Excellent flick

"Night at the Museum"
need a little magic as the consumerism and wrapping paper threaten to smother your soul? Go see "Night at the Museum". What a fun treat--Rooney, and Van Dyke are brilliant and of course Robin Williams--there is something so honest about his smile. Owen Wilson is great and I am sure my fondness for miniatures and action figures has NOTHING to do with my big thumbs up on this flick. It is charming and sweet and exciting and just a pleasant couple of hours--

The Virgin & the Unicorn

Friday afternoon the kids and I got bored so we decided to mix up the creche a bit. Then the reindeer wanted to play. Soon the unicorns joined in. The above shot was inspired if I do say so myself! For more on Reindeer Games click on the my photos link to the right Happy Hollydaze!

this morning in the freep

If like me you don't have a proper fireplace. let me suggest this

"You can't roast chestnuts by it ...
But if you don't have a fireplace and want to see a traditional Yule log burning this Christmas, turn on the tube. The WGN Superstation out of Chicago will show the classic 7-minute film loop made in 1970 of a fireplace in Palo Alto, Calif., on Monday morning from 2:30-6:30 a.m. (record it if you get up later) and the INHD network will broadcast a high-def fireplace for 24 hours starting at 7 a.m. with the promise of an image so real you'll want to reach for a poker. Either way, no ashes to clean up."

Hannukah Fun

Carol made the best freaking cabbage rolls--red wine in the sauce and both sharp and sweet paprika. Oh man--deeeelish. Isabel got to light the menorah. gelt and dreidals and beer. I may convert. Then we finally got a chance to play Carcasonne--oohh fun!! It is a lot like Catan but not as cut throat. I suspect Rick & Tim can enhance that! Happy Hannukah. Hippy Solstice, Merry Xmas, Joyous Festivus and Salt & Pepper!

Snowbaby

I remember when Matthew was about seven or eight, we lived in married student housing despite neither of us actually being married. The apartments were at the base of a hill. The hill boasted a playground and a sidewalk which ultimately led to campus but was used by the children at Westview to rollerblade and such. Bear decided he needed a skateboard. Just to sit on and coast down the hill. I managed on my miniscule budget to find him a plastic torpedo shaped (I think it was originally red--but had faded to orange) skateboard at a rummage sale. He was ecstatic. He and the Little dude next door (his name was Fun--how cool for a friend to be named Fun!) played for hours. They used two liter soda bottles as makeshift cones to weave in and out around. Gradually, Matty attempted standing up and by the time he hit junior high he was a "skater". He spent days on the driveway "getting air" and practicing his "ollie". He conned the neighbor into welding him a grind rail. The curbs around the house are all scarred with black streaks--the wax long since washed away. He and his buddies got banished from EMU's campus for defacing property. (twice) He paid $85 for a pair of Tony Hawk Jeans--which are now *my* fave pair. Easily six pair of DC shoes (which it turns out are also good for waiting tables!) Bits of wheels and trucks and broken decks still litter my basement.

And then a couple of years ago he asked for a snowboard for Christmas. My angst was elevated to whole new levels of worry. His dad likes to ski so they have something sort of in common (besides video games) it was pretty much out of my line of vision until this winter. Bear joined the MSU ski club and guess where they have been the last week??

mmm hmmm... in Colorado where the snowgods just dumped 44 inches of snow, closing the Denver airport and all major freeways--he claims all is well-- and we pick him up from his 36 hr bus ride sometime Saturday.
At least they didn't fly.

Harry Christmas

Wow. What a fun thing this morning. I love hangman! Melisant got me hooked on bookworm online too--great! another distraction from daBook. How am I gonna get any writing done while Pete is home for ten days?? What? You say you haven't gone to JKRowling.com and seen that the do not disturb sign is off the door?? OH!! you suck! Click the eraser on her desk-- off you go!

