of what ties together America's Grandmother, a single pot, and someone with True Grit.

Hello all~!

Boy-howdy, I haven't had a Saturday off in a while, so having this past one off was quite nice.  We were going to try to do something completely different, but it had been so long since we had been to the movies and I have been very good with dieting and so I folded to the buttery goodness of the popcorn...*shakes fist in the air*damn carbs! So we went and saw 'True Grit" which was really good!  I am normally not into that whole cowboy business, and don't even get me started on those nasty creatures they ride, but this movie really focused on the relationships of the characters, and that actor that played the 14 year old girl was amazing!  The movie was funny, and serious when it needed to be, without leaving you with saddle-sores...yeah, I went there.  I would recommend it in a case where it is the guys turn to pick to movie and you aren't in the mood for Denzel Washington, or explosions; this movie will make him feel good about picking it, but not make you want to fake sickness in order to leave the movie early.

I bought a pot at Z Gallerie that I instantly fell in love with~!  I know Mr. Ramsey is shaking his head and looking down at me with his balding head, but listen dude, I have been very good recently!  The pot was only $25 and I think it is going to look great the dining room.  Here are some pictures I know that they are not fab-u, I think there was more than 18% light in the background...

Some of the flowers are attached to the outside of the pot.

Top view.

Close up of the flowers.

As if the day could not get any better, I also got my new calendar for the year...I realize January is almost over, but you cannot rush into picking a calendar rashly.  It also helps to wait bc most calendars are clearanced now~!  See, I made up for it Ramsey, take a hike!!  So I got the Betty White calendar.  I know some of you are a little confused right now, but I have this thing for old ladies...not like that creeper!  I just think little old ladies are cute as heck and Betty is full of spunk!  I have not looked through the pictures yet bc I want to be surprised but the front cover has Betty with shirtless men, and the picture for January has Betty with a boom-box on her shoulder and a thug look.........I bet you have changed your mind about how dumb you think it is now!

Ok my lovelies, it is time for you to go to something constructive now...or you can just sit there and keep doing mindless things on the Internetz, which ever comes first.

Ta-Ta~!

of lizards, books, and burly men.

As usual, I am blogging bc I have received a citation from the blog police *cough* Catherine *cough* ahem. So I guess I will blog about something then.  I have recently added a new member to the 'Casa de Chris' a lovely little fellow named Pursey.  I warn you the pictures you are about to see are not very good and were taken with one hand while I was holding him.

Meet Pursey, why that name you ask?  Well, bc he feels like a nice purse of course!

He is shedding right now, that's why his scales look dull.

Side view.

Action shot.

So, Pursey is a 'true-fire skink' and quite friendly!  He likes long strolls through the bark in his tank and eating crickets.  He is a Sagittarius and prefers to keep his political views to himself. 

I know what some of you are thinking, oh geez, another slimy creature; first it was snakes, then tarantulas, now this.  Listen here hussies, Pursey is not like those other guys.  He is sleek, and handsome.  Once you meet him I think you would like to have a nice cup of coffee with him.  Chris (regular/2/Hommie-G Funkaliez) actually likes him too!  I will be posting better pictures of him once I get my camera back from Chris and maybe I will wait until he is done shedding also.  That way you can see him at his best~!

I spoke of books earlier so I suppose that I should explain that.  I finished a book a couple weeks ago called "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly. *Books Website*  I have to say that I really did enjoy this book!  It is set around one of the world wars and the main character is a little boy.  He loves to read and one day gets into an accident and enters into a world where the stories he loves, which are mostly fairy-tales, are real however quite twisted.  For instance, Snow White and the seven dwarfs are in the story, but this time the dwarfs are forced to wait on Snow Whites every request bc she has framed them for trying to kill her.  If anything were to happen to her all of the dwarfs would be put to death.  There are other tales in it as well and some are pretty dark and twisted.  I do not want to give away too much from the book, but I just like how he uses a lot of the stories that we grew up with and makes them funny, or scary.  Often times, I do not like the ending of books, however I found myself happy at the end of this one.  This is the first book that I have read from this author and bc I liked it so much, I got another, "The Unquiet" which is a thriller.  I just thought that I would pass it on in case you are looking for a new book.  It is a little mystical, as are most of the fairy tales that they are based around, but if you like books with a dark and sometimes gritty side then I think you should at least give it a shot.  Another thing that I liked, was that every chapter was titled starting with "of" and then something vague about the chapter, which I have adopted in my blogs of late.  I just thought it was clever how it told you what was coming up, without ruining anything.  I will let you know how the new book goes, I do not read a mile-a-minute like some of you people as I do have to properly segment my time with TV and video games.

