dirtrebellion

Lessons from Lily.

2011-02-21T15:25:00.001-06:00

We are cat-sitting Lily (the kitten we raised for Bob...a.k.a. Bobskitten, Bobcat, and Darlene.) She is a phenomenal feline. She only talks when she has something important to say. Is very well-groomed. Polite. Curious about the world. Responds well to criticism. Appropriately affectionate, but never needy. I could learn a lot from this cat!

The weather is beautiful here. Since the snow melted, I've been spending as much of my free time on the deck as possible - reading zines to Shat, listening to town sounds and the occasional city cricket, hammocking, enjoying the juuuust bearable for bare feet weather. It. Is. Nice. The clouds keep teasing me with a good storm, but so far have only produced ten minutes of sprinkles.

Sidebar: many people assume that I am a cat person, but really I am just an animal person...who tends to accumulate stray cats. This cat accumulation makes it tricky to accumulate other animals, as they would harass - if not devour - fish, birds, and rodents. Our landlord does not allow dogs, since we live above a business and barking would not go over so well (and I'm not sure that I am patient enough to happily have a canine roomate). Our yardless location is not farm animal friendly, so that rules out goats, pigs, and chickens for the time being...

BUT Courtney is getting some chickens and I will love them as if they were my own.

Last week was ladies' swap night and it was a hit. Eight purty gals attended, pilfered through piles of discarded wares, and left with armloads of "new" clothes, books, bath things, furniture, craft supplies, and decor. Trash to treasure! It was beautiful. Alex sent me a message about how she is enjoying the thongs she got at the swap, but she meant to say "things" rather than "thongs." I laughed out loud, although secondhand thongs wouldn't be all that far-fetched in our circle of friends. Underwear, bras, boyfriends, mouth guards, and even Divacups have been known to circulate...

I just finished reading the second anthology of Invincible Summer by Nicole J. Georges. She has been added to my heroine list. Here is a partial list of little inspirations I gathered from this group of her zines:
Tofu omelette with olives. Road trip with cherries. Missy Kulik. Vegan white chocolate peanut butter?!? Fake flowers. Embroidery. Sister Spit. Eating Chinese Food Naked. And carrot soup. (I tried her recipe today. It was easy and yum.) Thank you, Nicole, for doing what you do!

Tomorrow my head will be out of zine and comic world and back into my "workshop." I do enjoy my job...I just enjoy free time a whole bunch more. Don't we all?

Big excitement list:

2011-02-15T22:15:00.001-06:00

March - Hi, Vanessa!
April - Hi, Lady Gaga!
May - Hi, Dalai Lama! (work schedule allowing)
June - Road triiiiip!
July -5 year anniversary party!
August - Mary returns from a million years in Africa!

The best e-mail I've ever written to a complete stranger:

2011-02-07T21:43:00.000-06:00

A rather ridiculous question... :]

...

From:	Sarah Reilly ... Add to Contacts
To:	c********@***.com

Dear Sir,
Last week an expression popped into my head that I hadn't heard since my childhood. The expression ("barfalonus of the fruit loops") was one that my daddy would use to make me laugh whenever I was feeling sick. Why it popped into my head twenty years later in good health...I do not know...but now I'm curious as to where he came up with this saying. He can't remember and my internet research has yet to solve the mystery. Googling the whole phrase brings up nothing, and searching for "barfalonus" by itself directs me to (drumroll, please...) your blog and your blog alone! (An entry from 2003, in fact. You were blogging before blogging was cool! Whoa!) Anyway, if you have any information regarding the history of barfalonus, please let me know. Haha. :]
Have a lovely week and thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Sarah R.

Dirt boogers are a good indication that you had an adventurous day.

2011-02-06T20:33:00.000-06:00

I should know by now that when Marvin suggests a "walk in the woods" I should expect a treacherous climb over slippery, snowy rocks and cliffs...and trespassing. Actually, I don't think he knew ahead of time about the trespassing and treachery involved. This time. It was fun though & tomorrow my body will be a-achin' & I will feel good about it. It was nice to come home, thaw out, clean up, and eat pumpernickel bread. Mmmm...

Before our hike we did a little Goodwill shopping and ended up with three vintage t-shirts for Marv, a brand new tee for me, a cuuute purse, two picture frames, and a hardback xylitol cookbook that retails for $18.00 at my work....all for twenty bucks. It made me feel guilty for cheating on thrift stores with Ebay.

Last night I was given a fancy coffee drink past my caffeine deadline, but I drank it anyway and wound up feng shui-ing the dickens out of our bedroom. It's a little bit eerie how amazing it feels after only making a few small changes. Much cozier. Less chaotic. Try it yourself before writing my off as nutty.

Now, some urban snow walking pictures - featuring Derby, our not very intelligent cat:

Busy Thursday.

2011-02-03T16:45:00.000-06:00

Today was a more productive than normal day off. I drank a lot-o-coffee which led to bakeaerobics, which basically means dancing while baking chocolate chip banana bread. I spent most of the morning scanning and labeling old photos of people on my dad's side of the family tree:

I got our taxes ready to mail off and bid on some Ebay dresses that I probably don't have appropriate shoes to match. Then I ate some roasted peppers and green beans and mod-podged my grandma's old sewing box with pictures of plants and textiles while watching "The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus." In case you aren't familiar with it, it's basically Johnny Cash narrating the life and times of J.C. with song and kitsch. Hehe.
This may not sound like a particularly productive day to you, but my normal day off usually consists of sleeping in until noon, eating, reading blogs, and thinking about doing something more interesting.
I've started making lists of all the little things that I wish I could be doing instead of being stuck at work...and then doing them! On. A. Roll.
Tonight I have a stay-at-home-date with Marvin.

Jan, are you ary?

2011-02-01T21:55:00.001-06:00

So far February means BUSINESS where weather is concerned! I'm okay with the cold because it means more baking, more cuddling, and more ginger tea. I'm also a big fan of thermal underwear. I could never ever make it as a fashion blogger...not only because I am terrible at blogging, but also because 75% of my winters are spent in thermal underwear and 75% of my summers are spent in unmentionables. I like looking at well-assembled outfits & I even own a handful of pretty things, but I'd rather be extremely comfortable than a little fashionable. And being fashionable in a house with four indoor cats = TOO MUCH LINT-ROLLING. No thanks!
Now that I've talked about the weather and reassured you of my frumpiness, let me tell you something about January, 2011: It was spectacular!
I spent the first week plucking bits of confetti out of my hair after Courtney's New Year's Eve party and nursing a cold. I also spent a lot of that week looking at this photograph and noting Kupo's cuteness:

Marv & I visited Holla Bend Wildlife Refuge & saw lots of birds, armadillos, and even an opossum. Once the weather warms up a bit we're going back to hike..and hopefully encounter more critters. This one was my favorite:

He dug such great holes and made the funniest little grunting sounds! We were instant friends.
For Marvin's birthday we ate an Australian feast and for my birthday we ate a Mexican feast...........and Courtney threw me a birthday party complete with a cake and junk food and a pinata and balloons and an obscene party game! It was just what I needed to feel not-so-old and boring! Here is my favorite picture from the evening:

Other exciting things: Tim & Amy's hippie-tacular bonfire wedding reception! Meeting Matt Millard's girlfriend! Friday night arcade hangout! A perfect walk in the snow! Marvin got his GED! Marvin also got stranded in Fayetteville during the last big snow which reminded me of how nice it is to have him at home!
Wednesday nights are now devoted to girl hangouts with Leah & Alex. We originally intended for these hangouts to involve belly dancing lessons, but they've turned into intense bouts of couch-sitting, plan-making, problem-solving...discussions of Cunt, and lots-o-laughs.
This past weekend I visited my family. Daddy & I spent an afternoon looking through amazing old photos of our ancestors (to be scanned soon!) Mama & I played Scrabble (of course!) and she baked a sweet potato pie. Adrianna and I tried to identify some wild edibles, but failed. It was the perfect amount of cold & dreary for a good hike though!

My life is very full of goodness. I can't be thankful enough.

Love and more love,
Sarah
P.S. - As always, the really good photos are all stolen from Court___knee.

2011

2011-01-02T16:25:00.001-06:00

Perhaps I should have spent the eve of the new year sleeping soundly, recovering from a bug...but instead I found myself dancing in dirty confetti, eating lunchables, and sharing the story of my first pant-crap at age twenty-six with both old friends and virtual strangers. (There is no doubt in my mind that 2011 will be the best year yet.)

Get weird.

2010-12-19T18:31:00.000-06:00

I made things:

The third one is a footless stocking.
A holiday legwarmer if you will.
Please do not mistake it for a regretsy.

I'm kicking myself for not sending out this photo (taken of us at the post-apocalyptic book-burning party) as our holiday family photo:

(photo stolen from Amanda Mayhugh)

A big day.

2010-11-13T20:16:00.001-06:00

This week Rachel and I had a distance date. We watched the same move at the same time, ate and drank and prayed and wrote each other letters. Socialization for hermits/long-distance friends with no gas money. The movie we watched was "Good Dick." It's was oddly romantic.

Today was big: I started an art journal, Marvin started GED classes, and we became an aunt and uncle.

Meet Remy - five pounds and an ounce of preciousness. He decided to make his debut a bit early, but is doing really well...as is his mama.

Other things that have happened recently:

Halloween.
Wednesday, Gomez, and Pugsley Addams.
Laughed harder than I had in awhile...about a talking turkey puppet.

Bought a printer and became absolutely obsessed with coupon-clipping and free samples. So far I've gotten $96 worth of Burt's Bees products for $44, $35 worth of food at La Hacienda for $10, free potato oles, free birdseed, and free Tom's toothpaste...just to name a few. It's getting a little ridiculous. All of this started after I watched a YouTube video of a woman who bought over $200 worth of groceries for ONE PENNY.

Mostly I've just been peddling a LOT of granola. One of my co-workers has a yoga-related foot injury so I've been working longer shifts and extra days to cover for her.

Do you ever get creeped out by things that shouldn't be creepy? Recently I had a bunch of bees seemingly appear out of thin air in the kitchen and then woke up in the middle of that night to the whole house smelling (mysteriously and intensely) of garlic. Strange.

Happy November. <3

Amelie likes and bulleted lists

2010-10-27T19:22:00.001-05:00

I like it when I finally decide to be unhealthy for awhile and eat a whole bag of candy.

I like it when cats snore

and trees rain leaves on me

and when I sit outside on my lunch break and witness the weenie dog from down the street walk half a block just to pee on a tree in a yard that belongs to a gigantic dog that is stuck inside a pen.

And I like my husband's hairy butt. Said it.

