I love eBay

My mom is surfing around looking for a very specific yarn and stumbles onto an auction on eBay. The description is great so I had to share. No, really, it was a compulsion.


"The alpaca fiber contains microscopic air bags, which does possible to create slight articles of weight and with great thermal power, he is unusually strong and resistant. The force of her does not fall with the refinement, doing it ideal for the industrial process, is smooth and delicate to the tact. Its cellular structure produces an unequalled smooth tact by other specialized fibers. "

Damn, that's an impressive yarn. Forceful, powerful, strong, resistant and yet refined, smooth delicate, and tactful. As well as a hermaphrodite.
Now with air bags.

Home Owners Insurance? We have a problem.

UPDATE!~ We found out what it was. It was a box made from heating duct material. There are no ducts in our house, there is never been. Since we were warned that the people who lived here as renters a few years ago were arrested for growing and selling pot and the house had to be remodeled after they were kicked out. We're thinking someone didn't think to fix the random metal stash box, but instead nailed some ends of wood together to frame the inside of the box and carpeted over it. Our bed frame was directly on the box so the pressure of us on the bed was breaking through the ceiling.

















We noticed a slight bulge in the plaster on the ceiling in the living room a couple of weeks ago and best we could figure, we had missed seeing it when we were so excited about home owning and moving in... even though I was certain there was nothing wrong.
Right before we left for our trip 6 days ago, I thought I saw a crack on the edge of the bulge, but I couldn't be for sure.
This morning I came downstairs for my cup of coffee and while chatting to my mom I noticed that the bulge must have indeed had a crack... because it was now busted open and a chunk was hanging free.


This spot is about the size of my hand and directly under my bed upstairs. It's not on the supporting wall, it's not wet, it's not been touched so I was mystified as to what could have caused buckling of this magnitude.






I told Mike about it immediately... I guess I was hoping for a miracle and he would simply say " OH, no problem! I know exactly how to fix that, it won't cost a penny and it'll be done in an hour."
I never said it was an intelligent hope, I just wanted it to be true. Instead, while we examined it closer we noticed a piece of wood coming through the hole. This house has had extensive remodeling in a somewhat .... unprofessional fashion. This board that didn't appear to be attached to anything suddenly poking through the ceiling under my bed worried me a tad.
So what did we do? We pulled it out. It was penny-nailed to another board. Which was also penny-nailed to a third board. All had shiny, pretty finishes on them and were attached to nothing but each other. They came out of a hole that is lined with metal and the mottled sponge-rubber carpet lining is clearly visible.





Two of the boards came out, obviously having bent the soft little nails out of a right angle into a flat plane to do so. (they bent like warm butter)
The third dropped off inside the ceiling/floor somewhere and is no longer within reach, but here's the first one. The hole is just above Mike's green leather recliner so that is where it landed for the picture. He's not a happy homeowner.




I have never dealt with this problem before, not as a renter and definitely not as a home owner so I am a little unclear on the progression of event from here. I suggested we call the insurance company and I was told "tomorrow we'll call". I don't know how that'll work since it will be a Sunday, I just know I'm freaked out by BOARDS in between the floors of my house coming free. WTH went on during that remodel?

Cravings, we meet again!

I have been doing so well on making better choices for my food and being more active. I even scouted a new route for walking. Sometimes, however, there are times when the cravings just make one think "Screw health and weight loss, I need (your poison here)NOW!"
I don't let those take over more than once every couple of months anymore and I am still moderate (most of the time. What, I'm just being honest. I still get oinky every blue moon)
Tonight the cravings were screaming for eclairs. What was a girl to do but make them? I made the cream puff dough and while it was baking I mixed up one of the pudding singles packs, then mixed that with a little whipped topping to lighten it up. I cooled and cut the pastry and tried not to salivate near them, then spooned in 2 Tbs of the pudding mix and topped it with a drizzled of melted chocolate.
Oh, joy, thy name is eclair!

I did make a full batch which is 12 pastries, but the rest are going unstuffed into the freezers for a later date. See, still some semblance of self control. :)

A couple of days ago, I woke to run to the little girl's room at 4:30 am and the sight out my bathroom window was lovely. Fog rises nearly every day at 4-4:30 and I sit and watch it complete with the sunrise for beauty. It takes my breath away.
So of course, I threw on a robe, found my camera and took pictures from all around the house. I mean, who wouldn't? It got too cold for me during the last pic or there would be millions more. Enjoy!

Ah, the things one finds surfing the web

I love Fail Blog. I was checking it out today and found a submission from my birth city, Ashland Oregon. I am so very proud.


see more Fail Blog

Who doesn't love a good B flick?

I am not claiming to be a B movie buff, not by a long shot, but I do love them so. Like anyone, I have my favorites such as Empire of the Ants in which scam artist Joan Collins dooms herself and her customers to being attacked by giant ants

Night of the Lepus wherein rabbits are injected with hormones to control population but instead creates giant carnivorous bunnies who are fought of by the townspeople including DeForest Kelley and Janet Leigh
























The Wasp Woman, a cosmetics queen who volunteers to be a test subject for youth-and-beauty restoring injections derived from wasp jelly when her beauty fades. In what film would that end well?


















The ORIGINAL Day the Earth Stood Still, a film with Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal. This is one of those 'and the moral of the story is...' movies, but it doesn't detract from the impact of the tank melting scenes. Klaatu is a simple space-man here to share a message and a gift with the people of Earth, but things go haywire when a soldier gets a bit twitchy and shoots him.



















And of course, well known B flicks like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, where(I love this phrasing)"a wave of reports of mysterious attacks involving people and pets being eaten by the traditionally docile fruit" and the saviors of the day are an unlikely bunch for sure. Besides, oversize angry food is always good entertainment.


















and The Birds, the story of a rich city girl who follows her soon-to-be boyfriend to Bodega Bay where she stays just long enough to be trapped when birds of all shapes and sizes form vicious flocks of violent predators. That's what you get for being aggressive, Missy. Don't you know the man is supposed to make the first move?






















Oh, the wonderful, joy infused memories I treasure. Nights spent sitting on the couch with my best friends, eating junk snacks that should have given us coronaries within two bites, and letting Elvira and her gravity defying bosoms in painted on clothing take us down terrible, frighting, unbelievable paths of adventure with a moral thrown in once in a while for good measure.





















I will never forget the shock and dismay I felt when two years ago, I made a reference to Night of the Lepus and my husband stared blankly at me. HORROR! Who did I marry? Further questioning revealed the sad state of his education on the matter. He'd never read Hitch Hiker's Guide.... or any of the other works of Douglas Adams. Please don't feel the need to correct me, I DO know it's a book and not a B-flick (or wasn't at the time) but it's one of my favorite books of all time.


























At an appropriate moment in conversation on day I said "Klaatu barada nikto" and he said "huh?" because he'd never watched The Day the Earth Stood Still. He also had no idea why the 50 foot woman was so tall.
I could have cried.
Tonight was another reminder of how little he has really experienced. I was watching the 1980 version of Flash Gordon and the man had NEVER HEARD OF IT. Now, I ask you, WHO hasn't heard of Flash Gordon? Max von Sydow, Topol, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, and Richard O'Brien. Seriously, how could you have missed it?
































We'll work through it, we have a good marriage and love each other and love conquers many things. He's even made an effort to watch some flicks and has developed a love of Bruce Campbell's acting. There's hope!!!!!