Slinkys, Shoes, the color Green, and Amazon

WE.  HAVE.  GREEN.

Everywhere!

 

 

The trees are starting to leaf again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tiny little bluebells (at least, I think they’re bluebells…) are blue-belling their happy little selves out from the soil.  Flowering shrubbery is finally living up to its name, and the birds are extremely relieved their seasons-senses didn’t actually betray them.

 

As an aside, I did see a robin standing in (to them) belly-deep white stuff a couple of weeks ago, glaring in the way that birds can glare with their black eyes, insisting (again, in the way that birds do) I – PERSONALLY – get rid of this white crap and dig out some tasty worms.  I may have actually imagined the robin saying (in a chirpy voice, nonetheless) What.  The.  Actual.  FUCK????

The slinky has officially started down the stairs in Wisconsin.

To celebrate, I looked at new shoes on Amazon, as I’m starting to feel the pavement a bit too keenly in my old pair.  True to the power of their awesome algorithms, they’ve sent me this recommendation based on my browsing history:

Ok, I admit I looked at ladies shoes.  Probably because that’s the style of plumbing I currently use within my body to handle liquid waste products.  And, stereotypically, ladies wear makeup (although I do have a few friends who are decidedly male and slather on the war paint).  But I’m dying to know how wandering through the shoe selection of Amazon results in skin care?

Honestly, I expected them to send me a recommendation for those stiletto-heeled, thigh-high, platform, patent pleather boots again.

Guess I’ll just be satisfied with this silly sign I saw in one of the downtown resale shops…

 

 

 

Sunshine Blogger Award

My All-time FAVORITE sunshine shot

I’ve an award!

My favorite demon-runner nominated me for this prestigious award, and I’ve had a great time visiting her little slice of the interewebz.  Go have a read, I promise it will be worth it!  Outrunning My Demons

As for the Sunshine Blogger Award?  Yea, it’s one of those bouncing blog posts that cycle through the ‘net, full of questions to be answered and more to be asked.   The ‘rules’ are simple, if one wishes to follow them:

Here are the rules for being nominated…

• Thank the blogger that nominated you in the post and link back to their blog
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you
• Nominate 8-11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award Logo on your post and/or in your blog

Usually, I take a browse through the questions, and if something pokes the goofy muse, we dutifully apply fingers to keyboard.  So, congrats, (not)Alissa…you woke the sleepy one, who quickly downed an entire pot of coffee and started digging through movie posters in search of answers, because after all that caffeine, she was too twitchy to type properly.

I was asked…

1. What is your favorite topic to blog about?
 

Anything and everything I come into contact with is potential blog-fodder…so I write about life…all life, not just the alien kind, although I’m certain there are certain celebrities who’ve forged their birth certificates to more closely resemble humans…

 

 

 

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2. Do you prefer salty or sweet?

Wave crispy, salty, starchy snacks in my face, and I fold like an origami sculpture.  I have no defense against the humble potato.

 

 

 

 

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3. Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?

Don’t ask me about the weather, the traffic, the news or politics, and I won’t have to pretend I didn’t hear your opening salvo into that dread social contrivance called small talk.  Seriously, I’d rather endure non-anesthetized invasive surgery while listening to Beethoven’s 9th symphony being whistled off key.

 

 

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4. Where is your number one place you would like to visit?

I have to give co-thanks to Steve Martin and my 4th grade teacher, with an additional nod to the Egyptian National Museum for allowing King Tut to get out of his dusty tomb/exhibit and travel the world, for my absolute OBSESSION with all things ancient Egyptian…so if anyone out there is willing to spring for tickets/lodging/meals/passport documentation/ immunizations any some discretionary spending funds…I’ll be the first on the first plane heading out there.  I’ve got the extra vacation time, because I NEVER GO ANYWHERE.

 

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5. Where is the most beautiful place you have ever traveled to?

I say again:  I NEVER GO ANYWHERE.  My last ‘adventure’ was the funeral in February, travel time >2 hours.  I simply don’t travel well.

Been to some pretty locations in this state, however.  The Dells (as long as you veer away from the tourist traps), up the thumb, and the Chippewa Valley are all jam-packed with some awesome vistas.  And…if you’re like me and love water, come spend some time with me meditating along the Fox River or on the banks of Lake Michigan.  Leave the Speedo at home, though, because they MEAN it when they say “Cooler by the Lake.”

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6. If you were forced to pick one…Are you beauty, brawn, or brains?

“Braaaaaaains….”

Actual quote from me before coffee….

 

 

 

 

 

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7. What is your birth order?

I am 3rd.  I was the most awesomest child in the entire world…the one that the parents decided was the perfect child and that they couldn’t improve on with future offspring…until my little brother came along and foiled this joke.

I’ve spent the remaining years of my life becoming the hugest pain in the ass the family has ever seen.

Maybe my weirdness is because I’m a Sidhe changeling?

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8. What book/movie closely resembles the story of your life?

OK, I’ll admit…the muse and I argued back and forth over this one…so we decided to add them both to this answer.  The first, because it’s as apt as apt can get in this day and age, and the second because Weird Al is my idol.

Seriously.

How can you NOT love a guy who’s made his way through life absorbing the artistic creations of his peers, then improving them with a healthy dash of Weird?

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9. What is the temperature outside right now?

This may have the letters G, I, N, P, R, and S arranged in an order I have refused to type out, but I didn’t officially TYPE the letters in that order.  And, there are other letters jammed right up against them, so I’ve managed to keep the ban against that word intact.