Also!  I was at the gym today, and saw a commercial on one of the TV's for the new Spartacus series~!!~!!  It stars soon and is a prequel to the first season.  If you were here you would have to cover your ears bc I am squealing like a little girl ;)

Snow at The Chris'

Its'a be snowin out der momma!  We got a couple of inches last night and it is still going coming down.  We are supposed to get another couple of inches before the end of the day and then maybe some more tomorrow!  Of course, I was up around 7 and so I had to go out and take some pictures~! 

 

I guess I am going to wait until noon to head to the gym, Chris said the local roads are a little rough still.  I need to catch up on some of my TV shows anyhow ;)

of Tron and being katzenjammered...

Over the weekend Chris and I made our weekend voyage to the movie theater, something that we have not done in quite some time, to catch a movie.  We saw Tron and I was a little skeptical at first because a lot of people were saying that it was not that great and that the only good parts were the special effects and such.  I have to say though, I thought it was really good!  The effects were really amazing, of course, but the story wasn't bad either.  13 was in it from House, and I think she played her role perfectly.  I like her, it is sad that she left House, but it seems her movie career may be on the rise bc she is in another movie that is coming out...Cowboys and Aliens.....yeah, you read that right...it looks good/interesting actually.  I digress, Tron made me want to visit the land inside my computer and ride motorcycles made of light...or carry my whole life in data plugged into my back...hmm, maybe not.  Seriously though, all their info right there for people to snatch, you would think that with all of their advances and flying ships and what not that they could condense those disks down to a thumb drive you could put in your pocket.  I guess I am being too efficient, just call me seven-of-nine.

The music from the movie was great also, I think I may have to go to iTunes and  see about downloading it.  Yes, I am one of those people that gets soundtracks from movies.  If you turn your nose up at such an act, poo on you!  Some of my favorite songs come from soundtracks, a lot of them are classical in nature, the ones form Tron were very digital and I think would make great workout mix.  I totally need to update my iPod, I have had the same techno mix on there for a couple months now and you can only listen to certain songs so many times before they are not motivating anymore. 

I have a widget on my phone that displays the word of the day from dictionary.com and today's is katzenjammer which means the discomfort and illness experienced as the aftereffects of excessive drinking;hangover.  How come we don't use this word more?!  I love it way better than saying you have a hangover~! 

Dude, I am so katzenjammered right now... 

I think I may get drunk tonight, just so I can use that phrase tomorrow!!!

Ok, well I think I am done rambling for now.  I am going to start my random picture at the bottom of a blog again, I have been very negligent in my duties of late. 

Ta-Ta dearies~! ;D

I submit myself for punishment...

So, I know that it has been like forever since I have blogged, but come on now, Christmas was here! I am prepared for my beating now……is this a family blog? I think it best to skip that thought for now.  Anyhow, it has been super crazy at work recently, I dare anyone to work retail at Christmas time and see how you lose all of your sanity.  Between morons angry because we did not have the right color toy for their dog, and the company itself imposing all these restrictions while setting bogus sales quotas at the same time limiting payroll, and, and, and...let’s just say I'm done. 

Ho, Ho, Ho, finally time to head to TN for Christmas at the Mitchells!  I will warn you that this Christmas tale is unlike most you may hear; fore our story includes mounds of tortilla chips, containment breaches, and Collin Farrell in the movie Twilight.  Christmas day was awesome; this was the first time in my entire life that I had snow ON Christmas day!  When I was younger, we were in Florida where you are lucky to get down to the 60’s during the day on Christmas.  It was sooo beautiful!!

 

It was big fun at casa de Mitchell, with Zach opening some presents first and having a grand ‘ol time doing so!  We all followed suite and soon the room was a blur of wrapping paper, ribbons, and pure excitement!  We had to go in shifts, between Zach getting totally overwhelmed to us snacking and such, it was truly a marathon.  We were mostly done when we sat down to eat our delicious feed, turkey with all the trimmings!  After the meal we all felt like Jabba the hut so we all adopted our spots on the sofas and tried to relax. 

