i probably had some pictures to build a post around, but not gunna happen today.

i drove my caaaa-aaaaar, to tha stahhhh-ore. i meant to get 5 items, got more like 45 items. breakfast and dessert is not in question for the next few weeks. i picked up so much junk food and trans-fat-filled donuts, YOU should have a clogged artery just from reading about it.

also picked up some damaged material (a see-thru orange peacock design for whispy top layer and some white canvas or cotton for a string top to go underneath) to make some sort of two-layer whispy shirt number...have to post a pic when i make it.

also picked up grapes and orange juice, some non-dairy drink (powdered milk made of soy)to experiment with. and steak.

bb on tonight, along with some other cool cartoons, i think, i can't remember. dammit! missed ren and stimpy...last night...watched samuri jack and x-men instead.

looks like we be goin to see pirates of the carribean. i came across E! network yesterday and they had a deal on about the movie. i think i know way more than i needed to know before i went to see the movie, but i won't spoil it for anyone. haven't heard much good about t3, so maybe that will be rented. wanna see sinbad (adventures...), not sure about nemo, it looks really cute, but i am thinking maybe rent that too. wanted to see the new charlies' angels movie too, and the league or extraordinary gentlemen (and peta). gangs of new york are up for rental now and probably the hours too, i skipped those at the theatre.

my early morning, before-i-get-on-with-the-rest-of-the-day-today-morning: 6:21 stumble out of bed, put on threads, feed cats, vaguely brush teeth, drive to grocery. 7:32 back home, put away too much crap, drink a cuppa and donut. 7:50 mow half yard. check out new material and how i might make this new shirt, play with cats (trap lambie mouse atop fan blade by accident -meowmeowmeow) half-see charmed and m.a.s.h. (or was it buffy, i caught a glimpse of them all and the pretender). 8:50 cut other half of the grass. 9 clean up house, read subs, post. 11, got to get on with it now!

i can't even think of all the things i thought about logging about the other day. it was such a whirlwind. all started off with the way my hair was parted when i woke up. i have these natural highlights (grey/silver) toward the rightside of my head. the way it was parted i had silver on both sides. they looked like whisps of wings. droopy wings. but did i mention i LOVE my grey hair? i've had people gimme a look (most recently, a brother-in-law), they pause and say it real slow (like that'll ease the comment) "uhhhh, looks like you're goin'  little grey there..." i answered "i've been going grey" (in spurts, since before i got married. it's funny when i get totally stressed out, that's when the spurts are noticeable...appears that new greys pop out over night.) i might look younger or better, or that i care about myself more if i were to colour the grey. but, like i said, i really like it. i was always scared of going grey, like pepper grey of my madre, or salt and pepper like the nonexistant padre (i saw a picture once), but when it came out silver, i was relieved.

had a chuckle last night while telling how i once knew this dude with a car who's ignition switch didn't require a key. he shoulda never told me. i was 18. me, my bud susan, and two friends of ours went to a hospitol to go pick up one of the guys' paychecks. i got bored and told susan about the dudes ignition. told her i was dying to try his car out. she was all like 'i don't drive stick and are you sure you don't need a key?' and i was all like "yeah, come see, i do, let's take it for a spin, we'll be RIGHT back." i did, then, when turning around to go back to the hopitol parking lot, it stalled out. we went walking back, the guys noticed the car was gone and so they basically met us half way. "what did you do to my car?"  me: i flooded it, it's probably ok now.

so if it weren't for spidey, i don't think i would have known big brother was back on the air. watched it tuesday and wednesday, next episode is on friday. that's nuts how 5 of the ex-significant others are the 'x-factor' that was brought into the house this season.

what else...did i mention i am going to try out for yet another volunteer opportunity. cooking docent!!! in an old new orleans house. the training doesn't happen til october, though. i would learn everthing about the time period here and what was going on in the family and what was going on in the city. i will get to learn how to cook in some old fashioned, inside and outside cooking areas with some sorts of coal ovens. it would be atleast once a month, on thursdays, from october-may.

just about all the tomatoes were pulled. i think i had trimmed the tomatoe bushes too much, they don't really look like they will give me another harvest this year, but we'll see. no loss if they die, i'll be using a lot less water and then i would not have to worry about having the plants watered on vacation (everyday).

made some soup last night, about 2 1/4 cups broth/stock/seasoned water (i used a can of 99% fat free stock, and some water with the wylers shakers with garlic in it), 5-7 nice tomatoes cut up (the ones i grew, i just still can't believe i am eating something i grew), 1 of our silly-looking zucchinis, a small handfull of extra pasta (had tight little spirals) i needed to get rid of, half a can of pinto beans i had already opened and was sitting in the fridge from use in another meal, dried onions (1 tsp-1 tblsp, depending on what you want). it was a nice light veggie soup. just brought it all to a boil while cutting tomatoes and zucchini into broth and adding all other ingredients, then i turn it down to simmer until the zucchini look limp and heading toward transparent. so it might take about 7 minutes to get it to a boil and add all ingredients (lid on inbetween adding ingredients), and 10 minutes to simmer (lid on). test it by seeing if the pasta is cooked through. this made enough for about 3 servings.