Speaking of that hairy butt...it has gone to see Danzig and left me alone at night for the first time in probably YEARS. In my alone-ness I plan to:

dye my hair
eat more candy
maybe jump on the bed
maybe eat some other stuff besides candy
make bulleted lists
peel the paper off of crayons
take advantage of having the fancy t.v. to myself and watch foreign films until I either feel pretentious or fall asleep

Exciting things that have happened since I last blogged:

got a toe or two back in my dancing shoes thanks to Brother Andy
also got one of Bob's mustache hairs in my mouth. I'm not telling how.
dug up some crystals on 101010
survived a corn maze
fessed up to some brokenness
dreamt of visiting the new Red Velvet location. (Best. Dream. EVER.)
befriended a racoon

Maybe I shouldn't have fed him so much cheese - one of his homies climbed in the window and hung out in our bedroom last weekend when I was out of town. Feral cats, bats, raccoons...we certainly have lots of wild animals that decide to kick it in our apartment. I'm okay with it as long as they don't eat my candy, give me rabies, or poop on stuff.

9.30.2010

2010-09-30T16:59:00.001-05:00

Oh, hello.
Saturday at the Food & Faith Fair, I got to see a worm bin, some heirloom seeds, and lots of people in the community learning about sustainability. It was neat and just my cup of tea. That evening I drove up into the mountains to be with my mama on her birthday. She turned sixty-seven on Sunday. We ate chocolate cake and played Monopoly to celebrate! The roadkill count on the way there was pretty high:

Opossum: 4
?: 3
Raccoon: 2
Cat: 2
Skunk: 2
'dillo: 1
Bird: 1
Shih Tzu: 1

But I did manage to rescue a tortoise from a similar fate.

My mama gave me some of the pot-holders she'd sewn. I've been doing a lot of cooking to break them in properly. She and daddy also loaded me up with sweet potatoes, banana peppers, pears, and persimmons. Yum.

Once I came back home, there's been one date, two bike rides, a little Netflix, and a lot of enjoying the nice weather. I also have this dream of covering one of my walls with pictures of planets and stars and moons. It's a work in progress that may or may not turn into a disaster.

Oh, and I started a tumblr. Marvin called me a hipster. He was listening to Animal Collective when he called me a hipster. I pointed this out and he shut up. This is the link. I'm bad about posting pictures that belong to other people and not giving them credit for their work...due to not remembering where the picture came from...so I thought a tumblr might be convenient for sharing pretty things.

9.22.10

2010-09-22T19:28:00.001-05:00

Merry Autumnal Equinox!

Bring on the cider and crunchy leaves. The cardigans. The cool starry hammock nights. The hot baths. The ginger tea and pumpkin flavored things.

Speaking of pumpkin flavored things...I can't stop eating pumpkin spice hershey kisses. They are heaven in my mouth. We finally found them while on a trip to bring Bob his kitten. The long car ride went surprisingly well, with the kitten sleeping most of the time and staring out the window and trying to lick the foam off of my latte the rest. I think Bob and the kitten will be the best of friends and I think he might name her Lily. They make a cute couple, that Bob and Lily!

I had a customer who was making her granddaughter some monster spray out of lavender and water and glitter. I am certain that it will work. Magic like that usually does.

Please pray for Brandi & Remy, Chip & family, Jonny & family, and Pam...if you feel inclined...and can remember all those names. :)

9.16.2010

2010-09-16T10:07:00.001-05:00

A million and one little things to learn about in one tiny day off.
Car engines & activated charcoal & nature therapy, among other things.

I've learned that a strong cup of coffee in the morning makes me far more tolerant of the gossipy middle aged drama queens I work with. It also makes me zoom around and fidget, which then makes me laugh at myself - bettering my mood as well as making the fussbudgets more bearable. God bless 'em, but they drive me nuts.

In other work news: Earlier this week I was sitting on the floor, stocking some medicinal teas on a lower shelf, when one of our regular customers (who happens to be obsessed with shoes) plops down beside me and very rapidly removes my shoe and sock, touches my foot, and comments on how soft it is and wants to know what kind of lotion or exfoliant I use. As I was putting my shoe back on, I told him I didn't use any products on my feet, abandoned the pile of echinacea elderberry tea, felt slightly violated, and found some work to do in the back until the guy left. This incident made me realize I am completely unprepared to handle uncomfortable non-textbook situations. Outside of the workplace I probably would have kicked the fellow in the face, regardless of how "nice" he was, but I had no idea how to deal with having my foot fondled in a professional setting. (But is anyone ever prepared for such things? Doubt it.) Perhaps I should have kicked him in the face anyway.

And while we're on the topic of uncomfortableness, I'd like to recommend never watching The Runaways with your mother & and father-in-law...unless you're really okay with viewing sex and masturbation scenes in the presence of your spouse's parents.

Call me old-fashioned, but I found it a bit on the awkward side.

Birfs and crafts.

2010-09-09T16:58:00.001-05:00

My first pumpkin spice latte of the season came with a free pumpkin cream cheese muffin. Thank you, overly enthusiastic Starbucks employee, for making my day.

There's another 'bucks I'm hooked on: Swagbucks. It's a site that pays you a tiny bit to search the internet. Slowly but surely I am searching my way to some PayPal dollars with which I will purchase lovely Etsy things that I don't really need:

Yup. Trivial trinkets.

Marvin's parents flew in last weekend. We hiked and watched movies and ate a bunch of doughnuts and grilled a little.

His dad fixed our broken air conditioner, light fixture, and sink...all in twenty minutes. Now I can read books in the living room without going blind and/or sweating half to death. Yay!

We had Bob's kitten spayed last week. Her shaved belly is real tute. Once her stitches are out, she'll be ready to move in with Bob. I will miss her.

Speaking of Bob, check out his King of all Cosmos costume:

Isn't it amazing?
I wish I could take credit for it, but all I did was remove a pocket and cut out some foam flowers. Even that much involvement made me want to craft more!

Happy birthday to, well...pretty much everyone I know!

You are all great and I love you a ton even though I can't remember dates worth a crap. <3

Weekend update.

2010-08-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

I saw a baby bear. In the wild.

(That's all that really matters.)

Love,
Sarah

08.22.2010

2010-08-22T11:55:00.000-05:00

The LOST auction begins in three hours.
I've decided to put my money toward this instead:

It's pretty much a faster, roomier version of the car I've had for nine years. It also has more paint and power steering. I got a little teary-eyed while we were out test-driving; I've been with the Metro for longer than I've been with Marvin and it pains me to see her go. But the hatchback Versa will easily carry both of our bikes and I really love the Espresso Black paint job; I just want to eat it. (Poor little Metro. You'll always have my heart.)

Bob's kitten has taken a liking to unrolling all of the toilet paper. She's been banished from the bathroom for the time being.

Also, I take back everything negative I've ever said about "The Office." It kind of rules.

A quote on zines

2010-08-16T15:06:00.000-05:00

from Xerography Debt #27:

In the midst of volcanoes, Tea Party rhetoric, earthquakes, layoffs, stock market volatility, and sectarian violence, I am learning to care and not to care - to be free and in the moment. And nothing does that better for me than reading a zine. How is it possible that these 1/4 page miracles of paper and toner can help me escape from grim reality and connect to total strangers that somehow the Internet cannot match? What is it about handwriting and art and loving placement of text that transforms my internal landscape? It is a constant miracle and source of interest and happiness to me. - Maynard Welstand

As you may have guessed, I totally concur.

(Going places.)

8.8.2010

2010-08-08T19:48:00.000-05:00

Wrapping up day four of no sugar. I've started taking digestive enzymes with any meal I eat that isn't 100% raw. The experts claim that enzyme supplementation will decrease the amount of energy used up by the body for digestion and use that freed-up energy to assist other cells in need throughout the body...with healing or just more optimal functioning. I tend to always be tired...and I also tend to always be eating, so this could be a monumental step toward feeling not-sucky. I've taken my little enzymes with three meals so far and I do feel pretty awesome. Placebo effect? Possibly. I'll keep you updated.

Marvin and I visited the new self-serve frozen yogurt place today. It might just be my saving grace in this sugarless endeavor. I had the no-sugar-added, fat free pomegranate energy yogurt with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Heavenly! We also checked out the new pet supply place, which has a kitty adoption station, forty pounds of cat litter for $15.00, and a please-bring-in-your-pet policy. Thumbs up there, too. The new dollar jewelry store had an alarming number of zebra-striped purses and earned an "enh" rating, as did TJ Maxx. We didn't make it to the new grocery store or dollar spot, but we got to visit with Bob, which was undoubtedly cooler than hanging out at a Big Star.

Now I'm making some butternut squash "fries," which are actually baked and contemplating an enormous bike ride. Am I healthy?!?

P.S. - I found some notecards along the lines of ^this^ on clearance for a buck. Yippie! I love foodscapes.

(Heck, I'll even settle for meatscapes.)

Nerding out.

2010-08-06T21:02:00.000-05:00

Well, it's day two of the LOST auction. There are already bids on Juliet's death costume and Claire's squirrel baby, but Daniel Farady's Island costume and the DHARMA bikes are still bid-less. I'm waiting until the last few days to register as a bidder since it costs a small fortune to even be allowed to participate in the auction. If the squirrel baby is still in the triple digits, I'm going for it! Who needs an emergency savings fund when you can have LOST props! The DHARMA van's starting bid is set at $8,000, but it isn't guaranteed to be "street legal." Bummer.

Since you've been an avid follower of my "26 before 27" 2010 to-do list, Lauren, I'll go ahead and let you know that plan #12 has just been changed to "Try and win a LOST prop!" Don't judge me.

And now a great picture of the guy who plays Sawyer - from his early modeling days.

Yowza.

Where did the evening go?

2010-08-03T22:19:00.000-05:00

Oh yes, it was lost in the pool with a mermaid, a boy princess, and two of my favorite pseudo-hippies.
The sunset was nice and pink.
My feet are nice and swollen. I am not enjoying my week of being thrown into the world of business management, but I'm making it. To the best of my knowledge I haven't made any major screw-ups.
The strep throat has gone on its merry way, our bank account will be reimbursed for the fraud within 90 days, and the car is still clanking right along. If it breaks down, so be it. Bikes and hitch-hikes are more fun anyway, right?

Everything is going to be okay.

As soon as the true Granola Queens get back to their managerial posts, I will be the most relaxed person you've ever seen. (Or at least back to my normal level of relaxation, which probably hovers somewhere around Kind Of Uptight.)

Marvin has been appeasing me with Ben & Jerry's, and helping out immensely with all of the cat sitting I've gotten myself into. He is my favorite.

Here we are, looking crusty on vacation. I'd spent the day at the beach with his sisters - he'd been out skateboarding with Todd...and then the whole lot of us cruised around on bikes...in the "sultry" Georgia heat. I'm not sure why I bothered to try and justify our crustiness in the photo, as we look equally crusty on most any other day. Haha.

In closing, life if freakin' sweet.
Some day I will work at the wildlife refuge in Cabuya.
Some other day I will hike the AT.
And maybe even some other day I will be comfortable taking charge.

P.S. - Where you at, Matt Saunders? Your bicycle is under our deck and every time I see it I think, "Where is Matt Saunders and why isn't he over here demanding that we ride bikes?" Anyway, this is for you:

This Land is Your Land...

2010-07-26T19:29:00.000-05:00

I really like the verse that was mysteriously left out of Mr. Guthrie's song when we learned it in school:

As I was walkin'  -  I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no trespassin'
But on the other side  .... it didn't say nothin'!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Everything

2010-07-25T14:47:00.000-05:00

makes the perfect amount of sense today.