The next day was equally entertaining, Mom II, Chris, and I stopped at T J Max on the way to the Mitchell Mansion to scavenge their after Christmas sales.  A few treasures were acquired, but nothing of real note.  We spent most of the day recovering from the onslaught of the day prior, most of us reading, or playing with Zach.  We play in the snow for a bit, it really was cold out so we had to limit our exposure, as Zach kept breaching containment with his gloves falling off.  Speaking of gloves, I let Catherine use mine because her hands were getting cold and while tending to the kid got some Z-snot on my gloves…ah, the gift I always wanted. 

 

This picture is soo adorable~!

 

We ate, again, we were always eating, I think we all thought we had tapeworms and we wanted them to be happy on Christmas too so we were constantly stuffing something down our gullets.  Side note, homemade eggnog, freaking confusing.  I think at one point we had the whole counter full of different containers of whipping cream, egg whites, yokes, we were heating some of it up, whipping stuff, blending things, utter chaos.  All I have to say about it though, is it was sooooo worth it absolutely delicious~!

Mom II suggested that we go to the local Spanish restaurant and get a carry out order for chips and salsa.  She said, make sure you get the big bag; we were to get a couple of orders for various people as we all wanted some for the road.  We get to the place and Chris does the talking, Lindsey and I lay low. 

Chris: Can we get 6 big orders of chips and salsa please?

Spanish guy:  (crazy eyed) 6 BIG BAGS?

Chris: Yeah, the big ones.

Spanish guy: (still crazy eyed) ok.

A few minutes later three guys come out with a freaking wheel-barrel’s worth of chips and salsa.  There was obviously a communication snafoo somewhere…oh well, CHIPS FOR EVERYONE!  Can I just say the look of everyone’s face when we walked in with shopping bags of tortillas chips was priceless.  We still have 3 gallon sized bags of chips left at our house!

These are just the ones we took with us!

As the evening was drawing to a close Catherine and Lindsey said they wanted to play the new board game Lindsey got from Santa, Twilight the trivia game.  Well, me being such an expert in Twilight I played too!  Let me tell you, it was awesome, not only did I need hints on almost every one of my questions; I also added a character to the movie that wasn’t even anywhere close to right.  The question was something along the lines of “which character was next to (insert some old vampire guys name that was apparently important) in the painting on the wall.”  Well my hint was that the name started with a “C” and I should be able to get it…yeah, right.  I rack my brain, trying to think, and suddenly it hits me…Collin Farrell!!  Needless to say, I did not receive a scene card for that question.  I honestly had a blast playing the game though, the girls were taking it very seriously and toward the end it was pretty much neck and neck (my neck was frolicking in a field somewhere with hot wolf guy!) however Catherine pulled out an impressive win and the rest is history.

See, I told you Collin Farrell was the right answer!!!!!

~Represent~

The days went by all too quickly and before we knew it, we were saying goodbye and hitting the snowy trail.  The ride back was treacherous, and very slippery when we were crossing the mountains but we make it home ok and all is right….or so we thought.

When we come into the house Scooter is so excited to see us, as usual.  My friend Jamie “was” watching him while we were gone, but something was not quite right.  We walked into the living room and there are a number of poo spots and Scooter does not do this.  I am angry and of course I start thinking, we have an alarm system, so why not call and get the log of arms and disarms.  We get the log and to our surprise we see:

12/24/2010

7:45am – System Armed (this is when I left for work, Jamie understood that she was to check on him that evening)

Nothing the rest of the day.

Nothing Christmas day.

And then nothing until 6:40pm on Sunday the 26^th when she is there for 15 minutes and then leaves.

Then

Nothing until we get home Monday at 6pm.

I can’t even begin to put into words how angry I was, Scooter is like my child and to have him starving for two days while being in pain with not wanting to go to the bathroom in the house is something I never thought a good friend would do.  Chris talked me out of calling and cursing her out, and so I wrote a long detailed email to her asking her why she did such a thing.  I still have yet to receive a response from her.  As far as I am concerned, there is no excuse for that.  How someone can willingly neglect an animal and then lie to me saying she has been there is horrible.  I will update if I ever do get a response back from her.  I am not holding my breath.

