Mischief Maker

Tax day came and went without a hitch.  When I say "without a hitch", I mean, I didn't do them, my dad did and, also, because I had my Middle Sister to help get me through it.  She's the best...so much that I went and bought all of her kind at Target, the only place I can find her round these them parts. I'm a personal fan of Mischief Maker, the Cabernet.  They have several variety of wines and you can even go to the website and take a quiz to see which one you are most like. Just look at her, she's the sister I wish I had!  I can't help that I want to relax with her every night.  If Huck is lucky, he may just end up with a threesome.

You Tell 'Em, Steve

Steve Jobs explains in 5 steps why Flash eats it. Then is all like… support HTML 5, bitches, it’s the future and Flash is going to die cold and alone with only its cats to keep it company....So There!

Just Remember....

Just when you think everything is going down the drain, when you think all hope is lost, when you're at ground zero and picking yourself up seems impossible, the weight on your shoulders seems unbearable to lift, remember there is someone out there who cares.  Someone who loves you. Someone who truly has it worse off than you. The "guests" on Jerry Springer are living proof. Call me when you don't think anyone will answer on the other end.  I will.

Southern Goodness

Tonight I introduced Huck to one of my favorite "meals."  You must remember that I not only consider chips and salsa as a meal but also part of a major food group. I can't get enough of corn tortillas.  In Texas it's a staple to have corn tortillas with every meal.  As a young girl, I loved having them brought to the table as we sat down. I would smear enough butter to stop the left ventricle, add a dash of salt to bloat a whale, and drown it in salsa.  Easy enough to make at home except I fry the tortillas in butter for just a few seconds.  I make a plate full so that everyone can grab and dip them into salsa.  My house then smells like a Mexican tortilla factory and I couldn't be more pleased except if I was holding a margarita in my empty hand.  My kids love these as much as I do.  It's a heart attack waiting to happen I'm sure.  I hope no one from CPS reads this blog...

Earth Day

Yesterday was Earth Day. My 8 year old delightedly told me they celebrated it at school. He went on to tell me that they had a party and something about a birthday and I became lost in translation trying to determine if they celebrated Earth Day with a birthday party, cakes, planting trees, and OMG who organizes this stuff?

Anywho, in honor of Earth Day Huck and I thought we would give back to Mother Earth by making our yard look prettier. Not really, it just so happened it was the same day when some guys showed up to work on our lawn. I've never seen such junk grow or lack of soil in a yard before. We don't have to deal with moss in Texas, in Washington though, it seems to grow everywhere including the roof of your house. I have to admit that there are some beautiful lawns that are green year round here in Washington. YOU HEAR THAT TEXAS?. I guess that once you cast Satan out of your yard or burn it, whichever comes first and easiest, it will be green forever.

Alas, we began one of those practices. This team of guys showed up at the house yesterday to "de-thatch" our lawn. It's basically like tilling. It's this machine that grinds up the surface of your lawn to get all of the weeds and moss so that you can later put fertilizer, seed, top soil, or whatever suits your fancy down. They handed me paperwork when they left for next steps. NEXT STEPS: Rake up thatch or mow up with mower if possible. PERFECT. I LOVE TO MOW. I marched right outside and started up the mower. I was doing beautifully on the side of the house where the strip of lawn is 3 feet wide by 938745 feet long give or take a foot or two. I realized I was pushing the debris back and forth more than picking it up. I ran upstairs to find Huck in the office watching me from the window. AWESOME. I whined a little bit and threw myself on the guest bed in a dramatic way that was surely a sign I needed his help. I went back outside to push the stuff around some more as Huck emerged with more powered lawn tools. This is where it gets fun for him. I'm like a kid in a candy store when it comes to lawn stuff. My A.D.D. goes into overdrive and I work a whole 30 seconds in random spots before I see another area that needs to be worked on. I never knew this would be so much work!

Dear Lucifer,

Just in case I go to Hell when I die, please do not make my eternal job raking up thatch. I will serve out STD's or other infectious disease first. And the only reason I think I may join you when I die is because I have been told to "Go to Hell" and I "Hope you burn in Hell" by some people and not by my kids yet because they are still young...but you know all of this. OK, thanks.

Love, T

While I was raking thatch into piles to be sucked up, I noticed the ground looked like it had fur on it.

Me: "Why does the ground look like it has fur on it?"

Huck: "Because you brushed Ranger out here yesterday."

Me: "No, it looks furry. The dirt clods have it wrapped around. It's not from Ranger"

Huck: "I don't know what you're talking about."

4th grade neighbor: "To keep the ground warm."

And there you have it. My dad paid for all of that time in college and I could have dropped out in the 4th grade. He will be happy to know this. Let me go call him.