Inspiration & optimism...

2010-07-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

...we sucked them down like Coca-Cola.

This happily cramping in bed day has been devoted to reading the stacks of printed things within reach, dog-earing and underlining the parts of books, zines, and magazines that I deem the most valuable, and then copying those parts into various journals, little black books, and lists. Once I've digested and/or re-written the goods, the book, zine, or magazine gets passed on to someone else. This has been my system for awhile. It's usually a slow process, but a lot of progress has been made on "the stacks" today. I'm taking a break from my "work" while Marvin takes a break from his. This break was spent browsing ffffound. It was a good ffffound day, as you can see from the pictures above. I only stumbled upon one vagina. You never know what you might ffffind in someones collection. Today I learned that people who like pictures of bunnies dressed in aprons and Fight Club also might like crotch-shots. Who knew? There was also this:

Marvin has given me permission to marry Robert Downey Jr. in the event that I am widowed. My only other Marvin-approved options are Jorge Garcia and Matt Millard:

GET THEE TO A NUNNERY.

What large children we are here.

2010-07-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Get the cuss out of here, worry.
You's a draining, good-for-nothing, fun-sucker.
I hereby declare the untroubled spirits of four-year-old children for us all.

Yep.

Dorothy Dale Kloss & a Conway hangout.

2010-07-19T16:42:00.000-05:00

She just retired at age 86. When asked her secret for all that vitality she replied, "You know, a little vodka never hurts. No, but really, if you love what you do, you can do it as long as you want."

I love what I am doing these days, which is eating big salads, reading big stories, riding a big bicycle, finding not-so-big but pretty swimmin' holes, and working a little on the side. Then there was that hangout where we got drunk and watched "The Crazies" on mute while having a Lady Gaga dance party and playing Cranium simultaneously. (Okay, so it didn't happen exactly like that...but it was still good times.)

Marvin declared an emergency date night for tonight. I've requested a hot tub, sandwiches, and a George Clooney movie.

Wishing you well,
Sarah R.

Meanies.

2010-07-15T14:20:00.000-05:00

I got a call from the bank last night saying that some suspicious activity had popped up on my debit card account. The account had been frozen, but not before some mega-douche had spent $922.50 of my hard-earned dollars on sporting goods, putting my checking account balance in the negatives. Bank procedure is a little annoying, but the police officer who filed my report was AWESOME. He was the first cop I'd ever dealt with that was actually helpful. He also made lots of jokes, including ones about doughnuts, which helped my blood pressure return to a healthy level. And he wrote the report up as a felony, even though technically I don't think theft is a felony unless the total is above $1,000. Maybe there are loopholes...maybe the officer was just being nice. The ladies at the bank said credit card numbers are relatively easy to access these days. Lame. I should know by tomorrow the state from which the purchases were made. The only suspects we could come up with were hotel employees at the places we stayed that required our card being kept on file. The only other places I've used the card lately were with online donations to nonprofits and to pay bills. Lame, lame, lame. No more online donations. And I'm buying a paper shredder. Even though unshredded documents are not the cause of this problem, I've always wanted a paper shredder...and now seems like an appropriate time to get one. Hmpht.

If something else like this happens, I am going to live in a cave. Or maybe be one of those fruititarians that only eat fruit as it falls from the tree. Any withdrawl from normal society would do.

I'd planned on hiking and biking and swimming in creeks today, but since this drama came up it didn't happen. My revised plan? Hammock, bikini, cats for company, iced tea, and Doris. And maybe a late-night bike ride once the hikers return from the mountains. It's the next best thing.

Despite the events of the day, I still feel pretty much like this:

[Photo courtesy of Lisa Danger James, who is great.]

Now for some good news: My friend Tamara had her baby. He is healthy and breathing on his own and digesting breast milk, even though he has to be fed through a tube until he learns proper sucking techniques. Pretty impressive for a three pound lil guy! Also, Courtney's boobies are okay! Hooray for boobies! (Isn't that an album title for some '90s band?)

A bulleted list.

2010-07-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

50% of the omelets I made tonight were flawless.
I can't stop eating salted and peppered avocados.
Marvin is demanding desserts.
I haven't had a dessert in two days. (This is monumental.)
I named Bob's kitten Darlene so I could yell at her very Rosanne-ly.
Bilberries are not the same as blueberries...but they are cousins.
We had planned to go watch a documentary about dirt tonight, but the thought of climbing all those stairs at the library after doing too much stretching yesterday didn't sound like fun and I would be embarrassed to take the elevator to a film about sustainability.
I want to know more about the British League of Pessimists.
I got an invitation that was printed on paper that contained native wildflowers of Arkansas. That made my week.
Fantastic Mr. Fox was...fantastic.
I started keeping a dream diary. There are three entries so far: a race war, a baby pooping on the carpet, and my friend making a movie about her horrible mother.
One of the best dreams I ever had involved singing and dancing cartoon popsicles.
I just figured out that popsicle is a combination of "lollipop" and "icicle."
Dumb.

Bring on the weekend, please.

That foreign noise.

2010-07-12T19:34:00.001-05:00

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. - Psalm 4:8

It was so strange to wake up to the sound of an alarm today. After all the fun-havings, I am suddenly very productive. Cleaning, reading, Netflixing, embroidering, returning phone calls, making plans, preparing food...checking things off of lists like crazy. Hopefully my return to work tomorrow will feel just as nice.

After 7.5 months of being happily Facebookless, I started up a new account so I could keep in touch with Marvin's family. I got really attached to all of them over the past week. I'm no good with telephones; they're no good with e-mail...so...Facebook it is. I've already been "found" by a few Russellville kids...which is okay. I just don't want to catch myself wasting precious hours of my life browsing through the picture albums of people I barely know or would probably never choose to spend an afternoon with.

Watching Amelie does a body good.

So does eating fruit.
And dancing to your new records....
....with a cat.

Love,
Sarah

P.S. - A big congratulations to Derek and Stephanie who did a wonderful job of making a baby! Marv & I are honored to share our anniversary with Ingrid's birthday. Also, I really like her mini-Derek-ear. Well done. I can't wait to meet this great little girl in person...one of these days.

Savannah

2010-07-11T22:10:00.001-05:00

We vacationed.

^Here I am being pale on the beach with two of my sisters-in-law.

^ These are the Reillys...minus Brandi, seven dogs, four cats, a ferret, two rats, and a goldfish.

^ This is my very cute husband, eating what he claimed to be the best sandwich of his life.

^Our crusty retro motel. "All we need is love and a moonpie."

^ Great tile.

^This cupcake made me want to weep tears of joy.

^My favorite grave at Bonaventure Cemetery.

Trip summary: a lengthy wrong turn, fireworks on River Street, cookout, lots-o-sparklers, beach bumming, piña coladas, quality time with mongoose and friends, lots of VH1 & Food Network, chocolate overdose at Lulu's Chocolate bar (...where EVERYTHING is chocolate...even the beer), cappuccino brownies, found a new favorite bakery and a new favorite clothing store, finally found the perfect pair of rain boots, played an intense game of volleyball in the pool, scored great records galore at a secondhand shop, definitely had too many fancy drinks and probably talked my mother-in-law's ear off, learned all about stop-motion animation, spent many hours discussing food, cute animals, and placenta art with Vanessa...and finally got to meet her goats (!), got a haircut from Brooke, hung out in a beautiful cemetery, rode bicycles a little, stayed very sweaty and didn't entirely want to come home.

Things I've learned that I love a lot more than I'd realized: cobblestone, Spanish moss, cypress trees, air conditioning, laying out with tropical drink in hand, pop music, ferrets, hangouts, meat, splurging on expensive desserts. I'm not sure whether I've been ruined or repaired. I'm glad to be either.

Let me show you.

2010-07-01T09:44:00.001-05:00

Function, function, function. Gotta get a better motto.

There's a stray (or'nge) cat that climbed in our kitchen window. I named him Bones 'cause that's what he's a bag of. Can't keep him, but I plan to feed him and hang out with him in the alley. Me and Bones. A couple of old souls.

My friend Tamara (not to be confused with my cousin Tamra) is in the hospital. Her water broke and the baby isn't due for two more months. They'll be at the hospital until September and she's one who thrives on rolling around in grass, playing in dirt, and sleeping with fresh air blowing in the window, so I imagine long-term hospitalization will be tough on her. Ultrasounds showed the baby looking incredibly healthy, but still...please think of them and say a prayer if that's what you do.

Courtney deposited a bunch of hand-me-downs in my car yesterday. (Or would they be hand-me-ups, since I'm bigger than she is?) I laughed that some of the things were items that I had handed down to her years ago. I laughed again because some of the clothes reminded me of Mac walking around virtually naked all the time. (I miss you, Laura Mac!) And then I laughed because my favorite item was a pair of tie-dyed underwear that I suspect Courtney tie-dyed herself.

Dirty pseudo-hippies.

I need a cup of tea.

Vacation in 5, 4, 3....

2010-06-28T19:03:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's been an entire year since my last big road trip. (Pitiful!)
I can't wait to be ON THE ROAD and drink too much coffee and sweat a lot and have no set agenda and no chores for approximately eight days. I've been pretty grumpy and mopey lately and I'm afraid poor Marvin is dreading being stuck in a car with me for so many hours. Me and my ruts.

Check out our compost:

Watching stuff rot is fun!*

Love,
Sarah

*a very good indication that vacation is long overdue.

There's good news...

2010-06-23T19:19:00.000-05:00

I made vegan peanut butter blondies and they were gooood.

Marvin brought me a flower and I tried to submerge it in an ugly jar.

I watched Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox and am now an even bigger fan of his products. Salary capping + the Moral ABCs. Gotta love it.

I found the perfect faux-bamboo frame at Goodwill for my Jorge Garcia autograph.

Got quite a few good salads out of the shoe rack lettuce before it withered away in the 100+ degree heat.

I'll be hanging out with Vanessa (and her goats!) in a week and a half.

Also, the weird lump in Marvin's GROIN went away. (No photo on that one; sorry folks.) I like to think it went away because of all the herbs and vitamins I've been giving him...or an answered prayer, but it may have just been a work-related injury. Either way, we're glad it's gone!

Love, love, love,
Sarah

P.S. - I just ate a cucumber that had to have been two feet long. I'm not sure which is more amazing: the fact that a cucumber was two feet long, or that I ate that much cucumber.

Dear Courtney,

2010-06-20T20:43:00.000-05:00

Doin'?
This is my first completed embroidery project...& it's all yours.
I hope you thoroughly appreciate his crazy eye.

Love,
Sarah

P.S. - Here is the kitten:

We nap together. Kbye.

Harvey Milk & more Hope.

2010-06-16T18:50:00.000-05:00

I ask this... If there should be an assassination, I would hope that five, ten, one hundred, a thousand would rise. I would like to see every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out - - If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door... And that's all. I ask for the movement to continue. Because it's not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power... it's about the "us's" out there. Not only gays, but the Blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's. Without hope, the us's give up - I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you... You gotta give em' hope... you gotta give em' hope. - Harvey Milk

Kristine Virsis & Hope.

