More inexplicable fashion

I guess it makes for an easy way to get your contact lenses out... [shudder]

h/t BlogDog

Cheesus

Woman finds Jesus in bag of Cheetos

Kelly Ramey says, "I think I found Jesus on a Cheeto as funny as that sounds."

Kelly says her husband has a special name for it. "He calls him Cheesus."

This is all it takes to get a story on Fox News? I'm going to start buying Cheetos to see if I can find one that looks just like Sean Hannity, and I'll call it Sean Cheesity.

Inexplicable fashion trends

Apparently the housedress is back in fashion.
I hope it goes out. Soon. (photos from InStyle)

Progress

I am feeling better and better each day. I'm supposed to be doing a lot of walking, but I'm only doing it in the house because -- hey! It's like, freekin', a HUNDRED AND FIVE DEGREES here right now and I don't think it would be prudent to go for a walk around the block just yet. So sue me.

I still have some surgery-related equipment attached to me that must be removed before I can really start feeling decent again, but that is supposed to happen on Thursday morning.

Wanna know something cool? I can swallow a whole pill and I don't even feel it going through my stomach anymore. Seriously! That's been part of my life for so long I'd forgotten what it felt like NOT to feel them.

Other than pills, though, I'm still on a liquid/puree diet until Wednesday, when I can begin a soft/smushy phase. Don't ask me what the difference is. I think it involves chunks. I'm not terribly concerned; I pretty much don't FEEL like eating very much of anything, liquid or solid. My tummy is still sore. Duh!

The other good news is that on Thursday after I'm finished at the surgeon's office, I get to go to my mom's. My sister's going to be there with Baby Ava and I'll get to really hold her and see her for the first time. Hooray!

Any-hoo, just wanted to let y'all know that I'm still "not dead yet." Although I will make a teeny confession here -- when I was walking the hospital halls, holding onto my IV pole for dear life, I wanted almost nothing more than to shout, "Bring out yer dead!" and I didn't. I figured it was in poor taste at a hospital, no?

I heart Monty Python. Wholly inappropriate for most any occasion, but I heart those guys anyway.

Baby Ava Catherine has arrived!!!

My sister and her husband with their firstborn, Ava Catherine!

I'm home!

Well, not *exactly* home. I'm at my mom's for a while, since she lives about a mile from the hospital where I had my work done. Later I'll probably head on home to the Pink Carpet Castle and take a picture of my incision for ya.

Just kidding.

And no, RedFish, I didn't have them put in a bellybutton. What would be the use?

I can assure you that I could tell so many of you were praying for me. This was, by far, the very best hospital experience I have ever had -- and I've had quite a few. The hospital was clean, quiet, new, and efficient, and the nurses and staff were -- down to a man -- the kindest, most thoughtful and caring people you could ever hope to meet.

Just wanted you all to know that I'm not dead yet, I feel happy! I feel happy! I think I'll go for a walk!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your kind, cheerful encouragement. You made it much easier for me. :)

I leave you with a photo to contemplate

No particular significance, other than that it just exists, and it's next door to our new house. We live next to the telephone company, and they have a phone booth out front. I've never checked to see if it actually is still working or if it's just decorative.

Starting tomorrow morning, I'll be out of commission for a while having major surgery. I'll be in the hospital for four or five days, in all likelihood. See y'all on the other side.

Progress

The roofers began work today:

We were rather elated to find that the rafters are on 16" centers... and made of REAL two-by-fours. The house seems to have been very well built.


Aiyeeeee! There are Mexicans crawling all over our house! tee hee

Actually, they seemed to be very nice guys. One or two of them could even speak English.


We have NO idea why the weird plumbing retrofit left lovely pipes clinging to the outside of the house. That part of the upstairs IS the second bathroom, but couldn't they have made it a little less unsightly? Anyway, put that on the list of stuff to improve eventually.

The pool in the foreground appears to be one of those fiberglass inserts, and it was damaged by the collapse of the makeshift cover. Another item on the list.