had that pot-pie again. (can o veggies, drained and mixed with a can of cream of chicken soup and some chicken...put that in a pie tin. then mix up a cup of baking mix with 1/2 cup milk. spoon the bisquit goo around the top then go back and try to smooth it over all. 400, about 25 minutes) 4-6 servings.

car is still not within my use. it needs a battery, now , so, what's one more week? i wonder when we will ever make it to the auto store to pick one up...hunni?

boy, last week and this weekend have been a doozy.

tortilla pizzas. wanted to cook them in a pan on the stove with a lid to see if it would work since i know someone traveling in a camper, thought it'd be nice to pass along a stove top recipe, but i wasn't able to stove test it. i wasn't able to test the cookies i made either, but i have a feeling they would toaster oven well. the cookies...i used pioneer baking mix so they had a bit of drop bisquit taste to them. they'd probably been better if'n i'd had some nuts. (pioneer cookies: about 1/3 cup shortening, 2/3 cup brown sugar packed, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 egg (i use jumbo), 1 4/5 -2 cups  baking mix (don't dump all the baking mix in there at one time, see what the texture will be with your other ingredients and 1 1/2 cups baking mix first, then add extra baking mix until you have a good cookie dough texture), 4 oz chocolate (candy, nuts, combo) chips. if you do make the mix a little too dry, just add a teaspoon or so of water. i made half the cookies like this. the other half i added a tad of water too, and some more chips and some oatmeal. 375, 9-11 minutes. these seem like they'd be regular cookies, but they aren't. they come out kinda like store-bought cookies, dry, you will need milk.

ok, what else do i have here...oh yeah, did i mention i found a site that shows you how to turn your old shirts into underwear? yup!

ah yes, another holiday of fireworking at the friends' house around the corner. that's his silhouette up there. the warning on the firworks was clear. 'light fuse and get away'. mr. toad was not happy. and the much anticipated road queen...she was grounded after her first rocket shot forward into a ditch but kept doing her display. the guys lit many rockets, satellites and roman candles. oh yeah and jumping jacks and a couple finale bomb cones.

these are sparks coming out of an old drainage ditch...every holiday we do fireworks, the friend loves to try and make the firework shoot from this side of the street, thru the drain, to the other side. woulda posted the smoke pictures, but you can't see anything!!!

and lastly...an update post so i can remember how long it took these tomatoes to ripen once i pulled them in (a week). and the autos. seans is fine, mine has a few issues still. today i had an errand day planned i realized i needed to gas up first, so off i went...came back to my jeep, it wouldn't turn over. i flashed a HUGE smile when i saw cops sitting in the parking lot. went over and asked them to help me. HA HA, whatta they gunna say, no?! ha ha ha. anyway's, so they pushed it away from the pump and then i pulled out the jumper cables and they jumped me. i promptly went home and pouted. i needed stamps and some other stuff, but who knows i may have my car back tomorrow! oh, and i can't find my keys...i'm using spares

ok! took the practice dress, made a modified pattern, made the hawaiian dress!!! and a hair tie to go with it. i think people that know me in RL would be like "this isn't death". but i made this cuz i used to have this vintage one i bought while in high school. i grew up and couldn't fit in it. i had been waiting for the day when i could make a new one! it's kinda like a bag dress (worse on the hanger than on the body), but i like it. it and the hair tie are on a hanger in the first pic and the other picture is me bending down to take the picture in it.

found some happy cat german wine, bottle is so cute!

took a wrong sized sheet and made several extra pillowcases out of it! thanks for the great idea hunnimon!

plucked off many of the tomatoes during the tropical storm yesterday.

picked up a dessert mix (we had oatmeal chocolate chip cookies over the weekend)...hunnimon, again, pointed it out. gaw...it looks so rich. chocolate lava cake?!!!

 i say, does life get any better than chocolate lava?! NO!

ok, yes it does, but gaw.....chocolate lava is sure to send off waves of happiness when it hips my lips.