2010-06-12T00:04:00.000-05:00

As we grow up we are encouraged to use our free time doing things like watching tv, shopping, and eating out. Things that keep us sitting still and spending money, as the concept of play that was so natural to us as children becomes foreign. For me learning to ride a unicycle has been more freeing than I could have imagined. - Kristine Virsis

Word of the week: HOPE [the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.]
What to do with it: GET SOME.

I've been letting things get me reaaaaal down lately. Things like the oil spill and homeless animals and rape and classism and racism and borders and how sad people look as they go about their daily routine. Optimism seems to get harder...but I keep reminding myself that there are (probably? hopefully?) as many good things happening in the world as there are bad. They just aren't dramatic enough to appeal to the masses, so they don't get televised.

For instance:
This week Sarah Reilly saved dozens of tadpoles from a rapidly drying puddle; they now stand a chance at becoming frogs! Marvin Reilly rescued a tiny kitten from a stack of tires at his work and it is now sleeping beneath his beard! A bittersweet farewell-to-the-pool party was had at the PleasureDome! Steve Bates didn't drown in the flash flood! Lauren Matlock and all her housemates didn't get shot even though they live in the for-real ghetto! Endangered crocodiles hatched in Cambodia! Thousands of rubber ducks raced down the Connecticut River to raise money for charity! People are overcoming stuff! Folks are loving each other! Songs that don't suck are being written! Trees are still growing nice 'n' tall in lots of places and grass still conquers the sidewalks, doggone-it!

I'm tired of the gloom. Gonna build something better.
Amen?

I have no time to waste, Mr. Brown!

2010-06-03T14:21:00.001-05:00

Today: Baking cupcakes and refusing to wear pants! (The kitchen AC unit is d-e-a-d dead.) Looking for a recipe for peanut butter frosting with ingredients that I have on hand. (My favorite game to play.)

One of my customers brought me an Appalachian Trail hikers' magazine. She's giving me big dreams for 2012.

I may have concocted an herbal tea capable of conquering my insomnia. I drank some last night and apparently slept through a gigantic thunder storm. Marvin wasn't so lucky. he woke up around three and ran around the block searching for one of our cats who was outside. Such devotion.

I've had two songs stuck in my head all day:

&

It's a good life, isn't it?

Mini-versary.

2010-06-01T18:47:00.001-05:00

Today marks the fifth year that Marvin and I have been dating. You know, the anniversary that we would be celebrating big-time had we not gotten married. People tend to toss the poor dating anniversary aside once they tie the knot. I bought Marvin a cookie, tied it up with a ribbon, and will probably eat half of it and retie it before he comes home...because that's what marriage is all about.

I got paid to plant flowers at work today! It made me wish I had a landscaping job, although I'm sure the majority of landscaping isn't as pleasant as playing in a flower bed.

Last week I sent Kathleen Hanna a very unofficial letter of interest regarding a summer internship with Le Tigre. I told her that if for some crazy reason they were unable to find a suitable intern, I would gladly quit my job, temporarily abandon my husband and cats, fly to NYC, and work my happy little feminist derriere off for her. She wrote back and said that they had stopped taking resumes due to the overwhelming response, so I need not ditch my spouse and job, but that my unofficial letter had made her day. This made my day. First the Jorge Garcia self-portrait, and now a personal e-mail reply from the riot grrrl of all riot grrrls. Two responses from celebrity friend-crushes in one year. (Actually Ms. Hanna is more of a heroine. I not only want to be her best friend, but also want to be just like her when I grow up. Or at least as fearless.)

DIY Laundry Soap

2010-05-30T17:09:00.002-05:00

How does 64 loads for 55 cents AND earth-friendly sound? You only need these three things (plus some water):

Grate 1/3 bar of Dr. Bronner's soap.
Dissolve soap in a quart of water over low heat while stirring.
Stir in half a cup of borax & half a cup of washing soda over low heat until powders are dissolved.
Pour mixture into three quarts of cool water (in a bucket or container of choice). Stir thoroughly.

EASY.

Use 1/4 cup of this detergent per load and bask in your thriftiness!

I made this stuff today and also whipped up a batch of armpit/earth-friendly deodorant with a simple recipe from Abi's blog. I used orange essential oil in it and my pits are smellin' mighty fine!

Other things I've done today:
Sunday bike ride.
Started an embroidery project.
Planted five tomato plants in the alley.
Admired this

for a long time.

Camping was great, with the exception of a whippoorwill that decided to camp ten feet from our tent and carry on all night. We rescued two turtles from the road, one water snake from the creek (well, Marvin did), and saw a tarantula and a baby beav! I had forgotten how good s'mores are and how nice it is to fall asleep looking at the stars. I also ate a hot dog, some bacon, and a hamburger this weekend. Holiday lapse in vegetarianism. It happens. My digestive tract pays for it.

Now I must get back to the crafting challenge that Courtney has given me. And bea arthur mountains pizza.

Pineapple. Code word. Whatever.

2010-05-27T13:09:00.001-05:00

I've convinced Marvin that we should have a nature-style getaway this weekend. I can't wait to get in the woods! Unfortunately, someone stole my camping chair. I kept it in the carport at work and would sit in it on my lunch break for optimal squirrel-watching and salad-eating. I hope the bandit who took it will get some good out of it. I could learn to stand a little discomfort, seating-wise.

Last Saturday was Annie's wedding reception/backyard bash. There were puppies and cookies and the weather was nice. I took this picture, which is possibly the greatest ever, based on organization and facial hair:

Matt did some photo-bombing, of course:

Then later he read us scary stories and five of us fell asleep on the bed.

It's funny to wake up surrounded by so much snoring.

The next day consisted of the first swim of the year and the last LOST episode of...ever. The Piney smelled like fish and was really murky, but totally likable. The LOST finale wasn't as epic or surprising as I had hoped. I guess I had wanted more battle and less warm fuzziness. I shouldn't complain though. It's still the greatest show I've ever seen and the only series I plan to buy a boxed set of and watch marathon-style. And I will sorely miss it.

By Monday Marvin and I had stopped being pissed about the finale and decided to go digging for crystals. It was sweaty and filthy and an incredibly satisfying experience...just digging. We found a few really nice little ones, and a few larger chunks of imperfection, and a whole bucket of miscellaneous pretty rocks to bring to my mama for her flower beds. New hobby, for sure.

As always, I didn't bring my camera to any of these fun-havings. All photos in this post are stolen from Courtney.

Time for pancakes, vampires, and crafts. Happy Thursday.

Bear cat.

2010-05-26T23:30:00.003-05:00

There was no flood. Just a lot of dreariness, which the lettuce enjoyed just as much as I did.

Courtney suggested that I plant lettuce in an old shoe rack, which turned out to be the greatest container-gardening plan ever!

It gets a bit wilty during the hotter parts of the day, but perks back up in the evening.

Here is a photo of a dirty hippie preparing to eat a gigantic cake pop:

(The cake pops were fun to make...and a huge hit at Marvin's work.)

And here is our de-cluttered living room:

Tomorrow I'll try to post about all the great things that have happened this past week, but for now I'm going to leave you with a glimpse of Mr. Eko - the cat that most people have never met. He tends to hide behind the fridge or under the sofa when company comes over, but the rest of his time is spent talking a lot, annoying Derby, trying (but failing) to turn doorknobs to places he'd rather be, searching for the most comfortable lap available, "drinking" with his paws, and looking like a bear cat. He answers to both "Bear Cat"...and "Rain Man," God bless 'im.

P.S. - Here is a picture of a real bear cat for reference. I hear they like to eat bananas.

5.19.2010

2010-05-19T21:34:00.001-05:00

I've been granted an extra day off of work each week. That day is Thursday. It will be devoted to gardening, letter-writing, cooking, reading, and crafts. Important things. Oh, and HAMMOCK.

I hear we're under a flash flood warning until Friday. I'll be really excited for paper boat races, even though the last one ended in tragedy:

The only thing that would make me happier than a good paper boat race would be the opportunity to float our inflatable raft in a ditch. I just hope those piranhas don't make their way to Russellville from Tennessee!

I'm pretty excited about Annie & Josh's backyard wedding reception. And the series finale of LOST. And still contemplating a (really tiny) Hurley tattoo:

It's more likely to happen than those Xanga bro tatts we were all discussing last fall, as likely to happen as the anatomical diagram of a uterus I've been wanting, and not nearly as likely to happen as the tally marks Marvin and I plan to get for each year that we're married.

I'm off to finish my first-ever batch of cake pops. Mmmm.

5.17.10

2010-05-17T15:01:00.001-05:00

We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
-Joni Mitchell

Monday is for movies. Good documentaries. Boring black & whites with the volume turned down, supplying my own soundtrack and making up my own plot, but still admiring the cinematography. This particular Monday is also for sweet tea with peppermint and hoping for another charming walk like the one we took last night. South Denver is our favorite avenue.

I like it when things are on the border of magic.

Bargains.

2010-05-16T17:54:00.001-05:00

I've been channeling the spirit of Nori this week and taking advantage of every coupon I can get my hands on. Best deals include free frappes from McDonald's, free Tom's toothpaste and body cream from drugstore.com, and a whopping 30% off of everything purchased at American Apparel, thanks to Marvin teaching my non-internet-savvy behind about the perks of searching for online coupons. It's the greatest thing I've found on the web since hamsterdance back in '98. This means we're getting new sheets that aren't made by children...but at a child-labor price. Fantastic!

Today when we went to feed my boss's cat while she's on vacation, we saw the tiniest tadpoles in her pond! Then we went thrifting in the rainstorm. Marvin found some army surplus clothes and we each got a pack of A-team trading cards. I opened mine and tried to chew the stick of gum inside that was twenty-seven years old. Disastrous. I also found a necklace that would make Ebony Bones proud

and an M.I.A.-worthy pair of pants, which are a perfect fit. Pants involving spandex are not normally considered a perfect fit in my book...but these are. Now I wait for Halloween, an appropriately themed costume party, or the guts to wear these ridiculous items in public for no justifiable reason.

A few nights ago I was too exhausted to read or focus on a movie and too lazy to ride my bike, so I promised myself an early bedtime after just ten minutes of cleaning. Apparently I not only cleaned in zombie mode, but also downsized our cluttered living room, rearranged some furniture, and even painted a shelf. Sleep deprivation is occasionally a beautiful thing.

Mama's Day.

2010-05-12T22:23:00.001-05:00

My dad and I baked a pretty bumpin' roasted veggie pot pie for my mama. I did most of the cooking, but I give him full credit for peeling the parsnips!

So it looks like a typical over-glazed pie...but on the inside you'll find cauliflower, parsnips, carrots, sweet red pepper and lots of other delicious things.

Mama's heart cath results came back mostly flawless. She has a gnarly bruise that I would love to post a picture of on here because it's THAT impressive, but my sweet mother would be mortified to find a picture of her inner thigh (amazingly bruised or not) floating around the internet. Just take my word for it. It's far worse than anything Marvin has ever acquired from skateboarding.