Every muscle in my body came to life screaming at me yesterday. And when I could no longer handle the pain in my back I decided to quit and make dinner. I hate my neighbor for having such a beautiful yard across the street. It makes ours look that much more like the red-headed step child on meth. Unfortunately, we didn't touch the backyard. In some ways I curse myself for still having to do it. The other part of me is glad so that Huck can't see where I have hidden all of those Cheetos wrappers I have buried in the yard. Happy Earth Day, y'all.

This Is It

They say tonight is the night my boyfriend is getting kicked off of Idol. I said it. I threw it out there and now you can think worse of me than you already do. You're the one going to hell for judging me in the first place, so there...imagine me sticking my tongue out at you al la 6 year old style braids and all. Tim Urban...I say this with a heartfelt sigh and a faraway glance in my eye as though I am remembering better times strolling hand in hand through a meadow of wildflowers barefoot. AHEM. OK, this isn't Cougartown, I just think he's the cutest thing on the most boring season of American Idol ever. He has a shyness that he hides behind with that cute smile. He was not part of the original 24 and, you know me, I always cheer for the underdog. Look where I went to school! ;) He's hung in there by a thread and I know a lot of you bash him about making it week after week. You're all a bunch of haters!!! He reminds me a lot of Jason Castro from Season 7. He wasn't really talented but the girls sure loved him...Enter Tim Urban. I like a little eye candy. It doesn't necessarily mean I want to partake to cure my cravings. My pick for the final 2 is Lee and Crystal. If Tim can hang on until then, I'll continue to watch...otherwise, I need to find something else to do with my time. And, Huck, that's not an option.

Here I Go Again

It has been awhile since I've written and at times I thought my fingertips would fall off due to the lack of typing. I started a quote of the day, but realized how much work went into searching for the right quote for the particular day and finding a picture to go with it was extremely time consuming and I think their were days that Huck and the boys didn't see me at all, and if they did they usually asked something about the last time I showered....

Anyway, I would comprise a month at a time which is hard when there are so many shiny objects to distract me including the kitchen that actually calls my name when it's not even time to eat. I became so lenient on those quotes to publish daily ON TOP OF my incessant rambling that I actually got away from typing the thoughts in my head and lucky for Huck, he was only privileged to hear that information. I wanted to post, but quickly relied on those stupid quotes until one day I realized they weren't coming through and after a small investigation discovered that half of last months quotes were just saved and never published in their daily time slot appropriately.

OMG, the horrors that went through my head! My physician was the only one that could remove me from that special place where butterflies actually talk to me.

I decided right then and there that I wouldn't post quotes anymore making me actually write.... and 20 days later here I am!

oi vey. You would think since I quit my job that I would have all of this time to write.

YOU WOULD THINK.

I'm on the computer everyday and at one point thought I found the end of the Internet and I was so excited to let you know, but alas, my router went out and I lost a day putting me farther away to finding the end. So now that I am back, Huck is getting a mini-vacation.

In Your Face

Everyone and their dog has Facebook.  Your mom has Facebook.


A year ago that might’ve stayed as an idiomatic saying, at one point my mom had one, but as of right now my grandmother, my aunt, my uncle, my brother and cousins are all on Facebook; my neighbors probably have Facebook and the odds are pretty good that their dog has one too.
There’s a million and a half different reasons that I’m in love with Facebook –it’s nifty for reconnecting to old friends, great for keeping in touch with recently made ones and convenient for keeping your social life up to date. As you know, I use it for all of these reasons and more. With social media making privacy near impossible, it’s imperative that social networking sites improve the quality of their privacy settings. Unfortunately, when it comes to keeping parts of your life under separate locks and keys, Facebook is notorious for dropping the ball.

In 2007, Facebook launched a system called Beacon which makes it possible for websites not associated with Facebook to send over information about users, such as purchases made and games played. After some initial backlash, action notices were created which gave the user a choice to share, or not share, their personal information with the world. This past December, a new set of “privacy” settings were introduced which made things, well, not so private: no matter your previous settings, almost all of your information was made public until you went through with a fine tooth comb and redefined your settings. For why, you might ask? Well, for profit.  Did you know that the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the youngest billionaires?  As of 2009, the soon-to-be 26 year old had a personal wealth of a mere $4 billion.

 In the next few weeks, Facebook will be testing our patience with its privacy settings once again. According to a blog post from Barry Schnitt, a director on the Communications and Public Policy team, Facebook is going to share some of your information with “some pre-approved partner websites” so they can “offer a personalized experience.”

With how simple it is to sign up and maintain an account, one would think it would be easy and breezy to establish concrete user defined privacy settings. But, in the wake of site wide changes and pre-approved partner sites, Facebook has confused it’s members and backed their privacy into a corner. It’s one thing to have to change your settings time and time again, but quite another to share information without permission.

What do you think of Facebook’s ever changing privacy settings?

April Playlist