The Xmas miracle

Dear readers, Many of you are personally familiar with Stoopidawg and her ongoing (3+ years) rehab. Well I am knocking on wood but--I think we have reached a turning point. a little doggie break thru perhaps. There has been a significant shift in her behaviour lately. She still is quite adamant that we need to be walking by 8:15 despite the change in playground rules/schedule at Izzy's school and she is of course still hooked on chewies, but she seems...calmer? For example things* we have achieved since let's say--oh September:

1.) Once leashed She no longer lunges madly through the door. She sits down so I can hook the leash to her collar AND she sits while I lock the housedoor. I walk out the door first and she is "showdog heel" before we exit the porch.Previously these have been moments of extreme agitation, manic jumping and butt wagging spinning ecstasy--cute/funny but not very orderly. We need to thank Caesar Milan for this.

2.) It appears She can be off leash under very controlled circumstances. The last week I have been letting her off leash in what Zoli likes to call the Mouse Meadow. I have mentioned the path we walk behind the high school. The wooded area is bounded by two large grassy areas about a city block each. The grass is long and there are saplings and brush. Rodent heaven right behind the football stadium, no vehicle traffic, occasionally a jogger or another doggy team. I have always let Jarvis off leash because he has a very good recall. (that's a doggiepeople term for coming when he is called)
Bree--well not so much.

But something has finally clicked. I was inspired by watching some Canadian Agility trials on Animal Planet. There was a little Jack named Boogie who swept her class. She looked just like Bree. Earlier this week I decided to try an experiment. I put her in "sit" then I laid the leash down beside her. I said "stay". I walked away. It worked! I got about five feet away and said "OKAY". On Monday, she just looked at me-- then split for the football practice field. Well they can't go on the field so I called her off and she came right back!! Musta been something in my voice because she came right to me. I picked up the leash and we walked up a bit more.
I casually dropped the leash, said "Okay" and she tore off after Jarv. I yelled "squirrel" which really is Jarv's warcry and they both stopped--looked where I was pointing-- and they tormented the squirrelvillage for about 10 minutes. On Tuesday she remembered and when we got to the same area she sat right down without me telling her. I let Jarv off leash and then her. They played for about 15 minutes jumping and digging for frozen moles and just playing. It was so funny! They really are hilarious. They are so keen to get whatever is hiding in the hole or in the grass. So serious and busy. So today we were off leash for at least 20 minutes. I cleverly brought a cheese stick with me so whenever she chose to find me or came when I called-- "Hey" seems to work a lot better than "come" she got a treat. What a great feeling. I honestly feel like we are getting somewhere. Man what a relief, maybe this spring we can try and visit a GLJRT meeting. I would love for her to have that much fun.






_____
*It should be noted that at that exact moment she came running into the room jumped into the middle of the bed, barked twice and then ran back into the living room.

Shakepeare excites me!

December 19, 2006
Louise Brown Staff Reporter--Toronto Star

With Shakespeare, it seems the wordplay's the thing that keeps us big on the bard.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found one of Shakespeare's favourite linguistic tricks - throwing odd words into otherwise normal sentences or using a noun as an unexpected verb - surprises the brain in a way that generates a sudden burst of mental activity that actually shows up on a brain scan.

This heightened brain energy, as reported today in the journal The Reader, may be one reason the bard's plays pack such a dramatic punch with audiences, the study suggests.

"The effect on the brain is a bit like a magic trick; we know what the trick means but we don't know how it happens - and instead of being confused in a negative sense, the brain is positively excited," said Professor Neil Roberts, from the University's Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre.

The authors attached electrodes to the scalps of 20 people and read selected lines from Shakespeare's plays to measure brain response.

Co-author Professor Philip Davis cites the phrase "he godded me" from Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus, which is an unusual way of saying "he treated me like a god" that Davis says actually catches the brain off-guard.

"When one word changes the grammar of a whole sentence, brain readings suddenly peak. The brain is then forced to re-trace its thinking process in order to understand what it is supposed to make of this unusual word," he said.

"By throwing odd words into seemingly normal sentences, Shakespeare actually surprises the brain in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity - a sense of drama created out of the simplest things.

Davis said the research is "good for brain science" because it sheds light on how the brain works from moment to moment.