Projected color idea?

Eventually I would also like to repaint the house a nice tidy khaki/sagey color with white trim and red accents and a metal roof. I know, the "old yellow house" thing is romantic and sweet and charming, but I think it would also be a great way to modernize the look a little. My interior decorating tastes run to the modern, almost even an industrial feel, but I've never been able to exercise this tendency anywhere else I've lived. This time around, I'm going to start making lists and plans so that when improvements are made, they're moving things toward a goal.

In Des Moines, just a few houses up the block from us, was a humongous old Queen-Anne house that was simply spectacular. It was bought by a realtor and an interior decorator, and one of the improvements they made was this ultra-modern kitchen. The juxtaposition and quirkiness of the old and the new made it a funky and wonderful place. I'd like to shoot for something like that -- take advantage of the old but not fall into the whole restoration trap.

It appears we will be closing on the house THIS WEEK. Rick is putting together our power-of-attorney documents, since I will likely be indisposed when the closing actually happens.

And darn it all, I'm going to be restricted from heavy lifting (i.e., moving) for at least six weeks post-op. Can you believe it? Let's just say I am very VERY thankful for friends who will be helping us.

Recovery fun

RedFish e-mailed me a while back to tell me she'd sent me a care package for my recovery, and it arrived today:


Wasn't that thoughtful? Now I get to enjoy watching wall-to-wall Dog (and Leland). And drift away with the dulcet tones of Norah Jones.

I'm already feeling better, and I haven't even had surgery yet.

The House on McCubbin Street

Here are some photos of the "new" house:

From the southwest corner

As you can see, the roof is in terrible shape (as is much of the rest of the house). Part of the purchase agreement stipulates the complete replacement of the roof (down to the decking). That will start sometime next week.

From the southeast corner

I know it looks a little scary, but won't this be an amazing house once we've made improvements and lived in it a while? I think so. Did you know it has over 2800 square feet? I never thought we'd have such a wonderful big space to spread out in. All the kids will have their own rooms for the first time in their lives. They are fit to be tied, they're so excited.

I know, it's not air-conditioned. And Texas heat is brutal. Yes, I'm aware of that. But we'll get a window unit for one room of the house at first, just to give us a bit of respite. And we're heading into the fall and winter months, which will give us a lot of time in which the temperatures are more seasonal and we can have the windows open while we work.

The east side, the front door

I can see lots of pretty changes that can be made someday, can't you?

The northeast corner

We don't know if those window a/c units work, but we're assuming not. Nobody's lived here for a while.

The northwest corner (the swimming pool)

Apparently this was practically a showplace once upon a time, and then renters and other ruffians ruined it. We hope we can bring it back, a little at a time.

We're looking forward to folks stopping by to visit whenever they're traveling up and down I-35 in north Texas. I mean that. If you need a bathroom break or a cuppa tea, we'll soon be ready to oblige.

Poindexter 2008

I really wasn't kidding in that Twitter update... I was at the Poindexter Family Reunion in Tishomingo, Oklahoma all day today. Don't you think that having that name in my lineage explains a few things about me?

See the little silver-haired lady? That's my grandmother, whose maiden name was Poindexter. This reunion was for all the families of her siblings: Billy Ray, Martha (her), Turner, Monroe, Jimmy Doyle and Colby. Half of them have already passed on, but the other three turned up for the shindig -- as did a fair number of their progeny and their progeny's progeny. My grandmother's family is way way way waaaaaay bigger than this little bunch in the photo, but not everyone could be here this year for one reason or another.

My daddy is standing on the far left. I look exactly like him. He is my hero. He goes in for stem cell harvesting and transplant next month, at which time he'll have to be in complete isolation for a few weeks until his bone marrow grows back. It's all part of the treatment for multiple myeloma.

Next to him is my wee Alice, and then JoeMama. I don't look much like her, but I have almost the same voice that she does. She is ALSO my hero. In another month, she will celebrate her fourth year of living with a heart transplant.