Speaking of Marvin, look at this picture I came across today:

Six years later, I still have a huge crush on that boy.

Our anniversary vacation plans have changed a good deal due to the oil spill and visit from the Reilly clan. No more New Orleans, and now a four day mini-vacation to plan instead of a seven day trip. I was thinking Hot Springs...the Al Capone suite at the Arlington...but since we tied the knot near the 4th of July it might be hard to get reservations with such short notice around that date. Any suggestions?

It's 10:30. That means French toast time. Happy Wednesday.

My Makeup

2010-05-04T22:20:00.001-05:00

on my cheeks I wear
the flush of two beers

on my eyes I use
the dark circles of sleepless nights
to great advantage

for lipstick
I wear my lips

- one of the world's best poems according to me, by Rochelle Kraut

This week I vowed to always be true to the following things: hammocks, meteors, returning phonecalls. I am no longer true to housekeeping. I also attended a non-house-church for the first time in probably six years. What did I get from the experience? The desire for trendier hair and a collarbone tattoo. No, really I just prayed a lot that God would help me to not judge hipsters so doggone much. Especially nice ones in a house of worship. The commute to and from Little Rock was nice though, and confirmed that I need to get out of the house and workplace more often. A cheerful heart is good medicine.

Derby just yowled and carried on like cats do when when they've caught you a "dinner" of dead mouse or bird. The Derbs, however, was proud to present us with a wadded up paper napkin. Quite the hunter.

Morgellons!

2010-04-26T14:17:00.002-05:00

This is just what I was afraid of. Should have known petitioning and a letter-writing campaign wouldn't have such immediate results.

A few of you heard my story about the customer with the parasites under her skin that wouldn't respond to prescription treatments. The doctors had "never seen anything quite like it." Well, I was catching up on my Natalie Dee the other day and came across this comic:

"What's Morgellons?" I wondered...
A search led me to this website, which told me that Morgellons is a chronic infectious disease of unknown origin. Symptoms include "itching, biting and crawling sensations, “filaments” or fibers which emerge from the skin, skin lesions which range from minor to disfiguring, joint pain, debilitating fatigue, changes in cognition, memory loss, mood disturbance and serious neurological manifestations." The disease has been brushed off for years as delusional parasitosis. This is what the "fibers" look like magnified:

After extensive tests on the fibers, "scientists, including a police forensics team drew a blank as to their origin, despite comparing them to more than 90,000 organic compounds. Meanwhile, at the State University of New York, Vitaly Citovsky, professor of biochemistry and cell biology, found that the lesions of Morgellons patients test positively for the presence of agrobacterium, a bacterium used in the commercial production of genetically modified food – but not normally found in skin sores."

FREAKY.

So I wonder if the parasite customer has Morgellons disease. No good.

On a lighter note, this is the reason I want to learn to embroider:

Yes, Christopher Walken. More cowbell.

Happy Earth Day.

2010-04-22T15:23:00.002-05:00

We may as well acknowledge that we're all fucked. I don't mean this in the delightful sense of lovers...meeting in the middle of their hearts and minds and bodies, but in the sense that we're in far more trouble than words can say. Wild salmon are disappearing, as are great apes, coral reefs, native earthworms, wild forests, wild places of all stripes. Last week two more chunks of Antarctica fell into the sea. Dioxin contaminates polar bear fat, and it contaminates mother's milk. Three corporations control more than eighty percent of the beef market, and seven corporations control more than ninety percent of the grain market. Military scientists have placed computer chips in the brains of rats, and can force the creatures to go left, right, backward, forward by pushing buttons on keyboards...

We're fucked. We all know the numbers. We know that twenty-five percent of all women in this culture are raped within their lifetime, and another nineteen percent have to fend off rape attempts. Which means of course that unless one guy is excruciatingly busy, an awful lot of men are rapists...

We know also that 565,000 American children are killed or injured every year by their parents or guardians. We know, too, that there are more slaves in the world today than came across on the Middle Passage. And we know that in the 1830s a slave in the American South cost between $500 and $1000, the equivalent of $50,000 to $100,000 today. And now a slave costs about $50, making them not even a capital but a simple expense, to be used up and thrown away.

We're fucked.

If we're so fucked, one might reasonably ask, why not just go ahead and off ourselves?...the answer: life is good. Life is really, really good. Not mediated life. Not televisions, cars, stereos, jobs, professional sports, colognes, perfumes, skyscrapers, steel, asphalt, brick, mortar. But life. Waking up with the sun on your face. Tasting your lover's sweat. Stubbing your toe, petting a dog...helping your mother plant her garden, feeling your body grow heavy at the end of a hard day, and waiting to catch up to your dreams. But to merely reside in the sensual as the world burns isn't good enough. Nor is it good enough merely to mourn the losses both inside and out. Both of these are necessary, but not sufficient...If things are so bad, one can also ask (this time unreasonably, I think), why not just withdraw into the sensual, why not just party (or cry)? Because...this question reveals nothing neither more nor less than an inability to love. If you're in love, with your life, with your body, with your lover, with the tree outside your door, with the world that gives rise to all of these, the fact that we're all deeply, deeply fucked doesn't matter a damn to your actions: if you're in love, you act to protect your beloved. If we are to survive, we must recliam our planet from those corporations which-and people who-are destroying it. But even before this, we must reclaim our own bodies and our hearts from that same grasp. - Derrick Jensen, May 2002

[*photos from my Admirable things folder...found who-knows-where. Yours? Ask me to remove 'em or give you due credit and I will gladly do so. <3]

The past couple of weeks have been all hammock-lounging, Gibran and Psalms-reading, campfire smoke-inhaling, UTI-healing, whole wheat bread-baking, LOST theorizing, cat fur-wrangling, (gladly) pollen-sneezing, clutter downsizing, and plan-making. So the normal routine, plus a few seasonal additions..and the UTI brought on by too many ginseng root beers last week. (I knew better.)

Four little tomato plants have sprouted in the container garden, plus about a million lettuce plants. The artichokes are hanging in there, but the wildflowers are looking a little floppy.

Last night Marvin and I went to dinner with my co-workers and a rep from NOW foods. They talked a lot about things that happened before Marv and I were born, but none of the terribly exciting topics. I zoned out and kept trying to remember what it was like to be an egg and a sperm and not a whole person, but failed. We left saying that it was time for our Mad Men marathon date, but it was loud in the restaurant and Louie's husband thought we sad Batman marathon. We didn't tell him otherwise.

Back to the hammock and the breeze.

LOVE,
Sarah.

P.S. - Andrea, I found ANOTHER band-aid in the pair of shoes of yours I inherited at the junk swap a couple of years ago. This makes, what? half a dozen band-aids out of a single pair of shoes! It's starting to get a bit eerie because each time I'm positive that I've gotten the last of the band-aids out...but then another one magically appears a few months later. Is it voodoo that youdoo?

Just the type of thing I would be excited about!

2010-04-10T19:22:00.006-05:00

Sun Chips bags are now compostable.

Now if all the other snacks would follow...

I expanded the container garden yesterday! This summer we will (hopefully) be enjoying organic tomatoes & lettuce, Jerusalem artichokes, and catnip. I'm thinking about adding a bell pepper plant and some wildflowers and trying to guerilla garden in the alley with any of the tomatoes that germinate that I don't have room for in buckets on the deck.

That sentence contained far too many prepositions and these dolls are magnificent:

Images from cartbeforethehorse.etsy.com.

Also, I love going to yard sales on my lunch break. <3 Happy weekending!

Easter weekend.

2010-04-08T19:25:00.001-05:00

It was lovely.
Egg dye & hunt with my parents.
Garden party with Shelly, Adrianna, and Mama Kathleen.
Word games & Scrabble.
Home town grocery shopping.
Native American things & coffee.
Yep.

Thursday mornings are now devoted entirely to housekeeping and working on projects since I don't go to work until eleven. I'm as happy about this productiveness as I am about SPRING.

I finally experimented with the detox foot patches. Here's what I've concluded: the patches turn brown/black when your feet sweat on them...the color is not caused by the removal of toxins. The patches turn the same color when held under the tap. But I don't think this necessarily means that they aren't capable of removing toxins from your body since sweating can play a pretty big role in the detoxification process. I didn't feel any different after using the patches, but I wasn't ailing to begin with. So the color change doesn't equal toxicity, but the patches work for a lot of people...just like the gunk in an ear candle isn't earwax, but tons of people swear by the candling process. (Internet research tells me that apparently some detox pads are complete hoaxes. Make sure your detox foot pad has some or all of the following chemicals: chitin, chitosan, vitamin C, silica, starch, and eucalyptus oil. Lengthier explanation here.)

If you need a new age hooey mythbuster, I'm your woman. Or guinea pig.

A good ol' American Double Standard.

2010-04-02T12:10:00.003-05:00

More information can be found here.

See you kids later. I'm running away to the hills for some quality gardenin', birdin', catfishin', strollin', and barefootin' time. Have lovely weekends!

Hello, bicycle legs.

2010-04-01T21:21:00.003-05:00

Did you know that this is a week of miracles? Not only did Marvin learn how to boil water for pasta (haha), but a lady I know who has been very, very sick and mostly bed-ridden for almost a year is suddenly up and about and back to her normal routine. Majorly amazing.

I heard a mockingbird imitate a crow yesterday. I also had a nosebleed which reminded me of Katie (who always has nosebleeds and who I adore & hadn't seen since last fall) and then ran into her on the trail while riding bikes after work! We sweaty hugged. Little amazements.

I can't wait to try the bring-on-the-broccoli pizza that's on the cover of Vegetarian Times. My diet lately has consisted almost entirely of the following things: The Dr. Oz Smoothie, trail mix, apples, oranges, extreme veggie pasta, and Nutty Bars. It's a delicious life I live, but it's about time for some variety. And fresh greens.

Gotta get to work on a container garden...and gotta make a trip to visit this sweet little girl:

And her mama. <3

P.S. - I am quite envious of Vanessa who not only has TWO pet goats, but also recently got her creep on with Zooey Deschanel! Dang!

Little weekend.

2010-03-28T22:42:00.002-05:00

I tried to make the most of this one-day-weekend by hiking to King's Bluff with Marvin. The first part of the trail was booooring, but once we got to the waterfall things picked up. The sun even decided to shine for a little while! (Note to self: do not dangle your legs over the edge of cliffs in front of Marvin. He gets really mad about it.) Marvin found a camera in a mossy puddle. We'd hoped it would contain some crazy pictures, but all we got was a lot of this:

Nothing earth-shattering or scandalous; nothing worthy of blackmail - just an upload to ifoundyourcamera.

Sharon (my boss) went to a health food convention in Anaheim and brought back so many goodies! I've been sampling soap and lip balm and eco-friendly dish detergent and biodegradable trash bags and snacks all week. Loveit. She even brought me a crazy Hippie Chips tote bag and matching t-shirt, which were promptly given to Rachel...who loves hippies and chips and ridiculous tote bags even more than I do. Hard to believe, but true.