"It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together; when you know how pieces fit, you can get bored," said Davis, "but if the pieces don't appear to fit at first, the brain becomes excited."

Winter Wonderland

This morning in the Freep--
Man, I feel for this kid. Isabel is quite worried that Santa won't be able to sledge properly. This morning she looked out the window and announced to noone in particular (she is just like her Daddy) "Well there is Frost. That's a start."

December 19, 2006
BY JULIE EDGAR
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
(W. Archie Freep camera man)

This small hill of snow in his front yard was all Chance Keathley, 5, of Southfield needed to go sledding Monday. Chance, a kindergartner at Bradford Academy in the city, is this year's winner of the Snow Drop contest, which entitled him to two truckloads of snow from the city's ice arena. Chance plays beginner's hockey there, and his mom, Keyona Franklin, left, helped enter him in the raffle. Family and friends enjoyed the snow, too. After this picture was taken, a cousin, aunt and others threw snowballs. Chance gathered up the snow, trying to hold on to each precious flake. As he hurtled out the front door in a T-shirt to celebrate the arrival of his snow, his mother's voice stopped him cold. Chance Keathley smiled at her over his shoulder and dutifully slipped on his coat. Then he barreled outside.
Monday was chilly, but nothing else about it would indicate that metro Detroiters are in the midst of winter.
That didn't matter, because on Chance's lawn, still studded with blades of green, a craggy mountain of snow was delivered by the City of Southfield.
Chance, 5, was this year's winner of the Snow Drop contest, which entitled him to ride in an antique fire truck with Santa during Southfield's tree-lighting ceremony earlier this month and to receive two truckloads of the ice shavings, which turned out to be 1 yard of snow, from the city's ice arena Monday.
Waiting with him were his 5-year-old cousin, Taylor Phillips of Detroit, an aunt and family friends who were drawn into a snowball fight. Chance gathered remnants of snow from neighboring driveways, not wanting to lose one drop of the precious stuff.

--Hey it's me again--the rest of the article is at Freep.com--you knew that. I have been thinking about this whole frozen mud thing. Here is my prediction. It will be green and brown all through break (YPS starts back up on 1/8/07)--so like Sunday January 7--we will have a Blizzard and no school for three more days--betcha!

Festive funny from Gretchen

Christmas Carols for the Disturbed...

1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?
2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are
3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and
Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and.....
6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna
Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why
9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy - oooh look at the
froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?
10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....

What to my wondering eyes should appear...

I know that I promised not to write about LOST anymore--but you had to know I was lying. I found a thing today. It is the best thing. I was innocently cruising through Toys R Us doing the elfbrand thing when lo and behold what to my surprise,glee and utter delight did I find??
LOST action figures! Oh friends!! I stood there stunned into absolute silence for several minutes. It was a moment-- I had to call Carol for moral support. She understood. She talked me down. At first I was gonna call Sylvia cuz she would *get it* too but she was at work and this was gonna cause much loud laughter--I knew it. I was right.

At first poor Carol thought there was something wrong-- kids--car-- real trauma--her only clue was maybe the heavy breathing and my inablity to articulate. Good thing I didn't call Petey. sheesh. After she deciphered my babbling and stopped her jolly chortling--she realized that they were packaged with little replica props (see Hurley's lotto slip up top) and that I really needed help choosing-- she was there for me! Three purchases were made--NOT all six! I do have some self restraint--not a lot-- but some. It was difficult to decide which three to get. These are done by McFarlane --I mean these are good. At one point I scared all the other shopping mommies right out of the aisle. I had all the figures stacked on the floor around me. I was muttering into the phone, listing all the pros and cons of each figure. I had to check the whole selection. I couldn't find my Sawyer. They had Locke (who is very creepy looking--Kate and Jack (duh) and Charlie!! and Hurley!!--they are supposed to have Shannon but I didn't see her there. No big loss. I have a whole new mission!! Off to ebay!!