Geez, what a downer that part of the happy Christmas tale was.  Overall, I had such a good time; the Marlatt/Mitchell/Vaughn-Dowdal/Bishop Christmas was one for the record books!  I feel as though I have gained at least 5 pounds of fat, but the memories and love I gained far outweighs that.  Thanks everyone for such a great time!

These next two pictures will show that Zach is ready for life, all you need is Star Wars and Starbucks...that's how I role, it will work for him too ;D

Father and son watching Star Wars together, all is right in the world!

Awesome.

Fancy-Schmancey

So this Friday, Chris and I are going to have a "sudo-week early Thanksgiving dinner" with a few people from Chris' work.  One of the guys is Mike, the owner of the company and I have been to eat with them before but it was a much larger group than just 6 people.  I am not really nervous, but I wasn't excited about anything in my closet, aside from my underwear but I think I would get odd looks if I only wore those.  So, on Saturday we were at the movies, we saw Due Date btw, it was really funny, I would definitely recommend!  Anyhow, after the movie we went on a mission to find a dress shirt that I can actually stand being in, without feeling like poo...we went to the usuals, Gap, Banana, etc. but nothing really jumped out at me.  I remembered seeing a mannequin that was dressed nice in the window of express and so I figured why not try someplace new!  I went in and tried on a couple and instantly fell in love!!

The lighting is not very good, I am sure there is more than 15% light behind me or something like that....but the shirt is a very dark blue with light striping, I also got a skinny tie...you know, because I am getting skinnier :) and I love the look!  I have to say that I feel very powerful in this gettup!  The shirt is very well fitted and makes me feel very slim~!  I was telling Chris that since I now have a dress shirt that I don't mind, now we can go to fancy places, like the yacht club, or to Sunday brunch with the president...he has been bugging us about it for quite some time now.

I know that I really shouldn't have splurged on these two items, however, I feel I have earned it!  I have only been getting Starbucks like twice a week, and have been doing quite well with money wrangling.  I deserve a nice treat now and then, and if Mr. Ramsey gives me a dirty look, I will distract him with this...

Underoos!

Most of you that read my blog know that I have a serious addiction...underwear.  Well, I have done a recent count and the new number is 148 pairs.  When I tell people this, they start to freak out and say that they do not have anywhere near that amount, blah blah blah, I CAN justify the fact that I have so many! 

First of all, I have to say that I am not monogamous in my choosing of underclothes, I go all ways.  Boxers, briefs, boxer briefs, ahem...etc. Now, lets get on with it shall we?   

Seasonals 

I do have seasonal pairs of underpants that are really only worn on their particular holiday so most of the year they stay on the bottom drawer, unless I feel like I want to wear them :)  Some of the holiday pairs are:

• Christmas
• Halloween
• Valentines Day
• Fathers Day
• St. Patricks Day
• The Forth of July

Vacation / Back to Work

I have a special pair that I call my vacation underwear that have vacation like scenes on them that I will always wear either the day before or the first day of the start of a vacation...seriously, ask Chris!  Then, I also have my pair of back to work undies which have men with briefcases and ties going to work.  I have to say that I do not like to see that pair because of their meaning.

Gym

Of course you all know that I frequent the gym, most of the time four days a week, and I will always shower and change when I get home.  So, because some of my pairs of underwear are pricey I will get cheaper pairs to wear to the gym.  Recently my favorite brands for the gym have been Old Navy's bc they make my booty look nice in my workout shorts ;)

Saucy pairs

I will not go into detail with this section, however I did want to mention them since I am justifying my 148 pairs and I want to be thorough.  I have a good number of saucy underoos which I will wear if I am feeling blue or for...certain occasions.  Ahem.

Lazy days

Of course there are those days when you do not feel like doing anything and you are planning on laying around the house all day long.  These pairs tend to be plain, boring, and uneventful.   