If you'll notice, Alice is carrying a little bag. One of my mom's cousins, Wayne, who lives in Reno, Nevada, brought her a bunch of gifts. He had met her at the last Poindexter shindig three years ago and thought she was the sweetest little thing ever. Isn't that just the coolest? I was really touched by that.

The project I had been working on for my grandmother was a scrapbook with pictures of everyone in her branch of the family (since they couldn't all be there in person). It was fun to get photos e-mailed to me from every corner of the known universe, and I think the book turned out quite nicely.

We made plans to meet up again in two more years in Reno, Nevada -- hosted by Billy Ray's branch of the family. I canNOT wait; I have always wanted to visit Reno and Tahoe, and a family reunion is the perfect excuse.

All in all, it was a very pleasant day.

Except I do have some advice to those planning the next one -- don't give microphones to men in their seventies or eighties.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea

That's the title of the new Miyazaki animated film that just opened in Tokyo.

I'm a huge fan of Miyazaki. Every single film is not just a cool cartoon, it's a visually-stunning work of art. I've shown them in my art classes, and invariably, students are mesmerized by the movies. They're certainly very Eastern in flavor, which is why I believe that students become so enthralled by them -- they're unusual and not formulaic in a Western, Disney-ish way.

His Spirited Away actually won an Academy Award in 2003 -- for Best Animated Feature. It was well-deserved, too. Have you seen it? You should. It is fascinating.

I think that my favorite is his 2004 release, Howl's Moving Castle.

I am REALLY looking forward to Ponyo's release here in the US. IMDB doesn't list a date when that will be, however, so I guess I'm resigned to wait a while.

See?

$4 gas is making it cool again to own a scooter

"Last year, we had a few buyers, but a lot more lookers," said Dan Albertsmeier, a salesman with Dave Mungenast Motorsports, a Honda dealership in south St. Louis County. "But when gas got up around $4, the scooters started disappearing. The Honda warehouses nationwide are empty. And we're taking deposits now on '09 models."

Are scooters legal on interstate highways?

Bloggy Breakfast

KING ME! KING ME!

This morning I had the privilege of meeting up with Elisson of Blog d'Elisson and his patient and gracious and beautiful wife SWMBO. What a wonderful visit over coffee and biscuits! They are even more lovely in person than they seem on his blog.

I hope that's not the only time I ever get to visit with them -- absolutely wonderful people.

Passably decent ready-to-eat Indian food

I first bought these at a Target grocery store, thinking perhaps they would be mashed-up enough not to cause me trouble... and boy, was I right. They are both fantastic and just exactly the right amount for a lunch.

Of course, there's no way any pre-packaged, ready-to-eat food could possibly be as good as that served at a good Indian restaurant or home-cooked by your Indian neighbors... but it IS quite decent. So decent that I ordered some more from Amazon, which carries the Kitchens of India brands online.

They arrived yesterday, so today we gave them a try again. Definitely good eats. And I was surprised to find that each package has one of four sampler CDs of Indian instrumental music!!! That obviously means, though, since I bought a 12-pack of each, I will have quite a few extras... but I thought it was a really nice little unexpected benny.

There will be quite a few weeks after my surgery next Tuesday in which I will still be limited to liquids and soft foods while my re-built tummy heals properly. If I had a dollar for every time someone suggests baby food, I'd be independently wealthy -- and if I actually ATE baby food, I'd probably gag. Have any of you ever actually eaten baby food? I suppose if you like completely tasteless food, it's a safe bet, but for those of us who like our eats spicy, we're out of luck on the puree front. These, however, have a very soft and homogeneous consistency AND a nice bite as well. Normal people will want to put it over white rice and combine it with chicken tikka masala or something like that... but they're great as a whole meal for folks like me.

Texas Holiday!

I would SO ride one of these awesome Vespa scooters to school every morning... even if it DIDN'T have Gregory Peck in back. He's yummy, isn't he? Phew! I love that movie, by the way... Roman Holiday is one of my very favorite old movies. Can you imagine a paparazzi behaving that way today? Riiiight.