intervention request
Is it healthy for a 39 year old woman to collect action figures?
I mean like the comic guys? I Love my action figures. I should post a photo of my "army". But I can't get them all in one shot. I need to do an entry for each of them. *That* could kill some time. I have Shakespeare,Snape, Kevin Smith, Poe, Yoda, Bert, Henry V (papo rocks!), Strider--well, all of the fellowship including Eowyn
I have Joan of Arc--yeah you get the picture. I can't wait for May '07 when MacFarlane will release Season 2 of the Lost figurines--they're gonna make Sawyer. And Mr. Ecko, Jin and Saayid. OH man how freaking cool!

steaming reindeer poo

Zoltan asked several pertinent questions over the course of the weekend. I would like to share them. 1. Is reindeer poo as big as horse poo? Do they poo when they are flying? What if they poo on the roof?
2. Is it dangerous to dual wield knives while doing a cartwheel?
3. Will Santa bring me a grappling hook with a laser pointer on it?

ah...boys....

Much linen progress

Saturday was a very pleasant day. Took Zoli and his bestest buds to see the new fantasy film Eragon. That was a wonderful thing. Ya gotta love 11 year old boys discussing the differences between a book and the film. I was so proud. THEN I abandoned DH and the houseful of chilldwen and went off to Melisant's garb workshop.

The sewing project/dress (aka the bomb) that this blog is supposedly about is about 90% finished. I can wear it. It is a garment. YAY!!! Once this project is finished and posted, well-- I really feel I need to rename the blog. Linenbomb is about ready to retire.
There was, on Saturday, a HONORABLE fellow workshopper who didn't know the whole god awful story behind this black cotehardie-- I carefully explained (without divulging too much personal info) how the first two incarnations of this dress were so horribly and ineptly manufactured that they looked like they had been bombed. I mentioned the very start of this blog-- and how I kept in touch with my support group and sewing mentor (who all happily reside on the CORRECT side of Lake Michigan) via posting pictures and whining for pats on the head and/or virtual hand holding.

Once again I ask my clever friends for help. WHAT should I rename the blog? I need something witty and clever-- a phrase that is easy to remember. Maybe I'll even enable the comments section this time. But for now--kick around some ideas and email me. Maybe it could be Dazehead --but that seems kinda vain. Oh wait this is a vanity blog isn't it? hmmm maybe something uber clever like Ypsidixit. That is the best blogname ever.Think. Think. Think.

Kristi??

I am looking at her face (eyes up here boys) and I am pretty sure this is one of my finest Creative Writing Students ever. She is working for Linda at Sidetracks and she recently showed me a similar photo ( it had less of a holiday theme but similar composition) that friend of hers created.--She mentioned they were for sale at The Elbow Room. It is a rocking little space.

I haven't been in that bar since my friend David Asher had his band The Process play there like two summers ago. God I am lame.

twisted like a black candycane

ICK! EWW! Nasty *shudder* If, darling reader you are sure that I am the biggest freak you know. Please stop reading. Think of me running the School Bookfair, or doing some happy community service thing--like teaching ESL Mommies on North Campus or writing grants for the city pool. If you are one of the tens of peeps who really understand...continue on---

Okay squeamy people gone?? checking under desk to be sure Maddy's not still reading-- I found a movie on netflix. We (that would be myself and darling hubby--aka soul mate...he was giggling like a little kid in a candy shop) watched it last night. It was called Three Extremes. Three different directors, three riveting stories--adequate film making-- but OH MY GAWD!! They were the most repulsive nastytaboo riddenhorriblegross--I almost vomited-- nasty things I have ever seen. I want to remind you what I think is hilarious--really funny--Aquateen Hunger Force, Don Hertzfeldt, Bill Plympton, Beavis & Butthead, Ren and Stimpy, JackAss, South Park and so forth. I weaned myself on Stephen King and Titus Andronicus--but oh constant reader...

Just the the term "crunchy dumplings" is currently enough to make me wanna hurl. I haven't ever seen anything so culturally and morally wrong. These guys took every cultural taboo we have and spun them into terrifying and mind warping little tales. The human obsession with truth, beauty and love are carried to such horrific ends...incest, adultery, vanity, vampires, cannibals, music, truth, three (or four or five) kinds of murder. "stem cell research" hot sex scenes, film within a film--WOW.

