Something's got my allergies riled up fierce (possibly the new kitty, that's a story of it's own) and I've got stuffy nose, itchy throat, cough, and all the rest. So... I fill my Neti pot with warm salt water and run a few pots through my sinuses. It's... an odd feeling when you're filling your head with water on purpose, especially when you're waiting for it to clean a blockage. Then you get the weird of pouring water into one nostril and having it come out the other. Once you get good at it you can actually pour so the saline washes the back of your throat, clearing away all the crap that makes it itch. And using a good sea salt (not iodized table salt) makes it not taste too bad.

VOILA! Clean nasal passages, non-sore throat, nothing triggering cough/gag,  no drugs!

I work in a restaurant, which means I'm surrounded by brown Spanish-speaking people. Not all Mexicans, though... so when it's football season (soccer) there's a low of shouting from the kitchen as they trash-talk each others teams. One day I hearn someone shouting "U! S! A!... U! S! A!" and overheard the following conversation:

Misael: U! S! A!    U! S! A!

Andreas: Dude, you're cheering for America? You're not proud of where you're from?

Misael: I grew up with a dirt floor and a hole in the back yard to piss in. Everyone I grew up with is either dead, selling drugs, or in America. I came here so that my children can live a better life; America has given me everything, it's my home country now, and my children won't have to piss in a hole. You'd better hope like hell that Guatamala plays better football than she takes care of her people. U! S! A!   U! S! A!

I started goofing off with copper wire the other day because I couldn't hold still (damn ADD) and it kept turning itself into dragonflys!



I also plan to make a bunch of those ornament hooks and get rid of the cheap crappy ones forever.

Some of my friends may not know that I collect tarot cards... I currently own 37 decks. Of course, I also read tarot, but a lot of my decks have never been used... I bought them because I love the art or I inherited them and thus won't use them. A while back I got this idea in my head to copy the Strength card from each deck and display them together... years later I actually got around to it, and ended up using only 17 cards because the composition got too cluttered. It's an interesting thing to see because most of the Strength cards contain a person (usually a woman, sometimes a young boy) subduing a beast (usually a lion, sometimes a serpent). C'mon over some time and take a look!

( Some pictures and info )

Once, long ago, in a faraway land, I was a hostess at a sports bar. It was Christmas of 1992 and I had just turned 18. This one guy, a regular I knew by sight bet had never really spoken to beyond "Sitting at the bar today, or would you like a table?" gave me a 2 pound box of Godiva Chocolates (back when Godiva was still supreme) and wished me a Merry Christmas.

I always wondered why he did it. We weren't friends, and I certainly wasn't the prettiest of the girls working there. He never singled me our before or after.

I think I finally figured it out. It's been seventeen years and I still remember him (though I never knew his name); whatever else he does in his life he'll always be remembered by me as That Guy. Some people leave a legacy of pennicilin, or fine art, or of a better vacuum cleaner... this guy may not have done that, but he left a legacy of one lonely girl who had a VERY Merry Christmas at a time when she really needed it.

Thank you, anonymous dude in the Lake Forest mall in Gaithersburg. You live forever.

Last night when I went to bed there was a foot of snow on the ground and the roads were covered in pack-ice. This morning at 10 the snow had compacted to about 8 inches, the roads were one big slurpee, and there was ground fog from the evaporation. Now the roads are clear and mostly dry, and there remains about 3 inches of snow anywhere there's dirt and sunlight. Still a foot of snow in the shadows. Tomorrow all that will be left will be the shady spots and the plow-hills.

Yesterday we had ourselves a little blizzard (it seems to be all better now) and Jim and I both got snow days. Most days we have off together we go out for food and maybe visit friends, but last night we were pretty much stuck spending it alone together. It rocked. We played WoW, watched a movie (Bottle Shock), and I made dinner. Then more WoW, some reading in bed, and lots of cuddling.

Hooray for the weather!