i like a bunch new songs, but dunno thier names. i like the right thurr song; and pump, pump, PUMP IT UP (shout it), and there's a song out there that has clapping in it and is a mellow song, it make me think of happy summers. i like the song where they say 'i drink, ok, i smoke, me too...". as a poppy band, i really like what sugar ray offers.  i like nate on 50 cents song. i like saying OVER and OVER "would you still have love for me GIiiiiiRL". now, the knew jewel...pisses me off. to me she sounds too much like she's rippin off siouxsie and the banshees. jewels' song 'Intuition'/ siouxsie peek-a-boo(Listen)(off of peepshow) or kiss them for me(Listen)(album:superstition). ok, so maybe it's just the chorus, but still. nah, maybe it's just the feel of it or the hurdy gurdy. i would love to BE siouxsie. i love thier version of dear prudence(on hyaena album and nocturne(live-that would probably be a good one to start with)). gaw,(after listening to it again) does that date my highschool years or what i really don't think i could pick a best album they are all really good (if you like that 80's underground wave) and i don't even own an album....hmmm need to add that to my music buy list... that woulda been good music for natural born killers too(like spellbound).

cactus growth

picture day!!!

don't think i mentioned it. was bored on saturday so i picked up a louisiana map and tried to find somewhere locally we hadn't been. found a commemorative area out in a camp area just outside new orleans east. we were riding into to the storm. it felt cool and calm. looked at all the camp names, hard to get a good picture of the camps in moving car. made it to the commemorative area. turned back around.

going outside to check on the plants, noticed a lizard in the trashcan, under a ziploc bag. they love that trash can, actually the same styrofoam has been taking up residence in that rarely use trash can for weeks now. the lizards love it. the face up there, is right behind the pineapple plant that is actually growing!!! the caladiums have gone nuts, the wandering jew is doing it's job.

put hartz flea/tick/mosquito/egg liquid on the cats on wednesday. little man is overly sensitive, he was slobbering, so i tried to wash it off. i think it helped. next time i will just go back to the vet frontline stuff. actually, i heard they have a flea pill. i want to see which is the least likely to affect him. the girl seems pretty sturdy to all even though she is much older. BOY am i glad my furniture is mostly take out and spray off. i spoke too soon the girl just threw up (they still manage to reach where i squirt the stuff on and lick it).

did a tad more on the mural...mine won't be as detailed as that picture from the previous entry. i'm already way off the colour scheme. i did misperspective on a balcony, i'll have to step back and figure out how to make it look right (it's in the corner of the landing walls).

yeah, being that i'm from florida and will soon be moving to a place for retirees, community living to me means more community than tribe. (that's supposed to be funny) you know, there are activities that everyone can do together but they don't lean on each other for support as much as a dependent-on-each-person-tribe would. that's why i use the word community tribe, more than communial living, going back to basics. back to apprenticing. but it's all good, i really didn't mean to nitpick, i just wanted to be clear about what i was fantasizing about in the journal. so, sorry, if it looked like i was picking it all apart.

ren and stimpy, mens network, tonight. hope it's one of the newer ones!!!

naogopa simba na meno yake, siogopi mtu kwa  maneno yake

i feel like when i say tribe, it seems the automatic understanding is something in a depraved area or some back country experience. tribe to me is a group of people who would all like to move forward and enjoy sharing in the experience with others without the situation becoming closterphobic. a group in which they can basically trust each other and gossip would not come in handy.

there are several community tribes in the us, and they all have plumbing. only problem is, is that most are religously or philosophically influenced. you don't have to be religous or philiosophical to be good.

zendik is one of these tribes. when i was 20 i wanted to join with them. looking back now, still occasionally reading thier material, i'm glad i didn't. well, it goes both ways i guess. i think i would have learned a lot, but at the time there would have been nothing for me to offer them. i doubt i would have learned the things i did if i would have gone off and joined them (i would have learned other things). now that i'm older i appreciate my mindfull freedom...i like a lot of thier philosphies, but would have gotten dreadfully bored after hearing about them every week, just rearranged.

i appreciate the idea of the community tribe to learn from builders, electricians, bricklayers, cooks, etc...in an apprenticeship sort of way rather than having to donate my life to one particular skill. i doubt i would want to be a builder all my life. but i would like to be able to build my home and help others (yes, i am interested in the habitat for humanity programs).

i like the idea of donating myself to a community. dry me up, wrap me up and put me on display. j/k

other notes. made some homemade mac and cheese for two with chicken last nite. plans fell thru yesterday, with everything. as usual. but since the man worked from home, i guess it won't count as a day off!!! so we can use that day to go visit relatives in texas for the 4th. i won't have time to stop off and visit x. people, but boy, i wish i did!!!

made a practice dress! can use it as a pattern for making a hawaiian dress i used to own and am now trying to duplicate cause i can't find the original and am 30 pounds heavier than when i first wore it back in highschool. but i used stretchy material....so i guess i'll have to add a few inches to the pattern. finished sewing a block of old scraps together for a small patchwork quilt, need border material and a back and an inside nor it. also remodeled the strip of material i was using as a swamp cooler thing on the stand-up fan. i ought to patent it. made two "throw at the cat pillows"  (not throw pillows for the cats), the material has cats on it .