I gotta go wash out my eyeballs.

Will it snow??

I like this map. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Plus-- all the places that have a high probability are the places I want to move to!! Detroit is just gray from the pollution.

odd couple o hours

Thus far--Today is national Weird Day. What should have been a series of simple errands has become (in big stage voice) moments of extreme oddness For example. It is quite warm here in Ypsitucki (46F and raining) so it seemed a safe bet to rinse the salt and crap off daBug. But, o gentle reader before I could even change my dollars into quarters of cleanliness--a big white SUV blocks the front of the car wash stall!! ENH?! Then out hops a beautiful German (Swedish?--hey --she had a very thick accent) woman. She has a business card for Nethack or some such bullshit. The address is Ann Arbor and way the butt fuck out on Jackson Road. She says in a little girl voice that was sure to send shudder's down men's spines--"You are telling me where this address is?" I asked her had she called the place for directions? The card did have three phone numbers listed. No--she says something in her Germanic/Scandinavian language that I'm sure translated into "My cellphone only works in Amsterdam" Taking pity on her--I explain that she is on her way to Detroit--that is going AWAY from her destination. I explain how to get on i-94 and get to Jackson Road but I had no idea after that--that she may want to phone the people who were expecting her to find out which way on Jackson Rd cuz-- well it is a big road--one of the kind of streets where the addresses have eight digits. I hope she got to her appointment. very odd.

I washed my little car and went to get my blood drawn. (It's time to find out if *this* drug has kick started my painfully ponderous metabolism.)

Again pretty standard procedure--but lo and behold the tech (phlebotomist-- I believe is the correct title) is reading Janet Evanovich. In fact, the receptionist and the phone babe (I suppose she could be called the phoneblotamist) are also Big Plum heads and we stand there yapping for about 10 minutes. It isn't every day you start a book discussion at the lab. Quite odd.
Then as I was leaving one of them tucked the tag into the back of my shirt--which was a very sisterly thing to do but I wasn't aware that sharing a fondess for popfiction gave one permission to handle my garment care tag. Now, the girls at the grocery store that is another thing. They can fix my clothes but not complete strangers--like the guy at BloodBath and Beyond who tried to sell me Emerilware--he obviously doesn't understand that I am AB's girl through and through-- snort--"Emeril...bam!" (ROFL)

Yes-- the Womens of Hiller's. They are my friends. Barb, Sheila and Candy. They are the backbone of the check out staff at my fave grocery store--and dude I spend enough time with those women..I know when they have dr's appts and when their kids are getting discharged from the service. Scary--but true.

As I wandered the aisles hunting and gathering I swear to god this huge dude (old guy--like 70 ish but waaay big--his belly made a shelf over his belt. He didn't have a double chin he had like..I dunno--Walrus neck--was stalking me. If I went down the soup row--HE went down the soup row. Everywhere I turned there was ancient Walrus man--getting paper products--pretzels--there was no way I was going in the beer cooler. I became a little afraid. I wondered why he was following me. I began to conceive an exit plan-- how to ditch him-- I doubled back through the frozen bovine secretions and looped around the kosher goods. I stopped outright at the deli counter--I would be safe there. i was secretly hoping cute butcher boy was working-- but no it was Cranky old lady with the hair net. "A half pound of Tavern Ham for sandwiches please." Minute sticked by with no sign of the predator.

At last, believing I had lost my Walrus pursuer; I hurried up through the refrigerated section (yogurt. check.) to do a final lap through the bakery. And there he was. I froze in my tracks. His massive mustachioed bulk perched on a tiny cafe chair. He was stuffing a pastry (shortbread?) into his cake hole like he hadn't eaten in weeks (which dear one--he plainly had). He sputtered crumbs at his diminutive wife who sipped a coffee. I could barely see her hidden as she was between the cherry tarts and his enormous torso. I gathered my courage and calmly pushed my cart past the odd couple. I saw my friends waving me to the finish line--- if I could just clear this last 10 feet without the walrus capturing me I would be home free. I was a baby spotted seal--slipping through the ice at the last minute.

xmas kids

Peanut's in da hood
brother bling
tree bong?? Musta been the inspirational Christmas music Pete was playing--His new Bootsy Collins CD!--oi!

