Month: November 2006

Heading for Home Again…

In an hour or so, we’ll be departing Amy & Rachel’s place for the Twin Cities Airport. Our flight is at 7:10pm CST and we should be back in Dayton just after 10pm EST. Then I’ll get to see my kitties again. Yay! (I hope they remember me!)

We had another lazy morning and I did my best to stay in bed until 9am. Dad once again put his cullinary talents at work and made us all Egg McMikey sandwiches. Yay dad! Then we sat around and read and slooched until lunchtime. We took a walk in Loring Park and even walked over I-94 to see the Sculpture Park from above. Then we walked through the Greenway to get to Nicollett Mall. Lunch was at Brit’s Pub. Yum! I had the steak & ale pie with chips and cole slaw. It was wonderful, but then again, so was everything that we ordered. Oh yeah, I’d also gotten an amaretto sour and managed to not spill it this time (unlike my last time at Brit’s).

Dad was out of reading material, so we also stopped at Barnes & Noble on the Mall. I looked around and got a few Christmas gift ideas to ask folks for. When we all joined up again, dad had gotten the reading material he needed and we headed over to the Tarzhay Mahal (the big Target downtown) for a few essentials.

We’re now back at the apartment and all packed for the trip home. Thus far, flight times are looking OK. Here’s hoping they stay that way! I wanna see my kitties soon! 🙂

This trip has been a blast and has been one of the nicest Thanksgivings ever. Thanks once again to Amy & Rachel for hosting us. I love you both lots!

Mary Poppins & Indian Fud

There’s a cathedral and basilica nearby and one of ’em has a 7:30am alarm chime they like to play on Sundays. Needless to say, we all woke up around 7:30 and then “slooched” for awhile after. “Slooch” is a term Amy & Rachel use to describe the whole being in bed & awake & snoozing time that’s just so enjoyable on the weekend. Dad made us all Egg McMikey sandwiches. And around noon, we finally headed out to Nicollett Mall and Macy’s (formerly Marshall Field’s).

On the 8th floor of the former Mashall Field’s, they like to do an animated holiday display each season. This year’s animated theme was the novel Mary Poppins (with music from the New York musical based upon the Disney movie). When we went 3 years ago (or so) to see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory there, we’d gone on the Friday after Thanksgiving and waited in line for a LONG time. Today, being further from the holiday, there was NO line. It was quite pleasant. The figurines were cute and the scenes they picked were fun.

On our way back to the apartment, we stopped at New Delhi for Indian Fud. They have a lunch buffet and I promised all that I’d pick up the bill if we went for Indian this weekend. They had a few dishes I’d not had before – egg masala and goat curry. They were good, but the bones (and hoof?) in the goat put me off of finishing it. We all enjoyed our lunch and waddled back to the apartment.

At this point, we all started reading and eventually folks dropped off. We napped for awhile and then spend the rest of the evening just relaxing and drinking wine (or cream soda in my case). We girls played Euchre and mom & I won both games. Go us! We had nachoes with guacamole & salsa for “supper” and finished it off with pie – both apple & pumpkin. I put ice cream *and* whipped cream on my apple pie. Yum!

This has been a fabulous weekend and I’m so happy we were able to join the girls for this time. Thank you Amy & Rachel for being great hosts. Tomorrow we’ll have a bit more time together and then finally we fly back home. I’ll miss being with the girls, but it will be nice to see my kitties again!

Little Miss Sunshine

Today was our first time outside since we arrived on Wednesday. Heh. (OK, so Amy & dad went out yesterday…) We got ready early in order to join Lynn & Doug at Keys Restaurant by 9:30. We walked into the joint at 9:29am. We rock. 🙂

I overindulged at breakfast having 2 eggs (over easy), hashbrowns, and toast AND 2 slices of French toast. More than one person can eat, which is why I let other people share my food. There was quite a bit of sharing going on – we’re the sharing family. And it was nice to have one more meal with Lynn & Doug before they returned home.

Once we’d said our farewells to Rachel’s folks (back at the apartment), we sat around & discussed our day’s plans. It was agreed that we’d go see Little Miss Sunshine at the Riverview theater at 7:10pm. And before that, go to the wine bar across the street from the theater. So what to do until then? Why, go shopping of course!

