. First, it tells me there's no slave drive (who knew computers came with slaves?). Then, it says there's no boot system, blah blah... Like I know comp lingo. Anywho... I tried shutting it off and then just turning it back on (as that worked in the past), but alas... the poor thing just beepbeepbeeped at me. Le sigh....
- I took the night off (not that I had a choice) and stayed in my room most of the night.

December 27th, 2009
- I woke up and discovered Mom's back went out. Yet another disc in her back had slipped and hit a nerve or maybe one of the discs, that were already sliding, slid just so... At any rate, she was walking around all question mark like. But she said she could still drive.... Liar. :P
- After I showered, I told her I wasn't going to make her drive anywhere. Not when it was obvious she was in too much pain to even drive the non-scenic route.
- As it was only an hour or two away from Sarah's wedding, there was little I could do. So, I missed my fwend's wedding. I'm sorry, Sawah.
- I was scolded later for not telling her sooner. But I can't imagine anyone at wedding/reception central having time to come get me.. Not when it's a good 45 minute drive one way!
- My Sunday was uneventful apart from that, but I hope Sarah's wedding went well... I still can't believe my friend is MARRIED! I mean, I know we're all of a marrying age (if not past it, depending on who you're talking to), but still! I'm happy for her, though.

December 28th, 2009
- A largely uneventful day... I watched lots of Christmas movies. Played online via my cell phone. I really can't thank Chrissi enough for telling me about Opera mini! I checked my main forum for signs of life. Thankfully, I was missing little, what with the holiday season keeping people busy with real life. I was able to check on my Utopia province to make sure it wasn't dying or anything. :P And Y!M texting kept me somewhat connected to my friends. I think that's what I miss most when I'm compless. Talking to people.

December 29th, 2009
- Who loves the dentist? I know my Mom and I don't. She dreads it. So much so, that she puts off treating her mouth. Well, as penalty, she ended up with an infection and a swollen mouth and we had to make plans to make an emergency run to the dentist.
- So I wake early-ish, and she checks with work to see if she can get off early. Dentist's office tells her to come in, and so we do. But the bimbette receptionist must have been on crack or something. The waiting room was filled with people. So they were way too busy to even see Mom. They sent her home, and told her to come back at 3pm. So now she's taken the morning off for nothing!
- Dad called and said he had a long lunch and so we did our Target Tuesday outing during daylight hours for a change. :P Te he! It was fun. And this way, he could go straight home after work..... Well that was the plan anyway...
- We went back to the dentist a smidge earlier than they'd said, but with hopes of maybe being seen. The afternoon receptionist had a brain and saw Mom's mouth and knew they wouldn't be able to work in her mouth. So she got a quick once over by a dentist, enough to get a prescription for pain and antibiotic meds. The hope was it would help the swelling go down enough to be able to work on by Saturday, when her actual appointment was scheduled.
- So, we left and went home. She was shaky from lack of eating (and I think lingering dread that they'd do something to her, but she never said that). Anywho, she didn't think she could go get her meds. So.... I called Dad to see if he could take me when he got off work. Sorry Daddy!

December 30th, 2009
- Wednesday went pretty much the same way Monday did... Nothing but cell net and Christmas movies. :P

December 31st, 2009
- Daddy came over for the last visit of the year. :P Te he.
- We ordered Pizza Hut, which here is WAY better than Norwalk. Got pasta for the Mama who's still not able to eat tons of heavy chewing foods. :P
- Dad looked at the computer. And he was able to reformat it. But it didn't cooperate even still... It was missing some stuff or something... And settings wouldn't behave... We both agreed, taking it out back and shooting it would be for the best. :P But silver lining was....my secondary hard drive was unaffected and so all my personal files remained! :D Whew....
- I almost forgot it was New Year's Eve. At midnight, I heard the neighbors screaming and shouting and tooting their lil party favors. And I was like, what's going on? Oh, right. New Year's Eve hasn't been really special or excited since I was a kid who had to struggle to try and stay awake. Heck, I wasn't even watching the SyFy Twilight Zone Marathon this year. :o The night was just another night for me, mentally speaking.

The next day would be different... :)

To be continued....

Playing Catch Up... Part 1

Last month, I was having fun blogging about just about everything. :P Christmas week was so busy that I kept putting off posting updates. Boy, am I sorry I did that. Now the details are fuzzy at best. Too much to recall. But I'll give it my best shot! I will say this right now though... I've watched ALOT of Christmas movies since my last post. So many I can't even recall all the ones I saw, so I won't be listing them. :P

December 22nd, 2009
- Target Tuesday with Dad. :D  I dunno why, but it never gets old or less fun. But then again, I was the girl who would walk to Target for little to no real reason.