Gregory Peck... as Joe Bradley in Holiday... as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird... his wry savvy combined with consummate gentlemanliness AND devastating good looks is simply irresistible.

[sigh]

Any-hoo, I am also aware that scooters and golf-carts are going to be hot property right about now. New Vespas run somewhere between three and six thousand. If I had between three and six thousand dollars, you can bet your boots it'll be spent on a camera.

But it would be fun, wouldn't it?

I wonder how bad a helmet would mash my hairdo, and would it matter anyway?

Today at the Dallas Farmer's Market

JoeMama with the grandkids, enjoying the heavenly aromas and panoply of colors at the Dallas Farmer's Market today.


Onions anyone?





I *so* love the brilliant colors and the fruity fragrance of the farmer's market. I don't often get a chance to visit downtown Dallas, of course, but a neurologist appointment at Children's Medical Center gives us a great excuse.

I bought plums, peaches, Israel melons, avocadoes, mangoes, squash and okra. Who's coming over for dinner?

LADIES & GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE A HOUSE!

Or we will, for sure, by next Tuesday, since that's when we officially close on this deal for reals.


YIPPEEEEE!!!


I probably won't be "Yippeeee-ing" once we're actually IN the house, of course, since it will probably be rather un-fun living in an un-airconditioned house in Texas (we'll get a window unit for one room, but we can't afford anything more than that at first). But at least it will be OURS, and it will be in BALLYHOO. No more driving every morning.

I *could* even get a golf cart to drive myself back and forth to school. Anyone got an old one for sale?

My sister's nursery

Isn't this just divinely adorable?!? I can't wait to see this kiddo.

My grandmother made the sweet little bunny quilt, and she and my mom & my AuntyOh made the bedding.

Another item on the list of things that keep me awake at night

Oregon Woman Gets 140-Pound Tumor Removed

REDMOND, Ore. — Linda Rittenbach tried all the diets and workouts, but nothing would help her lose weight. Doctors even suggested weight-loss surgery.

It wasn't until the Redmond woman went to a different doctor this spring for flu-like symptoms that she found out why she couldn't shed the pounds. A 140-pound cancerous tumor had been growing near her stomach for the past 15 to 20 years.

It took doctors in Redmond and Portland three surgeries, over two months, to remove the tumor. Doctors had to remove her kidneys to complete the surgery, and were only able to put one back.

My surgery is a week from tomorrow. I'm trying to tie up as many loose ends as possible before I check in. I hope my sister doesn't go into labor until AFTER I get out of the hospital; I would be totally bummed if I missed out on all the fun!!

Prayer request

Blogger Songstress7 just lost her husband.

Odd association?

The bark of a pine tree has always made me think of Georges Rouault's painting style:


Pierrot, Georges Rouault, 1939

I know, I'm weird. But I tell you the truth when I say that every single time I see pine bark, I think of Rouault.

A little local color

An enormous cottonwood tree just around the corner from our Ruralville house. I'm not fond of the cottonwood tree as a good tree for this area, because it's too fast-growing and short-lived, but the whiteness of the bark makes for a lovely photograph.



A crawdad's humble abode. I didn't see Mr. CrawDad himself, although it briefly rained this morning, so he was probably rather pleased by that.

From the "You can't make this stuff up" files:

New Arab Smuggling: Crocodiles, Squirrels & Kangaroos?

(IsraelNN.com) Egyptian officials have arrested an Arab who tried to smuggle into Gaza crocodiles, kangaroos and squirrels, according to GulfNews.com. Officials in Al Arish said, "Emad Khalil Hassan, 48, was caught with two crocodiles, eight squirrels and two kangaroos in his car."

It was not clear where the smuggler obtained the animals and what he intended to do with them.

Hmmm... two crocodiles, eight skwerls and two kangaroos... surely there's a comedy routine in there somewhere...