While Rachel was sitting on my couch, it suddenly dawned on me that, "Hey! Rachel's back in the States!" This revelation is doubly exciting since it means that I might just end up going to Lilith Fair 2010 after all!!!! High school dream come true...minus Alanis.

I keep making these amazing soups in the crock pot, and then botching them up by adding one ingredient too many...usually rice. Some day I'll learn when to quit.

This week: A four day work week...followed by a four day weekend...which will more than make up for this one day break. I be headin' for the hills!

I'm a winner!

2010-03-25T19:08:00.002-05:00

I entered a contest on Abi's food blog and won a gift certificate to spend at Bake It Pretty. The last thing I won was a lint remover at a girl scout event back in the early nineties, so I was beyond excited about this! I ended up getting these insanely cute cookie cutters to add to my mama's collection:

I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a snail, mushroom, or mustache yet.
I got a few supplies for some upcoming projects too.
Thank you, Mrs. Porter!

Last night was the first bicycle ride of the season with the more standard Bike Gang from last summer...plus and minus a few. After four consecutive days of riding, I am feeling the burn. And Marvin is already complaining about my rapidly shrinking gut. Poor chubby chaser. I hope he survives the summer!

And finally a moderate portion of nerding out: this week's LOST was amazing once again. I'm glad Richard Alpert finally got his own episode. And that things are beginning to be explained. (I'll keep my mouth shut, for any Losties that might have fallen behind.)

You wear those suspenders, Richardus!

Times two.

2010-03-22T18:06:00.001-05:00

We biked the trail again...same as yesterday...minus Marvin, plus twenty degrees and no incidents of clumsiness on my part. The turtles were out full force and there was nary a cloud in the sky. Is it really spring now?

^ That was the best spring...but I am hereby declaring that this one will be equally, if not MORE amazing. You got that?

Gator weather.

2010-03-21T20:40:00.002-05:00

Today Jumpin' Josh, Brittany Paul, Marvin, and I chose to ride bicycles on Bona Dea trail. Why we chose the coldest, rainiest day possible for this adventure...I am not entirely sure. Probably because we had our hearts set on seeing an alligator. There are allegedly at least eleven 'gators in the swampier parts of the park and even more allegedly a couple of small dogs have been eaten recently. I was skeptical about the dog-eatings until we got to the part of the trail with the highest swamp-water level and found that it was closed. Naturally we ignored the orange fence and went about our merry way. I always get really nervous at the part of the trail where you can see the spots where the gators come up out of the water to cross and then slide back down the other slope, but I was especially expecting to get devoured today, due to the orange fence. None of us got eaten, but three of us thought we might have seen a baby alligator, but agreed that it was probably just a stick. We did discover a wildlife viewing hut at the water's edge that none of us had ever noticed before. Apparently some boyscouts built it in '99. We also saw a heron and some ducks and squirrels...and I am officially on a mission to find some rainboots. Not just a casual mission, but a hardcore one. This is due to one of my feet slipping into a pool of muddy water and then being soggy and numb for the rest of the day. Being clumsy and having short legs is only a downer when you're a pseudo-outdoorsperson trying to have adventures with rugged outdoorspeople.

I found this after googling "alligator" -

Dolphin slaughter, psoriasis, and a couple of recipes.

2010-03-20T20:25:00.002-05:00

Love animals? Looking for a tear-jerker? Watch The Cove!

It's currently in first place as my biggest cry of the year and probably won't be beaten unless someone I know and love dies...or something tragic happens on LOST. You can help with the dolphin-savings here.

I'd always wanted to do one of those touristy "swim with the dolphin" things, but not after finding out how crummy the dolphin industry is. Summary: Dudes capture a bunch of potential Flippers in a beautiful cove. Trainers come from around the world once a year to pick out the prettiest little dolphins to take back home to Sea World-ish places, paying the fishermen $150,000 per trainee...and shortly thereafter the un-chosen dolphins get harpooned to death. Although I would personally never choose to eat a dolphin for dinner, I'm not opposed to the thought of someone else eating a dolphin for dinner...but I am greatly opposed to any method of killing one's dinner that isn't quick and to the point. It's not at all nice to torture your dinner before you eat it. Keep it humane. (Or...you know...as humane as slaughter can be.)

Now, on to more encouraging things!

A customer with psoriasis came in yesterday with a success story: for years his hands had been so psoriasis-y that he'd had to wear gloves at all times to keep his oozy scabs from getting all over everything. He'd tried every medication available, but nothing helped. A nutritionist suggested he take 50 mg of zinc each day, in addition to a good multivitamin and also cut out all breads and processed starches and sweets from his diet. After a week of doing this he is glove and pain free and the psoriasis is almost entirely gone. Yay for that guy! I love hearing natural remedy success stories and plan to start posting more of them on here. It's amazing what the simplest of changes can do for a person's health.

Next up, a fat-busting smoothie recipe from Dr. Oz!
In a blender combine the following:
     1 c. juice (I used Naked Gold Machine)
     1/2 a banana or 3/4 c. berries (I substituted more Naked juice)
     2 Tbs. whey powder (I substituted rice protein powder)
     2 Tbs. ground flaxseed
     1 Tbs. ground psyllium husk
     1 Tbs. chia seeds
     1 Tbs. wheat germ
     600 mg. fish oil (I used 1 Tbs. flax oil instead)

This might just be my new breakfast of choice. I had one for breakfast and I still have plenty of energy. Crazy. Even on good days I tend to feel like a sloth.

And finally, an almost healthy desert recipe, courtesy of Abi:
Melt 1/3 cup brown rice syrup and 1/3 cup peanut butter on the stove. Remove from heat.
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in 3 cups brown rice crisp cereal and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Chill. Devour. Mmmm. It's the healthiest dessert I've found that Marvin actually likes. Pretty pitiful...but it's a start.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I plan on sitting here being freaked out that last night I was running around outside in shorts and a t-shirt, and now I need mittens and a thermal underwear to be comfortable outdoors. This is too much climate change for a twenty-four hour time period!

Love,
Sarah

Good news.

2010-03-14T20:28:00.001-05:00

It was a great comfort for me to learn that Netflix does indeed recycle their return envelopes.

One less pleasure to feel guilty about.

I'm anxiously waiting for bike rides, hammock weather, and an anniversary road trip to Nawlins (and wherever else the road takes us.) I've been reading up on Marie Laveau and have already decided what I'll be ordering at the Gumbo Shop. Roadside America gave some good suggestions on Louisiana oddities. So far the Leprosy Museum seems to have the most potential.

Today we found a perfect camping spot and I tried my first veggie burger from Burger King. It was...well, what one would expect from a fast food veggie burger: edible, slathered in ketchup, and probably a year old.

Cat, dog, and hermit crab sitting for Heath and Josh this week. Wishing someone would craft me a cute wrist-cuff so I can fashionably cover my tattoo while at work. If I have to explain, "...it's from a song my friend wrote," while a stranger holds my hand one more time I might lose my ability to fake-smile!

My favorite customer purchases at the natural foods store thus far:

Bee pollen. "It increases my chickens' libido."
Cucumber flavored tonic water. "I have a confession to make: I buy these to use in my signature gin & tonics..."
Peppermint essential oil. "I read that you can put this stuff on a cotton ball and stuff it in a mole tunnel to run the little devils outta your yard!"

I won't even mention the elderly woman who used the phrase, "it just stays soft!" while telling me about her husband's erectile dysfunction. Or the Hispanic man who mostly communicated with me through the use of a Spanish/English dictionary: Wife. Needs. To reaffirm. To increase. Bust. Hmmm. No hay.

Today, all cars,
all fathers, all mothers, all
children and lovers will
have to forget
about that thing in the sky,
going around
like a persistent rumor
that will get us yet.
-Anne Sexton, my favorite

I haven't felt like this since '99.

2010-03-03T23:23:00.001-06:00

I don't remember how to sleep.
Last weekend was phenomenal.
I adore my family.
I beat my mama at Scrabble for the first time in my life.
My heartiest laugh of the year was shared with my dad.
2010 needs more coffee and conversation and quiche and attention deficit strolls with Adrianna.
I've been listening to Placebo. And Shakira.
About the video for She Wolf: Is that a glittery birth canal? I'm convinced it is and would like to put in a request for a glam birth canal and sweet contortionist skills! Or at least rhythm and belly dancing lessons.
We're thinking about changing Mr. Eko's name to Rainman. I'm sure you can guess why.
The latest episode of LOST left me with one fist in the air, mouthing the word, "WAAAAAARRRRR!"
It's detox time. Hello fruit and tea.
I know I've said it before, but life is so good. But I've really got to work on this sleep disorder.

Post V-Day Post.

2010-02-15T17:01:00.001-06:00

For Valentine's Day we intended to make a heart-shaped wheat crust pizza together from scratch, but we ended up having adventures instead. There was a visit to Goodwill and then a road trip to the skate shop in Conway and then a little hangout with Courtney and an intense search for rain boots, which failed. There was also coffee and a bunch of parakeets and music and Moe's. I forgot to wear my red and white ribbon in my hair.
Marvin gave me a mini-wedding cake.

Since we didn't have a "real" wedding, we missed out on the tasty cake and he decided it was about time to make up for lost dessert! Mmmm. He also got me a dozen cranberry macadamia nut cookies from Catherine's Cakes, which are the most delicious cookies in the world, but he accidentally ate eleven of them before I made it home from work. He told me about the accident sheepishly and I laughed. A lot.

I gave him a Frankenstein Danzig Kewpie doll that I found on Etsy.

Here are some of the treats I made in honor of a formerly hated holiday that I'm just beginning to enjoy:

Peanut butter fudge cupcakes...and celebrity valentines inspired by Elsie.

Here's a link to Class Class. I've already learned a thing or two.

Something of the stars.

2010-02-11T20:18:00.001-06:00

We come from farther away than space and longer ago than time. Evolution and genetics and environment explain a lot about us but they don’t explain all about us or even the most important thing about us. Though we live in the world, we can never be entirely at home in the world. We have something of God within us the way we have something of the stars. .

I wonder if there's a Bible study out there somewhere tailored specifically for a nerdy-dreamy-universalist-liberal?

Everyone had rotting carpet and a door to pay for.

2010-02-09T21:33:00.002-06:00

A few nights ago I had the happiest dream. In the dream I befriended a garden gnome and his fawn friend. We always communicated non-verbally. Last night I was cleaning up my desk and came across this photo of the gnome and fawn from my dream:

I had printed it off the computer in 2008, tucked it into an album and forgotten about it. Now it's framed and every time I see it I can't help but smile.

Yesterday morning I woke up and decided to drive one hundred miles in a blizzard. I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon.

And this morning I woke up with a song in my head that just won't go away. I'm not complaining; it's a good song.

I've been reading Miranda July's No one belongs here more than you. Loving it so much. Very hard to ration. I could stay up all night quoting my favorite parts, but I'll just leave you with this one:

...Theresa was sitting on the floor next to a chair. This is always a bad sign. It's a slippery slope, and it's best to just sit in chairs, to eat when hungry, to sleep and rise and work. But we have all been there. Chairs are for people, and you're not sure if you are one...