We started out at the Half Price Bookstore. I found Spy Muppet’s License to Croak on CD-ROM for $6, so I bought it. Rachel & mom also bought some stuff while we were there. Then we headed off to Pier One so the girls could use a gift certificate on cushions for one of their chairs. They found just what they were looking for, so they bought ’em. Then a trip to the new Trader Joe’s near them. I bought some Truffles for us and for Aunt Becky & the others who have been checking in on my kitties. Plus some cashews – unsalted & low salt. We also got some sushi, salsa, guacamole & tortilla chips for a light meal. Back home, we partook of these goodies. Yum!

We learned some interesting things while having our snack. First, sushi & nachoes are a good snack. 🙂 Second, putting wasabi & soy sauce on turkey still tastes of turkey. However, guacamole on turkey is an improvement upon the turkey. And third, cleaning up from sushi & nachoes is very fast (I did the dishes – heh!)

When it was 5pm, we moved on to the Riverview Wine Bar. They have several “flites” (samplers) that they offer for $9. Dad got the K’Syrah Shiraz flite, mom got a Riesling flite, and Rachel tried out the Chardonnay flite. Each flite has 4 wines with 2 oz samples of each. Amy tried a Victory HopDevil beer. I had water. We also got the cheese sampler – a goat cheese, a bleu cheese of some sort, an Italian cheese that resembled Swiss in appearance but not taste, and a zola (IIRC). I liked ’em all but the bleu cheese. Oh, and I made the mistake of seeing the specials board – they had creme brulee. Eep! So of course I had to get that. It was very yummy!

The Riverview theater is a second run theater with $3 evening movies (and $2 matinees). They also have reasonably priced popcorn (mom ordered us 2 GIANT Cokes and a large popcorn and it was $9). The movie playing was Little Miss Sunshine, which was riotously funny. Amy considered it good exercise, all that laughing. I agree. I’m loathe to say much about the plot because I went in knowing next to nothing and enjoyed it all the more because of that. If you want to laugh a lot and you don’t mind foul language from time to time, I heartily recommend this movie.

Tomorrow, we’ll probably have more grand adventures. But I shall leave you all with the lovely photo of mom in her make-up from yesterday’s session. Oh yeah, and I’m in it too. Mom is the lovely woman on the left. I’m the silly woman on the right. Heh. Enjoy!


Mom & Me. Yup, that’s make up on my face! Hee!

(PS, I can’t imagine getting any sleep tonight – I had some of the caffeine-laden Coca Cola with the movie. Whoops!)

Mary Kay Day

Before I get started, here’s a joke that’s on the girls’ fridge:

Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: None. There is nothing wrong with the lightbulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That lightbulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?

Hee hee!

Anyhoo, the weekend in progressing nicely. Last night, Becky & Michelle arrived for warm-ups & dessert. The pies were very good – I had pumpkin with real whipped cream (sorry elsaf) and apple pie with ice cream. Yummy! We then played a game of Scene It with me, Becky & Michelle beating the teams of Amy, mom & dad, and Rachel and her folks. Go us! Rachel’s folks headed back to their hotel while we ladies played Apples to Apples. Rachel won that game.

We slept in a bit today, but eventually everyone showered and dad made us all Egg McMikey sandwiches. Doug & Lynn arrived and we had turkey sandwiches and cheeseball for lunch. Mmmm, turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce on ’em are good!

Once the dishes were cleand up, we started setting up for a Mary Kay party. In addition to being an Episcopal priest, Lynn is a Mary Kay Consultant. Becky & Michelle again arrived and Amy gave us all hand pampering to start the session. Then Amy & dad headed downtown for coffee and other essentials. Doug braved the crowds at the Mall of America to see the World’s Largest Gingerbread House.

Folks who know me know that I am not a make-up wearer. I do very low maintenance work on my face & skin. But hey, this was going to be fun, so I partook of the session. (Michelle is another non-make-up person, but the night before we’d agreed to both go through with it.) The facial was quite nice and we discovered that foundation helps tone down my rosacea. We even put on blush (heh – me, putting on blush!), eye makeup, and lip stuff (lip liner, lipstick, and lip gloss – sheesh!) My least favorite makeup is still lip-stuff. I even let dad take a photo of me and I might post it tomorrow.