According to the Wunderground, it is 56 degrees and sunny.  Should make a fantastic walk home tonight.  I think the slinky has officially started down the stairs here in Wisconsin.

 

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10. What is the last thing you ate?

I’ve followed the Ketogenic style of eating for almost 2 years, now…so the bacon should come as no surprise.  I have a few slices every morning, coupled with a hard boiled egg and a slice of low-carb bread, and wash it all down with a large cup of coffee with cream.

Any ‘diet’ that encourages the consumption of bacon is a diet I can stick to.

 

 

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11. What is your favorite hobby?

Unless you literally fell into my blog last night, you’ll know that I have an obsession with twisting little metal jump rings into slinky, twisty, comical and sometimes extremely colorful patterns.

In my world, chainmaille is not just a hobby, it’s a deeply held conviction that life could be better if everyone just wore handmade chains.

 

 

 

Nominees to continue the madness?  Well, this is the part I normally don’t like to do, because it sounds way too much like assigning homework to an unlucky student.  Blogging is supposed to be fun and spontaneous – not a chore.  If this wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t have maintained the T&T for the 4 (?) years I’ve been pounding the keys developing it.  But still….there are a couple of vict…er…bloggers out there I’m dying to spread a little sunshine to.  So…without further ado…I’d like to award little patches of sunshine to:

Hello Dearest Hurricane
Danseur Ignobile
The Shameful Sheep
Fatty McCupcakes
Patience of Willow
The Real Reality Show Blog

 

You guys are ALL awesome bloggers, and I’m pleased as punch to browse the dusty corners of your respective webspaces.

So here…satisfy my curiosity…and feel free to skip any questions that require the use of a slide rule, advanced mathematics or a crystal ball.

1. make me the yummiest sammich to ever grace a plate.
2. Do you like your handwriting?
3. After that glorious morning pee, what’s the first thing you do?
4. If you have 20 apples and some bully comes along and bruises half of them in New York, how long does it take the train travelling to Albuquerque to make a savory picnic pie from the remains?
5. Tell me what’s in your iPod/MP3 player playlist, or the CD in your car stereo right now?
6. Keeping with the music theme…shuffle or straight through albums?
7. How soon after the advance ticket sales did you buy your seats for the opening night of Avengers: Infinity Wars?
8. Have you watched all the other Marvel Universe movies in preparation for this event?
9. Why won’t WordPress let me skip a number in this numbered list?
10. Boxers or briefs (or other, I totally won’t judge!)?
11. What’s the first thing you notice about people?
12. What makes you unique?

 

Have fun with it…can’t wait to see what ya’ll come up with 😀

 

Wordless? Wednesday

Hey…look at that!  They’ve got a nifty day of the week where bloggers are just supposed to post pictures, without any of those complex verbs, nouns, or conjunctions.

Oops…I dun did wurds.  My bad…

I did get to walk to work yesterday.  The weather was supposed to be a bit damp and chill in the morning, but nicer for the walk home…so I braved it out, a couple of layers in the morning that I could stuff in the backpack on the way home.

 

I just about froze my ass off…which may have been a good thing for the whole weight loss thing…but not so good for the actual walk home.

But, I survived, and managed to find one interesting thing to point my camera at while I was at it.

I’m still giggling over this…because all I can hear every time I look at this picture is

“Someday…when I’m ALLLLL growed up!!!”

 

Don’t Tell ANYONE!

Especially the little old lady who’s in charge of the weather…I’ve come to the time in my year when I start obsessively watching the weather…

 

And I’ve got a couple of days this week where I should be able to hoof it to work again!

 

Yea, I’m pretty excited at the prospect of once again pounding the pavement before and after I spend 8 hours in an office chair staring at the spreadsheets from hell.

One of the nicer hells, though…not the 7th…

So watch this space…you never know what I’m gonna find when I’m out in the wild 😀

 

The Green Room

I do believe it’s starting to get warmer out there.

 

Granted, it’s only the end of February, and I’m sure that Mother Nature has been off her meds the entire month…but it will actually be warm enough to WALK TO WORK tomorrow.

I’ve been stuck in the car all winter long…and I really, REALLY miss my quiet time before and after work.

Maybe I’ll see how well my little plastic buddy has fared through the cold winter months.

 

In the meantime…there’s an apartment complex I walk past on my way to and from my car every day…they have this little shrubbery

 

 

that the building owners keep decorated for the season.  Seeing how the next holiday coming up is St. Patty’s day (a big one in a state that accepts any excuse to drink beer!) so I stopped and grabbed a couple of photos.  It’s not Monty Python…but it’ll do.

 

 

These Shoes are Made for Walkin’

I LOVE my crazy socks

This is it…

I’ve been watching the weather for the past 2 weeks – waiting for the temperatures to rise in the morning.

I’ve got a backpack to stuff all my work stuff in, so I don’t have to carry things in my hands.

The iPod will be on the charger Sunday night…

Because Monday, it’s supposed to be in the 40’s at 7am, without the threat of rain.

I’m walking to work 😀

Funny, how I’m actually excited about this.  Me.  The person who, just a year ago, had serious worries about my heart bursting through my chest by walking A BLOCK to get to my car…is gonna walk over a mile…

in the morning…

before the coffee has kicked in…

and then work a full day, turn around, and walk home.

Who am I, and what have I done with myself????