I've had the biggest non-sexual crush on Ms. July since I was eighteen and stumbled upon Learning to Love You More. Best diy collaboration ever. Then it was Me and You and Everyone We Know, with my favorite intro of all time.

And then I discovered the website for her book, which (even if you have no appreciation for artsy fartsy performances and are not mesmerized by the magic of ordinary life) you might think is pretty neat. I do. Obviously.

If I ever get around to hosting a celebrity dinner party the following people will certainly get invitations: Jorge Garcia & Sidekick 22, Miranda July, all the members of Le Tigre (don't remind me that they are no longer a band), Devendra Banhart, Beth Ditto, Aaron Weiss, and Natasha Khan. Lovely weird lovelies.

Enough rambling about famous people that I admire.
Do you know what I miss?
MySpace.
MySpace in the days when you were only allowed eight photos and one profile song.
Now a confession:
I created a MySpace account in hopes of getting Marvin to fall in love with me. We hadn't exchanged phone numbers after our first encounter because he was in the process of getting out of a crappy relationship and I was in a perpetual state of trying to convince myself that I hated men. The MySpace account was Rachel's brilliant idea. Possibly her only brilliant idea of the past decade! (AHAHAHA. Juuuust kidding Rachel. I know you're reading this and both grumbling and laughing about it and you should know that a) I love you and b) right now I'm glad that you're in Egypt and unable to punch me in the boob. I know you wish you could.)
But yeah. Primitive MySpace days...you ruled.

I think I've over-blogged.

Crap.

Coyote.

2010-02-01T16:55:00.001-06:00

I got up in the middle of the night for a trip to the ladies' room and happened to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I was washing my hands. What a sight. I laughed so hard at my reflection that I couldn't not take a picture.

Puffy, grouchy, crazy haired, lazy eyed, sleep masked wonder in a gas station t-shirt. Marvin is one lucky man.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN MATLOCK!

I'm really sorry that lunch was disgusting and that the pottery place was closed and that you didn't find anything at the flea market and that your dog likes to eat kitty litter and poop on the floor. What do you want to bet that there will be either a crying baby or an old man with a hacking cough at the movie tonight...just to make your Crappy Birthday complete. Here's to hoping that the other days of your twenty-third year will be phenomenal in comparison to this hilariously crummy one. I luh you!

An Arkansan blizzard and RuPaul.

2010-01-30T15:21:00.001-06:00

Marvin got really excited about the snow. Partially because it got him out of half a day of work and partially because he hasn't seen a whole lot of it in his lifetime. Normally I have to pester him to smile in photos, but this time he supplied ample grins on his own:

Being the fatso that I am, I ate some flakes:

And we tried in vain to take a kissing pic:

Apparently we just aren't emo enough for that garbage.

This quote from RuPaul made my day: "Culturally, many women feel they have to play along with how things are set up. Women are supposed to 'be this' and 'do this,' but drag queens mock that setup. The whole identity of being a woman, and the rules about what a woman can or can't do, it's all such a crock of shit, and drag queens embody the hoax of it all."

Love it.

I also love being back on the Funeral. Daily doses of no-longer-local friends in a non-stalker setting can't hurt. Who needs Facebook when you've got a nineties style forum?

Other loves of the day: Quinoa & sauteed veggies, endless cups of hot cocoa, seeing the castle church in a winter wonderland, and BUST magazine. I usually read it straight through, but I'm having a hard time doing that with this issue because I'm dying to get to the article about Lurlene McDaniel. (No pun intended*, I promise.) She was my favorite author as a pre-teen.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Lurlene McDaniel, she writes books about girls who are faced with terminal illnesses.

It's almost February already?!?

2010-01-29T12:46:00.001-06:00

I just read that the Center for Science in the Public Interest has suggest taxing soft drinks by the ounce and using the profits to improve meals in public schools. Excellent idea, I think.

In honor of the sleet and snow and bitter cold, I am wearing the snowman pajamas my mama made for me years ago. I plan to wear them until the accumulation melts. All of it. I might even wear them until spring. Constantly. Or at least for the entirety of my four day weekend. The only plans I have for this four day weekend are to read, watch movies, write letters, and finish projects that are scattered about. And eat a lot, of course.

I've actually written four letters already this week. I just don't know when I'll get around to mailing them. Lazy.

Two disappointing things I've recently learned after doing a bit of research:
1) John Wayne did not have forty pounds of impacted fecal matter in his colon.
2) Ear candles do not suck wax buildup out of your ears.

The next two health-related things I want to look into are bee pollen and those foot patches that allegedly detox your body. These two just sound too good to be true.

Two. Too. To.

Watch Umberto D. if you have the chance. It's a good 'n.

If you're easily grossed out, don't read this Birthday week post!

2010-01-24T17:37:00.001-06:00

I'm twenty-six!
Marvin took me record shopping for my bee-day and we sat by the river a bunch and admired the lights on the water and it was a happy day and night. It was also the day that I started my raw foods diet. For the first forty-eight hours of raw fooding, I felt unbelievably energetic and very alert. Then, out of nowhere, I started puking and pooping like I'd never puked and pooped before. At first I blamed the raw foods, but I eventually came to the conclusion that I've developed a terrible allergy.........to GARBANZO BEANS! The last time I ate hummus and the last time I ate chickpea curry I felt horrible and on the day of violent stomach malfunction, I had eaten tons of raw chickpeas on my salad. Mystery solved. My new plan of dining is this: no meats, no chickpeas, very little dairy/white flour/sugar. I threw up too many fresh fruits and vegetables Tuesday night to want to go completely raw again any time soon. Yuck.
This week I've been a little obsessed with pioneers, Revelation, Henry Darger, Picnic at Hanging Rock, photographs of transparent balloons, and soup of all kinds.
I just learned that on St. Valentine's Day, Picnic at Hanging Rock is shown at Hanging Rock. That's one more thing to add to my bucket list.

The brightside.

2010-01-16T17:32:00.001-06:00

I kind of like it when I loan Marvin the car and he forgets to pick me up from work, but only because his "apology" is typically in the form of Chinese food. Usually he doesn't forget me...just loses track of time while playing video games and doesn't hear the phone ring when I call him because of the noise canceling headphones I've already griped about in another post. It's convenient that he forgot me today - I need to load up on all the nutrient poor foods that I can before Tuesday rolls around. Tuesday will be day one of a week (or more) of raw vegan food. My raw foodist customers always have the most amazing conversion stories...so I'm gonna give it a try. After that week I'm hoping to stay 100% vegan...and 70+% raw. This will be a big deal for a sugar and carboholic. A very big deal. Even a week of it will be a big deal. HUGE, even! Wish me luck. And wish Marvin even more luck. He's shooting for a week of raw eating too, and the only vegetable that boy likes is the potato. And even the potato has to be either deep fried or smothered with butter and cheese. Oy.

I was curious about what the Freaks and Geeks kids looked like as adults so I did some research and found this (d'awwww):

And this (yowza!):

And this photo of the girl that played Cindy Sanders...the wholesome cheerleader:

These findings made my day.

Snowventures.

2010-01-14T20:08:00.001-06:00

Last weekend was a winner. Friday night was spent playing cards with the ladies. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were devoted to a solo road trip into the mountains to visit my mama and daddy. I love a good drive alone periodically for planning, reminiscing, singing poorly, and admiring the scenery. I got to the snowy parts of the drive just at dusk and just as "Dreams" by The Cranberries started to play. I had an incredibly strong urge to veer off the road into a Narnia-esque field, get out of the car, and spin in circles. I reminded myself that the little events in my life are in fact NOT cheesy scenes from a movie and kept driving. But I smiled the rest of the way.

At home I ate some of my mama's homemade vegetable soup (canned with vegetables from last summers garden...including OKRA! mmm!) and sweet potato pie. We watched a bunch of Freaks and Geeks and went through mounds of old paperwork from the locksmith shop. Closing a business is a lot more tedious than I'd realized.

I miss living in such close proximity to trees and wildlife and falling asleep without the glow of a street light complicating things. I also miss snow.

[The last two photos are of a frozen waterfall and the rock I chose as my defense against potential forest predators after seeing some prints in the snow that either belonged to a big dog, a coyote, or a really big cat.]

(In)significant.

2010-01-07T12:05:00.000-06:00

"Rationalist objections to the "absurdity" of religion, especially Christianity, have for a long time sounded to me like the sorts of objections that frustrated schoolchildren make when they cannot immediately comprehend a difficult concept. They will say, "This subject is useless, it's stupid, it has no value for me." What really frustrates them (or anyone who runs up against such difficulties) is that their inability to understand reveals their own deficiencies and failures, which are never pleasant to have revealed. Little wonder that in the era when confessing the Christian Faith became essentially optional many people in what was Christendom opted out all together, chose another religion, or chose the least challenging splinters or corruptions of the Faith."

Today I burned a lot of sage and thought a lot of good and was probably very irrational. I like that I'm (in)significant.

LOST

2010-01-06T21:34:00.000-06:00

The beginning of the end of LOST is almost here. I'm pretty excited, nervous, and nerded out about it.

Apparently everything about this ^ poster is significant in the overall scheme of things...which leaves me wondering: Where is Walt? Where is Turnip Head? Is that Libby in the background? Why is Michael so dressed up? Why is Kate so annoying? Are crossed arms significant? Does Richard Alpert wear eyeliner...or not?

"The producers also plan to wrap up long-standing mysteries, such as the nature of the smoke monster, the four-toed statue of Taweret, the identity of the Adam & Eve skeletons from season one, and the reason the Dharma periodic resupply drops continue after the purge. Lindelof has also indicated that Walt's unusual abilities may be explained, although this may not necessarily require the character's direct involvement.Matthew Fox stated in an interview that in the final season, the characters of Jack Shephard and John Locke "will come head to head." A third of the way through the final season, the two time lines will be "solidified into one" and "will be very linear – no more flashbacks, nothing." He has also claimed to be the only cast member who knows the ending of the series,though Lindelof has clarified that Fox only knows things that are relevant to his character."

I think as long as somebody explains the four-toed statue, the smoke monster, the voices in the jungle, what was up with Libby, Walt's powers, and the disappearance of Claire I will be pleased. I would also like for Kate to be mauled by a polar bear while Juliet and Sawyer get married in the background. These aren't unreasonable requests, are they?

Courtney, don't be mad about this post. LOST is my Indiana Jones. Get hooked already.
Chase, watch this:

Weeshes.

2010-01-05T21:18:00.001-06:00

Birthday wishlist. Go ahead - make my day.

Really all I want for my birthday is to eat catfish at that place on the river in Dardanelle and then look for fish bones and bottled messages. And maybe visit Goodwill and Vintage Books. And maybe drink too much coffee. And maybe, maybe, MAYBE get to see snowfall. It seems to always snow while I'm asleep and just be icy and treacherous by the time I'm up and around. Either treacherous or already melting. I braved the ice early yesterday morning to have my drivers license renewed. I thought (correctly) that there wouldn't be any lines at the revenue office during such horrible weather. I was pretty pleased with myself for being so line-avoidingly sneaky...and for only almost sliding off the road into someone's yard.