I decided to get a few things including the stuff from our hand pampering session and a foundation/moisturizer which I might use on days when my photo will be taken (to tone down my red cheeks). I think Lynn did some good business with our small group. Go us! She even gave us her sales pitch for the Mary Kay world, which, nice though it is, means you have to talk to people, so most of us declined completely. 🙂

We had a blast during the party and I’ll need to remove my makeup before bed. Heh. Something I haven’t had to do since I was in the school play.

Supper was leftovers from our Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was just as good as the day before – yummy stuff! We even polished off a few of the dishes – go us! Still some turkey and some mashed potatoes left, but most of the rest of the food is gone.

Lynn & Doug once again returned to their hotel with promise to meet at Key’s for breakfast in the morning. Becky & Michelle stayed for drinks & games. I had an amaretto sour (no suprise) but gin & tonics and Cosmopolitans were also present. We wound up playing Trivial Pursuit, Genus IV because Amy & Michelle like to play it, but Rachel & Becky do not. So mom & I entered the game to make 4 (which is more fun than two) while Becky knitted and Rachel cross-stitched. Dad read for a bit before retiring early.

Mom quickly lept to the lead, but was unable to sustain it as Amy & Michelle caught up. I lost with only 3 pieces when Michelle won the game. Go Michelle!

Tomorrow promises to be another fun day with the parental units & the girls. Go us!

Thanksgiving 2006

This holiday weekend has been only the second time that both families have been together (the other being Amy & Rachel’s wedding). Last night, Rachel made vegetarian lasagna which we had when Lynn & Doug arrived (having driven into town). The dinner was excellent and accompanied by salad, roasted squash, and rustic Italian bread (from their Co-Op). Good eats!

But the REAL banquet was saved for today. Amy got up early and started on the chestnut stuffing (chopping & browning the bread) and then the turkey (which had been soaking in brine in the fridge for nearly 12 hours). As the morning progressed, I made the sweet potato souffle (having made the cheeseball last night), Rachel worked on the rolls, Lynn made the green bean casserole (using green & wax beans from her garden), Doug made the mashed ‘tatoes (having made cranberries the day before), and Rachel made the apple pie. Mom and dad carved the turkey (which turned out beautifully). And then we feasted at 2pm.


The feast, lovingly prepared by all.

Once we got the kitchen cleaned up again, we all crashed, some napping, others watching Love, Actually on cable. I napped a little, and now I’m typing this up.

We still have pies. Amy & Rachel’s friends Becky & Michelle will be arriving around 7:30pm for games, leftovers, and DESSERT. Mom baked her pumpkin pies yesterday and as I mentioned just now, Rachel baked an apple pie.


Mom’s pumpkin pies.


Rachel’s apple pie (with snowflake cut-outs).

Oh, and just cuz I can, gratuitous cat photo:


Früvous helped out by staying out of the way.

We said thanks before we had our feast. Today in particular, I am thankful that we were able to gather for this. Thank you, Amy & Rachel for making all of this possible. 🙂

Sister Visit

Here we are at my sister’s apartment. Mom, dad, and I got up at 0’dark-thirty this morning to head for the airport. We had a 7am flight to Minneapolis/St. Paul. We arrived nearly 2 hours ahead of time and had no issues with security (though dad and I somehow managed to get in the express line while mom took the long way though – still, it gave me time to have breakfast – a Cinnabon Pecanbon). Though we had to wait for the plane to be de-iced, we arrived in MSP on time. We were at the far end of the airport, so it took us awhile to reach baggage claim. And lovely Rachel was there waiting. Yay Rachel!