Little gifts

Dude has left several of these near where I sit at the computer... little trophies of his night-time hunting forays, I suppose. I'm just glad they're no longer alive and wandering through my house.

Good kitteh.

Tonight: Chocolate!

We tried the ice cream in a bag again tonight, times three -- since there are three kids in this family. Isaac's ear is feeling way better, so he was in the mood to give it a try, and Alice wasn't wanting to be outdone.

Isaac and Alice requested chocolate, so I added a couple of spoonfuls of chocolate milk powder to the mix. Martha's vanilla froze in the allotted ten minutes, but the chocolates took more like twenty. Otherwise, they were splendid -- I personally think they taste better than store-bought.

Ladies and germs, we have a culinary hit!

Cool ice cream project

A dear friend e-mailed me a few hours ago with this fun recipe, so I thought I'd give it a try... and it worked spectacularly!

Ice Cream In a Bag
1. Put 3 Tbsp sugar, 1 cup half and half, and 1/2 tsp vanilla in a quart-size heavy zip-top plastic bag and seal.

2. Place that bag in a gallon-size heavy zip-top bag. Layer ice and rock salt in the gallon bag and seal.

3. Toss the bag back and forth for about 10 minutes and you've got ice cream.

It TOTALLY worked!!!

Here's the evidence:


I tossed the milk/sugar/vanilla mixture into a sandwich bag, sealed it up tight, and dumped it into a big freezer bag full of ice cubes and Kosher salt (I didn't have rock salt, so I figured I'd try Kosher salt instead). I shook it, wallered it around, etc. for about ten minutes, opened it up, and found this:

And I swear to you, it was creamier and tastier than anything I could buy at the grocery store. Holy cow that was awesome!! We will definitely be doing it again.

Martha gives two thumbs up, as does Rick. Alice is not a big sweets fan, and Isaac didn't want to try it because he has a terrible earache tonight and isn't in the mood to swallow anything.

Easy and fun!!!

Bloggy Lunch Date

Just got back from lunch at The Fried Pie Company & Restaurant (in Gainesville, Texas) with blogger couple Maggie from MaggieKatzen and RTO Trainer from Signaleer! Had a delightful time and laughed a whole bunch. I hope we get a chance to do it again sometime.

Death Kitteh

"Girlfrenn, you flash that little silver box thingy at me just one more time and I will pee on you in your sleep."

Gripe, gripe, gripe

I really shouldn't gripe, but you know I will anyway. Since I'm less than two weeks away from the Big Slice-n-Dice, I had to stop taking the blessed wonderful arthritis-whooper drug. Something about excess bleeding during surgery or something. Whatevs.

I. Hurt. A. Lot.

[cue pitiful infant wailing]

But I *am* in a much better frame of mind than I was last weekend. If I'm stuck in bed now, at least it's not because I'm anxious or depressed, right? Like there's a diff.

No, seriously, I WILL BE OKAY. I may have to remind myself of this on regular occasions, and I hope you'll all just humor me.

On a related note, does Keflex always smell faintly of sewage? The surgeon prescribed a round of it for me to clear up a sebaceous cyst before I have surgery, and I'm taking it three times daily. It smells even nastier than the Glucophage, and that stuff is pretty bad. I've taken that stuff since September 11, 2001... dunno why I would remember the exact date of that particular doctor's appointment, but I do. Any-hoo, I always wondered why Glucophage smelled so disgusting, and a pharmacist pal of mine told me it's because it has a similar ingredient to formaldehyde in it. I'm tempted now to ask what the heck Keflex has in it, but I might not want to know, eh?

Ah. Just Googled it and found out that the smell is sulfur:

All the antibiotics in the penicillin and cephalosporin class
(of which Keflex/cephalexin is one) have the beta-lactam ring nucleus,
which contains a sulfur atom. Breakdown products and impurities, even
in new and well manufactured pills, lead to that sulfury smell. It's
especially apparent in tablets (ie Pen VK) and capsules (like your
Keflex), and not so bad in the film coated more-expensive members of
the class like Ceftin (though you can still detect it in cut pills). So
you'll smell a trace of sulfur in the drug itself, and if not, you'll
certainly smell it after it's passed through your gut.