Stinky Candles

I heart candles. I love my stinky candles. I wish I could get my house to smell like Pier One (tm). My desk smells like french vanilla even though it is called "orange cream". The living room smells like "Winter Cranberry". Who names these things? What the hell is Winter cranberry??? as opposed to what a summer cranberry? Ya can't do that can ya?

It is Prly the same Martha Stewart minion who names paint and make up. The day I see a lipstick named properly I will buy it.

For example they should be given practical straight forward names like...oh...say..
Fuck Me Red, or Daddy doesn't know I am wearing make up--aka Little girl Pink. What about my fave line of Burt's Bees lip shimmers. Don't even get me started on the BB's Almond Milk hand creme---ahhhh. good stuff.I am such a gullible consumer because ya know what--they put those things at the check out and I buy them---Oooh--- I don't have Raisin! or Nutmeg!--what about Cocoa! (Nice normal names--no "Tweed Peat" here) I had to have cocoa. I have it in my coat pocket. There is also a lip shimmer in the cup holder in the bug (yeah it is frozen), one down stairs, one in the pencil jar and about seven in the upstairs powder room--okay there is a euphemism. Powder room *snort* --More like Zoli's wet towel depository.

helpful Kifli advice

Please dear friends--do not dance to Shakira's "hips don't lie"-when you are sifting flour! I was having so much fun dancing (keeping the top half still while sifting and shaking the bottom half and of course singing at the top of my lungs) that I only put in half the amount of flour. Spaced out totally. Chilled the inadequate dough (still singing and dancing) rolled out the velvety (I did notice it was awfully smooooth) pastry into a circle. Then I cut out the little triangles and filled them with Raspberry. Baked them--they smelled awesome--took them out and saw that I had--well... um-- they didn't look like this.

In fact they kinda looked like a big melted carmel raspberry sneeze. After laughing at myself and in order to prevent the total waste of ingredients-- I lined the bottom of a round dish with the raspberry tiles--then made a custard to soak the whole thing into a bread pudding kinda concept.
It was pretty good. Calder's milk makes for a kick ass custard.

KIFLI!

Well,gentle reader today is the day. The turkey leftovers are gone (praise Allah).Thus, we have entered The HOLLYDAZE-- and we are getting the tree on Saturday; which means we need to have cookies and cocoa when we get home. And what kind of cookies do we need mes chéris? That's right we need KIFLI!! mmmm, I swear the best thing to come out of Hungary EVER! The most nummy little cookies. Little crescents of buttery love, filled with nuts or jams or poppyseed--oh yummy. Pete's Grandma Olah made sure I had the right recipe and it easily took three years before I could roll them properly. But, now..I am KIFLI QUEEN!! Let the cookies begin!

Not walking the path

So this morning I am walking stoopid dawg through the heavily wooded cross country trail and Lo and behold we were thwarted.
This freaking HUUUGE tree was blocking our path. It was very windy Friday and this big ole dead wood tree just gave it up.If a tree falls in the forest... What was especially odd was that the root ball was practically non-existent. It was like a morel mushroom, just a big dirty Q-tip. No straggly roots or anything. As we got closer and realized that while Bree's ancestor's were good with horses-- there was no way we were going to get enough steam to hurdle over this obstacle. No English jumper in the vicinity. We were stuck on our boring little hoof-less feet. I really did want to lean up into the stirrups and encourage SOMEBODY to jump over it. It would have been picturesque. Dejectedly, we looked for a route around the fallen giant. All of the bark had long ago been stripped from the trunk and it was actually all whitened dry rot. After sniffing and digging and generally examining this new thing, when we tried to clamber (yes..clamber) over it Bree's nails were shredding the old fiber. It was quite an unusual moment. Normally the most exciting thing on the path is a frozen dead cat or a snippy squirrel. I hope "they" don't clear it out too soon. I need more excitement in my daily routine.