December 23rd, 2009
- My friend, Sarah, and I had plans to hang out while she was down from Washington. So, she, her boytoy, and her sister picked me up and we all took off for the day's adventure!

- BJ's, a time honored tradition. It was Aimee's first time and I think she enjoyed it. :) I scolded Sarah for depriving her little sister of the treat that is BJ's with their deliscious mini pizzas and pizzookies for so long! Despite being relatively less crowded than usual, service was soooo slow. Friendly, but slow.

- We headed for the mall, and poor Waltson (I'm sorry if I botched that spelling, Sawah!) did what most husbands of several years have to do..... Drop us off, while he went to find parking. :P We headed for a dress shop to find Aimee a dress she could wear as the maid of honor. :) And like everything else with the wedding plans, the dress was found quickly and I believe Aims even said she could wear it again for a dance. It was fortunate that the dress was found so easily, as there was a time issue. Aimee had a party to get to and kept texting her friends throughout lunch and shopping, for which I teased her about. :P "Like, OMG, Erin! They're taking SO long to get our food here."

- We headed to Sarah's Mom's place to drop off Aimee. I had fun talking to their birdies.. Tehe, the one was soooo chatty!

- The three of us took off to go look at lights in this lovely spot in Huntington Beach. Man the neighborhood must work together to get it all set up! We parked the car and just walked up and down the area. It was amazing. There were some truly lovely areas and some pretty fun scenes too!

- While Waltson waited in the car, Sarah and I went into David's Bridal and picked up her dress. It was absolutely beautiful and so very very her. :)

- And then it was a quick stop to Target for a forgotten item for my Mom, which turned out great as she needed to go, too! Also a good thing I was there, cuz I asked the important questions, like.... Do you have plates and things for the reception. :P

It was a great day with my fwend, and I got to know Waltson alot better... Well alot better than I knew before, which was a brief meeting last year and whatever Sarah told me. But I got to see for myself, and get a feel for him and how he treated my fwend. I gave him my stamp of approval. :)

The only bummer of the day was when my digital camera decided to finally die. It's been acting up for weeks. At first, Dad and I thought it was just the screen on the fritz. But that last week of its life, I noticed the pics were getting more and more on the blurry side. And before the day even bagan, the darn thing died on me. :( Bummer cuz, I took a cute pic of Sarah, Waltson, and Aimee, which did not come out. Ah well.


December 24th, 2009
- Dad and I went to the movies for the first time since April. We watched Avatar (2009) and I absolutely loved it! Visually stunning and I just loved the story and the action and everything! I know it wasn't easy for Dad. For me, I'd been to the movies a couple times since April. But I am thankful he took me.

- We picked up some fud and went back to his place to watch a movie (or was it a couple movies?).

- He pulled out Josh's camera, so I had one to use for Sarah's wedding. But we went to look at cameras at the store(s?) to see if there was one I really liked. And as half of them had dead batteries to look at them, I couldn't pick one. Not that I'm entirely certain I'd know what I was looking for/at anyway.

December 25th, 2009
- Mom and I watched movies almost all day long. I'd told her I was going to tie her down and force her to watch whatever I picked. :P So, we watched: Enchanted (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009),
 and I ca't recall if there was another movie after that....

- At some point in the movie watching, Nana came over with goodies. She brought cookies from our cousin Debbie's place (Yum!), a box of See's Candy (drool), and she gave me a little gift. :)

It was a nice and quiet day. And later (that day or the next), Mom admitted she was distracted some, which she suspected was my plan. She was right. And I'm glad it worked, if only a little.

Where to begin...

I told myself to handwrite blogs, so I wouldn't be stuck right now...but I didn't. :P

So, raise your hand if ya noticed I was gone. Yep. Now, Christmas week I was pretty busy and or distracted, but it's the day after Christmas that kept me away.....

My computer went kaput. Yep, finally hit that stage where ya just want to take it out back anbd shoot it. Currently it's a really big storage device for my music and pics. I'm proud of myself though. Yes, I was bummed I was compless for a week, but I logged online via celly phone. Opera Mini on my lil Razr was my friend for the week. Apart from checking my games and forum once a day or maybe every other day, I wasn't completely mopey. Kudos to me.

Anywho, there was LOTS I was gonna blog about between my last post and now, but as I mentioned I didn't take notes, so now ya only get my best recollection of the events of the past couple weeks. :P Just not tonight...

My Dad bought me a brand spankin' new computer. I've spent all day assembling, customizing settings, downloading programs, moving files from the old comp. to this one, and now I'm tired. I still have more files to move and haven't even started re-saving favorite links. But more on the new compy later! :D