Dad and I waited for the bags while Rachel walked mom down to Starbucks. And our bags arrived very quickly. Once we were all together again, Rachel drove us to Amy’s workplace and we enjoyed some coffee & cookies (turkey-shaped gingerbread) in honor of the upcoming holiday. The office space is very nice. As were the cookies, come to that. 🙂

As Rachel hadn’t had breakfast yet, we stopped at Bruegger’s Bagels for some bagels. I had rosemary & olive oil with cream cheese – very yummy! Rachel then took us to their apartment (home for now) and we greeted Früvous, who growled & swiped in response. (He’s such a cute, grumpy cat.) We vegged in the apartment some, then mom made the crusts for her pumpkin pies, then we vegged some more.

Around lunchtime, we headed back to Amy’s work and got to see her cubicle. Cute cubicle! And with the new park across the street, she even has a nice view. We walked a couple of blocks to a coffee shop in the Open Book complex. I had grilled panini (sour dough) with cheddar and their autumn minestrone soup. Very tasty! We were all happy to let dad foot the bill. 🙂

On our way back home, we stopped at their Co-op to pick up the turkey. It’s a 16lb free range turkey (though why Rachel had to pay for it if it was free, I’ll never know… 😉 Amy’s gonna be the Master Chef for tomorrow’s meal, so most of us will get to relax (and watch the parade, ha ha!)

We’re back in a vegetative state while we await Amy’s return from work. I decided to read my flist & update my journal in this time. The girls are reading and I believe dad is napping. Yup, this family knows how to par-tay! 😉

Men in Kilts

Well, I’ve been waiting for kilts as costume pieces almost since I first started playing City of Heroes. I like men in kilts. I wanted super heroes with kilts (as one does). So imagine my delight when City of Heroes finally made kilts a reality – woot! It’s not in the official game yet, just on the test servers, but that didn’t stop me from figuring out how some of my heroes will look. Hee!

My original Scottish hero is The Dominie (yes, named after the Sylvester McCoy character from the BBV spin-off audios). An alien who arrived in Scotland some 500 years ago, he’s as Scottish as they come. But as I love the color purple… Well, see for yourself:


The Dominie with kilt and full cape. I want to get him a shoulder cape instead, but they don’t seem to have that worked out properly yet. Soon!

Well, one Scottish hero isn’t enough, so I’m working on another Scottish hero who’s tentatively broadsword/super reflexes. Currently named Finn mac Cumaill after the Irish & Scottish folk hero, that may change.


Not sure yet about the face, but I like the braided ponytail. (Yes, I also like guys with ponytails…) Unfortunately, to get the braid, you need the cap.

And I’m of the opinion that you don’t have to be Scottish to wear a kilt (though it helps). So other male heroes will be given the kilt treatment when the kilts go live.


Mr. Alabaster, son of a Tsoo sorceror (Chinese?) and Carnival Illusion Mistress looks damn fine in a kilt.

And of course, Icy Hot Man, my main hero, will have to get the kilt treatment. Heh. (Orange skin with kilts certainly makes it interesting…)


Icy Hot Man in kilt – yay!

Now some of you are probably thinking “yes, men in kilts are cool, but we want REAL men in kilts!” Ah, well, you’re in luck! Coinciding with the release of kilts in CoH is the release of Men in Kilts, the calendar! Jennie Breeden of The Devil’s Panties cartoon fame has compiled photos of actual con-goers in their kilts when she blasted them with her leaf blower. She’s made a calendar from the photos and is selling them for $5 a piece. I’ve ordered mine, of course!

(I should probably make a “Men in Kilts” icon or somesuch. Heh heh.)

Autumn Harvest Concert

For the past couple of years, the First Universalist Church of New Madison has held an Autumn Harvest Concert with proceeds going to some worthy charity. Last year was Red Cross & the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund and the year before was Habitat for Humanity. This year they raised funds for Hospice. They had a wonderful mix of musicians, all of whom donated their time and talents for the cause.

We started off with a soprano who sang three songs, including a piece by Puccini (no, McGann fans, not Un Bel Di). She had a lovely voice – and what I found especially neat is that she’s a music therapist. She works for this Hospice organization in that capacity. I didn’t even know there was such a career, but I think it’s neat that there is.

The next treat was a Ragtime Quartet. We had a flute/piccolo, clarinets (alto & bass), oboe and trombone. Not what I normally associate with a ragtime quartet. They did several pieces by Scott Joplin, finishing up on his classic Maple Leaf Rag. The music was excellent and it drove home the point that I need some ragtime in my music collection. (Thank you Rhapsody for having a nice assortment of ragtime!)