Work

Now stick with me on this one because I may loose you.  You all know that I work retail, and if you have never worked retail then bless you and I hope you never do because you view people and their idiotic attitudes in a whole new way, however that is another blog altogether.  What I am getting to, is the fact that it is a stressful and annoying place to be, that is where the underwear comes in.  Ok, picture this, you just dealt with some ***** and you are walking it off when you realize that you have to use the restroom (stick with me) you go in, undo your pants and find cute little pigs, or rocket ships on your underwear and that just brings a smile to your face!  Trust me, it really works!!  I have talked a friend of mine into trying this, getting some really cute themed undies and seeing if they improved her mood and it worked!  Dont you think that if you wore the same old style of white briefs for weeks that you would just think of them as underclothes and not as.....medication?!?!  Seriously!!  People take anti-depressants all the time to improve their mood, maybe they should try underwear first, now I am not a doctor or psychiatrist, but I do know that it really does make you feel better.  I may be a fancy pair that cost you more that a 8 pack you pick up at wal mart for $5, but that means better quality, better fit, more confidence, the list goes on!!!  Try it, and tell me if it works for you, if it doesn't, then at least I helped expand your collection. 

Well, that just about explains a good portion of my collection, I am sure that I am missing something, I know that I cannot explain every pair that I have acquired, and I will be the first to say that I do purchase on impulse or because they are super-cute, but does that make me a bad person?  Think of it this way: there are people that collect stamps, salt and pepper shakers( I have proof!), lamps, cars, pretty much everything!  So why is it that I am looked upon as being crazy, when at least my collection can be put to use?! 

As more validation  I am going to post some links to some pairs that I was looking at the other day that I may purchase soon, try to tell me these are not awesome?!

2(x)ist Sport Brief

Aussiebum Day Brief

 Cumfy looking Pistol Pete Trunks

Saucy Good Devil Briefs 

Super cute Diesel patient briefs 

Way comfy Sport tech trunks 

One of my favorite brands, Ginch Gonch! 

Another fav, Aussiebum 

Anyhow, I hope that now when you hear me talk about my underpants collection that you will think of this and not think that I am so weird.  Hopefully I have changed some peoples opinions and maybe even inspired one or two of you to go shopping :)  

Home invasion...

This story begins as I am on my computer in the living room (both of which I do not normally do) I was just minding my own business when all of a sudden I hear the sound of insect wings on glass.  At first I just thought that a fly had gotten into the house and that it was just trapped between the window and the blinds.  So, I kept on computing when I heard it again, and at this point it was starting to bug (no pun intended) me, so I decided to hunt out the insect and make it extinct.  To my surprise I turned around and upon the half moon windows that are above the main windows were wasps...plural...like 5 of them.  Well as any self-respected fag would do, I grabbed my dog and went upstairs and closed the door with a pair of jeans at the bottom to make sure that nothing would get under.  As I sat there watching tv, I got to thinking about how annoyed I was for having to forced into hiding and for whatever reason I figured I would take out my 'man-card' and deal with this threat myself.

I go downstairs and assess the situation, one was flying, which made me go on guard, the others four were just running into the glass like invalids.  Out to the garage I run only to find out that I do not have wasp killer or even a flyswatter.

I grab my keys and drive to the grocery store to buy liquid doom!  Side story here about how dumb some people are, I am in line checking out with ONLY the wasp killer:

Me : Hello
Cashier : Hey
Me: Do you guys have flyswatters? I couldn't find any.
Cashier: What for?
Me: ...................................*blank stare*.............................
Me: *I point to the only item I am buying, which happens to be for flying insects*
Cashier: Oh, no.
Me: Yeah, thanks.

Anyhow, I get back home and don my armor for the grand battle...a super heavy and thick jacket, winter gloves, jeans, and a magazine from the recycling bin.  So, now picture me dressed to kill...literally...in the kitchen psyching myself up like a football player would just before the big game:
 

"You can do this!" "You are so manly!" "You make more money than those dumb wasps!" "You can bench press more than them!"

I burst into the living room feeling like a king!!!!!!

WTF?!?!

Somehow while I was gone, those 5 puny wasps turned into 18!!!!!!   

As you can imagine, I was quickly deflated and ran right back out with my tail tucked between my legs!  How the hell is this happening?!  I know I can do this though, I CAN kill these invaders!  I call my mom and Chris and tell them I love them, and rush back in, I point Excalibur (Hot Shot for wasps and hornets) at this den of buzzing minions from hell and let loose............

In your mind please picture a 12 year old girl that just got front row tickets to see Justin Beiber in New York city...got it? Now use that high pitch scream when I explain what happened next....