I love looking through the cleareance stuff at Bed Bath and Beyond... some of it is overpriced even on clearance, but sometimes there's an amazing deal. I've found my favourite sheet sets (Pure Beech) for 75% off because the corner seam of a fitted sheet was torn... 10 minute fix. Or because a pillowcase was missing. I've found Massive Fluffy Towels for $10 because their dye lot didn't match the rest of the display. And today I found a king size silk duvet cover. It's slubby silk in a color somewhere between slate and lavender... the color of shadows in springtime. It was on clearance because some idiot took it home and washed it without turning it inside out, so now the slubs are a bit slubbier. No matter to me, I have a cat and it will get worse anyway. I know the thing prefers to be dry-cleaned, but I gotta at least get the fabric softener stench out, then iron it.

Original price: $179.99
Clearance at: $29.95

I spend a lot of my life sleeping.

While I sleep my brain likes to make shit up and lie to me. I call this 'Dreaming'. A lot of people I know tell me that they rarely remember their dreams, and I'm not sure if I should be envious or pitying... my dreams are rarely pleasant, but I think I'd be less comfortable with the idea of those hours of time being totally missing from my consciousness.

Anyway, I have weird dreams. I even have some recurring themes I've noticed, enough that I often wake and and think (Oh, another of THOSE". I figured I'd share some for your entertainment and amusement:

The Chase
This dream involves being chased (duh), but it's more specific than that. Some group in authority is chasing be because I have some power they disapprove of, which also helps my escape. This power is sometimes flight (like swimming in air), shapeshifting, or the ability to walk through solid things. The entire dream is spent struggling to stay JUST out of reach, and my 'powers' often fail me at an inopportune moment.

Nothing to Wear
This one is pretty simple... I go through my closet and there's nothing to wear, sometimes because my size has changed, and sometimes becuase someone has borrowed things. I'll lump the 'I forgot to wear pants to work' and 'can't find my shoes' dreams into this category.

Gender Blender
I'm not always a girl in my dreams. In fact, I'm not always consistently either gender through a single dream. It's disconcerting to wake up and reach to scratch something that isn't there, I'm always confused for a moment.

Teefs
I sometimes dream that my teeth have come loose and are dangling like windchimes, sometimes I can re-socket them and hold them in place with my lips, but sometimes they just crumble.

No Privacy
I occasionally dream that I want desperately to masturbate but can't get people to leave me alone long enough.

Packing Up
This one always leaves me frustrated even after waking. I dream that I need to go somewhere (on a trip, returning, or moving) and need to pack up everything I have, but people keep borrowing parts of it, or won't help me.

Greed
Sometimes my dream involves me wanting more of a windfall... trying to stuff buried treasure in my pockets, picking up coins in the sand, getting lots of something that's on sale. Usually the focus of this dream is that i'm somehow cheating someone else with my greed. I once dreamed that I stole a tip from a co-worker and felt guilty about it the entire day at work.

Wrong Place Wrong Time
People in my dreams aren't always in the correct context. I've dreamed about going to high school with people I didn't meet until I was 30. I've dreamed that my husband and my step-mother were a couple. I've even had my mother show up in my dad's house. Weird.

The Bad Student
High school continues to haunt me. This dream involved being at school and having no idea where i'm supposed to be. Sometimes I'm staring at my locker and can't remember the combination, sometimes I don't know what class to go to, and sometimes I show up to a class to find I'm half-way through a semester and this is the first time I've bothered to show up.



So... that's the ones I have often enough to note. They seem to come in cycles, too... it's been a few weeks since my last 'Chase' dream, but 'Nothing to Wear' has been prominent. They aren't even distinct from eachother, either.... I've had 'Packing Up' dreams with elements of 'Teefs' and 'No Privacy'. Also, 'Bad Student' and 'Nothing to Wear' seems to like eachother a lot.

... and now it's bedtime. lets see what I get tonight!

Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows ever:
1. Bold the shows you watch/used to watch.
2. Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of.
3. Strikeout the shows you've never seen.
4. Post your answers.


50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Food and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

Back in summer of '05 I toop part in a MixMania exchange and created a CD by choosing one song from each year as far back as I was choosing my own music. A friend of mine asked for some music input, so I figure I'll revisit this concept and add some youTube links.  Please not that I chose the best sound quality I could find, not necessarily the best video. I am also updating it, since three years have passed.

the original post with explanations of what was going on in my life for each is here: http://taamar.livejournal.com/13188.html



Tears for Fears - Head over Heels
1985, 10 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWJPa0bvWnM

A-Ha - Hunting High and Low
1986, 11 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3UzLiuwGF0

Depeche Mode - But not Tonight
1987, 12 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDAQj5yqES8

New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
1988, 13 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w77T0AncLKo

The Cult – Love
1989, 14 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weLd0OGQ2v0&feature=related

Camouflage - The Great Commandment
1990, 15 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeMgqwq19gM

Concrete Blonde – Bloodletting
1991, 16 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOn1037ZLwA

The Trash Can Sinatras - Obscurity Knocks
1992, 17 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN4ZMSKP6_Q

Black 47 - Funky Ceili
1993, 18 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GViXO8bZDz8

Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl
1994, 19 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A9PiGyxlhU

Annie Lennox - Little Bird
1995, stopped thinking about age
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI0gdIWJ4-w

Counting Crows - Anna Begins
1996 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv3p-yLC1Ps

Journey - If He Should Break Your Heart
1997
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIaBODKuars

Shawn Colvin - Wichita Skyline
1998 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEoPtS8ISnI

Moxy Fruvous - King of Spain
1999
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-00zjEq9PNs

Barenaked Ladies - Who Needs Sleep
2000
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3B9BuTkaw0

Fool's Garden - Lemon Tree (Dance Mix)
2002
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9MfTAJZ094

Caramba - Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot
2003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ileMBlAqKw

Rasputina - Transylvanian Concubine
2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcj59M4Iz7w

Rufus Wainright - Hallelujah
2005
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB67HO8tkQs&feature=related

Depeche Mode - Precious
2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxokRfKoORw

Pet Shop Boys - Integral (here with Opportinities)
2007
http://www.joost.com/08200z2/t/Pet-Shop-Boys-Opportunities/Integral-medley#id=08200z2

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMTO_j7ennw

Jim and I like bacon a lot. Every so often I render 5 pounds down into crumbles and grease (for eggs!), and today was that day. Jim had agreed to do the clean up after, so I figured I'd save him a bowl by pouring the hot grease directly into the plastic container we store it in. Which promptly melted, dumping a pint of hot bacon grease all over my counter, the floor, and into the crack between oven and counter. Not the easiest thing to clean, it wont soak a sponge and has a tendancy to congeal. When congealed it can be scraped up but not wiped. The key is to let it cool, scoop what you can, then sit with a bowl of HOT soapy water (replace if it stops hurting your hands) melting, wiping, melting, wiping. Once you've got the grease up you can go over the area with Fantastic to get the slipperiness.


Of course, the cleaning instructions are unnecessary if you're smart.

I've always been a bookstore junkie. I spend a large part of my paycheck at Tattered Cover, Used to hang out at Stone Lion books (since closed), met Jim in a Border (after going to the Barnes and Noble across the street) and have an Amazon wish list larger than most peoples collection.

I've always loved bookstores, but for me the first was Rakestraw Books. My mother used to take me to get a book as a reward when I hadn't been my usual bitchy child, and the place was like magic. Two stories with reading nooks, a loft, and a cat who owned the place (Rakestraw himself), it was like crack for a child who just wanted to be left alone. It was also my first experience with a frequent buyer punch card, the very concept of getting a book free was exciting!

All bookstores are a reflection of the Rakestraws in my memory, but I haven't been there in tears. Like... 25 of them. I wasn't even sure the place was still open, I know a lot of independant stores have done down. I'm thinking next time I visit my dad I may have to make a pilgrimage, especially if I can locate the frequent buyer card I had!

I put up my tree today... it's beautiful.

Except that I hate the topper. A topper should be glorious, this one just lacks OOMPH. A mesh star with a few rhinestones and some embroidery is anticlimatic on a tree covered in sparkles and jewels.

Amusingly, the tree topper pisses me off more than my crunchy foot.

The other night I was going about my buisiness and I suddenly fely/heard a crunchy grinding in my foot. I'm pretty sure I didn't drop anything on it, as proven my the fact that it's still frog-belly white rather than technicolor, but it is swollen around the top of the arch where the pain is. I have NO idea what I've done.

I was thinking about how video games can actually teach skills, and how, once turned into a competition, almost ANY endeavor becomes infinately more interesting. And I was thinking about ways to use this for good, not evil.

So. What if one could take one of those latex models of some pornstars undercarriage and create a videogame out of stimulating it just right? And there would have to be some feedback to figure out what this particular girl/level wants, with ever changing needs and difficulty.

"Dude, 700,000 points on Jenna isn't bad, but you'll have to tug the labia if you want a high score. This isn't like Crystal where rhythmic rubbing is all it takes, get on the game, man!"

OK, I know you expect sex toys when I post about toys, but this may be even hotter.

7 quart 1000 watt Cuisinart mixer. No more smoking hand mixer when I make bulk dough.

Jim's office holiday party is coming up in a few weeks, and I may actually get the evening off. (If I don't a friend will be going with him). So... I went to my closet in hopes of finding something to wear and discovered that my beaded coctail dress still fits. I have shoes to match, earrings, and a braclet. No necklace, it's extremelt low cut and it's best not to draw any more attention to the boobage. I tried on the ensemble and I look...

Fabulous.

I'm one of the top servers at my job right now, so I usually bring home decent money. Tonight I didn't because our banquet coordinator booked a party of 40 and put 3 servers on it. Two would have been plenty, and one could have done it at a dead run. We each made $38 in tip for tonight, I was there for 6 hours.

Afterward I mentioned to the banquet coordinator that we could have done it easily with two, and might even have made some money, and she said "you know, I don't appreciate your attitude second guessing me like that". I replied "I should have made $80 easily tonight. I didn't. When my attitude costs you half your pay I'll apologize for it."

Jim and I have been together since April 19th of 2003. We've lived together (officially or not) for almost all of that time. We've been enganged for almost 3 years, and half the time we refer to each other as 'my husband' or 'my wife'. Some of our friends and most of our casual aquaintances assume we've actually gotten married at some point.

We haven't.

However... Colorado is one of the few states (9, Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Iowa, Montana, Oklahoma, and Texas) that still recognizes common law marriages. 
"A  common law marriage in Colorado is valid for all purposes, the same as a ceremonial marriage. It can be terminated only by death or divorce. The common law elements of a valid marriage are that the couple (1) is free to contract a valid ceremonial marriage, i.e., they are not already married to someone else; (2) holds themselves out as husband and wife; (3) consents to the marriage; (4) cohabits; and (5) has the reputation in the community as being married. The single most important element under common law was the mutual consent of the couple presently to be husband and wife. All the rest was considered evidence of this consent or exchange of promises. The only time requirement necessary was time enough reasonably to establish these circumstances. "
http://www.ago.state.co.us/FAQ/CLM_FAQ.cfm.html

So... we meet all those criteria. We wear matched wedding rings. We also own property jointly, keep a joint bank account and insure our cars on the same policy. I am the beneficiary of his life insurance, and today we signed an affadavit of domestic partnership for his work to cover me under his health insurance policy. All that's left is filing a joint federal tax return. Maybe we aren't 'really married', but at this point splitting up would require a divorce.

I feel like I should have some cake.