put on this wrap skirt that i bought for a couple bones at a thrift store way-back, it basically fits! and reminds me of how i used to keep my stomache taught. as in, i was constantly aware of being viewed by the public at my jobs, so i used to like suck in my stomach, over the years it had made me have a flat stomache. then i got married. and i taught kids. they both love you no matter what, so they don't notice when you wear loose clothes, that you're losing tummy muscles and filling in.

finally started working on that mural again. added some shadowing to a couple buildlings and am carefully trying to figure out what order i need to paint in.

i had a dream the other night that i said 'hi' to someone in front of a bank (they were sitting on the front bench), they said hi back. i realised coming out of the dream, that the whole thing was about awareness. she was blind and it didn't matter, i still said hi.

uuuuuuuuuuuuh

oggidy boogidy. whoooooooooooooooo ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

oggity boogity.  weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh oooooooohhh

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm wAY!

that's right...trying to toss out the over-welcomed guest of stupidness from my life.

i wait a lot. i know WE ALL WAIT A LOT. i wait for the situation to be right for a dog. i wait for food to cook. wait for the line. wait for situation on house to come together.

you can work on it, but that doesn't mean you don't still have to wait. and then i was gunna talk about how on earth everything got like this, and my spiderfriend and i had a chat:

saving, paying, waiting

spidey: Oh I know, I feel like everytime we get something saved up something happens, like me getting laid off or something in the house breaks
death: yeah
spidey: and the credit card bills go back up
spidey: yeah
spidey: why does this life have to cost so much
death: i dunno, cuz we all broke away from supportive, community tribes
spidey: yep
spidey: nothing is simple anymore
death: where everyone helped everyone out unless they were banished for being a criminal
death: and then all them moochers and users...
death: just turned society into stupid goo

so, i say to hell with waiting and we all change it all, RIGHT NOW!

starting with this music survey that john posted about.

ha ha ha, i know.

yup, it's been chicken meet wok all week. with lots of veggies, the rice and veggies (stew), and just squash. have no idea what's up this week. the event i had to stop for the other day was hm car dying.

so i have no car to use this week. we may get it fixed this weekend. we'll be towing to the bro.s shop and probably getting an engine put in. (sucky) (we are never going to get enough money to build the damn house i keep thinking).

pulled up all potatoe plants, the caterpillars were too much. the zucchini is spent. the tomatoes are happy.

made a button down shirt for hm. it kinda looks homemade and all that, but isn't that bad for a first try (different kind of shirt than the first one i made).

have managed to get out and ride bike all week and do arm weight excersising...so i'll be ready to try my hand at climbmaxx place eventually.

as i told jax- my neghbors still suck pig butt. because of this (the whole block attitude of blocking our driveway and leaving vehicles parked in front, running, filling the front porch with exaust to where i have to bring my cats inside,,, sucks! i don't like them moving my trash can against my garden upfront either, and them taking my trash bags and moving them into thier can because they want to park on the side walk seriously pisses me off too). i know it all seems so stupid, it is, and atleast 1-5 times a week i have to deal with it, the assinineness if it all. been seriously thinking about wanting to live with my in-laws. can you imagine? but we'd be able to save money and not have to deal with idiots, be free to go on vacation (cuz they could watch the animals) and possibly get a dog (cuz it's killing me to wait).

but hopefully when we take time to go do the butterfly thing, we can also talk to well drillers and such and possibly get things rolling out west.

wokstew, only got a picture while it was cooking.  chicken strips(frozen bag o chicken, used three pieces for 2 people), some broth/seasoned water (about 2 cups), handfuls of veggies: one medium tomatoe (for a real stew i coulda put more), some frozen zucchini, 4 baby carrots, little onion, little garlic, soy, 1/5th apple minced, curry, more seasoning to taste, 3/4 cup cooked rice. cooked the chicken   2-3 minutes each side, added 1/2 cup broth and rest of ingredients (except the more seasoning and rice) in order over about 5-10 minutes. added more broth and rice. let it go about 5 minutes happily and more broth. while still wet, i had an event come up and turned off oven. came back and it had soaked up the rest of the broth. so it was more like curry chicken and rice with veggies. the chicken was like tender stew meat (i liked the chicken). hm liked the meal a lot, but i thought it was too sweet and i felt like the curry actually made it seem sweeter too. usually the most sweet i do with dinner would be yams or barbque...just not into it. but i know it was healthy so i gotta post it. also took our itty bitty first bell pepper and stuffed it with mozzarella and broiled it (the little chunk of tomatoe was overwhelmed by the rest).