P.S. My Brother is Batman

Alert readers might recall the uncanny resemblance between Odie and Buzz Lightyear. There was a lot of evidence pointing to this dual identity. And you never, ever saw them together. Coincidence? Well, it turns out he's not really Buzz Lightyear after all. He's Batman.

LOOK at his new ride!! 'Nuf said.



Also, it has a face!

Appliance Incontinence

This is not a good sign.



Fast forward to last week and a new water heater from Santa. Except he left an invoice. WTH. I'm taking my cookies back. I'll have to take some pics of the new one, not because it's all that spectacular, but the shiny new copper pipes are so pretty.

Speaking of pretty, I followed up on my knob installation with some new pulls in the powder room. The vanity thing itself is still kind of crappy, but I love the pulls.
Here are the old ones...



And the new and improved. And, yes, this is a lot of photos for drawer pulls. I can't help it if this is the height of excitement in my life.

Potholder Activity

I posted a holiday offer in my employee newsletter and on Facebook for a free Perky Potholder with every cookbook purchase, so the sweat shop has been BUSY. I guess enough people have been retiring that I've got a new customer base at work. Sweet! Here are a few of the creations that came off the loom. I actually had to order more loops! Thankfully, Amazon's got 'em with free shipping.

I kind of like this color combo...

This was one I made for a fellow Dundee High grad, so it's our school colors.

I made this for my favorite Chinese co-worker, who likes blue. Just blue, no other colors, don't even ask.

I like this pattern, though it doesn't always work with certain colors. I think this one is OK though.



I wasn't thrilled with this one, but the person who picked it out seemed to like it.

The photo doesn't really do the shades of salmon and green justice here. I thought it was kind of yummy.

I liked how this one turned out too. It's now in a new happy home.

Another tribute to the Miami Dolphins...

This one is kind of springy, but they can't all be seasonally appropriate, right?

I thought this pattern would be a great idea, but I'm not so thrilled with it.

Every bag of loops comes with a buttload of bubblegum PINK, which I don't really like, so this was an attempt to use a bunch up.

Old school potholders made with vintage loops that someone at work gave me. Sometimes it's fun to make these technicolor dreamcoat potholders -- they're kind of fugly. Also, I really need to get my floors refinished.

In other domestic news, I'm still a little sad about the weather. Here's my forlorn garden and the shed inhabitants all tucked away, yet do we have snow to play in? No.






I know I may have to eat my words (I'm not crazy about driving in the stuff), but it's WINTER, and I have NEW SKIS that I never got to try out last year. C'mon!

Thankfully, Beth's ping pong table has provided a slight distraction. If Odie gets home for Xmas, maybe we'll have another tournament. We had one last weekend, and Roland dominated the table. I did manage to win a couple games, but it was pretty pathetic.

As far as holiday prep, the tree is up (but it's lame, so I won't bother posting a photo), and I'm pretty much done Xmas shopping (thank you, Internet). But then I keep hearing about foster kids and sick families at work, and it makes me want to start all over again.

I Love Free Swag

So I just ordered some new karate pants from Karate Depot (dot com). How can you not like a name like that? And if I tell you this:
For martial arts equipment, you have to see KarateDepot.com

I get a t-shirt. It's true -- it was on the Internet, people!

Anyway, even though it's a web site, I can't help but picture a cute little boutique selling quaint items such as Ninja throwing stars and bottles of bloodstain remover. It's all in the merchandising.

Maybe I'll model my new pants for a future post. It will be nice to do Kata without my pants falling down!

Giving Thanks And What Not

Well November was a blur and now it's December. Is this just an after effect of getting older? Time flies whether you having fun or not? Is this how it's going to be? I'd just like to know now. It will make wearing uncomfortable shoes a little more bearable. But what am I saying? I only wear comfortable shoes!

So anyway, dear diary, in no particular order, events of November included:

-- Uninstalling the garden and putting all the yard crap away for the winter. There's a certain satisfaction in doing that -- all my Normans lined up in the shed, the hoses hung, bird bath stowed -- mixed with sadness, because I'm starting to not so much hate winter, but regard it with a narrowed eyed tolerance. Hatred cannot be far behind.



-- New glasses. Two pairs, which I thought would be less painful with flexible spending dollars, but it wasn't. It would be nice to be rich enough not to care that one fucking pair of glasses costs over $800. They are hard to love at that price. Is that how parents feel about high maintenance children?


-- My karate class guys getting me hooked on Saturday night MMA fights. Is it wrong to hate football but enjoy mixed martial arts cage fighting -- a.k.a. human cock fighting? Seriously, I'm rearranging my social schedule to make the next match. Last time we went, Odie was watching the same fights in Florida. It was the first time I REALLY wanted texting.


-- Thanksgiving. Just me and the parentals, two pies, sweet potato casserole and some bird. Chicken to be exact, and that's OK. I made a pumpkin cream cheese pie that turned into two pies, the last of which I finally finished off this week.

The surprise inside the pie -- cheesecake!




-- Knobs. Knobs, knobs, knobs. Did you know if you google "cabinet knobs" you will get no less than 90,000 different options on literally thousands of web sites? Who knew this was such a hot business. After over 10 years of hating my knobless kitchen cabinets, I decided to drill holes into their pristine fronts and install some knobage. Handles might have looked a little better, but I know my limits. Not that crooked cabinet handles wouldn't have blended into this hovel I call a house, but I still think it would have bugged me. Anyway, it seemed like I could get them a little cheaper online, plus skip the sales tax, so a simple purchase turned into yet another OCD ordeal, the conclusion of which has not yet...er...concluded. It only took me about a month to pick ones I liked in my price range (did you know there cabinet knobs that cost OVER $100? Each?). The before/after vision is not as dramatic as I had hoped, but I'm still loving the enhanced efficiency.