From the sublime to the ridiculous, we finished with the Simple Gifts Duo (the top half of a quartet). They sang a couple of classics, but brought the house down with their “Sea Shanty.” Bemoaning the lack of playtime for sea shanties, they sang (with accompanying guitar) one sea shanty they assured us we would know. One that used to be played even up to the 1970s. As soon as the music started, the audience started laughing. Then they began to see The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island. Heh heh. They then sang a couple of other lovely pieces to finish the concert up.

It was a fun time and the president of the First Universalist Church advertised for the church. She said that any church that has a concert where Puccini, ragtime and Gilligan’s Island appear must be a very open church. Hee!

Jesus Seminar on the Road part deux

Well, the JSOR at Fort Wayne was really good. Bob Miller focused on the “Virgin Birth” story of Jesus while Tom Sheehan worked on the “Ressurection” of Jesus – basically the bookends in Jesus’ life. It was the folks’ first time to see Tom and mom and I fell in love with his voice. He’s a great speaker. Bob’s good too, but Tom has a Game Show Host Voice of the best kind. 🙂

One thing that I learned from their short talk last night and workshop today is that nothing really surprised me. Much of the scholarship that we have now really goes along with my instinct of the bookends of Jesus’ life. But there were some folks whose eyes were opened during the weekend. The pastor from the UU church we frequent also attended. He asked us at lunch today (and also asked Tom at the end of the talk today) “Why bother going to Church?” Now Richard, being a Unitarian Universalist minister, doesn’t rely on the Christ aspect of Jesus like some ministers probably do. But still, he was thrown by the scholarship that’s out there now.

Last night, we took Richard out for supper at Applebee’s. I bought drinks for all but mum (our designated driver). The amaretto sour was very good. The guys got red wines – dad a Cab, Richard Merlot. I had fish & chips – yummy yummy. The drive to the church was fun – we illustrated to Richard how our family drives like we do our calculus – using limits. Sure enough, we missed one road & had to go back to get to it. We arrived at the church just as it was supposed to start, but thanks to Tom having computer troubles, they hadn’t actually started yet. Yay!

Breakfast this morning was the Carbohydrate Buffet at the hotel. Love those free hotel buffets – but yeah, they specialize in carbs. No problem for me – I love carbs. 🙂 We weren’t late getting to the church today cuz I navigated. Hee! I bought a couple of books – one for me, one for judiang. Lunch, we headed off in Richard’s car and once again, found the place using limits. I don’t think Richard will ever drive or ride with us again. Heh. Still, we found Mad Anthony’s Brewery and had a wonderful lunch. And were late getting back again. But didn’t miss anything once again. Yay us!

The ride home was uneventful and mom stayed awake the whole time. We’ve no idea if Richard got back OK. When we left the church, he was in consultation with 3 folks and a map. We’ll find out tomorrow when we go to the Fall Concert at the UU whether he made it home OK. (He has to preach tomorrow. Pretty bad when the guy who has to preach is the one who asks “Why go to Church?” Heh. Still, it isn’t as bad as the one Fellow from Westar who e-mailed everyone on Easter Sunday saying “What do I preach about today????!!!!” Thankfully, he was on the West Coast, so the East Coast folks at least got to give him some advice.)

Jesus Seminar on the Road

The parental units and I are in Fort Wayne, IN for another Jesus Seminar on the Road. We left around 3pm and arrived about 15 minutes ago (aka 2.5 hour drive). When we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express, our room was still occupied. The other rooms were full, so the desk lady upgraded us to a suite. And, despite what the desk lady told us, there IS free wireless in the rooms. Yay!

A short report on Trick or Treat this year. We actually had “Beggar’s Night” on Halloween (always a treat IMO). However, my numbers were way down on the previous year. Only 41 kids showed up during the night. So sad! I think the rainy day put some folks off (though it didn’t rain during the Trick or Treat time). In a break from my usual tradition, I watched episode 3 of Torchwood and 2 DT episodes of Doctor Who (Tooth & Claw and The Girl in the Fireplace).