Excalibur shoots (like a super-soaker) and these minions take flight, pissed as hell, flying in all directions, on a mission.......to kill me.  My spidey-sense took over and I (use it here) screamed and went running for my life.  I swear, I ran like they just announced a free underwear sale at the mall!!  I dared not turn around, I just ran outside and expected to see a swarm chasing after me, like in cartoons, but nothing.  Adrenaline pumping, still in my armor, I slowly creep back inside, not letting my guard down.  As I return to the site of the battle I saw a scene out of some zombie movie, all of them were flailing around on the ground and stinging at the air.  I took this as my chance and sprung into action, with my trusty magazine I extinguish their horrid lives, pausing only to make sure there weren't any that were trying to flank me. 

The dust settles and I am left panting, sweating, and full of testosterone.  I look to my left and see that there are three more in the fireplace...all the pieces fall into place.  There is a nest in the chimney!!  I am pumped so I immediately spray the whole front of the fireplace door and then open and spray the stragglers. Yank the flue closed and spray the perimeter of the opening.  Eighteen wasps dead.  A home saved from utter chaos.  

Mission accomplished.

As I stood and looked around, all I could see was a room filled with  the bodies of my foes.  I remove my armor and bask in the glory of victory.  

My man-card gets a new whole punched in it.

  I have a ways to go before I reach Chuck Norris status, baby steps...baby steps.

Glee.

So, if you guys do not already know, I watch the tv show Glee.  I am finally caught up with the weekly airing of the show, because like most shows, I started watching via Netflix.  I like the show a lot (what queer wouldn't like show tunes and fancy dance numbers?) but the show is about to cross a line with me...

It is no secret that Rocky Horror Picture Show may be may all time favorite movie, the CD is always in my car and when I am feeling blue I put it in and sing at the top of my lungs.  Well this week Glee is going to be doing RHPS...normally you would think I would be cool with this with it being my fav and all...no sir.  Glee has become this show that people of all ages gravitate towards.  It is doing extremely well and gaining viewers week by week.  When they do theme weeks, like when they did Britney, it was one of there most watched episodes they have ever shown.  What I am annoyed with is the fact that all of these idiots that watch Glee will see the amazing songs from RHPS and think that it is "cool."  What will happen then, is that one of these idiots will start to sing the songs and jump to the right during the Timewarp instead of the left as they should.  They will miss-quote lyrics. They will get characters names wrong.  They will turn this great piece of cult movie history into a watered-down insult to those who have been a fan of RHPS since they were 10. 

The first person to demonstrate such a travesty will experience my wrath...

Delinquency.

I know it has been ages since I have posted last, but things have been quite busy.  This past week I went up to the mountains to see the leaves change with my parents.  We rented a cabin in Bryson City NC, and played around a bit and even went to Gatlinburg for some fun!  I came back with 6 magnets for the fridge...there was a magnet store, I finally found a NC one that I like to finish the CA - NC trip set.  Here are some pictures from the trip:

This is a shot of the living room of the cabin from the loft, it was a really cute place!

The stairs leading up to the place and the mountains in the background.

Momma and Pappa

On the way into the Great Smokey Mountains.

Tunnel on the way to Gatlinburg.

I likes me some leaves.

The backyard one morning.

One of my favorite waterfalls.

Yes, I know we look a lot alike...that is where I will get my balding from.

Somewhere in the Smokies.

A butterfly when we stopped to take pictures.

I love the colors, if we were there just one week later we would have seen more but they were still great!

Of course, I found something awesome...a salt and pepper shaker museum!!!  It is the only one in the world and has over 20,000 pairs, it was soooo coool!!!!

Jealous?!

I loved the light bulb shakers.

On the way back from Gatlinburg some Elk came out to graze and we got some great pictures.

They were pretty cool, not salt and pepper shaker museum cool, but a good way to end the day.

Morning...me with coffee, Momma with hot cocoa.

The gang.

The view from the front porch.

Chris says I look like 'the predator' 

The trip was a lot of fun, we went to a lot of great shops and even a craft fair (Sorry Mr. Ramsey, try taking a fag to a craft fair and telling him to not spend money.) where I got some cool things!  Of course, I went waaaayyyyy off my diet, there was a pastry shop that had awesome sweets!  I even picked up a bottle of peach flavored wine which I think I may break into tonight.  ;)

Anyhow, I hope everyone is doing great, blog to you later!