Work was hectic today. I got to do inventory on about a million new-agey fairy&angel greeting cards that all look pretty much the same. It made me really glad that I don't work at Hallmark. I don't know how much greeting card inventory I could handle. I could count probiotics and rainforest chocolates all day long, but not greeting cards. Nope. Not doing it.

And now for a brief list of weird things I've witnessed Mr. Eko eat this week:
1. a yogurt covered raisin
2. a tuft of another cat's fur
3. seaweed
4. paper

He and Shat are now best friends. Shat never befriends other cats, but she's been very motherly to Eko lately. It's cute. And surprising.

Happy Birfday, Marvin!

2010-01-04T22:18:00.001-06:00

Today my sweet, sweet boy turned twenty-six. I am so happy that he was born!!!!! I left work early to make him a carrot cake.

There were so many candles on the cake that after he blew them out, smoke lingered for a solid fifteen minutes. Talk about being ANCIENT!

Marv requested his usual birthday hibachi dinner at Fuji. Lauren, David, Heath, and Josh partook in the festivities. The chef chose a particularly large piece of broccoli for me to try and catch in my mouth and asked, "You like the big ones, eh?" and then when I opened my mouth to have broccoli thrown at me, "AAAAAAH!!!! SHE LIKE THE BIG ONES!" I chose to just get a little embarrassed instead of making a crude joke about my husband vs. Asians. Hooray for my filter! Not so hooray for me being capable of coming up with a racial stereotyping penis joke as a defense mechanism.

I got a bunch of bargains with the $25 Hobby Lobby gift card from my boss: two 16" x 20" canvases, 100 tea light candles, a bamboo wind chime, a cute-ish mushroom decorative plant stake thing, modeling clay, and some freeze-dried space ice cream! I had intended to spend it on maybe some fancy baking supplies or an ant farm, but the 50% of sale flyer sucked me in. (And I thank it.)

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARVIN EDWARD REILLY, JR!
[Here is the mention of you being awesome at Modern Warfare that you requested. I love you!]

2.0.1.0.

2010-01-02T19:10:00.001-06:00

Hey, New Year!
You're going to be an amazing one.
I spent the eve of 2010 playing Battleship with Marvin. We'd intended to go to Vino's to see Andy Warr play (and drink too much of the best root beer in the world) and then go to a more glamorous after-party at Hannah's, but we ended up hanging out at the apartment. Ignoring phone calls. Eating junk food. Being old, boring, married slobs. And it was delightful. As usual. Marvin pointed out that my Battleship game is the oldest he's ever seen:

It's the only Battleship I've ever known. He wants to get the computerized version, but I say, "NEVER!" 1971 isn't going anywhere.

So far this year I've accomplished two of my many mini-goals: making quiche (which turned out quite nicely) and making sushi (which ended up being sloppy, but delicious.)

[On the left - sushi roll attempt #1. On the right - sushi roll attempt #2...]

Mr. Eko really wanted a bite. I later learned that all of our kitties have big appetites for nori.

Here's Eko with my New Year's drawing contest submission:

Okay, who am I kidding. The cat drew that masterpiece, not me...

Walked to the grocery store today. Played tennis and did some yoga yesterday. Two for two on my fresh air and exercise resolution!

And finally, here is evidence that the lovely Mary Hollowell and I hung out over the Christmas holiday. It was the first time we'd seen each other in about six years. I love this girl so much!

Furniture camel.

2009-12-27T15:57:00.001-06:00

I was right; today I am as happy as a clam.

We ate sprouted wheat bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. Then we made a camel and rode it around the living room.

Black Christmas.

2009-12-26T18:42:00.001-06:00

Yesterday my intent to catch up on movie-watching turned into a pathetic Jon & Kate Plus 8 marathon. Fortunately Andrea called me early in the evening and we headed up to her sister's "cabin" on Mt. Nebo. This so-called-cabin is actually a gigantic old-but-remodeled fancy-but-creepy house with a two car garage and an amazing far away view of the town. We all agreed upon entering that it was exactly the type of house where scary movie slaughterings take place. We ate a little and drank a little and then decided to play Sardines. I was "it" and hid in the second floor bathroom...in the tub with feet. KT found me. Then Andrea found us. Then Lauren found us, making Marvin the loser. We had agreed to yell "LOSER" repeatedly until the last player found the rest of the sardines, so the game wouldn't go on forever. We yelled a bit, saw Marv's shadow coming up the stairs, and waited. The lamp went off. We waited for Marvin to scare us. He didn't. We yelled some more. Waited. And then he tried to scare us. "Nice try," we said. "Like we didn't see THAT coming," we said. "It took you long enough," we said. "I was waiting because I thought that after you guys turned off the light you were all going to jump out and scare ME," he said. "Uh, we didn't turn off the light. We thought you turned off the light?" "Uh, no." "Whatever. We know you turned off the light." "I'm being dead serious. I didn't touch the lamp." "Seriously?" "Seriously." "........................." At this point we all get a little freaked out, creep out of the bathroom, shining flashlights in every corner, and nervously make jokes about our impending doom. The power is out in the whole house, but the street light is on outside. I expect to be stabbed by a guy in ghost face mask at any minute. Lauren grabs an ice pick

I grab my pepper spray

KT grabs an empty bottle of sparkling blueberry juice

Marv has his pocket knife out

And Andrea,

always the sensible one, calls her sister to see if this is a common occurrence. As it turns out, the power tends to go out when the upstairs and downstairs heating units kick on at the same time. Way to scare the bejesus out of us, old house.

After that we settled in to watch some Dirty Dancing until Marv and I left to try and rescue Mark, who had wrecked his car after hitting a patch of ice while driving up the mountain. Rescue efforts failed, and a tow truck had to be called. Way to ruin Christmas for Mark, ice patch.

Today I was a useless emotional wreck. I didn't know what caused it and I didn't know how to fix it. I hate it when that happens. Especially for six consecutive hours. Ewww. Tomorrow will be better. No doubt about it.

Baby Jesus.

2009-12-25T13:03:00.001-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It was a good one. Possibly even the best. My mama and daddy braved the chance of snowy mountainous roads to spend yesterday and today with us. We opened gifts and went out to eat and watched some SNL last night and then ate a homemade Mexican feast today. Now my parents are on their way back home, Marvin is sleeping off his calories, and I am catching up on some long overdue movie-watching and R&R. As usual, I was too caught up in the fun-havings to take any pictures. Documentation or not, I'm really thankful to have a home and a family and plenty of food and the means to share with people who don't have the comfort of those things.

My dad has shut down his locksmith shop after twenty years of business due to the sluggish economy. He seems to be more concerned about getting bored than about not having income and I admire him for that. He insists that they'll get by on wood-cutting and knife-making and gardening and crafting and odd-jobbing and my mom's meager social security check and I hope he's right. I'd hate for them to have to start selling their land to pay the bills. I've promised myself not to worry. We always got by when I was little before he had the business, even if just barely. Eatin' squirrels and beans. Surely it will be easier to manage now without a kid to take care of. And if not, the kid will do her best to come to the rescue.

I wish everyone who reads this the happiest of days. YOU. ARE. ALL. LOVED.

P.S. - I am also thankful for Etsy...or just the general finding of oddities:

Oops.

2009-12-21T20:06:00.001-06:00

Marvin & I kept accidentally finding the presents we'd gotten for each other (once because the cats pulled the tissue paper from a gift bag, once because an order confirmation got sent to my inbox, etc.), so we went ahead and exchanged the few remaining mystery gifts last night. (Maybe someday we'll do Christmas right.) His favorites were shoes and Hansen's sodas and a neti pot. My favorites were slips and a sleep mask and a grass-scented candle...but most of all: A SOLAR POWERED RAINBOW MAKER!

This contraption and the Lite Brite are probably the only frivolous gadgets I will ever covet.

Yesterday we went Sunday driving and ended up in Fort Smith, where there wasn't anything spectacular taking place...so we just ate a big meal and came back home...but on the way there we stopped and bought a homemade pie and a bird necklace from a nice lady that was set up on the side of the road. We also admired Subiaco Abbey...as well as a gigantic Budweiser can. I should have taken some pictures of these exciting things, but I didn't...so here are some boring-around-the-house photos:

Our little (live! with roots! plantable!) tree, our forbidden rooftop view, a little teacup of blackberry wine, & a heap of cats.

P.S.-There is a live nativity scene taking place around the corner with a lot o' bass.

A masterpiece.

2009-12-19T18:50:00.001-06:00

For those of you who haven't started your self-portraits for the Wall of Fame, Jorge Garcia has just put you to shame:

The man's on a hit t.v. series, lives in Hawaii, and STILL managed to get this masterpiece to Arkansas in less than a week. I bet you procrastinators feel pretty lame now, dontcha?

Misogynist noise canceling headphones.

2009-12-18T23:01:00.001-06:00

Searching the internet for advice on how to get one's husband to cut back on his video game playing was an unsurprising waste of time...with the exception of this:

"Ah yes, the noise-canceling headphones. You could lock Rush Limbaugh, Phyllis Schlafly and Mullah Omar in a room together with a stack of Hustlers and 10 ounces of meth, and they couldn't come up with anything more misogynist. I storm back to my desk and type the phrases "my husband" "addicted" "video games" "HELP" into the search engine. Hundreds of links appear.

I click on the first one, a Christian counseling Web site, where a desperate woman named Tiffany, whose husband plays video games nine to 11 hours a day, is reminded by the nonaccredited Christian counselor that man is master of her dominion and tells her to pray to Jesus to restore her husband's love.

This isn't going to work for me. Besides, I have already prayed to the Jewish God for guidance, and the Jewish God, as he has done for millions of Jewish wives since time immemorial, advised me to rip my husband's headphones off his head and scream at him for never putting his leftovers back in the fridge. This tactic proved less effective than I hoped.

I click on another page, where a forum of concerned women instruct me to regain Ben's attention by walking around the house dressed in skimpy outfits and waggling my hips provocatively. One enterprising poster, aptly named Cyberhottie69, even suggests draping one's naked breasts somewhere impossible to miss -- like the coffee table, or on his head, like a doughy, undulating hat."

Yessss.

Cheer.

2009-12-17T21:02:00.002-06:00

I love the Amish and try to love the grumpy.

Right now I should be hanging out with friends, picking the weenies out of the rice dish Jumpy made and feeding them to Bennie...but it's just too cold for me to want to step away from the space heater and set foot outside without the promise of snowfall. Sadly, it's hard enough to coax hermity little me out of the house on a warm day. Usually books and cats and candles and blankets and tea keep me perfectly content. I love my friends SO MUCH.......just not hanging out with them. Sometimes. Please forgive me.

I can't wait to bake bread to the record Marvin gave me.

God bless 'im for his noble attempt at fitting in with the granola gang at my work Christmas party. HE ATE VEGETABLES.

And now, a waterfall: