Blog Award! Thanks Ebony!

As if I needed another reason to dig the waaaaay cool Ebony Haywood and her Sizzling Publications, she has once again bestowed the humble little Zombie with a blog award. Thanks, Ebony!





So my five random facts are:


1. I've had at least one pet since the day I was born. My first kitty was named Suzy.

2. I haven't seen my natural hair color since I was 14. I'm amazed I have any hair at this point.

3. I like to affect foreign accents but once I start, it's hard for me to go back to my normal Valley Girl speak.

4. I know all the dialogue from the movie Tombstone. I heart Westerns.

5. I can't walk in heeled shoes. Shoes, no; high heeled boots, yes. WTF?



Now its my turn to pass on the Gorgeous Blogger Award to these gorgeous peeps:

1. Mrsofficer

2. Recessionista!

3. A Tired Wife

4. Keeley

5. Devilish Southern Belle


You're all gorgeous!

Wordless Wednesday

I think I may have too much time on my hands.

Random Tuesday

Welcome to another installment of Random Tuesdays! Chock full of all the info you never wanted to know!

Random Tuesdays is the creation of Superawesome Keely, the UnMom. It's like Frankenstein's monster, except it doesn't attack or throw little kids into wells. Not yet, anyway.



Geek Boy and I had breakfast this morning at around 10ish. Then I drove over to the Parental Unit's pad and had second breakfast at like 12:30. I'm considering moving to the Shire.

I've been trying to get Jeremy the Wonder Dog used to walking up the doggie ramp into my SUV. (Take that, Al Gore!) He's having none of it. I've tried every kind of treat imaginable, cookies, toys, but nothing has worked. I've even gone as far as to put Santiago the Punk Rock Kitty on the ramp to show Jeremy the fun he is missing. No dice. You know what he has mastered? Stealing Mademoiselle Sassypants' toys. How a 90 lb dog sneaks off with a toy is beyond me. I'm going rent Jeremy out as a ninja.


I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. This isn't even my record for procrastination. the longest I've put off shopping was the year I waited til Dec 24th. I work better under pressure.






I was looking over a victim's application and bitching about the fact that it wasn't filled out completely. Holidays schmolidays! I'm even Grinchier than usual this year. Funds are kinda tight so gift shopping is pretty limited. Anyway , I was talking to said victim and he was saying how he's has hope for next year, things are going to get better, all sorts of optimistic crap. Then he tells me he omitted his address because he's homeless. He had been sleeping in his car at the park until one of the workers told him about a nearby shelter. All his money goes to child support but he's happy that at least he's got a warm place to sleep now. Damn. And I'm bitching about not being able to give expensive stuff this year. Shallow much?

Another exercise on being grateful: Holly, over at Homebody has a great post about getting her cat Daisy back for Christmas. She had been missing over 100 days. You can bet they're happy she's home.


I'm going to be more grateful for the important stuff in my life: my Geek Boy, my crazy yet awesome 'Rents, my super cool In-Laws, my BFF, and my little Band of Assassins. They're all nuts, but they're family and I love them.

So yeah, a little less Grinchy now. However, Cindy Lou Who should watch her back...I'm still gunning for her.

Wordless Wednesday---Breakfast

Have you ever had a Caramel Créme Brulee & Robitussin Latte? Try it---you know you wanna.

Wordless Wednesday--Smiles

Bob think s I should sell my smiley face tortilla on Ebay. I wonder if it would sell...

Like a Bad Vegas Buffet...

Since I've been all spacey and non-updatey lately, today we're going to have an all-you-can-read-nonsense-extravaganza! We shall attempt something that has never been done before---combining Random Tuesday and Post-It Tuesday on Wednesday! You know what would make this even better? Deletion, you say? Nyet. Kazoos! So if you would, gentle reader, please cue the Toy Dolls cover of The Final Countdown in your head.

Random Tuesday is the brainchild of the super cool Keely , and I stole the Post It idea from the always sassy Ebony Haywood at Sizzling Publications. My most sincere apologies to both these ladies.




(See, this is what you get when blogs go slutting it up and have unprotected blog sex. Sometimes the result isn't pretty. )



*Edit: When I wrote this post, the background looked sort of like this, only shiny and frilly. I must have been possessed when I installed it.




BTW, that little pink clown doll is creepy! You don't think so? Watch "Dolls".




When I was in high school, friend of mine gave me a doll like that evil little clown creature. I don't like dolls and I don't like clowns so I never took the little bugger out of it's box. I'm convinced its the only reason I'm alive today. That and not being killed by a vampire. And on that note:




I think I've mentioned before that I think "Buffy" is the alltimegreatesttvshowever---I never get tired of watching it. Don't get me started on whether Angel or Spike was a better boyfriend for Buffy... Team Spike! :-) I'm really glad my hubby is my fellow Buffy geek. I can't imagine being married to someone who didn't get my Buffy/Angel references.



From my favorite episode of Angel, "Smile Time":




Angel: What are you people lookin' at? Well?
Spike: They're lookin' at the wee little puppet man.

Heehee...that never gets old.



I'll complain about being bored, but not about the lack of work to do. I'm going to spend my time knitting. I've recently gotten into loom knitting and I actually made a scarf. Me! Amazing, I know! Bob says it looks like medieval chain maille but he's just jealous that the scarf looks better on me. ;-P

Random Tuesday--Rant Edition

I'm late (as usual!) to the party, but here's my Random Tuesday, ummmm, randomness. Thanks to Keely at Random Tuesday---without this outlet, my brain would explode.

My office is cold. Not normal cold, but evil-spirits-lurk-here cold. My space heater gets no rest, even in summer. I'm in sunny, warm Los Angeles , so this coldness? Obviously, this is the work of Satan. Just one more reason why I'm convinced I work on the Hellmouth.


Internet access has been limited by Snidley Whiplash again. First it was IM---the little twerp blocked Messenger, AIM, etc., so I've been using gmail chat. This morning I was all set to talk to my hubby when I tried to connect and got this:



Mussolini Jr. is now limiting my email access. Now I get an allowance of 1 megabyte. The best part? I'm not even trying to send anything or open any attachment...I'm just trying to log into my email.


Just got out of a meeting and am supposed to compile stats regarding the program. Apparently we need to justify our existence to the Dark Lord Sauron, i.e. He Who Rules The Hellmouth. Let me see, the economy sucks and people are losing their jobs. Our program finds jobs for people. Hmmm, seems justified to me. So riddle me this, Batman... how does one justify the annual beauty pageant that runs over $100, 000/year? And I do mean with something better than "its a tradition"...


I'm ready to call it a day.

Wordless Wednesday

Jeremy in action. Its hard to believe he could hardly walk when he joined the family.

Random Tuesday--Black Out

I'm joining in On Keely's Random Tuesdays at the suggestion of A Tired Wife. I'm nothing if not random, so here goes!


As I've mentioned before, I'm a child of the 80's. So it stands to reason that I love 80's music and style, right? But no, I'm not talking Madonna here. When my friends were layering bracelets and wearing lace bows in their hair, I was wearing Chucks and a leather jacket. My style icon was, and still is, Chrissie Hynde.



As a kid, I loved Chrissie's tough rocker chick look, which is kind of a hard look to pull off at 13. Well, hard to pull off without looking like an extra from "Foxes".



Cherie Curie looks cool here too, but you get the idea. Anyway, it was as a wee lass that I developed a love for black eyeliner. Lots of smudgy black eyeliner. According to me sainted Mum, I must have been an Ancient Egyptian in a past life, hence my love of the kohl. Seriously, you will have to pry my eyeliner from my cold, dead hands to get me to stop wearing it.

The drawback to all off this? Removing said tons of eyeliner. I can't use eye makeup remover because it irritates my eyes. Wimp. My regular cleanser doesn't always get all the black stuff off , so sometimes I wake up looking rather raccoonish. Enter Gianna and her awesome beauty blog. (If you haven't checked it out already, go! Now! ) She reviewed Clean & Clear Makeup Dissolving Foaming Cleanser and you know what?



It rocks! It gets all the stuff off my face, including the eyeliner. No more morning raccoon eyes!

Since Halloween is right around the corner this stuff might come in handy when removing your scary face.




There is nothing on TV tonight that I want to watch. Geek Boy and I have been watching "Buffy" and "Angel" and playing World of Warcraft in the evenings. Btw, I think Spike made a better boyfriend for Buffy than Angel did.


GRRRRR! It's cold and windy outside. I want my 85 degree Los Angeles weather back!


I'm putting off buying Halloween candy because I know I'll eat it.

Slacker

I've been slacking lately. Not just in updating the blog, but in general. I think it's the change of seasons thing. I've been bummed out by the whole summer into fall transition. There's that and the fact that my existence is so boring that most days all I have to post is a cute pet picture. So this morning I woke up and resolved to come up with more interesting things to post about. We'll see how that goes. The last time I resolved to do anything it involved giving up bread and cheese and I lasted all of one week. My productivity trip may have something to do with my headache. I've had a migraine all day---I think it may be clouding my judgment. Next thing you know I'll resolve to be more productive at work. Just typing that made me laugh, 'cause seriously I may not be thinking straight but I haven't gone completely mad.

Tell Me Thursday

My Wordless Wednesday post was inspired by the trip Geek Boy and I took to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. Driving through Modesto, CA we saw this ---a huge cross mowed into a grassy (or weedy, from the looks of it) field. It was pretty cool to see the person actually working on it as we drove by.

I imagine a person's faith would have to be very strong to take on a project such as this one. The maintenance and upkeep alone must be incredibly time consuming. My respect to the owner/custodian of this cross.

Wordless Wednesday--Modesto, CA

I guess sometimes we need all the help we can get.

Wordless Wednesday--Music Critic

Buffy disapproved of Bob's musical selection. :-)

Taking the App Store by Storm

My Geek Boy is running amok on the App Store, releasing stuff--- games and whatnot. Dire Soul is pretty cool...you get to play Latyia, a hot sword wielding girl, and there's killage. I'm all for the killage. :-) This is Bob's second released app on the Apple App Store. Let's hope it does well!














There's Latyia, taking out some guards.












She's got a cool 3 blade sword. Those demon knights don't stand a chance!












Latiya facing off against Devil Girl. I think I was the inspiration behind this villain. A girl can dream...

Tell Me Thursday----Aimee

This is Aimee, my 6 yr old Ragdoll mix. I adopted her an her mom when Aimee was about a month and a half old. She isn't too fond of having her picture taken; I usually end up with lot s of shots of the back of her head when trying to photograph her. On this particular day I had chased her all over the house and finally caught her hiding behind the drapes.

Aimee, aka "Mademoiselle Crankypants" is mischievous, cranky, and spoiled---and I wouldn't change her for the world.

Wordless Wednesday--Peek-A -Boo

Aimee thinks I can't see her. :-)

Childhood Memories

Repost:

I'm in a gloomy kind of mood right now. I think it's the weather. I'm one of those people who get depressed when the weather gets all gray. Maybe it's because I'm an L.A. kid and I'm used to the sunshine. Anyway, I figured I'd revisit my happy place to shake the blues.

Things I Miss Most About Being A Kid

The 80's

Specifically, the early 80's. The summers of 81-84 were the best--my early teen years. I spent most of the time hanging out with my cousin Patty going to the car wash to buy an Orange Bang! and flirt with the neighborhood boys. These were also the early years of MTV. Remember when MTV actually showed music videos?
Thanks to MTV, I developed my first rock star crush:

Adam Ant




(Capt. Jack Sparrow totally stole his look.)

Orange Bang!



It sounds dirty, doesn't it? It's a drink that tastes like orange and creme ice cream. Almost every day Patty and I made the trek to the car wash to buy one.

Music

Sure, there is still music out there. There's some really good stuff too, but the 80's will always be my favorite. The soundtrack to my early teen years included:

-Adam and the Ants "Kings of the Wild Frontier"


I saved up my pennies and had Mom take me to Licorice Pizza to buy this album. It's one of the first of many.

-The Smiths' "Hatful of Hollow"



No one in my junior high was into The Smiths. They were one of the bands that cemented my "weirdo" status.

-Echo and the Bunnymen's "Echo and the Bunnymen"



Even back then I thought Ian McCulloch's voice was dreamy. :-) Their song "The Killing Moon" (off the "Ocean Rain" album") is my torch song.

The Clash's "The Clash"



I got a hand-me-down copy of this album from one of my older cousins. "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" is my favorite track.

The list goes on and on.

My dog, Shemp*


He was a Bichon Frise. My dad and I found him running through a very busy street and told him to jump in the car. He did--and slept all the way home. It was obvious he someone's pet---he was well cared for and trained. The next day we put up posters, in case his humans were looking for him, but no one ever called. Who knows where the little guy was from or how long he'd been lost.
The vet told us he was about six months old...it was the summer of 1981. He passed away in 1999. I still miss him.

My cat, Suzy*



Suzy was born May 4, 1969. My parents had her before I was born. She knew she was the favorite "kid" and never let me forget it. She was a quiet cat--- soft white fur and pretty blue eyes. People who had never seen her often mistook her for a stuffed toy.
She passed away May 16, 1989, just after her 20th birthday. She'll always be my furry sister.


Saturday morning cartoons

Kids nowadays have it so easy. They can just turn on Cartoon Network and watch cartoons anytime. We had to wait for Saturday morning. That's when the "good' cartoons were on.

Smurfs



Superfriends



Alvin and the Chipmunks



Schoolhouse Rock



I learned many a thing from watching Schoolhouse Rock, including the Preamble to the Constitution. It came in very handy in high school. The only drawback: I could only recite it by singing it.


Melrose Ave.

Today's Melrose Ave is nothing like the Melrose Ave. of the 80's. It was the center for all things punk back then. There were fun places to shop like Vinyl Fetish and Retail Slut, both of which are gone. In the later 80's, it was home of the Burger That Ate L.A.,which was torn down to make --you guessed it---a Starbuck's.


Retail Slut


I miss being a kid.

*Those aren't actually a pictures of Shemp and Suzy. I'm at work and don't have any pictures of my pets on this computer.

13 Things in My Office That Can Be Found Without the Help of GPS

Re-post:

My office is a mess. It's not just in disarray or a bit unorganized--it's a danger zone. It's the kind of mess where a St. Bernard carrying a flask of whiskey will be sent out to find you if you've been in here too long. There are files everywhere. It seems like my inbox and outbox have merged and have started to breed. Still, there are a few things in here that are visible to the naked eye:



1. A Grande Triple Shot Non-Fat Vanilla Latte



I love my coffee. My coffee habit is probably what makes me seem almost human in the morning. But do you know what a pain in the ass it is to say 'grande triple shot non-fat vanilla latte' when you aren't awake? I wish I could just say 'the usual' and my drink would magically appear. Better yet, it would be brought to me by a barista who looks like John Cusack.



No. It would be brought to me by John Cusack.

2. Teen Titans Action Figures

Don't laugh. Oh, like you don't have action figures. And no, they're not dolls. They're action figures.

3. An Open Can of Diet Coke

It will be found in my office at all times. As a matter of fact, I think it was written into my contract when I was hired. Besides, the latte doesn't contain enough caffeine. I need a caffeine IV.

4. A Red Stapler

No plain black stapler for me. This stapler means business. It says ' This is stapled. It's for keeps, bucko. Try to separate these sheets and I'll cut you.' My stapler needs anger management classes.

5. Ashes of Old Lovers



Just kidding. It's just a jar that says' Ashes of Old Lovers', not the real ashes. I flushed the real ashes.

6. My Name Plate

It's on the left hand corner of my desk; it's beauty unmarred by the mess surrounding it. I know--most people have one, but mine is unique. Geek Boy made it for me. Out of paper. Why? Because I've asked multiple times for one with my married name on it but no dice. I've been married for 4 years, but I guess the city wants to make sure it lasts before coughing up the 5 bucks.



7. A Bubble Wrap Ensconced Rectangular Object

I don't know what it is. It's still sitting there in its wrapping. Am I curious? No. It's from the city, for goodness sake. Unless it a check for a million dollars --or my name plate--I don't care.

8. Two Calendars

Yes, they're both 2009. And no, I don't think they dates will vary from one to the other, smartass.

9. An Unopened Can of Diet Coke

Any caffeine junkie worth her salt always has a backup.

10. A Can of Flying and Crawling Insect Killer

It's great. The can looks like those generic products from the '80's. It works, though. Flying and crawling insects know better than to mess with me.

11. A Thermometer

My office is always cold. Like refrigerator cold. I like to know the temperature so I can whine about it later.



12. A Picture of Geek Boy and Me



It was taken on our first trip to Universal Studios as a married couple. I like it.

13. A Plaque

A plaque telling the world I've been working at this bloody place for over 10 years. People think I keep it here because I like it. It's here because I don't want it at home.