Once Upon a Snarky Sunday

Ick. My "home" boys are sick. Petey & Z are both all boogers and snot. (I am spraying lysol like a maniac.. Did you wash your hands??)
The disieased menfolk didn't stop Peanut from going to Tessa's Chuck E Cheese (shudder) party, in Rochester Hills! Petey had to drive or I would have ended up in Sarnia--WHY?? are freeway off ramps so confusing?...and the switching from 23 to 94 (or 96?? no that is Lansing) 1-75 to 296 to ACK!! I hate it. I'm not sure how I managed to mature this far with such a crappy internal map. Regardless-- Isabel had a blast at Tessa's gig and we hit Somerset. That my darlings is what I REALLY want to yap about, next to driving on the freeways---I LOVE shopping! Especially at a hip haute coutre giant ass place like The Somerset Collection. It is FABLUOUS (ya'll can smell the sarcasm right?) The decorations were truly beautiful. There is huge BaronMunchusen ship that was spectacular--I kinda wish I had the camera and the whole "Visit Santa" thing in the court was heavy handed Renaissance theme. pretty but of course the garb of course was ATROcious. All I could think of was poor David Sedaris. One elfboy was kinda cute in his faux white doublet and hose.

The people shpping there--oi! One girl who was just a little pudgy, really quite normal..but not a hottie; was trying to dress like a hottie. Stress on the verb there. She was wearing (are you ready? Ia..cover your eyes) cheapo flip flops!! (oh! outdoor temps were at a balmy 25F) legwarmers, no hose, no tights leggings or otherwise-- just pasty white thighs, a deconstructed (read frayed hem) denim mini that was TOOO short and a hoodie with her HS logo on it. THEN on the other end of the "What not to Wear Spectrum" was this goomar in her Fuck me shoes, black hose, black leather mini and little jacket, presidential tint wrap around sunglasses, blood red collagen lips and her hair was dyed SOO black it was like a cosmic hole of goth. It sharp contrast her bling was so blingy the glare was like a 1000 watt Robertson on the top of a lighthouse.
Honestly! Do these women own mirrors? My fave snark moment though was the two flaminggay guys descending the escalator--can you say Best in Show?... and yes dears, they had a little tea cup puppy in a Juicy bag.

We did find Z some nice black chords for his concert. God I hate the mall.

Cuppycake Lady

Oh freaky darlings--
There is a new shoppe in KerryTown. Up a bit from the bookstore and Dogma/Catmandoo. She makes cuppycakes--strawbery lemonade cuppycakes,chocolate cuppycakes, carmel cuppycakes...I did about choke at the $12 for six-- but ya know what..they were completely worth it. And she has the coolest freaking purple couch I have ever seen. It is all swoopy and art deco. Posh--that's the word I need--the most posh purple sofa! I want it!

Festive Fun For Free

Oh how absolutely cool! The culinary arts students at Schoolcraft College in Livonia produced a wonderful little village of happy candy houses. They were very creative, pez candies as bricks, golden grahams cereal make great shingles--I was esp. enamoured with the vertical stacks of star cut out cookies to make a fir tree--veddy nice; The whole gingerbread village was really enchanting. It was really quite impressive when you realized that even the streets were slivered almonds. I was surprised at the steady stream of people visiting. We also got to walk down the wing of classrooms where the students were busy at work, they all looked so chipper and cheerful--very unlike Anthony Bourdain's books. Isabel of course was ecstatic pointing out all the little details like flowers in the flower shop window and tiny little cupcakes in the bakery. Zoli had a blast identifying the types of candy. They both would proclaim that "This" was the house they were gonna live in if they ever became tiny little confections--until they saw the next structure. At the risk of sounding banal--It was cute. Damn cute--Go! Be festive!-- it won't hurt.