Before...


After




I just ordered some new drawer handles for the downstairs bathroom, because I am on a roll.

-- Not picking my battles. Petty bullshit at work is trying my patience. Knowing one should pick one's battles or step back to look at things from a rational point of view is easier said than done. Just sayin'. Especially when I KNOW in my heart of hearts that I'm right. If it weren't for the paycheck and insurance, I'd stir shit up. But right now I'm playing the game...and it's REALLY HARD!!

-- Getting sick. It's getting old.


-- Bo kata!! I don't have a vid of me doing this one, but I'm happy happy happy that I've learned this whole darn thing. Finally. It was one of my major goals to get far enough along in this class (minus the 15-year break!) to learn weapons katas, and here I am. My favorite bo kata (Urashi No Kun -- also known as the never ending kata) is yet to come though. These little dances of death are, of course, against multiple opponents, but still, the first time I saw this one performed, I thought, "Daaaang...walk softly indeed, grasshopper."

OK, back to nose blowing. I still have more napping to do, and it's getting on towards dinner time. See what I mean? Time is FLYING by!

Like Corduroy

That is today's date -- the date most like corduroy. I saw this description on Facebook, and it made me giggle. But it turns out there is actually a Corduroy Appreciation Club, members of which are absolutely giddy today. According to CBS news, corduroy is even trendy now. I just know that when I was in high school, or maybe it was middle school, I REALLY wanted a corduroy jacket. With elbow patches. Who knew I was so ahead of the times? Hail the W(h)ale!

Nosegays

I think I've been forgetting to photograph and post recent nosegays. Rats. Well, here are a few from October. It's always a little sad when all the flowers are gone and I don't have the random nosegay to brighten up my kitchen and/or bathroom anymore.

What The...What Happened to October?

First a quick update:
I recovered from the lung Cheetos. Eventually.

The boiler got re fixed, no charge. Gold star to Wuich Mechanical and Gary the experienced service guy.

I bought a new electric lawnmower on Amazon. Free two-day shipping! I used it twice so far, and it seems to work well. It's green. Tons of leaves have fallen since the last go 'round, so it will get another workout this weekend for sure.

Now for October...this is a long post, so a sandwich and a beverage would not be a bad idea.

My birthday (10-11-11) and the days leading up to it were AWESOME. You may recall we had fantastic weather, and I took full advantage with a few days off and the holiday thrown in for good measure. I went apple picking, biking, kayaking, took a hike around Lake Geneva (partial), went to watch Saturday night MMA fights w/some of my Karate peeps (awesome!), and had great hikes at Raceway Woods and Rock Cut State Park, plus there was eating out for lunch at Duke's after a 30-mile ride, breakfast out on my b.day, and dinner and partying with the parentals.

I started the fun a few days early with bike riding, apple picking, and a canoe trip on the upper fox that a woman I work with organized. It was mostly women from her church, but a few of us from MCC went, and Beth went too. (Click that link to view photos)



Right now I'm immersed in season 3...or maybe 4, I can't keep track, of True Blood, so there's little time to sort photos and what not. Here are some other random picks of what is now a fond memory of October.

I found a great little orchard outside of Woodstock to pick apples. It's JUST apples -- no maze, pastries, picnic grounds, hay rides, or other kiddie crap. I practically had the place to myself, so it was very relaxing and pleasant. This may seem like a lot of pictures, but it's not. It's but a very small sample! Most of these are Empire apples. I was taken with how loaded down the trees were...and I think I picked about $20 worth of apples! But hey, they keep.






The Sunday of that weekend, Beth and I drove up to Lake Geneva for a little hike. It's the same hike I took with Odie, so I didn't take as many house envy pictures, but the colors were great, and we had a quick little picnic along the way too. I like this picture of Beth, plus it reminds me that we were "trespassing" at the Christian camp, which has signs all over the place about how you can't sit on their chairs, walk on their grass, swing on their swings or drink from their fountain unless you are an actual God-fearing GUEST at said camp. Really? So, just for amusement, we sat on their chairs for a rest, and I was just waiting, hoping, yes, even praying, for someone to come out and say something so I could retort, "FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US, YOU FUCKING HYPOCRITE!"

But they never came.

I spent my actual birthday somewhat solitarily, which was OK. Beth and I went for a little hike at Raceway and then out for breakfast, then she went to work and I putzed around the house and went kayaking. This is the only picture I took to commemorate the voyage. It was a fun day followed by a b.day Starbucks after dinner (Beth's treat).



Post 10-11-11, Beth and I went to Marengo Ridge to see the colors and hike with Gracie, and the Farmer's Market came to a close. Here are a few pictures from the hike.






We (at the market) also had our annual pumpkin contest, and once again I was tickled by all of the creative entries.




This was our 13th year doing it, and every year we get new and wacky pumpkins, plus the biggest pumpkin this year was HUGE -- 175 pounds! That's a LOT OF PIE. The guy said he was going to carve it and roast the seeds.

This was the extent of my Halloween decorations. Two plastic things that I plugged in.


Except then Hoops wanted to get in on the action with her little glowing eyeballs.



I'm posting this picture from the summer's Eltoy/Sparta trip to commemorate what appears to be the end of bike riding for the season. Snow was predicted for this week, and I am so not ready for it. I did move my bike trailer and kayak out of the garage and moved the snowblower in. And the snowblower started ... I think I'm going to have my neighbor give it a tune-up though, just to be safe. So in that regard, I guess I'm ready. But mentally...not so much.