Eeewww.

Carnival of the Recipes

It's up this week at Lisa's Cookbook!

Yummeh!

Thursdeh Kitteh

Time Waster

Dadgummit, Tracey. What have you done to me????

Daffy Duck Splat Game

If you can break 500, you're doing pretty good. I have yet to do it.

Two more weeks

I know, it's rather early to be doing all the pre-op stuff, but the way this surgeon's office does things, they try to bring all their pending surgery candidates together at once to give all the post-op instructions. It makes sense; there is a LOT to learn about how to take care of oneself after this sort of surgery and they might as well put us all together in one meeting room to give us the necessary information.

After the meetings, we separated out and Dr. Stewart met with each of us individually to talk over what would be happening. He's a pretty decent dude and didn't talk down to me at all.

Finally, they sent me over to the hospital to do the check-in paperwork so that on the day of my surgery (Wednesday, July 23 -- exactly two weeks from today) I can just walk in and everything's all done for me. There they took more bloodwork and did a chest X-ray to be sure I didn't have pneumonia or tuberculosis or anything.

All in all it took about five hours to finish all of it, but it wasn't unproductive time. My questions were answered satisfactorily and I have all the necessary information put together into a tidy binder.

I have been struggling the past few days with a panic/anxiety thing. For a while last weekend I couldn't get out of bed because of it. I think that the subconscious memory of how absolutely awful I felt after all my other surgeries is coming back to haunt me. I've been shaky and my heart rate is up. My BP is, thankfully, under control (God bless the people who invented BP meds). I do NOT want to do this and I swear by everything that is sacred and holy that I wouldn't be undergoing any of it if I didn't have to.

When I know I'm in the throes of a panic response, I have to just ride it out quietly at home whenever possible. I take care of my kids and do what's necessary right here at home, without trying to add a bunch of other variables to it. That way I avoid being so freaked out that I can't even get out of bed.

Rick has been really taking care of me, as has a friend who lives nearby. I am going to be just fine.

Weird couture

I haven't shared any goofy runway stuff in a while, so here goes.

First up, we have three samples of Jean Paul Gaultier's Fall 2009 collection:

The Cruella DeVil scorpion lifts her tail and prepares to get all stabby on some unsuspecting photographer...


No, dahling... the hoops go INSIDE the skirt. Or maybe we have the Slinky wedding veil?



Surrounded by a cage of pythons? Or maybe Gaultier was inspired by that craft project where you wrap a balloon with glue-soaked yarn and then pop the balloon after the yarn dries? I got nuthin here.

Next up, a couple of Spanish designer Josep Font's creations:


I know this may sound bizarre, but I like the patterned stocking/legging thing. And I get the idea of springboarding from the traditional Spain costume. I don't care for the two separate textures being such disparate colors as well. If you're going to put the patterned stockings and the lacy dress together, make them in a more compatible color palette. But I'm not a big-time fashion designer, so what do I know?

I also don't wear a rose beehive on my head. But I digress.


This one's just, well, indescribable. She appears to be wearing a giant red challah loaf -- or maybe an elephant's large intestine -- around her shoulders. The pink things remind me of those little bag things inside an old Coleman camp lantern:



Sorbier made a nifty coat out of fashion magazines. That's actually kinda cool, but why the hijab?



Just looking at this Tisci outfit triggers a migraine for me:




Okay, when I said I liked the patterned stockings, I did NOT mean that one should walk around looking as though she's been crawling around on the floor of a glitter factory. Udo Edling had some classy-looking stuff, but I can live without the weird pantyhose:

Actually, I don't get this at all. Is that some kind of knee-length legging thing? Just looks like dirty knees to me.

Anyhow, that's all I've got for now.